 Thursday, June 11th at 6.20 p.m. As a preliminary matter Remember to confirm that all members and persons anticipated on the agenda a president can hear me. Ms. Ekston here Mr. Cardin Mr. Cardin. Yes, I'm sorry muted here. I'm here. Okay. Dr. Alston Ampe here Mr. Thielman here. Mr. Heiner here. Ms. Morgan here and I am here as the chair of the committee Members when I call your name you've reaffirmed you have affirmative responded the open meeting Wise we are now turning the first item the agenda will be the election of the chair before we do so Hopefully to cover some ground rules I will introduce each speaker on the agenda after they conclude their remarks chair will go down the list of members and Please refrain from please remember to mute your phone or computer Please remember to speak clearly for any response Please wait till the chair leads for yields of floor to you members wish to engage in the colloquy with other members Please do so through the chair Okay, the first item on the agenda is the election of a chair of the earlings and school committee nominations, please I know I'm a Mr. Heiner I nominate Jane Morgan for chair. I Second the nomination Okay, the nomination of Jane Morgan has been made in second. Are there any other nominations? Hearing none roll call vote on the election of Jane Morgan to chair Ms. Ekston Yes, Mr. Cardin. Yes, Dr. Allison Ampe. Yes, this is the element. Yes, Mr. Heiner. Yes Ms. Morgan. Yes, and I vote yes as the Ms. Vote 7 nothing now. We entered Nomination of the office of vice chair who would like to make a nomination Mr. Cardin I nominate Bill Heiner as vice chair Who seconds that? I second it. Okay Motion but made by Mr. Cardin second by Mr. Thielman Any other nominations seeing none roll call vote Ms. Ekston. Yes Mr. Cardin. Yes, Dr. Allison Ampe. Yes, Mr. Thielman. Yes, Mr. Heiner Yes, Ms. Morgan. Yes, and I voted in the affirmative seven nothing vote Nominations for the office of secretary. I nominate Mr. Schlickman I second that. Okay, motion in second in motion by Mr. Thielman second by Mr. Heiner Any other nominations seeing none roll call vote Ms. Ekston. Yes Mr. Cardin. Yes, Dr. Allison Ampe. Yes, Mr. Thielman. Yes, Mr. Heiner Yes, Ms. Morgan. Yes, and I voted in the affirmative next order of business will be to approve the committee and liaison assignments as presented motion by Ms. Morgan second by Mr. Heiner Roll call Ms. Ekston. Yes, Mr. Cardin. Yes, Dr. Allison Ampe Yes, Mr. Thielman. Yes, Mr. Heiner. Yes, Ms. Morgan. Yes, and I voted in the affirmative next I would like to hear a motion to authorize the chair to say sign the payroll warrant So move Motion by the motion bill made the motion I'll second it Who made the motion bill I second motion by Mr. Heiner second by Mr. Thielman Any discussion hearing none roll call Ms. Ekston. Yes, Mr. Cardin. Yes, Dr. Allison Ampe. Yes, Mr. Thielman Yes, Mr. Heiner. Yes, Ms. Morgan. Yes, and I voted in the affirmative Now per policy BDA standards and norms of the Arlington school committee Normally we will do this by signing, but I will do a roll call vote In acceptance of policy BDA dash E Which is our tradition? Ms. Ekston. Yes, Mr. Cardin. Yes, Dr. Allison Ampe. Yes Mr. Thielman. Yes, Mr. Heiner. Yes, Ms. Morgan. Yes, and I affirm policy BDA dash E the standards and norms of the Arlington school committee Motion to adjourn So move by Mr. Heiner second by Mr. Thielman roll call Ms. Ekston. Yes Mr. Cardin. Yes, Dr. Allison Ampe. Yes Mr. Thielman. Yes, Mr. Heiner. Yes, Ms. Morgan. Yes, and I voted in the affirmative We are adjourned. See you in the next meeting. Thank you very much So just in case anybody we have a couple of attendees So this was the zoom link for the organizational meeting and now we need to move to the zoom We're going to a second meeting which seems kind of weird, but that's just how it's done So we're going to go to a new zoom link and you'll need to log in through the 6 30 p.m. meeting link Welcome to the second while the regular school committee meeting of Thursday, June 11th, 2020 I'm going to start by reading the Script for remotely conducted open meetings permit me first to confirm that all members and persons anticipated on the agenda are present and can hear me So members when I call your name, please respond in the affirmative Ms. Ekston. Yes Mr. Cardin. Yes, Dr. Allison Ampe. Yes, Mr. Thielman. Yes, Mr. Schlickman. Yes, Mr. Heiner. Yes And staff let's do the same thing. Dr. Bodie. Yes, Mr. Levy. Yes, Mr. Spiegel. Yes, Mr. Mason. Yes, and Ms. Elmer. Yes. So good evening. This open meeting of the Arlington School Committee is being conducted remotely consistent with Governor Baker's executive order of May 12th, 2020 due to the current state of emergency and the Commonwealth due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. In order to mitigate the transmission of the COVID-19 virus, we have been advised and directed by the Commonwealth to suspend public gatherings. And as such, the governor's order suspends the requirement of the open meeting law to have all meetings in a publicly accessible physical location. Further, all members of public bodies are allowed and encouraged to participate remotely. The order which you can find posted with agenda materials for this meeting allows public bodies to meet entirely remotely, so long as reasonable public access is afforded so that the public can follow along with the deliberations of the meeting. Ensuring public access does not ensure public participation unless such participation is required by law. This meeting will feature public comment by advanced sign up or by email. For this meeting is convening by Zoom as posted on the town's website identifying how the public may join. For Zoom meetings, please note that this meeting is being recorded and that some attendees are participating by video conference. Accordingly, please be aware that other folks may be able to see you and take care not to screen share your computer. Anything that you broadcast may be captured by the recording. All of the materials for this meeting accept any executive sessions materials are available in the Novus agenda dashboard. We recommend the members and the public follow the agenda as posted in Novus unless I note otherwise. So we are now turning to the first item on the agenda. Before we do so, permit me to cover some ground rules for effective and clear conduct of our business and to ensure accurate meeting minutes. I will introduce each speaker on the agenda after they conclude their remarks. The chair will go down the list of members inviting each by name to provide any comment, questions, or motions. Please hold until your name is called further. Please remember to mute your phone or computer when you are not speaking. Please remember to speak clearly in a way that helps generate accurate minutes. For any response, please wait until the chair yields the floor to you and state your name before speaking. If we're not going to do that part. If members wish to engage in colloquy with other members, please do so through the chair taking care to identify yourself. So the first item on the agenda is public comment. So my understanding was Ms. Fitzgerald that we didn't receive anything over email and nobody requested to speak. Is that correct? It is correct. Okay. So and I see Dr. McNeil has joined us. I just want to make sure that in our attendance that he can hear us and he is able to speak. Dr. McNeil, can you let us know that you are here? I am here. Sorry for the hardiness. I was having some technical difficulties. We are happy to see you and all you missed was reading the script. So we're doing great. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So moving on from public comment, the first item, the second item on the agenda is a welcome that I just wanted to do. This is my first meeting as Arlington school committee chair. I was elected about five minutes ago. I'm pleased to be serving with my vice chair, Mr. Hainer and our secretary, Mr. Schlickman. I would like to welcome Ms. Liz Exton to the school committee and to welcome back Mr. Hainer and Mr. Schlickman. Thank you to the voters of Arlington for your unprecedented participation in our local election last weekend. The seven of us members of this committee serve at your will and your participation is appreciated. This is our first school committee meeting since the murder of George Floyd by a police officer resulting in a public reckoning both nationally and here in Arlington over systemic racism and black people's longstanding catastrophic interactions with law enforcement. Issues around racism including student achievement, discipline, representation and course materials have been and must continue to be discussed at the school committee level here in our meetings and I welcome increased interest and engagement from the community. Our schools are not immune and we must work together to improve both our data and our student experiences. A few housekeeping, one housekeeping item and thank you. So tonight Dr. Ellison Ampey and Mr. Cardin need to step out for a couple of times just once each respectively to attend to family obligations and Dr. Ellison Ampey plans to follow along by phone but will not be available on video during that time. I was also wanted to thank Joanna, Paul, the APD and the AFD for their help with the class of 2020 graduation caravan. I heard from a couple of parents who were grateful and so are we and so I wanted to make sure to thank them publicly. So the next item on the agenda, this is a holdover from sort of our last session. So one of the school committee's responsibilities is to bring forward nominations of people to serve on various town commissions and committees and as part of that the community relations subcommittee went through a process of looking for somebody to assign to the poet laureate selection committee and the chair of the community relations subcommittee up until today was Ms. Seuss and since she is no longer a member of the school committee I wanted to just take a minute to introduce our nominee. Mr. Stewart Deck is a teacher, a math interventionist at the Stratton school, teaches elementary students full disclosure. He teaches my kids and we're really lucky to have him and I'm delighted that he is interested in and willing to serve on the poet laureate selection committee. So Mr. Deck, are you able to give the committee a couple of minutes of or let tell us a little bit about yourself so that we can vote on your appointment. Sure. Start that up. Hi, I'm happy to be here and very excited to be here. I moved to Massachusetts about 28 years ago this summer, moved here with a degree in English and anticipated using that degree in English in publishing, writing in some form. We moved to Arlington 24 years ago and I was a feature writer for magazines. I wrote for several technology magazines and wrote features and news for several years for technology magazines. About eight years ago I became part of the Stratton elementary school math support team and have been a math interventionist at the Stratton elementary school for eight years working with kids from kindergarten through fifth grade, helping to identify kids who are having some math challenges and working with my intervention colleagues to come up with programs and ways to connect with the kids, identify them and build them up so that they can be part of their math classrooms and really dig into the math learning that the rest of the school is doing. I've been going to the Stratton elementary school not every day but many days for about 17 years. We have two sons who started at the Stratton elementary school are just now finishing their college semesters at home but I've been walking to the Stratton elementary school and near the Stratton elementary school for about 17 years since the first one started there in kindergarten and I still go there just about every day. That's how I got from with an English degree to Massachusetts to working in the math department at Stratton elementary school. Great, thank you so much. Thank you for being with us tonight. We're excited to have you here. So I'm looking for a motion for to appoint Mr. Deck to the Poet Laureate Screening Committee. I move that Stuart Deck be the school committee's member to Highlington Poet Laureate Committee. I'll second that. Okay so we need I assume we need to do this by roll call vote because we have to do them all. So Ms. Extin, Mr. Cardin, Dr. Allison Ampe, Mr. Thielman, Mr. Schlickman, Yes. Mr. Hayner. Yes. And I'm also a yes. So that's a 7-0 vote. Thank you Mr. Deck. So the next item on the agenda is the remote learning plan update. So I'm going to turn this over to you Dr. Bodie and I don't know who else you have who wants to speak to this. You're on mute. I don't know which number Zoom meeting this is today so this should be used to this after all these weeks. Let me begin by reminding you that in the part of NOVA's where the superintendent's report is, the chart that I spoke about last week has been put together by K235678 and well, Audison and then the high school. So you can see what the participation levels have been since May 4th over a three-week period and I would have to say that they're actually pretty good. Obviously we would love to see 100% participation but having percents up in the 80% for turning in works at the secondary level and the number at the secondary level for being in Google Hangout is less than the elementary school. What I can tell you from meetings that we've had in the last week that these percents represent what is continuing now through the end of the year. One of the things that we are going to be following up with, in fact we have it almost ready to go, is a parent survey. We'll likely go out sometime later tomorrow asking parents just to give us some feedback on the last few weeks since May 4th, the phase three part of school closure and also be looking at some questions about the opening and the fall. But the report is there by these different grade levels. What I want to actually focus on a little bit more right now is we did a student survey for that data. The survey is still not closed it's open until tomorrow and we did have a little bit of a glitch that the survey didn't get out to the sixth grade students so that has been remedied and we're getting a lot of data in but I thought you find it interesting some of the data that we have already. This was sent to our sixth through 12th grade students and at this point there are 600, at least when we put this report together, Dr. McNeil did, 609 respondents. The highest respondents were from the high school and OMS. I suspect that by tomorrow this data will shift a bit. There were 162 students out of the 609 and putting the 609 in perspective we have a little over 3,000 secondary students. That 162 of the students prefer to attend a Google Meet and listen to their teacher explain a lesson. However, 217 students prefer to watch a video when it's convenient. What is I thought pretty good news is that we have nearly 60% of our students report that they spend three and a half hours completing assignments every day and there are students when we give this report to you'll be able to see it broken out by the different levels but basically this is 59.4% of all the students that were in the survey. Nearly 45% of the students who are not participating in online learning identify that the fact that the assignments, the reason for that is the assignments do not count for a grade. So 136 of the respondents of the 609 said that that was the issue. And that was something that we had as feedback from an earlier survey that the issue of having accountability having a grade is a motivator for students to participate. So we'll give you the finished survey results once the survey closes and send it to you over the next two weeks or make sure it's in your packet for the next school committee meeting. In addition to the parent survey that we are planning to send out, we are also going to be sending a staff survey as well. One of the most frequently asked question by teachers as well as parents, what is going to happen next year? I think everybody at this point is now focused on the fact that the school is going to close next week and teachers have been very busy giving feedback to students and students making up the work they need to make up in order to have either their audit or their meeting expectations. But the issue is everybody's mind is how are we going to begin next year? And right now there's still some uncertainty. There has been some hints from the Department of Education that they are leaning toward a hybrid model in which some students are in school one day or one week and then the other group of students in the class come the alternate day or week. The Department of Education has promised that by next week by the 17th we'll have more more guidelines. In the meantime we have working groups that have been established in virtually all the different areas that we need to look at whether it's curriculum, safety, transportation, food service, certainly as I said curriculum. And those committees have already begun working. We're going to be including teacher voice in many of these committees and I expect that the committees will be working over the summer. I think it's difficult at this point to put a lot of energy into one of the possible three options that we had which was we were going to have full attendance, a regular opening of the school year, a hybrid or remote. But what I can say is that we're going to be looking at the last two the most particularly the hybrid and the remote. The remote from the point of view of how would a school day look next year if it was remote? We do know that when next year comes we're not going to have the same kind of asynchronous learning experiences we have right now. There will be much more synchronous. It does not mean that there would not be asynchronous where there could be videos that we want students to look at and then come back and discuss. So there's going to be certainly some of that. And one of the there's two groups right now that are our study groups that have been looking at synchronous learning at the elementary and the secondary level. And we were asking as many of those people as are able to remain through the summer working on this because I think the experience they've had, the research that's gone on is going to be invaluable in terms of designing what this would look like on a daily basis. The remote piece is going to be important because we don't know at any time whether a school or the whole district would have to shift into remote. So we want to make sure that we have a plan in place. We also may have a remote learning option for parents. We understand that there probably will be some parents that for a lot of concerns around safety may not want their children to return in the fall. And that's actually one of the things that we're trying to determine in this survey that we're going to do is to get us something of an idea about that. But we are going to spend a fair amount of time actually designing what that would look like for the fall. In addition to that, if we have to have, we're going to have a hybrid, what would that look like? What would it look like in our classrooms? What would it mean for lunch? What would it mean for after school programming? So there's just a myriad of things that we have to entertain. But I think it's going to be very helpful for our district as well as all the districts in the state to have a little bit clearer guidance of what our suggested guidelines and what are going to be mandatory elements of a program next year. So by the time you meet in two weeks, I think that I will be able to give you much more insight into all of that than I can this evening. One thing that we did not discuss at the last meeting was what the elementary progress report was going to look like for this time period. We had talked about the high school having the audit, no audit. We talked about the three designations at the middle school. But what was decided over the last couple weeks was that the elementary progress report was going to really going to be more of a narrative letter to parents. And it's going to consist of three parts, sort of a broad view of the school year for the point of view of the teacher in terms of the progress of the student, as well as what some reflections about the learning during this remote time. And then as well as some suggestions for what they can do over the summer to prepare for the next school year. So all the letters will have those components in it. And we expect that those be going out to parents, some right right as school closes. So one of the things that's gone on this week and it's continuing into next week is that all the all of the schools have made some plans for how student work and belongings can be picked up at each school. And some people who plan today sort of got very wet as they did. I think Stratton was one of the schools that had one of the pickups today. And it was very well organized as they are at all the schools. And I think one of the things nice about this experience is that the children are coming with parents to pick up materials and seeing their teachers, albeit the teachers in masks, but they're still seeing their teachers. So that's been going on. Another thing that is happening in all of our elementary schools is having virtual meetings with kindergarten parents. Normally we would have kindergarten parents coming into our schools for an orientation. And then they would come another time for to meet the teachers to get a tour of the classrooms. And so instead of that second part, the schools have a virtual look at the different schools. Kindergarten teachers have been part of this as well. So the third aspect of usually the last couple of years is having kindergarten screening, which is a state mandated process. And that is going to be deferred to the fall, which in Ellington we did for many years, we just had moved it back in recent years. But that will be planned and actually how it will be conducted will be planned over the summer because some of it may actually be done virtually. That has yet to be decided as well. So that is sort of an update on activities in the district since the last time we met. I don't know if you have any questions before we move into talking about summer programming. Yeah, let's do a round of questions or comments from people. So Ms. Ekston. Sure. Thank you. Thanks for this update. I'm wondering with the data of the participation, what strategies were teachers using to increase participation and were you seeing a change based on those strategies? I don't know if I can speak to that. That's one of the things we want to get actually out of the survey that we do. And I can certainly give you some feedback on that the next time we meet. Because whatever those strategies are, those are ones that we certainly want to replicate in any kind of programming that we go forward with. I will say that broad anecdotal is that the number of students at the elementary level participate more in these. And part of it is they want to see their friends, they want to see their teacher, and they don't really have other mechanisms for that level of connection other than maybe their neighborhood or, you know, if they have their own Facebook. But at the secondary level, that's not the motivator to come into a Google classrooms necessarily because they have other means of staying in contact. I think that some of the participation levels have been highest when there's been discussions. Discussed on current events. There's been opportunities in some classes for questions. But then again, if students don't have a question, they feel that the purpose of the hangout is for questions, they may not come to it. So we're going to dig in a little bit more to that because I think it's a great question that we want to take a look at. Thank you. Just one more. Sort of along the same lines. I'm curious just thinking about the teachers that are piloting the synchronous learning. Are they seeing higher levels of participation in those classes than teachers who are doing more of a hangout, meet up as opposed to some teaching? That's a great question. Can I defer that question to Dr McNeil because he actually is leading these two study groups, the elementary and the secondary, and I know they've had discussions about this. Dr McNeil. Yes, hi. So I think at the elementary level, as Dr. Bodie alluded to, the participation is high. I think that the one thing that we want to focus on is the secondary level. And as the students indicated in the survey, they're talking about whether or not the work is required and is going to impact their grades. So I think once we shift to the fall, I think that we're going to have more participation in the online learning. At the elementary level, we've been really focusing on instructional strategies, not so much the motivation to get students to participate because like I said before, I think at the elementary level, the participation is high. But some of the things that we have been discussing is how we're using the online tools. Well, let me back up a second. We're focusing on what online tools we want to invest in that will increase engagement with online learning. So teachers have been showcasing the various synchronous lessons that they've been doing with students. We've been sharing best practice. We also have been sharing asynchronous videos that they've been doing that they've done in order to increase engagement, making it more entertaining. And then also, we've been talking about the use of the online tools and how they're integrating those online tools into their instruction. So I think there's a myriad of reasons that may impact student motivation to participate, but at the elementary level, I think we have a very high participation rate to begin with. I don't know if that answers your question, but that's not really something. I mean, we are talking about it, but I can't pinpoint one reason that's going to, I can definitively say that this is a reason that is motivating students to participate at the elementary level. We've been talking about a lot of different things that they've been doing. Thank you. So, Mr. Cardin, I'm going to take Dr. Allison Ampe out of order just because I happen to know what her schedule looks like. So I'm going to take her questions or comments before you, and then I will come back to you. So Dr. Allison Ampe. Thank you. Yeah, I have to turn into Hoken in a moment. I appreciate Ms. Eksten's question. I wonder, Dr. Bodie, can you talk about why you're emphasizing hybrid and remote learning options as opposed to in-person? Because I know a lot of parents feel they really would like the kids to go back. I mean, everyone wants their kids to be safe, but people feel like this isn't working so well and they feel like school will work better if the kids are in classrooms. I agree. That's the case. Where the hybrid came from is, this has been discussed at the state level, and it comes from wanting to have certain safety distances within the school classroom. A week ago, the Department of Education sent out a list of supplies that schools should be thinking about purchasing now in preparation for the year. As just an aside, on that particular issue, we had already been doing that, and we upped some of our orders after seeing that list. But in that memo, also talked about having desks at six feet apart in our classrooms. And if you're going to have to, that's going to have to be a safety requirement, there's no way that you have all the students in the classroom at the same time. There's been discussion in Paul's about this particular model. The level of detail and the disruption that it would cause would be fairly significant. But are we planning as a possibility? If that becomes a requirement of the state, then yes, that's what we would do. If there is some level of choice in this, and parents understand the risks of returning to school when we perhaps don't have that kind of ratio of child to space in a classroom, that might be something that we talk about, we talk about certainly with the committee as well. So that's where it came from as it really began at the state level of thinking about that as a possibility. Okay, so just to reiterate, it's not because Erlington has any strong desire to not have students in classrooms, it's because we're doing what's dictated by what's being prescribed by the state. I'm just trying to make sure that people... That this is not an Erlington idea, it is not an Erlington idea. In fact, I would prefer that we have a regular opening with as many safety precautions as we could have. But I do understand the point of view of the Department of Public Health that they want to maintain enough safety in our schools that we do not have another major outbreak of COVID in the fall as well. So I think that there's a lot yet to be discussed and learned about this as to what the options will be and how this would be implemented in Erlington. But in fact, there's going to be, as I said, guidelines coming out from the department next week. And I think that we'll learn a lot more from them. We also, by the way, have been pulling materials from other states that are also considering this option as well. Okay. Let me, I'm going to ask one other quick question, which is my understanding from parents is that some of the software which we're using really at the elementary level really does not function well without functioning email addresses for the kids. And I'm just wondering, again, what's our roadblock here? How can we, assuming we're going forward with these softwares, how can we get rid of this roadblock and make it so that families can access the software more easily and just give the kids the email address? Well, it's something that we can certainly take another look at this summer. I don't know why the email address would be a block to that. In our K2, one of the things that we're really shifting more toward is a different platform, though we may still use Google Classroom as the link to it. It's the seesaw. And it seems to be a lot more student friendly, giving students much more independence. Another thing that we're going to be looking at this summer to be perfectly transparent about this is we're looking at Zoom because there are some features of Zoom that have not been adopted yet by the Google Meet, Google Hangout, that would be potentially very helpful, particularly at the older grades, in terms of being able to have different working groups within a session. So we are looking at that. We'll certainly take another look at this issue as well. And I'd like to hear more, I think our IT department would like to hear more about why that is an impediment, but maybe we can do that at another time. Yeah, I think it depends on what platform you're using. And it may be if you're using an iPad and stuff that the email address becomes more important. So that's where, and I have to turn into a pumpkin now. So I'll be listening to you all. See you soon. Okay. Mr. Cardin. Great. Thanks for the update. I guess more of a comment question, two comments, actually. One is that it would be great to get that the summary you just gave was good, but it would be great to get that out as a communication to parents as soon as possible. There's a lot of rumors floating around. A couple of the principals have sort of said very briefly, we're considering these three different models, but there's a uniform message from you explaining why we're considering these three models, that you have working groups already established, that you're going to do a parent survey, that there's going to be other opportunities to get the parent voice. I think it would be very helpful because the audience for this meeting is extremely limited and it gets translated in ways that may not be the best. So that's just a request. And again, as part of that is, as I said, the parent voice, you mentioned the teacher voice as far as these working groups. I know you're doing the survey, but it also would be helpful as the model evolves to get parent voice involved. So we may have a, you know, the state, we'll find out next week, the state may give us some flexibility on the hybrid model, whether to do day in, day out, or week in, week out. And that's something obviously you want to talk to parents about because there may be some strong preferences about that. There may be other issues that come up as you're developing, particularly the hybrid model, that it would be great to get some parent feedback. Again, not a full survey, but the principals, you know, they've got their councils, they've got their PTOs. They should be working with parents to get their voice into the process. So not really questions, but those are my comments. Thanks. Mr. Thielman, I'm going to move on to Mr. Schlickman and we'll come back to Mr. Thielman. Okay, thank you. Aligned with Dr. Allison Ampey's question, I'm just wondering if we can get a further update on what we think we may need to purchase or to have that we don't have right now. We have spent actually quite a bit of time on determining exactly that. We can certainly send you the memo from the state. We probably, actually I think I may have sent it. Mr. Mason and I, as well as Sue Franke, who is our Director of Nursing, have actually spent a fair amount of time on this in terms of what we need to purchase, but we can show you the spreadsheets because we keep track of all this in order that we can submit it for reimbursement. I'm also thinking in terms of technology and instructional stuff that we wouldn't normally have that we're looking to purchase, because obviously coming down the line in this meeting is the budget discussion and that's going to be informative. Would you want me to talk a little bit about that right now to your question about the technology or do you want to wait? It's up to the chair. It's part of the budgetary stuff, so I wouldn't mind waiting. Let's wait until we get to the budget topic if that's all right. Did you have anything else, Mr. Schlickman? No, I'm fine. Thank you. Mr. Thielman, we're coming back to you. Thanks, Edith. So I think to those who have asked, I've in my opinion clear, which is that I think we need to reopen the schools and I'd like to see our district advocate to Jeff Riley and the state that there should be a uniform plan for the state. I think a possible solution is to, Matt, I understood what you're talking about, the different models. I think a possible solution is basically ultimately to give parents a choice. They can send their children and there's obviously some risk that they have to accept. We all have to accept and then they can also learn remotely if we can set that up. So my position is very clear. I think the best thing for the kids, and I think that's where the decision has to be. I think the best thing for students is to go back to school. I think it's the best thing for families in terms of routine and it's not going to be perfect. It's impossible to keep kids totally away from each other all day long. And I think setting unrealistic expectations is not, I think the memo from the commissioner sets unrealistic expectations for a school. It's just not realistic to keep kids six feet apart. It's not realistic to have a classroom set up the way he's designed it. And we're going to have to live with some imperfections and that's just part of life. And so that's where I stand. One thing I want to ask is it's taken some time to set up remote learning and I'm wondering if there's enough time over the summer to order anything you're going to need to order for remote learning in the fall. More cameras, more computers, more technology, get that set up to do trainings. I'm wondering if there's enough time to now in September to do that. We've already ordered the technology. Okay. And we're getting the next couple of weeks. And I can talk more about what the what the decision was on that. In terms of there are some things that we are still debating about in terms of the webcams and how and when we would use those. But to your point about the I've already expressed my opinion at the state level on this, but I will say that one of the things we also have to take into consideration too is our teaching staff and making sure that the environment that we have is also an environment which they can be safe as well as well as the students in the school. And so it's a dual consideration. For example, one of the things that we've already, I think we've put the order in already, but we're certainly, if we haven't, it's going in is we're getting these face shields that you've seen people wear in the hospital as another source of protection. So that we've been trying to think about what is the best research? What does the best, what does that tell us in terms of what might be best to buy? So there's that whole safety piece of it, but then there's also the technology and we are planning in technology to make sure that we have computers for teachers that are going to meet their needs. And I think that the computers that we've had have had a lot of limitations in terms of what teachers need to do. The Chromebooks are fine for students and they've been working quite well, but teachers have a different level of preparation that they have to have. And so actually I will mention this at this point and I won't go too deeply into it, but as you know we have a technology plan and we have a we have a plan replacement schedule. We've decided to think about it a little bit differently and do give teachers an upgraded computer for next year and we chose the MacBook Air. And I let people know that we have to figure out the distribution piece of it, but we're going to take the the Chromebooks that teachers have back and and wipe them and you know have them prepared to supplement our Chromebook that we have in the school. I think you have to buy some, I know we have to buy some additional Chromebooks, but we can't have students sharing Chromebooks next year. And so that's been part of our planning as well and we knew we had to get out there in order now so that we have these in place and we can get, it's not like you get the computer and they're all ready to go. It's lots of IT has to do to get a computer ready for distribution. So we have been doing that and we'll talk more about that in the budget piece of it because it relates to FY20 money. Okay, I don't want to get to the other question is I'm assuming that we're going to begin a conversation with the AA negotiations of some sort this summer about remote learning next fall and I'm just wondering what the timeline is for that. Well, we meet regularly. In fact, we're meeting tomorrow. We met last Friday. We meet next Friday. So we're in constant communication about all of this. And if there's some things that we need, we feel that it's important to create an MOA about, we will, but we certainly, this is a very collaborative process that we're going through and it needs to be. And I really welcome all of the thinking of our teachers and through the leadership. And to Mr. Cardin's point about parent voice, we have the mechanism in place. We have school councils to have some of these getting voices into this process. But it is, right now we're almost at the end of, we're in the middle of June and we have close to three months. Not quite, but we have close to three months because fortunately this year, and I say fortunately Labor Day is late because it just gives us a little bit more time. Do I mean, I guess my question is, do you anticipate a formal MOA with the AA that we would have to weigh in on and approve? I don't know yet. I don't know if Mr. Levy wants to to say any comments about that. He is the current president of the AEA. I don't want to get negotiations here. I just want to know the process. That's it. I think it's too early to tell until we get more state guidance. We're back next year. It's not necessary. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to understand that. Thank you. Thanks for calling me, Jan. I'm sorry. Mr. Heiner. Thank you. First off, a little political statement. Once again, the Department of Education shows they don't have any educator on the board to ground them in their mandates they send out. The idea of telling classrooms they're going to have desk six feet apart is making the assumption that students sit at their desk all year. We stopped doing that 50 years ago. That being said, I'd like to suggest a couple of things for you to consider that if we have a hybrid with students, a portion of students coming in, set up a video camera so that the rest of the class that is not in the classroom at that time can participate in what's going on and rotate the students that choose to come to school in that class. The teachers may be able to keep a semblance of a regular curriculum going forward. There's your hybrid of both remote and such. The other part is that if we end up with a one week on, one week off, or every other day, I'd like to, and this just adds to your burden to look at the parents that have multiple graded children so that one of their children is not in school while the other child is out of school on the multiple day or multiple week. It's a consideration, it adds to your work, but it's something that several parents have already talked to me about and if we're going to be in and out in different times. I applaud you and I applaud the staff for all that you've done to maintain the safety of the children. I was fortunate to participate in three virtual mock town meetings with teachers from Stratton and the three teachers were way beyond what my expectation was and the kids were all involved. We had, I think, 90% participation in all three classes. So thank you. Thanks for doing the mock town meeting with them. So my comments are on a couple of the things. I'm going to stick to what was presented tonight. The survey I think is interesting. I don't really know. I'm not, because we were read the data, it's confusing for me. It sounds as though a number of students participated in the survey who are not participating in remote learning, so not really sure how that works. So I hope we can get this written out once. Obviously, I know the survey is still ongoing, so I appreciate being given an update when we're in midstream. I'm also curious what the administrative team concludes and distills down from this data. We can all individually make our own judgments about what we see, but I'd be curious in a couple of weeks once you've had a chance to digest it, to share what you see as being meaningful in that. Seconding, Dr. Allison Ampe, that the email is such a pain to not have email. Teachers change the times of Google Meets all the time. They move them by 15 or 30 minutes forward or back. If you are not looking into that classroom, I mean my fifth graders have like six Google classrooms on their screen and if they're not looking at them every day, then they can miss it, and if they just got email notifications, they could have just looked in one place and any sort of update or announcement would be there. They would also get notifications if there was feedback on their work. That would be great as opposed to every Tuesday or Wednesday or who knows when going back and opening up every document from the previous week to see if there are comments in the margins because there's no way to get a notification on that. My first grader has his own iPad, which is not everybody's experience, and I have managed to get some notifications to pop up on that, which has helped. We missed less for him than for the other kids. Also, I'm glad that you're open to looking at that again this summer. I think it really needs to be a serious conversation if we're back in a situation where students are doing a significant proportion of their learning at home. Again, I don't think email is necessary if we can go back to the classroom for elementary school students. We totally agree on that, but we don't agree about when they're at home. Then finally, I think if the guidance really is going to push us towards being in some kind of hybrid environment or even a fully remote environment, and I said this at the first meeting that we had back in March, that this district and this team is reliant on parents. They've never been reliant on parents before because they're who are delivering a lot of the curriculum at home. I hope that there will be a way to ask opinions. I'm glad that a survey is happening. I hope that people can participate in the conversations that happen this summer. I think people are eager and engaged in a way that they haven't ever been before. They're willing to contribute their time and energy. I think the school councils is a great way to do it. It's a lot easier to have these meetings if they're done over Zoom. People can participate if they can actually go on vacation. I hope that there's a real effort made to do that because I think people are eager to help. If we're going to rely on them like we have since March, that seems to only be reasonable and fair. I actually don't have any questions. Let's move on to the summer program plan and extended school year ESY. Okay. All right. I'm going to ask Dr. McNeil to talk about the summer programming plan and Ms. Elmer can talk about ESY. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Dr. Bodie. Just to check, can everybody hear me? Okay, good. Great. One of the things that we want to focus on is providing extended or if you want to call it an extended learning program for our students, especially in this environment when we've had the school closure. Many of the programs are focused on students who normally receive support throughout the school year in math and literacy. At the elementary level, we have an expanded elementary summer literacy and math program and the focus of the program is to provide support and prevent summer regression. The program has been created to invite students to receive reading and math support during the school year and we've already begun to send out invitations to those students. Also, in addition to that, we are making available the K-5 grids that were sent out during the spring, during the last phase of our remote learning program, the one and they include the lessons that are focused on moving the curriculum forward. So they will be available and we're going to, in order for students to access that, we're leaving the Google classroom open for a large portion of the summer so that the students can access those grids because some of the feedback that we receive from parents is that the students were, you know, elementary students weren't able to complete all of the activities that were located within the grid. So this is a way that students can still access those activities, go back, review the ones that they were able to complete and then complete the ones that they did not have time to get to. So at the middle and at the middle school level, we'll be doing the same thing, offering a program that's similar to elementary where we're going to focus on providing math and reading support and so that we're in the process of identifying those teachers and developing the program, the math program, which was just finalized today. I spoke with Mr. Coleman, our Director of Math and so the students will, it's a five-week program. It's going to offer a few courses and it's going to consist of three to ten kids in each one of the courses so that we're trying to keep the, or we're trying to create small group instruction so that we can really support those students who, again, have received those type of interventions throughout the year. At the high school level, we're offering an array of different programs. We're offering MOOCs, which is a summer elective course so that students can basically plan and identify various things that they're interested in and then they will be able to receive elective credits. We have a summer credit recovery program that will be available to students, so those students who weren't able to complete some of the classes that get the credits that they need for graduation that have access to a summer credit recovery program. And then we also, we will be offering a math program, again, focusing on credit recovery. The courses that will be offered are Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II. In addition, we have a English summer credit recovery program that's live programming and the courses that will be offered are English classes for the ninth and tenth graders and English 11. In those courses will be five weeks as well. And they're also going to have a credit recovery online program that's going to be offered through PLATO. And so the students will be able to, again, receive credits that they may have missed out on for various reasons and looking at history, science, and world language. World language is not being offered because PLATO didn't have an offering that met our standards. And then Ms. Elmer will talk about the ESY program. In addition to the online programming that we're offering to students, that will be facilitated by teachers. We're also going to have online learning tools that we're going to offer to all students in the district, so they will be able to still have a connection to the curriculum. And we will also utilize these online tools to collect formative data that will help us to make those decisions in the fall of what we need to focus on in each one of the curriculum areas. So for, at the elementary level, we're offering a K5, Lexia Core 5 reading program that will begin on August 1. And then also another reading program we'll be offering is RAS Kids for our kindergarten through sixth grade students. Right now, we're trying to explore options for secondary students where they can have a source of literary text that they can access online over the summer. And so we need to continue to, we're looking for an online program that suits our standards. But we also are going to explore having a partnership with the Robbins Library so that students can check out books. So we're definitely going to work with them in order to do that. And then for math, we're going to offer Dreambox for our K through sixth students, and then IXL for our students in seventh through twelfth grade. And then in addition to the things that we're offering within the district, our EdCo Collaborative is also offering a summer programming that parents can access. And I can put that information onto our district website. And so they can click on the link and they can see what courses are being offered. There's over 150 course options to select from, and they will run for eight weeks. And the, it is tuition based. So parents can sign up and see what courses that they may be interested in for their students. Any questions? Let's, let's do, let's group together or let's, let's do questions, I guess, on the summer program plan. And then we'll talk about ESY separately because they're very separate. Ms. Ekston. Thank you for this update. I'm curious how the students that are being offered the summer support were chosen. I mean, are they students that were receiving support in the classroom back in March? Because I just think about how many more students have probably lost some skills from March to now that it's harder to, to know about. So just how were students chosen for this program? That's a great question. So we, we did reach out to our reading specialists. We have math interventionists and we have classroom teachers. So we were, we collaborated with them in order to identify those students who are in most need and who need the most support. So it is, I mean, I can't say that, you know, we're able to, based upon capacity that we're able to provide support for all students who may need it. So I will acknowledge that, but we're trying to identify those students who have the most need and give them the support over the summer. So to your question, we're trying to include as many students as possible because, you know, it does require us to have teachers to lead these small groups in instruction. So, you know, as you can imagine over the summer, some of the teachers, you know, based upon the amount of work that they had to do in this during school closure, you know, some of those teachers that usually teach in summer program were saying like at this particular point in time, they want to take a break so that they can recharge their batteries and some other teachers may have like family obligations so they can prepare for the fall. So I'm very proud of the fact that we have many teachers who did step up to the plate and that we were able to serve it. We always get these teachers to commit to the summer instruction. And so, I mean, we have, you know, over about a hundred students in each program that we're able to service. So I think, you know, we're trying, we tried to build as much capacity as possible. And so that is also a determining factor of how many students we will be able to allow into the program because based upon the teachers who are available over the summer to provide instruction. Thanks. Mr. Cardin. Thank you. Again, I just want to offer a suggestion and, you know, we have supposedly a part-time communications person in the district. This stuff, the elective stuff is great that we're organizing all that, but, you know, and maybe Dr. Janger has mentioned it in one of his videos. It hasn't been out in an email. We really need, you know, an email to parents talking about it. So I would not just put it up on the website. So I definitely would encourage more communication always, but in particular about this summer, which is a special summer, and parents are already desperately looking for options for their kids. So we we get some of this information out. Thanks. Absolutely. I was going to say like, and so to your point, Mr. Cardin, I do agree with you 100%. But we, I will say that, you know, many of these programs have just, we've been able to finalize this week, which is a reason why we did not send out a communication just yet. And we thought it would be prudent to begin with the communication here at school committee. And then we're going to follow up, definitely with a letter out to our parent population to alert them to all the things that we're offering. But I will say that the students that we have identified, we did send out invitations like students too, who are in our title one program have received invitations, students who are that we identify for some of the programming who are not in title one have received a communication that they have this opportunity. So, but we will send out a more general communication, because like I said today, the math program at the middle school level was just finalized today. And we still need to finalize the details for the literacy program at the middle school level. So I do agree with you and we'll get that out as soon as everything is finalized and we know all the details. Great, thank you. Dr. Allison Ampe, can you hear us from your phone? Would you like to ask a question? We'll move on to Mr. Thielman and we can circle back if she comes back on. Thank you. And Dr. McNeil, thanks very much for this report. I agree with Len, we got to get the word out to people. To clarify, beyond the recovery program, this, all of the programs that are being offered this summer are enrichment. Are they enrichment or are they designed to help students recover what they might have lost in the final third of the year? Or I mean, I know it's very, I know it's K through 12 and I know it's a number of different classes and opportunities. But I mean, how would you, how would you care, if you were communicating this to parents, what would you say to them to get their kids to think about taking it? That's a very good question. So yes, the programs are to provide students an opportunity to retrieve some of the information they may have missed out on at the credit, those credit recovery programs definitely are geared towards that. Yeah, sure. And then at the elementary level, we're trying to provide intervention and reinforce the skills that some of those students may not have been able to master because of the online because we did go to remote learning. And so to Ms. Exton's point, some of those students don't learn as well as they would if they were in the classroom. So those are the students that we know that we needed to focus on and make them a priority because they were already receiving intervention when school was in session. And so we know that those students may need additional support because we were in a school closure environment. And so that we wanted to make sure that we were focusing on those students and made them a priority. So I would say skill building, focus on skill building and reinforcing the interventions that they received during the year to prepare them for the fall. I would just to follow up on what Mr. Cardin said. I think it would be good to kind of in the pitch in the communication to to try to use to have a little bit of a sales pitch to try to encourage people to sign up for this. Because there'll be a lot of people that are going to a lot of kids and families are just going to be tired of tired and might not want to do it. And I think it's sort of you don't want to you got to get a thread, but you know, it's got to be careful what you say because you would say this is not obligatory not mandatory, but it's going to help you become a better student and be prepared for the fall. Absolutely. And I will say at the elementary level, and this is something that was, you know, you always learn things like through this just particular situation. But what we found is that we've had more sign ups, like we more have more kids taking advantage of these situations because we don't have to worry about transportation. So and some some students who normally go to summer camp are not going to summer camp. So we're having an overwhelming response much higher than we have in the past, because we're offering it online remotely. And I feel like that's a factor into why we're getting such a positive response to the invitation. So I actually think that in this particular situation because the summer camps, kids may not be going to summer camps as they usually do. And then we don't have to they don't the parents don't have to worry about the transportation aspect in the summer programming that they're they're signing up and we're getting a very positive response. Thank you. Mr. Schlickman. Okay, I just want a very brief description of the budget, how we're paying for this. And if we have extraordinary demand, do we have resources to expand the program? Yeah, so we are taking advantage of the ESSR grant that is because of the COVID situation. And so we have additional monies to pay teachers. We normally we have a title one program that we traditionally offer. So we're using that funding for the title one program. But we were able to offer extend beyond the title one program and offer to our non title one schools, we're off offer summer programming to those students as well, who need intervention because of the additional funds. So we we felt it was necessary in order to invest in this and this offering so that we can support our students. I didn't I didn't know if Dr. Bote or Michael Mr. Mason want to add to that budget question as well. And the follow up is is that if we have demand exceeding expectations, can we expand up? We can again, I go back to the fact that we have to, you know, we have to staff the program as well. So as much as our capacity is really predicated on the fact that we have the teachers available to teach the programs. Now some of the online offerings like the Plato also required teacher participation. So our capacity is really, like I said before, predicated on teacher participation. We're going to circle back to Dr. Allison ampy. Hi, I'm in my car. Sorry. Sorry. It's hard to do I'm in my car but not driving anymore. So my question is, this feels like an opportunity for us to take some of these new approaches on a test drive. And I'm hoping that you're going to be setting things up so that you can see what is more effective and perhaps what is less effective to help inform what we're doing in the fall. Thank you. I think that's a great point. And that's something that we have been talking about. Like Dr. Bote indicated, I do have two groups at the elementary and the secondary level where we I call them synchronous instructional study groups. We've had a couple of meetings. We've been sharing best practice. And yes, we've talked about being able to utilize the summer programming to, you know, explore different instructional strategies remotely, and then report back to the group. So that's a great point. And I will also say this, we've made a major invested online tools that we would not normally invest in. For instance, Dreambox. We did offer it to students, but in a limited, in a limited fashion during in previous years. So we've taken this opportunity to expand it to every student. So some of the online tools or programs that we are investing in, we're making a major invested. So when Mr. Schlickman, you talk about what are the things that we have been expanding budget wise, it's the online tools and the online programs that we're offering to students in order to keep them connected to the curriculum and to provide them with academic support when they're not in school. So over the summer, we felt it necessary to do that. Okay. Great. Thank you. That was awesome. Thank you. Mr. Heiner. Dr. McNeil, you read my mind. You answered my question right at the end of your comment with the current technology. So thank you very much. Absolutely. And I mean, my only comment I guess is, is, you know, to continue to make sure that we're communicating this out to parents. I know that, you know, some parents may be purchasing subscriptions to Dreambox for their children because they don't know if they're available over the summer. Just, you know, that information is not trickling down at the classroom or school level at this point. And I know we've got one more week left. So it's time to really, to really, really push that out so people can start to, to make their plans and, and figure out what they're going to do. My only question, you know, about the, actually, I have two questions. So just to clarify for Ms. Exxon's question was, were there, have there, well, my interpretation of it, or I guess my question is, have there been new students who have been identified as needing math or reading support since March 13th? And are any of them receiving support this summer? Or are all of the students who are invited to participate this summer students who had already been identified before we left school? Does that make sense? That makes perfect sense. And, and I, I, I would have to go in to look at the individual students look at the student list and be able to identify who those students may be who may not have received support in the past, but we felt it necessary to add them to the list to receive support over the summer. So that's a great question. I can do some research on that and do an inquiry and then come back with the information. Is your sense though that that was part of the process of determining who would be offered invitations potentially that it was, it was sort of to date being, you know, whenever you sent out the invitations or, or you're just not sure, which is totally reasonable. Well, kind of both, both and like we, we, we pretty much I put out the call to our curriculum leaders and our coaches and our principals, hey, and to ask, what students currently do we feel need support? And in order to further disaggregate that question or that information, I can go back and ask the reading specialists and the math interventionist to see if their new students added to those lists that did not previously receive an intervention. I would be curious to know about that. And I think it would be something that would be, would be nice to, to share. And I assume there was no, like we're just not at a place where we would, the plan is to offer this remotely sort of through the duration regardless of what happens if we were to move into phase three is that the plan is just to do this remotely regardless. Right, right, because we want to start planning for the summer and I want to make sure that our plans are definite. And it would be very difficult to plan for like, okay, if the kids are in and then there's a lot of logistical things that we would have to consider as well. So I think at this particular point, I want to use the circumstances we have that we know that are, that, that we're used to right now. And unless the state comes out, you know, very quickly and says that, hey, you can have kids come in during the summer. But right for right now, we're planning to offer these programs remotely. And what's the, for the elementary programming, what are the dates that you're looking at? Roughly July only, are we starting in July? Okay, starting in July. Not the end of July, but like the beginning of the July, but I will put out the exact dates once we have identified. Yes. Super. Thank you so much. And I will include that in the, in the communication that we send out to parents. And I anticipate, and I'm going to ask for Dr. Bodie's direction on this, that we would send something out next week. Great. And if you guys could potentially consider, you know, affording that to us, I think there's a lot of interest in this. So it's really, it's really good to know about. So let's talk about ESY. Sure. So extended school year is a specialized program for students who have that service designated in their IEPs and is an accepted service by, on their last accepted IEP. So that's just the distinction between these voluntary or, you know, open enrollment programs. So the state has, Mr. Heiner alluded to this, the state's guidance has been slow and changing and evolving. And we received the latest guidance specific to summer special ed programs on Sunday evening. And then on Tuesday, there was a webinar to go over that guidance and share that there will be additional guidance coming out hopefully next week, which will be the full guidance on summer programming. And there is another meeting tomorrow with the senior associate commissioner Russell Johnson, who is the Johnson, who is the essentially state special ed director. So what we are now being told and what we are we are planning for is that most we will start remotely with plans to have some students come in for some limited in person services as we progress through the summer. The guidance that really was released Sunday night is some of the requirements, both the personal protective equipment, the protocols and whatnot that we would need to follow. So those were released on Sunday. The ESY coordinators and I met following the meeting on Tuesday to discuss how we could roll this out for some limited in person services as we progress through the summer. State recognizes that most students will receive most of their services remotely this summer, but that we should look at what they are considering higher needs students or services that are difficult to deliver remotely. So things like OT and PT. We had already surveyed staff to find out who is willing to work in which conditions. Not surprisingly, there are some who are only willing to work remote, some who are only interested in working in person and some that are willing to do both formats. We then also sent out an initial survey to identify families to find out what their thoughts are, where their initial thoughts are and whether they would send their child to in-person services or whether they would participate in the various formats. And so we have about 100 responses so far and with about 40% saying they would send for in-person depending on what the protocols are, what the procedures are. So after tomorrow's meeting to make sure there's no more surprises from the state, we'll be sending out a letter to individual families explaining what the information we have now and then they will get after that individual letters for their student describing what their services are because their individuals reach students. In general, the program ones from July 6th through August 13th. It's six weeks. It runs Monday through Thursday from 9 to 12 with some individual exceptions depending again on an individual student. Some students may come for just reading. Some may come for reading and math. Like I said, it's highly individualized. And yeah, that's where we stand right now. Normally at this point in the year, we would have had the schedules out. We would have had, people would have been notified about where they're going to be but given the evolving nature of where the state is, we're kind of slowly following their lead and trying to get information out as quickly as we receive it. Great. Thank you. So Ms. Eksten? Sure. So I'm just thinking about again, I know the summer services are for students who have already had that in their IEP. And I'm just thinking again, similar to what Dr. McNeil was talking about, their regression has probably been greater than it would have been during this school year. And so is there any consideration, can parents request a meeting to qualify for summer services when they might not have typically had the students been going to school every day through June? So the regulations around ESY are not tied to COVID. So there will be a process when we resume schooling to consider the impact of on each individual student at the parent requested meeting and determine if compensatory or additional services are required. That is separate from ESY. So it's a separate process. ESY is not due to the COVID closure. It is due to and it's the same process that you would have in the, is a student likely to experience substantial regression during this period of time? Now teachers have been working with the students since early May, much longer than we had direct instruction in general education. IEP meetings have been occurring during that time. And so those meetings occur an annual or reevaluation. And at the time of the meeting is when you determine if a student is ready or is eligible for ESY. So it's possible that there were meetings happening in the spring now where ESY could have been. Thank you. But it's not for the result of the closure. That's a separate process that all special ed eligible students will when we resume actual in-person instruction. Thank you. Mr. Cardin. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Elmer, for the update and for the efforts that you're putting towards this. I applaud you for moving forward with the goal of having some in-person services available for those high priority students. You know, the state standard is that we have to use our best efforts to do that. And I'm glad to see that we are, because I think there are some other districts that are, you know, more or less doing some lip service to this. And it's hard. It's a very long list of requirements, but it's certainly, at least by the end of July, doable to put that in place. And so I'm hopeful that we will see some in-person services for those parents who want it. And I applaud you for moving forward with that. Thank you. Dr. Allison Ampe. I just want to echo Ms. Ekston's question that it feels like I understand that this, the ESY is not because of COVID, but it does feel like there's a chunk of students who are going to have had less progress or even regression over the past couple months because of what the disruption in schooling and that I hope that they are considered for help over the summer to lessen any further regression or even push them forward a bit. That's all. That's, again, that's separate from what ESY is, which is a well-established part of the regulations. Even during typical times, the goal of the summer program is actually not to, as hard as that sounds, to ensure progress. It's to prevent substantial regression. We know all students, both general ed and special ed, are going to have experienced regression during this period. The question is, is this individual likely to experience substantial regression due to a break in services, which is not due to the COVID? Now, any of those students may, there may be overlap with the programs that Dr. McNeil described. There are students who may be receiving reading. That happens every summer, too. We have students who have IEPs who participate in the Title I reading program. There are other opportunities for those students as well that Dr. McNeil mentioned. Mr. Thielman. Thank you. Dr. Elmer, I think I want to echo Len's statement earlier, is that I would like, you know, I hope you try to have as much ESY in person as possible. Do you have a sense of when you're going to know what's possible? So why, my mother would really love it if I had a doctor, but I don't. So you can just call me, Ms. Elmer, but my, where, we'll give you a doctorate. Sure, an honorary one. Yeah, sorry, sorry. We're looking at, as I mentioned, some of the individual services, like OT and PT, that, you know, are difficult to deliver in a remote format. Again, this is also, you know, we're identifying staff who are willing to work in either format. And we believe we have people who can work in both formats. And so those would be an area that we would prioritize. Likely the SLC programs, students who receive multiple services, those that typically come for the entirety of the morning, you know, that nine to 12 that I mentioned. Those would be students that we're really trying to get in for in-person services. I just want to be upfront, you know, likely if you're coming, if you receive math or reading, those will likely be remote for the summer, just given what we're being asked to do. A lot's going to depend on how quickly we can get the PPE in and, you know, work with Dr. Bodie and the facilities and the local department of health to ensure that we have everything in place. There's required training for staff on COVID prevention or spread and containment. So they have to participate in that. It's very descriptive the type of equipment needed for the type of personnel. If you're working with students in this type of setting, then you have to have X, Y and Z. I don't think the numbers are an issue for us as far as social distancing. The program is generally smaller. Class sizes are usually eight to 10 anyway in ESY. And again, those individual services or small group are usually, you know, one to two or, you know, max four students. So I don't think that's going to be as big a concern for us. But, you know, we met today in the, is that our official title, the reopening steering committee, which we were talking. So we have facilities present, we had nursing present. So those are the kinds that's the kind of work we're going to have to do. Ideally, yes, I would hope, you know, if we could get in even for half of the programming, that would be great. I think any in person, and I think our teachers would, you know, those would like to be able to do that as well. Well, okay, thank you. I just want to encourage you to try all you can to make that happen. And I know you are. Sounds like you are. So thanks very much. And I'll get your title right one of these days. Mr. Schuchman. Thank you. I just want to echo the fact that we acknowledge the hard work that's going on behind the scenes here. Thank you. Mr. Heiner. I too want to thank you for the work that you've done. With regard to students actually coming in, would you need more staff to maintain the separation? So I'd like that be an issue. Well, so no, I mentioned we have the smaller groups. So the actually one of the challenges is in order to have student groups, you can there's only a mass of 12 people allowed in a room. So even a group of, you know, eight students, you would only be allowed, you know, four adults. We don't usually have those ratios. So we're looking at eight students and generally two adults, you know, maybe in the preschool program again, like this just came out Sunday. And so we met on Tuesday after we had the webinar with the department, you know, the preschool program, whether is toileting involved where there is, you know, much closer contact, those would be fewer numbers of students, but probably higher ratios of staff. I don't think that physical distancing, as I mentioned, is going to be a problem for us. I'm just concerned as far as financing and things of that nature. We want the program to go forward. So you'll have my support, please. Thank you. You know, I'm I am really happy to hear that that this is what you're working toward. It seems so important. These are students who have been so impacted by not being in our buildings and in our schools. You know, students who receive private outpatient PT and OT, you know, are going back, you know, could have gone back as early as Monday of this week. Right. So I think that it's certainly reasonable that if that if, you know, if they're able to go to private practice appointments, that that's something that that, you know, that we are striving to be able to do here for our students. So it's just it's really good to hear that that's what you're working to do. And so, you know, I think we should probably have this, you know, I think we should have this on the agenda in two weeks time, just for an update, just because I think, you know, really interested. It sounds like, you know, it sounds like we could learn a lot from this experience as well that could be applied toward the fall. And so it, you know, this was a really helpful update. So I just want to provide one caveat. So currently schools are not allowed to do any in person prior to July 6, or until after they receive the final guidance or the full guidance from Commissioner Riley. So that's anticipated next week. They've said that before. So we're keeping our fingers crossed that they actually that, you know, that I think the date they said was the 17th they were hoping for. So once that comes out, which will will look more, they have said will look more detailed, like the EC guidance that came out a week and a half ago, the previous weekend. And if you anyone looked at that document, that's the stuff for the recreation programs, the date, personal date, or private daycares, they're, they're expecting that theirs will be compatible with that document. So great. Thank you so much. Thank you. Miss Morgan, I just I look back at my notes and I should have included this in my report. So I do apologize. Great. We want to hear it now. Yes. So sorry. So the elementary program will be five weeks in total, three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Equals out to five weeks. The sessions will be nine to 12 p.m. on 35 minute sessions each. And we're going to be able to share as four groups a day. So and the dates will be from July 14th to August 13th. And then and that's the same time for the middle school program, the literacy and the math program at the middle school level as well. And I do want to correct the information about the Plato classes that we're offering for students to get credit recovery in various courses such as US history, one into modern world history, physical science, biology and chemistry. And those the Plato's will the Plato classes will be offered from June 25th to August 14th. And so those are self paced. And so students can, you know, can work at their own pace. And that will allow them to get the credits that they missed out on. Great. Thank you so much. Yeah. So I look back at my note. Sorry about that. I wanted to make sure that that infant. We've got it now. Thank you. So I wanted to make a quick note. So I put URI, the science camp on Jones program. This is a camp that most of our fifth graders will I have two fifth graders in this, you know, they went in October of this year. And Arlington has typically sent students there for three, it's usually four days, three nights at some point in the fall or early winter of their fifth grade year. And we received notification that the camp due to budgetary concerns related to the pandemic as well as concerns about at the university that the camp would be closing. So Dr. Bodie, I was wondering if you could just provide an update for families, acknowledging that, you know, obviously the district is aware of this and what you've thought about planning at least moving forward. Yes, we received the notice today. In fact, it came the day after we actually had been discussing science camp and wondering if we should put it off to the spring because the fall has so many iffy-ness to it. But we haven't had much chance yet to talk about this. I had actually debated whether to even mention it tonight because we haven't had a chance to send a letter off to the current fourth grade family. So they're aware of this. So we are not going to have science camp tonight. This has been a tradition in Arlington for I think decades, honestly. So one of the things that we have been talking about, in fact, we've been talking about it for a while. It's not necessarily prompted by this. There have been a lot of issues with access and curriculum in the programming there, which at this point is not important to talk about. But we're wondering what we there might be some alternative kind of programming that we could offer for fifth grade students in the in science. And so I think this is going to give us an opportunity to take a look at that. And we will be looking at it over the summer. At the moment, we don't have any other plans. As I said, what we have been thinking about was whether we postpone it to the spring, not necessarily not do it at all. So we will be notifying parents. I know it's going to be very disappointing to the upcoming fourth graders, because this is something that they've seen maybe older brothers and sisters go to. And we're looking forward to it themselves. But like so many things that's happened recently, there's been lots of disappointments. And you know, I feel I'm sorry that that's the case for them. But we will be planning something. I don't think it's necessarily going to be an exact equivalent to that. I don't know what this what other there are other camps that that exist in Massachusetts that are similar, different but similar. And we'll look at those. But as I said, right now it's regrouping and thinking it through. Thank you. Does anybody want to speak to this? Mr. Cardin, I see you. Anybody else? Okay, so Mr. Cardin. Hi, thank you. Yes, I'd actually like to make a motion. I move that the chair is is directed to write a letter to URI expressing our disappointment at the closure and requesting reconsideration in light of the special relationship that Arlington has had with the Alton-Jones camp. Second that. And just to speak to that, speak to it. I mean, it was a very sudden decision. Who knows whether there's any chance to reverse it or not. But certainly as a major partner with Alton-Jones, you know, I think we should express our dismay and disappointment at this decision. You know, according to the camp, they actually they weren't having financial difficulties. So who knows, but you know, I think it's important to go on record that this is a disappointment to us. Great. So I have a motion by Mr. Cardin, seconded by Mr. Hayner. Discussion, Dr. Allison Ampe. I'm glad Mr. Cardin made that motion because I was hoping to do something similar. I think it is important to hear our voices out there. I also want to make it clear to parents that they can, there's information I think on the Alton-Jones website and definitely on social media for them to directly email Alton-Jones and URI and make their voices heard in terms of keeping this. It's a resource which is not just for Rhode Island. It's clearly it's major in Massachusetts. It's been a great thing for our kids, both for Science Camp and also many kids go there for summer camps. And it's a really good program. Great. Mr. Dillman. Yeah, I want to thank Mr. Cardin for making this motion and my whole heartedly support of two. I've actually been at Science Camp twice overnight. So my older children, so my rising fifth grader won't have the experience unfortunately, but maybe this motion will prod the camp to reconsider, think it through and get back to us. So I am thankful to Len for putting this forward. And I think it's a loss for another, just one example of another loss for our kids. Thanks. Okay, anybody else? So let's do a roll call vote to direct me to write this letter. So Ms. Extin. Yes. Mr. Cardin. Yes, and I'm happy to help write it. I don't doubt that. Dr. Allison Ampey. Yes. Mr. Thillman. Yes. Mr. Schlickman. Yes. Mr. Hainer. Yes. And I too am. Yes. So that is a seven nothing vote and we will get on that pronto. Moving on the 2020-2021 Arlington Public Schools calendar first read. Dr. Bodie. This is an updated calendar. If you recall back in January, we've been doing it this way for a while. We take a look at what the first day of school is going to be, major vacations, so the parents know exactly what the main vacations and start dates are. But as we move further along, what we want to do is to take a look with a lot of consultation of what the early release days are going to be, as well as the conference dates for next year. And so basically what you're seeing here in this first read are the identified conference dates, both afternoon dates as well as evening. The one thing I will say though, it may seem like the high school may not have that many. It's because of the way they're structuring conferences through their schedule, the X block that they have in the schedule. But this is pretty much a complete, I don't know honestly, if how any of this might potentially change next year. That's something that we'd have to consider. But this is just simply a first read of the calendar and then the expectation is that we would vote it at the next meeting. I don't know if anybody has any questions about it. Yeah, so I see, but I see Mr. Hayner has questions. Anybody else, Ms. Exton? Anybody else? Okay, let's just start from the top or the bottom, however you want to look at it. All right, Ms. Exton. And I'm sorry if I missed this from a previous piece, but in the past the kindergarten got out with everyone. Then last year in this year, they were getting out early and then this calendar has them getting out on the same last day as everyone else. Are you going back to that? The truth is we haven't really decided what to do. I think that that is, I'm glad you pointed that out, because that is one thing that is not in here and I'm aware of that because we don't know. So we may need to come back to you in the fall as things get more definite as to how we're going to do that. The reason why the kindergarten had gotten up last year earlier is that that's when we did the screenings. And I think everyone in this change of model going from the fall to June, people prefer that, but I don't know if that's what we will do going forward. I would just, I think because it's such an inconvenience to families, especially if at that point we're back at school full-time to have that change in their the kindergarten or schedule that families know that that's going to be a change from the older students or if they're new to the district. So just being aware that we need to be really clear about that, that dismissal date for kindergarteners. Are you suggesting that we deal with that very early on in the school year as to whether we're going to do the screening next year in June? I agree with you. I certainly don't want this to be a surprise to parents in January. Mr. Cardin, did you have anything? I know, thanks. Dr. Alice Nampy? I just want to clarify. So this calendar is kind of what we expect, but we're still waiting on a whole bunch of guidance from Desi, and that may affect the calendar. So if it does, we'll then update it. Right? Okay. Mr. Thielman? No. Mr. Schlickman? Yeah, I see that holiday in September has been removed. Thanks for putting this together. Mr. Hayner? I assume since we've become so skillful in remote learning, we really don't need snow days. I'm just begging a quip out of it. I don't even know if they're qualified. My grandson was very upset. He says it'll never be another snow day. So I guess I hope that we can sort out the kindergarten end date as soon as possible. I appreciate it. It feels a little silly to be approving this calendar, but it's something we need to do. It's part of our best effort to just keep moving forward. So I don't have any questions, and we'll do the second read in the vote next. Yeah. So moving on to the FY21 school budget for town meeting. Let me just give a quick overview, and then I'm going to ask Mr. Mason to talk about this. We went to the finance committee, and thank you for those of you that attended as well. And the finance committee did vote that the school budget would be reduced by 10% of the increase, not 10% of the whole budget, just 10% of the increase we would have had next year. And what that translates into is that it would be $460 million, which $460,000, which translates into a number of positions that were identified for finance committee. But I think it's something that we need to have some more discussion about, and ask for a budget subcommittee sometime toward the end of next week, where we can have some more discussion about that. But right now, we have a finance committee town meeting on Monday evening. It is going to be an in-person. And at that time, the town meeting is going to vote on the budgets. But before they can vote on the budget, it's important that you approve the revised budget from the budget that you had approved in March. And I don't know if Mr. Mason wants to talk a little bit about some of the particulars of this. Yeah, so in the memo, I was trying to basically communicate to the school committee two things. A, the first thing is what we submitted to the finance committee. Excuse me, my daughter. So the figures shown is what's reported to the finance committee. And it's not the exactly the same as what we propose or put in the school committee report or budget. As there are six segments compared to the seven, and the segments are actually shown differently, are displayed differently as instruction lumps in secondary and elementary education as one where in our reports, we actually have it separated out. And it separates out special education in the two different categories. The other part is the updated charts that we had in the budget book that was previously presented are also included in this memo, which these updates included some of the proposed adjustments that we made, but that's what you'll see on page three of the memo, which actually have been slightly adjusted. We haven't actually sat down with a bunch of subcommittee yet, but this is what we wanted to fully propose where we can kind of go through what the adjustments are. I can kind of briefly tell you, I'm just trying to pull up on my side over here. And on page three, you'll notice that we had reduced line 33, which is a reduction of out of district tuition by an additional 40,000 to be able to accommodate a much needed physical therapy assistant. And we feel strongly that we'll be able to reduce the special education out of district tuition by this amount based on some of the decisions that we're doing this year in the current budget, which our final plan will be presented to the budget subcommittee, which then we'll later on be presented to the full body school committee in regards to how we want to handle special education out of district tuition and any prepayments that we may do and any transfers that we may need to do for the end of the year. So tonight, I would like the school committee to, in order for it to be allowed to be voted at the town meeting, is to move to accept the revised FY21 town appropriation in the amount of $75,570,531, based on the seven categories. The six categories that are for town appropriation and then vote on the budget transfer summary for the total budget for the school committee that includes the grants amounts. Any questions? I'm here to answer any. Mr. Hayner, you're on mute. Mr. Hayner. Members, thank you. On the document that you presented to us, it says at the elementary, secondary, and special education amounts to about $455,000. Are any of those current positions, are those anticipated positions and expenses? I'm sorry, I don't know what chart you're referring to when you're saying $455,000. We were given a document that was titled school committee, let's see, from you dated June 11th finance committee on the second page. There is a chart that says town appropriations and it shows cuts of $117,500 in elementary. You referred. So that's the cuts that we are proposing that's based on the third page. All right. I just want to clarify. None of those are current positions, am I correct? No, no. So that's $460,000 reduced from the original budget that we proposed that the school committee has already approved. I understand. I just want to clarify that these are additional positions. Correct. They would have been additional positions or expenses added funding for the programs, am I correct? Correct. You were additional positions that we have to remove now due to this reduction. Correct. So they don't represent any current staff that we have? They're not representing a layoff of any matter or... Thank you very much. Any other questions? Mr. Schlickman. Okay. Mr. Heiner asked my predominant question. The other question is, I see that we're eliminating reserve teaching positions. I'd just like to have a brief comment from either Mr. Maser and Dr. Bodie as to what the prospects are for dealing with any surprises and enrollment or if we think we're pretty settled. I don't think that we're pretty settled yet. But what we had on this proposal to the finance committee, we needed to identify for them what the $460,000 would be. We had two reserve positions. At the moment, we know we're hiring an additional teacher at Pierce because kindergarten enrollment is such that we're going to need another section in kindergarten. Actually, what we'll be hiring for is for the next grade, grade three, that the group of three just keeps rolling through the school. It's not clear yet whether we're going to need another reserve position. And if we do, then this relates to what, how else would we handle that if we've identified two reserve positions? But I think that's something I would like to have a little bit more in-depth discussion with the finance committee. And it does relate to the tuition prepayments that we would make for next year from FY20 funds. So at the moment, we have only one, but I see some potential for another one. And we're going to have to address that. And also this list. Okay. Thank you. That's just something that has been really difficult for us over the past few years. I agree. Any other questions or comments? Mr. Cardin? Thank you. I just want to point out for the community that Carleton has a bit of good news thanks to our partnership with the town and the override that we did pass, that we aren't having to lay off teachers or any staff for that matter as it now stands. Things can change, of course, but as of now, we are not laying anybody off. We actually are able to hire a couple of new positions where they're sorely needed due to our enrollment increase. And this is thanks to our long-term partnership with the town. So what we're voting for tonight is to accept a reduction. It's a reduction in our increase and therefore it doesn't result in any teachers losing their jobs or staff losing their jobs at this point in time. So I'll go ahead and make the motion if you want, Madam Chair. Please. Let me flip over to that. I move that the school committee accepts the revised FY9 town appropriation in the amount of $75,57531 and vote the revised FY21 school committee budget transfer summary as presented in the attachment. I'll second the motion. Great. So roll call vote. Ms. Eksten. Yes. Mr. Cardin. Yes. Dr. Allison Ampe. Yes. Mr. Thielman. Yes. Mr. Schluckman. Yes. Mr. Heiner. Yes. Yes. Me. Myself. I'm also a yes, so that's a seven-nothing. Moving forward, that was all you needed from us, Dr. Bodhi, right? Just with just approval, just budget approval. Yeah. Correct. Right. Thank you. So moving on to detentions. I put this on the agenda because I was curious about how we are thinking about and looking at detentions and I expect this to be probably a two-part piece with a brief update tonight and then some more information in two weeks' time. So I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Bodhi for sort of an opening about this and then with the expectation that we're going to learn more in a couple of weeks. That's correct. We will give a more updated report on this in two weeks. Over the last year, we've been giving monthly reports to principals and one of the parts of that report are the number of detentions. So I actually, this is something I've worked very closely with Dr. McNeill on and he's going to talk sort of an overview of where we are with the data mining on this. And then as you pointed out, we're going to have a more complete presentation in two weeks. Dr. McNeill? Yeah. So I hope I want to ask the committee to pardon me. I did prepare a statement on discipline because I know it has been an issue since in the last couple of weeks and then based upon the requests for the detentions, we want to make sure that we are working towards providing a very comprehensive report as relates to the detentions. We have worked very hard. And I can acknowledge this that we've had many discussions regarding discipline that the secondary building administrators and also the elementary building administrators do a very good job of looking at the discipline reports that we send out monthly. They have to sign them and then they identify various students who may have multiple offenses and try to work with them in order to support them with the behavioral challenges that they're presenting. Some of the strategies we've talked about in the past at the high school, the collaborative problem solving, we've done a work at the district level and with staff with working on implicit bias. And we know that we have a disproportionate number of students who are of the African-American and other subgroups who receive discipline. So in being able to have the appropriate amount of time, I spoke with Dr. Bodie and in order for us to put together a more comprehensive report, I would like to just ask this committee if they could submit some questions, specifically as it relates to detentions and any other questions as it relates to discipline to me. And what I plan to do is work with the secondary and elementary building administrators to prepare a very comprehensive report that we can present in the next two weeks. And I'm going to ask them to come along with me. And so they can individually talk about not only the detention work, the work that they're doing in order to address students who receive detentions, but other discipline aspects as well that may come up in that discussion. So I think that that will provide us with the direction of the questions that this committee submits will help us to provide us with direction and be able to format the presentation. So we're giving you the information that you need and that the community needs. So I'm just going to end my remarks right there and then ask any questions or comments to what I just said. Great. Thank you, Dr. McNeil. So I guess what I would ask, and we can do questions and comments to if people have things that they want to stay on this, would be to get your questions to Dr. McNeil as I guess just as quickly as possible so that his team has as much time as possible to think about this and do so in a really thorough way. So if you can get them to him by Tuesday or Wednesday, let's say Wednesday of next week. Does that seem reasonable, Dr. McNeil? Absolutely. Okay. I mean, I'd like to give you guys more than a full week. So let's say Tuesday, right? Because we're Thursday now. So Tuesday of next week so that he has that and then it'll be on the agenda for our next meeting. So questions now on this topic. Seeing none. No question. All right. Nobody's waving frantically. Okay. Great. Does that help you, Dr. McNeil? Do you feel set with where you're at now? And then you'll hear from us by Tuesday and then we'll go from there. That sounds great. And I think that will give us the direction that we need. And like I said before, we'll be able to present the data in a very organized manner and respond to by responding to those questions. Great. Super. Okay. And if you don't hear from people, you can let me know and we'll I will take the tree a little bit. See what falls out. Okay. So the next item is COVID-19 funding resolution and that I am going to defer to Mr. Schuchman on this. He brought it to my attention through his engagement with and work with MASC. So I'm going to let him go ahead and share this with all of you. Thank you, Madam Chair. This resolution is circulating on the MASC listserv and it originated, I think in Amherst, Pelham and a group of school committees out in that neck of the woods is drafted the resolution. The purpose is that at this point, you know, funding for any additional costs, particularly related to the opening of school, the COVID materials that the state is mandating, may be promised, may be discussed, isn't firm. And in talking to Mr. Kutcher, he said, you know, it can't hurt to pass this just to send the message. And as one of many school committees, we're saying that we do have a concern that the additional costs of running a school system directly related to the COVID pandemic needs to be reimbursed somehow because we just don't have the resources to add extra burden. So that's the reason why the resolution is brought forth before us. And I think that Dr. Allison Ampey also flagged this as something we should talk about. So I'd like to pass it on to her with the chair's permission. Sounds good to me. Dr. Allison Ampey. So I echo what Mr. Schlickman said. I think this is an important motion. I actually feel it's more important for the state than it is for our particular district. I think we're lucky that we have our partnership with the town and our funding is somewhat more stable than many that I'm hearing about, but I'm especially concerned about what's going to be happening with the gateway cities and with other school districts, which are much more dependent on state funding and don't have any extra resources to handle an emergency like this. So yes, I would like us to see benefit too, but part of the reason I feel we should be sending this forward is thinking of many of the other children in our state, not just our district. Thank you. Mr. Mason or Dr. Bodie, would you like to talk about how we're handling the funding around this here in Arlington, which to Dr. Allison Ampey's point may be a little different than in other communities? Yes. I'm going to let Mr. Mason talk about this, though we all work on it very closely, because he is the person in the district that keeps track of all of our COVID-19 related costs. And he can talk about what that process has been and what process is going forward. Thank you, Dr. Bodie. So yeah, I'd like to echo, yeah, we do have a great collaborative relationship with the town and part of the planning process, for just in terms of the long-range planning committee, we had set up a plan in terms of what we were intending to try to contribute back. And one of the things in our process was that there are a lot of things that we do have to purchase to prepare for next year. And it's tallying up pretty quickly. When we had an initial deadline to submit for the CARES emergency relief funds, and we did so collaboratively with the town, and that was for expenses that would date back from the start of COVID. We'll actually back in March, when the state of emergency started. And we were able to claim about $125,000 a little bit over that. We submitted for COVID-19 related expenditures. So this is great for the taxpayers in the town of Arlington, in the sense of that the community will lease, will can get up to that amount. We're not sure in terms of if we're going to get all of those funds reimbursed back, but we're submitting as much as we can that are related to COVID. And those those majority of those expenses were technology related. But the unfortunate thing is that it's not necessarily means that we will see it in our future budget. So what that was something that we knew what we were doing in terms of that, and this is what we were kind of seeing as what our remaining funds for the year would be giving back to the town. Going forward, we will also submit funds as we anticipate them or as they come. So currently we're at over $1.1 million worth of expenditures, including that first claim. And with some additional expenses that we're working through at the end of the year, it could go even higher than that. And so we will then put a claim, and again, for funds, but that would go to the emergency relief fund. And we're not sure how we'll be dispersed going forward, depending on what we get reimbursed and when the timing of that reimbursement happens. So that's that's where we stand right now. And that's all I can comment on for the moment, because we don't even know what the full reimbursement is going to be. Thank you. So is there a motion related to this resolution? Mr. Schuchman? Yeah, I move we adopt the resolution and send it to the people listed on the resolution. Second that. So a motion by Mr. Schuchman, seconded by Mr. Hader. I think he slid in before you, Dr. Allison Ampey, to adopt the resolution as you have it in your packet. So roll call vote, Ms. Exton? Yes. Mr. Cardin is not here. Dr. Allison Ampey? Yes. Mr. Thielman? Yes. Mr. Schuchman? Yes. Mr. Hader? Yes. And I'm also a yes. So that's a six, nothing vote. Superintendent's report. Dr. Boody? I just want to report on the high school. There's actually not a lot to report other than you can if you've been around the school, you can see how much already is happening in terms of the grading in the front. The back has had the parking lots laid out. So most of the parking as we go forward with construction is going to be at the back of the school. We've had to put use the basketball court and then extend beyond that. And those of you will be at town meeting on Monday night, you'll get to see those parking lots as well as a new parking lot over on the practice field. But the project's going along. We've been able to accelerate the construction that's necessary for a new entrance next year in the renovation that needs to happen in Downs for main office to be there, guidance, and the nurses office. So that's all moving along quite well. At this moment, Parmeter remains on schedule. And so we expect to be able to occupy that building sometime in late August. So all going well. And my ad is always nice to say on budget, on time and on budget. Another, I want to bring up the kindergarten enrollment. You have this in the, in Novus, taking a look at where we are right now. It's a little bit behind where we were last year at this time. But we right now we definitely have 441 confirmed applications that all of the materials that are necessary to have turned into have been completed. But we also have some pending ones of another close to 4039. So we are at this point at the end of June behind where we would expect it to be. So I don't know if it's the, you know, does everyone is just, it's not been a focus for them over the last three months. So we'll see where we are. It's, you can see where the numbers are. And as I mentioned earlier tonight, Pierce is going to now definitely need a third kindergarten now for the third year in a row. And with the pending number that is there, we're definitely over some of the number we usually have as the turning point, which is at 60. There are also, this is also the possibility that we'll just have to wait and see the strat may need to go to a fourth kindergarten, but that remains to be seen at this point. But otherwise, our prediction, and I mentioned this before in another meeting that it was, I think, 530 students. So if there are a lot of parents that have decided just given the uncertainty next year deciding to keep their children out one more year, I think what we're going to see the following year if this trend continues is our very large kindergarten classes in FY 22. So we're watching the numbers and we will continue to watch numbers as we always do all summer and just to make sure that we have the classes that we need for incoming kindergarten classes. Does anyone have any question on kindergarten numbers? If not, the last thing I'll bring up in the superintendent's report is the last meeting we talked about the EDCO situation with this budget and the motion by the town of Lexington to begin the process of termination for EDCO. We had a board meeting and Lexington withdrew that motion and there was no other submission of a similar motion. Belmont, which had considered withdrawing, has rescinded that withdrawal as well and the other two districts, the Concord, Carlow one and Lexington, I've left open the door that they may modify their position on withdrawal next year but at the moment are planning to do so the following year. So that's good news and I think that one of the things that came out of the board meeting was very strong support of the direction that the EDCO is moving, strong support for the administration at EDCO and at the moment there is a budget that has been proposed that is to the positive and we're working on a three-year strategic plan which we will share with you when that's developed. So it's all good news and at some point maybe we'll have a chance to celebrate its 50 years of being a very strong and viable and supportive organization that has been in this next year and that's my report. Great, thank you Dr. Modi. Questions? I saw Dr. Allison Ampey had her hand up. Anybody else? So Dr. Allison Ampey? I just wanted to say about the kindergarten students that I think it would help if we could get more information to the parents of students who have already signed up just because they're talking about how they don't know anything about what's going on and that's not encouraging to anyone who hasn't yet signed up and so communication with these families about what's planned or how you're approaching things I think is important and will help maybe shake some more people out. Well I'm not, are you suggesting following up with the current things or the ones that we currently have approved? The current ones, the ones who are already signed up. Yeah the ones that are already signed up we're having virtual meetings at all of the elementary schools over already I think three or four of you already have happened and more happening next week so that all of these families have been invited to a virtual meeting and all of these families have received written documents from the schools about the expectations. The families, I thought you were referring to the ones who are pending because the ones that are pending were not invited to the virtual meetings but once they and completed the application we certainly are going to reach out to them. I actually thought you were also thinking about are there families that just haven't gotten around to registering and how we can reach out to them. What's happening at each elementary school and this happens actually every year is that we know who the current families in that school who has a child that would be eligible for kindergarten this year and the school and the school secretaries are reaching out to them to see if they're planning to register the students. As far as people in the town who are not in this pool of people it's be very hard to identify all of those people that we need to perhaps reach out to this summer. We can get some of that information as we always have in the past from the town clerk and to the extent that we can we will. We hadn't been informed about the meetings at our last meeting and so that's great. It's when people are talking among themselves and saying well I haven't heard and you know I signed up my kid but I haven't heard anything I have no idea what's going on with school. If their friend hasn't already signed up it does not make them feel like oh I should go sign up now so for having meetings and getting information out that's really helpful thank you. Great anybody else besides me I just I I just can't help but comment on the kindergarten numbers I think the thing that's striking to me is that we have 76 confirmed at Thompson with 10 pending. That makes me a little anxious because that's a really big number in mid-June potentially and then just a really like sort of surprisingly low number at bracket right now. So you know I trust that and you know we get the buffer zone report every year in the fall in hindsight and you know I know that your office Dr. Bodie is working really hard to make these you know make sensible choices. I think you know by this point in the year the buffer choices become pretty clear you know they're much more obvious like at some point you have to sort of put a stake in the ground and decide the route you're going to go based on what what you see happening and now it's sort of executing on that on that plan so you know it'll be interesting to see it's so hard to know right now if people are holding back if they're going to hold back like really hold back hold back or if they're just holding back right now you know I guess I guess you know we'll find out but it's it's one of the great it's one of the great it's one of the incredible things about public schools and it's one of the biggest challenges so thank you for giving us these numbers I think they're really helpful to see I think it's important that they're available so thank you very much for that. The next agenda item is everybody's favorite topic how many times we're going to meet in the summer I think normally you know I think last summer I think we actually we met at the end of June and then we didn't meet again until we came back in September except in some subcommittees I don't see the summer of 2020 looking like that so I think there's just so much uncertainty and unknown so what I proposed was to well one of my proposals or I would need one of you to adopt my initial suggestion was to put four dates on the calendar which would roughly keep going with our sort of every other week we would have a couple of increments of three weeks in there put four dates on the calendar with the option to cancel one two or more of them but I just think it's easier to have them out there than try to scramble and my sense is is that we're still going to be able to meet remotely so you know if people are not in Arlington we should still be able to at least get a quorum so that we can can meet and get an update on the fall so discussion about summer meeting Mr. Heiner I support the four meetings thank you any other discussion so I don't even know what we need to do to put these on the calendar so can somebody tell me Mr. Schlickman tell me I moved at the Arlington school committee schedule special meetings for july 9th july 23rd august 6th and august 20th 2020 I'll second the motion all right roll call miss exton yeah mr cardin is not here I'm looking for his box uh Dr. Alison Nampy yes mr Thielman yes mr Schlickman yes mr Heiner yes and I am also yes so that is a six nothing vote mr cardin we're voting on the four additional school committee meetings for the summer would you like to vote or would you like to abstain oh just abstain thanks okay um um all right uh consent agenda all items this is funny to me because there is no asterix but so I feel weird reading it so the items listed below that I am going to read are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the committee so requests in which event the item will be considered in its normal sequence approval of warrant warrant number 20292 total warrant amount $411,089.69 dated 6 to 2020 approval of minutes may 14 2020 and may 28 2020 school committee zoom meeting minutes so move second roll call vote miss exton yes mr cardin yes dr. Alison ampey yes mr Thielman yes mr Schlickman yes mr Heiner yes and I'm also yes so seven nothing vote um the last item we are almost caught up to actual real time it's been a miracle planning for stakeholder input and development program materials with ma sc superintendent search process subcommittee recommendation I did not put this on the agenda so I am assuming that this is something that came to us from mr schlickman and so I'm going to call on him okay the search process subcommittee met twice last week to talk about process glenn kutcher said that ma sc will do as many focus groups as necessary and we've been working through identifying groups we should invite for a focus group we also prepared a online survey he told me today that they were getting about 800 responses out of Quincy on their survey what we did is we looked at a bunch of different surveys from different communities decided what format we wanted what statements we wanted on them and how to guide them and the proposed survey was pushed back to us we looked at it made corrections sought advice and it's ready to rock and roll we'll need to get the school department to make connections with with parents and we'll put the survey out to the entire community as soon as we as soon as we can which could be tomorrow any discussion I just have a thank you for that report my my question is is it I'm wondering if we can use so at some point this in this whole process that the school committee is going to meet and talk about and do our focus group with glenn and I'm wondering if we can just use one of those four meetings is someone to do it it's a suggestion yeah we can tie it into one of the regular meetings we we can do it whenever we want I want to say that Rieko was volunteered to translate so we can do a Japanese language focus focus group from my I also understand that we have a EA starting has started focus groups I think they were scheduled to start focus groups with the teachers today and we want to get notice out to the parents before school ends so that they they're aware of focus groups before they before they adjourn for the summer okay so back to my question I I just think I just think it'd be good as we get a schedule Paul to pick a date July or August in which we so we can also see who's going to be here to make sure we have attendance for everybody so we can do our focus group great I just want to be because there are some of those days in the august dates I voted for the one might might be a problem but we'll see all right um thank you oh miss exton um I was glad to hear policy about translating a focus group is it possible for the survey to be translated mr schlickman yeah yeah yeah uh we'll have to get a translation up and then uh generally speaking what they've done is they've translated through uh google translate which isn't always the best but at least it gets it there uh if we can also get it have re a co look at the Japanese translate translation she's a wonderful volunteer here hi honey I just volunteered you for some more work um um well I mean I would want it I would want to know what are the most spoken languages in APS and make sure that it was you know in some way available translated into those languages um because I think even those students coming to school might be speaking English about their home language may not be able to read a survey in English though we're required to record home language of parents in our student management system so we can get a count and then look see what we could do strategically on other languages thank you all right mr hainer uh paul shouldn't ma sc have that available as part of the program I have which available the translations the ability to if we state state to them that we need x amount of translations uh from uh what we know in the system what's needed that they provided yeah they'll go and do that uh they'll probably use an electronic translation service uh which for European languages really isn't problematic it gets a little dice here on Asian languages that's so we'll probably help out there for how we can I think that the two or three top languages in the district are are Asian I know the Japanese traditionally it's been the number one any other comments or questions on this topic let me just welcome mr cardin to the subcommittee and we're going to be very busy over the next few weeks great um so subcommittee and liaison reports budget dr elson amby I did a meeting next week I don't know when yet okay community relations mr hainer the school committee has five appointments to the allington human rights commission two of them are coming due this year so misfits Gerald will be sending out an announcement seeking applications the due date for applications to be turned back to misfits Gerald is June 19th community relations subcommittee will be meeting at 6 p.m on June 23rd to review the applications and hopefully we'll have recommendations for the full committee full committee on June 25th okay uh and you'll connect with us if that's where you're at to make sure it's on the agenda should we put it on the agenda for that night regarding well we'll we'll talk about that I think put it on the agenda if there's a glitch I'll report on the glitch but I'm not hopefully there won't be any glitches okay um cia mr cardin nothing to report uh facilities mr fieldman you're on mute sir nothing to report nothing to report bill has given me all this guidance and all this information from his years as chair so I'm going to read that and get ready yes I'd like to know we had we had some musical chair person ships uh in this cycle just given uh changing uh committee membership etc so a lot of these people were elected chair about uh three hours ago so uh policies and procedures mr schlickman uh no report uh our Lincoln high school building committee mr fieldman or dr Allison ampey I mean dr boaty gave it they gave the full report we're you've got everything you need um and we heard from the superintendent search process did you have anything else mr schlickman nothing further okay I see we have the calendar committee and the election modernization committee I will look into uh that situation um and then uh liaison reports no uh announcements no future agenda items here we go we're getting close uh that's it all right um do we need to do executive session tonight no I can't even find mr spiegel where is it no we don't um it's nothing's listed on the agenda anyway so no okay great so mr mr heiner I just like to make a comment we've uh somehow managed to finish not only on time but before what the agenda calls for so now you have to maintain this the rest of the year this morning I think this was just lucky but let's go ahead and adjourn so that we can we can put 25 minutes in the bank for later down the road so I need a motion for that motion to adjourn thank you we have great roll call vote Ms. Extin yes mr cardin yes dr. Allison ampie yes mr theoman mr theoman yes thank you sir mr schlickman yes um mr heiner yes and I am also a yes have a good night thank you team be safe