2026-09-24 - School Committee

00:01[music]

00:07[music]

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00:14Good evening. Um, tonight's meeting of

00:17the Arlington School Committee is being

00:19conducted in person and through the use

00:21of Zoom. This meeting is being

00:23simultaneously broadcast on ACMI and the

00:26meeting is being recorded. Uh because we

00:28have members participating remotely, all

00:30votes are required to be taken by roll

00:32call. Persons wishing to access the

00:35meeting using Zoom may find information

00:37on how to do so on the town's website.

00:39The posted agenda and supporting

00:41materials for this meeting are also

00:43available on the town's website. Due to

00:46open meeting law restrictions, the

00:47committee cannot participate in or

00:49access Zoom Zoom's chat function. While

00:53everyone is welcome to observe this

00:54meeting, active remote participation

00:56requires advanced notice. All

00:58participants are asked to activate their

01:00camera and shall provide their full name

01:02in the interest of developing a record

01:04of the meeting. We have no public

01:06comment tonight. So, I will turn first

01:09to our AA representative, Erica. Do you

01:13want me to skip you? [laughter]

01:15I will go to the AHS student

01:17representatives. So Sophia Dphanus and

01:20Elliot Lane.

01:21>> Yes. Hi. Um, so our performing arts had

01:25a performance on town day and they all

01:28went pretty well. It was a little little

01:30hectic getting onto that small stage,

01:32but it all worked out and people seem to

01:34really enjoy them. We are planning our

01:36pep rally on October 8th, so get excited

01:39for that. And we have club day coming up

01:42on October 1st.

01:44And just a quick update from the uh

01:46senior class council. We've been hosting

01:48a fundraiser with Andrina's Pizzeria.

01:51We've been selling coupon sheets at some

01:53of the parent nights and also town day.

01:55It's been quite the success. We've

01:57raised lots of funds to uh afford prom

01:59and graduation, other things like that.

02:01So, uh anyone here bought a uh coupon?

02:04Thank you very much.

02:06>> If we wanted to buy them, how would we

02:08buy them? Uh, so we're we're going to be

02:10at a couple of uh other AHS events later

02:13this fall. I think we'll be at the the

02:15fall plays as well as the uh freshman

02:18and sophomore parent nights.

02:19>> Great. Thank you.

02:20>> You don't have a pocket full of them

02:22now, do you?

02:23>> Oh, I I wish I wish I carried some on

02:25me. I've I've I've been talking about

02:27that. Yeah, I should have should have

02:28brought them here. Started trying to

02:30pedal pedal my wares here. Right.

02:32>> You can guilt trip us into buying one,

02:34you know. [clears throat]

02:34>> Yeah, exactly. But uh we've actually

02:37we've sold a lot to parents. We actually

02:38had to ask for more from Andrinas

02:40because we sold our uh our first time.

02:43So very successful. Thank you guys very

02:45much.

02:46>> I will go back to our AA representative

02:48Erica Tanell. Am I saying it right?

02:50Okay. I always second guess myself.

02:52[laughter]

02:55>> Got it.

03:02>> We're excited at the AA for bargaining

03:04and yeah, it's great. It's been a good

03:06hectic start to the year. I'll follow

03:08what the kids said. Thank you all.

03:11>> Um, okay. Then our first item on our

03:14agenda is opening events and summer

03:16activities report. That's Dr. Ford

03:18Walker and Ms. Elmer.

03:22>> Tell everyone to advance slides. We had

03:25a pretty exciting summer and lots of

03:26stuff going on. So, Dr. Ford Walker will

03:28get us started and we'll be sharing a

03:30little bit.

03:30>> Okay. Sounds good. Good evening

03:31everyone. Uh over the course of the

03:33summer, a number of APS students had the

03:37opportunity to participate in summer

03:38programming. This programming

03:40[clears throat] provided students with

03:41an opportunity to gain additional

03:44academic support across a number of

03:47content areas, earn credits, build

03:49connections to peers and with adults,

03:53and also limit the amount of lost

03:54learning time that typically takes place

03:56over the summer.

04:00Arlington High School had about 40

04:02students who participated in summer

04:03learning activities. These activities

04:06took place online and in person. 24

04:09students attended in-person summer

04:11school programming. Uh activities that

04:14were offered and courses included math,

04:16English, science, and history.

04:20In our title one summer program,

04:23students in grades kindergarten through

04:25fourth grade who receive intervention or

04:28academic support in ELA or math during

04:31the last school year, school year 25

04:33through 26. Um, and students who were

04:36recommended to participate receive an

04:38invitation to the program. Last summer,

04:40we piloted a number of changes to the

04:43summer program. We broughten the program

04:46experience [music]

04:54Sorry.

04:55Uh we broaden the program experience um

04:59[clears throat]

05:00excuse me um by offering both ELA and

05:03math support to all students

05:06participating. And we also were able to

05:08offer two specialty courses to students.

05:11One being science and engineering and

05:13then the second physical education. We

05:16also continued with uh our second year

05:19of offering transportation to families

05:22and students who wanted to participate

05:24in ACE afternoon programming at the high

05:27school and we had 22 families utilize

05:30this transportation option.

05:34Overall the program was a success. We

05:36had 38 students participate in total

05:38which was a pretty full program for us.

05:40Um a sta not to capacity but it was a

05:44full program. Um, a staff member shared

05:46the following. They said, "I really felt

05:48like I could target my students needs

05:50effectively, and many resources were

05:52available. I think the students enjoyed

05:54it, learned, and felt more confident

05:56going into the next grade level. Most of

05:58the feedback that we received from

06:00parents indicated that they would rate

06:01their child's experience as good or

06:05excellent. Um, and as we [clears throat]

06:07begin to think about planning for next

06:09summer, we'll continue to reflect on

06:12some of the areas that our staff and

06:13families identified as areas for room uh

06:17for areas for improvement. And some of

06:19those include working on our students

06:23attending for the full duration of the

06:25program. Um, it's a little tricky in the

06:27summer of course because there are a

06:28number of priorities um that our

06:31families have and um some families

06:33decide to travel there. There are some

06:35other um priorities that families have

06:37as well which impacted uh student

06:40attendance in some cases. So we're still

06:42going to work on having more consistent

06:44attendance from families where possible.

06:47Also um there were a number of asks to

06:50consider extending the program. Um we

06:52did move from a three-day per week

06:54program to a 4-day per week program, but

06:56there's another ask to either go to a

06:58five-day per week program or offer um

07:01the program beyond the four hours that

07:03we currently offer it. So extend the the

07:06timing during the Monday through

07:07Thursday option or again go Monday

07:09through Friday. And also

07:12um we had a few instances where the bus

07:16going to the high school was late a few

07:18times and that impacted students

07:21arriving late. of course to their

07:22afternoon um uh programming here at the

07:26high school. So we'll continue to work

07:27on those kinks that exist for the

07:30program. Also in our ML summer school

07:34program, elementary and secondary

07:35newcomer students um who required

07:38additional academic support were invited

07:39to participate in this program. The

07:42program prioritized integrating academic

07:44language and content around engaging

07:47themes for students and students worked

07:49on vocabulary skills, non-fiction,

07:51writing, speaking, and listening. And we

07:54had approximately 35 students who

07:56participated in that program as well.

07:59Um, and now I'll toss it to Alison.

08:02>> Um, sure. So, just a reminder, Miss

08:06>> That's um just a reminder that um I we

08:09had shared this before going into the

08:11summer um some of the changes we made to

08:13the ESY program this year. One was

08:16location um simply because of a

08:17facilities um issue. There was work

08:20being done at Pierce. However, by going

08:22to Don this summer, we were able to also

08:25coordinate with Arlington Wreck and um

08:28there is, you know, an interest in both

08:30the recck department um and families and

08:33and if we will be able to continue that,

08:35it'll be a facilities discussion um in

08:39part um when we think about next year.

08:41The other thing that we did differently

08:42this summer was we introduced a quote

08:45break week rather we had the same amount

08:47of programming um but we introduced uh

08:51essentially a session one and a session

08:52two so that uh students and staff were

08:55off the last week of July that was well

08:58responded to by families. Um, one of the

09:01things we've heard repeatedly is, you

09:04know, the sooner we can know, the better

09:06it is for us to be able to plan for

09:08things like vacations or camp

09:11opportunities, which I think are some of

09:12the priorities that Dr. Ford Walker was

09:14referring to. Um, kind of that balance

09:16of, you know, getting your academic

09:18needs met, but still wanting to have bit

09:20of a summer experience as well. So we

09:22will be um continuing with that model uh

09:26this upcoming uh summer with that break

09:29week. And if you advance the slide I

09:32think oh well the secret is coming up on

09:36the next slide which just announced the

09:37date but [gasps] and um here is again I

09:41mean we've provided this kind of data

09:43for the last um several years just to

09:46see the number of students who have

09:48attended which you know you see some

09:50fluctuation the preschool has largely

09:52you know been consistent um and you see

09:56that the high school continues to be as

09:58expected one of the lower enroll

09:59enrolled students uh programs, but

10:01that's typically because fewer students

10:03are actually eligible and elementary

10:05remains um you know high enrollment. Um

10:09so then if you want to do the big reveal

10:11um we have announced the dates for this

10:14coming summer. Now folks have to you

10:17know there's some concerns about snow

10:19days and whatnot and so that's why we're

10:21starting after you know um the July 4th

10:24holiday. Obviously July 5th is the day

10:27that it'll be observed, but we'll be

10:28starting that week and um we'll have the

10:31break week in July. So hopefully

10:32families with this information now can

10:35start to plan, you [snorts] know, summer

10:37vacations and summer camps, which I know

10:40I am also registering my own children

10:42for in the next month or so. So

10:43hopefully this information is out there

10:45sooner.

10:48>> I think that's it.

10:48>> Back to you. I think

10:51>> new educator orientation.

10:52>> Oh, sure. I wasn't there for all of

10:54that.

10:55>> You were. I [laughter] can. Yes. So, we

10:57had a very exciting uh new educator

10:59orientation. Um it was an orientation

11:02here at the high school over the course

11:04of two days where we welcomed our new

11:05educators to APS. [snorts]

11:07Um we had a number of very excited um I

11:10would say new community members and they

11:14were um I would say the room was

11:17bustling with energy and also with a lot

11:19of great questions around um APS our

11:23priorities our structures that we have

11:25in place etc. Also, um, our curriculum

11:30directors also worked with our new

11:32educators as well, um, later on during

11:35that week as well over the course of a

11:37day and a half to two days where they

11:38were able to go a little bit more deeper

11:40into their content area. Um, and so they

11:43worked on things such as setting up

11:45Google Classroom, getting access to

11:46curriculum, and just making sure that

11:48they were um, supported and and and set

11:52up for for day one.

11:55>> I will agree. It was a brighteyed and

11:57joyful group and I appreciate all the

11:58work that the coordinators put into

12:00planning um for new teacher orientation

12:02along with Dr. Ford Walker. So we also

12:05had um in our leadup to the school year

12:07our all leader workshop time. We do two

12:10days with leadership with our full

12:12leadership team and that includes

12:14teacher leaders who join us for this. Um

12:16we had about 160 folks participating in

12:19this and for our second year um we were

12:22working with the lead book leading

12:24strategically and with Rachel Curtis who

12:26is one of the authors of that text. I

12:28actually had um have copies for school

12:30committee members as well of the book if

12:32you'd like it. Um it's an awesome read

12:34has some really actionable strategies

12:36for leaders to use and the leadership

12:38team has found it a very helpful

12:40resource which is why we came back to it

12:42this year. um dug into a couple other

12:44chapters in more depth and had Rachel

12:46join us again to facilitate. Rachel also

12:49um Rachel by the way happens to be the

12:51author um and happens to be an Arlington

12:53resident. So it works out well for us

12:55that she's very eager to serve the

12:57schools in the community where she lives

13:00um and that she is such an expert in

13:01strategic leadership. Uh so she also did

13:04a retreat with the cabinet team. We had

13:06an opportunity to try out some of the

13:08protocols that we were going to use at

13:09leadership workshop, reflect on that,

13:11and then adjust the plan for leadership

13:13workshop. Um, we had Rachel with us for

13:17day one. We did after action reviews of

13:19uh the school's priority work from last

13:21year. So, they pulled out last year's uh

13:23quality plans, talked about something

13:25that they had done um or planned to do,

13:28and then they did an afteraction review

13:29of that. Um afteraction review is

13:32basically a protocol process of

13:33reflecting back on what you have done

13:36and it's a process that we use as well

13:38on cabinet team in our meetings. Um we

13:41did a we had some discussion of leading

13:43strategically. Um every school

13:44identified a challenge that they've been

13:47facing and then did a root cause

13:48analysis of that challenge trying to

13:49kind of understand what's the problem

13:51beneath it. Um and then on day two we

13:54heard some examples from schools of some

13:56small actions that have had big impacts.

13:58That's one of the chapters in the book

14:00talks about taking small actions and

14:01then iterating on those and carefully

14:03studying them and watching how data

14:05moves. Um then they did team planning

14:07for some actions to address whatever

14:10challenge they were trying to unpack on

14:11day one. Um and then they got together

14:13with another group and engaged in some

14:16consultancy to give one another their

14:19thoughts on what their school might do

14:21to further their efforts and further

14:23their planning. It was a really

14:25productive and packed and uh dense

14:28couple of days. Everybody looked very

14:29tired at the end of them, which usually

14:31is our indication that it was effective

14:34and that um they're ready to go into the

14:36school year. But it's [clears throat] a

14:38tough time to sort of slow down and do

14:40your planning purposefully. And I'm

14:42really proud of the work that the team

14:43did. Um, I just wanted to share that uh

14:46we are we've for many years now had

14:49teacher leaders join us for these um and

14:52we have found that to be a really

14:54effective process. Here's just a few

14:55more of the things that they did and a

14:57picture of our opening circle and the MS

14:59leadership team um taking up two tables

15:02at leadership workshop this summer.

15:05And then on opening day [clears throat]

15:08um we had several speakers join us

15:10including town manager Jim Feny. Uh,

15:12Miss Gdlesson was there representing the

15:14school committee, Miss Maderos, our new

15:16A.E.A. president, um, Don Carney, our

15:19AAA president, and myself all spoke. And

15:21then we had a partnership panel. And I

15:23say partnership panel because our theme

15:24this year is strengthening inclusive

15:26systems by deepening partnerships. Um,

15:28that comes from the goals that we set

15:30last year that really focused on this

15:33uh, this desire to better understand

15:35what we mean when we talk about two-way

15:37partnership. um to to dig into some of

15:40the data and sometimes difficult

15:41conversations that we might want to have

15:42as a community about the work that our

15:45APS is doing. Feeling like we're ready

15:46for that. Um having gotten through some

15:48difficult conversations about budget

15:50last year uh for us to sort of dig in on

15:53things like relationships and how we

15:55build a shared understanding of the work

15:57we're doing in town. Um so the

15:59partnership panel had uh four students

16:01on it. Um two 12th graders and two nth

16:04graders which was a whole lot of fun.

16:06They shared some amazing work that they

16:08have done to partner with each other and

16:11with adults in their school communities

16:13to get things done in their school

16:15communities that they thought were

16:16important to them. So, it was a great

16:17way to highlight the the work that

16:20students do to partner with their

16:22teachers, their peers um to make change

16:24happen in their schools, which we have a

16:26lot of going on across all of our

16:29schools. And then we had a parent

16:30teacher pair. Um, so these this the last

16:34two were actually paired partnerships

16:37and the two different people in

16:39different roles were talking about their

16:41partnership with each other. So we had

16:42an APS parent Claire and an MS teacher

16:45Leanne talk about how they partnered to

16:47support Claire's student um as they

16:50entered into MS and got used to middle

16:54school. And then [snorts] uh Dr. Credle

16:56Thomas and Chief Flardy talked about a

16:59town school partnership that they have

17:00developed over many years um and talked

17:03about sort of long-term partnerships and

17:05how those can help you navigate

17:07challenging situations like community

17:08dialogues about race for example which

17:10is something that they have worked on

17:11together. Um so just from the top left

17:14around um there's a picture of our panel

17:18on opening day. Um our our sort of um

17:23space our additional space for folks on

17:26the forum stairs to listen in on opening

17:28day because we actually can't fit all

17:30the staff in the auditorium. That's how

17:31many people we have. So there's a

17:33spillover space on the forum stairs and

17:35they were all there um paying very close

17:38attention to the gigantic screen that's

17:39in the beautiful AHS cafeteria. And then

17:42we did um a shout out that was then on

17:45the news. I forget which channel

17:47station.

17:48>> GTV.

17:49>> Thank you. Um and uh we had that out

17:53front along with like a cheerin um

17:56tunnel cheer tunnel for the teachers as

17:57they came into the building on opening

17:59day. So it was a very um both Mr. Feni

18:03and Julie Weman who joined us from the

18:05town said that it was a very joyful vibe

18:07that it was really exciting to see

18:09everybody coming back to school with big

18:10old smiles on their faces and saying

18:12hello to colleagues. Um I think

18:14everybody's remarks were very much um

18:17highlighting the strength that we have

18:18in town on when it comes to building

18:20strong partnerships um and as well as

18:23helping inspire us to look for ways to

18:26take it even further. So, it was a great

18:28day, a great launch, and I had two

18:30people stop me at Hardy today just to

18:32tell me how great of a start to the

18:33school year they have had. Um, which

18:35tells me that this was a successful

18:37launch and that it's gone pretty well

18:38since then. Um, so, uh, for opening day,

18:42we also then had department meetings.

18:44Um, I won't say too much about these

18:46besides to say that the theme continued.

18:48Our administrators did an amazing job

18:51continuing to talk with educators in

18:52their respective departments and at

18:54their schools about how they are

18:56planning on building partnership this

18:58year. Uh the teachers at Pierce um on

19:01the second day talked about their

19:03school's strengths, areas for growth,

19:04and dreams for the future in an activity

19:06that helped the new principal get an

19:08idea of what it was the staff want to

19:10work on this year. And then teachers at

19:12Don were um did a really fun activity

19:14where they developed collective resumes

19:16to learn about one another's unique

19:18skills and areas of expertise which

19:20highlighted opportunities for

19:21partnership uh across the school. So

19:25some of our next steps for this year

19:27when it comes to this work around

19:29deepening our partnerships and being as

19:31responsive as we can to what the

19:32community is looking for, we're planning

19:34for our November PD um day and we will

19:37have Dr. Justin Reich, who is also an

19:39APS resident, um, and parent, an

19:42Arlington resident, APS parent. Um, and

19:45he is also the director of the teaching

19:46systems lab at MIT, author of several

19:49books on technology and education, an

19:52expert in research on AI and technology

19:54and education, and like I said, an APS

19:56parent. Um, so we're very excited to

19:58have him with us and to be thinking

20:00about a topic that's very much on

20:01people's minds these days. Um, and think

20:03about what it means in the context of

20:05Arlington and our values. We're

20:07collaborating with our CPAC and MLPAC

20:10friends to support some dialogues about

20:12topics that require sustained

20:13partnerships like bullying, discipline,

20:16um other topics. I want to say thank you

20:18to the CPAC chair, um Liz Mcuart, and

20:21some of our town colleagues who

20:22supported our efforts to get

20:24participants on that opening day panel.

20:26Um Liz was incredibly helpful, uh

20:28soliciting some interest from families

20:30who might want to talk about a

20:31partnership that's been really powerful

20:33for them. Um, we have we are working on

20:36expanding learning and discussion

20:38opportunities for families. We've

20:39expanded our partnership with cartwheel

20:41care to give more virtual parent

20:42learning opportunities that are catered

20:44specifically to what we've heard from

20:45families um they would like to learn

20:47about or have an opportunity to engage

20:49around. And we're planning for forums

20:52and discussion groups in partnership

20:53with the DEI task force and other parent

20:55organizations and additional events as

20:57well. So, we look forward to sharing

20:58more about that. And finally, of course,

21:01we're making sure that our staff and our

21:03leaders are learning about how to build

21:06partnership initiatives that allow us to

21:08continue improving instructional

21:09practice. So, all of these are all of

21:11the things that we have planned for the

21:13year align with our goals and we're very

21:15much looking forward to sharing more

21:17about all of them with you as we move

21:19through the year. We've had a very

21:20productive summer of planning,

21:22programming, um, and a lot of great

21:24feedback on the adjustments that we've

21:26made to some of our summer programming.

21:27We're happy to answer any questions.

21:30questions from the committee.

21:33Dr. Alison

21:34>> Nambi

21:45um so first question could

21:49>> Dr. Reich's talk

21:51>> I I can't see why not besides space.

21:53>> Well that's we could we could sit on the

21:55stairs. Well, um, let us do a little bit

21:57of an assessment of how many we think we

21:59will have in the room and which space

22:00we're going to use. I'm sure will be in

22:01the auditorium, but yeah, for sure.

22:03>> Cool.

22:04>> Um, and then going back to um the slide

22:10about how many people ex um attended

22:14extended year school year. It'd be

22:17helpful to know how many people

22:20were recommended, you know, in in

22:23comparison, not just how many attended

22:25because you were doing stuff to try and

22:28improve attendance and I can't tell from

22:31this. I mean, from from the historical

22:35data if it's improved or not because I

22:38don't know how many people were invited

22:40to attend.

22:41>> I'm sure we can get that to you. We've

22:42we've shared it in the past. It's

22:44>> also we usually share it in the spring,

22:47so

22:48>> it's who's invited and what not, but we

22:50can get that to you.

22:50>> Okay. Thanks.

22:53>> Any other questions?

22:56>> My only question was um I don't I think

22:58I had missed that you were doing the

23:00collaboration between the programming at

23:03Don and the Wreck. And I was just

23:05curious how that was working given that

23:08the rec wrecks a full day unlike the ACE

23:11programming which is divided in half.

23:13How does that work for students

23:16participating in that?

23:17>> Sure. So it was really a um partnership

23:20of opportunity because the wreck has

23:21been over at Don and as we had to

23:24identify a building that has air

23:26conditioning in the summer um and

23:29Thompson is already being used for the

23:32[snorts] other programming um that Dr.

23:34Ford Walker described. We met there was

23:36some concern about the full building

23:39being used because our custodial staff

23:41also works you know uh does a lot of

23:44work during the summertime whether it's

23:46not only just getting rooms prepared for

23:48the next year but it's an opportunity

23:50when they're working on other projects.

23:52So um this worked such that um if a

23:56student was attending so the thing about

24:00ESY which is different from the program

24:02Dr. Dr. Ford Walker described is

24:04students come based on individual

24:05services in their IEP. So you might only

24:08come for 30 minutes of reading twice a

24:11week on Monday and Wednesday morning or

24:13you might be coming for reading and

24:15writing you know four times a week for

24:1860 minutes. So right so every student

24:19has a different schedule. Okay.

24:21>> Um so Wreck was able to um you know say

24:25like if you're done you can come over

24:28because we're here. Um, and we also

24:30still partner with um, community ed,

24:32which we've done for years, that at

24:34noon, the buses that stop at every

24:36elementary school or pick up at the

24:38school and then stop around

24:39[clears throat] the town also stop at

24:41the high school and we'll drop off

24:42students who are um, participating in

24:45uh, community afternoon activities.

24:47>> Okay, that's great because I know I know

24:49of families who've like driven from

24:52private camps to pull their kids for an

24:54hour in the middle of the day. Mhm.

24:56>> So if if this helps [clears throat]

24:58everybody

24:59>> Yeah.

25:00>> make it more like less sort of clunky,

25:04that seems like a good thing.

25:08>> Anyone else?

25:10>> Okay, then we will continue with Miss

25:12Elmer and move on to the [clears throat]

25:13special education special education

25:16program update.

25:18>> Hold on one sec.

25:21Miss Elmer, just let me know when you

25:23need me to advance the slide.

25:30Go ahead.

25:30>> Sure. And you can start on the second

25:32one. So, thank you. Um, this is last

25:34year we or two years ago we presented to

25:37uh CIAA subcommittee. So, we haven't had

25:40a presentation um here for the full

25:42committee um last school year. So,

25:44welcome the opportunity to kind of

25:46reorient folks, new folks, and remind

25:48folks of our programming and um our

25:51department. Um, but what I wanted to

25:53really share is, you know, the

25:56understanding that we offer a broad

25:58continuum of special ed services. Um,

26:00and what we're seeing is a growing and

26:02increasingly diverse range of student

26:04needs in our school. And so as we look

26:06forward, we're looking to strengthen the

26:08systems and expertise and partnerships

26:10that make that continuum effective for

26:12students and families. Um, and so I you

26:16can advance it.

26:18Um

26:20what I hope tonight will convey again is

26:23the the range of the student population

26:25that we are serving as well as not only

26:28the services um but the breadth of those

26:32services but also how we're trying to

26:34strengthen the quality of instruction

26:36and both the expertise of our staff um

26:39and highlight you know the ways that

26:41we're building stronger systems for

26:42educators, students and families. um you

26:45know we've heard from the CPAC in in the

26:48past on their surveys that you know

26:49there's really great pock pockets of

26:51practice across the district and so you

26:53know our work to build those stronger

26:55systems so that we can have a more

26:56consistent experience for everybody

26:58across the district

27:00[clears throat]

27:01that so as a reminder um back in 2223 we

27:05did reorganize our department from

27:07special education to student services

27:09which does encompass special education

27:11nursing school counseling and SEAL

27:13you'll hear from nursing in school

27:15counseling incl. So tonight we'll focus

27:17on special education um as part of the

27:20student services department.

27:22And again this is just kind of um our

27:25leadership of the department. We have

27:26both special ed coordinators who are our

27:29um administrators in the department.

27:31They are um at the at the various

27:33levels. So high school um middle school,

27:36elementary and then the preschool. And

27:38then we have our team chairpersons. And

27:40while they are um Aea members, they do

27:43often act at the building level and for

27:45families as a a major point of contact.

27:47Um team chairpersons for folks who are

27:48not familiar with the special ed process

27:50are the ones who facilitate those IEP

27:52team meeting. And so those are the folks

27:54that we have across the district.

27:58And then it's always I know a a a

28:01glossery of um special [clears throat]

28:03ed terminology is always welcome. So

28:05this is on the um department website um

28:10on the district website but these are

28:12the different folks in our department um

28:14the different um staff. I I do want to

28:17highlight as part of that initial um

28:19comment that I shared to understand that

28:21the expertise that we do have within our

28:23departments. I I think sometimes folks

28:25don't realize the range of um training

28:27and specialties that we offer. In

28:30addition to um what you would special ed

28:33teachers rather those learning

28:34specialist or um liaison as may you know

28:37we also have uh a range of specialists

28:40across the district from augmentative

28:41and alternative communication assisted

28:44technology. We have board certified um

28:47behavior analysts. We have school social

28:50workers and school counselors. We have

28:52occupational therapists, physical

28:53therapists, school psychologists, speech

28:55and language pathologists. Um we also

28:58have a teacher of the visually impaired

28:59and orientation mobility specialist as

29:01well as a transition specialist. And

29:03those are all our staff and as well as

29:05contracted service providers that we

29:07work with to provide um services and

29:10supports uh an aiologist. We have home

29:13service providers and a teacher of the

29:14deaf and heart of hearing in addition to

29:16our pair professionals and the

29:17specialized support pair professionals.

29:21Um and in keeping with you know kind of

29:24trying to explain the continuum of

29:26services um [cough]

29:28[clears throat] I think we use terms

29:30like inclusion uh very broadly and when

29:32we really get down to it that even

29:34inclusion itself is not a placement um a

29:37constellation of a student's services

29:39make up their placement but broadly full

29:41inclusion as you'll hear is students who

29:44spend um no

29:47how it I want to just say it so it's

29:49easy to understand um that they spend um

29:53no less than 21% of the time outside of

29:56the general ed classroom. So for 80% of

29:58the time they are in their general ed

29:59classroom. Uh partial inclusion

30:01placement is anywhere between 20 to 60.

30:05So again they are still spending you

30:07know most of their day in um a general

30:09ed classroom. The substantially separate

30:12classrooms are what um you often hear of

30:14as our supported learning centers.

30:16However, individually students

30:19may be in the SLC, but they are in a,

30:23you know, an inclusion classroom. So,

30:25individually, students have different

30:27placements even if they're in a

30:28supported learning center. Um, and then

30:30we have students that we as a district

30:32provide placement for in separate day

30:34schools, whether those are private um

30:37special approved special ed schools or

30:39the public collaboratives. Um, most of

30:41you are familiar with lab, of which

30:42we're a member, but there are other

30:44public collaboratives that students

30:45attend as well. And then we do have some

30:47students that are placed in residential

30:49schools. Um, what folks might not know,

30:51there are other placements that are not

30:52determined by the district, such as

30:54homebound or hospitals, and those would

30:56be done by a doctor's order or if a

30:58student has been placed in a residential

31:00institutional facility. Those are what

31:02we call special ed and institutional

31:04setting. So students who are in the

31:06custody of the department of youth

31:08services, students who have been placed

31:10in, you know, a um a secure hospital

31:12facility, they're placed there by a

31:14governmental agency, but we are still

31:16the responsible party as the district of

31:18residents. Um and I I add this, you

31:22know, description of least in least

31:24restrictive environment because we hear

31:25it a lot. Again, it's not a singular

31:28place. It's an individual determination

31:29for each child. For one child, an

31:32inclusion placement may be the least

31:33restrictive. For another student, if we

31:35look at that continuum of services, it

31:37is in fact the substantially separate

31:39classroom or a separate day school. So,

31:41I I think you know LRE is not always

31:44inclusion is the takeaway um that I'd

31:46like folks to have.

31:49Um and just a breakdown of the uh

31:54student population here in Arlington. Um

31:57as a district we have uh you know over

31:591100 IEPs most of those are served in

32:02district um as you'll see um and then

32:05the breakdown of I just described full

32:07inclusion partial inclusion and

32:08subseppparate um out of district

32:10placement those are students that we

32:12have placed um again 49 of those

32:15students are placed by us and then that

32:17SEIS is that last group that I just

32:18explained that another governmental

32:20agency has placed those students um in a

32:23facility that we are still responsible

32:24for. There also is a requirement um in

32:27the state of Massachusetts, if a parent

32:30places their child in a private school

32:33>> [snorts]

32:33>> um and they are an IEP eligible student

32:36in Arlington, they can still receive

32:38those special ed services through us.

32:40And so we have about at this point in

32:42the year, that's why I've indicated that

32:44as of September 16th, that number

32:46changes throughout the year. We have

32:48about 20 families who, you know, may

32:50have placed their child at St. Agnes or

32:52they've placed them at, you know, a just

32:55a a not a special ed private school, you

32:57know, the fair weather school or

32:58something um and may access services

33:00from from us. Um the largest number of

33:03those are students at Monomonyy

33:05preschool, which I think, you know,

33:07seems pretty logical. Those kids might

33:09be in a private preschool, but then

33:10coming come to us just for a drop in

33:13service

33:13>> [snorts]

33:14>> um like speech or OT.

33:18Um I believe Dr. H. Homeman shared this

33:20data with you with enrollment. So this

33:23is really more just a reminder of how

33:24that breaks down. Um again this data was

33:28pulled on the 16th. Monottomy right now

33:31is has a small number because just want

33:33to remind folks that they have rolling

33:35admissions throughout the year. As

33:36children turn the age of three they

33:38become eligible um for special ed

33:41services. So throughout the year that

33:43number shifts and and changes. Um, as a

33:47reminder also, monotony is an integrated

33:49preschool. So these we serve students

33:51with disabilities and without. And so

33:53the the students who have IEPs are in

33:56classrooms that the integrated

33:58classrooms where no greater than 49% of

34:01the students have IEPs and 51% have um,

34:05you know, do not have disabilities. And

34:07so the classroom is 15 students. So

34:10seven and eight. So that number will

34:12grow for the IEPs as we move throughout

34:14the year.

34:16And I oh sorry just to go back one more

34:18um just to you know where you see the

34:20asterisks those are where we have the

34:22elementary um subsparate programs and so

34:25those IEP numbers reflect students who

34:27may not have been their neighborhood

34:29school might not be Don but they are at

34:31the Don because they um are receiving

34:33services through the um supported

34:36learning center um over there. So that

34:38just highlights those schools

34:41and I don't need to go through this

34:42because I feel like we've done

34:43presentations on this but these are

34:46those uh specialized programs that we

34:48have. We have what we call the reach or

34:50the SLCA which is for students primarily

34:52with autism spectrum disorders and

34:54related um communication disorders. We

34:57have what we call summit or the SLCB

34:59which is for students primarily

35:01identified with emotional impairment.

35:05Uh we have our compass program. Uh again

35:07SLCC if you're seeing a theme here. Um

35:10and the SLCC is um for students

35:13primarily with intellectual

35:14disabilities. And then um the newest

35:17program, but it's no longer new. I

35:19believe it was five years ago um is the

35:22SLCD or our students for uh program for

35:25students identified with um specific

35:27learning disabilities um in primarily

35:30reading, writing or a language

35:31impairment.

35:34Um, so I know there were questions um

35:36about, you know, how a parent may

35:39respond to an IEP. Um, and I just wanted

35:42to go over um when you have a team

35:45meeting, which has to occur annually.

35:47Um, at least annually, you can request,

35:51you know, another meeting, but at least

35:52annually, the district is meeting and

35:54they're going to propose a new IEP. Um,

35:57families can respond in a a variety of

35:59ways. You can accept the IEP as it's

36:02been developed. You can reject portions

36:04of the IEP. Um, and this is the language

36:07that's taken from the the consent that

36:10parents return or caregivers return. Um,

36:12or you can reject the IEP as full um in

36:16full. There's one other way in which an

36:18IEP becomes rejected, and that is

36:20because you have 30 calendar days to

36:23respond to an IEP. This is um set by the

36:25state. And so if a parent does not

36:28respond to the IEP at all within 30

36:30days, it is um effectively rejected um

36:34because it hasn't been responded to.

36:37When we receive notice of a rejected

36:40IEP, we have five days in which we have

36:43to send those rejections to the Bureau

36:45of Special Ed Appeals because that

36:47triggers them to send out a letter

36:49notifying people of their due process

36:51rights. Um, so we send a um rejected IEP

36:57to them if a parent selected two of the

37:00three up there. I reject a portion of

37:02the IEP or I reject the IEP in full. We

37:04also send a rejected IEP when they have

37:07not responded to the IEP. So, [snorts]

37:10um, I know there's been questions about

37:11the numbers. I just was able to pull um,

37:14for this presentation, we are starting

37:16the year with 109 that have just not

37:20been responded to. we're carrying those

37:22over. That's how we're starting the

37:23year. Um, and that three who either

37:26responded to I reject a following

37:28portion or I reject the entirety of the

37:31IEP. And so we do have processes where

37:34prior to that 30 days coming up, we're

37:36sending a notice like, hey, it's day 20.

37:40You know, your IEP remains unsigned. Um,

37:43when they do when that notice goes to

37:45the BSEA, they get a notice saying like,

37:47your IEP has been rejected. And for many

37:49families, they'll be like, "Oh, I didn't

37:50mean to do that." You know, and then we

37:52can go in and, you know, whatever their

37:54response is indicate that response. But

37:57those get sent to the Bureau of Special

37:59Ed Appeals. I know there was um on uh

38:02social media there was uh a count of

38:05those. Those are the manner in which we

38:07do that. The BSEA gathers that data and

38:10from across the state for all districts.

38:12Um, the other thing I will share is if

38:14you have an IEP meeting and you can say

38:17um

38:19uh so I reject the IEP and then there's

38:23another box that says and I'd like a a

38:25meeting to discuss my rejection. So the

38:28team will reconvene.

38:30We may say, you know what, yep, we'll

38:32add a different goal or we'll change

38:34this and propose a new IEP. if an

38:37individual rejects that IEP, we also

38:40send that in as a rejection. So if you

38:43know you've gone through a series of

38:45meetings um and you know we can't agree

38:48that you you know we don't believe that

38:50you require a onetoone um TA or we you

38:54know don't agree that you know this

38:56service is needed as frequently or

38:58whatnot that's getting sent in. So um I

39:01just want to also give that context to

39:03why a number will come back as rejected.

39:06Can I I'm gonna interrupt here just

39:07because um I had questions about this

39:11that 109. So that 112 that you have

39:16there,

39:17>> those are from last school year.

39:19>> So those so the 109 are carrying over

39:22from throughout last school year that

39:25remain that just are what remain

39:27unsigned. If it got signed, it's then

39:30been accepted.

39:31>> They just like live in limbo as

39:33>> so you have a right. So if you are

39:35already eligible,

39:37you then are you are on what is called

39:39your stay put or your placement pending

39:42appeal IEP. So if you are at your annual

39:45review and the district proposes, you

39:48know, we're going to increase this

39:50service and you don't respond, then we

39:52don't increase it. We stick with the

39:54last accepted IEP. If you reject because

39:57you wanted it increase and we said,

39:59"Nope, we believe you need it, you know,

40:012 time 30, not four time 30." and you

40:04reject the omission of that then we are

40:08we are on the stay put or the last

40:10accepted IEP. So do you know and if you

40:13don't like would it be possible to find

40:15out those that's 109 students or 109

40:19rejections

40:20>> those are 109 individual IEPs

40:23>> individual okay so students

40:25>> so do some percentage of them are

40:28receiving services despite

40:32>> them being counted as rejections

40:35>> yes

40:35>> do you have a hand okay

40:38>> well we could gather I will say that we

40:40do I know there's been a question about,

40:43you know, is it separated as I reject it

40:45for the omission of this versus I reject

40:47it. That it's not recorded that way

40:49because we recorded as a rejection and

40:51send it to the state. So unless you went

40:53through the individual, 1100 IEPs, you

40:56would have to individually look at each

40:58>> and then related because this was had

40:59been one of my other questions.

41:02So the number of total rejections that

41:05we're reporting and that like people can

41:08you know get the public records

41:10>> those

41:13multiple rejections

41:15can stand for one student. Yes.

41:17>> Right. And

41:20is there I guess I I sort of curious

41:23what the like my like like how many like

41:27I can't remember what the number was

41:28that got posted but like it was several

41:30hundred

41:31>> and

41:33>> I what I sort of really want to know is

41:35how many students are we talking about

41:38and is there any way to like get at that

41:43information?

41:44>> Yes, with a lot of individual analysis.

41:47So it's okay

41:48>> right because when we record it as you

41:51know it's recorded as rejected you know

41:54if it comes again that's another another

41:57one we've sent in right like so we are

42:00keeping

42:00>> it really depends on how many meetings a

42:03family might have in the course of the

42:06year what the potential

42:08>> sure and there's also times where we

42:10hold a meeting and you know the IEP has

42:13been issued and the parent might say hey

42:15you know what I [clears throat] you

42:17could we break that benchmark down into

42:20you know two like or that goal into

42:23three benchmarks instead of two and the

42:25team chair will say sure and that's not

42:28rejected right we'll issue a new IE

42:30we'll issue them an updated IEP and they

42:32can send that in and be and just accept

42:34it okay

42:35>> like so there is or there's a typo and

42:37they're like you know you're still

42:38carrying over that whatever from the

42:41last IEP so there like typographical

42:43administrative um you know uh

42:46corrections Those kind of things can all

42:47be resolved before you respond to an

42:50IEP. But you also have to respond within

42:5430 calendar days because that is what is

42:56um federally and uh state required.

43:00>> Okay.

43:01>> And we have talked and we'll keep

43:04looking at whether there's a tracking

43:07approach that we could take. We haven't

43:09it as Miss Elmer said it's not in data

43:12system to track it in that way. So, we'd

43:15have to go back through, but that

43:16doesn't mean that we can't take a look

43:18at whether we would have the ability to

43:21to track it,

43:23>> like what kind of rejection it is. I

43:25also think that there is a pretty I

43:28mean, that's a dramatic difference in

43:30what's non-response versus what's

43:33rejected.

43:34>> Um, I do think there is a pretty

43:37dramatic difference in the way that

43:38different districts are looking at the

43:40regulation. That's my next question. and

43:42how to the letter they are about a

43:4430-day non-response being an effective

43:47rejection which is per the law how it is

43:50defined. Okay. Um, and so

43:55we could use some clarity on that from

43:58frankly BSEA. Um, and we'll potentially

44:01seek that out. But it is, you know,

44:05possible that the way that we're

44:07reporting, which is pretty to the

44:10letter, is not the way every district is

44:12reporting. And anecdotally, I can tell

44:13you it is not the way every district.

44:15>> Yeah. No, it's a requirement. So, you

44:17know, I think that was part of some of

44:18the online discourse of other

44:21respondents saying like, well, my

44:23district is extremely low. They're

44:25they're under reporting their

44:27rejections. Um, and I think there's also

44:29a piece of, you know, again, within the

44:33social media um post itself, there was a

44:36lot of, you know, advocacy around you

44:38should never fully accept an IEP because

44:40then you lose your right to contest any

44:43portion of it. So there's also I think

44:45you know what you see is in certain

44:47communities where there's a higher

44:48degree of advocacy you may see more

44:50rejections because of its you know a

44:53strategic

44:54>> which is not to say there's not

44:55something

44:56>> I guess my my question is more I mean

44:59that's helpful I would love to have a

45:01better sense of

45:04and this may be like just this to get

45:07this information may require like a

45:09level of like individual like assessing

45:12you know of each IEP that is we have to

45:15decide what you know whether we want to

45:17devote the resources to. What I would

45:21love to have a better sense of is how

45:24many students are like

45:28these sort of the gradation of these

45:30rejections and like how many families

45:33are like really like saying we're not

45:36getting you know anything.

45:38>> It would only happen on an initial. So

45:40unless you have an initial IEP and you

45:43don't accept it, like either you don't

45:45respond to the initial, it's the very

45:47first time you've gotten an IEP, if you

45:50don't respond to that or you reject it

45:51in full, that would be when you are not

45:54accessing any services because you don't

45:55have any of those quote stateput

45:58>> services in place. So anybody else at an

46:01annual, you already have an IEP, right?

46:03Because you've been found eligible and

46:04now it's a year out or it's the

46:05following year out. And so those annuals

46:08are for [clears throat] everybody who

46:09already has an active IEP. So the only

46:11ones that would not be without service

46:14would be anyone on an initial.

46:17>> Okay. So I guess I'm curious about that

46:20as well.

46:22>> Um uh Dr. Alison

46:25Mr. Schl.

46:26>> Okay. I I'm with you on what's going on.

46:29The one piece of data that I'm

46:31interested in is tracking those 109 uh

46:34rejected nonresponse because I

46:37understand there are people in there who

46:40just didn't bother to send it back or it

46:42got put on the shelf or something and

46:44that when they get the letter from the

46:46state or some sort of notification as

46:48they'll sign it and send it back. So

46:50having some way to track the decline of

46:53that number of rejected nonresponses

46:56from that 30-day deadline to maybe a

46:59month or two out would be very helpful.

47:03>> So we we have it. So this is like I said

47:05this is if somebody accepts the IEP

47:09quote gets moved to

47:11>> the accepted spreadsheet so to speak,

47:14right? So um you know that's not the

47:17totality of non-responded ones from last

47:20year. That's just for the purposes of

47:22this presentation. Uh Dr. Hman had asked

47:25me to gather the information. That's

47:28what we're starting the year with as

47:31outstanding. Um,

47:33>> but it was sort of helpful to us looking

47:36at this to see how much that nonresponse

47:41declines because that would tell us one

47:44of a couple of things that people just

47:47are putting the paper aside and

47:50>> need a little more of a reminder to get

47:52it in versus we have to work a little

47:55harder at gaining

47:58uh an acceptance of the IEP. And those

48:02are two different issues which we could

48:03probably both help you with uh in terms

48:06of

48:06>> Sure. And I I think within them there's

48:08probably individual cases where if you

48:10don't like the proposal,

48:12>> you don't respond to it because then

48:14you're staying put to that greater.

48:18>> So there will be some individual

48:19consideration, but we can get you the

48:20total numbers.

48:21>> Well, that's certainly telling us

48:22something if they're not responding

48:24because there's something they don't

48:25like. But I what I'm really interested

48:28in is how many of that 109 seems like a

48:30high number. And what I'm really

48:32interested in is how many of those

48:35decline based uh pretty rapidly based on

48:39Oh my god, I forgot to say.

48:41>> So that's represents a less than 10% but

48:44yes.

48:45>> Yeah.

48:45>> Yeah. Dr.

48:48Just in terms of the tracking, I

48:50understand that it sounds like there's

48:52no way to do it in the system, but it

48:55seems like it's easy enough to have

48:58someone designated as the record keeper

49:01who has a list where

49:03>> we do we have that. I I think the

49:04analysis piece is what we're referring

49:06to. Well, [clears throat]

49:08>> I'm talking about trying to track how

49:11many are

49:14rejections of the same IEP, multiple,

49:18>> right? So, our administrative assistants

49:19are the ones who are tracking the

49:22returns and then they're the ones who

49:24are sending out the reminders and

49:25whatnot. Um, and so again, this level of

49:29analysis, if you want us to conduct it,

49:31we we can do that. We don't have a

49:34designated data person who can go

49:35through that, but we will we can gather

49:37that for you.

49:39>> Yeah, I guess I was just trying to say

49:41that it doesn't seem that ownorous that

49:44you know if there's a rejection you put

49:46the name down, you put the reason that

49:50it was, you know, it's one, two, three,

49:52or didn't respond. And then if it comes

49:56back, what I'm trying to get at is to

50:00identify is it the same IEP which keeps

50:04turnurning

50:06or if it's multiple people with

50:10different IEPs. I mean multiple students

50:12with different IEPs.

50:17>> If there are any other questions, we can

50:19go back [laughter] to the next slide.

50:21>> Yeah. Um Okay. hard pivot.

50:24>> Sorry,

50:25>> hard pivot.

50:26>> Um u and so yeah, one of the other

50:28Sorry, I lost my screen now. Um one of

50:31the other um things that as I said when

50:33we started out, we also wanted to

50:34highlight the work that we are doing um

50:37to you know build the expertise of our

50:40staff because not only do we have a lot

50:42of highly qualified specialists um and

50:44teachers but you know there are the

50:46training that we provide is also um very

50:49high quality. We I believe um well we

50:54started off with some of the work that

50:55was done over the summer but over the

50:56last two years since we presented last

50:58time um this is some of the uh the

51:01larger work of the department.

51:02Individuals will in you know will go to

51:05you know PD maybe very specific to an OT

51:08or whatnot but this is just kind of a

51:10broad overview of the work as the

51:11department that we've been doing over

51:13the last two years where we have

51:15partnered with our uh ELA department. Um

51:19we invested several years ago um through

51:22actually a special ed grant to train um

51:25an IND district uh um staff member as a

51:28Wilson trainer so that we can offer the

51:30training and certification in district.

51:32So for the last several summers we've

51:34been offering that three-day overview

51:36training that's open to anybody in the

51:37district. You can be a gened teacher

51:39special ed teacher you can be a prior

51:41professional. We've even had some

51:42administrators [snorts] uh who wanted to

51:44learn about the Wilson reading uh

51:46program participate in that three-day

51:47training. And then we run a practicum

51:50cohort um and so our um trainer Jackie

51:53Ureli who is also a reading coach in the

51:56district. She oversees the practicum of

51:59five staff members. Um the the practicum

52:01is for

52:03uh special educators or reading

52:05specialists and that leads to the level

52:07one certification um in Wilson. Um, I've

52:11shared this before. Um, we've

52:13participated the special ed coordinators

52:16and those team chairpersons, our

52:17leadership team, um, has participated in

52:20Metro West mediation training. Um, and

52:23this is the 30-hour training that

52:25complies with the state judicial court

52:28um, uh, uniform train. So, folks who

52:31wanted to be a mediator in the um, court

52:33system have to complete this training.

52:36We have run this, we did it um several

52:38years ago and trained folks and now we

52:39had a substantial number of newer folks

52:42whether coordinators and team chairs and

52:43so we had another cohort take the

52:45initial training last year and then

52:46throughout the year um we offer

52:48refreshers directly with the Metro West

52:50team and again we don't run mediations

52:53per se in the legal sense that those of

52:56you who are attorneys understand

52:57mediation but what we have found is that

52:59those skills around being able to

53:02navigate difficult conversation come to

53:04consensus generate ideas. Those are the

53:06transferable skills that we want our

53:08team chairpersons and uh special ed

53:10coordinators to have. Um again with the

53:13ELA department, we've provided RAO RAO

53:16training to our learning specialist and

53:18special ed uh that should say reading

53:21specialists and special ed teachers. I

53:22apologize. Um and that is a specific uh

53:26reading program. Um that we did that

53:28last year. This year we followed up with

53:30that same group of folks um who again

53:33same typo um reading specialists and

53:36special ed teachers with the cube 3

53:38assessment which is a um newer

53:40assessment for comprehension and we're

53:43excited about that um that while we

53:45continue to use our dibbles this um

53:48offers um more more dimensions on

53:51comprehension skills and goes up through

53:53eighth grade. So we did train folks

53:54through the eighth grade. Um, another

53:57thing that we're doing this year and we

53:58were able to also partner with our both

54:01the Addison and the high school but also

54:03our health and wellness department um

54:06around a healthy relationships

54:08curriculum that is specifically for um

54:10students with intellectual disabilities

54:12and that's a curriculum that's around

54:14consent and boundaries and

54:15decision-making and healthy

54:16relationships. Um there will be also a

54:19parent uh training this year um about

54:21the program as we roll it out. So folks

54:24were just trained at the start of the

54:25year. Um we continue to work with Dr.

54:28Melissa Orin who many of you know who is

54:32um a developmental psychologist but um

54:34specifically in the areas of you know

54:36reading and language acquisition. Um she

54:39worked with during last year's um early

54:42release time for elementary. Any staff

54:44member could sign up. We had a whole

54:46host of um opportunity uh topics that

54:49folks could sign up for. So we had

54:50general educators, we had special

54:52educators working with Dr. Oregon. Um

54:55and then we've also been working with um

54:58Alan Bloom and his organization around

55:00creating datadriven um IEPs. And so our

55:04special ed teachers and related service

55:06providers worked with them throughout

55:07last year. And then we also have

55:09consultation with a number of

55:11organizations. Um and so um our

55:15subsparate programs that I mentioned

55:17earlier, the supported learning centers,

55:18we have Landmark, um outreach, which is

55:21affiliated with the Landmark School,

55:23they work with our SLCD program. Um the

55:26New England Center for Children, um

55:28works with our uh REACH or SLCA programs

55:31as well as the SLCC program. And then

55:33Walker partnerships which are affiliated

55:35with the Walker School um work with um

55:38the uh SLCB or summit programs which are

55:42those programs for students with um

55:44emotional impairment.

55:47Um I think our last um announcement is

55:51and this might aid with some of that

55:52data piece that um you've been asking

55:55about. Um we are this year initiating a

55:58smallcale implementation of Lilyad

56:00software. We've been using um ED plan or

56:03what folks know as easy IEP for at least

56:06the 13 years that I've been here and my

56:08understanding is I I believe it was we

56:10transitioned to probably 15 years ago.

56:13Um and what we've realized is that you

56:17know working with the software and

56:20whatnot that was developed that long ago

56:22there's only so much um enhancement and

56:25whatnot that can do whereas this this

56:27newer software and this newer

56:29partnership with Lilyad um offers more

56:32opportunities um for you know utilizing

56:35I would say more current technologies um

56:38and software to to make the process more

56:41efficient and helpful. Um we are going

56:43to be implementing that at the high

56:45school Hardy Thompson and Monotony with

56:48the plan to roll it out completely next

56:50year. Um we are still in the transition

56:52so folks are still using ed plan but um

56:55our staff are excited about this. It

56:58also um is providing our translation um

57:02for special ed documents. um we had used

57:07for years um outside um translation

57:10companies where we have to send our

57:11document out to them. They're the ones

57:13who do the translation with a human

57:15reader which is a requirement of the

57:16state. This um has it built in with the

57:19human reader capacity. Um so both that's

57:22going to be a cost savings to us um by

57:25combining the two um services through

57:27both the um IEP process and then

57:30translation through the single company.

57:32There's I mentioned integration with the

57:34Google workspace which we think will

57:36streamline um some of those workflows

57:38and the enhanced data reporting and

57:40management tools

57:42>> [snorts]

57:42>> um that it offers. So we're excited

57:44about that. Um and again just to

57:47conclude um you know the things that

57:49we're looking forward to build on is

57:50that continuum of services that I I

57:53described um you know ranging from both

57:56full inclusion to the highly specialized

57:58programs we have as well as out of

57:59district programming continuing to build

58:01the capacity and expertise of our

58:03educators. Um and then working on those

58:06systems um so that we can help build you

58:09know stronger family partnerships,

58:11better data and clearer processes um so

58:14that we can make it more um you know a

58:17more efficient and um seamless process

58:20for staff

58:22>> and

58:24questions.

58:27>> Any other uh Mr. Carden?

58:29>> Sure. Um, so I'm not sure what what I

58:32was here at the last meetings. It was a

58:34discussion about uh what prompted this

58:36this presentation and the asks. Um, but

58:38I did want to ask you about I know

58:40you're not prepared, but about staff

58:41turnover and it looks like we still have

58:44had, you know, significant turnover with

58:46the team chairs. Um, I know one was from

58:49a retirement, but it seems like some of

58:50the others have have churned. Are you

58:52still seeing problems with that or

58:54what's the current status of staff

58:56turnover?

58:57Um so I I think um

59:00>> we'll include it.

59:01>> Mr. Spiegel was going to later doing a

59:04report in a future meeting. Um you know

59:06I do think that this is not something

59:08unique to Arlington. What we know

59:09nationally that um special education in

59:13particular does have a a high turnover

59:15rate. Um some of the turnover is also

59:17the um we've added staff, right? So we

59:20have new staff because we've added

59:22positions as well. Um, as far as the

59:25team chairpersons, um, we did have new

59:29staff starting at in the middle of the

59:31year last year, I think is what you're

59:33referring to. Um, specifically, we had,

59:36um, and our coordinators, um, actually

59:39have been relatively [clears throat]

59:41consistent with the addition of we last

59:44year we reported on this, we created

59:46more positions by splitting that Gibbs

59:49and Addison role. Um but we did have a

59:51longtime coordinator leave um to move on

59:53to another opportunity with the deesse.

59:56Um so if you know you're shaking,

59:59>> but if you let me just say all the team

1:00:02chairs who were here at the end of the

1:00:05year last year are still here this year.

1:00:08So we did have a midyear hire last year

1:00:11and I believe we had a hire at the

1:00:13beginning of last year if I can remember

1:00:16right. Um but um but otherwise working

1:00:20>> that so we reported on that the hire at

1:00:23the high school was because the team

1:00:24chair went to become a dean. Um so some

1:00:28of that but if you're going to do

1:00:29another presentation on this we can get

1:00:32you

1:00:32>> we're going to do role based give you a

1:00:33role based report when he does the

1:00:35>> great

1:00:37>> uh Miss Xton.

1:00:39>> Uh thank you. Um so first I just wanted

1:00:43to say thank you for this presentation.

1:00:45Um, as you mentioned at the beginning,

1:00:47it's been a long time since we've had uh

1:00:49a special educa uh education

1:00:51presentation to the full committee. Um,

1:00:55I have a few comments and then I have a

1:00:56question at the end. Um, first I

1:00:59appreciate all the details about the

1:01:01professional development. I think

1:01:02there's a lot of intentional work

1:01:04happening in the district it looks like

1:01:06especially around reading um which I'm

1:01:09glad that you shared. I'd love to know

1:01:12um at a future presentation some of the

1:01:15um PD or if you've thought about PD for

1:01:17some of the other um SLC's um and the

1:01:21needs there. Um

1:01:24the uh I like Mr. Carden I have some

1:01:28sort of questions and comments about the

1:01:30retention and I think one of the things

1:01:33that I see happening and I don't know if

1:01:36Mr. Spiegel can include this when he

1:01:37gives his presentation is that people

1:01:40aren't necessarily leaving the district,

1:01:42but they're changing their role. And so

1:01:45a team chair is no longer the team chair

1:01:48at the same school. And so well to the

1:01:51district, it's not a turnover to a

1:01:53family that is no longer their team

1:01:55chair. And so I think it feels

1:01:58like a like turnover to a family when

1:02:01it's not necessarily a number that the

1:02:02district is counting. So I don't know if

1:02:03there's a way for Mr. be able to include

1:02:07those kinds of transitions to help us

1:02:09better understand where it's truly

1:02:12turnover and where it's um it feels like

1:02:15turnover

1:02:17um at a school or to a family because

1:02:19they're seeing a different face um at a

1:02:21team meeting every year. Um

1:02:25I and then I just wanted to so first of

1:02:28all thank you a lot of the information

1:02:30here was from questions that I had been

1:02:31asking. Um at the same time part of um

1:02:36what I think we've been hearing from

1:02:38these department presentations is sort

1:02:40of a win or a success or something

1:02:43that's um that's gone well. And um as an

1:02:47example, last spring when um teachers

1:02:51were advocating for their specialist

1:02:52positions, we heard about um a put a

1:02:57specialist at um Stratton who does like

1:03:00a small group art class for um students

1:03:03in the SLCA there. Um and it sounded

1:03:06really exciting and I wanted to know

1:03:07more about it and is it happening at all

1:03:09the programs? Um we got some other great

1:03:11news about Stratton today. So I guess my

1:03:14question is um are there initiatives or

1:03:18programs um that have happened in the

1:03:21last year or two that um the department

1:03:24is particularly proud of or has seen um

1:03:27real benefits from?

1:03:30>> Um sure. So you we've actually had some

1:03:33of those folks present to you here. So,

1:03:35you've learned about the um partnership

1:03:38that we have with Macy, which is a

1:03:40concurrent concurrent inclusive

1:03:42enrollment with um the Middle Sex

1:03:45Community College. And that's actually

1:03:47something that we continue to provide

1:03:49students an opportunity for that

1:03:51post-secondary experience that they

1:03:53wouldn't otherwise receive. Um also,

1:03:56we've had folks present from the um cafe

1:04:00and the opportunities that were there.

1:04:02So, I I think you know, Dr. home and

1:04:03we've tried to spread them out more and

1:04:07do individual presentations so we can

1:04:08think about how we might want to, you

1:04:11know, highlight those either throughout

1:04:13the year or um

1:04:15>> What are you proud of, Miss Elmer?

1:04:17>> So, I I think I'm we're proud of the

1:04:18work that our folks have done. We've,

1:04:21you know, I the takeaway I would like

1:04:24folks to realize is the range of

1:04:25students, the number of students that we

1:04:27have, the range of needs that students

1:04:28have that we are meeting in district. Um

1:04:31you can see that we're a district that

1:04:32serves about 1100 IEPs and only 49 of

1:04:36those are in out of district placements.

1:04:38So I think we offer really strong

1:04:40programming. Um our subsearate programs

1:04:43are uh really strong. Um the SLCD, you

1:04:49know, we've watched it grow at the

1:04:51levels. Um and I think that, you know,

1:04:54speaks to

1:04:56folks students staying in the district

1:04:58because they're getting their needs met.

1:04:59So I think those would be

1:05:01>> big takeaways.

1:05:02>> Can I add one? Um you've done some

1:05:06really purposeful work with the

1:05:07principles around some of the

1:05:11um SLC programming

1:05:14uh like just definitions and

1:05:17understanding of what the referral

1:05:19process is. Do you want to talk a little

1:05:20bit about that work?

1:05:22>> Um sure. So I mean I think that again in

1:05:24offering that continuum of services you

1:05:27know the understanding how we can both

1:05:30use our indistrict expertise to support

1:05:33students that they don't have to leave

1:05:34their neighborhood school you don't have

1:05:36to go over to Don to get the support of

1:05:38a social worker right I mean I think

1:05:40over the years one of the things that we

1:05:42discussed in the budget process and with

1:05:43the Aea um case load committee work is

1:05:46that we have been increasing the number

1:05:48of special ed staff across the district

1:05:50and you know being intentional in um you

1:05:54know making sure that supports are in

1:05:57the school so that they can reach the

1:05:59students where they are so they don't

1:06:01have to move across town or you know

1:06:03leave their neighborhood or you know the

1:06:06friends that they have you know they can

1:06:08still have those opportunities of

1:06:09walking to and from school together

1:06:10rather than being on a bus that takes

1:06:12you across town. So I think some of

1:06:14refining those processes and and being

1:06:17clear about a when a student needs that

1:06:19level of support but also working with

1:06:22schools who may be you know struggling

1:06:24to meet a student's needs but providing

1:06:27support from the expertise we have in

1:06:29districts whether that's through

1:06:30consultation from the program staff or

1:06:32whatnot is something that we've been

1:06:34working with particularly at the

1:06:36elementary level.

1:06:40I just had two specific questions just

1:06:42to make sure I'm un um well one is

1:06:43actually about the SLCD. So is there

1:06:46like we now have SLCD across elementary

1:06:50or the Pierce, the Gibbs and the

1:06:53Addison?

1:06:54>> Are we anticipating that? Like what what

1:06:57is going on at the high school level or

1:06:59what do you see possibly going on at the

1:07:02high school? Yeah, I I don't think we

1:07:04currently do not have plans to expand it

1:07:06next year be in large part because the

1:07:10supports and services are supposed to be

1:07:11building the students skills and

1:07:12abilities to generalize this. We also

1:07:14offer and you've um seen in other

1:07:16presentations and heard like extensive

1:07:18co-eing at the high school. So, you

1:07:21know, really making sure that students

1:07:23have those foundational reading skills

1:07:25and have also learned, you know,

1:07:27strategies to generalize that to other

1:07:28content areas. You know, I think

1:07:30primarily at the elementary, we're

1:07:32looking at really explicit instruction

1:07:34around reading, you know, um but as they

1:07:37get older, it's about generalizing those

1:07:39skills to other content areas and making

1:07:42sure that the teachers, so it's not just

1:07:43the student, but the teachers are able

1:07:45to generalize those strategies. And so,

1:07:47you know, the high school has been

1:07:49doing, I mean, they've probably had

1:07:52co-eing

1:07:54the longest and also across, you know,

1:07:57more departments and more areas. So you

1:08:00know we have been servicing students

1:08:03through that model. Um you know well we

1:08:07since we don't have a program right so

1:08:08the students are you know getting

1:08:10service through that model and also a

1:08:12number of the

1:08:13>> private schools that actually

1:08:15>> service a students stop around 8th grade

1:08:17as well because of the idea that like

1:08:19you're taking these skills and ideally

1:08:22learning to you know translate them into

1:08:25you know so like the Carol school for

1:08:26example ends at grade 8. there was a

1:08:28ninth grade transitional year but it's

1:08:30not actually a nth grade year. So um you

1:08:33know our model and our work with

1:08:34Landmark is similar where they really

1:08:36believe the region Landmark has an

1:08:38outreach program is because they think

1:08:40that you know the work can be done in

1:08:42the um public schools and so they've

1:08:44been a great partner with us for four or

1:08:47five years now. And then my last

1:08:49question is just clarification. when you

1:08:51showed the data on I think it said that

1:08:54we have 70 students who are in the

1:08:57substantial the subsparate

1:09:00classrooms and my so but if and in those

1:09:0470 students that is a range of like how

1:09:08many of those students are all spending

1:09:10their entire day in those classrooms

1:09:13versus

1:09:14>> so that's the part where if you look at

1:09:16the previous slide of the continuum of

1:09:18services

1:09:19>> uh

1:09:19>> and you look at substantially separate.

1:09:21Those are students who spend greater

1:09:23than 60% of their time outside of

1:09:26general ed. So those those are the 70

1:09:28students in our district

1:09:30>> that spend greater than 60%. So again,

1:09:33>> okay,

1:09:33>> 70 of the 100 and what is it 1100 um

1:09:37that I cited uh earlier are outside of

1:09:41the general and classroom for greater

1:09:42than 60% of the day. Everyone else is in

1:09:45those other um that range that continuum

1:09:48of partial and full inclusion. and

1:09:50you'll see the majority of them are in

1:09:51full inclusion.

1:09:52>> So I guess part of my question is when

1:09:54you look at the SLCD at the elementary

1:09:56level that's six students

1:09:59>> and not all of them are subspparate.

1:10:02>> Okay. That's okay. That that is

1:10:04>> right. Exactly. So you can be at the

1:10:06SLCA at Stratton but you are spending

1:10:10you know anywhere from 40 to 20% of your

1:10:13day you know in the subsparate classroom

1:10:16but you're in inclusion that other 80%.

1:10:19Okay.

1:10:19>> I think that's Dr. Ho and I have talked

1:10:22about this that that's yes, wrapping

1:10:24their heads around that is what's

1:10:25confusing because it's really

1:10:26individual. What confuses folks I think

1:10:29about how we talk about a continuum of

1:10:31service because and I have [snorts]

1:10:34shifted in because a lot of people will

1:10:36come to Arlington from other districts

1:10:37including myself and be confused about

1:10:40the fact that we have programs that

1:10:43serve a substantially a population of

1:10:46students with substantially separate

1:10:47services.

1:10:48But the number of students listed as

1:10:51having substantially separate services

1:10:53per whatever their IEP grid says on our

1:10:56data on Dusty's website doesn't line up

1:10:59with the number of students we say are

1:11:00program affiliated.

1:11:01>> Right. Yes.

1:11:02>> And what I think I have learned from

1:11:05like kind of watching how our programs

1:11:07operate over the years is that there is

1:11:09a huge benefit to having some students

1:11:12who have partial inclusion or full

1:11:14inclusion [clears throat] have access to

1:11:17some of the services that are in the

1:11:20program specific to a particular

1:11:22disability profile. and that that can

1:11:25create a partial inclusion situation

1:11:28that is the least restrictive

1:11:29environment for them and does not

1:11:31require them to have a more restrictive

1:11:33IEP and that's positive and having that

1:11:37full continue having something of a

1:11:38spectrum of service like at Stratton for

1:11:40example allows a student who maybe is

1:11:43sub had does have a really substantially

1:11:45separate IEP and does spend most of

1:11:47their day outside the school to move

1:11:49towards a le a less restrictive

1:11:51environment over the course of their

1:11:52elementary time which we have seen

1:11:53students do. So that approach to

1:11:58programs is different from how some

1:12:00other districts do this. They will

1:12:02basically say unless you have an IEP

1:12:05that articulates 60% or more of your day

1:12:08spent in this classroom, you are not

1:12:10eligible for the program.

1:12:12>> I would say largely in those settings,

1:12:14the IEP is written for the program, not

1:12:16the student. And so we are trying to

1:12:18write the IEP for the student. So the

1:12:22six kids at purists do not have the same

1:12:25IEP.

1:12:26>> Okay, thank you.

1:12:28>> But that can create like that can make

1:12:30it hard, which is part of why Alison's

1:12:31done the work with the principles to

1:12:34sort of wrap your head around the

1:12:37program, its boundaries. And so there's

1:12:40a desire for us to talk more about that.

1:12:42I think it's it's worth the discussion

1:12:44because we've talked about it a lot and

1:12:46it has helped our principles to have a

1:12:48space where they can discuss with the

1:12:50coordinators what the process is for

1:12:52determining

1:12:54the appropriate services for a student

1:12:56given the resources at the school the

1:12:59resources at a school with program the

1:13:01profile of the student and they can

1:13:02truly build each IEP around the student

1:13:05which is ultimately the goal. Well, and

1:13:07I think the other aspect of that is like

1:13:10helping families understand that because

1:13:14there it is

1:13:16people want what they think is best for

1:13:18their kids and we like it is hard to

1:13:22understand what is possible.

1:13:25I think from the perspective you're

1:13:27describing it makes a lot of sense to

1:13:29treat these things as individually and

1:13:33it it makes it more complicated and it

1:13:35probably like makes for better outcomes.

1:13:37But if you're on the other side of like

1:13:39just starting this process or in the

1:13:42[clears throat] middle of a process with

1:13:43a kid who you have really big concerns

1:13:45about, I think it is confusing um to

1:13:50like know what you should be asking for

1:13:52or accepting.

1:13:56Okay, thank you for all of that.

1:14:00Um, we are now going to move on to the

1:14:02buffer zone report. Okay.

1:14:06It's a very

1:14:08different topic. All right. Let's talk

1:14:10about buffer zones and enrollments.

1:14:13So, I always like to start with a little

1:14:15bit of context about what this report is

1:14:18for anybody paying attention who does

1:14:21not live in a buffer zone and has not

1:14:22requested to go to a particular school

1:14:24based on the fact that they live in a

1:14:25buffer zone. Um, and then we'll talk

1:14:27about uh buffer assignments for this

1:14:29school year and family preference trends

1:14:32um that I took a look at uh based

1:14:34primarily on some questions that I've

1:14:35gotten in prior um presentations. uh how

1:14:38we went about balancing schools in

1:14:40sections and any findings we have

1:14:41related to that and then we can have a

1:14:43quick discussion. So um I just want to

1:14:45go over what well first buffer zones are

1:14:48zones between the elementary schools um

1:14:52that if if you live within we ask you

1:14:55when you register which of the two

1:14:57schools you might you prefer your child

1:14:59go to um we use that information to some

1:15:03extent um to make a determination. The

1:15:06biggest weights though are whether or

1:15:07not there's a sibling already attending

1:15:09the school. Um, and whether or not there

1:15:11are significant family circumstances

1:15:13that have an impact on your ability to

1:15:15have strong attendance at school. Um,

1:15:17and so we primarily though use the

1:15:20buffer zones to make sure that our

1:15:22classes are as balanced as possible and

1:15:23our schools are as balanced as possible.

1:15:24And those can sometimes be competing

1:15:26tensions which I'll talk about. Um, our

1:15:28goals for this school year were to keep

1:15:30alleviating some of the enrollment in

1:15:32space pressures at Thompson, um, which

1:15:34we've been able to effectively do, which

1:15:36is great. Uh, we have continued some of

1:15:38our shifting of METCO enrollment to Don

1:15:40and Pierce, which now have booming

1:15:42programs and are very much enjoying

1:15:44working with our METCO team um to make

1:15:47sure that they have a great experience

1:15:48at school. that had been at Hardy and

1:15:51Bishop, which are two of the schools

1:15:52that are absorbing some of the um

1:15:55enrollment strain that Thompson had been

1:15:56feeling over the last several years.

1:15:58We're keeping an eye on the Thompson

1:16:00buffer zones um and doing proactive

1:16:03placement towards the west side of town

1:16:04throughout the buffer process starting

1:16:06at the very beginning. We sort of set

1:16:07that strategy uh at the beginning of the

1:16:09year and then we're working on balancing

1:16:11elementary class sizes as much as we can

1:16:13while making sure that we are using

1:16:15resources as efficiently as we can um

1:16:17for cost reasons. So the um policy

1:16:21manual states that we will do a buffer

1:16:24zone report every year and so that is

1:16:27this report. [clears throat]

1:16:29Um so I want to start with a buffer

1:16:32breakdown by grade level. So this year

1:16:34we had 103 students living in buffer

1:16:37zones. That's the least over the last

1:16:39three years. That's the lowest number

1:16:41we've had for the past three years. We

1:16:42did have kind of a boom year a couple of

1:16:44years ago where we for some reason had a

1:16:46lot of people move into buffer zones. um

1:16:48and register their students. I do want

1:16:50to

1:16:50>> quick question is is this total number

1:16:53of students residing or people

1:16:55registering?

1:16:56>> This is the total number of people who

1:16:58registered and their child lived in a

1:17:00buffer zone

1:17:01>> this year.

1:17:01>> They lived in a buffer zone this year.

1:17:03Yeah. Okay.

1:17:03>> We're usually we're we've been over 100

1:17:05consistently.

1:17:06>> Um this is the lowest we've been in a

1:17:08little while. Uh what you will notice is

1:17:11that this was the final assignment list

1:17:14as well. So, what you'll notice is that

1:17:16at Bracket and Pierce, consistent with

1:17:18the buffer strategy, is where we had the

1:17:20most students assigned from a buffer

1:17:22zone. And at Thompson is where we had

1:17:24the least students assigned from a

1:17:26buffer zone. Um, and that's purposeful

1:17:29because we were trying to keep students

1:17:31away from Thompson and we were pushing

1:17:32out towards the uh west side of town.

1:17:35Don generally um has fewer buffer zone

1:17:41students, like students in those buffer

1:17:43zones. Um, but what you'll also notice

1:17:45is that the swing meant that more of

1:17:48them were placed at Piercer bracket. Um,

1:17:50and I'll explain a little bit of why

1:17:53that had something to do with family

1:17:54preferences shifting as well.

1:17:58So, um, I wanted to share this is a grid

1:18:03I've given every year um that just sort

1:18:05of compares the what family's first

1:18:07choice school was, what family's second

1:18:09choice school was, and what the total

1:18:11was. So this year, 84% of families

1:18:14received their first choice. Um that was

1:18:1681% the prior year. Um and then 19% of

1:18:21families received their second choice.

1:18:23That was 18% the prior year. So that's

1:18:25pretty consistent with what it was um

1:18:28previously or no sorry 84 families which

1:18:31is 81%. [snorts]

1:18:3219 families which is 18%. Um last year

1:18:35it was 7030. So more families got their

1:18:38preference this year than last year. And

1:18:40some of that has to do with a shift in

1:18:42family preference towards the geographic

1:18:46trend of the last couple years, which

1:18:49I'll explain in a minute and hopefully

1:18:51not confuse myself in the process. Um,

1:18:53we did have I also added on the right

1:18:56hand side the number of siblings in that

1:18:59zone. Um, and what's notable there is

1:19:01about 30% of students registering have a

1:19:04constraint that locks in the choice. So,

1:19:08they're going to go to that school

1:19:10because that's where their sibling is

1:19:11and we're not going to tell a family

1:19:12they have to go to two different

1:19:13schools. Um, so about 30% and that's not

1:19:15something I have typically reported on,

1:19:18but somewhere between 30 and 40% of

1:19:21families registering will often already

1:19:23have a child at a school. And so that

1:19:25decisions made um from the outset and

1:19:28then the remaining ones are determined

1:19:31on my end based on where we are with

1:19:34enrollments and class sizes. um we

1:19:36didn't have any schools really have a

1:19:39huge swing in one direction or another

1:19:42compared to the prior year. We did have

1:19:44fewer students overall. So that minus 17

1:19:48is really mostly about the fact that we

1:19:49just had fewer kids registering in

1:19:52buffer zones this year. Um and they were

1:19:54relatively evenly spread across the

1:19:56schools compared to in prior years is

1:19:58sometimes I've had like a lot of

1:19:59students at a school. Um there wasn't

1:20:01anything like that this year uh where

1:20:04one neighborhood had more moveins or

1:20:06move outs than another. Um but what

1:20:08you'll notice here is that there were

1:20:10quite a large number of families that

1:20:12got their first choice this year and a

1:20:14number of families that received their

1:20:16second choice. Um and some of those were

1:20:18in the zones where we were trying to

1:20:20swing uh families out of a either a

1:20:23school that had fewer sections at a

1:20:25grade level um where their child was

1:20:28registering in or we were worried about

1:20:32enrollment pressure at a particular

1:20:33school.

1:20:38So um this I also haven't presented in

1:20:41the past. This is a family preference

1:20:44trend comparing last year to this year.

1:20:47So what this shows is each buffer zone

1:20:50and which how many what percent of

1:20:54families had each school as their first

1:20:56choice. So for example at Bishop in FY27

1:21:0233% of families in the Bishop bracket

1:21:05buffer zone selected Bishop as their

1:21:08first choice and 57% selected

1:21:13Bishop as their first choice in FY26

1:21:15last year and then the other 67%

1:21:18selected bracket

1:21:20this year as their first choice and 43%

1:21:23selected bracket last year as their

1:21:24first choice. Make sense?

1:21:27>> Um

1:21:29since FY25 if you are in the Bishop

1:21:32bracket bishop bracket buffer zone

1:21:35there's too many B's in that. um we have

1:21:38assigned to bracket on the initial

1:21:40assignment and then if you want to enter

1:21:43the weight list you can and once we have

1:21:46a sense of kind of where numbers are

1:21:47falling in July I will go through the

1:21:50weight list and reconsider and move

1:21:52families to the school that they prefer

1:21:55if we can um and if I'm not worried

1:21:58about a sudden influx in August um there

1:22:00are a couple of places in town where I

1:22:02do hold a little longer just because I'm

1:22:04worrying or waiting with that. Um, so

1:22:09what is interesting here is that we're

1:22:11seeing a shift where families have been

1:22:14initially assigned to a school that

1:22:17might be within the neighborhood

1:22:19walkable geographically

1:22:22but maybe not historically assigned to

1:22:25that school. We're seeing a shift of

1:22:27preference towards that school. Bishop

1:22:29bracket's a good example of this because

1:22:31if they're in there's like a zone that

1:22:33is that buffer zone um where a lot of

1:22:36families have more historically chosen

1:22:38Bishop and more of that neighborhood

1:22:41initially chose bracket this year and

1:22:43for the past two years before that they

1:22:45had been initially assigned to bracket

1:22:47but it hadn't necessarily been the top

1:22:48preference for most of those families.

1:22:51So, we had less of that this year, which

1:22:53is part of why more families got their

1:22:55first choice this year,

1:22:58>> if that makes sense.

1:22:59>> Okay. Um, so Bishop Stratton has been

1:23:03relatively stable. The Bishop Thompson

1:23:05zone um has been relatively stable, but

1:23:08we did see more families choose Bishop

1:23:10as a first choice this year, and they've

1:23:12had initial assignment to Bishop for

1:23:14several years as well. So, that's

1:23:16moving. Also um in Don Pierce, we had

1:23:21more families initially select um Don

1:23:26this year and

1:23:29than we did last year. I'm not 100% sure

1:23:33why that is, but I also want to point

1:23:35out that the numbers are lower there. So

1:23:36these swings, like it's a big percent

1:23:38swing with just a couple students. So

1:23:41this volatility could be more about that

1:23:43than it is about an ongoing trend. Um

1:23:46for Hardy Thompson, we had this was this

1:23:49is definitely a trend like the Bishop

1:23:50bracket one. We had a lot more students

1:23:52select Hardy this year as their primary

1:23:55choice um than we have in past years and

1:23:58I think that could have to do with

1:24:00neighborhood dynamics. So um the and

1:24:03Pierce Stratton that has been

1:24:05consistently a Pierce assignment for the

1:24:07last several years and we had more

1:24:09families select Pierce as a first choice

1:24:12this year than we did last year. So it's

1:24:13a similar trend. Um, so that does

1:24:16suggest that to some extent the recent

1:24:19assignment trends have an impact on how

1:24:21families are thinking about where they

1:24:23want their child to go, which totally

1:24:24makes sense because first of all,

1:24:27sibling matters. And if you're if two

1:24:29years ago you had a sibling start at a

1:24:31school because of the buffer strategy,

1:24:33you're going to select that as your

1:24:34first choice because that's where the

1:24:35other sibling goes. So the siblings are

1:24:37going to have an effect on this. and um

1:24:39neighborhood kids. If they're headed to

1:24:42that playground and your child tags

1:24:44along with some kids that are a year or

1:24:45two older, then they're going to be more

1:24:48likely to maybe pick that school because

1:24:50their immediate neighbors are going to

1:24:51that school. We do have a lot of

1:24:53families mention friends in the

1:24:55neighborhood um as the reason why

1:24:57they're choosing a school or friends

1:24:59that already attend that school. My

1:25:01friend has a child who's one year older

1:25:02and she said wonderful things and so I'd

1:25:04love my child to go to that school. We

1:25:06do have a lot of families note that sort

1:25:08of thing in their um they can make a

1:25:10statement about why they're choosing a

1:25:11particular school. Some do, some don't.

1:25:13Um so that is just showing that it's a

1:25:17little more shiftable than I actually

1:25:19had thought that it was. Um and that

1:25:22some of the historical trends are very

1:25:24much there. There are families that

1:25:25said, "My family has attended Bishop for

1:25:28many generations and I really want my

1:25:29child to go to Bishop." um or they've

1:25:32said like my they have older kids now

1:25:34but then they have a new starting

1:25:36kindergartener and they want their child

1:25:38to go to the same school that their

1:25:39older children went to. So there are

1:25:41more historical trends that that run a

1:25:43little longer in the history but um

1:25:45there are also some families that are

1:25:47shifting based on very very recent

1:25:49assignments.

1:25:51Um, and then for elementary enrollments,

1:25:54I just wanted to share a little bit more

1:25:55about the like school balancing versus

1:25:57class balancing um, tug and pull that

1:26:00we're sort of constantly engaged in. Um,

1:26:03we need both balanced classes and

1:26:05balanced schools in order to res uh,

1:26:07equitably allocate resources. That has

1:26:10been a challenge over the last several

1:26:12years because we've had more enrollments

1:26:14at Thompson and we don't want to have a

1:26:17system where we have, you know, one

1:26:18school that's well over 500 students and

1:26:20one school is well like down around 300

1:26:23students. It just makes it more

1:26:24difficult for us to build staffing

1:26:26models that we can consistently

1:26:28implement. Um, so we've been trying to

1:26:30get schools kind of a little closer to

1:26:33one another in terms of overall

1:26:34enrollment as well as sections a little

1:26:36more even um, across all of the schools.

1:26:40School sizes, if you look right here,

1:26:43the schools that are in the middle have

1:26:45gotten very consistent in terms of

1:26:47sizing. So we have a number of schools

1:26:49that range from 363 to 405. That's a

1:26:52tight range. U, and they've gotten

1:26:54closer in size as a result of some of

1:26:56the efforts these past couple years.

1:26:57Thompson has gotten smaller. They dipped

1:27:00below 500 in enrollment this year, which

1:27:03is certainly helping them out when it

1:27:05comes to capacity. Um, and Pierce is

1:27:08kind of was evening out a little bit.

1:27:10Um, we did send a lot of assignments to

1:27:13Pierce this year. They're down around

1:27:15309 right now. So, I did also want to

1:27:18point out though that the class size

1:27:20variance was a few years ago at around

1:27:242.8 students per class. So that that

1:27:26means that we have shifts of that can be

1:27:30pretty significant between average class

1:27:33sizes. If it's 2.8 on average students

1:27:36per class, that means that that range is

1:27:37a little broader. If it's 1.5 like it

1:27:40was in FY25, that's when our class size

1:27:42range was the tightest, but it's also

1:27:44when our school range was the broadest,

1:27:46was the biggest.

1:27:48>> So it doesn't seem like these two things

1:27:51should be at odds with one another, but

1:27:53they are. And so when we try to sort of

1:27:55balance the schools, we end up with

1:27:57slightly less balanced class sizes. When

1:27:59we try to balance class sizes, we end up

1:28:00with slightly less balanced schools. Um

1:28:03it's a challenge and we're trying to

1:28:04find the happy middle ground. But we are

1:28:07a we have a little bit more um broad of

1:28:11a class size variance right now because

1:28:14we've gotten the schools so tight. And I

1:28:18can dig into why in more detail with

1:28:21anybody who would like to know more

1:28:22details, but um it it gets into some

1:28:25weeds that are a little hard to explain.

1:28:26I do did also want to point out that our

1:28:28class sizes have remained very

1:28:30consistent and they are consistent again

1:28:32this year. They're down a little bit

1:28:34this year. Um and so it might be worth

1:28:37uh and I think this is on my next slide,

1:28:38some discussion about what the desired

1:28:41elementary class size average is. I do

1:28:43also want to point out that we keep our

1:28:45class sizes lower [snorts] in K and one

1:28:46and two and then in 345 when we think we

1:28:50might have the capacity to drop a

1:28:51section, we will take a look at that.

1:28:53But we have a number of schools that are

1:28:54right at the 50 to 60 like they're right

1:28:58there and to remove a section would be

1:29:01to have classes that are considerably

1:29:03larger than 20. So, um, you know, as we

1:29:06look at resources, as we think about

1:29:08budget, this is going to be something

1:29:09that we take a very close look at, uh,

1:29:11and should probably have some

1:29:13conversations about. So, summary, there

1:29:15were 17 fewer buffer zone assignments

1:29:17this year than last year. Um, and it was

1:29:21a, you know, we've had a little bit of a

1:29:24trend of reduction of buffer assignments

1:29:26since FY25.

1:29:28Uh we have seen a lot of success with

1:29:30that early establishment of the buffer

1:29:32strategy and are even sort of starting

1:29:33to see families preferences shift. I

1:29:36didn't have to say no I'm sorry to

1:29:39nearly as many people this year as I

1:29:40have the last couple of years which was

1:29:42nice. Um about onethird of all the

1:29:44buffer zone assignments have siblings

1:29:46attending. So that leaves about

1:29:47twothirds for our ability to do some

1:29:49balancing. And family preferences are

1:29:52often sometimes based on historical

1:29:55experience. this year were often shaped

1:29:57by recent neighborhood trends. Um, and

1:29:59then recommendations for conversation or

1:30:01whatever else you all want to ask of

1:30:03course is fine. Um, but I would hold on

1:30:06any adjustment of buffer zones because

1:30:08it is clear that we've been able to have

1:30:10a pretty significant impact on Thompson

1:30:12just by doing what we have been doing.

1:30:15Um, and some relative success uh

1:30:18relieving some of those pressures with

1:30:19the strategy we have now. Thompson class

1:30:21sizes are within a reason reasonable

1:30:23range now with the four sections that

1:30:25they have at each grade level. As part

1:30:27of the budget process, I think we should

1:30:29maybe discuss target class sizes for 28.

1:30:31Um given that that has dipped a bit this

1:30:34year compared to last year and then

1:30:36consider some of the long-term impact of

1:30:38fewer elementary school students

1:30:40districtwide over the next few years and

1:30:42what the budgetary impacts of that are

1:30:43going to be. Um projecting some of that

1:30:45out into next year and using our

1:30:47projections to figure that out. We

1:30:49already know that we have about 90 fewer

1:30:51students this year than we had last year

1:30:53at the elementary level and we can think

1:30:56about for next year what we want to

1:30:58budget for um given some of that

1:31:00reduction and how we want to strategize

1:31:03balancing though I think continuing on

1:31:05the path that we've been on while maybe

1:31:07prioritizing um some enrollment at

1:31:09Pierce would be the best approach. So

1:31:12that's all I have for you and I'm happy

1:31:14to answer any questions that you have.

1:31:18Mr. Carden.

1:31:20>> Um, so first a question. [clears throat]

1:31:22We we traditionally didn't, you know,

1:31:24didn't um send people north of Massav to

1:31:27Hardy, but that was something you

1:31:28changed to address the issues at

1:31:30Thompson. How is that going? Generally,

1:31:32you added a crossing guard. I think

1:31:35>> we have had a few families who the the

1:31:38construction at Lake and Massav

1:31:41has was challenging

1:31:43>> um for families that were making that

1:31:45commute last year. And so we had some

1:31:46additional support at that intersection.

1:31:48Um, thank you to APD for helping us out

1:31:51with that as well as to our crossing

1:31:52guards um who might have shifted around

1:31:54to accommodate that. the we have had

1:31:57families that have established I I know

1:32:00I've heard um Principal Saunders talk

1:32:03about like walking buddies and that

1:32:05helps families that are worried about

1:32:07that um cross and we other than that

1:32:12though we haven't really heard any worry

1:32:15about that or concern about it. Um just

1:32:17the the frustration when the

1:32:19construction was going on because

1:32:21they're trying to create a safer um

1:32:23intersection in that spot. So, is that

1:32:25still happening? Do you know?

1:32:27>> I'm not sure.

1:32:28>> We don't We don't have a crossing on

1:32:30Mass.

1:32:30>> Not Not at Lake and Mass. No, we don't

1:32:32have a crossing guard there. We had APD

1:32:34support there during the construction

1:32:36challenges, but we don't typically have

1:32:38a crossing guard there because there's a

1:32:39Walmart crosswalk and a light. Um, but

1:32:42we do have a lot of families that will

1:32:43walk their children to school from that

1:32:45other neighborhood. We haven't had

1:32:46anybody reach out to

1:32:49>> be, you know, with frustration about

1:32:51that.

1:32:52Um, and then I mean I think some of the

1:32:55question issues you raised we should

1:32:57discuss at a relevant subcommittee. I'm

1:32:59not sure which one that is. Um, but uh

1:33:03just some general comments. There's

1:33:05there's

1:33:07I I'm

1:33:09hate that this is taking up so much your

1:33:10of your time like doing buffers on

1:33:12assignments and and looking at the data

1:33:14and all of that and strategizing. It

1:33:17really wasn't I mean it really wasn't

1:33:18meant to sort of be that way. was meant

1:33:20to be a tool to like address the issue

1:33:22at Thompson, but we we chose as a

1:33:25community to have seven neighborhood

1:33:26elementary schools. That means we're

1:33:29going to have unequal class sizes.

1:33:31>> Um and that's just the price we pay for

1:33:33having neighborhood elementary schools.

1:33:35And everybody, I think, understands

1:33:36that. Yeah.

1:33:36>> And people that the people that get the

1:33:38kid the class with 24

1:33:40>> get upset, but um you know, that's just

1:33:44sort of luck of the draw and part of the

1:33:45process of having a school you can walk

1:33:47to.

1:33:47>> Yeah. the Pierce was built to hold two

1:33:50classes per section. That's a tiny

1:33:52elementary school and the decision to do

1:33:54that was made 20 years ago and we're

1:33:56we're stuck with that. But that's part

1:33:59of the part of the problem is you've got

1:34:00some schools that are built for two

1:34:02sections. You got two four two or three

1:34:04schools that are built for four sections

1:34:06per grade. And so you're going to have

1:34:08that in inequality. And and I I just we

1:34:11can't spend so much time worrying about

1:34:12it, I think.

1:34:13>> And I'm not trying to get them to equal.

1:34:15>> Yeah. No, I know. I know. But I but

1:34:17still you're spending I think you're

1:34:18spending a lot of time on this. Um the

1:34:21one thing that I do think might be

1:34:22helpful is there are some zones where

1:34:25like in the the um uh bracket Don zone

1:34:29where there's there there are streets

1:34:31where people have never been assigned to

1:34:33Don you know since we started buffer

1:34:35zones. And I think if we can identify

1:34:38those we should just take them out of

1:34:40the buffer zone because if we've never

1:34:41sent them to the other school right just

1:34:44take them out. So there there I think

1:34:47there are a few distinct neighborhoods

1:34:49where we can surgically do that. Again,

1:34:51[clears throat] I don't want you to

1:34:52spend time on it, but if there's

1:34:53somebody else who can look at that,

1:34:56maybe that's something we can do to to

1:34:57at least, you know, you know, it would

1:34:59lower the numbers a little bit, but but

1:35:01we're not using that. I mean, they're

1:35:02just going to their first choice school

1:35:04those every year. So, thank you.

1:35:06>> We're down to one registar and we'd have

1:35:09to talk to the town GIS person, but I

1:35:12will see if that is something that she's

1:35:13interested in taking on. And I will also

1:35:15say that this actually is a welloiled

1:35:18machine at this point. I don't actually

1:35:20spend a whole lot of time in the summer

1:35:22doing the assignments and the report

1:35:24itself has gotten a little more

1:35:27automated to put pull together because

1:35:29the data is a little more automated. So

1:35:30that has helped and it's not too overly

1:35:34consuming. And I don't lose sleep over

1:35:35the fact that we have very differently

1:35:38sized schools.

1:35:40>> It is what it is.

1:35:45Laura.

1:35:45>> Oh, I'm sorry. I was thinking about what

1:35:47what Mr. Harden said about the two

1:35:49sections per grade at Pierce because

1:35:51when my oldest child started at Pierce,

1:35:54it was three sections per grade, I

1:35:57guess, for a

1:35:58>> brief period of time and now we're now

1:36:02we're like

1:36:03>> reverting back to nature. Yeah.

1:36:04>> Well, we're we're kind of bouncing all

1:36:06over the place actually. It's a little

1:36:08more wonky than [clears throat] that.

1:36:10Um, but no. Anyway, Mr.

1:36:12Sorry,

1:36:13>> my problem here is that I was on a

1:36:15committee um like 14 years ago when we

1:36:18instituted buffer zone policy and I'm a

1:36:22very visual learner and we did this all

1:36:24with the [clears throat] maps.

1:36:25>> Yep. So that we saw had each of the

1:36:29little buffer zone segments

1:36:32designated differently in the map

1:36:36and we were looking at some of the

1:36:38issues going back and forth and we made

1:36:40some tweaks to them based on what we

1:36:43were experiencing as things that just

1:36:46didn't make sense or the way people

1:36:48responded. Mhm.

1:36:50>> Um so looking at this as a series of

1:36:53charts is a little difficult for me.

1:36:57Um,

1:36:59and I think there something we have to

1:37:01pay attention to because as on one level

1:37:04we're almost going to decline, but on

1:37:07another level because of the aggressive

1:37:10work on the MBTA communities act and the

1:37:13construction new housing

1:37:15that's going to be in very specific

1:37:18neighborhoods, particularly areas,

1:37:20excuse me, close to Massav.

1:37:23So as the policy people

1:37:27we have to keep our ears open and I

1:37:29found that there were three things that

1:37:32parents were concerned about

1:37:35um 12 13 years ago when we did this. One

1:37:38was where does the where do the other

1:37:41kids in the neighborhood go to school?

1:37:44The second one was this whole

1:37:48[clears throat] bracket bishop deal

1:37:51because of the um stu the the bishop

1:37:55students who are south of Massav.

1:37:58Um perceiving that maybe they'd be

1:38:01better off up at Brackus than going

1:38:03across township.

1:38:06Uh that that was a lot of conversation.

1:38:08And third, there were just geographic

1:38:10features that parents didn't want to

1:38:13cross. Park Avenue is a big one. The

1:38:18Thompson Bishop buffer has a cemetery in

1:38:23the middle.

1:38:24And my hypothesis is without seeing the

1:38:27data, the people who live east of the

1:38:29cemetery are opting to go towards

1:38:32Thompson and the ones west of the

1:38:34cemetery are opting to go to Bishop.

1:38:38Um, so as we're planning things out in

1:38:41the future, it would be important for us

1:38:44on the policy side to know where things

1:38:47that deal with geography or or or

1:38:52neighborhood cohesiveness

1:38:53[clears throat]

1:38:54are impacting buffer zone decisions.

1:38:58Um, as we're planning out the future,

1:39:02>> we have not had

1:39:05so the the buffer assignment system has

1:39:08shifted while I've been here. It was

1:39:10done primarily in GIS

1:39:14>> until that position was vacant for a

1:39:17while.

1:39:17>> Yeah.

1:39:18>> And then we needed a solution because we

1:39:21had to register everybody. And so we

1:39:23generated our approach to it

1:39:25>> that is not now captured in GIS in the

1:39:30same way that you all had it.

1:39:32>> It doesn't mean that it can't be, but we

1:39:35haven't

1:39:36had a system that allows for the level

1:39:39of detail that I I know what it looked

1:39:41like because that was how I started with

1:39:43it. Um, at the same time, like I we

1:39:47didn't

1:39:49I never started with those maps in part

1:39:52because I also didn't want to show

1:39:54>> people's addresses and specific

1:39:55selections that the district had made on

1:39:57a map

1:39:58>> um as a way of protecting people's

1:40:00privacy.

1:40:01>> And I can also see the value in what

1:40:03you're saying about having some visual

1:40:06on which neighborhoods are selecting in

1:40:09particular ways. So, I'll talk to the

1:40:11team about talking with GIS about um

1:40:14doing some analysis around that cuz also

1:40:16to Mr. Carden's point, like if there are

1:40:17families that

1:40:18>> have we've never sent to this school

1:40:21that live in this zone, then it would

1:40:23make sense to do some adjustment in some

1:40:25of those buffer zones.

1:40:26>> Yeah.

1:40:27>> I mean, I I don't care about where they

1:40:29live, which house they live in, but

1:40:31[clears throat] which buckets they're

1:40:32in. Right. Yeah, it

1:40:33>> like east of the cemetery, west of

1:40:36Medford Street,

1:40:37>> you know, that that that's sort of an

1:40:39interesting spot. And if they're all

1:40:41going looking to go to Thompson,

1:40:44>> that that's telling us something. Or

1:40:46whether or not Park Avenue continues to

1:40:48be an impermeable divide.

1:40:51>> I I spend a lot of time on Google Maps

1:40:53when I am looking at a specific case

1:40:55that seems a little iffy. So, I'll pull

1:40:56up an address and see where they're at.

1:40:58>> Mr. Thman.

1:41:00>> Yeah. I mean, so I'm glad to hear you're

1:41:02not spending a lot of time because I

1:41:03don't delegate or somehow someone else

1:41:05is doing the work. Um, [clears throat]

1:41:07are you are you finding most people

1:41:09accept your decisions? Are you finding

1:41:10that there's sort of a because my sense

1:41:12is just in community conversations at

1:41:14least

1:41:15>> I don't hear as much push back as I used

1:41:17to.

1:41:18>> The first year the FY25

1:41:21or I actually think the first year that

1:41:23we that I very purposefully said

1:41:26nobody's going to Thompson. who's in the

1:41:29Thompson Buffer zone. That was a tough

1:41:31year because

1:41:33the neighborhood shift hadn't happened.

1:41:35>> Y

1:41:36>> um and that year we had more families on

1:41:38the wait list than I've ever had on a

1:41:40wait list

1:41:42>> because generally

1:41:44before that families could get their

1:41:47first choice unless they happened to be

1:41:49at a grade level at a school that was

1:41:51quite full. So I would kind of do it on

1:41:53a rolling basis. Is there room in there

1:41:55right now?

1:41:56>> Yes, then go. And there was always room

1:41:58at the very beginning because we were

1:41:59still establishing. So when that shift

1:42:02happened, we had a lot of families that

1:42:04were not super happy with the decision

1:42:07entered the weight list, but we had a

1:42:08lot of families come off the weight list

1:42:10>> and we're very happy about that. And so

1:42:13the over the last couple years as

1:42:16preferences shifted, we haven't had

1:42:18nearly as many families enter the weight

1:42:19list and those who have have accepted

1:42:22the decision that ultimately comes their

1:42:24way. And I have also done a first round

1:42:26in May of buffer weight list

1:42:28consideration. Um and that has allowed

1:42:31us to take a close look at families with

1:42:34some who have shared some more

1:42:35extenduating circumstances with us and

1:42:37then we can maybe move them a little

1:42:38earlier which helps too with the

1:42:40transition at the end of the school year

1:42:41because they're all the kindergarten

1:42:43days in June and I understand why people

1:42:45want to like go to the school they're

1:42:48going to be at kindergarten experiences

1:42:50at the end of June. Um, so to the extent

1:42:52we're able to make decisions in May,

1:42:54we'll try, but obviously there's still a

1:42:56lot of registration to go. Thank you.

1:42:57But generally, yes, people accept the

1:42:59decision and understand.

1:43:00>> Thank you,

1:43:02>> Dr. Alison.

1:43:03>> Thanks. Um, first just to talk about the

1:43:07numbers that you would save. I just did

1:43:10calculations for this year. If you go um

1:43:15from an average of 20 and I just did 20

1:43:18exactly

1:43:20class um to 21, you'd save around six

1:43:23sections

1:43:24>> and that's assuming perfect world every

1:43:26you know everyone's [snorts] funible

1:43:28>> that is one of those. [laughter]

1:43:29>> Yeah, exactly. So I I'm just just to

1:43:32give an order of magnitude that's the

1:43:35best you could do if if you went up to

1:43:38that. Um, and second, uh,

1:43:44uh, in terms of what I heard when we

1:43:46were back figuring out the buffer zone

1:43:48stuff was more

1:43:52I mean the geographical issues were, you

1:43:56know, like I don't want to cross Massav,

1:43:58I don't want to do this. That was

1:44:00something people brought up. the big

1:44:01thing was just, you know, historically

1:44:04th this is the this is our neighborhood,

1:44:07you know, this is our whole community

1:44:08[clears throat] thing. And so that's

1:44:09where I thought the information that you

1:44:11shared about how the choices are

1:44:14changing

1:44:16>> is really helpful because that says

1:44:20there's been a major shift in terms of

1:44:23how people feel about things and it's

1:44:25more I want to go to the school with my

1:44:27neighbors as opposed to I have to go to

1:44:29that one because it's my you know this

1:44:31is our destiny if you live here. Um, and

1:44:35then finally, I just want to compliment

1:44:37you on that slide. I thought that was

1:44:39really nicely done and uh made your

1:44:42point very well. So,

1:44:43>> thank you.

1:44:45>> Anything else?

1:44:47>> Okay, thank you for that. Um, the next

1:44:50thing on the agenda is a second read of

1:44:53policies, but we are

1:44:56>> put that off.

1:44:57>> I need to look through some things that

1:44:59Okay.

1:44:59>> I didn't get to fast enough. So, sorry.

1:45:01And so next up is superintendent's

1:45:03update.

1:45:04>> Okay,

1:45:07we have several good news updates today.

1:45:10Um first, uh we were recognized,

1:45:13Arlington public schools was recognized

1:45:15this week for strong accountability

1:45:16measures and outcomes at the board of

1:45:18elementary and secondary education

1:45:20meeting. Um Don teachers, uh the fourth

1:45:23grade team and their [clears throat]

1:45:24principal and myself and Dr. Ford Walker

1:45:26were in attendance at the board meeting.

1:45:28Um and I just wanted to share the

1:45:30remarks that the commissioner shared

1:45:31with everybody um there at the meeting

1:45:35and he said this is Arlington's second

1:45:37year in a row hitting prepandemic levels

1:45:39at or above um and it's our largest

1:45:42district that's doing it. So he's

1:45:43talking about achievement levels being

1:45:45at or above prepandemic achievement

1:45:47levels. And as someone who has

1:45:48experience in your middle schools and

1:45:49high school because he is an Arlington

1:45:51parent with a student at MS and a

1:45:53student at AHS. [clears throat] Um, as

1:45:57uh someone who has experience in your

1:45:58middle schools and your high school, I

1:45:59can tell you your culture is very

1:46:00consistent. It's probably the best blend

1:46:02I've seen of high expectations for

1:46:03academics, sense of belonging, strong

1:46:05culture, extracurriculars, and all the

1:46:07ways you involve your children. And I

1:46:09couldn't be prouder. Thank you,

1:46:10Arlington. Um, so that was high praise

1:46:13um from somebody in a very important

1:46:15role and who sees a whole lot of schools

1:46:17all over the state and we're very

1:46:19[clears throat] proud of this

1:46:19accomplishment. Um it was great to have

1:46:21some teachers there to talk about some

1:46:23of the strategies that work and there

1:46:25were a number of other um schools and

1:46:27districts there that were also

1:46:28recognized to share some of the

1:46:30strategies that are working well and we

1:46:32got some questions from board members

1:46:33about um some of those things that that

1:46:37operate well in our schools that can

1:46:38lead to um high student achievement. Uh

1:46:41so Arlington is for the second year in a

1:46:43row the largest among 14 districts this

1:46:45year and the ones that have been uh were

1:46:47on that list last year bolded here on

1:46:48this slide. um to have surpassed

1:46:51prepandemic outcomes in both math and

1:46:52ELA and was recognized for that

1:46:54accomplishment at that board meeting

1:46:56earlier this week on Tuesday. I also

1:46:59wanted to share some good news about

1:47:00competitive grant awards. Um we've been

1:47:02awarded $163,380

1:47:05in state innovation career pathway

1:47:08grants um to expand college and career

1:47:10readiness and that breaks out into a few

1:47:12different grants. Um so there's 88,400

1:47:16in an actual innovation career pathway

1:47:18grant and that has two parts to it. One

1:47:21is the implementation grant to launch

1:47:23the first designated pathway in

1:47:24healthcare and social assistance that's

1:47:26offsetting part of a salary this year

1:47:28for the person who's organizing that

1:47:30pathway experience for the students and

1:47:33a $15,000 planning grant which will

1:47:35develop help us develop a second pathway

1:47:37that will launch next year in

1:47:39sustainable business finance and

1:47:41entrepreneurship. What the pathways do

1:47:43is give students sort of a cohort

1:47:45experience of other students who are

1:47:47interested in um a particular area of

1:47:51study and recommends particular classes

1:47:54that they might take aligned with that

1:47:55pathway that are already in our program

1:47:57[clears throat] of studies and gives

1:47:58them the opportunity to do some shared

1:48:00learning um in some um classes electives

1:48:04that around that particular area of

1:48:06interest for them. So we're very excited

1:48:08about these career pathways. There are

1:48:10other districts that have been doing

1:48:11this in Massachusetts and have had some

1:48:14really great success with it and it's

1:48:15giving our students some new

1:48:16opportunities and that healthcare

1:48:17pathway was just overs subscribed in two

1:48:19seconds. So many students wanted to take

1:48:21it which was very exciting. Uh we also

1:48:24received a $74,980

1:48:27civics teaching and learning grant which

1:48:29is designed to connect high school

1:48:30learning to um high demand regional

1:48:33workforce sectors and deepen civic

1:48:35engagement across K12 grades which seems

1:48:37perfectly suited for us because we have

1:48:38students coming to school committee

1:48:40meetings often these days to talk to us

1:48:42about policy and civic engagement. Um,

1:48:44so we're very excited about uh what we

1:48:46have planned for that which um Michael

1:48:49Kosage would have to tell you about and

1:48:51he might be on our agenda or schedule. I

1:48:53might need to have make sure he is

1:48:55because he was responsible for all of

1:48:57these

1:48:58>> um and like has been working with other

1:49:01members of the team isn't necessarily

1:49:03leading the charge on all of them but

1:49:05did lead the charge on the applications

1:49:07and on the initial implementation of

1:49:10this uh which is very exciting. He also

1:49:12applied for an AF development expansion

1:49:14grant which we're very happy to support

1:49:16um for $20,000 which will reinvigorate

1:49:18our uh Teosente sister city relationship

1:49:21um with Teocente Al Salvador. That

1:49:23grant's going to send second grade

1:49:25teachers and one principal from the

1:49:26district Teosente during February

1:49:28vacation this year um to learn about

1:49:31schools there to build some

1:49:32relationships and maybe some diplomacy

1:49:34and help us get that sister city

1:49:37relationship going again. uh we hadn't

1:49:40engaged with them for a while in part

1:49:41because of some instability in the

1:49:43country. Um and we're looking forward to

1:49:46reestablishing some friendship with our

1:49:48sister city um in El Salvador. So again,

1:49:51thanks to Michael um and all of the work

1:49:53that he in collaboration with AHS and

1:49:56our elementary school teams have done um

1:49:58to help us with these new resources and

1:49:59exciting new opportunities for students.

1:50:01I also wanted to share a couple fun

1:50:03things that um I've seen in my travels

1:50:05out to schools uh to visit over the last

1:50:08couple of weeks. Um we had third graders

1:50:11at Hardy earlier today practicing um

1:50:13they were articulating the gist which is

1:50:15how they think about like the theme or

1:50:16the moral or the message of a text. um

1:50:18they were reading a book called Nazarine

1:50:20Secret School about women's access to

1:50:21education in Afghanistan that this

1:50:23little group of three was very excited

1:50:26about talking through what they were

1:50:28seeing in the book and the injustices of

1:50:31some of the [clears throat] kids

1:50:32schooling experiences in the text um and

1:50:35answering questions about what they had

1:50:37read. uh Hardy students also had a

1:50:40bulletin board about how smart they are

1:50:44um up on the uh up on one of the

1:50:47bulletin boards right at the start of

1:50:48the school. And I just I had to pull

1:50:50this out so that you all could see it.

1:50:52These are the actual quotes that are on

1:50:53those smart cookies. Um this one is the

1:50:57top one. She said, "I think I'm body

1:50:59smart because I love singing, dancing,

1:51:00and acting." Uh she's a smart macaron.

1:51:03That's a macaron. [clears throat] The

1:51:04cookie. Um, and then this one said,

1:51:07"He's loyal, smart, he loves to play,

1:51:10he's logic smart, he loves to do math

1:51:11and science, and a lot more." Um, and

1:51:13that he doesn't think he can name them

1:51:14all, all the ways [snorts] that he's

1:51:16smart. Uh, what I love about this is

1:51:18that, um, they're starting the year by

1:51:22thinking about what their strengths are,

1:51:24>> and they're starting the year by

1:51:25articulating what they're smart at, what

1:51:28they're great at. And that's an awesome

1:51:30way to begin with students because it

1:51:32helps them articulate to their

1:51:33classmates to themselves here are my

1:51:35strengths so that they can build on

1:51:37those as opposed to entering thinking

1:51:40about like what do I not get and who do

1:51:41I not know and you know they're they're

1:51:44opening with strength which is one of

1:51:45the messages we've given staff several

1:51:47times in the last couple years. Um and

1:51:49then uh we also have at both Hardy and

1:51:52Thompson um studentled back to school

1:51:54nights is something that they've

1:51:55Thompson's been doing this for three

1:51:56years. Um Hardy's been doing it for the

1:51:58last two. And so in year three of

1:52:00student led back to school night,

1:52:01Thompson students uh were leading their

1:52:03parents up to the third floor to show

1:52:05off the art room. And the fact that they

1:52:06ev every single student's self-portrait

1:52:09um was created in art class and then put

1:52:11on this bulletin board. And so it's a

1:52:14huge bulletin board of almost 500

1:52:16self-portraits of Thompson students. Um

1:52:19and it's really quite something. And

1:52:21kudos to the Thompson art teacher for

1:52:23putting this display up. Students were

1:52:25very excited to show their parents their

1:52:27portrait on the giant wall of all of the

1:52:30Thompson school students. Um, so we've

1:52:32had a great start. The student le uh

1:52:35back to school night Hardy also did this

1:52:37year. They got the idea from Thompson.

1:52:39So we're starting to see some of these

1:52:40great ideas spread and students have

1:52:42really enjoyed going to those studentled

1:52:45nights and showing their families

1:52:46around. It also sort of naturally

1:52:49eliminates some language barriers

1:52:50[clears throat] for some families when

1:52:52we can't get an interpreter, which we

1:52:54can't always for all the languages we

1:52:55have in a school. And so students can

1:52:57help us out by speaking home language

1:52:59with parents and showing their parents

1:53:00around the school and all the things

1:53:02that they love about their school, which

1:53:03families have also really enjoyed. Um

1:53:05then finally um there is uh CPAC is

1:53:09holding a CPAC and administration coffee

1:53:11hour tomorrow morning um Friday

1:53:14September 25th from 8:45 to 9:30 here at

1:53:16central office. Gibbs back to school

1:53:19night is the only one left. Um and that

1:53:20will be on Wednesday, October 7th after

1:53:22students come back from nature's

1:53:24classroom the week before that. And

1:53:26there's no school on October 12th.

1:53:28That's Indigenous People's Day. And

1:53:29we're going to be doing a combined town

1:53:31school budget forum on October 29th at 7

1:53:35p.m. And if anybody is interested in,

1:53:37we're going to get materials out for

1:53:38this very soon, but if anybody's

1:53:39interested in registering, this will be

1:53:40hybrid. You can attend in person. You

1:53:42can register to attend via Zoom using

1:53:45those QR codes. We will send out more

1:53:47information, including some live links

1:53:49for people to sign up very soon. Um

1:53:51myself and uh Jim Fee, the town manager,

1:53:54along with um some of our town elected

1:53:57town school elected officials will be

1:53:59there to answer folks questions. We're

1:54:01mostly going to be talking about some of

1:54:03the things to think about when we

1:54:04[snorts] build the budget, some of the

1:54:05dynamics associated um with

1:54:07determinations

1:54:09around allocation um and helping the

1:54:12full community

1:54:14have a better understanding of what the

1:54:16factors are that we think about when we

1:54:18think about the budget. Um Mr. Theman

1:54:20had helped us uh along with a select

1:54:23board member um look forward to this

1:54:25opportunity and myself and Mr. Feny are

1:54:27very much looking forward to

1:54:28collaborating on this. So there's more

1:54:31information there and I'm happy to

1:54:32answer any questions about that. I also

1:54:34wanted to share that in addition to

1:54:36grants, we've had some fair share

1:54:37earmarks allocated to the town for the

1:54:40schools. Um and Mr. Beanie let us know

1:54:43recently that these are now uh allocated

1:54:46and we can work on our plans for

1:54:48spending them. Um, in transportation,

1:54:51there's some dollars allocated for the

1:54:53purchase of student transportation

1:54:54vehicles, which is great because that

1:54:56was one of our major asks in the capital

1:54:58plan. Um, Hardy Elementary School HVAC.

1:55:01Our hope is that this can help support

1:55:03the [clears throat] accelerated repair

1:55:05project or any other HVAC needs that um,

1:55:08Hardy may have related to or adjacent to

1:55:10that. um and tech upgrades, which we're

1:55:13hoping can help um one of our schools to

1:55:16upgrade some technology in some of the

1:55:18larger spaces that are used frequently.

1:55:19So, uh whenever I get that phone call

1:55:21from some of our legislators, I'm swift

1:55:23to answer it and identify some needs

1:55:26which we usually aren't short on. So,

1:55:27we're really excited and grateful to our

1:55:29legislators for uh putting these

1:55:31earmarks in the budget and making sure

1:55:34that they actually got allocated and

1:55:35that we can spend them. Um, and then Oh,

1:55:39that's last week.

1:55:42>> Oh, that was not on my radar. So, say

1:55:45that out loud. I was

1:55:47>> just I was say something if it was

1:55:50mentioned, but yeah, go ahead. My emails

1:55:51more.

1:55:52>> Hold on. Yes. Um, so we will be having

1:55:55our back to school uh gathering this

1:55:58Saturday. Um it has moved from the

1:56:01outdoors to indoors due to the weather,

1:56:03but it will be here at the high school

1:56:05from 11:30 to 1:30. Um and this is in

1:56:08collaboration um with our APS uh Rainbow

1:56:12Task Force, our elementary Rainbow

1:56:14Alliances, the middle school QSAs, and

1:56:17the GSA here at the high school along

1:56:20with um the Arlington uh LGBTQIA

1:56:23[clears throat]

1:56:24plus Rainbow Commission. So that back to

1:56:26school event will be taking place this

1:56:28Saturday inside the high school 11:30 to

1:56:311:30.

1:56:36I think that's it. And also enrollments

1:56:38are in your materials.

1:56:40>> Thank you. Any questions?

1:56:42Okay. Um we are now moving on to our

1:56:46consent agenda. Uh wait, I need the

1:56:50language.

1:56:52Where's my

1:56:59Sorry.

1:57:01So, um, the consent agenda consists of

1:57:05the a warrant number 27064

1:57:10from September 22nd, 2026 for $510,000,

1:57:15$27,140

1:57:18and school committee draft meeting

1:57:21minutes from September 10th of 2026.

1:57:25Can I have a motion?

1:57:28>> So, move second.

1:57:30Uh, roll call vote. Uh, Miss Xton,

1:57:33>> yes.

1:57:33>> Miss Hitz Capathornne,

1:57:35>> yes.

1:57:36>> Miss Dr. Allison Ampy,

1:57:38>> yes.

1:57:38>> Mr. Thailman,

1:57:39>> yes.

1:57:40>> Mr. Schlookedman,

1:57:41>> yes.

1:57:41>> And the chair votes yes. So that is 6.

1:57:45Um, now subcommittee liaison reports and

1:57:48announcements. Budget. Dr. Alison Nampy.

1:57:51>> Uh, nothing to report.

1:57:53>> Uh, community relations. Mr. Theelman.

1:57:55>> No report.

1:57:56>> CIAA. [clears throat] Miss Exton. No

1:57:59report.

1:58:00>> Facilities. Mr. Thelman.

1:58:02>> We're trying to schedule a meeting in

1:58:03mid to late October. [clears throat]

1:58:05>> Uh policy and procedures. Mr.

1:58:07Schlickman.

1:58:08>> We're scheduling a meeting between now

1:58:10and Indigenous People's Day.

1:58:13>> Arlington High School Building

1:58:15Committee, which is still exists,

1:58:17>> Mr. Yeah, we we are still, you know, you

1:58:19have to do a punch list and all. Yeah.

1:58:21So, we we're it's going to be a while

1:58:22before the final order is done. Probably

1:58:24not until 27 now. Um but the um you know

1:58:27had [clears throat] a lovely dedication

1:58:28of the blackbox theater Brian Riri on uh

1:58:32last week and it was just very nice.

1:58:35>> Um oh Addison building middle school

1:58:39building committee Miss Xton

1:58:41>> nothing to report

1:58:42>> uh liaison reports announcements or

1:58:46future agenda items.

1:58:49Okay, we are now I'm now looking for a

1:58:52motion to conduct an executive session

1:58:55to con to conduct strategy sessions in

1:58:58preparation for negotiations with

1:58:59non-union personnel or to conduct

1:59:02collective bargaining sessions or

1:59:04contract negotiations with non-union

1:59:05personnel. Superintendent's contract to

1:59:08discuss strategy with respect to

1:59:10collective bargaining or litigation if

1:59:12an open meeting may have a detrimental

1:59:13effect on the bargaining or litigating

1:59:15position of the public body. And the

1:59:17chair so declares uh this is for uh unit

1:59:20A of AEA and a review and possible

1:59:23approval of executive session minutes

1:59:25from June 10th, 2026 and September 10th,

1:59:282026. We will not be returning to the

1:59:32regular meeting. I have a motion.

1:59:36>> So moved.

1:59:38>> Seconded by Mr. Thielman.

1:59:39>> Second. Yes.

1:59:40>> Uh roll call vote. Miss

1:59:42>> yes.

1:59:42>> Miss Hans Copathornne.

1:59:44>> Yes.

1:59:44>> Mr. Carden,

1:59:45>> yes.

1:59:45>> Dr. Alampy. Yes. Mr. Theman. Yes. Mr.

1:59:48Schlick.

1:59:48>> And the chair [clears throat] votes yes.

1:59:50>> Thank you.

1:59:53[music]

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