 I'm Kirstie Allison Ampe, Chair of the Arlington School Committee, and I'd like to call this regular meeting of Thursday, April 27th to order. First, I'd like to welcome our first, I want to make sure that our remote. People can hear us. Ms. Fronte. Can you, can you speak to, okay? Yes, thank you. I'm not sure if there's anyone else who's, I don't see anyone else who's participating full time. So, okay. We will begin with public comment. Before we begin, I'd like to review sections of our policy BEDH, which governs public comment. During the public comment segment of regular meetings of the committee, individuals or group representatives may address the committee on items of school business. The length of public participation should normally be no more than 20 minutes but may be extended by the chair. Speakers must identify themselves by name and address and will be allowed up to three minutes to present their material. The chair may reduce the speaking time if needed or may permit an extension. Improper conducts and remarks including obscenity or abusive language will not be allowed. Defamatory or abusive remarks are always out of order. If a speaker persists in improper conduct remarks, the chairman may terminate that individual's privilege of address. All remarks will be addressed through the chair of the meeting. Speakers may offer such objective criticisms of the school operations and programs as concerned them. But in public session, the committee will not hear personal complaints about school personnel nor against any member of the school community except for the school committee or the superintendent and their capacity as the operational leader of the Arlington Public Schools. Under most circumstances, administrative channels are the proper means for disposition of legitimate complaints involving staff members. The public is reminded that the school committee does not hold jurisdiction over the performance of school personnel other than the superintendent. So, Mr. Schlickman, will time for me. The first person we have is Ms. Sarah Barton. Sarah Barton, 57 Huntington Road, and I'm also the CPAC co-chair. Dear school committee members, the April 13th school committee meeting left me feeling very uneasy. While I realized that public comment is not under your control, the one-sided misinformation of the public participation that night needs to be addressed. As well, it was disappointing and frustrating to hear the committee spend time discussing policy changes designed to avoid confrontation, rather than facing intolerance head-on with the direct and full-throated affirmation of this district's commitment to equity and inclusion for our gender diverse students. To understand even just one reason why your proactive support is so crucial, I would like to read part of the statement drafted by CPAC on the importance of the updated health and human development curriculum for the health and well-being of disabled students. Disabled people have long-faced substantial cultural barriers to accessing relationship and sexuality education. They are less likely than their typically functioning classmates to receive reliable and accurate information on sexuality and relationships from their parents or peers. And I would refer you to the Seacus Publication Comprehensive Sex Education for Youth with Disabilities for an overview of this history of inequity. In addition, evidence indicates that neurodivergent youth are more likely than their neurotypical peers to identify as gender diverse and with a sexual orientation outside of the heteronormative. As a result, neurodivergent students are both more reliant on in-school lessons on human development, as well as more likely to be adversely impacted by their erasure of gender diverse identities and language from the curriculum when compared with their neurotypical peers. It's imperative for the health and well-being of these students and many others that you as a school committee explicitly reaffirm the district's commitment to gender inclusive relationship and sexuality education. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. David Bricklin-Small. Hi, thank you very much. My name is David Bricklin-Small. I live at 58 Paul Revere Road. I wrote it on my phone, so I'll just read it. I stand in support of the changes to the fourth and fifth grade human growth and development curriculum. There's been an argument made that says, let our children be children. And I agree. My 10-year-old child identifies as non-binary. They are a non-binary child. They are not confused about this at all. Neither are my wife and I, nor are their 7-year-old sister. Neither are their friends, family members, and community members who know, love, and accept our child. This may seem new and more emergent than it has ever seemed. However, expressions of gender that are non-binary have been well-documented feature of cultures throughout time. It is safe, healthy, and appropriate to share this age-appropriate information with our fourth and fifth graders. I don't worry about their confusion now. What I worry about is the many children who do not see themselves as fitting neatly into binary gender identities who struggle profoundly with mental health crises, including high rates of suicide, when their gender identity is denied, distorted, denigrated, or demeaned. I also worry about the children who do fit into the historically traditional male female designation who will undoubtedly come across those of different identity expressions in their youth and adulthood. Let these children, too, learn that gender assigned at birth and gender identity are not always the same thing. They won't be confused. I think those of us who have been taught only one way of looking at things may be confused. We may need to adjust our view of things, so yes, let our children be children. Thank goodness they are impressionable to such important, validating, and valid information. I'm confident that they can and will understand the diversity of human and gender expression. Thank you. Next, we have Dan Gillis. Hello, my name is Dan Gillis, 20 Alpine Street. My pronouns are he, him, his. I'm a proud resident of Arlington, and I'm here to support the updated health and wellness curriculum materials. My daughter is a fourth grade transgender student, but more importantly, my daughter is an inspiration to me. She innately understood that her identity did not match what was assigned to her at birth, telling us at an early age that she thought she was a girl and was unable to be anyone else. What is equally inspirational, though, has been the response of her student peers. Children really are the best of us, understanding and including my daughter, learning, laughing, and playing with her like anyone else in their class or on the playground. Transgender and non-binary kids exist. To the kids in my daughter's class, the updated curriculum makes sense. They see and understand not just themselves, but their transgender and non-binary friends and schoolmates that are part of their social fabric. To remove gender identity from the curriculum would disenfranchise students like my daughter, causing confusion and heightened anxiety for her and her peers. Let our children be children and give them the benefit of the doubt. In fourth grade, they are a lot smarter than you think they are. I applaud the administration for giving my daughter a chance to see herself and the identities of all her peers reflected in this curriculum. Thank you. Thank you. Next, Katherine Byers. Good evening. My name is Katherine Byers. I live at 62 Summit Street in Arlington. I am the parent of a Pierce Elementary School third grader. My child started talking about their gender as a toddler, and they've consistently told us that their gender assigned at birth does not match their gender identity. Around kindergarten, they began using non-binary to describe their gender experience. Starting in preschool, my concerns for my child's safety have been significant. Anytime they start a new class, activity, camp, or program, I must consider whether they will be safe and supported by the adults and the children in the environment. These concerns are not uncommon for parents, but they are amplified for the parents of transgender children. This year alone, more than 400 anti-trans bills have been proposed to legislatures around our country. These bills seek to remove children from loving and supportive homes. They seek to limit access to health care. They limit children's ability to use the bathrooms and to play sports. To say that transgender children in the United States are under attack is not hyperbole. When most of these attacks are outside of New England, they are creating a culture of fear that affects transgender people everywhere. Parents of transgender children know that our children's safety is not a given. In Arlington, I've generally found the schools to be a supportive place for my child. The wider community is for the most part safe. However, my child has been bullied for their gender by Arlington public school students, and they are regularly misgendered by children and adults. When I reviewed the public school's new health and safety curriculum, I was relieved. The outdated curriculum that didn't include my child had been replaced. The new curriculum not only includes my child, but it works to ensure their safety. My relief was short-lived. Over the past few weeks, I've questioned my child's safety many times. Transphobic commentary was given space and voice while others were told not to attend meetings. The process of challenging the curriculum has emboldened anti-trans-rhetoric. The public nature of the challenge has caused many to fear for the safety of their children. Parents on both sides of this debate have questioned if their child was safe at school. The policies around curriculum challenge have brought divisiveness into our community. We need a better process. As a community, we need to figure out how to move forward from this challenge. Everyone needs a renewed sense of safety and trust. This must include clear messages of support for the safety of transgender students. It must include work with the wider community to understand that trans students are human beings worthy of dignity and respect. It cannot include dialogue that questions the sanity or identity of any Arlington public school student. All of our students deserve to feel safe at school. Thank you. Next. Next is Claire Johnson. My name is Claire Johnson. I live at 84 Wright Street in Arlington. Thank you for the opportunity to offer public comment tonight. I would like to address the district's gender inclusive grade four and five human growth development curriculum. I watched the public comments made during your last meeting when three residents criticized the district for its gender inclusive curriculum. I understand for some people who do not have transgender or non-binary people in their lives, the idea of the idea of a grade four health curriculum that is inclusive of all genders, male, female, trans, non-binary, can be confusing or even scary. But it is my hope that people for whom the topic of gender diversity is new or unfamiliar can find a way to empathize with their neighbors who are themselves transgender or non-binary or who parent children who are. I hope that they can come to understand how confusing and even terrifying it can be for a child to be told that what they experience in their own bodies and minds isn't real. My family is gender diverse and we are incredibly grateful for the experiences we have had with the Arlington public schools. Where teachers, staff understand and recognize gender diversity, we are thankful for the QSAs and the GSAs and the digs and the rainbow alliance groups that affirm inclusivity and belonging for children and adolescents of all genders. We feel fortunate to live in a town where so many people recently voiced support of curricula that is inclusive of students of all genders. I want to end my remarks by urging each member of the school committee to exercise your power as an elected official to strongly support the APS administration's efforts to bring gender diversity into the curricula. From Florida, Tennessee, and Texas to some municipalities here in Massachusetts, other elected officials are doing just the opposite. Those actions are having and will continue to have devastating consequences for children and their families. Please do not let it happen here. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And last we have Julia Tuareg, who's on Zoom. She's muted. I'm trying to get her down to mute. Okay. Hello. Your name is Julia Tuareg. I live at Four Colonial Drive in Arlington. My husband and I are looking forward to sending our son to Kindergarten at Hardy next year. But the process of securing after care has been deeply discouraging with all programs, those operated by the town and private options for which transportation is available being heavily oversubscribed. I understand that afterschool demand is a recognized issue and that it is addressed to some extent in the strategic plan. And I was also informed by the Hardy afterschool program site coordinator that additional resources may be hired over the summer. In the short term, I would like to urge the public schools to take steps to try to increase capacity for the fall. And in the long term, continue to take steps towards permanent changes in afterschool capacity to reflect the reality and needs of Arlington family. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public comment. I didn't say this at the start, but we just hear public comment. We don't dialogue or respond. Next, we have the public, the school public hearing on school choice. It is the policy of the school district not to admit any non-resident students under the terms and conditions of the inter-district school choice law MGL 7612B. This decision must be reaffirmed annually prior to June 1st by a vote of the school committee following a public hearing. So is there anyone here for the school choice hearing? Seeing none, I declare that the hearing closed. And I would like a motion to affirm our decision to not admit non-resident students. I move that we notify the Massachusetts Department of Education that Arlington will not be participating in the school choice program for the 2023-2024 school year due to lack of capacity. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? So that's a 7-0 vote. So now the hearing is closed and we move on to our business. The student representatives, we have Moe, Nathan. I'm sorry, I don't have your- Hagenza? Thank you. So I mean, strangely there is actually a lot to say, given that we had a week off break, so that was a week of no school. But today was actually the last day of our inclusion in diversity workshops. And at least from my experience and those who I've talked to, it went really, really well. People have loved seeing the representation and the conversations stirred by these workshops. It is also entering the AP weeks, the first series of exams starting next week. So people are a little, like, on edge. But we are having these, like, cookies and crams study sessions with, like, National Honor Society tutors in the media center. And people are just, like, buckling down to get ready for the exams. There's the pop's musical performance. I don't know exactly when it's happening. Saturday and Sunday. Yeah. Soon. And there also is a, I believe it's going on right now, an art show downstairs on the first floor of the new building. And that's it. Thank you very much. And I forgot to acknowledge Ms. Ferrante, who's our AEA representative who's joining us on Zoom. Hi, Ms. Ferrante. And next we have the K-12 science report with Sam Hoy. Dr. Hoy. Yeah. So I have your, the PDF, but I don't have the Google. That's all right. That'll work. Dr. Hoy and I will make it work. I'd like to go with the flow. You know how I am. Hello, everyone. Hello. It's so nice to see you. I feel like we don't spend enough time together. So you should stop by anytime. Fifth floor, new building, beautiful view. Next, please. So I just wanted to start by acknowledging district vision. I think this is something that all of the curriculum directors and teachers and students are really, really excited about, especially this idea of belonging, growth and joy. All right. I think that that is education in a nutshell. And it kind of speaks to what we were talking about here during public comment, as well as where we want to go and really give students a sense of belonging, a sense of joy, and allow them to grow as people. Again, acknowledging our strategic plan and goals. We're really kind of focusing in the science department on strategic priority one. And again, we can go on to the next one, really. So just to start with our elementary update. Our science program specialist is continuing her support with co-teaching of lessons. She does ace block facilitation as well as new teacher support. We are looking to strengthen our assessment system. Our biggest point of data within assessment are our common assessments. We give them three times a year. And we then sit with a team of teachers and we look to see how we can better the curriculum and how we can drive instruction. So we use our common assessments as a way to ensure that the curriculum that we have laid out is working for all students. And then we are looking to also strengthen science practices by using phenomena-driven storylines. This is a new way of teaching science that has research. It's research-based. It is something that Desi is really putting a lot of energy into and a lot of professional development. And so we're really working on that as well. So for Gibson OMS, probably the most exciting thing, March Mammal Madness. I don't know if anybody is involved in March Mammal Madness, but if you aren't, you should be. So March Mammal Madness is something put out by the University of Arizona. And I started it in Gibbs last year and we got it to be a school-wide event. It was really, really exciting to walk down the hallways and hear kids talking about their brackets and what mammals or what animals were battling against what and who won and why they won. And that was really exciting. And then Audison this year took that on and they also did it as a whole school event. And I think it went really, really well. It seems from the teachers that I've spoken to and the students that I've spoken to that they really, really enjoyed that. And it was just another way of bringing kids together and making them excited about science. Again, strengthening the science practices because it's those science practices that we want to foster because that is what they are going to be able to use regardless of what career paths they take. So it doesn't matter if you're an artist or an engineer. Those science practices are really the ones that are going to help you be able to move forward in your career. We are also implementing and strengthening our online simulation. And part of the reason for that is that Massachusetts is attempting to change what the MCAS looks like for grades 5 and 8 through the innovative assessment. And I'm really excited about the innovative assessment. I think it can be really, really interesting and really do amazing things for science instruction because it's not regurgitation of content knowledge. It's the application of science and the application of knowledge. And so it uses simulations for students to be able to gather data and then interpret the data and use the data. So we are really strengthening that in our 6 through 8 grade levels. And then we put a really big investment into equipment and materials, especially at the middle school. Because our high school has this brand new facility. We've got a lot of equipment and our elementary schools are really well stocked with the FOSS kits that we purchased several years ago. And so now we're just beefing up that middle school material and equipment base that we have. At the high school, we're trying to support our struggling students. And part of that was through the revamping of our grade 9 physical science curriculum where we just change the order in which we develop and give students content. And the reason for that is that kinematics is very math focused. And we don't seem to get kids excited by the math. I know, crazy. And then by a month in, they're like, I hate this class. So we changed our structure. We changed it around so that they're doing a lot more hands-on experiments. A little bit less math. And so that by the time we get to this really hard stuff, they're fully invested in the course. We've seen a dramatic increase in test scores. We gave the same test last year as this year. The class average last year was probably like 70, 75. This year it went up to an 85, 90. So we're really seeing that just changing the structure and changing the order of material can be helpful for students. We're really improving collaboration in student agency. We're emphasizing hands-on learning. That's the best part of science. And then we're also working on layered and standard based curriculum. We had some new electives this year. We offered entomology, AP Physics C, electricity magnetism, weather and climate, as well as exercise and physiology. The other goal that we have as a department is to really explore how science moves beyond the classroom and the lab to have both significant and tangible impacts on areas such as social, environmental, and racial justice. So our action steps for next year, you know, continuing what we're doing. And then this one I'm really excited about. But we're looking to realign and redesign the science curriculum based on our new ALA curriculum. I think we can do really good work through integration. And I'm excited to do that work with the ALA team as well as the social studies team. And again, going into that interdisciplinary lesson piece. At Gibbs and OMS, really looking at grading for equity. We are thinking about doing a book study as a middle school next year. And then I'm working with Mr. Mason to hopefully upgrade some of those OMS science spaces. And then finally for AHS, thinking about, based on our need, creating an SEI course, an SEI science course, because a lot of times science is learning a brand new language in addition to trying to learn English. And that can be really difficult for some of our ELs. And so really having that support of a science teacher with an EL instructor working together could make really good gains for our students. And then really thinking again about the heterogeneous grouping initiative and seeing how is that going in ELA. And is that something that we can do in science? Any questions? Anything I can help answer, discuss, talk about? Any questions? Yes, sir. Thank you, Dr. Hoyle. The SEI class, could you just speak about is that one specific discipline in science or is that a general science class or what are you thinking? That's a great question. We would like it to be either physical science or biology, because those are MCAS-tested subjects. And that is where we see a lot of our ELs struggle to pass the MCAS and so we want to be able to give them extra support to be able to do that so that they can graduate. So it would start off as either one of those, depending on the numbers, is really kind of where we're at as well as depending on what the EL team is able to help us support. Because you would have to have support in that classroom. Correct. So you would have to have two adult, two professionals in the classroom. Exactly, exactly right. And do you have a number at all? No, so right now we're working on scheduling. The heterogeneous grouping initiative is that you could just speak a little about how you're going to plug into this Arlington High School work on that? So we did a lot of work last year to kind of try to get heterogeneous grouping off the ground in science. The community felt we weren't ready to do that work. We agreed and we said we really want to try to work on trying to do that. So we're really thinking about how do we shift our teaching so that we're able to better differentiate within a class for students who struggle with certain aspects and students who are high achievers and how do we make that work for everyone in the room. And so we're looking at different ways to differentiate. We're looking at changing how we offer the curriculum and what ways we do that. So we're just starting to engage in that work. Ms. Morgan? I have two questions. One that parallels what Jeff's saying. I think what I see as different from ELA in science, and you alluded to this in your presentation, is that there is this link to math. Right. That's very different. And in fact, the honors physical science class is the only one, to my knowledge, that for entering ninth graders this year actually does have a caveat of if you have not already taken Algebra I, this may not be a good option for you. So it's kind of the only, it's actually the only one that's sort of left now without, like there's no teacher recommendations for the rest of them. But that remains, you know, I mean it's tough to, it's F equals MA is really hard without like some kind of algebra piece. Right. And I guess I see that as being somewhat needing to parallel what happens at the Odyssey around math and how, you know, what that looks like and how those pathways sort of sort themselves out. Yeah. And I'm sure, I mean, I'm not telling you anything you don't know. You don't know. Right. I just think it's important that we acknowledge that it's, there are some significant differences and that, that algebra piece is tricky. I guess the other thing I was hoping that you could speak to a little bit that I didn't see in the slides is sort of your philosophy and the department's philosophy around climate science. Right. I very much believe that like we need to expose all kids to rigorous science curriculum and then we need to provide, you know, kids at the high school level with, you know, opportunities to excel and grow and push because ultimately they're going to save all of us or actually we're all not going to be here, we're going to save our like grandchildren. Right. So, so how does that touch? I assume it touches everywhere within. But, but I'd be curious, you know, sort of philosophically how you see that as part of what we do here. Yes. And this is where, so let me answer your first question with regards to the math piece first and that is our biggest stumbling block is students understand conceptually a lot of the physics concepts that we do and it's the math piece that struggle, that they struggle with which is why for our most struggling students we switch the order. Right. So that they get a little bit more math, high school math behind them that by the time we get to that kinematics they're a little more confident and they're interested in the subject. So, yes. So this is something that Mr. Coleman and I have been talking about and trying to figure out, you know, how do we have common language? A lot of times when we're trying to teach the math it's, you know, we're looking at a graph of let's say a velocity versus time and we call it velocity versus time but in math class they call it x versus y and students have a hard time looking at both of those things and saying, oh, they're the same. It's just different terminology. And so Mr. Coleman and I have been working on how do we work together to give students common language in math and science? I think that will help in a long way. And I think we need to think about what is it that's important to us. Most of the physical science MCAS or I guess it's the introductory physics MCAS is conceptual. So the math that students need is not as advanced as, you know, deep algebra one so that by the end of the first year of high school they should be able to do that. And how can we still give that to the students who need it but then offer extensions to those that have the math skills to go a little further? So that's part of our differentiation work. How do we make it work for all students in the same room? Because even within our honors course or our curriculum A course we have students whose skills vary very diversely in math and so we're working on that as well. As far as climate science, my philosophy is that it's extremely important. I think that, like you said, students now are the ones that are going to save the planet, right? And unfortunately the standards that are set out by the state do not put an emphasis on that. And so we try to integrate it as much as we can and that's why I was talking about how do we as science teachers really implement social, environmental, racial justice into the work that we do and still teach the standards, right? Because that is what you've hired us to do and so it's a fine balance between those two things. Within the high school we offer weather and climate so that students are really able to understand that aspect of it as well as our environmental science courses. They really do put an emphasis on both of those things. Outside of that, there's very little, I will be honest and I think we could do more work towards moving in that direction. It's just a matter of finding the time. How do we find the time to hit all of the standards that the state has put forth and add this really important piece and so finding that integration and how that fits is complex, right? Because how do you talk about that in a chemistry class where you're learning about atoms, right? And so it gets a little tricky. And so there's some massaging that's going to have to happen and I think our teachers are up for it. We just need to have the time to figure that out. That's great. Yeah, I think it's, I mean, it is. I don't know. There's not going to be a lot of atoms to look at. That's kind of how it's going to be. So thank you very much. Or maybe the wrong kind of atoms, a little too much carbon dioxide. Yeah. Is there a movement among science teachers in Massachusetts to adjust the standards to include this? So the standards just changed. I say just changed. They changed in 2016. But when the standards change, the state has five years to implement the new standards. So last year was the first year that the high school standards had to be in effect for the new standards. So I'm not anticipating anything changing at least for the next 10 years or so. Well, I was just wondering if there's something that school committees could do in conjunction with science teachers to make some adjustments. I mean, I think it is a really important topic for us to cover and I get lots of, you know, concerns from parents saying we need to do more of this. And I absolutely agree we do. And so yeah, maybe I can reach out to colleagues, to other curriculum directors and see is there something in the works and how can we help support that? I mean, certainly, we have an obligation to do this and I'm not a science teacher by trade. So to the extent that maybe we can integrate that somewhere like seventh grade where there isn't an MCAS and really come in strong there and use that as a foundation for building in. Yeah. So what's hard about science MCAS is yes, there isn't a science MCAS in grade seven, but our grade eight MCAS is cumulative, right? And so what do we take out and what do we put in is a really fine balance. But maybe, Ms. Moran, we can talk about something for civics today and maybe it could be part of the, you know, an integrated unit for in conjunction with civics. I've always found that the math and ELA MCAS, which focus more on skills, is certainly a more valid instrument and it's really difficult to have a science MCAS that's a valid measure of what students are able to do. And to tie, to wrap that into a graduation requirement, I think it's just absolutely wrong and it's limiting our ability to work with kids. The other thing is with abandoning the chemistry MCAS for high school, that traditionally has been in many districts the route that they're going to take with their L students. Exactly. And by forcing L students to take and pass an MCAS that is more language based, I think is a tremendous disadvantage for the kids. And I'm glad you're bringing this up, that Arlington is committed to working through this problem in order to serve the second language learners who are attending our high school. I also want to say that I'm glad you're here and you brought the joy back into the front of the presentation. When the kids were with us in the initial process of developing the mission vision statements, joy and empowerment were two of the key features in there and the more we can do that the better. And I know that you're really driven to do both and the science instruction in this district is top notch and getting better every year. Thank you. And I'm always looking forward to seeing you. As for the mammals. Yes, sir. You didn't bring any? I mean I can go get some. I know we had a snake up here last week. I met the snake. That's not a mammal. I know it's not a mammal. But you were able to bring the snake up so why not something furry and happy? I will tell you I don't do furry and happy. Marie and Sam. Cockroaches. I've got cockroaches. They're not mammals either. They're not. That's what I'm saying. Actually, March mammal madness is great but I don't do mammals personally. Reptiles, amphibians, those are insects. Those are my jam. So if you want any of those, I can bring them up next time. I love seeing animals. We had the snake up. Well, I think I've got colleagues that might not be too happy about it. So I wouldn't push the issue. But last week when I came up to sign the warrant, I met your snake. Ember, yeah. Ember. And it was a cuddly little thing, wasn't it? Yeah, they are great. Ember is they, them pronouns to just help with this idea of, you know, sometimes we don't know the sex, right? And so we don't know the sex of the snake. And so we go, they, them pronouns just to kind of show and try to bring that into our elementary and other classrooms as a point of discussion. But thank you. Thank you. I'm always happy to see you. Maybe I will have to stop by the fifth floor. Before they invite us to the bracket next year too. That's a possibility. Talk to Ms. Diggins. Absolutely. Yes. Room 544, you're always welcome. And if you want to see my critters especially. Any other questions? Mr. Carden. Could you give an example of a phenomenon driven in storylines? Yes. So for example, I would show a picture of a gif, a gif of a cat. And I don't know how many of you have cats, but if you do, you know that cats can miraculously fit in very weird spaces, right? And so looking at that and showing that gif, my question would be, is it a solid or, are cat solids or liquids? Right. And that is the storyline. And so we kind of follow this idea through and we're constantly going back to the phenomena because most kids, not all, have experienced a cat and or the gif is really, really able to kind of show that. And so we're constantly going through that and giving them the storyline and allowing them to kind of drive the instruction. And for them to come up with questions, for them to engage in academic conversations with each other and figure it out without the teacher necessarily telling them the answer. Because if you think about it in terms of the definition, it could be a solid or liquid. So then one suggestion actually for all of the curriculum directors going forward is, I mean to me that sounds like deeper learning. So I would tie it more explicitly to our strategic, now that we have the strategic plan, the stuff that is deeper learning kind of identify it because people are going to be asking us, what does this mean? What is deeper learning? And if we have some concrete examples like that, then it's really helpful. Oh, absolutely. Thank you. And then relatedly, so the other key item is MTSS. We don't really hear about science in MTSS. So do you plan to participate in that or what sort of role does science have with that initiative? Yes. I think my entire goal is to strengthen our TO1 instruction and really work on that through UDL, through thinking about our students who are marginalized and really trying to increase that TO1 instruction so that we don't have as many pullouts or TO2 or TO3 interventions. I think that the emphasis isn't always placed on science and I'll just speak for science, for science in terms of interventions. But we're trying to build that at a curricular level to really improve what our TO1 instruction looks like. Great. Thank you. Thank you very much. I think at this point we should be done. But thank you very much, Dr. Hoya, for coming and speaking with us. Absolutely. And thank you all. It's a pleasure to see you all in fifth floor. So next we have Ms. Moran, our K-12 social studies report. My name is Caitlin Moran. I'm the director of history and social studies. My pronouns are she, her. And thank you for inviting me here tonight. This is my first time in person with you all. So I'll tell you a little bit about who I am and then we'll dive into the history. So you also have access to the slides, but this is where we'll go tonight. So before joining the Arlington team, I spent a decade as a public school history and government teacher. Most of that time was in SEI, so teaching sheltered English immersion to students learning English. I've served as an administrator, a core faculty member at a college in Providence, Rhode Island. And I own my own business as an education consultant. And all of that is really great. And that's my resume. It gets me most excited about my work. And why I've stayed in this career is that I really believe social studies education and history education is the key to democracy and is the key to positive public discourse in allowing our country to move forward. I am the grandchild of immigrants. I grew up very much knowing my family's immigration story in the United States. And while the American pull yourself up by your bootstraps narrative has changed significantly over the course of my life, I do believe that education and social studies and social justice education in particular allows us to unlock our potential to participate in this very diverse democracy. So we started our year as a department as well, grounding ourselves in the district's new vision. And if you continue, Liz, sorry, we translated the district's vision into our own department's vision. So really making a mirror, a microcosm of what we are going to do in the department that mirrors the district's vision. And so we worked on this collaboratively. K-12, our coaches and all of our secondary teachers, we went through multiple revisions and multiple discussions about language. And this is where we feel settled for the year. We'll continue to revisit it and make sure we are working to, you know, achieve our vision for our department and our work that is aligned with the APS vision. But this is something that we were really excited about and we are often making sure that we are, we and our work are directly aligned to the APS vision and the work that is happening in the district. Similarly, we did the mission, also to echo the new mission of APS. And I'll let you all have access to that in the slides, but really focusing on some of the same things that Dr. Hoyle was saying, that making sure our curriculum is inclusive, culturally responsive, equitable, that we're providing students opportunities to really show their learning in lots of different ways and develop their capacity to be agents of change in the world beyond the classroom. We think it's really important to obviously create like psychologically safe spaces for students to discuss difficult topics and give them the support in understanding how all of the things that they're learning apply out into the world. We believe deeply in collaborating with our special education and English language colleagues in order to make sure those particular subgroups of students have access to rigorous social studies and history instruction and that we are, similarly to as Dr. Hoyle said, providing a wide range of electives, right? The core classes, once you get through AHS, we have many, many electives that students can choose from. Everything from the social history of sports to this year will be all approved. Thank you very much. Ethnic studies for next year, for the 23-24 school year. These were our goals for the department this year. So we've really worked hard to have discussions and have critical conversations around how we increase the voices of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Latino folks, queer and disabled voices in the curriculum. Our teachers have done a lot of intentional professional development and collaborative work in both understanding where those voices are missing. If they're missing, why they're missing? We've started to really talk to students about silences in history and how silences are created and then do the work to make sure that we can use scholarship to fill those existing gaps in our curriculum. We're really working to center student identity in all of our classes, so we've reframed different classes to make sure that we're both starting the year in some places with an identity-based unit and then making sure that students have, again, multiple means of demonstrating their learning that best reflect their learning modalities and how they see themselves in the curriculum. When we continue, as APS strives to be more inclusive and equitable, we continue to do our internal work of uncovering our own biases and working to better understand where our own blind spots are in creating these types of curricular changes. I'll go level by level. At the elementary school, I came in. My predecessor, Denny Conklin, had set them up to do a multi-year curriculum revision, and I came in in the midst of that. We continue to do that work. The revision is ensuring that our curriculum is inquiry-based and culturally responsive. This ties in really well to what I'll talk about with our partnership with the ELA team and the science team as we roll out the new literacy curriculum where we're really well poised to have our thoughtful integration of the two subjects. Our two elementary social studies coaches continue to facilitate ACE blocks and pilot the new units that they're rolling out with teacher and student feedback. That's been a really exciting piece of this year is getting to pilot these and get feedback from the students too on how this is going and how they're experiencing the new curriculum. K-12, we completed a curriculum audit and that work is ongoing, so my goal in coming into this position was to know what we're doing and how it's going and the teachers all participated in that process. We have data now to say this is the skill, this is the content that we teach in each unit. K-12 and these are our action steps moving forward to continue to be thoughtfully revising and progressing our work. We got a wonderful grant from the AEF to send both the elementary coaches and a number of elementary teachers and leaders to the National Science or National Council for the Social Studies Conference in Philadelphia this winter and they came back with lots of good resources that we've been able to use to update our curriculum. At the middle school level, Noah Cabral moved from Gibbs to Audison this year which is really great and he joined the civics team. Again, we worked on the curriculum audit at both of these schools. Thank you to many of you. Allison, Paul, and Liz for being at Civics Day. Civics Day was a huge success at Audison. Rod, I'm sorry, you were there too taking pictures. Not on a panel, thank you to our panelists. A huge success. We had over 25 local leaders, people that work for the school, that work for the town, that work for outside organizations come in and serve on panels for students to be able to ask them questions related to their civics action project. It was a true team effort with the eighth grade civics teachers and myself to be able to coordinate with all of these people and bring them in so that the students could engage in a really rich dialogue on topics they cared about and they chose to be able to ask questions to experts in the fields for which they were speaking. We have four students progressing to Nationals for National History Day, which is very exciting. That final is in Baltimore in June, and Shayna Byrne, just was named Mass Counsel of the Social Studies Middle School Educator of the Year, which she is most deserving and she leads a lot of our ancients of work at Gibbs. At the high school, we welcomed three new teachers this year, Emily Tessier, Alexis Daggett and Elvaro Quintero. Elvaro is in a one-year position. We are very much going to miss him, though. He's been an incredible asset to the department. We had students participate at the high school for the first time in a little bit in National History Day, and they did quite well. We're really excited looking forward to next year to pilot our AP African American Studies class. We're really excited to be part of that pilot work and ethnic studies, and we had enough students, I think, sign up for AP African American Studies that will be able to run two classes, which speaks volumes, which is really exciting. For next year, we are making, along with science, a transition from elementary coaches to curriculum specialists. This will just give them more flexibility to be able to partner with teachers in developing curriculum, especially considering how we're going to be thoughtful about interdisciplinary units and so we're really excited about that. It'll give them a little bit more flexibility in their work. We're going to continue, based on our data from the curriculum model, continue our long-term curricular revision across all levels, making sure that we are both up-to-date and research-driven in what we're able to offer to students. The pandemic is quote over, so we're looking to get back out into the community and increase our opportunities for place-based learning. We've had a number of teachers go on field trips this year, and then as things have opened back up, we want to be able to get more students out and experiencing history and social studies in the world. That is the best practice in the discipline, so we're looking forward to that. As we continue to work across the district, across departments, we want to be intentional in how we're helping students to develop their skills K-12, and so as we were able to understand from our own curriculum model what skills we are currently teaching, we want to be thoughtful in partnering with the other core disciplines, especially, to understand how they are teaching certain skills. For example, research writing, how is that being taught in other disciplines? What are the ways that we can mutually support each other? As I said, we're really excited about the AP African American Studies pilot. I would love to take your question. Any questions? Ms. Morgan? Can you speak a little bit more of two, but the first one is how being a coach versus... I guess I don't really understand how being curriculum specialist makes it more flexible. Sure, so because we only have two coaches across the many elementary schools, their role is a little bit different than a building-based coach. Social studies, for the most part, is taught at every school at the same time, and so they cannot be in all of those places at once, so their ability to coach anyone through a cycle is quite limited, but their ability to work with people is much more free, because they can meet during ace-blogs, they can meet during people's preps, but because they can't be in multiple places at once, getting into classrooms to model and to teach, to co-teach, social studies is quite difficult, so this just gives them more flexibility. It is essentially what they're already doing, but we're just reframing the title to reflect the actualities of what they're doing. Great, okay, super. Actually, that answers both of my questions. Thank you. When you talk about understanding characteristics of cultures that historically marginalize vulnerable populations, can you give some examples of things that you've been discussing and you've come up with? Yeah, absolutely. One of the things I said was about the silences, and so, for example, a lot of students are really, last year in the Diverse Perspective Survey, noted that there was no queer history in US 1, and so we've really been talking about why is there no queer history in US 1, and part of the reason that the people who write history, the way silences develop is an event occurs, people remember that event, people empower, synthesize that event, and the event is disseminated through time, through various layers, and so we've been really trying to be more intentional about helping students understand why it's hard to find some information about certain groups of populations and how power and memory kind of interact in creating what we have at this, up to this point, really called the mainstream narrative and how we're trying to break that apart. Another example is when we teach about enslavement, teaching, not just teaching the brutality of enslavement, right, students will understand that many of them are growing up in the United States, that information is very widely available to them. What is not as widely as available is the stories of resistance and revolt and empowerment that have come from the black community as they survived and then thrived through U.S. history. So how do we create those counter stories to kind of dispel and counteract these mainstream narratives that have developed while helping students understand why these mainstream narratives have developed? Great, thank you. What had concerned me when I saw that was there was, you know, a work about white supremacy culture that has been going around for years that somewhat randomly selected things like urgency and perfectionism as examples of white supremacy culture and it's sort of been debunked and there's a lot of debate over whether it's even an appropriate work to use. So I just wanted to make sure that we sort of weren't pulling out these specific characteristics and working from that perspective. Great, thank you. Who's next? Thank you for this presentation. My question is due because you're there. It came to me you both mentioned the elementary literacy program integration and I I'm just really mindful of the fact that elementary teachers are getting a new literacy curriculum and I know the intention of it is for it to be integrated and that's part of why the change is happening but I just I'm wondering how how teachers are going to be supported in what in some ways feels like three new curriculums and maybe four math gets added in there too. So just sort of how you think about so I think one more early stages right we don't know what the program is yet and so it's hard to speak to that but one thing that Dr. Hoyo and I have started to do is look at how the curriculums that we're the curriculums that we're aiming to choose from how they are set up and how our existing curriculum in science and social studies how we can remap it to make sense right so for example in EL there is a unit in fourth grade on the American Revolution in English class but we have a lot of resources in social studies on the American Revolution that are currently taught in third and fifth grade but we could move them and adopt them for fourth grade and so what is what are the existing things that make sense and how do we need to reframe our map I think when it comes to teacher support I think two things come to mind is another reason that the curriculum specialist title is helpful is because we have these coaches who will be able to work with teachers and understanding how this all makes sense right it's kind of having another pair of eyes to you know the literacy coaches in the LA coaches will be doing their work but the social studies and the science coaches can be can be helping to understand okay if this is the way we're talking about close reading in ELA in this program we can do the same thing in social studies so that we're reinforcing this skill we can do the same thing in science so we're reinforcing this skill so that we're teaching smarter instead of harder a little bit which is ultimately the goal of integration I think in interdisciplinary learning and so our goal I'll speak for both of us we're working on tomorrow with our coaches is to really think about how we can help set things up so that we're able to help teachers work smarter not harder and so that we're all using common language across all three disciplines so that we are able to make a more cohesive learning experience rather than teach students five different ways to annotate a text every year you're in elementary school especially what can we do to be thoughtful about this is you know this protocol now you just have multiple ways to at bats if you will to practice thank you yeah of course Mr. Thelman I had two questions one you began by talking about your own immigration story and I'm just wondering how does immigration or migration studies flow into our curriculum at all or does it at all good question so in elementary school there is a migration immigration unit that's depending on where the literacy program falls right now right now it's in fifth grade it might be different next year in global studies in seventh grade the teachers interesting you asked about climate change previously we do quite a bit on climate change especially when we study South America and global studies and talk about the deforestation of the Amazon that was a really successful project pretty much across the seventh grade this year and we talk about migration immigration a little bit through through global studies when we get into high school and into modern world specifically and then US one we talk about forced migration certainly in the forced movement of black Africans into the United States and then as we get going we talk about immigration laws through history so start the the big one that you start in US one is the Chinese Exclusion Act and then moving forward as we get through US two and into the post 20th century certainly the new laws around immigration come up we do not have any electives that are specifically around migration and immigration but it is of course standard in different places of the curriculum from the frameworks it's a big broad topic and actually in the area that we are in there is our city of Boston 29% of people are born outside of the United States so it is fascinating think about all that could you just talk a little bit about how you incorporate or integrate research skills into the curriculum and so this is actually a conversation that I think is happening we are going to start to have at AHS more because it is changing and Chad GPT and AI is changing the way we think about research and so I kind of really want to give you an answer because we really need to be thinking critically over this next year about how we are doing that and what teaching research in the age of AI looks like I am excited about that discussion I think we have a lot of opportunities here to really help students understand how to be writers because it is really easy to have an artificial intelligence do the research for you one of the things we do though is we are really intentional about how do we get students to think critically about sources and how do we get students to think critically about information and where that information is coming from what the perspectives of the people are who are creating that information or that source and being able to understand what bias is and why bias matters yeah I mean it is changing pretty quickly so I don't expect you to have it figured out I just wanted to see I will ask Chad GPT later yeah man that is pretty quick you have a message for us what is the change in our hands so you can take that if you want we are expecting a change what we are expecting as a former third grade teacher I sort of see the integration happening in the later elementary grades because one of the things that I have experienced as a teacher that third fourth graders really love nonfiction reading and as a district administrator I could sort of pick out MCAS scores of classrooms where there was a lack of nonfiction and genuine texts being taught so that with the adoption of a new literacy program blending that in it is a perfect time to start to blend that in with history and science so I am glad we have two good folks here with good leadership in the district who can think about blending that in which will also lower the work that teachers need to do to accommodate changes within three different venues so my underlying question because we haven't met before we met at civics day well I love civics day and I love reading you there but we haven't met before in this setting so that school committee to department head what do you need from us? thanks I appreciate that question we are living as we talked about earlier in an increasingly divisive time where people have really strong opinions on subjects that they might not be fully informed about I really appreciate you all approving the pilot for AP African-American studies we have seen that be a lightning rod across the country already we have seen college board go back and forth on how they are not going to do that and the work we are doing and the commitment our teachers have to doing this work and to advancing the the opportunities that students in this community have to understand the world holistically is deep I am proud of what you are doing Arlington to Florida zero we and I think the continued support and the continued ability for us to do what is right for our kids I know I certainly appreciate my team appreciates and we will continue to innovate and we will continue to help students understand why the country and why the world is the way it is to the best of our ability and that includes topics that are controversial in other parts of the country or for other reasons I appreciate the support I am glad you are doing that keep on keeping on thanks I would like to ask one question I can't find the email but we had a complaint from a parent or a community member that said they talked to some middle school students and the students have learned some stuff in history and that is the part that I don't remember when wars were or concrete facts like that and I just wanted to know can you talk about how what we are teaching aligns with the state standards and I am assuming that we do I mean everything does and the frameworks are huge and I think best practices in history education are not memorizing names and dates but understanding chronological thinking we don't I am assuming they are thinking 20th century wars we don't really teach 20th century wars until 9th grade so that makes sense that they might not know because that is not a middle school standard so I don't know if that answers or it is hard for me to answer that answer is just much of my questions thank you very much before you all leave I just want to say when it comes to our work in deeper learning the work of the social studies and science departments has really been trailblazing the work they are already doing to think about how we do integrated studies at the elementary level is very exciting mostly because the reality of the matter is that we do not have enough minutes in the elementary school day to meet the minimum recommended guidelines in the frameworks for the state of Massachusetts and so the way you find ways to resolve that challenge is that you look at how to integrate curricula together and you think really creatively about how to build students' background knowledge in particular topics so that their vocabulary improves and their comprehension improves and their excitement about topics that are relevant to them usually linked to science or social studies of the arts are things that compel them so I want to thank the two of you for the work that you have done for our students it's been really innovative and we're happy to have you on the Deeper Learning Team and Dr. Hoyle on the Deeper Learning Team and also on our Deeper Learning Dozen Team they are really doing to Mr. Carton's point excellent work in this area and moving us forward on priority one so thank you thank you very much appreciate it and with that we move on to the lab collaborative agreement Dr. Holman so I don't have significant updates on this besides that we met with members of the lab collaborative to discuss the collaborative agreement and some concerns that we brought up relative to Watertown Joining I don't know if members I'm even trying to remember which subcommittee met oh it was budget budget to talk about that I don't know if other committee members have additional things they want to note from that meeting but we had Mr. Lupini with us who's the former interim executive director of lab and Pam Gerard who's the current executive director of lab because that conversation kind of taken place over the course of a year and a half Mr. Carton you want to speak as budget as Dr. Holman mentioned they came in and tried to address the concerns that I had raised about the financial impact of Watertown Joining they're basically it's a small impact but they think that overall it's $47,000 that Watertown is saving but they'll probably send more students and that'll bring in more revenue and they they're sort of in exchange for that they get access to the career technical space that Watertown has Watertown is rebuilding their high school they're actually asked by MSBA to build their building and move to a completely modular building to speed up the building process as opposed to what we were doing because costs are escalating so fast but anyways so in the temporary space it's right next door to their middle school they're building CTE space in the middle school for the next few years so the way it will work is the students in this program will still be housed to Watertown to use the facilities a couple days a week or whatever that's something that's missing has been missing from their programming since Minuteman was rebuilt because Minuteman was rebuilt smaller and doesn't have the space or willingness to accommodate them so that's sort of more background on why they're adding Watertown I think the whole issue of Watertown to provide different facilities and whether the 25% surcharge that's given to students that come from non-member districts is sufficient to compensate us for the space that we're providing is something that needs more examination and they've sort of agreed to look into that so I will be pursuing that on the other issue as far as financial commitments given where we are in the process we can ask the board the lab board to develop that as a policy that they will not agree to a financial commitment more than 10% of their budget or whatever is appropriate without coming to the individual school committees for approval I think we can get to the same place in a different method so I'm comfortable with proceeding with approval and they did agree to that I think I learned I learned a lot at this meeting and that there's about 50% of the students who are served by lab or from out of district out of collaborative I still think in terms of regional vocational instead of collaborative but that's sort of part of the course for all the collaborative but that the question of the individual districts within this particular agreement providing space is that's not really a budgeted line item within how they're playing and it's traditionally been compensated back through a credit system you know they I sort of understand the thinking behind that and that they're willing to look at that the other thing is in terms of Watertown it made sense that Minuteman wasn't going to participate with the lab is right now only two of the lab towns are in the Minuteman district two of them are in Shawshin so that we don't really have a nice overlap and to bring in Watertown with a vocational component makes a lot of sense I was assured by Mr. Lupini I believe it was Mr. Lupini who said this is that all of the programs that they were accessing in Minuteman the ones that they want for the students within the context of lab are provided for in Watertown and will be made available to lab students so with this discussion I'm putting aside my skeptics hat and saying yeah this is a good thing I think we should adopt it I'll second the motion that was a motion the motion was being Mr. Schlickman and seconded by Mr. Thelman is there any further discussion I learned more about lab in that budget meeting than I've learned being on the school committee for I don't know how long I've been here five years so I thought it was really helpful I think that it's worth considering doing that more regularly so that we have a better understanding of what this looks like and I think we asked some really good questions some really good questions that probably need to be asked a couple of times until we get some answers to those questions so anyway thanks to Dr. Allison Ampey and Mr. Cardin for making that happen I thought it was very useful and we should do it again do you think this should be an annual thing or biannual maybe annual for right now we do have a lot of questions but then maybe biannual I'm not going to chair that subcommittee I think budget's a great place for it so I defer to whatever you people want to do any further comments questions no okay then all in favor of agreeing to the revisions to the regional agreement for lab and authorizing the chair to sign on our behalf okay so all in favor all right any opposed any abstentions okay so that passes unanimously and I'll sign this after I assume that's what I've got here okay great next superintendent update next so Mr. Schlickman I'm going to try to say it right we're very very thrilled that we have welcomed our visitors from our sister city of Nagaoka-kyo Nagaoka-kyo Nagaoka-kyo I was close it's difficult from Japan and they are staying with Arlington host families this week there they are at Wilson farm pictured and we got to greet them at Dallan this morning we did a cultural exchange of songs and music they are middle school students visiting us this week and into next week so they'll be visiting AHS Tomorrow and OMS on Monday morning and they're attending a Red Sox game this weekend they also got a tour of Fenway park yesterday and various other destinations in Arlington and around the Boston area I want to say thank you to Joanne Rautenberg who has brought this program back to life after a four year hiatus we haven't sent delegations back and forth for a while because of the pandemic and it's really great to see this get some life breathe back into it and to meet our guests from our sister city a few other updates a deeper learning dozen convening is next week at Revere public schools we have some new team members joining us both of them from the AEA Julie Keys will be joining us as AEA president as well as Carolyn Snook Dallan math coach and we're really looking forward to adding their voices to some of the work that we've been doing and thinking about now for a year and a half as an administrative team we'll also have the new deputy superintendent Mona Ford Walker joining us for the convening next week we have several administrative hiring searches going on we have collectively spent around the table tens and tens of hours in interviews for the past couple of weeks because we have a lot of searches live right now bracket principal final round was completed yesterday with an announcement coming very soon we've completed the initial round of interviews for the director of communications and family engagement with finalists being announced very soon we are going to start interviews for the director of research data and accountability in that second week of May and we are in the middle of conducting or about to conduct final rounds for assistant director of high school counseling we have three finalists director of SEL and counseling we have two finalists correct sorry you looked at me right yes and then for assistant director of finance we are in the middle of conducting initial rounds of interviews this week as far as enrollments go I've had some technology issues that I believe they just fixed that were hindering my ability to pull data from power school so I will go in tomorrow or over the weekend and send enrollment numbers over in your direction any questions seeing none we move on to the consent agenda all items listed with an asterisk are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion there will be no separate discussion these items unless a member of the committee so request in which event the item will be considered in its normal sequence warrant number 23241 $733,399 and $0.22 from April 19th 2023 draft minutes of March 30th 23 draft minutes both regular and organizational of April 13th 2023 so moved second all in favor aye any opposed any abstentions unanimously next we have policies and procedures first read IGD IGJR okay I want to emphasize that whenever there's a question or concern about anything we're doing as a community it's imperative for us to do it in a respectful, calm manner and that the last thing and I'm speaking for myself in this point the last thing I want to see is anyone feel hurt or intimidated or feel a lack of belonging in this community as a result of any of the actions that revolve around what we do which is the reason why we went and looked at our policies surrounding the topic of reconsideration of instructional resources the research question before us is how do we preserve the right for someone to ask a question or make a challenge about creating a negative climate or atmosphere around it and I want to compliment Mr. Thielman who brought forth to the subcommittee a couple of excellent proposals both for IGD and IGJR as a blueprint for how we would handle things in the event of a cobraculum challenge we worked through this at a meeting of the subcommittee on Monday we will convene again as a subcommittee next Monday because we anticipate or at the time we anticipated other members to have thoughts about it and that we'd certainly want to take another look at the language to make sure the language reflects where we want to go presenting the previous policy when we go back to the point where we will open the district to considering challenges we want something that will work for the district that will not create angster turmoil particularly for our students so the point that I will make right now is presenting these for first read we will be wordsmithing further and then whatever adjustments based on the thoughts and concerns from around this table we can incorporate into the policy and make a presentation for second read and adoption at the next meeting so that if people who would like to make revisions to the text or have questions or comments can submit them through the superintendent and we can have them ready for consideration as the subcommittee meets at 8 a.m. on Monday morning up here again I just want to say that so much work on this has been done by Mr. Thielman and very appreciative of the fact that he brought us to the point where we were able to go as a subcommittee and work through things pretty quickly with what he provided can I talk about this a little bit seeing if anyone has any questions or thoughts as our feelings Mr. Cardin I raise this in an email to Mr. Schluckman I don't know if he's going to be addressed to the next meeting I don't think the appeal to the school committee part is good because this gives somebody challenging a book or a right to get an agenda item or somebody challenging the length of recess or anything else about the schools does not so I would defer I would make this similar to our general complaint policy which is really a discretion of the chair as to whether an appeal would come to the school committee or not would be on the agenda or not I brought forth your recommendation I don't think that we crafted that part of the policy but I think it's where we want to go where would that decision be made it would be the chair would make the decision so let's say we have our book and that it goes to the principal at the school and then they don't like what they hear there and then they go to Dr. Homan and she does her magic and then they still aren't happy with the book and so then they go in our current permutation to Dr. Alice Nampy and they say we don't like what Dr. Homan told us about this book we want you to put this on the agenda for you to make a decision about it and then she would have the discretion to say up or down the way it works is a school level consideration process which means person goes to principal the superintendent at any point in time can say I don't want that person meeting with my principal I'll meet with the person or I'll designate someone else or the principal will meet with the curriculum so that's the school level they're not satisfied they can go to the district level the superintendent has two choices she can just send it up to us and say my team is not spending any more time when this is done or she can convene a committee appoint whoever she wants as the chair and appoint the members to review the curriculum by the previous policy IGD essentially it's a review of either a vote taken by the school committee or a decision made by the superintendent because that's our curriculum happens then once the internal group reviews it they hear the complaint they write a report they make a recommendation they give it to the complainant superintendent reviews it first then they have a choice they could appeal it to us what Len is saying is he doesn't want it automatically put on the agenda there's a way to say that which is basically respond to the complaint following the rules of the school committee something like that and then following the rules of the school committee we decide whether or not the chair with us decides whether we would take a vote affirming the decision of the review committee or not the simplest thing to do is once the school committee takes a vote on it it's essentially over it's done you take a vote we approve the curriculum it's done so the easiest thing oftentimes is to have the school committee take a vote that's when you get confused when there's not a formal vote affirming the viewpoint of the elected officials of the town so that's kind of the easiest way to usually the easiest way to resolve these things but in that scenario that you talked about I'm not doing like this was dealt with at the school level I'm not going to put additional resources toward this I'm sending it straight to the school committee could then in that scenario do we see that still the chair could be like we're not seeing this either well if I may if the superintendent takes a report makes a report somebody challenges the fact that we're teaching children to write with their left hand and they're objecting to that and she looks at that and says well that's I'm not going to bother with this one I'm going to send a report that there was a complaint that we're allowing children to write left handed and it comes to us she writes by virtue of a report we can look at the report and say thank you superintendent if we require a motion on our part somebody would have to say I move that we send this to the subcommittee I move that we do something with this lacking a motion on our part we're receiving a report and that's the end of it Mr. Thielman suggests that we may want to take it up and affirm the superintendent's decision but we're under no requirement to do that as well and so that the only recourse the parent would have to bring it before us at that point would be to show up in public participation for me I'm like a process map person but that's fine I can draw my when we come to a place where this is where that piece wherever you guys land then maybe what I can do is I can like because I'm like you're here and these are your forks and then these are your choices and I I get that in the current draft and what I'm trying to incorporate is this desire to bypass that which I'm fine with I just need to understand how that we haven't worked with that part well it's not that hard to do but I think that I think the I mean Mr. Scherkman partially said this noted this but if you look at the language the appeal to the school committee is that the complainants may appeal a decision of the Instructional Resources Reconsideration Committee to the Arlington School Committee so there's an appeal process if I have a committee that issues a recommendation that then goes to you all but there's not an appeal if I say we're not putting more resources towards this and there's a report there's a report to you you know that there was a challenge attempt to resolve it was and you can choose to take it up or vote to a firm it or whatever but there's not sort of a formal appeal in that case because the public ultimately can appeal anything that you do to us should they feel so inclined and then we go from there that's a different question about a different part so the superintendent has the authority to determine if the request for reconsideration is sufficient information to warrant the calling of an Instructional Resources Reconsideration Committee I guess I'm a little like can the superintendent just be like this is left-handedness is not something we're even going to discuss or there's a couple sentences up in the policy those two sentences should be moved together where are you at? the superintendent may choose not to pursue a reconsideration so where do you want it? yeah I see it you're sort of debating where to put that within the stream of the text but it's there people can email so I guess I think that actually the sentence about may choose not to is what I was actually looking for the curriculum is happening in the district therefore I'm a in most cases the superintendent supports the curriculum that is being delivered so it seems like if someone is challenging it the superintendent has already decided that she supports the school's curriculum so we get great feedback all the time and people bring legitimate concerns to us and if we listen to it make a determination on it that doesn't necessarily mean we didn't do anything with it and that's part of the report that you all would get so I would say I wouldn't we don't always we don't think we got it right all the time I worry that this leaves room for someone to request reconsideration and the superintendent again this is a part of why we're having this conversation is there was a policy before that was not clear so it may be 20 years from now and the superintendent is like I'm not doing that would have to report to us and we'd be able to evaluate whether that was a reasonable decision so they don't pursue a reconsideration but they report something to the school committee about why they're not pursuing a reconsideration the challenge was made I declined it for this reason this is what happened committee could reopen that I think Ms. Gillison did you have anything I want to throw in something before everyone else gets another chance so I'm sorry I couldn't come to your meeting I've been traveling and I just couldn't make that I have the bigger picture question of why do we have this policy we are not required by law to have any policy of this type at all and my question is what purpose are we serving with this policy and what are we hoping to get out of it and then is what we have written serving these goals and I'm asking that as a group because I mean I have ideas but I'm also pointing out we don't have to have anything we could just make this go away it's not required by law I've talked to town council at length a whole bunch I've got one speed down now and just if we're redoing this I want to be sure that we're crafting a policy which achieves the goals that we're really trying to achieve not just the little one of if someone disagrees with something but why are we why are we doing this so I think there's a couple reasons at least that we talked about and Laura and Paul can add to it but I think there are three things one is to codify existing practice so if a parent or somebody has a concern or a question about curriculum they have they can speak to a principal they can speak to someone about it and that happens I mean if we went back there was a challenge here to the tools of the mind curriculum I'm saying just get rid of it I just need to illustrate by example if I can so I would say one is one is it codifies existing practice two it gives a clear pathway in the event that there is a challenge three challenges like this are taking place all over the country if you google Darian Connecticut they're trying to write a curriculum this is based on what the Cambridge public schools did a few years ago to respond to complaints that were coming in the Cambridge so I think it's sort of a I think it's just a wise for a district to have a process by which people can express their opinions and it's also important to remember that we have, if we clarify that first policy three three steps in curriculum that's clarified in the first policy IGD in curriculum adoption the superintendent by law can do it the superintendent's added language that clarifies when we can do it in the high school curriculum so those three actions actually make curriculum approved they approve curriculum and so if someone takes exception to that this gives them an avenue to go through it gives the superintendent options to respond to criticism that come and also it ensures that experts within the district are seeing all this stuff before it gets to a school committee with a recommendation by someone who has the experience to write a recommendation for us so I think that's how I see it Cambridge, Darian, lots of places are responding, trying to figure out a way to do it this is kind of similar to what other groups have done it's not that original I don't, it's not that original and it gives the superintendent a process to follow and the school committee to follow I think if we say nothing and we just suspend the policy by our vote it actually comes back into effect on May 24th it's a confusing policy I don't know what that would do if we just didn't do that I'm saying we can delete it well we could I mean we can do whatever we want it's our policy but absent to policy and this policy was so badly written it was basically absent to policy that with lacking a policy we sat there and said well when we had tools of the mind it was not the right thing to do given the sensitivity to the discussion being made I don't think people were getting emotional about tools of the mind they had questions and people are going to have questions all the time no they were emotional not emotional to this level so that we need a procedure so that we that if somebody has a concern we say okay fine here's the policy this is what we're going to do we're going to follow this pathway and we'll be glad to see it when it makes it through the round so we don't have a large controversy hitting us in this room before it's been able to work its way through the system Mr. Cardin I agree with Dr. Allison Ampe we have a public complaint policy policy file KE it states it has to happen it should be addressed as close to the origin as appropriate if that's not doesn't work go to the building principal then to the superintendent then to the school committee or you can go directly to school committee and it's up to the school committee chair to determine if that's something that's appropriate to go on our agenda so I'm fine with deleting references to a curriculum challenge process and having a curriculum challenge about recess time I'm thinking about what Mr. Cardin just said because it might be changing my mind I think part of what happened over the last several weeks in addition to the atmosphere around this particular challenge I did hear from people that said I had a problem with X not as big societal issue why didn't anybody like I talked to my principal or whoever and they told me this is how it is and I didn't know and I think if we don't have it in a detailed way my concern is that we especially given the national environment that we are living through that we're just we're going to have something like this we're leaving ourselves open to something again and I don't know what that is but like but like Mr. Thielman said we're watching it's just everywhere and it's in Massachusetts and if we don't want to spend a little bit of time we're going to have a little comment period when an issue comes up and just sort of say you can come here and say whatever your complaint is and we will not respond to you I just don't think it I don't think it bodes well for the context in which all of this education is going on it's a policy and trying to and hadn't really thought about it in that context so I'm still I need to think more so my understanding is is that part of the way that this that the the fourth and fifth grade curriculum was changed was ostensibly this building level concern that there were parents who were concerned with the initial curriculum provided feedback and I guess what some kind of process does is it provides protection in the event that somebody was not heard in that situation that if you had concerns there are people out who still have concerns about whether the current curriculum does enough in terms of being you know does enough period right so I guess I need to read K.E. in the morning so I'm done I'm done so I've read K.E. and experienced K.E. and it's it's very vague I couldn't support deleting our current policy and just telling people okay good luck I think it's just too I've seen it used and it's just really it's vague stuff it doesn't really give any clear path to a resolution and it allows more ambiguity sometimes ambiguity is good sometimes you can manage ambiguity and it's a good thing to have but sometimes I'm not comfortable with that solution I don't think it's a good solution I don't think it's good for the district I don't and I would vote against that proposal I would hear it and I might change my mind but I wouldn't vote right now I would not vote in favor of what you're proposing at this time I was I wasn't proposing that I was just saying that that's an option but I think we've heard from everyone a couple times unless you wanted to speak again well I'm having a hard time formulating sort of my thinking but we are an elected body by the community to create the policy to uphold the policy and part of the policy that exists is around approving curriculum and so I think we need to also have as part of that policy an avenue for it to be reconsidered in a way that is productive it has a clear pathway but if it comes to us that and I think it was like it was how Mr. Thielman said it is then ultimately the decision of the committee we make a decision and we as elected officials have spoken for the community and so I think having it here having a policy around specifically around the curriculum in that way supports that that goal In many ways good policy from the minority folks at MASC tends to be sketchy, skeletal and a little vague and in many cases that works because that allows us frameworks to incorporate is to make decisions as things come about however this is such a a controversial, difficult mind field that I definitely want to have a structure for us to move forward next and we will be discussing this again on Monday so this discussion will end now but we'd like to have something to have support for when we go forward in two weeks so please make sure that through the superintendent if you have an opinion beyond what we're saying right now is that you can express it to us through the superintendent I would just say the my experience on this body the district gets in trouble when the committee hasn't taken a vote and if the school committee has taken a vote on a curriculum whatever it is, the high school curriculum and even, and I've been on both sides I've been on the prevailing side and the losing side but once you take a vote it's a vote it's final, it's been approved and what happened here is that never happened and if we had done that all this would have been over because we would have taken a vote it would have been the public policy of the Ellington public schools and it would have been over and so this policy gives Liz the discretion to not go through the process but oftentimes taking something to the committee getting a vote on it, getting it approved is the best thing to happen but we also don't want to be a school committee that's sort of willy-nilly going around saying oh we're going to vote on your 8th grade, but but we need to have a mechanism for the community to bring the concern to which then we can make a decision because the challenge right now part of what's hard right now is that there isn't a challenge on the table so we go along with we're aligned which is good with our district leadership around what we're teaching and learning so I would feel uncomfortable if we started going out being like well let's have a vote on that civics curriculum just so that we're good for 3 years we know that sounds like a really bad idea so we do want a mechanism though so that we can so that it's very clear where we come in rightfully in the process well just so you just IGD written by Dr. Holman has a language about what you just spoke about so we should just make sure you're clear on that okay I think we've had a good discussion you're going to meet on Monday and there's more and actually even if it wasn't approved at our next meeting we still have 2 or 4 weeks yeah we can until the end of May so I think we should move along because we're now 2 minutes behind schedule subcommittee and liaison reports and announcements budget Mr. Cardin so we met as we discussed to hear about lab and we also heard about the costing out of the strategic plan and I think that was it we have a meeting scheduled for May 19th for further work on the strategic plan and presentation to a finance committee meeting at the end of May or beginning of June there's a long-range planning committee meeting tomorrow we're not quite sure what's going to be covered and for you folks who aren't on town meeting we will be presenting the school budget on Monday and Mr. Mason has provided the school report electronically and the hard copies will be there on Monday so you're welcome to join us you can come down on the floor you've got buttons you've got buttons okay we are having a school committee chat this Saturday April 29th at 11 am on Zoom Mr. Cardin and I will be there it is we are inviting met co-families but anyone in the community is welcome to come and chat with us curriculum instruction and again we are meeting on May 22nd to talk about district goals which we will then bring to the full committee to talk about again facilities we don't have any meetings scheduled the facilities are doing great policies we just heard I think you just heard from us yeah building committee so building committee so the building committee was meeting on Tuesday we're making a present we're going to do a four minute meeting report on Monday and we have received word that the turnover is now scheduled for October 11th since we took the vote to keep buildings up it will not impact teaching and learning and we're going to talk about it more in depth on Tuesday night but we're in good shape it's going great tours are going to take place for the building committee in June maybe the school committee yeah okay any liaison reports any announcements just want to remind everybody again 9 o'clock in the morning Thursday May 4th which is next week may I see Dan the hell it begins with one beacon street which is the UMass club and then it adjourns to the state house for lobbying with our beloved legislators and the best food that will approach Beacon Hill all year because it's catered by the vocational staff and any student reps who are or student members who don't necessarily have to be the reps are invited to come along and register for free so they should talk to you as long as everything works within the context of the school I don't want to go and disturb the high school's procedures for allowing students to be out and about at events but assuming that you get permission from the school which I think they'll probably do we'd love to see you there okay any other announcements seeing none any future agenda items I'd like to get on the agenda two things one when we were at METCO we talked about submitting a resolution regarding METCO funding so in order to submit that to MASC for the Delegate Assembly in November I think the deadline with that is round June 1st so we're going to have to write a resolution for that between now and then so we get that on the agenda would you write that for us I will do that and if anybody has suggestions for that let me know and I think we'll leave it at that for now okay anything else seeing none do I have a motion to adjourn so moved in favor yes any opposed any abstentions meeting is adjourned at 8.27