 This program is brought to you by Cable Franchise Vs and generous donations from viewers like you We do have public comment this evening, but they are all related to the our joint committee topic so with permission from the committee I'll pause and we'll we'll share those during the public comment section Once the Amherst and Pellum committees join us And then moving right along into our next item of approving minutes We have a and I know because I talked to a couple of you we have a long list of meeting minutes that we Hopefully had a chance to review My suggestion would be in recommendation if folks are amenable to this proposal would be that each of us share our edits Buy a meal with Cielo miss Charcus Within the next two days So that she can incorporate all of our edits And then next week we will in one fell swoop review any review the The edited versions of the minutes and vote and to approve them at our next meeting Does that work for folks? Um miss dancer Um just one comment. I believe that we've already approved the minutes for september 22nd I had that same that same comment correct. Yeah, right And they're they're posted on the website as well so Uh, mr. Deming. Did you have your hand razor? Was that a thumbs up? Um, so Uh Should we I don't know if we have um miss Charcus's email Should we send them to sasha? Um, yep, and I I can just send uh the full committee Cielo's email so that okay goes directly so Oh or she can put it there, but I'll email everyone Excellent, and so I just remind folks that when you do um email and miss Charcus to not copy Anybody else on the committee when you when you send your comments, so just send them to directly to her Wonderful. Um, so our next item is um region warrants So um miss spitzer. Do you have any I'm suspecting you too? I have a bunch. I'm sorry. I'm used to having that at the end So I don't have them all up, but if you give me a moment Yeah, and I'll explain why we're doing them. I separated for folks that don't know I separated them because we haven't had amourst warrants in a while and so I have about nine or ten of those to read and I thought in Fairness to our Friends from outside of the amour school committee that we would separate them so that you didn't have to listen to me drone on All right, I've got about five of them. Hold on. Um So I carry spitzer authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of 174,992 and 49 cents For the warrant dated december 15th 2020 this included general fund expenses of 70,000 $98 and 37 cents revolving fund expenses of 10,000 dollars 10,536 dollars and 52 cents in grant fund expenses of 92 208 dollars and 45 cents and other funds in the amount of 2049 and 15 cents for chartwell hotspots This was signed by me on december 16th 2020 by author authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of 456 353 dollars 456,353 $3.07 for the warrant dated december 16th 2020 This was exclusively for general fund expenses in that amount and it was signed by me on december 16th 2020 Um, I signed uh annual scholarship payment warrants on uh december 21st in the amount of $3,000 I authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of 780,177 and 13 cents for the warrant dated december 23rd 2020 This included general fund expenses of 270,162 and 71 cents revolving fund expenses of $784 and grant fund expenses of 506,105 42 cents and other funds In the amount of 3,125 dollars for capital and I signed this on december 28th 2020 And finally I authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of 402,462 dollars for the warrant dated december 29th 2020 and this was all for general fund expenses and was signed on december 30th 2020 Thank you Thank you Okay, so we will um now uh proceed on with um athletics update and fees Turn that over to uh While we do the update we'll go in the order that it is I'll do a quick up well medium sized athletics update and then uh, dug would take the fees Actually, Doug, this is your only topic tonight Um, so what if if the committee's okay, why don't we start with Doug with fees and then we'll we'll flip to the other one so that Doug doesn't have to listen to me talk about other athletic updates if he doesn't want to Thank you, uh as far as the uh athletic fees and and the request to you so um I wrote your short memo relative to the the winter sports season in shorter this year It's roughly half to see the link that normally would be um the the athletic director reached out to me and said Hey, can we can we make some uh adjustment to the fees given that the the link is so much shorter? um And so the you know as we consulted on this the the idea was to reduce it by about 25 percent as much as I'd like to cut It in half the the reality is is that the costs uh associated with the programs often don't scale the same as the length of the season Um, and we thought this was a reasonable reduction that would help out with regard to uh, you know reducing a little bit of burden given that it's a shorter season, uh, but not You know putting a too great a financial strain on the uh athletics budget as a whole And so it's basically a 25 discount Through some miracle, uh, it works out to all land on 25 50 and 75 cent increments Which is just a quirk of the math And so uh what you have to demo is is how those rates would be adjusted for this winter season the rates are fully under your control um And so, you know, this is this is a suggestion to you. However, you know, you Can choose a different percentage rate. You can make no change at all um at this time I don't think will make any suggested changes to the to the What they call I guess they're calling the fall two seasons. So the fall sports have been shifted to the uh Late winter early spring and or the spring sports those schedules seem to be at the moment tracking to to their regular length in time So, uh, there's no need to adjust those fees at this point I think with that i'll stop and let you sort of pose any questions you might have relative to this suggestion Are there any questions Mr. Demley So for families that have already paid these fees, what would the approach be like a reimbursement scheme? That's correct if if somebody was, uh, you know being extra diligent paying in december and and had paid the full feed and we would Uh, we'll go back and and figure out the discount and and Right, you know reimburse them the difference Any other questions? Not seeing any um So, um, do we need to do you need a vote or a head nod on this a vote? Okay So I will I'm happy to make a motion. I move that we approve the revised discounted winter sports winter athletic fees as presented second Move by mcdonald second by stancer We'll take a roll call vote mr. Demling Demling. I Mr. Harrington Harrington I miss kenny Can I Miss lord lord I Miss digger see your eye miss spitzer spitzer I miss stancer stancer I mr. Sullivan Sullivan I When mcdonald's I the motion carries a nine to zero Thank you Thanks, Doug. Have a good night um So athletics update is, uh, a bit of a more complicated one I think I tried to I believe you're filled in a little bit by email about this today. So, uh, as the pool was being set up, uh Folks doing that from dpw the town of amers as well as our facility staff notice the problem with the Sand filter and so the when I think of a filter. I think of a thin Strip that goes into something filter that filters. This is about half the size of a car Uh, and so this is not a oh, well, we just order, you know Whatever version filter. This is a huge huge um Here on the pellum meeting hasn't yet started No, that's okay. We were going to be early. So, you know, check back with us Um, but just I can't go on because there's a quorum of pellum on the Okay, um So, um, we today had folks from the See what it was Philly and associates, which are the big kind of pool outfit in our area come in to investigate We were hoping it was not going to be a major Issue but something maybe we'd have to kids would have to miss a legal swimming something like that and the the news was was not positive in terms of the timeline to Fix that and also the work would be, you know, we potentially might have to drain the pool and then, you know, it's It was the worst-case scenario So thanks to miss stewart's diligent work We have Contacted and are working out a contract with the belcher town School system they have a pool. They're willing to rent to us Um, it's obviously not optimal. Um, but they're given there's a cost to it But also there's, you know, it means getting to belcher town as opposed to swimming to our home pool That being said, you know, I was very concerned that we were potentially going to not be able to offer The sport and it now appears that we will be able to offer the sport albeit Not ideal hours and not ideal location but but doable Um, so that's sort of this they were here literally this afternoon This is the current update and and victoria miss stewart was emailing me and texting me information about belcher town She did send something out to the kind of relevant Um student athletes and coaches. Um, so we're hoping to have a successful season Just, you know, it's like, you know, we get the basketball got the, you know Purifiers in it's like one thing works out and then the unexpected one doesn't so We'll have more updates on that but just the the consultant's initial read is this isn't going to be Fixed in time for the swim season, especially as this condensed season All together because of the later start to it. So Unfortunate news appreciate the nimbleness and the thoughtfulness of miss stewart Even before we got the official news today on the outcome had already been in touch with belcher town Um, they may mean some, you know morning practices ironic given some of the topics we're going to talk about a little later Um, but but I know for what I've heard is for many of our student athletes They really want to do this. They really want to swim. They really want to be have the team aspect of it and well not Well imperfect. This is a lot better than other alternatives Might be so that's where we are with the swimming and the pool You know, I think when we get a cost estimate and all that we'll have to come back and have that conversation But the reality is it is if we're going to maintain a pool at the middle school Which I think both the community and the school district want to do it's going to be cost We have to bear it just how much the cost what is the cost and how would we? You know, it's something we can have from capital item Is it something we have to request and all those things we don't quite know yet? But we will share with the committee as we get more information But the initial read today was that this wasn't a small it was a heavy lift Literally and figuratively to get this fixed and it wasn't going to happen very soon That's not because they're super busy. I mean I think the pool industry in general is they've got time It's just it's the nature of what broke and how difficult it is to fix it And where it's located in the pool structure So I don't know if anyone had any thoughts or questions about that Mr. Sullivan I'm just curious if any of these filter issues are due to the fact that we left the pool dry for so long I asked that question today. I don't want to sound definitive because I didn't get an answer But I think this is the sand filter and I think it's my sense is it's unrelated and actually another community I don't want to mention it because it's it's second hand had a lot of other problems when they drained the pool The phrasing was they broke the pool. I don't really know what it means to break pool Our pool is not broken the sand filters broken So relative to at least another community that also like many drain the pools This seems like a better problem than some other people have because it's not a structural problem with the actual pool surface This is about a filter that in these things Apparently go and it's just the timing of it was awkward if I think to your larger point if the pool was filled We would have known it sooner And that's the thing that is problematic now is we only found out because you feel the pool when the pool is empty You're not going to see if a fin sand filters breaking as opposed to A result of having an empty pool But certainly if we knew about a long time ago would have taken care of it, but that's not the timeline we had So that's my understanding at the moment, but I far far far from a pool expert But I same thought was running through my head any other questions I just said of curiosity Is um Are the the hours that the Amherst team Amherst Pelham team is is getting at the belcher town because Belcher town swimming is is happening there. Is that Yeah, so we have to you know, they're obviously going to give their own team rightfully so first dibs on the ideal times but they've worked with us and and thank them and and Certainly they could have chosen to try to choose to make up a huge profit on this and they're really I think being incredibly Collaborative in terms of you know, there's real cost to it and you know, we're not assuming it's going to be for free But yeah, they're we appreciate that partnership But and I think just this is the second time also that miss steward has had to be creative and trying to figure out where to where to Send our athletes our student athletes So I appreciate her efforts on that as well and as well as the cooperation of the other Other hosting facilities that we're using Miss mcdonald, I know we are running ahead of schedule I was in touch with our friends in pelham that aren't on the region We have two friends that are it's not that I was trying to be negative towards sarah besser margaret. They are able to join Whenever the these this committee is ready for them in terms of joint meeting um if they're ready then um, let's because i'm Sure either either getting out early or um or having extra time for some of our Other topics will be helpful Yeah, okay um, well There's one committee to call to order as we're waiting. Yes I will um Call to order this meeting of the amherst school committee at 6 52 p.m And we will start with a roll call Attendance, um, mr. Deming Deming present Mr. Harrington Harrington present Miss lord lord present Miss bitter And mcdonald present And I just got a text that um those folks are going to be jumping on momentarily Excellent People don't expect us to be early No, right. That's not the people aren't like bated breath like I wonder if they'll be 20 minutes earlier 25 minutes It's a new feature Hey, Ron, how you doing? Hello Others are joining momentarily and then the Pellum meeting call to order. Thanks for your uh flexibility there on Hi, sarah So sarah every the other two committees are called to order not to rush you but whenever you're ready You do have a quorum, um, if you want to give Brenda a minute or two, whatever you like, but um Other committees already go and thanks for your flexibility about these other regional committee Just, you know, run running right through things and be in 20 minutes early. It's because we skipped an agenda item Sarah sorry was I I was on mute wasn't I? Awesome. Well, what I'd said was you did a great job. Um, all right Presidents of the quorum I'll call to order this meeting at the Pellum school committee at 6 54 and start with roll call attendance. Mr. Manino Manino present uh miss kenny Kenny present miss dancer dancer president and uh hall president and barlow Coming I'm sure. Um, so we're keeping on the um moving right along theme Um, uh what we what I will propose for our Uh stack of minutes that we had to review Is that each of us share? Uh any edits or updates to to those minutes directly with miss sharpest by email Um within the next couple days and then at our next meeting Then we will review the updated ones and approve them Hopefully much more quickly and we would if we um if we tried to go through all of the comments and edits tonight if That that was actually sort of how we motored through our regional school committee meeting earlier If folks are amenable to Doing the same with these um with these minutes from November and december Then we can move forward um with that I'm seeing um nodding heads again Um, so I don't know if you can see it in the in the chat But miss sharpest um shared us her email address and um if you don't have it then um we can send it after the meeting Um, and just as a reminder for everybody Um, please when you share any edits um that you have with miss sharpest do not copy um Everybody on the committee. Um, just send it directly to her. Um, and then um, and please do so within the next um couple of days So, um next up is public comment And we have a public comment document that um has been posted already on um On the website and while I pull that up. I will play the voice message Um comment that we did receive as well And I'm submitting a public comment On october 6th I submitted a public comment signed by 11 families pleading that the school committee not adopt the MLA It ended with a statement setting that necessarily low threshold for returning to remote learning has the potential to definitely interrupt student learning And here we are I've been especially outspoken in part because I could see that we were not following places to recommendation But also because my husband is a public school teacher as are his two brothers and sister-in-law In sharp contrast to our handling of the situation My husband is in a high school today january 5th teaching in a hybrid model Among the three level teachers in our family two are in the building today teaching in hybrid or in-person models The series of guest direct has pre-k2 grade 2 in in buildings as well as high need students and will bring others back on january 19th They teach in three eastern mass towns that are all high risk on the state map this week You have kept students in buildings because they can see that the cases are not due to in-school transmission What I see among the teachers in my family echoes the contrast of arps to hampshire county and the rest of the state After we returned to remote on october 26th 17 out of the other 18 hampshire county towns continue to have students in their building for at least one one month Especially high need special education and the younger students The recently released sassy data provides a contrast between our districts and the rest of the state 70 percent of the 438 districts statewide have hybrid or in-person models when the data were collected We are in the bottom 30 percent that were remote at that point When the holiday bumping cases subside And every other district in the county will be poised to return students to the building while we will not Even holy oak has set a january date for retraining student buildings It has become clear That the highest need students can be serviced more safely in schools than in their homes As a district we are now helping a handful of students in the remote learning center There are undoubtedly many more struggling students who have been selected and whose parents can't avoid the cross-border learning center In my own neighborhood with six elementary school families Two families have withdrawn because remote learning was going so poorly One is seeking mental health services for their child One is worried about their child's isolation and we have concerns about behavior and lack of engagement in school Only one family out of six seems to be completely fine I hope that the school committee is prepared to take the sign for action to get students back into the buildings in the coming months Especially those most in need. Thank you Can folks see this document? Yeah So as a reminder for folks watching at home This document is also posted on the arps dot org website on the regional school committee agendas page right, um So, um, moving on to our next item is the superintendent's update dr. Yep, and i'll be pretty brief because i have a bunch of items that uh, we'll dig in on a little bit later Uh, but a few things. So one is just that uh, I want to thank amherst recreation, which formerly was known as lssc They've worked with rupert roy clark and the chance of facilities department just making sure that they're And diego share and the principal at the middle school They've now got three spaces to expand their primetime remote learning And child care program that i've described before the state inspection is tomorrow We hope then they hope to open the section either the following week or the week after We'll confirm they'll confirm the date with us as they get closer They think that that'll expand to about 20 to 24 more students and they are As as per their mission and our mission trying to work with the family center for students who are Most struggling with attendance issues and other challenges To fill that so really appreciate the partnership with amherst recreation and and glad that We're able to get some more students into distance learning center second thing Is i want to thank robin supernot. She is the Nurse leader So many of you had a lot of time with jill consalina or who was her predecessor But robin's been a nurse at the in our district for for many years and she's outstanding She worked on the bynex testing, which is the type of testing that we get approved for and we have the tests and she's been trained And before the I think it was before the break. Yeah We were As a result we were approved as a waiver. So we are technically a lab site for COVID testing For symptomatic individuals either students or families and we're getting the Permission and forms out for both staff who are working in the distance learning center as well as families Of students there so that if anyone is showing symptoms, they can be tested on site right there Which was as you might imagine a tremendous amount of work for a school setting to be approved as a COVID testing site and to be trained to do the tests on site So thanks to robin favor, he was also involved in that But we're really glad that that's up and up and running the tests are there Like, you know, once we get their permissions if someone comes with symptoms, we'll be able to do it right then and there So really really excited about that The next thing is tomorrow There is no school as approved by the school committee last year for three kings They want to clarify because we get a couple questions about this We use the same language that we use for good friday, which is that The school is closed for budgetary reasons. I want to acknowledge that people take this off as a holiday, right? We the only religious holidays that we have off are ones that our state or federal holidays for good things like good friday And now three kings day, it's really about we have such a high number of staff members who are out As our staff has diversified We've noticed a big increase in staff members who were out on three kings day And that's that's a good thing We want people who are celebrating a religious holiday to be able to celebrate a religious holiday And so that's the rationale. Maybe I could have put a little more artfully in the communication It's the same language we've used for good friday for many years if you look at our school calendar on our website It has the exact same language for it, but we're glad Staff and students obviously were always able to take that as an excused absence As a religious holiday in the past, but the number was so great that the day was getting incredibly expensive and Students weren't learning as much because a lot of their educators who work with them were not in school So we decided to do that. So for full year staff like me and others It is a work day unless people take it as a holiday, but there is not school in terms of students Or most of our staff who are school year staff members Tomorrow because of the holiday and those who are celebrating. We hope it's a meaningful holiday for them Um, I do celebrate it in my home. I shouldn't say that I don't but uh, you know, uh, other people Certainly many people in the district who take it uh, historically have taken it off as a holiday And I will leave that there. Oh, I want to thank alicia Lopez teacher at the middle school She put together a three kings day slide show for staff to be able to share with students across the district So that people wondering why we had the day off they could do a much more artful job than I just did describing uh more content and About what three kings day is an epiphany and why it's celebrated particularly in latin american countries, although not exclusively Vaccination so I really want to thank the town of amherst They have invited our school nurses to be part of the vaccination effort for first responders next week in the town of amherst It's an option. Our school nurses do not have to participate but if they do participate in the Process there at the bank center. They actually can get vaccinated themselves, which is great You know, I think the We'll wait a little We're not quite ready for the whole school staff. Um, you know vaccination piece. That's in phase two Uh, did have a good meeting today with some members of the apa mr. Harrington wearing his other hat I don't know what had it's always a little hard to tell sometimes in those meetings, but and I apologize Uh, but actually rep dom came uh, and one of her staff Just so it was really nice to be able to have uh an emma dragon from the town So we had like a really good conversation about how we can accurately communicate About vaccine vaccination as it becomes available to school staff And work on you know already we have been working on logistics with mr. Agon and the town We're still a ways away from that But you know pretty exciting that our first responders in the town of amherst those there's four days I believe next week and that our school nurses um from what I understand are volunteering They want to be involved in that and then and they'll be our first school staff to my knowledge to be vaccinated. So Um You know, I you all know I was pessimistic about this Um for for much of the last nine months. So I'm glad really really glad to be wrong Um, and you know, here we are in january and that's where we you know It's going neat. Um, I may drive over just to see it if I'm allowed to um, just because I think it's just uh It feels like a pretty big moment for us here in little amherst um Last update is um project red who we work with a lot for our food service program and partnership with no kid Hungry, which is a larger organization Uh, let us know that we applied for a grant back in december for $2,000 and we received that grant It's a it's a school and community meals support grant To thank the district for serving meals to the kids and teens of our community They wanted to recognize the ongoing challenges of serving school meals during the covet 19 crisis and appreciate the hard work Of our food service staff. So thanks to them for giving us funds to further Continue that program and enhance that program. I thanks to our food service staff for the incredible meals They're serving three times a week including tomorrow, which is the last thing I want to mention my update Is that while there is no school, there will be the same food deliveries. We did send an email all to all families today Same time same pickup spots that will continue despite the fact that school won't be in session tomorrow And that's my update Thank you any comments or questions Mr. Gennley Yeah, um, so I have three questions two on the distance learning center. So you mentioned that We're going to have spaces for 24 more kids, which is which is good and and to clarify we've said this A lot, but distance learning center is in person support for remote learning. It's not in person instruction Um, but it is having a significant positive effect on students with attendance issues as we identified in the in the surveys, um So what my first question is what what do we estimate the unmet need? Is even after those 24 students, how many how many more students Would we ideally want to be reaching with this program that we're not because of of space or resources? And and also just ballpark What what are we looking at for the cost for doing this program? I don't need an exact dollar figure But on magnitude order of magnitude would would be helpful Well, the second question is really easy. The first one's really hard. So I'll start with the easy one Um, we are not paying anything for this program sands We give um space, you know free of charge that right in kind and we provide some very limited transportation for students, but that's um Most of that's a sunk cost because that's using staff that we already have. I mean, there's probably a nominal gas gas fee, but It's pretty small. Uh in terms of unmet need Um, I think if we were able to offer this universally, I think we would have many many more takers um than 24 more Uh, if we had if if Amherst recreation, I say we because it's a partnership But a really Amherst recreation had staff and capacity to expand it broader. I think it'd be There's no way for me to quantify it, but I I think to answer your question I think there'd be significant unmet need. I think there'd be a lot of interest in this because not just that there's support Um and the kids are out of the house, but also there are social moments Right, you know much like those of you who have kids or anyone who's watching is kids There are downtime during the day, you know, there's a long lunch block and there is time for social interaction So I do think that there's uh, if it was like anyone wanted to do it could do it I think we'd have a lot more than 24 takers Sorry, that's not very scientific a lot more Mr. Demley Yeah, thanks for that. And if you if you could keep us updated on on that as well going forward that that would be good So the other follow-up Updated the last meeting we talked about how students with very significant special needs who can't access their services at all remotely Have been getting their services in their home through voluntary staff, which is great really appreciate those That effort of those staff and then you updated us last meeting that our town health director has said that Given the current COVID situation that she is not approving of that At home services and that those services would be safer if they were Delivered in our buildings. So we're so we're back from the break Kids are kids are back learning and we have this population of very high-need students who can't access Their services remotely. So so what are we doing for these students? We are looking to see if we can expand, you know We had 13 kids in distance learning center and that distance learning center We're looking to expand based on family desires, right? Not everyone who is receiving in home services is comfortable with having their kid go into school So it's not it's not like a one-to-one correspondence between those numbers but we're looking to expand that You know, I think we're hoping by next week to be up to 15 because we do have some people Who we're receiving in home services who are no longer who are interested in coming into school for that? as it relates to the big question mark is preschool Because that's a large pretty significant population and we you know our programming In the distance learning center is really k-12 It's not really it is k-12. It is not inclusive of preschool For a whole host of reasons it's a separate staffing model separate spaces are needed that probably the high school Is not a reasonable fit for so That's an area of major concern And I can get back to you, you know next meeting about how we're thinking about that But it is something that we are actively trying to problem solve And I know miss burns who's the new preschool director is trying to come up with Plans of how to meet as many of those needs as we can But that's probably the largest impact area of families Who are not right now able to access the level the degree of services that At the k-12th level we're able to offer I'm just looking around in case anybody Mr. Denley Yeah, sorry, it's just a follow-up on that point. So could you clarify? So for the the students who used to be receiving their services at home The our students with significant special needs and so you talked about how Some of these students might receive that at the distance learning center. Do you mean? distinct from Receiving in-person support for remote instruction. Do you mean they would be receiving their services in person? There are some services at the distance learning center that students are receiving At the special needs distance learning center So, yes So just to clarify that But who's providing that is it staff on a volunteer basis? Like how how are they How are they contracting staff providing a service contracted staff members contracted staff? Yeah Thank you this dancer so I guess just a follow-up the The public health nurse and amherst recommended that people not go into homes to provide services And some of those people who've been receiving those services have chosen are deciding that they would come into the building But will there still be some Places where staff or or contracted workers will be going into homes? No, not until the health director changes That she changes her mind the data leads her to feel like it's now comfortable for in-home services in-home services wasn't about What who was the employer? It was purely about safety and health Okay, thank you that answer. Sorry. I wasn't clear. Yeah I'm a seeker Yeah, I just want to make sure I'm understanding this so the The educators going into homes where they also contracted employees It was mostly but not exclusively Not contracted employees staff members they were okay. Did that Shift so being that they could no longer go into the homes and now Have to be in the school settings Did the amount of services change because maybe employees weren't willing to be in the school like how did that? under the current moa employees aren't Really able to be offering services in that way in school. So yes services, you know, did that were in person I have shifted to remote For that for for some students absolutely Sorry, I tried to be quick I'll be I'll be a lot more the long-winded later. Don't worry Are there any other questions for dr. Morse? Miss spitzer So just a quick one Hopefully one quick and one maybe a little bit longer. So for the for the remote learning centers I know we have lsse and then we also had marx meadow providing Opportunities for distance learning for those students without special needs What so what is the total number of spots that are now available? um If we're just adding 20 to 24, I think what was what was the starting point? I'm just trying to keep a track of what's available now. I can give you the full range. I'll shoot an email to you I don't want to get us and be inaccurate right now. I don't have it on top of my head But I'll I'll make a note and I'll get that to you tomorrow Isn't isn't expanding it's exclusively. Sorry. I shouldn't say lsse. I should say the the Recreation they're going to be live with that for a long time. So it's okay 36 sir 30 plus years of saying lsse um, so um for My father follow-up question was I think it's great that we have the testing now. It raises um, because I At least what I understand is that especially with symptomatic The accuracy is actually a lot better than it is The rapid testing that it is with with um asymptomatic people. So it sounds like it's only going to be for symptomatic people I guess what I wanted to ask is In the beginning way back in the summer We had talked about maybe using an app to do some screening of students and parents And I hadn't heard any updates about that So I'm just curious if you could give us a quick update on what we are doing to screen Students and staff who are participating in these on-site learning opportunities To know the distance learning centers and who might be end up Actually in the buildings Yeah, so for our distance learning center the one that we take full responsibility for At the high school parents receive an email and a tech families receive an email and a text in the morning That confirms that the kids don't have symptoms and it goes over the symptoms So that's every single morning and I think a very similar model. I don't get paper and pencil Based on child care center rules goes on for At the other two distance learning centers Any other questions? Okay Okay um So next on our agenda is a chairs update and I do have um, hopefully a brief update. Um So a first happy new year. Um, this is our first meeting and we're back with a three-way joint meeting. So, um, it's uh um continue continues the the hard work that we that we Did in the in the last year? Um And so I just want to start to start off the the new year thing that I I continue and in particularly committed to Continuing this work of bringing all of our stakeholders all of us together as well as our stakeholders together um to craft and and implement the plans To provide the ideal learning opportunities for our students during this pandemic and and going forward um We continue to hear from parents as we did tonight and caregivers about the difficulties and despair that they're experiencing with the all remote learning for their children And a group of community members in amherst has petitioned to request a community forum under the Amherst um town charter. Um, so forum in a q&a around in-person learning plans So the Amherst school committee will be discussing um When to you know the scheduling of that as well as the format for this format at its meeting next tuesday um, so I just want to make folks aware of that um and additionally There's been series of correspondence back and forth between Myself as the school committee and the regional school committee and the apa executive leadership um, so I just want to also state look forward to um The beginning of hopefully um an attempt to repair and build a more collaborative relationship with the apa leadership um the I will Recap some of the folks um that were in the regional school committee have heard sort of those recap But for folks that don't follow um super closely What's what's been transpiring? The school committee received a letter um on december 17th from the apa leadership I'm describing a membership survey and requesting more frequent indirect communication with the with the school committee The regional school committee responded with um after its meeting um the on december 22nd with a letter requesting Renegotiations of the moa Beginning in january and proposed three possible dates Um the on the 30th a week later We received a letter from the apa leadership requesting an extension to that um to Next tuesday january 12th Um to be able to have the time to complete a survey of their membership Analyze that and discuss that with their membership at a meeting on the 11th um In that letter they also um invited and proposed an informal discussion To brainstorm solutions and visions for meeting educational needs of students in this pandemic and brainstorm ways for um safely getting students and staff back into school buildings Um, I responded on behalf of the regional school committee to that letter on the 31st um Saying that we would be discussing the regional school committee would be discussing um that extension during our meetings evening and agreeing to that informal discussion I proposed this thursday january 7th for that meeting Yesterday the apa leadership responded that that um that date works for them and that it looked forward to that meeting and we've since um Agreed on an agenda and posted the and that public meeting for thursday And I will add that that meeting um Is a special meeting of the of the regional school committee Because we will have more than two people two or more people present from the regional school committee But as a special meeting there will be no public comment The community is welcome to view this meeting virtually And as always may email the school committee at any time at school committee at arps.org And our at our next regular meeting we will have A public comment on that as well So I just wanted to also back that like build on on the comment about um Building a collaborative relationship with with the group And we'll talk about this when we get to our first um agenda item I think part at the heart of any healthy collaboration Is is a shared confidence that both groups um whether it's leadership or representatives understand and Represent the needs and desires of its members And that that understanding is developed out of an open communication and discussion among the memberships um So for that reason that is what's behind the um is I believe that the behind the reason that the apa leadership Has asked for that additional time so that they have the time to really dive into the responses that they've received on their survey I think that it was due last week Or two weeks ago And and to be able to discuss that with their membership during its membership meeting um, so We will discuss sort of the that their request to delay the the Discussion on renegotiations um, but I just wanted to sort of put that out there that um, at least in my mind that's key to Having true collaboration that we understand and that they understand that whoever that is at the table Is able to represent and understand the needs of its membership um So with that does anybody have any questions about that? laundry list of communication and and next steps miss seager um, you've said that for the Format of the meeting with the parents and caregivers and ammers Um that the amherst school committee was going to be putting discussing that will the regional committee also be involved in the overall meeting that happens I'm curious about how that works The the community forum Yeah, yeah, um It's an interesting question because I know that the um while it's a requirement, it's a it's a stipulation within the amherst town charter specific to the amherst school committee um The amherst school committee will be hosting that But also knowing that the topic of discussion is going to relate as well to our secondary schools as our elementary schools um It is an open forum. So the regional school committee and anybody else is welcome and invited to attend um, but We'll probably will not be part of sort of the actual hosting organization if that makes sense um I am If we would like to have that conversation and sort of be part of formulating that i'm open to that to sort of get feedback there's nothing um To hide we'll be discussing it during an amherst school school committee Um meeting next week And so if if folks would like to if others would like to have sort of input or at least provide the opportunity to provide feedback On that i'm open to that if the others from amherst are open to that I'm seeing head mods. Yeah, so I Does that answer your question any other um comments or questions? I think so given given the request, um, I I believe um I don't know if i'm correct me if i'm wrong, uh, dr. Morse if i'm jumping the gun in in terms of the agenda but um, I would actually like to propose that we Delay and um the first agenda item 13a um given given the request and the response from the apa leadership about um Their response coming next week as opposed to today when that was requested dr. Morse I just I think just process wise if any other committee members have a non related unrelated announcement they should be able to Have that because that's Yes, so I will I will skip that question And move on to school committee announcements Um, and then we'll come back to that question So, um, I know that several subcommittees or groups have had meetings. Um, since we last met so Miss stanser Thank you. Um, yes I just wanted to report that the budget subcommittee meeting Budget subcommittee had a meeting on december 17th with dr. Slaughter Um, he had prior to that meeting shared with us the budget summaries for the past eight years um And uh, we discussed those a little bit Um along with some of the factors that we came up with that we thought should be Um considered when addressing the data Um He is gathering some more information. He said some of it is part of what he has to do to prepare Prepare for the budget anyway, but um, he's going to be Giving us some more information and hope I'm hopeful Other subcommittee members haven't heard this yet, but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to have a meeting next week Um, it was we agreed that we would have a meeting in early january But it depends partly on dr. Slaughter since so far. He's the one doing all the work So, um Anyway, that's where we stand Oh and timeline we talked about timeline Um, we don't have an absolute in stone Uh date, but he anticipates that the next four town meeting may be sometime near the end of january and Maybe we would have something by them Um, we'll have to see so Any a question mr. Demman Uh, no questions. I just a separate announcement. Um, it'll be a cpac meeting One monthly cpac meeting this friday 9 to 10 30 need the link. You can find it on Facebook, uh arps cpac or just email cpac at arps.org Included on the agenda will be um reassuring the cpac covet impact survey Um, as well as the impact of the removal of in-home supports that we talked a little bit About um, and it's you know, I would encourage anybody who you know from our committee or other boards or the public to Attend even if you don't have a student with special needs in the district It's a good opportunity here directly from families of students with special needs Um, who I mean as their survey has indicated really struggle to have their education and leads met remotely and um you know from having Hit the same topic at cpac month after month now. I would say families who are feeling Increasingly pessimistic that anyone is going to do anything substantial anytime soon to To improve the situation for for so many kids. Um on IEPs who really struggle with Remote learning. So that's tomorrow. I'm starting out tomorrow friday 9 10 30. Thank you And I'll just add to that that we also um that the cpac will be Coming in um to the regional school committee At the end of february um tentatively to for an in a report as well as a report out on this the surveys that they've done Dr. Morris, so I neglected two things in my update mine if I squeeze them in um So one is just um updated distance learning center numbers once expanded. They'll be I believe 40 in Amherst recreation 20 in mark's meadow. So 60 for the programs um at our middle school Uh with our partners and up to 15 at the special needs discipline center At the high school for k to 12 students and the other one was that tomorrow night. There is a Pelham because now we're in a joint meeting. There is a Pelham Well, let me get the title of it. Um Pelham budget meeting with the town of Pelham the budget round table meeting um at six o'clock Uh and certainly miss hall and I will I don't want to say certainly I don't know if miss hall I I think she's planning on tendering but uh, we can update the pelham school committee next thursday Which is the next meeting uh after tonight of the full pelham school committee My my apologies for neglecting that item earlier Any other announcements from the committees? Any committee? No Okay Good. So we'll move on to um new and continuing business and um As I already alluded to um our first item the spring 2021 in-person planning. Um I I will propose that we table that um that specific discussion um or at least the vote um to next week um and Based on the request from the apea to have another week to To go through their their results and meet with their With their membership next week So i'm just going to scan the room virtual room to see if folks are Okay with that mr. Demling Yeah, I mean I just got to be honest. I mean, I'm not happy about it. I feel like The apea board has had more than enough time to consider our request to Start talking about renegotiating the moa. I mean to clarify our request isn't we're not proposing a specific change yet to To about about, you know, the moa that we were asking for agreement on which this is just please start talking to us About changing the moa and and you mentioned that you you sent this request from proposed three dates a few weeks ago That that was the third time that we sent this request The first time was on october 23rd and it was rejected The second time was on november 2nd and we never heard back Okay, we we sent a formal request to the apea executive board to Talk to us about negotiating them away that that that's that's all the request doesn't we didn't we've never even gotten a response That was three months ago So if they need another week so that they can analyze their survey results. Yes, fine I'm never going to advise us that you know that we shouldn't talk whenever we have the opportunity of course we should um but I would be I would be disingenuous if I did not articulate um a certain level of frustration That that we're at this point and and and there is still more time That is being asked before we simply sit down to start to talk about changing the moa Thank you and those dates are correct. I have the minute done. Um, I see two hands. Mr. Sullivan and then miss dancer Yeah, I'd like to hop on that train that mr. Demling is driving here because I heard in the superintendent's update today that uh, mr. Harrington and mr. Morris met with the apea board today and it With that email that we've seen a couple times now saying that they want To do everything out in the open. I have a I feel as a member of the jlmsc That by not inviting me to this meeting today that meant that it wasn't part of the school committee It didn't have to have an agenda. It didn't have to be public And this is about the third or fourth time that i've been as a member of that board that i've been left out And I really do I feel like i'm sitting at the kids table And I have a feeling on thursday night also that it's going to be a waste of time that that we're actually going to Not discuss anything miss dancer Um, I wondered if you could clarify for me on this item. It says potential vote What exactly would we be voting on? I thought this was discussion. I guess so i'm I just don't know what that means Um, that was a discussion on a discussion on an in-person planning how how will we Within within the scope of our current context um, a discussion on How can how can we get students? Um safely into buildings for in-person learning? Um, and potentially depending on the discussion and And any motions made there could have been a vote Um on on a plan Um, but that's where that definitely proposing to postpone that at this point Are there any other so the other Comment is about the about the meeting The informal discussion to be had this this week and As I mentioned that the the agenda had been agreed and posted and We've also agreed that the assistant superintendent miss cunningham will be facilitating that meeting for us Any other comments So, um, is it safe to say that despite so With frustration on on the part some for some or many, um, we are postponing this agenda item to next week. Is that Safe to say, okay. Thank you Great. So now we move on to our next, um series of items people with fall 2021 start times and I'll turn that over to dr. Morse. Yeah, I'm gonna try trying something different this time As you might have seen this afternoon. I did a brief slide deck of all the next agenda items trying to keep myself more Bound and focused and and maybe the discussion the committee like that. We'll see how that works Um, but I'm going to display that because um, I'll speak. I won't just read the slides I'll speak to the what's in them. But um, just so that people have something to look at and a resource So give me a second to share my slide Deck Okay, is that visible on the screen? Okay So this is a late start time update. Um, and I'll go back to the previous work So those of you who are on the committee at may of 2019 I made a presentation if you don't remember it or wanted to be refreshed the link is right there in this slide deck um The summary of that presentation was that the research is is incredibly conclusive Much more so than almost any other area of educational research. I know miss mcdonald went to a conference that spoke about that I think at that meeting in may of 2019 That later start times for secondary school students contribute to better outcomes in a variety of areas not just the academics but well-being and The other thing I think of particular note given the ethics of this particular district Is that it really gets at the opportunity gap or educational debt in other words the benefit the All students benefit, but the greatest beneficiaries are typically our students who are the most underserved in most communities And I think it's just important to note that We that presentation also talked about the prior exploration and recommendation in 2011 2012 The links from that present from the presentation is linked here have that there was thorough research done At that point in time the superintendent recommendation that was not Ended up being tabled and not voted I believe by the school committee in 2012 And this committee at least the committee a year and a half ago seemed interested in in continuing to pursue this and explore this option So that's sort of the summary of may 2019 So I want to bring us to where we are today in january of 21 Uh a couple things have changed one is we've had the experience this academic year at the regional level Of having a nine o'clock start time. I'm conscious that this is a joint meeting But um, I'll get to the elementary applications in a little bit Uh, there is not it's too bad miss grip co. I don't think she's on I know she was on it. Oh, she is here I apologize. Hi, Emily. Um So rarely a conversation Goes on electronically or virtually with a middle school or high school student that at some point doesn't end with We're really not going back to school at 745 next year. Are we? Um, I think even if you look at the distance learning survey feedback Survey we did in the fall. There were numerous comments There about the benefits of a later start time that students are experiencing. That's not why we changed the schedule for this year It was really to covet and some other factors But it has been incredibly appreciated and Emily, you don't have to but I always want to give you an opportunity to share At least your opinion or what you heard not that you'd you know represent all students at the Secondary level, but but my sense is that from multiple students as well as families has been Greatly appreciated to not be waking up as early as they were waking up Um in the past Emily not to put you on the spot, but I seem to typically do that You can see you can definitely pass but is anything you want to share about the impact of The later start time this year not about in person not in person. That's a different conversation, but particularly around the start time Yeah, I mean I noticed in my classes, especially a period I think people seem to be more awake and more engaged. Um, so that's definitely a benefit and I've You know heard a lot of people saying that the later start time is definitely positive Um, yeah Great. Thank you. I'm really sorry to put you on the spot there and I'm glad you're able to join us after your other meeting You're a very busy high school student to have school committee and state commission meetings. We appreciate you coming um The other thing that's changed we did have conversations with shoot span levered But uh, actually yesterday we had a pretty large conversation by large. I mean the number of people were was significant It involved the superintendent union 28 jennifer colkeen Uh, their transportation director our transportation director our facilities director Um It also included the principals of shootsbury and levered elementary school our high school assistant principal came um, and we really talked about this issue about These options, you know, essentially there's two if we want to make a change one is to um push everyone back 30 minutes or so and one is to do what's called the flip. So right now the secondary school start before the elementary is the flip involves Reorganizing or reordering them and so In a pretty significant surprise to me and I have their permission to talk about this There was a strong feeling in shootsbury and levered that the flip even if it meant elementary school started a little earlier Would be much preferable and and the pushback would be very difficult those communities about a hard time starting after Before school programs when they've tried um, and for a whole host of other reasons there was a strong preference for Elementary school starting perhaps 15 minutes earlier instead of 30 minutes later from their current schedule So that was news to me I always had assumed the opposite to be very candid with you and so it was a very generative conversation We also talked about logistics and you know, we now as mr. Sullivan noted in the last meeting I think we have one one bus vendor instead of two bus vendors. Um, and we talked about implications there as well Um, so I really want to thank miss colkeen superintendent colkeen as well as her team for engaging and and I think we do talk a lot But without the need for snow days, which later on the agenda will talk about You know, it's probably slowed down our communication a little bit this year But it was a good conversation. We want to keep on going with that also of note is that the north hampton public schools have Their school committee voted last month to make a change and their schedules their new schedule will be on there they've talked about this for years and years and years and Essentially a year ago. They said we don't want any more process. We just want to make a decision and then covet hit So, you know, they had a very condensed process this year. They surveyed all stakeholders So they surveyed students families and staff and overwhelmingly. I think it was over 70 percent I have the data if anyone is curious about it. You can just shoot me an email. I'll send it over They they they preferred this Change to the current schedule one other option as well with an adic So what they're moving to is eight o'clock start time for elementary They have a three-tier run as opposed to us eight thirty start time for middle school and a nine o'clock Start time for high school. So in terms of, you know, athletics and other after school events, we have, you know, the other largest school district in hampshire and franklin county Making this change And that's opened my, you know, I've had a lot of conversations with their superintendent provost He's a close colleague as it's called keen About their process and their rationale for their change, which is very similar to ours And finally, we're still exploring our bus options One of the things we note is that we are one of the very few districts That does door-to-door service for students at the secondary level It's almost like an anachronism Frankly that we do door-to-door that makes our runs a lot longer So in this conversation, maybe Can we consolidate some routes or consolidate some excuse me not routes but consolidate some bus stops? To make our routes Shorter, which will help Any of these models in terms of late start that something may have to give and it may be a conversation of Do we maintain door-to-door service for students at the secondary level, particularly in some of the hill towns, which Significantly increases the bus length time So before I go on to the next slide, which is really about feasibility options I've done a lot of talking our last 10 minutes or so So I want to pause and give time for anyone to ask any questions between before I go on to what might be feasible and then potential next steps for your consideration thank you, and Mr. Minino if I remember last time there was some Conversation about the impact on practice time for sports Could you talk a little bit more about this possible impact on sports? Yeah, it's hard to hard to talk about sports right now completely to think about a non-covid world, but You know, I think one of the challenges was that until someone makes that change Everyone's operating on the exception model, right? That you'd be the only one not in that model Once we have another school Like Northampton who we compete against in there I think basically every sport we're going to have to make some changes to athletics regardless Even if we have the same schedule in the future because we now have a school that's going to be letting out quite late So There would be potential impact on athletics The reason I say it's hard to predict is some of the vendors we used to use for the hockey For instance when was it going to be our ring time all that's up in the air right now because We're not operating with our typical vendor So that's why it's a little hard to to fully answer your question Because that's one of the sports that makes it most difficult is was hockey But you know, that's not something we can predict that far into the future at this point. Thank you And it is interesting to know it actually I will note that again Objects the position of topics but the swim team swimming before school You know, there is some thought about schools that have made that flip and first-year athletes You know have that time now that takes away some of the advantages of a late start But if it's the only time people can get in the rank You know or the pool that works and I know there's some people who are Involved in hockey life on this Call and odd times to be in rinks seems to be Like part and parcel of being a hockey family I'm not a hockey family and I'm going to try to avoid that for the reason I just mentioned But uh, but uh, you know, I do think there's there's some feeling like we could be more flexible with When practices occur Swimmers um, also have early morning practices And so it goes with the territory. Um, mr. Solomon Yeah, so as far as the secondary and the bus routes the shootsberry has always had a number of Of bus stops where they don't they don't they never did total door to door There was always some groupings on depending on what the dirt road looked like And also the the late the late start thing It's a lot. It's a lot later for Amherst students than it is for shootsberry and leverage because they've got to ride that bus for an hour Regardless of what time it is that they start Yeah, you know, it's a good point and and that's why we are looking at the bus routes One of the ideas yesterday from our internal meeting again with union 28 is could we look at some van routes? You know for some of the if you could even add a van or two A van route or two you might be able to knock off some of the Houses or homes that make the other routes take 51 minutes Right, because as steve knows better than the rest of us get into north shootsberry and the houses can be pretty far apart And so it's not actually the distance at the school. That's as much the issue It's how do you pick up kids who are living so distant from one another? Yeah And I see your hand mr. Hangton, but I have a related question the mr. Sullivan So if you forgive me for jumping in um has have we had door to door for for Right well, obviously not forever, but I feel like Before I even had kids in the in Riding buses. It seemed like that the high school students were all gathering on a street corner and now My kids are getting picked up at the driveway. It's so it but I wasn't holding close attention. So it's So I think I think that's right. I think formalizing Some rules around that is I'll put it this way our transportation department goes bends over backwards to try to make things work As best they can and when there's a little bit of a window, they'll provide better service In terms of what you're talking about and I think that's only because our transportation department and the drivers want to Be as user friendly as possible And I'm not trying to take that away from that from them at the same time I think when it's we're talking about major implications for Something as large as when students start in the day and whether they get enough sleep at night We may have to make some rules to make those routes a little bit quicker You know, we are an outlier for for that level of service at the regional at the secondary level I'll tell you Northampton high school has three buses Servicing 900 kids now. They have a culture where people ride their bikes even in the middle of winter It's not as diverse an area or large geographically with dirt roads as steve mentioned There are real differences, but Three buses for 900 kids Um, it's a really different kettle of fish. Yeah, we have Mr. Harrington Yeah, so I was just wondering if if there had been any discussion yet about how this affects like the late bus Which would typically start at four o'clock and we have drivers that start around six We wouldn't be getting back till possibly after six, so I'm just Wondering what kind of considerations there have been in that regard Yeah, so all of our bargaining units would have to be involved in this because it would be a change of working hours And working conditions, you know in terms of the driver specifically been Uh, I haven't gone down that road. That's terrible. I didn't mean that but you know what I mean, um, but um My initial thought on it is that they would end up starting their day later because the elementary routes are so much shorter That they wouldn't need to you know, if you're going to if you're going to Lake Viola You're hauling out pretty early in the morning to make that first run And none of our schools would be starting as early as our secondary school's student now if we were to make a flip So I think it would be some shifting of hours and perhaps some extension I know randy and I talked about that our transportation coordinator about How that would work and the impact on like the vogue bus because we do have students going to vote that we do transport And so there's a million details to work out. But in general, it's likely the case that students would That that staff and drivers would start later and end later other question miss fitzer so, um Because I've only had kids in the elementary program. I apologize. This may be just a basic question If we were to switch it and say we adopted the 8 a.m. Elementary and we're just Talking about this is a joint meeting. So I think you can ask this question about Amherst. So So what we did is a joint meeting So what would be the earliest time potentially that a parent would have to get their kindergartner out the door and in waiting on the Corner or in front of their house? Oh, okay, great maybe Our folks ready to move on to the next next slide. Yeah, great okay So given this is a change from may 2019 but given what I heard from shoots barron levered I think given the overwhelming research that yes half an hour makes some difference But if we're serious about late start, you know, then really you want to get as close to nine o'clock as you can in terms of sleep and You know that the research amazing on I mean Not only the kids sleep more but they're on their screens less what research would indicate And they actually do more homework not that we're like I want kids doing more homework But like it's a weird outcome of just that and to miss grip goes point There's definitely a larger impact in terms of engagement in a period or first period and schools that have changed but actually that It's not as much but even throughout the day. There's a continued increased level of engagement Interesting thing to mr. Sheen mr. Sheen went to a conference on late start a couple years ago one thing he reminded me of today was that High school starting early is is really like 45 50 years old It's not like oh, it's since the beginning of time high school has been starting early It's really started in the 1970s No, I started in the 1970s. So I'm not like trying to just the decade or whatever But it you know, it was really an artifact of extracurriculars and bus schedules and expanding You know the expansion the suburbs of populations, you know, some people here were living in amherst when that was happening Amherst was expanding a lot at that time so it just it's just a good historical I had forgotten that detail But I think it's a good Historical marker that no one drew this up this way it sort of just happened From an efficiency standpoint in the 1970s But historically high schools did not start that early in the morning Nor middle schools So I think looks like before I go on mr. Manino had a comment or question In 1954 I started at 7 30 in the morning I Yep, I won't ask any more questions about that mr. Manino. I wasn't going to date anybody by asking them for that The stream froze so I just got that from Amherst media. So I'm going to recommend that we pause for a second to see Sure If it continues to freeze I can also just not do this presentation and just make the presentation available You all have it in your emails As well Okay, I'll wait to hear back from faith But thanks for sharing that mr. Manino We had a fun time in our leadership. Oh, so it's not us the The internet at Amherst media went down. Oh, no So that's not about our stream Okay, okay This is a new one So, I mean like a new open meeting law question, right? um We continue if the public can access I'm sorry mr. Demling had his hand up. I just spoke at a turn Mr. Demlin So this the stream is the internet is down at Amherst media, but is Amherst channel 15 down Amherst media is the tv signal also down But they won't have they they they're not receiving anything from Google meets For them to broadcast Oh, okay Mr. Manino Oh You have to actually I can click on something to take your hand down um Yeah, I know is also from Amherst media receiving it as well, right the The to watch it on your laptop Yeah, I have it open. I just opened up Amherst media Their website and it just says on break Yeah, um and I'm getting now texts and Messages from people telling me that same thing no one can hear us. So I guess I mean it's being recorded. I'm recording it. Um but uh Could we The other folks can other folks join In the way that Amherst media has could we post the I don't know how we could post the link quickly though Miss Kenny What if we just take like a few minute break to like see if it comes back for them? Okay. Yeah, why don't we um Break until 815. It's 804 right now. Does that work? Okay, welcome back Okay Allison, do you want me to update the committee on? Sure, thanks. Um, so, um Amherst media is having problems at Amherst media that are unrelated to the stream And so What they agreed to is they're they're trying to get it back up and running the advice they gave us is to continue with the Meeting. Uh, well, it won't be accessible live. This is being recorded It's why you see the little rec button on our, uh, recording is that we always want to provide backup for good friends at Amherst media So it'll be they've been wonderful and they say it'll be accessible tomorrow morning Uh on their website and so, um, we can continue the meeting and a double checked just about oml stuff And because public comment, which is the third year one, uh has already happened because it will be publicly accessible um, there is not a conflict from Legal opinion. So I think we can proceed Okay, as long as the committee is okay with everything I just said Seeing thumbs thumbs up so Okay And so I was talking about late start. So, um Where we are is just, you know, what might be oh, this is Amherst media again. Oh All that said There we're back live Uh, so thank you Amherst media and and miss mcdonald. That was a well timed Delay break. He timed it exactly correctly. So well done. Um so, um Really what we we would need to do more work on this but our initial thinking is that elementary schedules would start about 8 15 um to miss fitzer's question um That's you know, somewhere the longest run the first pickup That's in the neighborhood of between 7 30 and 7 45 um And then at the secondary level, you know, looking at roughly a 905 start To make that work. We will have to become more efficient with our runs Uh, particularly in the towns of shoot spare and leverage Um, those are the only towns that have runs really just shoots very no disrespect steve. Uh is the only town that has Uh runs that are over 45 minutes The advantage is um for the shoots very runs is if they dropped off a shoot spare elementary They're already in shoots very as opposed to having to double back to shoot spray, which is what they do now Right, they go to shoots very they pick up kids. They go drop them off in middle school Then they go back to shoot spray to do the shoots very elementary run this one You avoid that that leg in the middle, uh, which is a pretty lengthy drive depending where the route goes Um, so we feel like this is at a rough level what we could maybe think about Um, it really pushes, you know, the secondary start times back an hour 15 minutes, which you know Research would indicate you're going to get the most bang for a buck Um in terms of better outcomes for students Uh, but to miss spitzer's point, it is a push on the elementary level and in every community that makes the flip That's the the piece that gets particularly challenging not necessarily on the front end but on the back end Um because of that that means, you know For our schools who generally started 8 35 8 40 now they'd be ending, you know It's going to be the same amount of time in school. So you can just plot that back and we're ending now before three o'clock So, uh, that that's going to be a challenge. There already is our after school program So we'd have to, you know work out those details that folks would stay at But that is the trade-off one of the trade-offs I should say So I'm glad you raised that point miss spitzer because it is something that really Needs to be taken into consideration for this Uh, and miss miss mcdonald could definitely jump in. I know you spoke about it a couple years ago but the research on elementary students seems to be You know, not huge impact In terms of outcomes, but in terms of family dynamics, that's a different question Um, so, you know, I think it's a really important point to be considered. Um Yeah at that The forum that I went to the workshop that I went to was other districts in the in the state of massachusetts that had um Moved shifted secondary schedules later Um and talking about their experience and of those districts that had done a flip like this There was um and and there was in other states There's been the the folks that were were talking about their experience were also talking about other states where a flip had happened, you know, the Unanticipated consequence of flipping. Um, the elementary schedule was actually also and it was not verified it with as much research Um, or vetted research as the secondary later start time But more anecdotally And qualitatively we're seeing sort of improved outcomes actually even at the elementary level because of Sort of matching more sort of they're the the younger students bio rhythms So again, that was unbedded, but it was just sort of qualitative experience based statements that that some of those districts had experienced less Less behavioral issues in in classroom less disruption within the classrooms and things like that So, um, I don't know if since that time because that was two years ago If there's been additional research there um I see Mr. Sullivan's hand is up and I just have a question having spent 12 years as a daycare provider um One of the things I noticed was that, you know, if you're starting that early with elementary I found that a lot of a lot of the younger kids Didn't want to eat breakfast until about that, you know about that time I just wondering if there's been anything Any studies done that looked at they like the having to serve breakfast later at the school or something to Kind of counteract that You're on mute. Yeah, my apologies. Um, it's a great question. I haven't seen any research on that I would say and I don't know the situation in the shoots brand lever schools But at the Amherst elementary schools, we do have a breakfast program I think your Your instinct is spot-on with how I would predict it that we'd have more students taking advantage of the breakfast program in school Then currently do for all the reasons that you suggest Um, I lived experience as well. I would align with that Pretty closely. So, um, that's a really important point to come up with. Thank you. I hadn't been thinking about that, Steve Miss Kenny Have we looked into how it would affect high school students who work after school and what that would mean for their time or you know Yeah, so it's it's a great question and one of the things that I know our high school I think it'll be a little more clear on the next question So one of the things that we are exploring at the secondary level and I know the high school team is thinking about this is are there ways that would Minimize transitions during the school day so that the students would still see receive the exact same amount of class time But perhaps have a condensed time Literally at the school so that you know, you're moving an hour and 15 minutes back You're not going to make up. There's not that much wiggle time in the schedule Uh, but even you know, could we reduce the number of lunch shifts that could have a positive impact? Uh, because lunches adds lots of um Lost minutes where kids are at school, but they're not in class And I'm not talking about kids not having lunch but the transitions that go along with having three lunch blocks So I think, you know, if this is something the committee Wants to explore for next year We definitely want to think about exactly what you said miss kenny and and how do we sort of minimize that and there's some fixed pieces Like we can't move even 815 to 905 right those hypothetical times That's going to involve some change in terms of transportation. You know, we can't make buses move faster Then they can move But I think there there's there are some elements of that that we would would want to think about But I think, you know, we what I'm hearing is we might be find ways To at least make the end time less than an hour and 15 minutes later than a current end time is if that makes sense when you're thinking of that and this is potentially off topic, so shut me down if I I'm veering us, but when you're thinking about fewer transition times and trying to sort of make up some of that time in the high school schedule Would something like continuing? I forget what it's called our block. Is it block schedule? Is that would that be something that would be within consideration for that or is that Yeah, I mean, that's what it's it's one way that certainly reduces transitions I'm not advocating for that, you know or going the other way on it or the umpton For instance does have a block four by four block schedule and so they have fewer transitions than High schools that don't have that So it's certainly in the realm of uh, could be explored Other questions miss spitzer So I'm I'm all for Later start times. It just feels a little difficult making the shifts to the elementary schedule that would would be required in particular for those who would have a day ending at 2 30 and You know high school students if they end at 2 30 they can go home. They're old enough They don't need supervision, but I'm more thinking about the capacity for our after-school programs I could anticipate it. I don't think parents are suddenly gonna And I don't know. I mean who we've had a strange everything's up in the air now with Maybe we'll all be working remotely and so our kids getting home at 2 30 and when watching tv will be finished up for days Is something that'll be in the future for a lot of I don't know but um anyways What is do we have I just think part of the conversation needs to be thinking about the capacity for there are after-school programs for our elementary school kids and potentially also just thinking about how to Because what what I'm worried about is lengthening the day for some of our youngest kids so I just remember when my kid was in kindergarten And he'd have after school so I could work like it was a really long day And so if parents aren't suddenly going to say like their employer's going to be like, oh sure now You know your day can end earlier. You know, some people have fixed employment schedules They're going to be starting their day earlier and it's just going to lengthen the amount of time potentially that they need to be In in in a school setting So even with you know, wonderful programming. I think it can be a really long day, especially for our youngest kids So that's that's the only thing that is kind of sparking concern for me and I think um You know, you can't do what we're doing at the High school level, which is like condensing trailing. I don't see condensing transitions Or things like those types of solutions working as well at the elementary level So, um, I just want to raise that concern and and I think having conversations with parents But also with those before and after school providers that have been have long term relationships Like just trying to get their input now on what it would mean for their programming Because it feels like if everything just ends earlier including the after school That could be problematic too so No, I think that's right and I think with unlimited resources We could make the schedule even tighter, but I'm imagining that the committee is not going to If we were even to entertain this change, it would have to be essentially cost neutral or at least in that ballpark To to make it feasible just in the in the fiscal climate we're in but I think those concerns are very real carry And I think that's One of the that and athletics seem to be the two Reasons why districts don't make the change You know, um, and there's no judgment there. That's just I think the lived experience of marion I think allison that he's supported by, you know, the conference you went to I know certainly it did The conference tim went to which was a different conference so, uh, really, uh kind of three options, uh, and and, um, I don't Well, I do have an opinion about it. I should say don't so number one is that we could study this over the next year And try to make a decision a year from now Or maybe even a little earlier for the following academic year 22 23 I think I have that right The second is really we could do somewhat of what earthhampton is and push a lot of engagement over the next six weeks Um, and see if people are comfortable making the change If it wasn't for the late start at the high school the middle school and high school this year I wouldn't even have number two on the table um But the reality is moving back to 745 Is a change in it of itself? um And not just for the seventh graders who will only know that i'm assuming that miss grip co I don't want to speak for her, but many students i've talked to This is now their new normal Right, um is school starts at nine o'clock or if they're in a deep period class maybe a bit earlier But you know that that's a that's an optional thing So, you know, I I do wonder if you know As one of my goals is to explore some of the benefits and there's big new york times article Like most of it not all of it the other day about learning from the experience many of you probably saw that And one of them is we're not the only district that started later And we're not the only district where students are reporting positive outcomes in terms of the start time um And so, you know, it wasn't for those factors. I wouldn't have number two up on the screen um But if and i'm not advocating for it But it is something that I'd be willing to do and our team would be willing to do It'd be a tremendous amount of work engagement and and you know if it's feeling too rushed to the committee I get that but I wanted to put it up because we're willing to do it And then you know number three is just table it indefinitely That's not going to be my recommendation because you know again There's few things in my educational world that are really as clear as the benefits of late start for middle school and high school kids So that's really what I'd love as an outcome of tonight's meeting a lot of good questions good comments I hadn't thought of But is this something we want to kind of fast-track to engage the community on Is this something we want to say hey, there's enough going on this crazy world we're living in But do you know, let's let's have a very prescribed. I'm not saying like let it go But just a prescribed process that lands into decision next fall for the following year um, or do we want to Just say not our priority at the moment. Um, and that that's I guess what I'm looking for feedback from the committee on Okay So surprised my preference is option two So I really appreciate the the the concerns and the issues that have brought up so far You know, I mean where I come down on this right now is that You know, still the most impactful motivation for me is is the overwhelming medical evidence on student well-being It's it's not just You know, uh educator consensus. It's it's it's like the medical community that I've read about and talked to directly and heard This request from more and more. Um Is is is that that preponderance of evidence for um, um Not just the physical, you know circadian rhythm, but the emotional well-being which obviously has a A downstream effect on everything else. Um, and the outsized impact on on our most disadvantaged kids You know that that I think is also pretty clear in the evidence. So that to me is really the The biggest driver, you know in terms of timing. Um, I I do think there is A strike while the iron is hot that it's the new normal and so You see isn't that momentum I also think Northampton You know for good or ill Northampton and Amherst are two of the biggest dogs in the county, right and so You know, we're all connected to our our fellow districts and communities And so if two of the bigger players go down this road at the same time It makes it a lot easier for everybody else to come on board And so those those those touch points of athletic schedules become a lot smoother You know that being said I I feel like, you know, if we did like a really intensive six Week engagement with the community and got stakeholder input. I would want it to be really authentic You know and and really withhold final judgment I mean, I'm I'm in as unabashed of a booster of later start of late start times as As anyone but but I I'm definitely withholding final judgment and and I would want all of us to do that There were some really Good issues that were raised here tonight that I think You know that you should take as as your initial template of issues to start to dive into and Who are the communities that we would want to reach out to? and and when we made a decision be really Upfront that it this is a decision that comes with costs, right? Like we have we have a current situation that comes with costs You know the negative costs of an early start time at the older at the region And so, you know, you're treating like like almost everything we do here We're treating one imperfect situation for another imperfect situation. So being really Genuine I think about what those what those trade-offs are You know and then the worst-case scenario is that we get six weeks from now You know, we all come back together and we say wow, that was a really great engagement But we're not ready to make the call Right. And so, you know worst cases that we have we've advanced the ball as far as we possibly can So I feel like it's it's worth our time given given the benefit it would have for students miss hill um Can I do kind of a two-parter and start dr. Morris by putting you on the spot? You said you have an opinion. Will you share that? Sure. Well, my opinion was actually that we should choose option one or two I didn't have an particular opinion between them, right? So that I can expand on that though So the challenge of and it's I hear where peters what mr. Demling saying and I'm not wildly disagreeing with that, but If we're going to get to a decision, which I think we'd need to get to a decision You know by the end of february just for everything to work out and bus routes and all those things We're not going to have answers to everyone's questions And in some communities people are okay And there's a willing suspension of disbelief in some ways that it's like, okay, you know, we'll sort that out and Other people in the community other communities are going to be more comfortable To make a decision without every single question answered And it's really the level of comfort you all have knowing and entering even considering a process Where I will tell you right now that people on the if if this committee ends up voting on something six weeks from now People will raise questions at that last meeting and you'll have someone like me say, I don't know We'll work on it. I think it'll work out right and so I think that's just being really transparent and honest that For for the level and I think mr. Harrington's question before touched on this it was a really good question because it's that was a level of detail That's absolutely appropriate and really important I'm not sure we're going to be 100 clear on every bus schedule six weeks from now And part of that's just we don't know which kids which kids will have, you know, there's so many enrollment questions all together with it So I think that's the the the comfort level of the committee Feeling like we have enough. Where is the line which you're like, well, I have enough answers to the key questions where I'd be comfortable voting But I want to be really there's some things where I'm like, no before you vote You're going to have every detailed question answers to every question you ask That's not going to be this one if we're talking about it for the next school year So that's really just I'm sorry if that's more than you wanted actually sarah, but That that's sort of the the challenge of doing this is what's people's comfort level with that sort of Making decisions before you have every element of detail that would be helpful If you were would like it in a perfect world Okay, yeah, no that was exactly what I wanted that was helpful Chair mcdonald, can I do my second part? All right ahead Well, because it leads into my comment I Share many of mr. Demling's opinions. I also this just strikes me as the type of thing that could be talked about forever And so I think not having Some discrete period of time and again leaving it out there that if we don't get to a place where we can make a decision Or there's something that's really big standing out, but just I just feel like we could be having similar conversations, you know Six years from now if at some point we don't draw a line in the sand and then Pull the trigger on something. So I would argue for now. I forget the option too. That was a Screen off people could see each other Okay, so that's what I would go for thanks miss seeker Personally, I'm interested in option two as well and I wonder how um, if you have Talk to superintendent colkeen and and our principal over here in love right and also and she's very about How much support we can give to an effort like this as well so that we can survey our families up here both at the elementary level Well at the elementary level and also at the regional level so that we Um Can make sure that all the families know about this It would that be part of their research to be done Oh my next step after the meeting based on this conversation Is getting back in touch with that sort of working group which I'll for lack of a better term I'll call it which includes, you know, both the principles of shoots very elaborate elementary I mean my leadership team I have a lot of access to you know Well, I know both of them really well. I mean annie was a former I hired her so you can thank me if you like her which I like her But yeah, she was a teacher at crocker farm when I was principal So we go way way back and and certainly jackie's been at shoots very a long time and I have a good working relationship with jackie Um, so, you know, the idea would be that we'd want to have everything we do would be joint Because it has implications across both and it avoids the sort of Separate feeling that sometimes happens between the the the multiple districts that between the in the four communities Miss barlow Um, I'm also in favor of number two I just think that this conversation has been happening a while and engaging the stakeholders Is really going to give us the information to be able to make some some decisions But I do also Share some some concerns about the elementary school populations But it is interesting that in those conversations that dr. Morris had with lebron shoots barry that some of the families really Really liked the idea of the flip. So I think It would be good to maybe just just move this along and and offer some continuity or potential continuity of that 9 a.m. Start for the older older students Mr. Manino Despite my personal experience with starting times I favor option two. Um, the time is right The place is right. The students are interested in it's worth a go. So let's spend the next six weeks deciding Mr. Seeger, did you have another comment? I was just mostly wanting to echo the concerns some of the concerns I have in in flipping time are Uh They're with the younger kids being in school for longer. So I just want to echo that concern of a much longer day for them including after school care um, and I At the back of my mind is this thing like one of the problems with the pandemic is it's been a lot been a lot of pressure on parents and um, I was reading studies on how more women who had been out and working are now back in the home taking care of their children um, and I wouldn't want this with an For earlier start time in an earlier end time I I have no clue how much that would affect people. But that's it going through my mind as we talk about this too um, it's additional pressure potentially because A longer after school time could mean that these families are paying more money and at some point there is a tipping point to Um, I felt this with child care where my kids were little It's like well, do I go back to work or do I and pay all that money that I earned to putting them into um daycare Or do I stay home with them and I would hate you know for families to be forced into thinking about that So I don't know how you probably can't ask that as a survey, but it would be an interesting Thing to think about as we go through this. Um, one of the other thoughts I had too in terms of bussing I don't know the resources there. So the end of that that's an area I'm not clear on but the um, you have buses doing a route at the elementary level and at the middle and high school level um I have no clue what resources are available, but if you had twice the amount of buses for a smaller amount of time Is that an option too? You know, it's Again, I know nothing about this setup and in how these operate, but it seems to me you have a number of buses For a long time or you have half double that number of buses for half of that time potentially if in that That's suggesting that they run at the same time So that you know, you can move the middle and high school till later and keep the elementary roughly at the same time Other resources for that is that getting into a this is way too expensive to think about that That was partly covered. I think um in that transportation study is that There because there were some of those options were explored about what the cost, but that was assuming I can't remember if that was assuming one more company or two Yeah, I think the impact it's still how many drivers and how many buses are on the road and if the There's an economy There's an efficiency to having the shoots very drivers do Both runs the same as the Amherst drivers of the Pelham drivers of levered drivers If you have more than one person doing the same runs then you're you're You're increasing your cross significantly Both in terms of literal buses, but also the capital the um personnel costs I think I saw mr. Sullivan saying I don't know if you saw that miss mcdonald Yeah, thank you mr. Sullivan Yeah, putting my former daycare hat back on again that you know, I had knew Most of my families dropped their kids off by 6 30 or 7 in the morning and they didn't pick them up Well, they picked them up by 5 30 but not leave my house till 6 30 or 7 because they went too much fun but so that the And then I I went and I ran the after-school program in shootsbury for four years and that was 3 10 to 5 30 every day And there were a few kids that wilted but for the most part Because it wasn't an academic setting in it. It really was more like a camp That most of the kids were able to make it through the entire day But I mean of course once in a while everybody would crash But it's not it's not as long a day as it seems for them I Thinking along the same same lines. I I um personally would also be strongly in favor of option two as well and because I I just can't For going back to sort of mr. Deming's comments, but just from a health and wellness mental health But also academic performance and all of the other reasons that we know That a later start time is So much better for outcomes for secondary students that I think we we have to be looking at this and knowing that our students right now have that That benefit of a later start time to take it away from them to me seems Because that's what we'd be deciding to do if we decided for another option, you know one or three um, even if it's on the With the perspective that we might come back to it in another year. It just feels like We're we're actually doing a disservice to our secondary students. Um, and to mr. Hall's point earlier This this community has been discussing this has discussed this multiple times over the last 10 years And and I it could continue discussing it for 10 years So I feel like now is now is that as good a time as any And I think on the elementary Students, I think you know one of the things that I I think about is also, you know, this notion of um, a work schedule that somehow is nine to three um, or nine to four is Is not really Super super common and I and I think you know, just even thinking back to My own time when my kids were in The the later start time for the elementary kids was actually super super difficult to manage because of a commute time and just trying to get to to a work place Um for a normal start of time And it was always the juggle of who's going to have a shorter day in order to be able to to Get our kids on the bus at 8 30 or whatever time it was um And I think that even though we're shifting it I think you know Somebody it's the same amount known of school time and probably for any family the same amount of daycare time Just at different places and different providers um, then it would be simply because If if folks have to start early they have to drop their kids off early to before school or they're going They're sending them to school or afterwards. So I think you know this this notion by shifting the day All this and more kids it might be different kids that have to be partake of that but I think those are the those are the kinds of questions that We we should be researching these next six weeks and really understanding truly what our elementary families need and and are concerned about in this rather than Us trying to project that any changes, you know, that it's going to somehow be bad for most kids Dr. Morris who you're muted Uh to summarize I think where we are what I'm hearing is that that does seem to be broad interest and at least Putting our best foot forward to explore whether it's feasible for next year Not that anyone's making commitment here as was stated multiple times by Starting with mr. Dambling that a decision is being made the decision that I'm hearing an interest in Is to explore this and get stakeholder feedback to see if it's feasible and advisable both those things um to flip schedules for next year Um, I just want to make sure because I think now we're talking about the content Which I think there'll be plenty of opportunities to but I just want to give if if there's school members who Don't agree with that Um, I'm not going to be bothered by it or offended by it But I just want to give if there's divergent points of view on that I want to give people an opportunity on our process side to be able to weigh in Yes, but sir Oh, you're muted I'm fine with pursuing option two, you know, I'll stay agnostic on like what the outcome should be um And I I guess my only concern is just that we have so many difficult conversations coming up So I think we all just need to be prepared for some extra longer meanings coming up so Our sleep may suffer by It's interesting. I mean just looking at the I'm sorry No, I'm sorry. I didn't really I just I think it's an important topic and I think we should make a decision because I don't I agree I don't think there's any point in And the arguments aren't going to change either way No, and and what happened in earthhampton after many more external studies Uh done in their district binders and binders of Years and years of studies is when they actually just got stakeholder feedback and put it to like a commitment That they were going to make a decision one way the other The stakeholder feedback was 70 plus from all the stakeholder groups for the same option and maybe magically That will happen in our community as well. So, uh, I actually had a question from his group co or a question slash request Which I want to be sensitive to because I know you're busy Um, I just wonder if there's a student group or what the right venue is because I'd love for middle school and high school And you know for you from your vantage point high school students to be part of this effort because I know that people my age Uh will be less good at engaging People your age that people your age will be on this topic So, uh, I wonder if you could follow up with me offline just to think about is there an existing group? Or would there be students who want to be a part of it because I do think the student voice in this is huge I'd rather not have meetings upon meetings where I'm describing what it feels like to be a 16 year old and wake up that early because It's been a while. Um, and so Is that an okay request to to connect offline on that one? Yeah Okay, great. I will I'll I'll reach out to you by email and we can maybe set up a time to talk But I really do want to have students at the forefront Um in this discussion because I think it really matters to hear your experiences and not old fogies like me talking about it so I echoing repeating dr. Morris's comment is there um, are there Any any are folks okay with pursuing that option too? To look at this within the next six weeks Okay Pretty clear. So now we've lost all of the time that we had made up earlier in the And we'll move on to snow days Yep, and hopefully I'll be this will be quicker. I'm gonna put the slideshow back on Hopefully that wasn't the cause of any challenge to the Amherst media, but I don't believe so Okay, uh, looks like it's up So, uh, as you were aware, I believe we did a survey about snow days The original plan was to have snow days not exist in our calendar this year um But we wanted to survey folks and so I the the actual surveys The real text of them is in the agenda packet. I summarized or captured the quantitative data from two questions By the way, this particular one is my favorite survey data of at any survey I've ever looked at so it really brought me joy to share this one tonight, which uh, not really about power and wi-fi during storms But about the distinction between how families responded and how their middle school and high school students responded That's what really I was excited me, but uh, and a more serious note There's a really high percentage of Staff and families and I'll include students in that The report that they have inconsistent power and wi-fi during winter storms I had some people reach out to me a teacher who lives in Amherst um with you know Not in a rural location in Amherst He said in during a major storm. She has wi-fi, but it's very slow And when she's teaching on google meets, it's going to be slower, right? It's not that she can't access her email, but for her bandwidth goes down So I want to be clear This isn't just a shoots very levered issue because I think People will think that and there is some truth to that I did disaggregate the data and it was true that respondents from shoots barron levered Did indicate that they're more likely to lose power during a major storm and wi-fi during a major storm I think mr. Sullivan spoke to that the last time we talked about this if I'm remembering correctly steve About your experience up in shoots very Just very bluntly we wouldn't have school if a third of staff Couldn't go to school, right? We wouldn't have school if I won't argue the student number, but a family's reported that 27 percent Of students can access it So it doesn't mean that every winter storm everyone loses wi-fi or power But even if it's inconsistent it was a real real. I was eye-opening to me actually I'm very knock on wood fortunate that I don't seem to have that That trouble But this is a large percentage of people who did Um, the next data point was about preference and it really pretty closely aligned to the answer to the first question about Do you lose wi-fi or power during a storm? You can see that For staff and families there was a preference to Have school, but I did again do a disaggregation and Folks who said they lost power on wi-fi were more likely to Want to have snow days and folks that had no wi-fi issues were more likely to not want to have snow days Which makes logical sense Students were the group that was highly in favor of snow days and there's not a huge surprise. I think to that one Some really great writing if you look at the comment section of the student survey about how it's a cultural touchstone of the american School experience for children to have snow days I really enjoyed that kudos to the students in our english and social science departments and folks who teach writing I really I don't generally like writing reading tidy font in survey responses, but the student ones were great um So there's some additional factors We've had one significant snow event on the 17th last month and our attendance right now is about 95 and a half percent Of students are attending virtual school and it was down to 92 and a half. So that's about eight That is 84 more students who did not attend school We don't know if it's wi-fi We don't know if it's it was really appealing to be outside and that's like a better thing to do than to attend school, right? I don't have More analysis than that, but it we haven't seen a drop like that a one day drop in any other day this late fall and early winter Even like monday where there's a little bit of snow out um And and that you know in a big snowstorm We have again 50 and 60 students supported to access their learning that won't be able to attend If there's a major snowstorm So what i'd like to propose tonight this doesn't require a vote But I did think it you know I wanted to get feedback from the committee For mild to moderate weather events, you know continue with the current plan of having school But if we do have a truly major weather event That's likely to affect some folks wi-fi and power That we do have a snow day to reduce the amount of lost learning time And that we would want to make this decision the afternoon before So that no one is waking up early to find out if they had a snow day I think that's a cultural touchstone that students won't miss and families won't miss is the early morning What's the deal for tomorrow? But you know, I think it's the best way to to to acknowledge that the majority of family and staff would like to Continue not having snow days while also acknowledging if we have you know a 10 inch snowstorm It's likely that some people won't be accessing school And if those people are teachers that means that a whole lot of kids won't be accessing school Another interesting data point I didn't put on the slide because it just Overwhelming was a small but not insignificant number of staff. I think it was 11 Who access wi-fi and do their distance learning education from the school site Because it's poor at the school or poor at their home Or they choose to do it and how that not being able to get to school in those settings Would impact their ability to complete their job And if you look at the comments and I cross-referenced a little bit a lot of those are folks working with our most vulnerable populations of students It's it was more likely to be para educators Based on their comments and feedback Than it was to be professional staff. So sort of trying to find compromise in here Perhaps a little bit of a reach, but I think it does make sense given the data We have so I just wanted to give the committee an opportunity if they had any feedback There's no so in the forecast this week. So it's not So pressing but I'd like to put something out in my newsletter on friday Just describing how we're going to approach this because I know it's on a lot of people's minds What are folks thoughts mr. Demling Yeah, a comment question. So first just a shout out to responded one on one There is so much cultural significance to the idea of a snow day I would hate for a future generation of children And understand the excitement of watching the news in the morning in their pj's and then spend the rest of the day Drinking cocoa and making snowmen That's really all we need to say But to finish out the topic dr. Morris, um, I think this is a perfect approach I mean, you should have your own qualitative discretion. It's what you do for a regular snow day. Anyway, it's probably what you should be doing for remote learning in covet Uh, so my question is on on the survey phrasing Was it clear to people filling out the survey that if you Say yes to a snow day. You're also saying yes to extending the school year Uh, because obviously a free snow day is different than okay. Well, it is a trade-off, right? Your your summer break is going to be a little shorter Yeah, let me pull it up. I believe it was um Let's see The question was currently the last day of school scheduled to be june 24th without any snow days built in Do you prefer for school to be closed for snow days knowing it will extend the school year and or shorten school breaks depending on the number of snow days So that was the wording of the question Thank you. Yep. Any other thoughts or comments? question so, um I'll just add I um, I think that this makes perfect sense and I sort of echo mr. Demling's comments about that this Makes makes good sense and should be your your discretion on that. So Any other thoughts? I'm going to take poke silence meaning that there are also um in support of this plan Okay, great. We'll communicate that out again in the newsletter and we'll go from there More snow day fun to come I'm sure But uh, we'll if it's okay, we'll transition to the next agenda topic Um, and I'm conscious of time and I'm conscious that there's an amherst school committee meeting that is yet to occur. So um, again try to be as brief as possible um And this one is actually more of a topic for the amherst elementary school and pelham elementary school district But I think it's important for the region to be here as well and I'll explain why in a second so, um The board of elementary and secondary education voted new student learning time requirements for synchronous instruction on december 15th Um, and since we are in a remote model, it means 40 hours of live instruction every two weeks for remote Remote models. So essentially it's it means four hours a day And according to the schedules we sent them what you've all seen they're published The amherst and pelham elementary schools are found to be below that required allotment like many remote districts across the state And so the options are we could change our schedules in those districts or we could um We could opt to We could opt to apply for a waiver. I'm gonna have to could I have a 30 second? I have to change the location where I am Um, so if you wouldn't mind give me 30 seconds to do that. Um without trying to get my family on screen I'm gonna just turn my camera off and I'll be back briefly shortly. Sure The hazards of late meetings Should should we retake the opportunity to read some poems about snow days? Like I stopped stopping in a snowy evening It was a later start time it made all the difference something like that It was one one of the more pleasing surveys to read through Sorry about that Sorry about that so Uh, you know, I will say that it was Um, I'm ahead of myself Um, it's a little unusual most states set these requirements Uh in the summer So it's a little unusual that massachusetts started the school year with no guidance and then moved to offering guidance with i think superintendents had Maybe three days warning that this vote was going to take place. Maybe four days. Um So one of the key components of applying for a waiver if you want to continue with your current model But it's not meeting the 40 minutes or 40 hours every two weeks Is parent satisfaction with the sync the amount of synchronous learning And so in pelham and amherst we did surveys um And those are included You know the hyperlinks are there for them. I think they were in the packet as well And in both districts there was a majority of respondents So we had pretty good end size relative to the size of the districts Uh who did not opt Given the choice would not opt for more synchronous learning. Um, I think it was around 70 percent in the amherst and a little higher in pelham Uh, there is some there are some differences. It's a little awkward at a joint meeting in amherst The only way we could get to that number of minutes is to do whole group We've really focused on having small group as our core instructional model Uh, given that we're in Teaching on a computer to young kids So we could certainly get to four hours a day We just mean that all of a sudden we'd be in 20 person classes instead of uh, the primary instructional size being in 10 or less and so um What I'd like to do this week is to apply for a waiver for both districts Um, desi said if we get it in by thursday, they'll let us know. I think the following monday or tuesday I think the following tuesday, uh, whether the waiver has been accepted. Um, I think it was just it was interesting looking at the survey data. It was very brief surveys. Um, but um, You know, there is a small but significant percentage of folks who feel like there's too much synchronous going on now As well and there's certainly a group that feels like there's not enough Um, but you know, I think it just goes back to this piece Which we've talked about many many times over the last couple months is in this kind of bizarre model of education Where we're doing virtual teaching. It's really hard to satisfy Um, the students needs and then the family needs that come along with that Um, but you know based on the survey data, I feel comfortable applying for the waiver Uh in the amherst schools where the class sizes Respectfully are larger than they are in pelham Um, I think maintaining smaller class size and quality over quantity Um is an approach. We're not the only district that's doing this There's district in eastern mass of the very similar model that's also applying for a waiver No one knows if they'll grant them or not and in terms of pelham where we already have just naturally almost problematically small Small class sizes because of the reduced school choice numbers You know, again, the feedback was very positive to that survey of Not trying to increase it and so You're never getting 100 but we got a much higher percentage than I might have predicted on the front end Doesn't require a vote of the committees but I if the committees are If the amherst committee and the pelham committee are Comfortable endorsing that we would add it to the the waiver requests are written Thankfully, um, lee the principal and pelham did a great job and we're using that template more or less in amherst, but um, I do I do wonder if the committees are okay endorsing Applying for a waiver given the parent feedback And if so then we'd like to include that in the letter and if not that's okay We won't include it but at least wanted to have a public discussion see if there's questions at the committees and see if they're wanted to Be any endorsement or next steps on it Okay, thank you. Um, mr. Menino I propose you do the uh request for a waiver other comments or thoughts Sorry, I know it's late. We've been meeting since six o'clock. So I want to apologize for the length of the meeting Look at Emily So, um, yeah, I mean given the fact that so I'm just looking at the survey from your link now. So 33.7 percent in amherst um Say that this amount of synchronous time is not enough. So that's That's less than 50. And so I'm I'm I'm fine doing a waiver I do want to be conscious though that that's that's not zero You know, it's also not 3.7 percent. I mean, that's a third family saying that there's not enough synchronous time and You know I mean, we've talked about this a number of times We talked about this actually more at last last july and august about how We were going to try and optimize the quality of remote instruction But there's certain there's just certain barriers, right? There's certain restrictions to the model And uh, you know that you can't deliver what you want to give given the constraints of the logistics of the model So I understand that, you know, I read through the letter where they they give like a half a dozen suggestions Of how you could adjust your model in order to get more synchronous time. I'm wondering, you know, given that we have a non Uh, we have we have a uh a notable number of families that would like more synchronous It's not, you know, it's still a third or less But it's it's a notable number. Are there are there some of those options that that letter suggested that we could do Like one of them For example is if you if you had a lot of planning time at the beginning of the year You know coming into this new model that maybe now that we're into it We could adjust some of that down and you had maybe like another optional Um synchronous session with a larger group for those that that wanted it those the parents who felt that their children needed it Is that Is that a bridge too far in terms of complication of schedule? I'm just trying to think a little out of the box about You know how to meet the need given that I don't want to group think parents into saying all parents are psyched with the level of synchronous learning You know, we do have to make one decision, but um your thoughts on that Yeah, um, I mean I have mixed feelings about it. I I'm not sure I agree with the department that Our staff need less planning time um Given that it's we want them to keep getting better Um, I think if we were like, oh, we're good Everything's perfect and be like, okay. Well, you know, maybe we can just shift back I don't I don't get that sense. I think people are still really working hard to refine their craft that way Um, you know, I think we could redeploy. I know there has been some creative ideas, you know, and we are increasing a cracker farm I know the school committee has gotten some emails about that their specials are going synchronous So that has increased the level of synchronous time at that school You know, but I'm trying to think of what would be meaningful, you know, and you know I honestly, you know that you touched on it some of their ideas about um Increase the remote group size like that has not been an effective strategy at the elementary level for us um And you know, could we do it? Absolutely. That gets it the last survey question on the Amherst one We could we could absolutely do that. It would actually make our schedule a lot simpler um, but Then we What we have what we have when we this group gets together, which is someone like me spends a lot of time talking Uh, and that's not necessarily the best model and we're all adults here And I include Emily and that is being a very mature high school student. Uh, and that's not true for seven year olds Um, so, you know, I think, you know with high school students and Emily prior experiences You can get into breakout groups. You don't necessarily need an adult to be in every breakout group You know students can be independent. Uh, when you talk about seven year olds, I think it's really questionable How much independent learning they can do In a breakout group of eight students while the teachers with the other eight students, you know, I mean, I'd love to think that that's Developmentally appropriate. I'm I'm not quite sure I'm there Um, could we think of some creative ways? I know some schools are using para educators to provide breakout groups for like recess and um Kind of collaboration groups where students can have social time Um during the day and that's proven to be really successful for some students to do like lunch bunches during their, you know Time it is synchronous. I wouldn't say it's instructional Um, but it does support families who are trying to juggle many things and Um, for the same reason why we'd be having a different conversation if it was me and you alone Mr. Demling or me you and miss barlow That's been something that has been successful and maybe expanding on that for families who are interested to provide more synchronous experiences Particularly around the social emotional pieces that are really hard to simulate In a virtual environment forever and evolve. So I think there's some things there, you know, personally and I met with all the elementary principals Um, they were not they were not, you know, including palom all four of them. Um, they were not interested in radically changing the schedule or increasing Time because the trade-off for them wasn't worth it In terms of the quality piece that that they felt like it was going to be sage on a stage because it's really hard to Make personal relationships and engage 18 to 20 elementary students On a virtual call, right? None of that is to dismiss all the public comments we get about the need for in person It's like two different things. I know as I'm saying this I could imagine someone watching who wrote a public comment and Suggesting maybe that I'm tone deaf to that and it's not this is really just about the virtual education And what we're able to provide in that particular context Sorry, really long-winded answer. I lied about trying to be short-winded You see here I want to first acknowledge i'm not on the amherst school committee and but as a Person here in this meeting and looking at statistics. One of the things I wonder is Across the grades. Are you comparing apples to apples? Are the schedules? Exactly the same because what I wonder is if you Present results of just right and not enough per grade Do you see a pattern there that maybe says one grade? Isn't getting enough time and you know, you have a group of parents and families. They are saying They're that they want more um If it is all apples apples and it's the same it's just um I wanted to raise some questions that are coming through my mind as I read these Yeah, no, but that one's right and that's why we asked the families for work grade level And it was pretty consistent across grade level bands. I actually expected it to be More different. We do have slightly less synchronous learning at the very primary grade levels I think so maybe that a drip that's attributed that that took Into account that but I expected there to be a much sharper divide sixth grade to second grade and it didn't play out in the data and as you saw our insides wasn't bad for a medium-sized district Mr. Spitzer Thanks, um So it's very slight. I'm I'm fading but I just wanted to to chime in so I I do endorse This idea of seeking a waiver because I I think the trade-offs obviously um Especially with the younger kids. I think having that you know, 10 kids to one teacher Rather than 20 to one makes a ton of sense I I had some feedback on on the survey. I think um one of the really tricky things for me when filling it out as a parent Was that I don't know how much parents are actually aware Of the synchronous time. I actually had to go on find my son schedule Create a chart like and do that. So I I guess this is feedback kind of more generally And I know why we did the survey was to have the data to seek the waiver But just from kind of a trying to get parent feedback point of view. I think it might be worth trying to um Add and do not know option because I think um there wasn't that option on the survey I'm not sure like I think the parents were hearing back from or probably those who might be um more Hands on with their kids and then and maybe a smaller sliver of the total so one of my questions was like how I apologize. I Probably missed this point But how you know, how many parents did we actually hear back from out of the total group because I personally found the survey kind of difficult to respond to Without having to do some actual leg work to and I'm a school committee For the young child at home. So I should know these things, but I honestly didn't so thank you Thanks. Now, that's helpful feedback. I appreciate it I um, I also would support the applying for the waiver. Um, and I have a separate but related question so on the on the student learning time Um, and it doesn't impact the request for the waiver I don't think because this survey is is parent preferences and perception about too much Not enough and not You know, do you want three hours or four hours? So sort of back to miss spitzer's comment. It was it was I think properly Framed as you know, not enough too much Just right, but one of the things um that came out That the desi reported the the survey results um that were district reported student learning time and that sparked um A lot of emails and and comment in public of people sort of comparing. Huh, I don't think my child is actually getting What I'm seeing reported there and I just wondered if they're This might be also related to mr. Denling's earlier comment. Is there a way to sort of look into The consistency across classrooms within schools and across school buildings To learn from each other. So, you know, we're we're you know, you mentioned the crocker farm is now moving specials to synchronous um Because that was being done in some other schools. Are there other opportunities like that where we can learn from implementations in different school buildings and classrooms to sort of Even that playing field or at least the perceived playing fields. Um, yeah And we're not alone and as a district where you know, uh, you know I had to say this differently, uh This was not superintendents favorite thing across the commonwealth because invariably there's going to be gaps in variation Between that even within the elementary, you know, I got an email from Uh a family with a question about even the assumption that there was small group instruction happening in this particular room And and so I think two things on that one is the answer is yes I mean, I think crocker farms a good example of you know What what's happening in another building and making sure we're simulating or emulating that I think the other thing is that now that observations have started in terms of, you know observations it took a while to work on that part of The negotiation about how teacher evaluations are going to work. It's really it's like authentically complicated, uh, I've had a transition, uh, educator evaluation system into a virtual context Um, I think people are seeing some shifts now that there is the accountability lens Uh more clear and and I don't mean accountability is that's like this big bad thing I think it's just also about support. Um, I think our administrators are actively seeing much more readily what's happening in rooms Uh classrooms and offering more authentic feedback that will shift Um, what's happening? So I think now that that's up and running. I think we'll also see some shifts that way You know, I have to say and this is going to sound a little cynical, but it's where I'm at um The conference call I was on The explanation was um that there were increasing concerns about mental health needs of students Um, and that's why four hours of synchronous learning was this magic number Um, no one has ever no superintendent. I know has been presented with evidence That there's there's any magic number out there nor Is there um, kind of evidence that a certain amount of synchronous learning contributes to students' mental health well-being The thing I do feel strongly about we've implemented is that we don't have Some school started with having like a day a week of all asynchronous work We intentionally were not going to do that some schools in Massachusetts as well as beyond started with Every single week there was one day that ended at 11 o'clock And the rest was asynchronous. We were intentional about not doing that We're very intentional about every period every day a student is being with their teacher Um, that's not like oh math on thursday's asynchronous And so that was really intentional because we really felt strongly that that making a personal connection with every teacher every student every day in every period That I can buy into is having social-emotional impact and building student relationships I have a hard time. It's not that I think there shouldn't be synchronous instruction But I think I have a hard time with the if than if we get to x amount of synchronous instruction Then students won't struggle with mental health issues. I just I have a hard time believing that so I apologize And i'm trying to be really conscious. I try not to criticize folks I try to be very empathetic to people in a in a pandemic But it was a hard thing for superintendents and educational leaders to stomach Because I just I I I haven't seen any evidence that that is true I get the larger picture about synchronous and the relationships But that was the explanation. It wasn't framed to us as about academic performance And I think there's a whole lot of other things we're trying to do on the mental health front in our current context Um that don't involve more synchronous learning. Um, so again, sorry to be skeptical and cynical But I try not to do that. I think you all have have not seen me do that too too much. But this one Doing this in december where other states had, you know said whatever the expectations were in the summer Um, I have I'm having a hard time with But it was more driven by parent feedback and what the principal said than that But I I I can't have this conversation not share that I share the mental health concerns. I think I've said that stay one since the spring We were talking about in person not in person, right? None of that is new or none of that do I disagree with but I think a formulaic approach like this, you know, for that reason it just doesn't add up to me Sorry soapbox is put away in the closet Any other um questions thoughts and student learning time, um so, uh Dr. Morris asked about um, whether The amherst school committee and then separately whether the pelham school committee Would like to sign on and endorse um this This application for a way of our so if we can sort of Uh, if first the amherst folks I don't think it needs a vote does to say endorse So I'm going to look at my amherst colleagues and see I'm seeing thumbs up and head nods great. Okay, so Amherst school committee will if will endorse that application miss hall All right, I will ask the same of the pelham school committee All right, and I see all thumbs up and myself as well. Thank you Super Thank you very much. I appreciate it You know and and and no one who's watching this or seeing this should think that that's Me bringing this up is any lack of commitment to continuing to improve the product that we're providing from distance learning it's really about a state mandate And an approach that we've taken that I think is a better approach and continues to need to improve There's no doubt about it so, um, we won't now move on to Next item, which is gifts and I don't believe that there were any gifts and for tonight, so I will make a motion to adjourn the regional school committee. Is there a second second? Finally Moved by mcdonald second and by herrington and there's no discussion. So we'll move to a roll call the of the region Mr. Demling Mr. Herrington Miss kenny Kenny I Miss lord lord. I Miss beaker see your eye miss spitzer Spitzer I Miss dancer Stancer I Mr. Sullivan Sullivan I And mcdonald I the regional school committee is adjourned Ms. Hall All right, I will make a motion to adjourn the pelham school committee. Is there a second? second Seconded by dancer. All right, we'll move to a roll call vote. Uh, miss kenny Kenny I Mr. Manino Manino I Miss barlow Barlow I Miss dancer Answer I And hall I pelham is adjourned. Thanks everyone. Thank you tonight Okay And you all get to hang out for one more a couple more topics We'll get to end with listening to me drone so Move to the msba enrollment update Sure All right, so I'm going to share that set of slides the last couple are special for for you all and they're about the msba process and Just going back a step before I show them actually Um, I want to just remind folks though We had a large engagement And applied for a statement of interest. We were fortunate to get in we now have a building committee I want to thank Kathy Shane who's a town counselor who has agreed to be the Chair of that committee mr. Harrington for being the school committee rep Are connected to that committee in multiple hats and miss ms. McDonald being the chair Also all connected to that So thank you for all of your efforts because it is it is really a team effort as well as time manager bachelman Who's been sexually involved? We are thankfully at the final stages of the enrollment part of the msba process The good news is we have a building committee formed We have funding that's been committed using msba's special legal language need to be amended by the town council That is done for a feasibility study to Be in place. So a lot of our check boxes are checked the very last one is And this was shared with you is the enrollment certification That is a process by which the msba sets what the building committee is allowed and permitted to study So what i'd like to share is what i requested on behalf of the district for enrollments and what their enrollment letter started How they responded and their rationale And miss mcdonald also is in this loop given her role as chair and has been connected to msba and Certainly you can jump in As you'd like, but let me share my screen There it is And percent There we go So the three requests three options i requested were 420 student k-6 Fort river school with no consolidation as a reminder. That is would be the size of the school predicted size with common entes And a monolingual class per grade level. So three classes per grade level once that program goes to full maturity The second requested enrollment was 520 students That's a k-5 consolidated school for fort river and wildwood And a separate town funded construction project at crocker farm. That's consistent with The crocker farm feasibility study that was completed And the last one i requested is the most familiar probably which is 600 students k-5 Consolidated school with fort river and wildwood buildings being vacated That one i think everyone got enough of a couple years ago as we engaged that process With the statement of interest what they responded with for the approved enrollments We're only two So one is 320 students k-6 at fort river It would maintain three elementary schools in amherst, but it would force a change in the structure of fort river Given that we couldn't fit two common entes classes and a monolingual class per grade level throughout Let me be clear the rationale the msba gave us is they designed enrollments based on enrollment The the district-wide enrollment and what the capacity of the district is Not on programmatic pieces that districts may or may not want to do So when they looked at our district and they looked about a request for 420 students at fort river They said quickly well You don't need a 420 student school at fort river because you've got two other schools and you'd be over Like we'd be overbuilding We'd have empty classrooms if we built that because then the other schools would get much smaller than their current space It would provide And so none of that was saying they don't appreciate common entes. They walked through one of our last in-person meeting with them was spring and a half ago And they wanted to see common entes. They were so excited to do it It was before mrs. McDonald's chair But the chair of the committee then went on it and they couldn't wait to get in but they're also not going to overbuild by 100 students When from a number of classrooms perspective and this projected size of the district, they don't need to They wouldn't do it, right? They have to look at every single district They're funding districts across the commonwealth and they can't favor one district over another So they build based on enrollment capacity not based on programs Alison you were on the uh, I know you've been on a call with msba did capture Think the gist of that. Yeah. Yeah, I think um what really stuck out with me was exactly as as you just described it was the the over capacity or the overbuilding and that from a from a um funding perspective and you know position it not just from a capacity a building perspective that offer from a fiduciary responsibility to the state responsibility that um, it was By by building a school at fort river that was that much larger Um, we would have unused existing space that wasn't just going to go away. Um, so we would have more space Um, it for elementary students and amers then what would actually be needed Questions on that one approved Enrollment before I talk about the second one because I think they're two really different things and I think maybe pausing for questions now might be helpful Mr. Denley Yeah, I mean so just to clarify in case for people who haven't been following this process So when we applied for this statement of interest and we're accepted into the msba process We were technically accepted for fort river But as you showed on the previous slide one of the proposed solutions was a 600 student Building to replace both fort river and wildwood um, and and reason wasn't you know anybody can you know clarify me but just to kind of paraphrase is that um, the previous building project failed there was there was a you know, it's a divisive, uh, vote and um We didn't get in the first year the msba for this project And so when we went we went when we went back, it's hard to say it like um You you the reason why we engaged in this process was to try to find some kind of middle ground there right and a couple of big issues of the previous project that caused some disagreement were um great configuration and um and sides and so so this so this was a A solution to address both fort river and wildwood at the same Time because again another one of the drivers is that we have two buildings that need to be replaced um I mean, I said it in million times and I don't speak for everybody else, but you know, we there's there was a opinion expressed that these both of these buildings have a clear and urgent need to be addressed and so um That's a roundabout way to just to I just wanted to Bring up that that history because I feel like it's important to to highlight the that first option then that 320 means that wildwood is not replaced In the msba process, right? And so if if that option occurs then The you know wildwood needs to be addressed in some other Way, um, and if that's a future msba process, that's that's you know, some number of years after After this project is that is that accurate? I don't want to overstep. I just is that objectively correct? anybody else have any this feel like um That's like a big huge takeaway that left column Um before you get to the the one on the right And to clarify So I would agree with everything you said, uh, peter and to clarify these are enrollment to study So this is one thing and I should have said this at the beginning There's no decisions being made tonight, right? Like it's not like oh, yeah, we're going with option one, right? It's it's not that's not in the cards tonight. This is what the msba has offered us if we want to stay in the program They've approved us to study these two particular enrollments Um, and I think you know what I heard in there is perhaps a little bit of an opinion And and uh, and that's okay. I think peter you've been very public about your thoughts on this There's no surprises there from the msba perspective. They're not at the place of Offering an opinion right now about which is better What they're saying is we think these two options are worthy of study We will support the town and the district to study these two options So that the town of the district can make the best decision for the children in the community Um, hello, I'm in miss lord. Sorry No worries um, please forgive me for this first question because it might be obvious to everyone and I sort of jumped on After these proposals were written But I didn't see an option for k through 6 consolidated in the proposed and I was wondering Two questions. I was wondering about that um So when I take that one Like that's a brief answer. So Uh, and I'm glad that one came up because it's going to come up and it's going to continue to come up So the reason we did is when we we were writing the sly last time as mr. Demling was indicating we did an engagement to try to find a compromise And I think there was a commitment that I know I felt like I made to the community That we would not have a school greater than 600 students that that was that was a major issue in the past project And I think there was genuine consensus on that and a k to 6 project to combine both schools Would be well over 600 students. So I should have said that the front end my apologies miss lord And now that you say that it rings a bell because I have heard that before so thank you And the second one escaped me for a moment. So It's your once miss spitzer Thanks. So I just again just to clarify. So the 320 student option that would mean two classes per grade level and that is why the common entes program and are At least the current structure of the common entes program want to work because there wouldn't be no option to continue on having that kind of switch the The two classrooms which switch between spanish and english wouldn't be be available and they're only sorry It's like so we'd have Essentially, it's we need three three classrooms in fort river to continue to allow students in the fort river catchment area an option that's monolingual No, um, so And we were just discussing how we don't have to make a choice now But I think this is Correct me if i'm wrong defining our choices So we wouldn't be able to go back and say oh, we studied this and actually we prefer option Of for under 20 kids at at fort river like that that option if Is now would now be off the table um If we sign and submit that or is is there will room in this like do students Do we ever do you ever see cases where folks study something and then the community says actually we have a really strong Preference for this other option that wasn't studied and you're allowed to go forward with it I guess that's the one clarifying thing that i'm um If that's not an option, can we can we go back and make a counteroffer to Dad Great, so uh to answer your I'm mrs. Fetal. Did you want to answer that or do you want me to either way it's fine? um, I can I can take a Stab and then you can fill in i'm happy to um because that was exactly the question that we were asking um with the msba today was was that that question and um you know The short answer from them is no to to that that that we These are the options for study um, and If there's a third option or a different second option that we would prefer to study um, we want time to Explore that Then we shouldn't then we would have to withdraw From the from the program from the grant program is it was sort of the way they described that um that In and going back to you know, they're going back to the rationale about 320 versus 420 was was again They're looking not at the program, but at the building the building capacity and so You know deciding on the program comes later and they're looking at just what's the capacity for For students in buildings in in Amherst, and that's why they land at 320. Um I don't know if that caps fully answered dr. Morris if you want to Add more color. I think that I think that was right. I mean, I think they they also indicated that we've been through this process before with them They know the buildings need to get fixed and you know They indicated multiple times and in multiple conversations that if we're not ready to move forward Then we should tell them we're not ready to move forward And if we're ready to move forward, let's move forward with all full steam ahead So that we can make a best decision and get kids in better buildings um, but I I think You know, they were flexible with us a bit the last time and uh, I got the sense that at this point, um These are the enrollments we have and if we don't like them then we can you know I think do a self-funded project but not um They they want us to move forward with these enrollments and and well, it wasn't what I asked for I understand the rationale that they had But there was a second question you asked Kerry that i'm not sure i'm addressing I felt like Think alson, I addressed the first part of it. Um, but maybe there was a second part that I didn't get to Well, I mean, I think sorry they were kind of jumbled together. So the first question and I'll just restate so We these are the options we can study And if we move forward with studying these options, we can't choose to build an option that's not, um On on the slide right now And then my second question was Could we suggest to them that we'd like to add a third option to study and what i'm hearing from you also is like No, that would be an Assign that you are not ready to move forward and that you would need to step out of the process And I think the direct comment that I heard was If there's more information you need to gather so that you can study another option You should drop out of the program gather that data make a decision And then come back to us with another application That they have they have a long waiting list of districts who are ready to go And if we're not ready to go then we're not ready to go and they said that there's no bad feelings about that, right? they haven't invested You know in this project, but um that they're looking for districts who are ready to move and but ready to move Doesn't mean make a decision between these options, but you know, um You know the 320 really came from what they're what they believe our capacity is as a district Not looking at forward for school or coming out to you specifically, but as a district Um, and we'll talk about 575 in a second, but that they were pretty definitive in my opinion miss mcdonald about that Yes, I agree. Can I just care for and that's actually substantially less than what we could accommodate right now in the building Right. I mean, yes Yeah, so Based on like what that current school that you're replacing you could fill it with it's it's about what they think the enrollment should be for that Building based on the current enrollment It's not just that it's actually what the enrollment is in the district and our existing space in wildwood and crocker farm So they did a full analysis in the long letter That's in the packet, uh, and i'm not this isn't for you carry But just for people who are looking on I think does a really nice job of explaining some of how they their methods of approaching that Um, mr. Harrington Yeah, that's a sort of clarifying clarifying questions with a tad bit of opinion um, so like like So the 320 student enrollment would leave us with three schools, right? One of which would be new One of which would need significant improvement and another one that would need slightly well Also, I guess significant one one could need a ton of work one would need a lot of work And you'd have a new school that's right versus a new school And a school that still needs some some work to get up to speed. That's it's about accurate I would agree with that completely Yeah, and that came up actually about what I mean, I'm just going to be explicit about it In terms of crocker farm since crocker farm doesn't appear to be addressed in any of these models Um, that is a conversation that this group needs to have both with me with, you know, mr. Roy Clark but also with the town council about Not losing track of the capital needs at crocker farm over time because I think one of the really helpful things one of many but one of the helpful things about the crocker farm study was how it delineated explicit areas of continued capital needs at that site and we can't lose track of that so um I want to really appreciate your comment ben and and I think we need to continue that conversation I think it also highlighted that for the larger community, you know, including the town council that there are capital needs at crocker farm That will need to be addressed, uh Over the next few years. So I fully endorse your comments Sorry, I might have cut you off. You might have more to say You just beat me to the finish line. I that that's kind of the point that I wanted Kind of out there is that that we do have this other school That we can't leave behind completely at all here like that's Absolutely inequitable if we were to move forward and and not Take those needs into consideration Maybe I'll talk about 575 briefly. Um, and um, so, um For 575, you know, originally we talked about 600 and when they did the they looked at the enrollment projections They came out a little bit less They actually came out a little bit less than that and then we had this is where good conversation with them sba and talked about our lower class size I shared the class size policy that the school committee has um, and then they um came up with 575, uh, which is more or less Um at a keta 5 level. So it does involve the sixth graders move into the middle school, uh, at least from the town of amherst Um, that's how we get to 575 and it comes up with common entes being two classes And then three monolingual classes per grade level on average because you end up with, you know, just a shade under 100 kids per grade level So if you think in 20 kids per class, uh, 40 kids at common entes ish And about 60 kids, uh in the monolingual group So, you know, there are some benefits to I just wanted to say that because I think common entes comes up often Where's it going to fit in this whole constellation? um, but it does move To mr. Demling's point it replaces two buildings Fort River and Wildwood and um, you know to mr. Herrington's point it doesn't uh preclude the town council from um, or the school committee from asking the town council to take care of the capital needs at crocker farm Um, so those are two options that that we have uh from msba and just a timeline check and then open up for questions is that the letter um Does need to be signed and sent to them Then hopefully we'll get on our february msba board meeting for them to advance us to the next part of the process Which involves hiring an owner project manager? And this timeline for that is according to their process. Uh, what we heard today is june or july I think is what I have written down ms. McDonald Um for getting to them to approve the hiring of an owner project manager Because you have to write in our you know a request for proposals. There's an interview process Needs to be submitted then to msba for their approval and they feel like the next where where districts in our Timeline are slotted. It'd be either a june or july hire for an owner project manager um So I think what was the line at the end miss mcdonald? I liked it It was uh, the community's often things things can happen faster and be done less and done very Inexpensively and msba process reminds us that neither of those things are true It's always going to be more expensive than we want it to be and it's always going to take longer than We think it should and that's just the nature of school building projects or building projects more generally Uh, but I think it was a good thing for me to keep in mind Uh as well. We want to be cost conscious. We want to do it as fast as possible But I think the expectations we want to make sure that we're right sizing them because every step along the way We're going back to msba for approval. We're not independent agents funding this ourselves And and I believe so with those june and july dates that there is an expectation that Approximately six weeks before those dates is when materials need to be submitted Um for those particular dates just as other sort of milestones in the process Mr. Demme sorry, um So yeah, so other than the major piece that the 575 takes care of Fort River and Wildwood and the 320 does not You know, so the other major Bit of info on this slide is that that 575? um depends on sixth grade Going to the middle school, which is a decision that still has not been made by the regional school committee and the emmer school committee and if I I scratch my head real hard for pre-covid times Like I think before COVID hit we were trying to finalize that decision around now-ish Which and so in terms of action items that are coming onto this I know we're not choosing an option tonight technically But yeah, you know, we're choosing that these are our options, but we're not choosing one option or the other I think I think since this is an emmer school committee meeting what we need to do Is bump up sixth grade to the middle school conversation? Ups up our priority list so that so that the community has that information because if we're Because you know the the other bit of information here about grades is that that left column is a k to 6 320 It's not a k to 5 or a k to 6. It's a k to 6 So if we're if we say no to sixth grade of the middle school The left ones are option and then we need to figure out wildwood right, um, if if we're a k5 district going forward then um Then then the option is on the right and so um And I would I would encourage our chair to talk to the chair of the regional school committee because I think that It would be hoove be who It'll be important right so there's a sequence here right the regional school committee has to say we accept sixth grade um, and then each of the Sending districts need to uh need to decide whether they want sixth grade going the Going there so that the building committee can then focus its attention on what school committee has decided is is the nature of the The the district but um, that is a pretty important dependency Miss lord Yes Thank you. Um, miss spitzer covered the question I had earlier and now the next one. Okay. So the letter we sign it We're involved doing these things Is there a place for stakeholder? Feedback engagement are are we going to include Families in terms of these two options or is it strictly like the program manager studies it and we go with the recommendation and then second thing is like If we go with the bigger school k through five I know it's a trickier because if our sixth graders are there then pelham and shep, you know, she's very I don't know but For families that want smaller schools or coming down to is is their district choice? um, and maybe that's a conversation later to be had in terms of I know busing is weird, but would you have a choice to Oh, I want my child at the bigger school because I think they have more resources Or I want my child at the smaller school because they're being tidy and smaller, you know, I don't know So those are my kind of Questions that I'm reading my way through Thank you Sure. So on the first question About community engagement. Absolutely. That's I know the building project The building committee, excuse me feels really strongly on this and one of the things that I know I've talked to chair shane about is Joining forces between the building committee and the school committee to do some joint engagement So it's not just the school community, but the larger community That also has access to participate in the conversations and I know msba feels really strongly We heard that today in the conference call and I think on the second one, you know I think what what what we continue to hear from msba is that the programmatic pieces come later These are the enrollment studies and that's really part of the study is What program would come along with each of these options? So, you know in terms of choice or in terms of busing and all those things That's really what goes into the educational plan About what is the best option, you know, not just Option a or option b, but how would we actualize option a and where would programs go and what are the implications? So we're not quite there yet. Um, just from a timeline check again opm We're talking about july june or july Designer a couple months after that. So we're really taking off with like full engagement engagement of like We actually have our consultants on board Best case scenario is Sometime mid to late next fall You know, um, just that's just how long it takes to get All the ducks in the row of the owner project manager the designer for them to meet the building committee Understand the building committee where the building committee is wanting to go it things happen in it's not linear though, and then this is what I want to say It's not like to rest on the laurels because once it starts We have a pretty condensed time frame For the start and then making decisions and then moving forward. So that's what's a little hard about msba process It feels like nothing's happening Even though there's a tremendous amount happening in terms of hiring opm and designer and then they're on board You're like, well, what's been going on But like we hired these people into these formal processes that take way longer than you feel like it should take And then we're in it. So I think continuing that communication is going to be critical throughout Um, did that I think I got both of your questions. Okay Was mr. Harrington's I thought it was his hand was up earlier, but I don't Yeah, uh, peter mist mr. Demling Kind of I just want to I want to double down on what he said basically We were in this on the same exact track there, but um Yeah, I was gonna say the the uh, I I want to get the sixth grade portion Kind of out of the way as soon as possible like I'm not sure where we landed with the with that study If there was any closure to that but um, I That's one of those issues. I'd like to get like public feedback on I don't know that I'm entrenched in an opinion on that but I know that there are a lot of people that are and so Same exact way like this Mr. Demling not mr. Peter Peter mister, but yeah bad guy Yeah, great Yes, I will I will make sure to mention this to our request to the regional school committee chair that this be on an agenda um That we plan for that on an agenda coming agenda any other um Questions on on this enrollment study Study enrollment The only thing I'll add is the next building committee meeting is Next Wednesday, I want to believe not tomorrow, but the following meeting uh Wednesday, january 13th Our meetings start at 7 30 in the morning promptly people do a great job being there early Um, and you know for anyone who wants to attend or there is a public comment section People can definitely utilize both the viewing it's it's listed on the town website because it is a town subcommittee of the town And so uh, that's the next meeting in a pro I will try to do better to get in the habit of sharing that at all our meetings So people who are interested in that public committee can engage with that public committee So, um, I will ask the question Do we have to have a formal vote on the letter or just so just um I'm going to look for some head nods that we are in agreement. Um that we should sign this letter Yeah, okay And now for the fun. I have nine warrants to read I know you've been waiting for with bated breath. Um, so I will I will Proceed um, so I have uh nine Um, so I authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of for payroll. Um, I authorized $697,568 and 82 cents on december 2nd I also authorized by my signature for uh in the amount of $212,598 and 58 cents for a warrant dated november 30th General fund expenses of 19,444 and 77 cents grant fund expenses of 3,171 and 28 cents FEMA fund of 67,608 and 4 cents School reopening fund of 7,508 and 15 cents COVID relief grant of 114,866 and 34 cents And that warrant was dated november 30th. I also authorized, um Payroll for the in the amount of $250 Dated december 2nd 2020 and I signed that on december 13th I also authorized payroll in the amount of $646,277 and 73 cents Um, dated december 16th 2020 and I signed that on december 13th 2020 I authorized by my signature payables in the amount of $156,048 and 35 cents dated For a warrant dated december 11th 2020 It included general fund expenses of 22,098 and 43 cents Grant fund expenses of 25,226 and 73 cents FEMA fund of 5,090 and 56 cents School reopening fund of 6,275 and 50 cents CARES Act fund of 92,357 and 13 cents And behavioral mental health in the amount of, it looks like, 5,000 with an extra zero And I signed that on december 16th I also authorized a transfer fund transfer request The crocker farm principal requested a transfer of $1,500 from the town control account For upcoming field trips events in miscellaneous on december 16th and I signed that on december 18th I authorized payroll in the amount of $680,694 and 90 cents For dated december 30th 2020 Signed that on the 30th Almost there Scroll right past it I authorized by my signature payables in the amount of $227,941 And 16 cents for the warrant dated december 18th 2020 And I'm guessing that team USA just scored judging from the screams downstairs General fund this includes general fund expenses of $178,891 and 80 cents Revolving fund expenses of $74 and 30 cents Grant fund expenses of $1,716 and 68 cents FEMA fund in the amount of $8,629 and 20 cents School reopening fund of $12,964 and 5 cents CARES Act fund of $28,748 and 10 cents A gift to the schools of $967 and 40 cents and capital funds of $3,949 and 63 cents And that was dated december 18th And last but not least I authorized by my signature payables in the amount of $174,628 and 74 cents for warrant dated december 30th And this includes general fund expenses of $35,895 and 73 cents Grant fund expenses of $6,097 and 13 cents School reopening fund of $5,047 and 67 cents CARES Act fund of $125,353 and 83 cents A gift to the schools of $339 Capital of $750 and 88 cents And disproportionality of $1,144 and 50 cents And I signed that on the 31st of 2020 That is all So would somebody like to make a motion? I move that we adjourn Number of school committee Lord second Moved by spitzer seconded by lord There's no discussion We'll take a roll call vote Mr. Demling Demling aye Mr. Harrington Harrington also aye Ms. Lord Lord aye Ms. Spitzer Spitzer aye And McDonald's aye We are adjourned