 This program is brought to you by cable franchise V's and generous donations from viewers like you Seeing a presence of a quorum and calling to order the meeting of the Amherst school committee at 633 p.m. On Tuesday January 21st, we'll begin with roll call attendance Miss Spitzer Spitzer present Mr. Demley Deming present Miss Lord Lord present and McDonald present Turn it over to chair Hall All right seeing the presence of a quorum I'll call to order this meeting of the Pellum school committee at 634 p.m. And Start with roll call attendance. Mr. Manino Manino present miss Barlow Barlow present miss Dancer Stans are present and Hall present Back to you chair McDonald And seeing a presence of a quorum of the regional school committee. I'm calling to order that meeting at 634 p.m. And we'll begin again with roll call attendance. Mr. Demling Deming present miss Lord Lord present Lord present. Yep. Sorry miss Spitzer Spitzer present miss Dancer Stans are present Mr. Sullivan Sullivan present Miss Seeger McDonald present Miss Seeger That thing before you get on she said she'll be back in a minute. Okay. Thank you Great, so I will Before we move on this meeting is being live-streamed on Amherst media and on Amherst media channel 5 channel 15 Sorry and in Amherst and is being recorded and thank you to Amherst media for all of your Support in our virtual meetings. Our first item is to approve many minutes And I believe that what's in our packet are the revised versions With the edits that folks that we all sent to them to send to miss Charcos That's true. I just wanted to add that the reason she Miss figure only included the joint meetings in here just for ease the other meetings that are backlogged that were just Amherst or just Region or just Pellum we can do in those meetings looking at the future meeting counter It looks like there will be a number of opportunities for that But just so that we don't have to have the awkwardness of the Pellum folks waiting for Amherst meetings to be a Approved or vice versa. These are only from joint meetings great So I Will make a motion to approve the joint meeting minutes as included in our packet and Is there a second second and moved by McDonald's second and by Sitzer. Is there any discussion mr. Dimling? You making the motion for the region or Amherst because I believe we have to approve them. Oh, right Let's start with Amherst. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. We'll take a vote and mr. Demling. Demling I miss Lord Lord I miss Spitzer Spitzer I And McDonald I and the motion passes for Amherst Chair Hall I'll make a motion to approve the joint minutes for Pellum. Is there a second? Second Seconded by stancer. Okay, we'll do roll call vote mr. Manino Manino I miss Barlow Barlow. I miss dancer dancer. I and haul I Thanks And I will now make a motion for the region that we approve the joint meeting minutes in our packet There a second Second Move by McDonald's seconded by Spitzer and we'll take a roll call. Is there any discussion? Mr. Demling Demling I miss Lord Lord I miss Seeger Seeger I miss Spitzer Spitzer I miss dancer dancer I Mr. Sullivan Sullivan I and McDonald I and the motion passes Seven to zero Our next item is public comment and we have few we have one voice recording and some written comments, but If they haven't already been posted they will be posted on the regional school committee agendas page But we'll start with the voice to give me time to bring up the others I am an Amherst resident and parent of a lab with students I am sitting submitting this message this way in addition to in writing that is available to the school committee website to those who do not Watch the meeting From the beginning I have watched the discussions about the return to in-school learning with great interest These discussions focus on a return to in-person school as we knew it pre-pandemic Even then the ways our schools were set up did not work for everyone The question has been how do we get students back into school buildings? I believe that the Amherst regional public school district needs to be bold in this moment and Reimagine what our school should look like moving forward and should use the return to in-person learning as a stepping stone The world is a very uncertain place these days for everyone Our routines have been disrupted and need to be reinvented almost weekly The livelihoods of people in our families and our community have been threatened or taken away and Many have lost loved ones and have not been able to gather to greet a return to pre-pandemic bonds of in-person learning Will not solve all of these problems for our students and their families What we need is to ask the question as to what students need in order to become more whole during this pandemic and beyond The Amherst hurricane boosters recognize the need for more safe organized play and now have a recess then Many community organizations such as multi-art have found ways to engage students creativity to produce performances and other works of art As a community we need to recognize the positive elements of remote learning that we might apply beyond the pandemic For example, some of our students are doing more small group work and are learning to collaborate in problem-based learning as opposed to teacher driven instruction Students in remote learning situations are more free to stretch or even to do a cartwheel when sitting still becomes more difficult Further our teachers are working hard to teach while at the same time learning new technologies and experimenting with new modalities for teaching What knowledge and wisdom have they gained that we should be carrying forward to in-person learning? Amherst regional public school district should conduct a needs assessment that uses a broad spectrum of tools to hear Parents, students and community voices to ascertain the variety of family needs and priorities for teaching and learning in this pandemic moment and beyond The school committee has been hearing from families pressing for an immediate return to in-person school But there are a few public comments from families who chose remote learning about why they have made that choice And what would need to happen for their students to return to in-person school This information would be valuable in considering how to serve all of the families in the district School committee members often refer to data and studies without clear citation The district needs to share all of the data it has with respect to how many and what demographics of families have opted for all remote learning Any non anecdotal Amherst regional public school system evidence around what So just to sharing the the written comment and the full transcript of the The comment that we just heard on Voice is available in this packet as well. So folks will be able to see Um, she realized that she was cut off and you can see the full comment in the writing Are folks able to see this the document thing? This last letter I'm scrolling quickly because this is the one that we just received the voice But I'll show the last paragraph and just as a reminder the written Document that we just reviewed a public comment is posted On the agendas page of the regional school committee website Our next order of business is the superintendent's update. So I'll turn it over to dr morris Sure. Thank you miss mcdonald and um Try to keep things briefer than I have been but the first one. It's just Families may have gotten an email that For we talked about this a while back, but we have now implemented a program called remind some some schools already had communication tools they're sticking with but remind is another tool that allows for Confidentiality and almost like a text like Communication between families and teachers that doesn't just rely on email Which many people find cumbersome and many of some families of ours don't have email but Remind is a nice way to do that. So thanks to the is department and folks and this really came from particularly teachers in our english language learning department who felt like this was going to be a really effective tool To reach the families of the students they service So we're happy to take that feedback from staff and implement it and it's another example But it was a significant amount of effort from our is folks. So I want to thank them Quick vaccine update, um, you know that our school nurses who volunteered for the Phase one rollout Clinics they worked but they also were able to get vaccinated And i've been working with the town Uh about you know, our educators are in phase two the governor's timeline is between february and april You know, I think that's we'll be within that timeline of making the vaccine available to teachers and working with the town on potential sites Anything we can do to help the town not just for our educators actually but for the larger community I think it's worth noting that We're a regional site for east of the connecticut river So some of our towns that Aren't just the amherst are still serviced by the amherst site right now Even for phase one, which is first responders. So just appreciate the collaboration with the town We're always happy to if there's things we can do to help that effort We're going to be all in on that. We know how important that is and the fight against the virus So, you know, that's all I have to share and I'll have specific dates of when phase two would start But the indication I got from the town health director was that they were slated for phase two to be able to start Within the band that the governor originally stated when it's more information, we'll be able to share it Let's see. There's a question miss mcdonald. Would you is okay to take that now? Yeah, mr. Menino Have you compared amherst with the surrounding schools that have in-person learning with respect to covet infections? Are we less infected or are they more affected? um Let's start answering that question. So Uh, I think the range of factors far outseeds the ability to do an analysis that you cite um You know, I think for there being coveted in school settings across massachusetts The state has come out with uh information and does every week on different settings that that uh, what they're noticing um, you know, um, so I don't I don't think it's there's a fair way I'm looking to miss spitzer because I know she is close to this in her day gig Not that she does exactly what mr. Menino was asking but but I think it'd be really really hard from a research perspective to parse out The implications of other districts in our area What I don't what I do know in other districts in our area that have been Open more often is often if they've had to close it wasn't necessarily because of spread in the school I'm not saying that never happens to be really clear. I'm not saying that never happens But it's it's often the community spread impacts the school more than the other way around I'm just thinking it might be a useful metric when you're having new discussions with the union with regard to An adjustment of the moa. That's all. I'm just wondering what the experience of the two groups are Yeah, miss miss spitzer. You were not in your heads. Hopefully you were in agreement with what I said Because you you certainly know a lot about this topic as well Yeah, I will say I'm not expert on this but for everything I've heard from the folks I work with it's community spread it's reflected in The spread that we often esteem in school, so I think What you said was accurate and I don't have anything to add and unfortunately, I don't think there is good data out there to answer Mr. Bingham's question right now So Want to do an update on swimming so There are a whole series of events that I don't I'm gonna choose not to get into the weeds of we have decided to move the swimming to the floating season Which begins on march 1st and ends on april 23rd So that's our hopes that our own pool be fixed by then there are a number of other schools that also are doing swimming in the floating season So there would be natural Schools and as you remember, it's not like the teams get together in the same pool. They're doing a virtual meet But that that will be possible to do and obviously distance doesn't matter I mean, frankly, it could be a school on the other side of the state and it really wouldn't make a difference because it's it's a virtual meet So that's been the better approach based on some of the challenges of finding A pool site that would work for us Not related to us, but actually related to the communities actually related to mr. Minow's comment the communities in which the pool was in You know got complicated in terms of the use based on community spread in those communities. So Um, that is a bit of a change from where we were before but I just wanted to update the community It wasn't because and the committee in the community. It wasn't because of anything local to Amherst But it was about pool access and our ability to To get kids and safely into a pool that they could use For their practices as well as their competitions. So imperfect but a better solution to not having a season at all Um You know, this was talked about in the previous school committee meeting. That was a region meeting but had Good meeting with miss cunningham miss Ortiz and the apa executive board yesterday on this the motion that passed the three committees last week Uh, I appreciate their interest in collaboration. The next steps will be working and collaborating with them to develop a survey tool Or instrument to assess staff Interest in returning to work and and hopefully an FAQ document to go along with that so staff know what protections are there After we understand and can develop a program about what seats Literally and figuratively are available We do one of them survey families with with that knowledge about what's possible Committed to a process where we would have a demographic demographically representative sample of students in other words If there are some decisions to make about it, we wanted to make sure that we are all segments of our community are In school look roughly similar percentages as long as the numbers work out based on what seats we have to offer But I appreciate the the executive board's willingness to work with us on this They had some really good points and you know, honestly, there was a lot more points of agreement and disagreement when we worked together It truly felt collaborative and so appreciate the committee Passing that part of the motion to work collaboratively with the apa because I think it's going to be generative And I think it'll support the outcome we all want so Last two are I've got little Visuals for so the first one is and this will be in the superintendent newsletter tomorrow, but we have updated maps and We got updated information from our vendor who does Ventilation testing with more good news As you saw last month or the month before I think maybe it was the beginning of last month We have plenty of spaces the vast majority or we're hitting that four year changes an hour Our facilities department has made some Some fixes in our schools and I'll just show one example Let me bring that up Uh, so on this one you can hopefully are able to make out This is fort river elementary school and the last time there was a quad actually two Two of the haves these that still needed additional work and the fixes Were made and then it was shown that they did meet that threshold So you can see the vast majority of all the big spaces all the classroom spaces Are consistent the gym. We're not using this year anyway because of covet So that's why that one is it's chock full of furniture. We can't use But even some of the small group rooms That that are used with students and tested and came out So we're pretty close to a hundred percent of our spaces across all schools in the district meeting the four Certainly, um, we'll have no challenge In terms of providing spaces for staff and students that meet that threshold of ashray So good news on that front and many thanks again to the facilities department because when you test all your rooms You're going to find some issues because it's not something we have done or most districts have done On a regular basis, but they keep on working and finding Challenges and the long terms is really good that we had this kind of analysis and audit done of our ventilation systems even separate from covet so Good news. My last update is an enrollment update. Um, so I'm again going to show a visual Perhaps to zoom in a little bit for you all to see that give me one second Um, that's probably too far. Sorry Whoa Why it's being finicky Okay, is that reasonable enough to read? Okay, sorry about that so, um The first uh column b and c you've already seen a column f you have not So this is our enrollment in the fall of 19 the october one count The october one count that we went we shared with you in the fall and actually we did another update on that and so you could see at the high school there was a loss of Six students middle school loss of six students crocker farm actually a gain of seven six seventeen students and these were Often students who were either homeschooling or partial homeschooling or now But maybe didn't didn't fill out all the paperwork that they wanted partial and not a full homeschool So we see a jump of and some of these are just new students who moved to the area You know, we're not in where last april where we weren't seeing any mobility We have had enough and that's cool in particular a number of families who have moved into the district over the last couple months So some of this is around changing homeschooling arrangements But some of this is just purely about new students in the district For reverse they'd mostly flat wildwood did lose seven and pelham is up eight So, you know our total number I don't know why this is being a little funny tonight. I apologize. So our total is up nine It's a total net nine student gain from our october worn counts till now in terms of enrollments again Spread a little bit differently based on different schools But i'm sorry that is being My computer keeps on being a little wacky. That's probably a better view But that's my update I see there's a question i'm happy to answer any questions that folks might have Mr. Minita We're the gain in the pelham school pelham residents or church students There is no change in choice students Thank you. Thanks lord Sorry How does this Enrollment change from 2019 to 2021 impact our does it impact our chapter 70 funding? Or is it too soon to tell? We'll be able to know next week when the governor's budget comes out the chair sheets come out Uh, I know there was a lot of advocacy. Well, we won't know but we'll have an indication I should say there's a lot of advocacy including our state senator koma ferd and our representative, uh, dam about Preventing uh chapter 70 reductions based on reduced enrollment Till the governor puts out the budget and the house budget comes out in the senate budget And you know, it's a little hard to know Um, so governor's budget is slated. Um, I think legally it has to come out next week I'm not quite sure exactly what It's going to be a challenging year for budgets to end up on time both at the state level and then Resulting as a result at our local level Because things will still change. Um, but we'll know a little more and then as that information comes in We'll share with the committee in the community Thank you Mr. Damley Yeah, so on this small item we asked you to do about the developing implementing the plan for Third story So, um, so we just covered a little bit at the earlier meeting with the apa, but um, is there any update that you can give? The public on the prepay and i'll see side letters. Um, the reason I ask is that um Those that the effort for for those groups who return voluntarily seems seems to be farther along given that they're already in side letters with items are articulated And we were we we were just talking in general terms at the previous meeting about You know the the return of the rest of the volunteers potentially Also taking the form of a side letter. So if this group has already, you know met that Um, I don't know if there's if there's an update you can you can give on that Uh, yeah, what I can share is that um There was a as you noted there was a side letter that um the committee received from the apa Specific to not just i'll see but intensive needs k to 12 as well as pre k um This committee sent a response. Um, I think there's a lot of shared Mutual interest in those and I think uh, hopefully we're able to Work with apa to take action on that soon and I just have a Clarification on the on the enrollment. I think um What sort of building on this lords observation or question about chapter 70 is I think it's also an important distinction that while the three districts Enrollment appears flat the secondary regional Enrollment is down 12 um, and then there's net increases in the amherst elementary in the pelan elementary. So, um Just want to call that not that the the overall number isn't relevant either It's just sort of that that split because of our districts. Dr. Norris. Sorry. So one thing I meant to highlight and because my My tab was being finicky. I didn't is that that it's Sort of a hallmark moment, you know, and I don't mean this good or bad, but it's it's Meeting a threshold perhaps that 877 is high school plus summit So, um, if we're talking about just amherst regional high school students We're under 850 And and that is a markedly smaller school than that high school has been and I I don't know the number of years, but I'm going to guess decades I feel pretty confident. That's a small suspend since I've been in this district and I came here in 2001 um So, you know for a while we were thinking, okay, can we stabilize it at a thousand? To maintain our level of programming Then it went a little lower and then we're not taking as much choice because and we're making some budget reductions And and it made sense not to overfill classes But but being under 850 students and next year being slated to be smaller. So in other words, our incoming eighth to ninth is smaller than Our graduating senior class We're going to be 815 820 Uh, maybe 810 depends Uh of students that amherst regional high school. So, um I think you're right to note the decline at the region more than at elementary But I think it's also we try to put summit we go back and forth in this all the time I don't know if we ever get it right We always try to put summit with the high school because it is such a small number, you know, and there's no secret It's always around 25 or 30, right? It's uh, so it's not hard math But just because it's it's a low number. We feel like protecting, you know, confidentiality But I think in this instance just recognizing that the high school is under 850 students It is a really, um Important thing as we think about future enrollments, you know, if we look at future enrollments at the elementary level Uh, nesdeck enrollments, you know, they have us pretty flat Um in the amherst elementary school Pelham's really hard to predict because it's so relying on choice that, you know, we don't get really good estimates And, you know, the census isn't really reliable when you're You're talking about such a small school, but uh, when we're looking at the region now We're seeing a much much smaller Regional high school than we've experienced and similarly at the middle school as well That eighth grade going out and the sixth grade coming in You know, we're we're we're in a different different group than we were in a couple years ago and so Sorry to expand on this, but I meant to mention it when I was doing the more general update It's just something to keep in mind. It's something to be important and I think it is going to be Some envisioning of of what a high school is If we get down to about 800 students, which we look what would probably be there in a couple years as opposed to a thousand students Mr. Menino Is this this decrease consistent with national trends or does it seem to be localized? It's consistent with the regional trends Um, I can't speak to national trends. Uh, well enough in general in the eastern part of the state They're seeing a bit of expanded enrollment in some Um districts, uh in western massachusetts, especially hampshire and franklin county There's uh, there's a declining enrollment COVID reductions is across the state and country Um, so if you look at districts like brook line, they've lost hundreds of students Uh this year. It's just in the paper last week Um, so, you know, I think the decline that's COVID related is more general but the general decline Uh is true for hampshire and franklin county districts and it has been going on and You know may go on Beyond this and I think that's where we think about, you know planning and how is that going to impact our district and our schools And the services we provide for students and how we how we approach that because there is some economy of scale challenges that as you get smaller It's harder to maintain certain operations and certain Programs um that are easier to maintain when the economy of scale allows for Mr. Denley Yeah, what's every few minutes? Um, so two questions. Um, and I know neither of these are easy to answer But they are the two that Popped to the top of my mind immediately when I see this one is so in your opinion What strategically or tactically? ought we be what we should we be doing? in order to to mitigate this and in order in order to maximize the number of students who In our community who who want to Choose the families who want to choose to come to our Our school, right? Obviously, there are variables like birth rate and population that are completely out of our control But they're we you know, unlike other public services in town. We exist in a very competitive marketplace and so I know this might relate a little bit to like next year planning, but um, I just just in general, you know, how do you feel? What's your first feeling about, you know, how we how we go at this problem? The other somewhat related question is how do we socialize the budgetary impact of this because At a very superficial level the immediate assumption in public understanding is oh, you have fewer students That means your budget should go down Right, you have you as your students go down then your costs go down and so, you know And um, you mentioned economy of scale, which is a very important but not easily described Yeah, um, so and you know it we we don't have a lot of time to um, you know this spring and uh, whatever to get people on understanding the the the cuts that we're facing at the region so um Two easy questions for you Well on the first one, I don't you know, our charter numbers are down across all three districts, you know So, you know, we're not seeing Or a pal in their flat at zero. So, um, you know, we're not seeing Students go to more charter schools. So that financially that's a good thing Um, and so some of this is, you know, certainly people making other options and we've talked about this before I think some of it frankly is is the demographic trends That we've been seeing for years and now as they roll up to grade levels We're seeing it accelerate and the same thing sort of already happened at the elementary level We have a lot fewer sections in the Amherst elementary district than we did five years ago Certainly more less than we did 10 years ago when our current seniors were in elementary school And so as it's in elementary school It's a little simpler, right because you're like, okay Instead of nine sections per grade level in the Amherst public schools will have eight and that sort of gradually happens I'm not saying it doesn't have an impact, but it's it's more easily understood because there's the cohort model is so clear I think when you get particularly to the high school level and the cohort model doesn't really apply so much That's where it's really challenging to think about how do we maintain the comprehensive nature of our high school and the rich level of electives and and all those pieces when your The student population won't won't allow for it and I think particularly at the high school level We talk about budget cuts and we'll be talking about those frankly soon enough the other challenge is that The students choosing the courses sort of drives where some of the cuts go in other words We we look at if there's demand for a course we can figure out how to offer it, but if there's fewer students That'll reduce demand And therefore it's harder to run some of the courses that we historically have run And I know that's a really harsh reality because you know Something I value is that our course catalog looks a lot like a liberal arts catalog liberal arts college catalog and you want to maintain as much as we can of that But if there are fewer students to fill the classes You know if we did infinite budget sure we could just run all the sections with very very small class size But that's not the case and we all know that acutely is not the case So, you know, I think you know, I'm definitely interested in terms of attracting families back But I'm also a practical realist in that we are gonna have to make some budget cuts this year and some of those would be we'd be making and Regardless of covet regardless of Some decline in enrollment that's related to students making other choices at the secondary level It's because we have declining enrollment and we've already realized a lot of those cuts at the elementary schools Not all of them, but we've we've realized those by the reduction in in the number of sections of Of classrooms And when you get to the middle school and particularly the high school it get a as I said it gets murkier, right? About how you reduce and how do you scale appropriately for the number of students that we have so Complicated question not sure how well I did in answering it But but I think it is something that as we hit February and get really deep into a budget in all three districts We are going to have to scale our schools to be the appropriate size for the number of students who are attending them And that's a really harsh reality because you know that might involve reduction of positions Uh, it certainly will frankly involve reduction of positions and that's no one's no one wants to see that Certainly, I don't it's the least fun part or one of the least fun parts of any uh educational leaders job and you know, I can't recreate students and put them in classrooms and um, and so, you know, we will be having really hard, uh, very difficult conversations about How can we maintain our level of programming our level of support? Given that the reality is there's fewer students than in our schools and there used to be And it's it's it's the conversation Many communities across the state, particularly in the western part of the state have been having over the last 10 years Um, and you know, certainly our representatives from shoots brand leverage Have have had that at the elementary level too. I don't want to omit that that you've had some very difficult conversations at their your elementary level Just because i'm not in them I talk to jen and I I know that they're happening and I go to town meeting and I hear the same kind of discussions Uh at leverton shoots very town meeting as well, but as they filtered up to the high school in the middle school Um, the kind of the matrix of decision-making gets a little bit more complex Just because they're the cohort model doesn't exist in the same way Sorry, it's like ending on a downer, but um You know, it's a segue to our next couple meetings, frankly any other questions from the Or the superintendent I'm not seeing any Okay, thank you Um Maybe I'll be able to make up some of the time. Um, we have the chairs update and I think uh for um I'll I will add uh, dr. Morse talked about the meetings that that um that he and the assistant superintendent had been having with the With the apa executive board and for those that weren't online An hour and a half ago, um the regional school committee has been meeting over the last three weeks In a joint session with the apa executive board and we just came out of one just now um, I just my personal opinion those have been um productive and collaborative and um While we don't have the next meeting scheduled right now We do have a commitment um a shared commitment to work on some joint communication about the work that we're doing together And figure out ways to continue This transparent and open communication between our two groups. Um, so I wanted to share that in case folks hadn't noticed that um that meeting was on our calendar also this evening And chair hall. Do you have any updates? Nope, not tonight. Thanks Moving to announcement from school committee members Miss dancer um, we had our budget sub-commuting committee meeting last week and um, I think made some Pretty good progress with dr. Slaughter's significant help um Our goal will be to have some kind of document that can go out before the next four town meeting so that um People would have time to go through it envisioning something that might be four or five pages not That would give some definitions of some things and some data historical data to get people background Before we have the really difficult conversations. We're going to have to have Thank you Any other announcements? No, okay So I'm moving right along. Um, we will move to our new and continuing business and our first item is looking at the calendar for 2020-2021 Juneteenth holidays holidays So, um, I wanted to bring up the topic. Um, so as you know, we put juneteenth on our school calendar last spring as you're aware We allowed staff who were interested in taking it to take it as a holiday as as Probably should have been done many many years ago But um, we didn't we put that in place last spring and did have people taken appreciate it It was school year was done at that point So it didn't affect the academic years for full year staff only mostly administrators and administrative staff This year juneteenth come falls on a saturday And it's on our calendar and you know over the summer after our calendar was published uh governor baker And the state made it a state holiday And um, you know some conversations I was having uh with some of our district leaders Really felt strongly that we should have that friday off as juneteenth observed Um, that you know, if it was any other state holiday and it happened to fall on the weekend like veterans day or other holidays, um july 4th, which affects the administrative staff, but uh, we would we wouldn't ever think I was on the weekend We're not gonna we're just gonna have school the day before like we normally would right and juneteenth much like I Big up veterans day because veterans day happens on november 11th every year regardless of what day the weekend is It's not a holiday like indigenous peoples day, which falls on the second monday in october or whatever it is um So what I guess I'd ask your permission for is to adjust the school calendar Um, I know it extends a day in late june, which is not everyone's idea of a good time Perhaps but it's still the right thing to do and because it's inconvenient or when it happens I still think, you know, we should be taking the day off It's a holiday that's important to to should be important all of us And it's particularly important to many people in our community And it doesn't feel great that the first year we're really doing something formally about it because last year was very kind of Done last minute that we're not actually We're having school like it's a normal day. Um, it doesn't feel right to us I did share this as any other calendar item with the apa. They fully endorsed having that friday the 18th off Adding day to the end of the school year To accommodate that and so I wanted to bring this body and make sure that or just see where you all are on this particular topic But for for myself, I feel really strongly about it And I think as administrative team we've talked about it again, it will be an inconvenience for people and Uh, you know, and well, I'll hear that you'll hear that Uh, but I think more importantly for many people would be an acknowledgement of of a holiday that's long overdue in terms of being acknowledged and celebrated and that seems more important to me than um any negative feedback we may receive On the topic. So I guess, you know, looking for the board's um Support and if not then so be it but I at least want to bring up the topic and this one I'm certainly not neutral about Can I ask a clarifying or confirming question? Um, the school calendar is a regional school committee decision And does it require a vote or are we because it's already voted? We're just nodding alignment with it or not Uh, you know, I think it's a gray area. Um, I think if the region is okay Taking a vote. Um, I think that's fine. And I know it was a joint meeting But since it influences Amherst and Pelham, it felt like a good topic that if someone in Pelham had a question about they'd actually have not Because we don't want to wait too long in this one. It's already late January So if someone in Pelham had a question not wait to the next Pelham school committee meeting on February 11th and then ask a question and then have I go back to the region just felt like, um We should either sort of agree that it's a good idea or agree. It's not a good idea and do it for next year's calendar or something like that I guess you should have asked my questions the other way. Does it require a vote? And if so, is it just the region or all three bodies? sorry, yeah So, uh, you know, I think it's probably a good idea for the region to vote on it. I don't know if technically it requires it but I think You know, it's something I'd appreciate just so that if anyone asks it's not something that I can just say Oh, we're not at their head. You could go back to the video, but actually formal vote to just adjust the calendar to include Juneteenth as a day off of school Um, yeah, and other committees could vote in support, but it wouldn't be a binding vote. Certainly for Amherst or the Got it. Thank you. Mr. Mineta. Did you have a comment or a question? No Is that I'm seeing a thumbs up from Mr. Mineta any, um, miss lord Oh you unmuted I just assumed that was like You're right. I just wanted to voice my strong support for this And my gratitude that we're talking about it now, even if it's later than we might have wanted to but here we are So, thank you I second and miss lord's perspective on that any other thoughts or concerns questions I'm going to take that that we um um, I will then make a motion um for that the regional school committee approved the proposed addition of the of june 18th as a um school holiday in recognition of juneteenth And and and add the second the day at the end of the year Lord second Any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. Mr. Demling Demling I Um miss lord lord. I miss seager Seager I miss spitzer Spitzer I Miss dancer answer I And mcdonald eye the motion passes unanimously Thank you very much We'll send a revised calendar out. Um Probably tomorrow afternoon to everyone. If not, then we'll we'll do it next week after Mr. Minena Could the palom school committee make a non-binding voter support? I think that's a question from miss hall perhaps, but yes, um, oh, sorry. I didn't know I I mean I Let's have a non-binding vote Okay, I will second that Does it I mean do we need to do a formal vote or just I mean it's not really I think you could you could do a roll call vote if the committee wants to I mean, it's not binding But you know, it's a we're an amherst and palom. We do lots of non-binding votes So, uh, there's nothing preventing you from okay great moved by menino seconded by hall any further discussion Okay, uh, we'll do roll call vote mr. Menino Menino I miss dancer Stancer I miss barlow barlow. Hi and hall. Hi Thank you Thanks. Yeah, and it'll be interesting. I don't know what other school districts are doing but, um Hopefully this in my opinion, hopefully I don't know if other I haven't heard of other school districts taking the day off as a celebrated but hopefully we get some Notice out And other districts start thinking about this as well Because it's not just amherst that it's important. It's important for their places So thank you all for the support of that. I appreciate it and we'll again. We'll get that out to families and staff as soon as we can Okay Um So moving on to our next item, which is still on calendars, but now we're looking at the next school year 2021 and two Yeah, so a couple months ago. We had a conversation about perhaps Starting the school year at a different time and as I've thought about it more and had more conversations with my team You know, we're not in the place where we think we could have a radically different or even much moderately different school year Next year for a number of reasons one, um, you know, I think I talked about the heating and cooling systems And I think the ship has sailed in terms of taking You know direct action that would be implementable. Um this summer on that Uh, I think secondly, um, we do have summer service. We're going to go very late in the school year this year Because we had the long december break um You know, we do have summer program services for many students, but particularly students with special needs and That extends we have students who are on a four-week program. We have students who are on a six-week program Um, and and when we start backing those up to the beginning of the next school year Both the administrators and the teachers who work in those at some point everybody does need to take a break Um, and and when we started looking at it everything starts backing into one another in a way where Um, I just don't think it's all that plausible to start the school year Even a couple weeks earlier and do it successfully. I mean, I think the last thing I'll say we know a lot more Now than we did before About running school and planning for safety Uh, while there's a vaccine that I think will be available for all educators I feel confident it'll be all available for all educators by the end of this school year So well before the beginning of next school year Um That's highly unlikely that it'll even be available for students under the age of 12 Um, so our you know, maybe for you know, we have trials going uh, not we but there are trials going for vaccines for Children age 12 to 18. There's not even a trial that I'm aware of that's that's Started for students below the age of 12. So, you know, we will have continued planning We don't assume that every single student's going to return to in-person learning Even if that's the primary motive that we're offering next year Because some of those concerns may still be realized those same concerns that folks expressed and wanting distance learning this year May go on. So I think we're we're still going to be in the kind of significant planning mode even if Some of the other pieces are better next fall than we are now. So I guess what I'd like to see the committee's Thoughts are is that, you know, I'd like to start moving forward with a more typical Schedule for the next school year and we're a little For understandable reasons where I'm a little late and moving forward with that But I didn't want to start drafting a schedule for your consideration the APAs Which is typical If you still wanted to explore more about our earlier start, you know I just think based on kind of our programmatic services as well as our heating cooling system I just have a hard time thinking of a significantly different start time To the next school year next year. So I wanted to say that out loud to you and the community So we had that conversation. I wanted to see what questions you had And then I want to get to work to try to put something together So that in in relatively short order We could be considering a calendar for the next school year because I know many families are asking and staff members are asking because You know, we used to do this in march and then, you know We did in december and people were really happy to have it that far in advance I think everyone understands that that far in advance feels different than it did a year ago, but That being said, I do think if we can take some some relatively quick action on this I think it would reassure everybody I will say also that we received some negative I received some negative feedback from staff about the idea of starting A lot earlier that's unrelated to any of the reasons I said just about Family family planning, you know People I think are feeling like maybe they're taking more trips this summer and Some of those, you know Might be interrupted if we had that much of a change So I did receive some negative feedback not from administrative staff But from teaching staff on that that topic as well So I know I'm painting a pretty clear picture, you know in terms of my thoughts on it But that being said, I wanted to bring it to the committee and see what questions you had or other ideas You had to for me to explore What are folks questions Mr. Demley Yeah, so, um, thank you for that update That is the core of what I was really wondering is what are the practical implementation details and how does this affect staff How does this affect Everything that our building leadership and staff needs to do so that update on the facilities and the impact of summer school I find particularly compelling I'm also Hey, I understand what you say about the vaccine that that kids under 12 You know, we can't expect them to have this fall But the fact that the vaccine has rolled out much quicker than we all thought it might has changed my thinking on the urgency to think Radically out of the box In terms of school calendar, you know, I think when we first had this discussion vaccines were nowhere in sight and there was There was no light at the end of the tunnel, right? And we can we can debate how bright that light is right now and how far the The tunnel is but the light is at the end of the tunnel at least for adult vaccination and and that that changes the game I mean, it it doesn't solve it until let me be clear, you know, we're gonna have you know, covered with us for for a long long time but it it does It's a different reality than my gosh, we can't do anything except for hope for great weather is going to somehow You know mitigate and I'll I'll also be frank and I don't mind saying this as a public official I think the change in administration at the national level Is a very positive sign for the return safe return of our children schools just in terms of you know, how we think the For progress of the virus is going to go In terms of mitigation and strategies and whatnot. So I think that's another big variable for me so you brought up summer school And you know summer school is is for a number of different reasons For obvious reasons, we're going to have potentially a significantly larger number of students who Are going to be behind or or not not where we want them to be I don't need to use that as a trigger term but like you know Students who who don't have the skills that we would have otherwise like them to have or they otherwise would have acquired Um, you know through this pandemic So is there thoughts to significantly expanding that obviously it comes with a cost And cost is not our friend these days, but it is it is something I think about when I think about the summer And try and in how we support kids, you know back to Back to the buildings Yeah, so My short answer is We do actively think about that February does and joanne smith and other folks I think we also are in the place and this is going to be a theme you're going to hear about the next couple weeks in budget conversations So I like the optimism as you all know, I was pessimistic. We'd be where we are on January 21st with a couple 90 plus percent effective vaccines I'd rather be pessimistic than be disappointed and so I can be elated and happy about that But I think on a larger scale both for the fall and then, you know the summer What we don't know is how many of those families would want to access services in person versus remotely And that has an implication on cost and it's actually really hard to do both Right. Um, it by heart I mean expensive Right, uh, because you can only have x number of teachers doing if they're teaching kids there Uh, how are the other students accessing those services? So, you know, it is those are active conversations We're happening are happening and we do have some level of concern about how to run parallel programs of in person and virtual moving forward. So Yes, we're thinking about it Planning for it, you know have dates for it knowing the end of the year july 4th and our typical start date for summer services, but it is hard to put A kind of very explicit point on I think we'll know more about that in the next month or two as we see Vaccine rollout to your point to educators, but also about the comfort levels of return to in person I also want to say like none of this is to suggest that the ideas that came up with the committee Were bad ideas about starting having a different school year schedule It's just i'm not sure my question is really about Feasibility of implementation not on feasibility of or not of whether it's a good idea or not Miss fitzer. Um, so I guess I have a couple questions. What is so last year we had a kind of a Last fall was just hard in a lot of ways, but one of the things was we started late Because of I think negotiations on the state level It feels like it was ages ago, but I'm looking at the calendar now. I think we started september 16th so I think one of the things was it being as full to know is Remind us one would be a normal start date like what were we to i'm looking at the 20 21 september and i'm noticing we've got labor day and rasha shana right on top of each other So I would highly recommend that we don't have a first day for either kindergarten or any of our students happen on That on rasha shana itself, which is to the tuesday after labor day um Just because I'd hate to make somebody choose between missing their first day and observing a holiday um The other thing I want to say is I just i'm it sounds like you're making The totally the right decision by not moving the start date up dramatically I think I would love to have some If we're going to lose days, let's not lose them in the fall So they're going to be factors that are going to cause us to have to have more professional development If there are factors that are going to cause us to need to Have shorter days, you know There are a lot of things that affected our calendar this year and where we lost the most number of days Was when kids could be outside the most when we could open windows the most and where we had the the best Chances of key when the numbers were the lowest for the virus So I feel like we kind of i'm not blaming anybody but just observing that like We squandered the time when the rates were the lowest um and And I don't want to see that repeat anything I'd love to see ways that we can kind of take opportunities for outdoor learning and expand them Because I think that's one of the most positive things i've seen happening for my kids who are too young to be in our district schools But are um participating and learning and daycare and preschools is that they are spending more time than ever outdoors because of the pandemic And I think that's one of the silver linings of this pandemic is this new Exploration of the outdoors that's been driven by a need to reduce the risk of transmission And this would be true for like the flu or you know other, you know, coronaviruses that hopefully You know, we hopefully won't have any new pandemics, but it just seems like for health reasons there are a lot of advantages to increasing the amount of time we're opening in the fall And maybe continuing to have kind of longer breaks in the in the winter Anyway, so those are my thoughts on this But I think I think you're laying out good reasons to not radically shift it But I just don't want to see us again miss opportunities to have our schools open during the fall months Yeah, so just a quick response is we did have those 10 days before the school year started for students as per The state piece like you noted. It wasn't a local decision Uh, I think as we look to next year labor day as you note, it's on Excuse me on september 6th The past practice that we've had is to start the week before some point the week before I think you raise a really good idea about not pushing parents to make a very difficult decision between the holiday celebration of the kids first day of kindergarten And I think we can certainly have the conversation, you know, and and typically If the school year if student if teachers are required to be there, I think before april september 1st, then they have to approve any Schedule so that's like, you know in the contract But as long as I've been doing this this job We've started before labor day and there's been broad support for that and typically what happens is Miss more miss morelin creates a couple different schedules that started different times I'll bring it here. I'll bring it to the apa. They'll offer feedback and then you'll vote on it So I think we can show a couple different varieties of schedules some starting earlier some starting later And gather feedback on what the best approach would be moving forward and and about to like simulate that process again But thank you for that specific feedback. It's really helpful I think um, I'd just like to layer in um I like to see at least one if not most of the options that we look at um revert back to our usual sort of vacation um and holiday schedule and I heard feedback not just um here in my own household from my two kids that um, but from others that the two weeks that at um winter break was actually challenging um and so I'm not sure um Also because if we are Assuming we are in person. We're going to have snow days next year. So we won't have Um, we won't have that ability and so that will just extend all the way into the end of june Um, if we do sort of add additional holiday breaks So I would sort of encourage us to sort of balance that thinking um so that we're not We're balancing where we end the year also with sort of the rest of the breaks and holidays Yeah Any other um thoughts questions? um Without Starting I think that was the key question Seems like um, we are aligned on on your proposal Dr. Morris. Okay, so we'll We'll uh, let's all work with small and uh to call up some trash. We'll share them with apa We'll share them with you and then we can take the next steps to try to you know lock this down in the next couple weeks Thank you very much. Um, and our next item is um the change in start time. So I thought we'd turn it back over to you All right. Yeah, and I'll be brief on this one I think I mean, maybe there's more questions, but I time myself because I did a audio recording of this Uh presentation it took six and a half minutes So hopefully uh, probably with you I'll take a little longer because I was trying to be incredibly brief on that but um It's the same slides that are I'll share slides are in the packet But um same slides I'm gonna share we did a staff town hall today Family town halls next week and more of these nothing will change So you'll get sick of hearing these if you attend any of those I apologize, but um, I'll try to go through them relatively briefly so let me Get that those slides up There it is Okay So I want to start by just and I know the committee's heard this but I just want to I can't say it enough times This is not a new conversation to this district Um, this is a conversation that comes up in my experience every couple years It came up very acutely in 2011 and 2012 which With what I thought was an excellent report that was done by a large committee It ended up not getting voted for a whole host of reasons Um, but it's while we're considering it and I'll talk about why we're considering it now a little later There's a lot of people who did a lot of work on this that we I'm deeply appreciative of And they really set the stage for the conversation this year So I'll just start with a very quick summary. There's hyperlinks, you know, and we'll put this on our website I'm not going to go over them now, but the research, you know, there's a hyperlink to about a dozen articles about school start time But you know, what basically what they find And it's one of the few areas of educational research where there's there's really significant clarity and not a lot of countervailing Evidence is that students are used to they will get more sleep So I know a lot of the kind of feedback that I heard a couple years ago when this topic came up Is they're just going to stay up later. They won't actually sleep more and the research I've read indicates that You know, they'll sleep for about Teenagers sleep for about three quarters of the time that you give them So in other words, if you extend the if you make the school day start an hour and 15 minutes later They're going to get about 50 minutes more sleep every night. They're not going to maybe get all 75 minutes But they're going to get the majority of that asleep. And yes, they'll stay up a little bit later But they will actually get more sleep That in terms of outcomes, they see reduced suspensions better performance and harder course grades And it does seem like the impact is greater on students that are historically and currently underserved in our schools As well as schools across the country It's also true that uh, there's a reduced reduction in tardiness and absences And also reduced likelihood of car crashes for students driving to school and I for anyone who thinks that that is a statistic not worth mentioning I would I wouldn't recommend this Necessarily, but if you want to google car crashes high school students driving to school You will see an absolutely depressing number, uh, even if you could just look put in in massachusetts It happens more often than we'd like to believe and even if it doesn't happen in our particular community It's happened recently in the last couple years and communities near us And so it's not something that I would take lightly. So I know it seems like a little bit an outlier I've gotten that feedback on this slide, but I think it is something that should be Part of our discussion and you could see the cdc made a nice slide about some other wellness pieces About physical activity mental health risk behaviors Also are impacted by Adolescents who don't get enough sleep This is a slide that was created by one of my colleagues on the camp. Um, and I you know came from research and at the Um, just really interesting about their circadian wake-up times that are typical for students under 11 at 16 and at 18 Uh an ideal school start time now, you know sadly for the seniors. We cannot start logistically We can't make it work to start at 11 o'clock. I know many of them Greatly enjoy that and some of you have high school students and probably left to their own devices That's about the right time for them to start now. We can't do that and run our program Uh, but I think this this slide for me highlights the The real disparity in the way we've organized schools with elementary school starting after secondary schools And the way that human beings are That it really is The the flip of how you how we'd want to do that So our current situation I'll stop for it's not a long slide deck But I'll stop for questions or comments after the the next slide Our current situation prior to the covid schedule was that there was about a 7 30 a.m Bus drop off and teacher start time at the regional school 7 45 is when the bell rang for students to be in school and class Our first pickup in the lovely town of shootsbury was at 6 37 in the morning That's our earliest one We have seven buses that have pickup times before 7 o'clock in the morning and they span all four of our member towns Have a bus where a students pickup time is before 7 o'clock in the morning um You think of that contrasted to the slide before and you can you can see the impact That it has at our elementary schools at this point We're about at 8 30 8 35 maybe bus drop off at the elementary level We do have a couple buses that pickup times are early. There's one pelham bus It says 7 43 on the schedule My experience in pelham folks will know this is not that not everyone at pelham who can ride the bus does ride the bus So in reality it is a little bit later than 7 40 It's more closer to 750 But we have to we have the stops laid out and then when the parents tell us that their kids are never taking the bus Then we adjust backwards from there So that that bus a little bit of an outlier but in past years This year at the regional schools We did have a different schedule because of the covet and we started at 9 o'clock and and yeah Well, we never want the reason to be coveted and all the the death and devastation and illness that's come from it It's been eye-opening for us because we had this bizarre natural experiment of what it would be if we didn't have school start until 9 o'clock at the regional level I think I said this in another meeting. I can't have a conversation with the middle school or high school student Without them bringing up. Oh my god. We're not going back to 7 45 next year. Are we? I mean it's universal that that comes up in any conversation Some of you have had middle school or high schoolers as well. And I think if you polled them, they might they might think negatively of 7 45 transition For next year, we'll have a student a student Town hall and I'm actually gonna We're gonna do some of that polling of when they would when they wake up When's nothing to wake up for in other words, they don't have an activity on the weekend or school What time would be their natural wake-up time? I'm really curious what they tell me and so I think the time I do I think it's like after 11 is my latest category Because I think once you get after 11 in the morning, I think all bets are off, right? but So we've had this natural experiment and despite all the concerns and we've heard them you've heard them all year about, you know This is learning and and some people feeling like it's not working well There really is Such appreciation for the later start time and this natural experiment that wasn't designed to be for this reason That I think it is time that we you know have that conversation and explore this at this moment in time So that we You know we we can We can take some next steps in exploring this You know, I think the other process was a multi-year process with a 50 some odd page report As I shared last time we talked about this. There's no time for that And I actually think hopefully the choices are more simple because so much work's been done on this both locally But also beyond in terms of the research space So why don't I pause? I mean I could keep going but maybe I'll pause here and see if There are comments or questions and if I say it'll be I'll get to it later I'll I'll let you know but there may be questions on the specific slides that I've shared so far Mr. Demond So on on the note that the benefits of reduced suspensions and academic increased academic performance Are especially for underserved students I assume that that you draw that conclusion based on the research. How how well established Do you think that conclusion is in the research? It's obviously a very compelling point. So You know what what is is this an emerging Indicator is this is this something that that has been really thoroughly Established. Oh, what's what's your take on that? Yeah, I think there's been I mean there's not that many areas that have been And how to say this Relative to educational research This is actually a pretty easy one because you're either start at a certain time Or you started a different time The challenge with educational research is the number of variables is often too great and it makes it very hard to come up with confident solutions or Correlations and I think there's been enough schools across the country that have made this change That we are able to feel much more confident than we would feel on other areas of research You know, I think I've mentioned before but so I know loosely From long time ago was a professor at columbia and he talked about he's an economist So he's looking at this at a very different lens than than most of us in the room And he actually was able to using other research and his analysis tools ascribe a life earnings gain From a later start time like an a true financial gain for students Who have a later start time based on all the other factors that are so clear in the research Um, so, you know his research is that you know any any investment that you make in this and we're trying to do This is cost neutral as we can you'll get a nine to one return You know, uh in terms of return on investment terms of academic achievement And that's obviously correlated to tardies and absences And that and he's a model and I can't describe it because I'm not an economist That actually ascribes a financial gain Significant financial gain for students with this change in terms of their lifetime earnings So that's way beyond me But for someone who has that level of skill to take educational research and be able to Quantified in that way that that's a pretty atypical thing in educational research So I feel confident Sorry, I was muted Um, I was asking if the folks were ready to move on or more questions right now ready, okay So here's some data from last year about this one's particularly from the high school We had 113 days in session at the high school last year On average seven percent of students or 63 students were late on a daily basis The numbers actually are worse than this because at the beginning of the year there's very few tardies So like if you look the first two weeks the number of tardies is is minuscule And then it increases as cold weather starts it increases as the days get shorter And the weather gets worse And so I think if we were to play this out over a whole year and frankly june looking historically Not our most wonderful month for tardies, right? I mean you can you can think of all of you when you're in school and you got to june and and perhaps getting up Uh was a little bit harder uh getting to class So, uh, we really do have a significant tardy problem in general and our high school administrators doing a great job of communicating on this But seven percent a lot of kids On a daily basis to be to be out and anecdotally both at the middle of school and high school We hear many many reports of students really struggling to attend to class Um, I had a couple educators tell me that you know, um, if they can if they can get an a period prep In other words if they can have their prep period first period, that's always what they try for Because they know it's so hard to teach a period students Um, and not that students aren't tired late their end day And this is I know one thing that came up even dialogues from educators the other day You know that it's not that students won't be tired if we start later start later because the natural impulse of students Right that there's some that's the nature of it, but they'll be tired and have gotten more sleep And there's a real big difference On that so it's you know, when we get to later in the day even if students, you know a period's harder It gets a little better. They still haven't gotten enough sleep. It's still affecting their cognitive processing and so You know, this is the local data for us and this is qualitative But it is something really important to hear from educators and students routinely about a period classes So we really only have two options So I actually like binary choices these days Especially if we have to make a decision pretty quickly And so the two options one is to revert back to the prior schedule So elementary runs stay as normal and secondary goes back to 745 bell Or we could flip the elementary and secondary school schedules the elementary school buses arriving at 810 about So about 20 25 minutes earlier than they currently do and secondary school is about 905 I'll get into it a little bit in a little bit. So We're trying to shrink that gap a little bit between secondary elementary And you know, originally I talked about Well, maybe we can just push everything back half an hour and in Multiple meetings with their union 28 friends and shoot spare and lever Just it does it doesn't work for them. It also doesn't get the same benefits for the regional students So i'm not listening that as an option because I don't I think we want to work with our collaboratively with our shoot spare lever partners And I think if we're going to do it, let's get the bang for the buck And and you'll get at the last slide here. It talks about the number of organizations who recommended 830 or later start And to do that we'd have to do the flip So why now again, there's a hyperlink to this article really good article gel meta in the new york times You know, as I said before we have this opportunity. We have had this experience We now have a year experiment with positive data Qualitative data granted but positive data about the impact of a later start time And I think what we know is the inertia is there once we go back to our former schedule It's going to be harder to change So I think for me if we're going to do it, we should do it now If we're not going to do it then then so be it but to think about waiting a year and trying to do it After we flip-flop times again and again I think that's really hard on kids and I think if we're going to do it We should try to push forward given the experience we've had and the feedback we've gotten Here's some data from north hampton. Um, this is from december. So just last month they surveyed their Stakeholder group students families and Staff their current schedule you could see on the right there Proposal a and b were just variations on a theme of a later start time They just flipped jfk is their middle school and n hs is their high school And you can see there was overwhelming support for the flip So if you combine proposal a and proposal b which both involve a flip of the elementary and secondary schedules It was the vast majority of that community Similar to us. They've done study upon study About late start over the years and they just decided. Hey, let's just see where people are on this and there was broad support in the community And they're pushing forward Much like us they won't have every question answered by the time they vote And that's a hard thing, but I think we are working hard on answering as many logistical questions as we can Before we'd come to a vote for you all to take So there are some real local implications on logistics and schedules and I think you know Some people may feel like some of these are ill-defined. We don't have all the solutions yet and and I'll explain why as we go So, you know, the elementary we certainly have earlier bus runs for some families As we talked about the last time we talked about this topic that would be really helpful for other families much less so After school programs again would have to start 20 25 minutes sooner So it had hours and they might have more demand So dr. Gavara Is been connecting and will continue to connect with the after school programs on this topic Because of the earlier dismissal At the secondary level, we are working to see how can we reduce transition time so that We can end as early as possible given the late start time for all the different activities that students have When we get to athletics, we are looking at a schedule, particularly at the high school level That might have flexibility at the end of the day. So right now athletics can't start before three o'clock And we feel like even if the school day technically would go on we could maybe Either have advisory or some other things towards the end of the day so that it would be a very low impact on athletics in terms of the kind of Especially when we get to like late fall and it's getting dark sooner and other things So, you know, I really want to thank tall of mickey and sam because they're working really hard to think about what schedules would allow for the same level of instruction, but Allow for students involved in some extracurriculars particularly athletics If it's away games or sports where that that time of year where the daylight gets to be difficult, right? None of this is a problem in september You get into november and daylight savings happens all the sort of sudden It's an issue and and they have some really interesting flexible models that we were looking at and I think one of the things that would likely happen at the end of this if we move forward is we would we would You know go work with our association on impact bargaining some of those parts of it So one of the reasons I'm not being as explicit now is I want to trust the process that if we want to do it We should do it because we think it's the right thing for kids And know that we'll work to find solutions for some of the challenges Um, I think one of the things that we're also looking at both of the slides has regional level And that's certainly more true, but at the elementary level We're one of very very few districts who goes close to door to door for pickups for our secondary school students I will say that that almost no one in the world does that or our world in western mass does that It's very atypical the school committee policy says that students can walk as far as a mile and a half And we are actively looking at some of our stops that greatly expand the length of bus runs That could be accommodated with relatively minor walks To bus stops These are students who are older They should be able to manage that and we think we can cut down the times and frankly We think we can also be better for the environment that way as well There's fewer stops and less buses the buses around the last that's better in terms of our carbon footprint So I think it's beneficial in terms of the conversation here But it's probably you know and I'll own this a long overdue conversation about What are we doing and what is our carbon footprint so we can talk about electric buses? Certainly we like that we have one If all of our buses had fewer stops because we're asking students to walk a little bit That's going to have a You know, I don't want to say more because comparison is not helpful It's going to have a significant impact on our carbon footprint And so we think it benefits because if we shrink the amount of time our russons runs around it means kids run buses less time It also means that we can fine tune some of those start times to maybe be a little narrower van We are looking at the elementary level at that too not at the same scale But there are bus stops that are I know of bus stops that students can see Their friends 200 yards away on either side of them and the bus is making three stops At some point we just have to say and that's very atypical as well for schools That if it's a safe place to walk which always has to be critical right 200 yards could be really dangerous But also 200 yards could be on the same road with the sidewalk with no cross streets We may be asking families to do a little more walking and students do a little more walking next year to make these times tighter And also because we think it's better for our environment So that that's part of this discussion as well Finally on this slide we are it would involve changes to the start and end times of staff probably at the elementary level in a very minor way At the secondary level secondary level a little bit more and again, that's where we'd work with our bargaining units To talk about the impact and make sure that we're trying to make as minor changes as we can Because we know it has an impact on you know for families and planning for our staff members. So Kind of that's why we have these Family the staff town hall today and we'll continue to have multiple opportunities because we want to get staff feedback on these kind of things Today's was Really really interesting ideas and very helpful feedback. So on that topic engagement These are the groups we're looking to engage with. We have the staff town halls on monday one in the morning one in the evening Excuse me family town halls on monday one in the one in the morning one in the evening Staff town hall today. We'll follow up meetings with smaller groups of staff We have a student town hall from middle school high school students next wednesday afternoon You know there's ready article in the newspaper. So that was excellent in terms of getting the community involved We have a date for c-pack for a staff town hall there or a c-pack Meeting with them. We're working with our bilingual parent advisory group. Hopefully getting a meeting scheduled soon our pgo's There was a poll out trying to get pgo feedback March is working with the family center parent advisory group to have a meeting We have a date now for next wednesday with levered elementary school We're waiting here back from shoots barrel elementary school for A date in time. So we really are trying to spread our wings And make sure everyone is informed and get that feedback. We'll have a survey going out next wednesday evening And it's pretty simple survey. It's no surprise here, you know, what's your connection to which school? What's your role and you know, what are advantages you see in Option a what are some challenges or question job about that? What are some benefits to option b? What are some challenges and which would you prefer right much like north hampton? I don't think we need a 40 question survey for this It's really some qualitative and quantitative data that that we'll have for you have to bring back to you and We want to make sure that that engage when we get all that feedback and can share that with you by late february Because I think that we get to that march second date It's probably about as late as we can go both for families to plan but also logistically for our transportation department plan They're working non-stop on this I can geek out. I mean, they have really cool tools of how they make routes. They've already revised hypothetical routes Because they have their tool shows like a map view, but it also shows like through google earth like literally you can look at Oh, well, we can't do that because sidewalk ends at that street. And so we can't do we're getting to that granular level of detail But but in terms of communicating with families about that. We really need some time to be able to do that. This is just a summary of of those some of those engagements And then the last slide is just showing that these are five and sure there's more of a five Pretty prominent professional groups who have fully written statements to endure state Third or late starter time again those hyperlinks to each of their statements But when you're talking about american medical association center for disease control american academy pediatrics society behavioral medicine And the american psychological association You're talking about five really really significant organizations that don't casually write position papers Right, they're going to really want to make sure their members are fully agree and endorse this and so You know and with that because I think Because it's not what we've done here It can be really hard, but we have the experts in the field telling us that What we're doing based on when we start our secondary schools is having a really negative impact on kids You know if you go to these websites, they don't have tons of position papers on every topic But the fact that all of them chose this topic to have a position paper on I think is really telling in terms of the potential impact it can have and the beneficial impact it can have on students So it's a little more than six minutes. I apologize, but I'll stop there And see if there's questions or comments on this topic thank you any questions comments This fits her Thanks for the presentation. I added to the chat a statement from the american thoracic society When I was at their conference last year, I I met some very strong advocates as soon as they heard I was also on a cool committee. We're like, well, you've got to change your start time So I I start with that because I don't want to seem like I'm throwing cold water on any of this because I think this is The right thing to do I don't think there's a question about whether or not our students will especially the secondary kids students will Will benefit and I guess that's So part of what I'm I'm going to advocate for is I think, you know, I'm inclined to vote in favor of this and I'm also but though inclined to Really think we need to get into the move and start problem solving for the people It's going to have a negative impact on I don't think we need to start convincing teenagers that this is the right to do or Or even the parents of teenagers, but I'm really concerned about how it's going to have an impact on on younger Parents of younger kids Just it's it's going to change the logistics and in a year that's been really hard Justically for anybody who's caring for small children. It's going to feel Maybe even harder. I think potentially Then it would have in a year when we weren't also dealing with all of the challenges that we've had with the pandemic with parents having to Totally rearrange their schedules, but maybe this is an opportunity to do it because we already have had to be so Incredibly flexible. So I guess I'm just thinking about when we and I guess you've recorded this presentation But I think so it may be too late But I think I think it will be important as we go through this process To really not worry so much about selling people on this idea because I think we all recognize how important sleep is But I think it is it's going to be a It's going to be difficult and I think working especially with the after-school programs is going to be really important and trying to engage parents early on to think about How they're going to be problem solving for the for the change in the schedule because it's going to the problem is that so some people have kids who are in An elementary school and also have younger kids who aren't yet at warm entry school There aren't daycares that just like a two o'clock closure is a big gap between when a lot of the other Schools for young children close. It's at least that's my experience and I know there are a whole bunch of others So anyways, I'm just thinking like is this going to affect the preschool too. Are we going to be closing? Well, the preschool already closes at noon. So are we going to be moving that one to an even earlier? anyways, I'll these are the weeds and I'll we don't need to get into tonight, but Dr. Morris Yes, so just very quickly. We're not thinking of ending our school day at two o'clock So at the elementary level again, we're looking at like 20 to 25 minutes earlier So currently buses get there at 8 30 35. We're talking about getting buses getting there at 8 10 So if you think of the tail end of the day, we'd the school day has to be the same length, right? Like I'm not no one is proposing changing the length of school day I mean if you all do you can go into negotiations on that topic. I'm not proposing that you do that at the moment um So really we're talking about You know, again, and I'm not trying to minimize the impact. We're not northhampton has a very different schedule than ours and I know they have a two o'clock time and that's maybe some feedback to put this up But we're thinking of like 240 245 Right, we're not thinking of two o'clock as an end time. So again, I don't want to minimize That there's a difference with that but it's the it's not as large As northhampton's flip is because they're running three bus runs and that's why it it plays out a little differently for them Oh and preschool I think you know, that's something the transportation is actively working on as well, but again It might be a little bit earlier But if it runs at a similar time as elementary then it again the adjustment is not more than 2025 minutes other questions Mr. Damlin Yeah, I mean, I I think I would agree and echo with with mr. Spitzer's general comment about the impact Elementary and that we kind of have to think of this as affecting half of our families in a fundamentally different way Um, and I don't I don't know enough and I haven't heard obviously from the surveys that we haven't done yet Um, and heard from the forums about, you know, what that all impact will be maybe it's neutral maybe you know, but Finding out what the concerns are so that it's it's not so that we don't just promote it as Well, this is obviously better for older kids. So we just have to do it, right? Um, I mean, I think I think it's okay to be authentic about our general enthusiasm and excitement and the um, and how well established the research is and I don't think there's any reason not to be um You know forward about that. Um, but I do think I do think there there is Um, we do need to make a concert effort to listen to the the many families who won't immediately benefit from it Right, their children will eventually get older Hopefully go to the region. Um, but you know in terms of like selling it. I mean, I think um but when I talk to when I talk to educators when I talk to um Parents of older kids It yes overwhelmingly there is support for this but um But but still I think we can get a little too we can assume a little too much that everybody just assumes that this is a good idea Um, and that's so I do think I really like the way that you've presented it so that you you were making the case Right. Um, so like I said, so it's it's both. It's it's it's making the case um in terms of education and you know the other thing that I mean, I feel I think I've said this before but I feel like I have to say this every time because I've like Pushed to get this item on our agenda. So long is that um, I mean, I'm obviously wanting this to work out but I'm I don't want to lock myself in To voting for it before we've gone through the process, right? Like it's We we we still do need to hear from our community. We still need to do these do this engagement in a in a real way And dig into these issues so, you know, I I certainly am committed to being open-minded and um, You know and weighing all that and then doing what I feel is the is the best for for students at the end of the day um, but um Yeah, it is it is a little bit of a tricky balance of being like really excited for something that we feel is really positive and Also wanting, you know, the decision balance play out I think I'll um, I see mr. Sullivan if I Allow me to speak for um, I think one of the things that I I'm glad you brought that up. Mr. Demling about sort of like we're going through the process just to remind Viewers that the conversation that we're having was and that the only thing that the school committees have agreed to is to explore this So I think that's a really important Point to make is we're we're exploring it. We want to hear what the issues are and what the concerns or Accolades might be for like yay. This is we want this change or Here's all the reasons why this is going to be bad for me and my family We we want to hear that So that we can make an important decision And I and I like that you proposing that it's March 2nd. So I think the community That will be helpful for the community Um, and I also want to encourage us as we're going through this learning process I'm you know, keeping an open mind is really important, but also not assuming that this that All secondary students are going to see this as a positive and all elementary students are going to see this as a negative because I I can guarantee that that's not going to be here And I for when when I was an elementary parent I would have celebrated having my kids going to school earlier in the day just to be clear So it's really easy to project sort of assumptions and and I think The whole learning process that you just outlined Dr. Morris I think will really help us to hear from multiple perspectives What the impacts will be and I just want to ask a clarifying question before I turn it over to mr. Sullivan for his question Is when this survey goes out you said it's going to go out next wednesday Will pieces of that? those options and sort of Things that will be explained As sort of a preamble to go along like an FAQ to go along with that survey Yes, that's why we did the that we did the recording and it'll be done by league willy And with the slide deck is ready available. We already have that translated So that if people want more context they have both the slides, but also a narrated Walkthrough of the slides so that they can have access to to more than just Why we're considering and now all those things again, it's pretty tight six minutes No one wants to hear me for that that long before they take a survey So I tried to make it as short as possible Thanks And mr. Sullivan Hi, it's interesting because at the shootsbury school committee about 15 minutes ago We had this same discussion and I just want to point out that I've been a very vocal opponent of this for five plus years And I have turned the corner, but I just want to point out that shootsberry is not just a bystander It's going to affect the shootsberry school schedule by at least 15 minutes If not more even though we are not choosing to change our start times And I believe it's probably the same for lever it with the same bus company Yeah, that's if I could comment on that I think it's really important And that's why we've been collaborating communicating so much with our union 28 colleagues and and Setting up meetings with them and and Definitely heard from jackie, you know and steven though who I'm talking about Very clearly about some some parameters that she feels like she needs to make this work for shootsbury and As best we can we're trying to take all those things into account But I really appreciate your perspective and I'm glad it's being talked about there And I just really want to thank jackie any With the principles and shoots brand levered and and jen colkeen and bruce turner their transportation coordinator because it's it's I learned so much from talking to them that you know until you talk to them You don't know and too much like pelham. It's a small school and small schools sometimes have traditions And values that are really really important to them that maybe people from the outside wouldn't necessarily realize So really really appreciate that point steve and appreciate, you know the folks that over there working with us so well Other questions or observations Let's see many and I'm also going to just acknowledge and welcome back. Mr. Harrington and mr. Sullivan Retired and returned Great Did you have anything more in your presentation? No, I think when we talk about upcoming agendas, you know, I think we just want to maybe figure out times before march whether It shouldn't all come to you on march 2nd be like, oh, there's what people thought right? You should have a chance to deliberate Earlier and so, you know, I think but we can talk about that when we get to What I believe is much agenda item. Yeah, so it's a good segue So if I if there's no more comments on our discussion on changing school start times and we can move on I'm not seeing any objections. Um move on and to our future agenda planning and Would folks like me to share my the document that we Yeah, let me uh Put that to a shareable spot Just we thought I did some some potential editing this afternoon thinking about this so if you didn't see it I'm sorry if it's coming as a surprise to you That's publicly there everyone watching so We can talk through It doesn't look like it's sharing. Yep. Yep. Oh it is. Okay. Yeah Oh, yeah Okay, so we are Here on the 21st um The region um Is having a meeting on the 2nd of february um to Well, we'll look at the fy 22 budget And here an update on the q2 of the current of fy 21 um We'll have an update on attendance and distance learning and school choice And then that's um the budget presentation is in preparation for our fact four towns meeting which is scheduled for saturday morning february six um And it looks like um the february 23rd date is the one um that you're talking about dr. Morris that we return back um with a joint meeting Uh to talk about school start times And then the amherst committee will continue to have its q2 budget update um and initial look at the fy 22 budget Yeah So to be clear originally miss mcdonald had that on february 9th But I think just from a workflow perspective of the business the business office To have the february 2nd february 6th february 9th and february 11th is the pella meeting um It's just you know three separate budgets It almost is like every other day presenting some budget information and you know I want to I respect dr. Slaughter and his team's work and it just felt like That's not a sustainable model to have them that bunched in that way particularly this year So I apologize. It means the 23rd is probably a long evening But I just I don't think on february 9th We'd be in a great position to to go into detail in the amherst budget um That way Mr. Deming um, so Okay, that makes sense with what you just described because that was my first thought is that we haven't um We haven't dove deep into the amherst school committee budget situation Um for next year and what and what that projects to be so that's It's definitely on my thought radar, but you know whenever it slots in appropriately Be anxious to get that. We did have a on our to-do list follow up on the common aunt days in a sibling policy That again, um I would advocate at the region to get the sixth grade To the middle school Discussion item on there sooner rather than later Since this is a joint meeting, I'll just say again I think it makes sense sequentially for the region to be able to have that discussion and then if we establish that that's even possible and it flows to a Amherst school committee to make that decision of Whether that six is going to middle school and that has obvious impacts to building products and whatnot. So um Getting that up would be good. Uh, I think that's So you you're asking for sooner than March 9th Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see that item there. I was I was scanning for sixth to arms and I didn't interpret great span report correctly Okay, well very well then thank you Um, given that the 23rd is uh a long meeting for um our amherst colleagues um Just trying to think creatively if there's opportunity to have um a joint meeting and then a separate amherst meeting on on a thursday That week or vice versa, whichever Folks, um I see dr. Morris nodding in that I think my advice would be um since amherst doesn't have conflicts on thursdays I have members may but like there's not like like steve had one tonight You know, I just I want to be conscious of that that if we did the joint meeting on jues days and the amherst on a thursday, then that would potentially At least not create conflicts for our regional colleagues What are the um amherst? folks think about that sort of shifting our meeting the that meeting to 24 25th to reasonable moderate length meetings or one I I think I would rather just get it all done in one night or my to benefit my husband So he doesn't have to put our children to bed alone more than once a week. Um, but I know I'm I'm amenable to others. I if we do have two meetings I would just ask to make certain that the second meeting and By say like seven thirty or eight that would be fun I just like to be present for my family in the evenings Thank you for that feedback Yeah, and I'm fine either way to be clear whatever makes sense for the committee is fine Okay Great any other um thoughts on this Miss fitzer um at the earlier meeting with the apa we talked about an executive session to discuss authorizing Dr. Morris for negotiations. I don't know how that's Going to fit in but I think we should make sure that's on the calendar, but potentially Yep, I'm just going to put it here to not forget it, but Okay, mr. Gemley Yeah, um, it actually brings up a good point. Um, So we passed my so the in-person volunteer plan, right? Um, one would imagine Not next week, obviously Um, one would imagine at some point, you know between now and february You will you will have the plan It'll be more than just item seven and superintendent's update, right? And so we can expect that to Take a fair bit. Um And I would imagine that you would want, you know, once you have something that is That you've worked through with collaboration and whatnot that you have You're that you're getting close to finalizing that you would want to get school committee feedback on it So I'm imagining that's going to be some kind of a I an item that consumes some number of some amount of time on one of these dates I don't know exactly how to block that in without, you know, knowing more than we know right now, but Absolutely, I agree. I agree on both ends of that. Yes, it should happen We don't exactly know where to block it in but it needs to happen Yeah, I'm just dumping them all in the second right now. That's a employment Um, okay Any other thoughts there? Um, I do I do know also that there was a request for um, a presentation from the sc tf um In february and we also had a request to present um From cpac Um, so we don't have the sort of preferred dates from both of those but um those I believe both groups wanted February so, uh February seems pretty packed and I'm I'm going to Ask see if we with our sc tf team and cpac rep might be able to See if march might be amenable for those two groups Um, so we can sort of cover that off separately um My next item is warrant reports and I have one for amherst. Um, is spitzer. Do you have? You do. Um, so I have mine up So I'll go first. Um, I authorized by my signature Payments to for payroll in the amount of six hundred and thirty five thousand five hundred and sixty seven dollars and fifty four cents for it, uh, the payroll dated january 13th 2021 and I signed that on january 8th 2021 And spitzer So I authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of six hundred fourteen thousand nine hundred 90 dollars and forty one cents for the warrant dated january 13th 2021 This included general fund expenses of six hundred twelve thousand five hundred eighty four dollars and sixteen cents Grant fund expenses of two thousand four hundred six dollars and twenty five cents and this was signed in um, sorry signed on january 13th 2021 um, I also authorized um, a warrant for an annual scholarship payments in the amount of $1,000 and this was dated um, january 19th 2021 And that is all Did you you're on mute allison? Did you just call on me? Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Sorry for all Thank you I authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of fifty four thousand five hundred sixty four dollars and eighty seven cents For the warrant dated january 14th 2021 This included general fund expenses of twenty eight thousand one hundred thirty nine dollars and sixty two cents And grant fund expenses of twenty six thousand four hundred twenty five dollars and twenty five cents And I signed that on january 15th 2021 super Um, I don't think we had gifts tonight. Uh, dr. Mars I don't have a monetary gift, but I had some images I'd like to show you to bring a little levity because you're in a lot of meetings. So gift is maybe oml, hopefully I don't get in trouble for this, but Many people know that bernie sanders lives in the state north of us They don't know about his experiences in our community. So if I could indulge you in Five images sharing a little bit of his time with us. I hope that's okay So, uh, you might remember musical spring awakening. Um, There was bernie interacting with students lover of theater a musical theater Thanks to mr. Beck told for arranging front row seat for him right on stage Also attended our graduation Exercises at the mullen center where we were able to And little known fact about bernie is that he actually is a lover of sports And here he is with our western mass championship football team And as well as a couple years ago our western mass volleyball team Um, so just thought I'd share that that he, you know, we really welcome Uh politicians people who want to visit our area and visit the district Really appreciate his support of the amherst regional public schools Um, so that is the gifts for tonight That that was great. And yes, thank you, mr. Sanders Yeah, and mr. Champaign for his help just, you know, just just touching up those images just a little bit Excellent Um, well, I will make a motion for the amherst school committee. I will move that the amherst school committee adjourns. Is there a second? All right As a second advice spitzer, uh, we'll call vote, uh, mr. Demling Mr. Harrington Harrington Miss lord lord. I Miss spitzer Spitzer I And mcdonald. I am rest is adjourned chair hall All right, I move to adjourn the pelham school committee. Is there a second second? Second advice dancer. All right roll call vote miss barlow barlow. I Miss dancer answer I mr. Manino Manino I and haul I thanks everyone And I will move that the regional school committee adjourns. Is there a second? second Move by mcdonald second by spitzer roll call vote mr. Demling Demling I mr. Harrington hearing tonight Miss lord lord. I miss seager Seager I miss spitzer Spitzer I miss stancer stancer I mr. Sullivan Olaf and mr. Sullivan I And mcdonald. I the region uh is adjourned. Thank you everyone. Thank you. I miss media