 Okay Started taping Yes I'll hear about it three hours three hours later She says I didn't see you at all. Where were you? I Wish think you're out dating Okay we have already begun the regular school meeting of the Arlington school committee of Thursday March 14th We've been having some technical difficulties with the TV feed and it's continuing. This may be taped So whenever you see this we have Entered the meeting gone immediately into executive session so we conduct some business We've now exited executive session and are returning to the start of our meeting It's now 7 0 5 and we begin with public participation Miss Steinitz. I'm Rebecca can you hear me? Am I right? I'm Rebecca Steinitz. I'm the president of the Arlington Education Foundation Thank you for having me and I'd like to share some spring news and an invitation from AEF First of all, we're thrilled to announce a new grant program that we're starting this spring the greatest treasure in Arlington schools is our teachers and We wanted to thank them for their great teaching by giving them a chance to be students again Our new continuing scholars award now I'm reading from the official language will be awarded to full-time Arlington educators to support Education experiences that will in turn benefit their students the award will fund seminars courses workshops trips or expeditions Sponsored by university schools institutes or professional development organizations the grants go up to $2,500 will be awarding them in the spring in the fall and people are asking how many will you award and We don't know we want to see how many great applications we get so we don't want to limit ourselves So the deadline for the first round of awards is April 1st and the details can be found on our website Which is? www.arlingtoneducationfoundation ma so you don't get Arlington, Virginia or Arlington, texas.org Second our spring innovations in education grant deadline is April 15th I'm sure you all know about these small grants for innovative school and classroom projects Last fall among other things we funded training for world language teachers a new statistics program at the oddison and the Dalin literary journals, so we're looking forward to seeing what new ideas turn up this spring We hope we'll be getting lots of grants Finally, I'd like to attend and I'm sorry. I don't have a bee with me this year. My bee is homesick I'd like to extend a formal invitation to the school committee administrators teachers and families to join us at AEF's annual trivia bee The bee will take place Sunday March 24th from 3 to 5 p.m. At Town Hall Superintendent Bodie will once again be Captain gowned and serving as a judge and along with teams from all over town We have a great number of great teams this year We have teams from the Arlington Education Association the Pierce the Bracket the Stratton To each from the Bishop and the High School and from either the hardest working school in Arlington Or perhaps the most trivial school in Arlington We have two teams from Hardy and one from the Hardy after school So there they're serious down there in East Arlington Now I hear there's also a school committee team But I believe you all need to get your paperwork in on time. I was just looking at our spreadsheet blank blank lines for you all and I'm glad I'm here to help you clear up these personnel issues You'll also Paul you'll want a good name Because you will be facing the high achievers. This is just the school teams the sly ponders The Stratton Smarties the Bracket Boas the Pierce stingers and my children's favorite fight for your right to Hardy That nothing to do with us we've got creative people in this town There will be fierce competition and the winner the prize is books for the school library of your choice There will also be children's activities We're totally ramping up the activities this year We've got a New school representative at AEF who like they start talking and I don't even know what they're talking about But it's not just going to be stickers and crossword puzzles Building things and trivia and all sorts of stuff. They'll be raffles. They'll be audience participation I believe audience members are going to get to do the building challenges and they'll be refreshments I brought the bee cookie cutter to Wilson farms this morning So the bee cookies will be there and this is all for the remarkable price of free so Again visit our website to learn more and we hope to see you all cheering on your favorite team at the town hall on Sunday March 24th at 3 o'clock. Thank you for your attention Thank you very much for coming in and telling us about this and we know mr. Schlickman is going to get Behind the Okay And that ends our public participation at this point will move on to tools of the mind. We apologize that you've had to wait kindergarten curriculum Are here tonight to answer questions the The issue before the committee tonight is to do a formal approval of this program We've talked at get community the community Curriculum and accountability subcommittee about this But there is there's two parts to this this evening's discussion one is just to have an opportunity for questions I know there's been some things over the last two weeks that that some people have some questions about In the area of professional development and in fact, that's the second reason We wanted to have this as a separate item tonight to talk about some options for professional development Assuming the positive vote of approval for this curriculum initiative So I know that you've heard mr. Miko before do a presentation on tools quite eloquent one I might add but she's she's here this evening to answer questions And she also brought all of her her kindergarten teachers from Hardy and if they could all come up One of the And dad would you introduce everybody? Okay? So first of all, thank you for the opportunity to answer questions I have to tell you I am so a very proud principle tonight because I Had several days to think about coming here and I happened to be speaking with my teachers today and saying you know I know some questions are going to be coming up about specifically about the training and what that's about and I have Not had a chance to go to the training and So my teacher said well, we can give you the outlines of all the training sessions But we wish we could be there and I said Please come so they are here with about four hours notice. They went out to dinner had pizza So they are really the experts and very passionate about this So I want to introduce Debbie Peelik who has been at Hardy school for 10 years Debbie And I've been there seven so Deb was there when I got there The lucky for me. This is Erin Eldridge who's been with us at Hardy for six years She was at Thompson school for one year. So this is your eight seventh year seventh year and Erica do some Came on board. I think Erica you've been with us four years So and they are just fabulous. So I'm happy to have them here and we're happy to answer questions Mr. Simon, did you have anything you wanted? I just wanted to say the district did a two-year pilot that began 2010-2011 school year and we had a committee subcommittee meeting Earlier this week and had a good conversation with dr. Bode about the curriculum and by all accounts It's been well received by kindergarten teachers We heard from dr. Bode that they're kindergarten teachers that do not never want to go back to the old curriculum including all of you and It's a it's a curriculum that's designed to teach children Self-discipline the ability to organize themselves and it gives them the skills They need to be better learners both in kindergarten and beyond so the our subcommittee voted unanimously to recommend this curriculum To to endorse this curriculum to the full school committee and to have it be adopted as the curriculum and kindergarten going forward starting in September of 2013 Do we have any questions? Miss starts How many teachers have been trained and how many teachers would need to be trained? Part of this I'm sorry. Is that for me? So we have seven teachers who have been trained correct and We're thinking it's about 12 Teachers in addition to that who would need to be trained. We have about 20 kindergarten teachers in the district and They're all able to get this over the summer Could you explain the training and maybe this would actually be a great opportunity for you to talk about the recent Training you just went through right so I'll just start by sort of giving you the the big picture of the training so Training happens over two consecutive years for teachers who are adopting the tools program The first year there are two back-to-back training sessions that ideally happen the June before implementation and Then through that first year there are three additional full days of training and Those have happened typically. I think they were October January March the second year those full-day trainings continue and I believe there are Four with it with three again. So again October January March Okay, so those 12 teachers that need the training will get it We have the ability to have that ready for them in June so before they would leave then they would be trained Yes, ideally that that is you want them back-to-back. I know our teachers who were in the pilot We had to split it They did one day in June and one day in just before school started and that felt a little hectic So the the design is to have it back-to-back I want to talk about what the design what the design might be this some it's today It's two consecutive days, right the issue is how to have two consecutive days or kindergarten But I think this would be a great opportunity Maybe the effort to come here I think people who are listening would really like to know about this because I know that mr. Thielman had an email Wondering about the training. Is this another? Is this a program that we're gonna we're going to have in the district that People are going to move into without the support they need I mean, that's a it's a legitimate concern and then another concern is What do we what evidence do we have over the last two years in terms of student achievement? Sure? So Would you like to talk a little bit about the training and what it involves do you want? So I think what we really enjoyed the most about the training is that it's not just Curriculum driven it's more philosophy driven. So right from the start would learn so much about why we would do this curriculum and Really what it would do for our whole classroom and for our whole idea about teaching our whole light our whole Way that we teach has completely changed and shifted And I think That once we had that that found that foundation then that could really drive the curriculum that we were implementing So I feel like that was one of the biggest things about that all the training that we received is it just put a complete twist on overall idea of teaching I Think Yes, we actually just went to training yesterday And we have we're fortunate up to meet Dr. Leong who was the developer of the tools program and just having her insight and having her there And being able to pick her brain about things This was the most valuable professional development that I think we can say that we've ever done And it's so extensive because it's so much information that if you were to get it all in one sitting There's really no way to digest it. So year one is more The philosophy and then the content laid out in pieces So you're not looking at September to June in one day You're looking at you know chunks of time so that you're able to fully manage it and fully digest it We've really enjoyed year two because now we can look back and say oh, yeah I can see why that doesn't work or why we have to do it this way So having year two was kind of a reflection has been really great yesterday. We could just sit through chain Oh, I know what she's talking about. Oh, I remember doing that. I still need to do this It was really really valuable for us in that way Well, I know like this year we were saying when we were in the break room that It just has been really good to kind of like kind of redo a lot more reflection this year and really think about You know why we're doing what we're doing and then like you can really see a difference issue too like having You know the second year around with the kids you can kind of To see it more how it's you know affecting the kids and and how they're working together It's I just like the way it's been spread out to you know And a lot of times I feel like in professional development We don't have a chance to go back and reflect on it It's kind of like here you go Here's your curriculum and good luck. We hope it works But this year we've really been able to collaborate and collaborate across schools Collaborate across districts with other districts who are going through the same pilot program that we are Hearing what they've been doing trying their ideas. So the part about teacher collaboration has been huge for us I feel too And I'll just add one other part another piece of this professional development is the program also Provides for coaching for teachers throughout the two-year training span. So Which is really the perfect professional development model because in addition to having The day to get information and the underpinning in the philosophy and the materials You then have a coach who comes in on a regular basis both years and Watches you teach and gives you feedback models teaching for you It really holds you kind of accountable for the fidelity of the program Because as you know whenever you Implement something you want to make sure you're doing it the way it's intended to be because There's reasons for it being that way and you want to make sure you get the results. That's that is intended Just miss tux. Okay, um, so the I assume then the cost the training is part of the cost of the The program right because that's a lot of I assume subs really for so that they can do the PD as well as the training Right, so then my question is what is the cost and is it in the budget? the cost is probably be about 50,000 I think for this first year and We are going to be able to fund it through the new grant that we have During the course of the year we we talked to the The grant manager in DC to see if the tools program would be consistent with the The guidelines and the criteria of the grant and they agreed that it would be so we amended our Grant application and that's how we're going to be funding this Okay, I remember that there was a $50,000 item line item on the budget for tools Is that is this 50 that you're talking about in addition to that 50? So it's a hundred total or it's the source of the source of the revenue has changed not from the operating budget to a grant Okay Mr. Schlegman, so It looks like the heart of the program is combining self-regulation and with academic content and There are the question was raised Tuesday or Monday night. I'm losing track of time Regarding pacing and end of year attainment and I think the comment was made that it's a little slower getting off the ground in September, but by this time of the year you're actually in a better spot. Can you elaborate on that? So that's very true and when we start in September it looks a lot different The the children are Involved in a lot of dramatic play and guided play There's a lot of work around fairy tales and retelling of stories and Children really learning how to get along with each other work with partners work with groups problem-solve They're learning how to regulate how to wait their turn, but it's all through these and Games that the tools of the mind curriculum provides The this And you through the trainings you learn about why all of those games help that and then the second half of the year it changes and it That's one of the things I think about the program is it's always changing. It's not it doesn't it doesn't stay the same for a whole year it's constantly changing and scaffolding up to With the children and then the second half of the year it becomes very academic But they're using all of those skills that they've learned earlier in the year So they're more able to learn so this is really infused in the total classroom From the minute they walk in the door to the minute they leave and it's an all day all day long It's in every activity that you do Have does this change in the way you're reporting to parents on? On your children either through a report card or self report checklist or Something of that nature I Think yeah, that's something that we were talking about And I think that we're noticing a lot of things that the other curriculum didn't allow us to notice So although not all of it is reflected in our report card, which will probably eventually need to be tweaked I feel like we're looking more at their interaction skills along with their academics But we find those things equally as important. How can they interact? Can they wait their turn? How do they solve a problem with their friends? Do they need a lot of teacher scaffolding still to do that or at this point in the year? Can they do it independently? Do you feel like we actually have kept the report card Yeah, we were still using the same report card that everybody else was using and Like still able to to use it which I think you know for some parents that was comforting to see that You know, you're still doing you know pieces of what they were doing before but just in a different way Thank you Okay I'm just gonna ask what they would talk a little bit about the academics in terms of the benchmarks and where what you what you The data you've already looked at So and I believe you have an executive summary that I wrote that speaks a bit to the To the question about benchmarks and we we were really committed as a district when we took this study on That our students in the tools study classrooms would be held to the same Benchmarks as the students across the district because that is something that you as a committee and we as a district have committed ourselves to And so we were really curious to see we looked particularly at the reading benchmarks at the end of the first year of Tools implementation, which was last year now granted. This was one year So what we looked at was not just last year But we looked at three the two previous years as well because what we were hoping to see is Were there any trends? Did we see did things pretty much stay the same? Were there some dramatic differences one way or the other and what we discovered was there were really no dramatic differences in the data that the way that the children had been Achieving or reaching their benchmarks at the end of the year In those classrooms in previous years were pretty much in concert with what we saw at the end of last year So first we kind of thought oh, but then we thought oh, you know, we've really Changed the way the day looks we've changed the way the curriculum is rolled out We've really committed to as you heard Erica say kind of ratcheting back at the beginning of the year and spending more time building children's ability to learn and remember on purpose and and learn together and then roll out the academics which is different from the way we've done it and We gained all of that and nothing else changed. So I think that that was that was an important thing to to to see I Will say that one of the tools teachers was remarking when she was looking at the data that she felt that The to the the children who were ready in kindergarten to stretch beyond the benchmark to really be reading at a solid Beginning middle even end of first grade beginning second grade level that she felt that there were more children Who scored at that level? Because she felt that the richness of the curriculum gave them some place to stretch to so that was just one teacher that remarked on that and and I just think it was an interesting An interesting piece So I don't know if there's more you want to hear if that answered your question I had a question and this may be for you or this may be for the superintendent a number of years ago We committed to a lot of open-circle training Which is that the upper grades in elementary though and I'm wondering if that is still in place how this program interacts with That and whether they're complimentary Whether that's still active or this is a transitioning in that we're expecting to see gradually feed up Well, I'll answer sort of the administrative answer then I'll I'll let these guys Take it from there, but To be part of the study we were asked not to use open-circle because There that is a separate kind of social competence curriculum That that is not part of how tools creates community and creates Collaboration and creates problem-solving skills. So So right now tools The tools classrooms have not been using open-circle. I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about How you you see tools sort of addressing those social interaction kinds of things and I Mean, I think we're still addressing like we're it's we're constantly working with the children on problem-solving and you know They're constantly working with each other Talking out issues. So I think it feels very similar to the open-circle It's not as formal like with open-circle. We you know, we kind of met, you know in a very you know formal way So this is a like to me very informal And I think as Deb was saying like after the study Like I think this year now it's coming clear how we can take some of the things that we had been using and Make them more tools like but that a lot of open-circle is they definitely are very compatible It's it's just a you know a little bit different way, but I Found that in kindergarten open-circle was great The language was great But the actual meeting part of open-circle was really hard for kindergarteners to sit through, you know A lot of talking there's not a lot of props or anything to kind of engage them So I found that part really challenging for open-circle in kindergarten But I feel like the tools social stuff is just embedded in what we do So it's more of just like in a natural moment because a lot of kids can walk the walk But then they can't talk the talk when it comes to outside of open-circle So I feel like it's just more embedded into everything that we're doing and using that common language as well Yeah, and they're always applying those skills to what they're doing for all these games and activities Couple questions. Have you can has anyone consulted with the other kindergarten teachers in town what they think have they heard about it? what their Thoughts are And and you know Stephanie Zurchikoff is here, too Her teachers were also part of the study, but they were the control group. They did not have the training So I would invite Stephanie to also say if she wants to but looks like she doesn't I Know so I think Judd the answer to that is that any time there's going to be a major shift You know teachers are professionals and they take a great deal of pride in what they do And we have a very seasoned very effective kindergarten staff here in Arlington and it's hard I believe for teachers who are so professional to think about who what am I going to need to change? What am I not going to be able to do? So and I'm sure that there are people who are all over the spectrum I know that there are teachers who are as Stephanie said chomping at the bit Let just let me add it give me you know make the decision and train me I'm ready to go and then there are other teachers who are more skeptical. It's going to be a lot of work What will it be like and then there are teachers? I'm sure who say I really don't want to do this I think anytime you institute a change. That's the spectrum of of what we have, but I also know that The teachers in Arlington are pros and they are willing when push comes to shove when they're saying You know, this is what needs to happen. They knuckle down. They figure it out and they get involved So I certainly don't don't intend to speak for all kindergarten teachers I can't but I I know from the meetings that we've had that that that people are anxious But willing to try And I noticed that there were a couple of things that you found You would want to weave into a tools program, but it's interesting because the comment about open circle You said you were specifically prohibited from using open circle because it doesn't fit with their idea So I'm wondering to what extent can you weave things in to make the program better? And if you can Will that constrain the time you have in the day with these kindergartners if you if you start weaving more things in What would have to come up? So I thought I knew what you were asking, but I'm not I'm not quite sure I know that For example, you say that or or this this summary says that you would like to see Certain issues addressed such as the tools math program is weak or you'd like to weave in Arlington social studies and science Curriculate into the tools program. Yes, what would then have to leave the tools program? Those things were can I make a point? I think so you were in a study before are you actually being quantified? So they had to follow certain rules because they were in a study Okay, and they couldn't muck with you know, they were sort of testing the tools curriculum if they mucked with it It wouldn't be a good study. I understand. That's my question going forward. What will be different? Sure so that the Arlington's Early math program is very compatible with tools and it's in fact already the teachers who are in the study have Been able with the the developers sanction take the Arlington math program and Toolify it create make it make it Fit with this philosophy of the program, but keep the content rich Which is was one of the concerns that the the math program that came to us through the tools was not strong enough Social studies I would I I would probably have to defer to my teachers there really isn't a Social studies curriculum per se and Carrie Dunn and I have been working To identify ways Ways that the curriculum that she feels is important for kindergarten is to have can be woven in and in fact One of the professional development days that's left here in this school year. I believe it's in May Carrie is meeting with the kindergarten teachers to talk about a new unit that she wants to put into kindergarten that And some of the teachers who are here tonight will be working with her next year to implement that That's that answer your question. My last question. I'm sorry. It's okay. It is the time element Will there be to add all these extra things that you see ours? Not really as rich in the tools program How how will that be adjusted for sure? So just to be clear the math is not an addition It's almost like a substitution. So there still is math instruction, but instead of using the the Units in the games that tools provides we use the units and the activities that Arlington provides and you just use it in that math time and in the way that and I don't know about social studies how that will work or what would have to come out Do you have anything to say about that? a lot of that can be a lot of the Social studies curriculum that she's talking about carry done is that social curriculum that can be intertwined into our daily Conversations that we have a lot of the tools social studies type activities are about around the world and Where we do the magic treehouse series all of those touch up. There's a week with each book that is all nonfiction Learning it's all about you know right now. It's space and we're learning about Everything about outer space and traveling there and what the people use to travel there We did the ice age and the tools that they use in the ice age And so a lot of that social studies curriculum can be intertwined in with those themes It's just being creative in how we how we do that. It wouldn't necessarily take more time Would just be okay, I'm Aware of the time. I had one question and then I think we if there's anything really burning I just wonder if you could talk a little bit more about The curriculum is that we should be expecting some behavior changes in first grade and That's what I'm really interested in and just wondering if you could speak to that As we and again, this is just after one year But one of the in your summary that you have some of the observations from the first grade teachers included That children first of all were much more Willing to write writing is a huge component of the tools program and it starts from day one so what the first great teachers across the board notices that children were not afraid to write that they were much more Comfortable competent they had something to say they knew how to use writing as a tool They noticed that children were able to solve conflicts without Help for example, I was in a first-grade classroom and children were trying to figure out how to set up how to get a game started and In the past what would have become something that the teacher would have to intervene with Suddenly the children stopped and said let's do rock paper scissors. Let's just kind of figure it out and they did To first-grade teachers noticed more collaborative learning children were more readily talking to each other about their learning helping each other out if someone was stuck So these are the kinds of things that that we were seeing in first grade Okay, thank you. Mr. Heiner really quick. Is there any intent to provide upper-grade teachers with? Reinforced to reinforce these skills as the children go up I assume you're not expecting these children children to learn in the kindergarten maintain these things all the way through Yeah, I actually wish they could do that we were talking to dr. Leong yesterday who is in the process of developing something for grades one through three When that will happen and whether that's something that Arlington would adopt I guess I was thinking more of the idea of I Is a formal fourth grade teacher coming down and observe the things so that when I see a Potential conflict it just might say from the other side of the room Rock paper scissors and reinforce it like that. I don't know if that's part of it Okay, so here's the the tricky thing and I know we don't have a lot of time We could obviously talk about this for a long time, but It's it's really important for people to understand that The underpinning of this is really a philosophy. It's really understanding about teaching and learning and so it isn't just a Question of oh that looks like a good idea. I'm gonna do that in my third grade It's not gonna grow legs unless you really get as these folks are saying why this works And how does this shift not just how I do that, but how I do everything so anyway Okay, so at this point Thank you very much and I Thought we already had voted on this, but okay So I moved that the Arlington public schools adopts the tools of the mind curriculum for all kindergarten classrooms commencing with the next the 2013-2014 school year second, okay any further discussion All in favor I any opposed any abstentions, okay So at this point what you have at your place is We need to have two days of training To begin this and I put this is really sort of the first three options and during the next Two weeks I'll actually survey parents and kindergarten teachers to what they prefer but here they essentially what they are One possibility would be to just have the last day of kindergarten this year be Friday the June 21st Option two would be to just have school The students would stay to the last day of school, which is the 27th of June But two of those days in the last week is a Monday Tuesday or Tuesday Wednesday They would have substitutes in their classroom And they would not be their kindergarten TAs I might add because they're going to be part of the training as well the third option would be a hybrid and That would be that we parents who wanted their children to stay through the 27th could choose to do that And we would have for two of those days Substitutes in the classroom or they could choose to have the last day be the 21st Option one and three would require a school committee vote So I'm just presenting this tonight. It's sort of the first read to think about it I'll do a survey Let you know what comes of that and then if we could at the 28th make a decision as what makes the most sense Does anyone have any quick questions about the different options? Mr. Salmon Do you have a preference? I mean, do you have a recommendation? What do you think is best pedagogically? I Think that the first option has the most is The better of the three because it gives the teachers more professional development time They would then use the other day and a half to work with Them among themselves in planning for next year. I Would say though that there's probably a lot of parents who who may not want I've been counting on the last day of school to be the 27th of June and that may not be a great option for them to have it The the school year end on the 21st So it's the the thing about the third option is the teachers would be back in the classroom the other days other than the training days Does anyone else have any other quick questions? I Have one. I just want to ask so all of these options would ensure the Required number of school days for our kindergartners and our and ours We're so over the number of hours for kindergarten because we're a full-day program and the state only mandates a half day, okay? Okay, thank you. So we'll discuss this in two weeks So at this point I want to take a site before we move on to the common formative assessments and And because the start of the meeting got messed up I did not welcome our our student rep who is Lucas Munson who is a senior He's the senior class vice president He also participates in soccer basketball volleyball and a whole bunch of clubs. I'm not gonna And they read through but thank you for coming. We're sorry. We had to move you out back in and I also want to Thank and welcome Miss Foley for being our a representative this evening and Also, I didn't get to read my quote unlike as desired by Mr. Slickman, I am not going to read the first 100 digits of pi But I found one that was about assessments and it's from Douglas J. Etter Who says if you don't know where you're headed, you'll probably end up somewhere else And with that I Okay Thank you this evening. We're gonna review where we are with our assessment program and In order to do that, I always think That we should talk just a little bit about the importance of assessment And sort of touch base on their major types of assessment Talk about the current assessments that we have in place and what work lies ahead in order to do that though I always feel like an Experiential having an experience is better than hearing it Set at you. So you could find in your packet you have a Packet of papers that says choose one of the next three do now's So there are it's a white packet that was added to your place tonight Because we didn't want anybody to cheat and get the answers ahead of time So there are three do now's there one is a math one is a Physics one and there is a humanities one and if you would choose one of those to do in very quick order Please don't look at the person next to you And this is how many many of our classes start every single day These are examples of formative assessments. So if you would just choose one to do and Give you about two minutes to do it. Oh, and if you choose the physics one Oh About one more minute Yeah, it would be the other way, but no, no the tables tilt the tables tilt the bed so it's rolling off So, okay, if you would now turn to a person on your left or right and discuss Which of the do now's that you chose and have about a 30-second discussion about why you chose it and what you think the answer is I Second Okay, thank you if I can bring everybody back I know it's very exciting and this is why we start off our classes with it to get students right to work as soon as they Come in most teachers have these posted Right on their boards when they come in and students begin to work on them And we'll talk a little bit more about the purpose of these formative assessments in a moment So assessment is a key part of curriculum and instruction assessment It's the three-legged stool without one leg if the other two don't sort of work Good assessment is critical in order to evaluate programs Evaluate to assess student achievement and to help raise teacher quality Summative assessment helps us to evaluate the effectiveness of programs in curricula and that is the primarily focus of Summative assessment and when teachers join forces with their students in formative assessment the process of that their partnership Generates provides a powerful outcome We just did the do now. This is a This one came from an eighth grade math class just so you know This physics activity comes from our ninth grade physics classes and it's based on Newton's second law of motion and This third one came from one of our English classes here at the high school So formative assessment is assessment for learning it provides teachers with Information that will allow them to adopt changes in the instruction based on Evidence and immediately get benefits to the student as part of the instruction process Students can also and this is a very key aspect of formative assessment Students can use evidence to actively manage and adjust their own learning and tonight We heard about tools of the mind and one of the key elements of tools of the mind is students creating their own learning plans and setting their own learning goals Feedback in assessment for learning occurs when there's still time to take action Some of the assessment and these are very simplistic definitions But just sort of to make sure that everybody is sort of dealing with the same definitions Our results that are used to make some sort of judgment. Does this program work? Does this curricula work? Assessment of learning happens at some point in time We draw a sort of draw a line and a stand and take an assessment at as that point in time and Generally, the purpose is to measure the level of a student a school or a program success and Overall assessment overview in Arlington in terms of formative assessment. We use things like tickets to leave Which is an a formative assessment that's given at the end of the class do now Which is a formative assessment that's given at the beginning We use DRA, which is a reading formative assessment which informs teachers about their students growth as they move along in the reading process learning the reading process Teacher observations can be used as a formative assessment There may be a classroom performance tasks and we have two online tools that we're currently using one is called Play-Doh and the other One's called Symphony to do formative assessment in mathematics in Terms of summative assess and this is not an exhaustive list. These are some just some examples For summative assessment, we have unit and chapter tests and quizzes. We have culminating project projects MCAS access, which is the ELL assessment and presentations and debates are other kinds of summative assessments In your packet you have both this Summary table and you also have detailed information in the salmon colored packet about all the Assessments that we do in Arlington If you look at this chart, you'll notice that there's a number of these are Assessments that are done commonly across all the grades. So while there are social studies Assessments that are being done I don't want don't mean to imply by this chart that there are no social studies assessments in the Elementary schools, but they're not necessarily common and that is one of the things we're going to be working on for next year And I want to now give you some Specific examples of how we use information from our formative income summative assessments at the elementary school and the upper grades So one of our formative assessments at the elementary school as we talked about before is DRA and it measures Accuracy fluency and comprehension in terms of reading It will determine each student's instructional level and evaluates Three components of reading their reading engagement their oral reading fluency and Comprehension it will quickly help the teacher decide what the instructional needs are and based on Teachers can create a plan Documenting which what each student needs to work on and once the assessment is complete the teachers can use this information To differentiate instruction and create instructional groups right now This is happening within the classroom level But it's our goal and we'll talk again a little bit about this at the end that we start to do that across a grade level when we look at that for next year so that we Look at for example You know grade two and we look at where students are in the DRA using the DRA in the process of acquiring reading skills And that we may differentiate groups not between not just one inside one classroom, but between multiple classrooms It's a true formative assessment It is not a standardized assessment And there is some portion of this test that's subjective and we don't calibrate that on a regular basis We will be creating some new technology videos for teachers to watch and then Assess a student and then compare their assessment with the benchmark assessments that the reading specialists have put together But right now once a teacher is trained We rarely come back and calibrate it and it's not meant to be a standardized assessment It's meant to be a formative assessment It's also used as a benchmark assessment to I'll allow us to look at what percentage of students have reached the grade level Benchmarks in oral reading fluency and comprehension at the mid-year point An example of a more summative type of assessment would be the fifth grade Assessment where they take a common assessment in math At the mid-year point. It's a lot aligned to the new state standards and each question is aligned to a specific Standard the new midterm covers all the standards that have been covered by the at that point in the time in testing And the results of the question are compared to the results of the same type of questions for mCAS So this would be an example of an mCAS report that you would get from the state this actually comes from Dallin and I have put arrows next to a number of Standards and you'll notice that that we both have the 2004 standards, which were the old standards before we adopt to the Common Core and that 2011 standards which are the new Massachusetts state framework standards and I want to just call to your attention You'll notice that there are a number of things there that don't have a corresponding Standard and that's because the standards they are a change in This would be the the Excel spreadsheet that we would put student data in from the mid-term assessment and I've highlighted One of the standards that you saw from the previous that matches Closely to the standards from the mCAS test so it'll give us some indication about how the students might be Going to perform this year in the mCAS test because this is from last year's data and this is from this year's data So it's not necessarily, but it gives us some predictive results In terms of secondary these are this is a summary table and again in your salmon packet you have all the detail of the Assessments that we have at the secondary level And you can see at each major subject area These are the common assessments that we have at those at each of those levels and Again, I want to take you through just very quickly a specific a couple of specific examples So the sixth graders this year took a common assessment in math Again, it is matched to the new state standards and each question is to a unique standard The mid-term covers all the standards that have been covered up to that point and again We're going to compare that data that we get from that mid-term exam to the mCAS from last year so this would be an example of The data that we got from the sixth grade from this year and you see that I highlighted a specific standard and Then you can see how that relates to the mCAS standard So one of the questions that the committee has asked was how how do we connect it now in this case? We've connected it to the mCAS, but there will be other Assessments that we will do that will actually Create get connected to the standard and in some cases those standards are more national standards So for like world language as you saw before we have world language assessments and those are being checked against the national world language standards And then we have science Assessments that are happening, but we're going to have to probably look at modifying those because the new science standards are probably going to be Approved by the end of this school year in ninth grade physics We have a mid-term exam that's based on former mCAS questions And those responses are an analyze for trends and then when we get to the pre mCAS review we modify That review based on the results of the midterm But we also I wanted to give in some examples of Formative assessments so that you know that we don't just do these standardized Assessments and the formative assessments in physics we do do now as you as you got to see one tonight We do tickets to leave we do quick rights They're generally based on either that day's Topics or the previous night's topics and it provides information to teachers on if it's necessary to change modify or reteach topics So here is a do now activity for all you physics fans out there, and I actually have a physical model So the question is if you pull the string at the bottom and the weight wasn't moving If I pull on the bottom thread gently but with increasing force what will happen? Or if I pull it suddenly what will happen? If you pull it gently no pull it fast the bottom one top little break bottom one will break Slow the bottom well the correct answer And I don't have time to go into the physics nor what I have expertise in doing that Is that if you pull it fast the bottom one will break and we actually demonstrated this in my office this afternoon If you pull it slowly it actually creates tension in the top String and gives it time so that that string will break first And I have to do that with the speed of which And this would be something where students would have studied the second law of motion and then this demonstration They would be asked to predict just like you were and then they would actually do the demonstration And then they would be asked to explain their their answer The last thing I want to show you before we finish our Then I take questions is I would like to show you a variety of assessments that are happened in one kindergarten class in one week, and this is a video we have a teacher. We have a number of teachers that have used social media to communicate to parents what their students Outcomes have been on the assessments that have been in the class, and so this is a very short video It's only about two minutes and 52 seconds, and you'll see performance assessments. You'll see teacher observation And you'll see a number of other assessments that are being used in the classroom And I think this video is really telling me because you'll see a combination of Hands-on activities as well as technology being used to assess students I want to stop it right there what you see right happening right now is that students are using Styluses and they're writing This is a kindergarten class, so they're writing Sentences about using iPads, and if you can see and you'll see it better in the next video You'll see that for each word they make one line So that they're almost dice or almost Diagramming the sentence and so this is in for in kindergarten That's the first step the second step Developmentally that the teacher is looking for is are they able to put the first sound of the word in then the next step Developmentally would be like the last sound of the word and then the primary vowel sound of the word So while it you know you look at this and it looks very simplistic the teacher is actually getting some very very Interesting information about what the students are able to do So and the other thing I want to say about that last video is that was a student using Apple TV to show their Individual work up on the screen. This is yes Yes, this is a tools classroom These videos are actually made with Conjunction by the students all that all the footage that you saw was taken by kindergarten students at in Amory Evans class in the kindergarten at the Stratton school And and I wanted to end with this video because I think you see a number of variety of Assessments that we use every day in just a kindergarten class And so I think sometimes there is a fear that when we add technology into a classroom We're adding it for technology's sake And I think that you can see in this video that when it's appropriate and it supports the educational process We do use technology, but there's also lots of hands-on learning that comes in in that classroom questions Starks as far as the math assessments. Is there any plan to expand? the math Common assessments to be other than just a mid-year. Yeah, the next step would be and I should have actually talked about the next steps The next step would be that we would Take formative assessments that we could take along the way to make sure that that's going to happen. We're doing that with With our play-doh system right now, but what you saw was What you saw in the was the test we need to make formative assessments along the way so that we can modify instruction And that will be our next step And we'll also have to modify it quite a bit because the new park assessment is going to be significantly different than the current MCAS assessment and we'll and we'll have to be be having Common performance assessments to practice. So we'll be we'll be putting those in next year. Okay. Thank you Anyone else with questions? Okay, I guess I had one which was part of what we were trying to do with the presentation was answered one of the For the district goals, which is create and I appreciate Mr.. Pierce's iPad here Create or identify two common assessments at every level and all disciplines to measure student progress to in order to maintain high Expectations for learning teacher consistency and a common focus on instruction and I'm just wondering How we're doing for that with the exception of elementary social studies We have common assessments in every subject area Across the across the K through 12 Continuum in some cases there's if you if you look at that salmon color chart You'll see all the detail that's associated with that that I had passed out to the school committee I think it's salmon may be beige It talks about all the different assessments that we have and Sometimes it's three times a year some sometimes there's five different assessments It depends from subject to subject, but we are increasing those and we are well aware that that's what we need to have in place To respond to the DSE in terms of student district to determine student growth methods measures Okay What that goal? We've had common assessments for a long time I think one of the things that we haven't had in place is using our common assessments as a tool for showing growth over small periods of time or even longer periods of time and That one of the big shifts this year is trying to use what we've even had while we create new ones to do exactly that So in math some of that really just comes from having a pre-test So you can see where the growth is put to the the assessment What this particular goal is referring to is something that's it's very much linked to the teacher educator Evaluation system where we're going to have to have two measures of How to show student student growth and MCAS for people who actually Had their students are tested will only be one of the two So we we need to do to do this and I and across all all curriculum areas and That has been the focus of a lot of our PLC's this year I think that we will have them in place by the fall, which was the goal and certainly from the there was a memo and we'll talk more about this later But there was a memo from the the commissioner in February Just laying out that this is something that school districts have to have in place in September and I'm not sure that we're going to phase it in in terms of the educator evaluation system In all disciplines all next year, but it is definitely Part of the new system and so that's what that goal is really about not creating more common assessments, but creating assessments that have a In intrinsic way of measuring growth over time Okay, and it was also identified that you're saying that we have at least two and Some things have in the major in the major subject areas in the major subject areas. We're working currently Actually, we have a professional development opportunity next week for music art teachers PE and health are in good shape too. Those are not on that. Those are also on that. It's green not salmon, you know, I got the wrong color And in in guidance, we also have common assessments So the one area that I would say is probably get the most work to do in terms of there's not anything But it's actually going to be the easiest is going to be K-5 social studies and that's because of the work that they've been doing in social studies over the last couple of years They just need to Agree to what the common assessments are Okay, I guess the last thing I want to say is that as dr. Bote touched upon We're going to be a need to Really be able to analyze this data and capture all these data this data in a common repository And that's going to be particularly important as we try to work to six to eight week data teams for next year And so we're looking at what the best way and the most expedient way would be to put That data together so that a teacher can actually look at the Longitudinal information of their student prior to them coming to them And so that by a time a student would get into middle school We would have a huge amount of data that teachers would be able to use to inform instruction with those Specific students as well as their class Any other questions? Mr. Thielman. We talked about this Briefly in the subcommittee, but to what extent are teachers in different schools? using the common assessments to To help each other improve his teachers to improve their practice to to share best practices among teachers Well, that is the work. We've been doing in our plcs this year. I leave for example freed up Six seventh and eighth grade math teachers by grade not all at the same time this year for Four full days where they took created these assessments and then went back and looked at the data from these assessments So there's been a fair amount of work that's associated with it And we just get more and more of that happening all the time And we're trying to really establish a formal way of doing that particularly at the elementary school level for next year Anything else Put them on the spot, sorry The superintendent wants you to come to the But but this is something that you see all the time going on in your schools, and I don't know if you'd like to address that In terms of how teachers are using data and common planning time and to improve instruction And and to add to that question Is there any in the elementary schools are there chances for teachers from the third grade at one school to work with the teachers in the third grade another school or Yeah, okay, so maybe talk about that too well, I know that as Dr. Bodie said the professional learning community work that's that is part of what all our teachers do Is all about looking at formative assessments So looking at a part of your practice for example mathematics the the third grade teachers would get together Take a look at what the data What is the data show about where their children need? extra help and then creating an assessment or using an existing assessment to assess that and then Planning together how to address it across grades across classes and always looking at how the children are doing over a short period of time and then assessing again to see the growth so That's something that we as principals Encourage teachers to do give them Faculty meeting time to devote to that kind of collaboration. So it is part of what teachers do At least twice a year At a faculty meeting have everyone share the results and I particularly find the most rich Conversations occur when it may not be the outcome that was expected then that really Stimulates the conversation. I know third grade this year. Why we both remembering third grade with our our staff took the common core language and they're you know Pre-assessment for the students post assessment. So it's really now become invented especially utilizing the across Schools we've done Sharings particularly at the end of the year in June where all the third grade teachers will share their PLC's That was Mr. Pierce this is more about emotional Feelings of the kids especially the kids who are going to start like MCAS in third grade for example I mean what what are the principals have to say to the parents or the kids themselves actually in terms of managing stress stress is You know a big part of student life and and with with increased assessments or added assessments You might see an increase One of the things about third grade is the big year to worry and third grade happens to be a test Really as rigorous as some of the other grade levels So that helps the comfort level of the boys and girls, but it does you know we we talk about it, but we all I know teachers talk about it and they try to prepare and you know, don't worry about it, but it's it's a tricky There was something else in my head. I was gonna say just fell right in the floor So I know she found it. I did we also have a wonderful third grade teacher right here who could talk about this But I would I would say in and Miss Foley you can correct me That what I see is a very mindful Sort of sort of Roll out of what children should expect of the test starting fairly early in the year And I don't want people at home to think that all we do is prep for MCAS, but To do well on an MCAS test takes close reading thoughtful reading the ability to to express what you know in writing in a in a legible and and Reasonable way and that's just good teaching and that's what happens all year long as the test gets closer it teachers particularly Third-grade teachers because it's the first time are mindful that the children are going to be looking at something very Different those little bubbles and so there's time spent preparing children to to be ready to take the test And I don't know Siobhan if you want to if you want me to put you on the spies No, that's right. I mean it's kind of a balancing act really, you know my kids in my classroom The takeaway they have about MCAS is that they get two hours of recess that day And Yeah, and no homework So that's really their big takeaway from that, but at the same time. I don't want them feeling like this is just something they can just Okay, if I don't want to answer it, I don't have to answer it So it is you're trying to kind of create that balance for them And I think I think over the years we've gotten much better with that And the kids are I find that the anxiety level of parents and children coming into third grade is much less These past few years that it had been when I first went into the classroom into third grade That's how you I think you've done a very comprehensive job of playing us know how the state is being used to inform instruction in next steps the other component I wonder about Is as you look at more and more pieces of formative data when a student stands out apart from their class So the class trending says we're in one place and a student is not in that same place Do you have the mechanisms in place? to actually address those individual needs as well Discussion I think so I Also, I think I understand the the concern and teachers talk about this all the time that when There's students who are not quite where you want them to be and everybody else is ready to move on How do you create? The time and the space for those children who need to catch up to catch up And there's a variety of ways to address that including having one part of your math instruction Instructional time be devoted to small group work. So children are working at stations that are having them practice New learning while the teacher takes a side It's very much like a reading time where the teacher will take aside those children who need to shore up those skills It's very hard to know how to slow things down and and and yet still Reach the content that that is expected and I don't know again Siobhan if you want to say I think you were also kind of asking about the other end of the spectrum of children who are exceeding expectations Okay, I can only speak about my classroom and probably some of my colleagues, but We do like for our reading program for example the children are Expect I have an expectation that they are reading every single night and I am recording on a paper every morning How many what book they are reading and how many pages they read that night and That is kind of individualized. That's differentiated for every child. So there will be kids who will tell me in third grade that they are reading Harry Potter and that they read, you know 50 pages that night and if this is the Fifth or sixth time I've heard that they are reading Harry Potter and that they read 50 pages I'm not going to be impressed anymore It's going to be a conversation of let's move you on. How about trying something some nonfiction? Breaking you out of your genre level. So I think at the elementary level I can say that for children who are and we're also Slowly incorporating more in math for example more pre-assessments to get a better sense of children who are already Understand what it is we're doing and then we're hopefully going to be creating more extension type of Projects and things in that math unit that children who have exceed who already Understand what the basic curriculum is for that unit that they will be able to extend it and go a little further on it But I have a feeling with our new math curriculum. That's probably a little bit down the road Any other questions Okay, thank you very much. Was there anything else you want to say? At this point we will move on to the budget So first miss Johnson. Do you want to update us on the packet that you gave us? Yes, the packet that you received Your usual delivery had an updated Pie chart as suggested by mr. Schlickman in Pac-Man yellow. I thought that was a nice It's on top I see at least some of them And that I use the estimated chapter 70 from the Department of From the Department of Education website I did not use the estimated chapter 70 that's been folded into the multi-year plan for the town because I just thought that was a nice clean-sourced number and I just use that and The green is that number from the Department of Ed website and the yellow is the difference Between the entire town appropriation and the chapter 70 funds. I also updated the budget transfer summary as mr Heiner discovered there was an error in the way the bus driver salaries had been In fact their program code so when I corrected that because the line items in the budget transfer based on program codes I had to make that shift So all of the doc and I found one other error when I was fixing that error which had to do with an object code being incorrect in Visual and performing arts so I made those two corrections And so I've given you fresh sheets on everything that was affected by those two changes There's been no curricular changes. There's no been changes of strategy. They were just budget code errors that I've corrected So you have a new revised budget transfer summary The cost center summary did not change The program summary did change because of that error with the bus drivers the object summary changed because of the error with visual and performing arts and The special ed summary changed because of the bus drivers They had been booked the wrong way, so they did not appear in the initial special ed summary But they do appear in this one So those are the revised sheets and they all say revised at the top and then I added a new sheet With the requested facilities assessment and it I did it Similarly to the way I did the special ed pull out and the athletics pull out the difference was that the main Organizational Budget code in this case was the object because the object is really what unifies the type of spending in facilities Whether it's a to take an example on page one of eight plumbing services as you see For FY 14 level service and the FY 14 proposed budget the fifty five thousand dollar resides in the facilities cost center 75 line But the expenditures are all out in the actual physical buildings And you can see correctly that you know in this particular example Thompson cost center 24 has no expenses after FY 11 Which is when we shut the building and if we saw expenses in FY 12 and 13 that would obviously be a problem So I'm glad that works well So that's why it's different typically my method is cost center program and object But when I did facilities that way it didn't bring us to what we wanted to see and in facilities the drivers really the object What is it plumbing services elevator services and all the other myriad of tasks that are necessary to keep the building running? So those are the new forms that you got ahead of time and then you also got this on your chairs tonight This is the multi-year special education summary And I apologize for how tiny it's getting at some point I'm going to have to stop lock start lopping off years But I think it's really important to see the breadth of time on this spreadsheet Because there was a huge change from FY oh five, which is the first year when we had 176 students in out-of-district placements and over time we've gone up and down But we've settled around a hundred and that's a pretty significant change and you know when Printing forces me to get rid of FY oh five. We're going to lose that and I wasn't ready to give it up yet But we see nine years of data it there's actual data through FY 12 and it is the 13 budget in the final column And what what I'd like to point out and all there's lots of information on the sheet again I apologize for being so tiny What I'd like to point out most especially is that special ed doesn't Costs don't rise in a linear fashion. They go up a lot. They drop off precipitously They bounce all over the place, but the average of this run rate over time is about 8.22 percent Well, it is 8.22 percent Across these nine years. So that that's really what I'd like you to take away from this spreadsheet Well, it's nowhere and as I'm saying that I'm like duff that was the main point. Why isn't it on the spreadsheet somewhere? Okay, mostly because now that I you know now they think about it where would I where would I have put that information? So that's so many things jammed in here already But if you look you know, it's 14 percent 10 percent 12 percent 3 percent 5 percent negative 11 percent 16 percent 10 percent Which works out to 8.22 one thing that I Was thinking about when we were first talking about the spreadsheet and the results of the spreadsheet similar one was done a couple of years ago and That started back really in the two beginning part I think probably earlier than 05 But what we had seen was a rate of growth something more like 10 percent and so what we're seeing Well, we're still not down at 7 percent And we are certainly seeing a trend by the type of programming that we are doing In district is having a very Noticable effect in terms of the rate of growth even though we're still seeing these fluctuations And I think that's really important Piece of it. So if we were you know five years out Maybe we will be seeing You know, even a even a smaller Average over time Do you have anything else you want to add at this point about the budget? Okay, Mr. Salmon, can we just get a clarification I'm trying to remember exactly the language about how this the special education spending increases Ties into the five-year plan. What does the limits are you just refresh sure? The multi-year plan which I didn't make a copy for all of you, but this is the multi-year plan I think many or most of you are familiar with is projecting that General edu the town share of our costs at the time of the override were determined at the time of the override and There's general education costs and special education costs even at that time That special education cost factor at the town did not represent a hundred percent of our special ed spending It is a portion of it just like the Pac-Man pie There's a piece of it that doesn't come from the town and so that skews everything a little bit But the decision was made at the time of the override based on the data We had presented over and over that special education just could not be managed at a three and a half percent growth rate Based on past history The decision was made that the portion that was set aside as special ed money would grow It's up to seven percent and the other portion would grow at three and a half percent At this point given the projections of the multi-year plan The assumption is is that base from the time of the override will continue to this portion That's been designated as fed will continue to grow at seven percent year over year And the portion that was designated as general ed would continue to grow at three point five year over year We've since layered in the kindergarten fee offset, which is not growing year over year because we generally do not raise our fees year over year, so we're just getting a flat offset for that amount of money and That is the expectation the 15 286 448 which is the special education portion of FY 14 is Not does not represent a hundred percent of our spending in special education. We're spending well in excess of that Is that answer your question? Yes Are there other questions about the budget I have one Now I find my question to get there it is Okay, so I was looking at the new charts and I appreciate doing the facilities summary because it Reads me to ask again. Where's the Thompson heat? Um, I'm just is it broken out school by school and never has right no I understand that but is it natural gas or is it electric? It'll be both both Okay, it's a gas-based heating system, but there will be utility there will be electricity, right? But what I'm saying is the FY 13 expense projections are the FY 14 level service and we've got a whole nother building coming online So I'm confused. Well, and that's what I mean by where is the Thompson heat? I would I would not put a tremendous amount of weight on the projections Okay You know the projections were made at mid-year at the beginning of essentially the beginning of the winter heating season So okay, what I'm trying to say is it seems like the amount? Estimated for F by 14 for gas at least is low Well, if you look at the actuals and I think here's where you tell the story if you look at natural gas to take that as an example In FY 11 with the old Thompson Functional we spent 645 975, but it was heated with oil Not entirely. Okay. There was also gas involved in that school in FY 12 We dropped off to 508 for our gas bill. So absent the Thompson. We were only spending 508 We have a budget for 13 of 696 and in my usual hyper conservatism I'm projecting something pretty close to that for this year because that's what I'm always going to do But I think the real tell here is the 508 and the difference between The prior year and the 508 is where the Thompson heat comes back in But FY 12 was a really warm year, right? It was Yeah, so there's not no money there. Okay. I'm I guess I will hope that your ups and downs all even out but that was my Concern is that I didn't see but an up choke and the heat So nobody else has any other questions about Okay, so at this point, I think we are or statements or anything and make I Think what we've done before is do it by you go to section here. We're to the revised budget summary And we vote the Buckets because I thought we voted the we did it by chunks before Get it by buckets just by buckets. It's it's the it's the budget transfer summary It's a section for page one I believe it's a section right under the first page after the blue after the handed out. Yes, Cindy found it I don't want to take sorry. I took them all out of the blow and put them in my binder, so So I need it and it says revised So we're approving the proposed budget the second the last column Yes, line by line Approval of the elementary budget of 12,321,631 dollars for FY 14 Any discussion all in favor I I Move approval of the secondary Budget of 12 million two hundred fifty eight thousand nine hundred twenty three dollars for FY 14 Any discussion all in favor I any of any Against I move approval of the special education budget of sixteen million seventeen thousand seven hundred ninety nine dollars for FY 14 Any discussion all in favor I any opposed I Move approval of the curriculum and instruction total budget of one million three hundred sixty two thousand seven hundred and nine dollars for FY 14 Any discussion all in all in favor I Any opposed I move approval the administration total of two million five hundred fifty five thousand three hundred and two dollars for FY 14 Second discussion all in favor I any opposed I Move approval the other total facilities IT and transportation of five million nine hundred thirty six thousand seven hundred eighty-three dollars for FY 14 Second any discussion all in favor Any opposed We'll approve of the see what the tissue we do approve the total no and so just the grants total or And you did the approval back in January of the total town appropriation which I need for the end of the year report So I think we're good. We're done. Okay. We're done. You're legal done Thank you. No, it goes to tell me Well, Fincom Wednesday night. I hope you'll all be there 730 It's coming Wednesday 20th. Yes 20th. Okay What's that what time 745 I'm sorry 745 Wednesday night the 20th at Town Hall and the select men's hearing room Sorry have to write Okay Thank you very much for that and at this point we move on to the coordinated finance stakeholder group update. That's Johnson Yes, I I've been serving on this committee since it started over the summer and the group developed Had some really wonderful conversations and has developed a proposal to Develop a Governance structure on the town side that we feel will facilitate efficiency good service delivery cost containment and Basically help Arlington to grow into the future in a positive way This proposal was brought to an open meeting And I can't remember exactly when and last night was brought to the finance committee Where it did not pass there was a split decision, but it was not Was not forwarded by the finance committee and the group is going to a regroup and Continue our discussions along this line. I should mention that The decision was made by the group as a whole that the discussion of consolidation Which people immediately leap to the conclusion is a consolidation between town and school Can't even really have a rational discussion until The town goes through a consolidation process as town manager chapter lane said last night in front of the finance committee The schools have a consolidated finance department Town does not and so you can't merge something to nothing You know that there's too many moving parts on the town side for any kind of this rational discussion about a merger to take place So really the schools Part of this is very much on the back burner I'm in the discussions as a person who deals with financial issues on a daily basis I interact with all the other people on this committee regularly and my presence in the committee has been really helpful in terms of Opening up communications about efficiencies and accounts receivable or you know, how should we deal with this or we're going to do Munis training or what if we tried this this way? It's really been a positive group and I think it speaks to a really Necessary step that all of these departments begin working together Also as an outcome of this committee is a decision to do hiring In financial related positions in a different way so that all the members in the stakeholder group would have some involvement Consequently, I was on the interview team for the budget analyst position at town hall and spent a day Seeing their candidate their finalists and being part of the team that evaluated One of they put them through a very growing process and one of the one of the things They asked them to do is to do a spreadsheet They were given a task to say you need to do a spreadsheet to explain this data to a stakeholder group So but here's a computer knock us out of spreadsheet and bring it back And I don't know why there was nerves or what but of the five finalists three of them had Substantive mathematical errors in their spreadsheets, which I'm sure they walked out later and went But those kinds of things are telling because in this kind of work You're under the gun and those kinds of mistakes in the spreadsheet are death on the floor And so it was really important when we were vetting candidates that we find somebody who if they made those kind of boo-boo's would catch Them before they they came out so The personnel director on the town side is very clever with coming up with some high-pressure scenarios They also had to interview someone who had a disgruntled town member in their face Basically, it was a role-play scenario and it was interesting to see how the candidates responded to that I'm really glad I didn't have to go through that kind of an interview process Sure, I would have folded like a deck of cards So that that hiring process I think has a lot of potential for all of us, you know When the my position is traditionally hired It's really very much a school committee school department hire But I interact with the finance people all the time And so it makes a lot of sense that the Comptroller the town manager the treasurer and all those people that we all are sort of Involved because we're all gonna have to play together like a team So I think that's one of the really excellent recommendations That was part of this proposal and I hope no matter what happens at town meeting I hope that can can happen in an informal if not a more formalized way Thank you very much Mr. Heiner, I Appreciate that. Thank you My concern about this whole issue and what's going on is that this has been as of right now a two-year current two-year process in dealing with the consolidated financing finance beginning in 2011 with article 51 that was not acted on for almost another 14 months establishing this the group that miss Johnson was just talking about I think Part of the communication in I think it's most important when one of our employees is Involved with other aspects of the town that we get a regular update of what's going on just so that we're aware and We're not caught short Even if there's nothing else if nothing happened the last couple of meaning we do that ourselves in our subcommittee meetings If we haven't had a subcommittee we just said nothing's going on and we move on The other thing and I'm not sure if this people are aware of it I apologize. I don't mean to talk down to anyone But the town itself in town meeting has only one charge over us the school department They said our budget they cannot direct us and require us to do anything that we choose not to do They can hold up our budget if they chose But that is it so in in the charge in From article 51 was that the town meeting hereby requests the town manager to research the consolidate input from I'm cutting some parts of the selectman the school committee superintendent the finance committee it goes on I Will stand corrected, but I was just on the committee Just prior to the town meeting. I came board on board two years ago I do not remember us as a committee having input other than when the DOR report came last year We had concerns about it what they were suggesting if that was our our input I haven't seen it formalized anywhere. I Just want us that okay, miss hon. I and The chair and others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought we had drafted a committee letter To the town stating their position on that on the door I and we also were actually but it was it was solicited as input and we cited the DOR But that was my understanding our formal input that that's one year after the request for input and Article 51 was in 2011 the DOR report did not come on to my concern is communication that when we have Superintendent or designee or whatever Interacting with other agencies in town I just want to be kept updated and I don't think that that has happened I don't see that as if it was done maliciously or intentionally or anything. That's okay. I think mr. Heiner's communicated his concern. I would Counter that. Oh, sorry miss Johnson may ask a clarifying question You said when members of the school department have interaction with other agencies in the town I talked to the comptroller the deputy town manager Very frequently are you you mean more formalized bodies or committees or something like my understanding it's been explained to me Did your position on this? Group consolidated group was mandated the word required out of article 51 It they can't require they can request it. That's what the article said. I'm responding to request this when when a member of our Organization is representing the school and that kind of a situation a Request or being part of a board or something like that. I'd just like to be kept updated when it reflects on us Because this this particular thing may in the future or has in the past reflected on us, okay? Mr. Pierce couple questions. I'm not sure if this is on on topic or on time right now But it has to do with the monthly reporting. No, let's let's finish this Okay, does any mr. Schlickman, but keep it brief. I'm trying to well The question is is that if you can give us a synopsis of the finance committee's thinking when they Were divided and did not go for this The reasons against it were incredibly diverse and numerous I Can think of at least off the top of my head I can think of almost five or six different positions against it that had nothing to do with each other the people that were for it felt that Unified accountability Would improve operational efficiency and that some of these positions? Aren't that we're talking about bringing under the town manager aren't positions that the electorate is really in a position to evaluate their performance yay or nay and that that there's been a tradition of as The town manager characterizes at silos and you know and operationally it creates some weirdness I mean, I can say from my personal experience Munis our financial system for both town and school is owned by the comptroller and so she makes the majority of the decisions regarding munis when it gets upgraded and You know this year I stepped in and said, you know, we really have to get more training for the school staff That's never traditionally been done because the comptroller's department owns munis and so they wouldn't think to train the school department You know, that's just one of that sort of it. You know, it's not malicious, but you know The comptroller is charged with certain responsibilities that financial software is her responsibility And she's thinking about what she needs to get done. It limits lateral thinking is fundamentally the problem How how split was the finance committee five to 13? Oh? Okay, I think Yeah, I think this is going kind of far afield I brought this up to give a report and I appreciate that this Johnson has been So the only thing I would say is is just to counter mr. Heyner's position I would say that it's also I think a reasonable thought that the superintendent is in charge of this is supervising the CFO and Is the one who should be keeping track and I'm not saying we have to come up We're not going to have this discussion right now But I just want to say it's a doubt. I'm not I allowed you to give your point of view I'm giving a separate point of view and we're going to put this issue to rest now and Because it wasn't Actually, we're going to do the Tracking report except we didn't get it until just now So yeah, I'm going to bring it up. I'm going to I was going to put it on next month or next week But I okay. Yeah, I was just skimming it a little bit and I I have a couple of quick questions When you look on page 3-3 Object 87601 court judgments damage settlement, right? It's just as an example I'm still projecting that we're going to spend the whole thing even though that's highly unlikely at this point in the year Right, that was my question. That's my answer. Okay. I'm still projecting and you'll notice all of these where we're still estimating to budget Yeah, I'm still going with the expectation that that money could disappear between now and June and what happens if it doesn't Then that will be part of the year-end balances right that will that last year helped to fund our Wireless infrastructure by the app the iPad carts for various schools I mean that those become do we do this does the school committee see a plan of if we are fortunate enough to realize Do we see like a priority sheet as we made that we did that? Okay, the last the other question I have is sometimes you say estimating To budget when it could be estimating under is that I'm still carrying it to budget at this point because I think there are too many unknowns to say for sure I mean with settlements as you know Something could settle like that and boom the money's gone and it may not be on my horizon So that's the kind of thing I would hold on to Also instructional materials and textbooks. My assumption is that every penny will be expended You know and so I am thus projecting even though if we went on a run rate projection It's likely we would have savings there, but I'm assuming that we have needs in these areas and we will spend it all And that's basically the differentiation that I make You know if I think there's a reasonable run rate like at this point in the year I'm lowering my projections on things like H factory pairs because we're coming to the end of the heating season And we've gotten them working. They're running now. That's the kind of expense that front loads and when the heat comes on So those I tail off on but something like textbooks I'm going to assume that we're going to we're going to buy every pennies worth and so I'm projecting that to budget And I last question are you concerned about the variances for things like salaries and Temps salaries, which are estimating highly above budget. No, I'm not because there's their savings in other areas, okay Thank you. And you know again the the The budget transfer detail that we voted. I mean those lines are quite thoughtful so that the variance stays within the line You know typically, you know, we I expect to see savings and facilities this year if we don't get another nasty snowstorm or two And so but that's also where the line for IT is and so I don't need to come to you and ask for a transfer because it's the same budget line So if I'm not spending it on heat and I am spending it on computers. It's still the same budget line The legal and computers wouldn't be in the same. No legal would be in I believe is an administration Okay, so we will bring this up and see if anyone else has any questions next meeting because we didn't get this So at this point we have update on the Thompson rebuild Have had we have monthly meetings This last month the town manager and I and Karen to Sony and Dominic Lanzelada We went on a tour of of Thompson just to see and I told you that the last meeting and we We're talking about having you have an opportunity to do a tour in fact, we're also going to invite the whole Thompson school building committee to take one and the recommendation from our Project manager is to wait to sometime in April You're still at this point and some of the floor is sort of having to watch where you're walking and it's one thing to take There's another thing to take a big fairly larger group But so we're going to look at some time in April to do that So at this point, it's it's going along fine we have Already submitted. I think we're in the stage. We're putting the We don't really have to do bids on the IT Only because everything pretty much everything we're going to buy is off the state contract Whereas with furniture, we've had to put the bids out and I believe those bids are going to probably coming in another week or two Is that when they're coming in I believe the expectation was we would have bid results in time for the April meeting yeah, and and This was all time lined out so that we could have the furniture Probably start to be delivered sometime in July Yeah, we're probably about two weeks off the schedule at this point and a lot of it has to do with a mechanics and the mechanics are the There was a slowdown and delivering for example the boilers when we went through the walk through the The water heater was there, but the boiler was it and there was been a slowdown and getting it so that has a has a Domino effect in some things, but even with a two-week Probably Delay overall we are still as John Cole who is the chair of the The permanent Tom building committee has said we are so far ahead in terms of when completion date is compared to any other Project we've ever done in Arlington, so he's not a Concern whatsoever and he has that historical perspective on it. So Right now Financial we start to be delivered Substantial completion, which is the most important date. They actually still have at the end of June It may slip a little bit into July, but we'll probably have a better idea at the next meeting And it's going forward and I just sort of happened to run into a neighbor of the of the That was living right around the corner and she would just comment to me how beautiful she thought it was so It is going to be a very lovely building and certainly very beautiful inside And and Shawn's going to get to be be one of the first First grades in there. Yep. Can't wait Thank you very much And now superintendent report right I have a few things and a lot of This is more informational We did have a difficult day last Friday, and I shared with you that the email I sent out to parents But I I don't really want to go through tonight all the reasoning of what happened last week I think that that there was I'm not sure that we could have I Think the only way we would have been able to not have had school would have been to have to delay But there was no Indication that a delay was needed at the time we had to make the decision But what I really wanted to say tonight was again reiterating that should we have another storm That parents really do need to make that decision and it is an excused absence if this if you just can't get there so We overall though had relatively good attendance both for staff and for students, so I Congratulate everybody and thank everybody for the extra effort that they they went through and the time spent in the car to get here we had people Traveling as many as much as two hours I'd like to just mention that a neighboring school had a two-hour delay Lexington and my daughter teaches there Those children arrived. I think in the worst part of the storm that morning with that two-hour delay Superintendents I think are to be praised it's a very difficult decision to make and The information that you had you acted upon I think justifiably The weatherman didn't prove right. That's it Can I Just ask a question so I had heard reports of some students at the odyssey and being told that it was not an excuse tardy or absence when they came on Friday late because of the storm and I'm just wondering will you communicate or will you discuss with mr. Ruggieri or how can that I'm concerned that there's not a District-wide Understanding that if this happens, that's what I Was certainly will but I also had sent an email to confirm that a Students should be able to have to Monday turn homework in or if they if a quiz what was Given that day that they'd be able to make it up So I will certainly check that out at the high school in you know, honestly It doesn't really matter. I don't say it that way. There are a certain number of days that students Whether excused or unexcused have in a term and Should there be a need to go over? It's just a question of going in with an explanation So on a particular day to say whether it's excused or unexcused is really Not that important and I don't think people understand it because it's really it's really the totality of absences and Even though a field trip for example is an excused absence It still counts toward that bottom line number and if you if you know It's it happens in students lives that you may exceed that number and then you just have to then Basically talk with administration about a waiver on that sorry, I Did appreciate your sharing with us your communication because I did When a law superintendent's were being second-guess it very clearly described what the process was and The one thing I'm wondering if you'd speak to is right now. There's a projection that there might be a storm next week on Monday and the MCAS long comp is on Tuesday and I know that there are some ramifications of any school mistake closes For the weather on Tuesday in terms of the administration of the MCAS The shift today What don't you just move the day ahead? I Don't know the answer to that that there clearly is a there is a certain level of common sense that has to enter into all of this and As much as the Department of Education might like to have that sense of total control over the day that it's administered That may be a problem It is true that they want to have it administered on the same day because of the topic that's given unless People are tweeting all over the state as to what the topic would be so I Don't know that's something that will we'll have to look into Should that become necessary? It could be that if that became a situation where they look like there'd be a spotty in the school closures They might just Take the whole thing and move it a day statewide Because you can't do it as individual schools Actually done that before But a lot will depend on which grade is scheduled for Tuesday but and I mean there's always a makeup day and 10th grade there's a long comp makeup day So if we were for habit doing to cancel school on Tuesday and it was the 10th grade then there is a makeup day So and those makeup days are always well after snow season Any other questions something look forward to Kindergarten registration, I want to take this opportunity to remind incoming parents Register the children even if they have other children in the school system they still need to register and We've gone now through two weeks of registration next week is our last week and and in fact We had us we were debating today whether we're gonna actually have a second day because the second day next week was designed for snow and Next week's day is Tuesday. So there is a First day is Tuesday. So it's important and we will also try to get that out It's it's difficult to get it out to the kindergarten community just because we don't have their email and access We've been putting it in the advocate And just try to get that information out to all the preschools All right, so on how did it go or how is it very well? We had we really designed a pretty good system at the first night There was maybe ten people waiting, but we moved it along in different stations the thing. I think that's been an interesting Surprise to us is the number of people that That had already come in and done a lot of done it on online We had we thought we would need a whole computer lab and at most sometimes we'd have one or two parents in there filling it out online so the Level of I guess what I'm saying is that the level of usage Using computers for communication is definitely growing to the extent that we've had I Don't think we've even had more than one or two requests from anyone to send out a paper packet So that's very interesting. I can give you more of all of that kind of data once registration is over and then we will be We sent out What's a little concerning at the moment is that we sent out the packets of about 465 of which we got back about 25 that were not at the particular The recipient wasn't at the address that was given But as of today, we only have 303 registered and we were we're pretty confident that we're gonna be Looking at over 400 in the kindergarten next year So this next week is a pivotal week for people to get registered And for people who live in the buffer zone see things are date stamps so that the waiting list that there was any If you don't get your first choice is based on the date stamp and lottery among the date stamps Mr. Hanna Could I ask you just to reinforce The discussion you and I had about those that a grandfathered in in the buffer zone if you have a sibling already in the school Yes, if you're already you're an older child is already in the school You are grandfathered your family is grandfathered into that school. Thank you very much during the snowstorm we had Fiddler on the roof and The first night it was pretty snowy, but we did move it the second night to Saturday night, and that was probably a Good decision because it was packed And I I just have to congratulate All of the students and certainly the adults that helped make this production as great as it was it was It was amazing. I don't know if any of you had a chance to see it the voices and the stage presence of these students was exceptional so in particular I want to recognize Jennifer Nanda's who is a sixth grade teacher who is the director and Great Kandakas Corey Gaffney for music one was producer one was the music director and the choreography was Randy Flynn really exceptional and Coming up is Greece at the high school the first weekend in April 4th and 5th We had speaking of music we had Our music program is just exceptional and you know that the community knows that but another affirmation of that Exceptionalness is that Tina Dagestino and his AHS jazz octet, and he he decided to go into the Berkeley International jazz festival with an octet this year and they won first place There there were different categories for instrumental and orchestra and so forth, but he entered into the Was 13 other small combos in this and of course there's Hundreds of people that compete in this international competition The score for the octet overall was 98 out of a hundred points So they were just they also won One one of our students won the outstanding music musician prize and other the superior Musician price so it's exceptional and so congratulations to all these students, and I think that article will be in the advocate We also had Another outstanding performance in the National History Day I don't know if you remember last year we entered national history competition for the first time and One of our Otteson students won first place so this year there were a number of Entries into into this both from the Otteson Middle School and from the high school and so they entered the Eastern Mass Regional Competition and but a team both from the high school and from Otteson are moving on to the States Which will be happening in April and for the Otteson Middle School the What the category that they were very successful in was original website category So they're creating websites on a particular topic and it for the Otteson Middle School The title was the Oxford meeting Darwin challenges creationism And at the high school the title was the Trial of Peter Zenger press libertarian no liberation Liberation so congratulations to all of them and and congratulations to their their advisors At the Otteson it's Allison, San Sanito and Jason Levy and at the high school advisors were Ian McKay and Amanda Camille so We just we just continue To our students to continue to do very well and so congratulations to them all and again Congratulations to their advisors and teachers That's it. Okay, actually So we Thank you One of the things and you're all aware because we've been talking about this for quite a while There is a new educator evaluation system That is going to be part of the reality of school districts across the Commonwealth Some school districts have already begun raised to the top districts and even the year before that were some of our Some of our urban districts So in Arlington, we have been working this year And I will give a lot of credit to Laura Chesson and to Linda Hansen For organizing a task force that is a very collaborative group of teachers and administrators Learning about the new evaluation system and many of them participating in a pilot There are pilots going on at each one of the schools in each one of the departments and Of a teacher and a principal and actually in some cases some principals couldn't say no And they may be working with eight teachers in a pilot We have all of the curriculum leaders and assistant principals and principals doing working with at least one If not more teachers in a pilot, so we talked about the beginning year that I would be doing a pilot with you and It's it's really not I want to separate it's really not in Evaluation in the same sense as we've been doing the annual. It's really an opportunity to understand by practicing What this looks like Understanding the rubrics understanding what kind of evidence that you you would use to to To say that you're performing at a proficient level So what I would like to do is to have us participate and it's just as we're doing throughout the whole district because we're gonna It's a learning experience so that we can see where the What things we need to do and think about when we actually do a more Naxia we move in doing it across the board So I was proposing that next what we're going to meet with the I'm gonna meet with curriculum and accountability Subcommittee before the next meeting to talk about what this would look like and then present it next meeting so that we can all Practice together in a very limited way over the next two months Okay, thank you Mr. Hena going forward from that that concept I would like the committee to consider and be prepared to discuss a timeline for the actual Superintendents evaluation next year prior to us going for summer break so that we can be together in a good position in September to go forward just I'm going to a MASC conference on Saturday and It's mainly dealing superintendent evaluation up and talking with dr. What do you want to get off again? We keep coming up with questions that we need clarified before we get into the Okay, but you're not saying do this at the next meeting. No People put it in their mind. Yeah into May beginning June. Okay. Thank you Okay, so at this point we go on to subcommittee and liaison reports policy and procedures Okay budget we have done the budget. Yes, and we met we went over the budget and Made sure that we were ready for both the finance committee meeting Again reminder. It is Wednesday the 20th at 745 and the opening or whenever we get in front of town meeting So and we felt like we were prepared for all of those. It was a fairly quick meeting Um, can I also report on Arlington Youth Health Safety Coalition? Sure? It's not on here But it's one of the things that I attend and that is a coalition of groups throughout the town who are focused on Keeping our children safe Primarily with drug and alcohol abuse And this year they are revamping how that is run and Karen Dillon And I will be serving as co-chairs for the coming year Her focus is getting high school students involved and my focus is going to be on parent involvement In that and kind of coming together and figuring out how all of those pieces can work together Okay, thank you. Yep. Miss. I am community regent report. Okay Curriculum instruction and accountability. We met on Monday March 11th, and we talked about two items that were in the agenda tonight the formative assessments and the tools of the mind can grind a curriculum. We also heard a presentation by the superintendent's diversity task force on some ideas They'd like the superintendent to consider in the FY 14 goals And so dr. Bodie made note of it and is going to take into account as she formulates recommended goals for us for next year the Our subcommittee meets again on Monday, March 25th At 5 30 p.m. Here in the school committee room to talk about the pilot that dr. Bodie just talked about and to talk about retail rethinking teaching and Teaching and equity and teaching For English language. Yeah, so there you have it Retail, I thought I had it so that's going to be on we talking about that and that's and dr. Bodie talked a little bit about what that requirement is for our teachers Facilities nothing on facilities, but I attended the met good day at the state house yesterday and Spoke to both our Representative gobbledy the aid to representative Rogers in the aid to senator dawnley All three are committed to support a level-funded budget My understanding They're still looking at the increase that met co itself is asked, but Hopefully the good news is we'll at least have the level funded budget. Okay. It was a wonderful day Okay, legal services will be meeting next in the next two weeks I hope we have to schedule and then as chair again I give the notice to everyone that you need to submit your Willingness to serve and I would point out that right now you're missing a secretary You said you do it That was not intended. That's what it says. I know that was not I I Would do anything What you're saying is you'd like someone else to put forward that yes, I would like someone else to put forward I am going to withdraw Okay, so or else Volunteer you Consent agenda all items listed with an asterisk are considered to be routine and will be in Active by one motion. There will be no separate separate discussion of these items unless a member of the committee So a request in which event the item will be considered in its normal sequence Approval of warrant number 13127 dated February 28th 2013 total warrant amount 773 thousand nine hundred sixties fifty six dollars and forty seven cents minutes for approval February 14th 2013 So move second all in favor. Hi any opposed? Okay, and secretary's report. There's nothing to report this evening Okay, at this point we I need a motion to re-enter Executive session right back on track so moved second Do we we need to reread it? Yes, yeah, I'll re-read it to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiation with union and or non-union personnel or contract negotiations with union and or non Union in which if held in an open meeting may have a detrimental effect to conduct strategy with respect to collective bargaining or Religation in which if held in an open meeting may have a detrimental effect collective bargaining may also be continued update on Superintendent contract negotiations Kathleen Bodie Superintendent and we will be exiting only for the purposes of adjournment Okay Now go on to executive session Thank you for coming Actually, you can do whatever you like with them there's Really good paper airplanes