School Committee - Regular Meeting

I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Westford School Committee for Monday, April 14th. We're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand and join us if you're able to flag the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Any questions or comments on the meeting minutes from April 1st? Okay. Take a motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion to approve and Tom. Okay. All in favor? Any opposed? Thank you. Okay. Next up is public comment. A reminder that public comment for any item or topic on or off the agenda is always available near the top of the agenda for individuals to share their thoughts. Speakers will be limited to two minutes per person. Please use public comment even if you you even if you refer to something later on the agenda. Virtual public comment is available through Zoom. raise your hand and you'll be promoted to panelist and unmuted or in person at the microphone. Please start by Wow. Sorry. Please start by um your name with your name and address if a resident. Okay. We know who you are. You can skip the sign in if Sounds good. Thanks. It's sometimes if we can't hear the spelling or the the pronunciation of a name, but Sounds good. Um, thanks for having us. Uh, thanks for this opportunity. My name is Pat Gender. Uh, this is Melanie

Jazokus. We're members of the Westford Academy physical education health and wellness department. Um, we're here tonight to comment on the graduation requirement proposal which eliminates two and a half uh, wellness credits. We want to start by recognizing the decision um, that was made a few weeks ago with regards to um, the school start times. It was based on data and science um and the well-being of WPS students. We ask the same of you tonight to make a decision that's based on data, science, and the well-being of Westford public school students. We ask you please vote down the graduation requirement proposal which reduces PE and health education for students of Westford Academy. Physical education and health are necessary and critical to the development of the whole child. There's too much data um involving physical and mental health with depression, anxiety, obesity, and disease continuing to rise. The answer is not to reduce the amount of education around these topics. P and health curriculums include but are not limited to, empathy, inclusion, goal setting, communication, teamwork, school safety, and situational awareness, nutrition, heart rate education, motor skill development, biomechanics, leadership, citizenship, suicide, substance use disorder, sexual assault, domestic violence, signs and symptoms of disease and when and how to seek treatment or get help for any of these. We ask you do what's right for our students and keep these authentic, abundant, and meaningful curriculums intact. We feel the topics listed heavily outweigh the proposal of two and

a half credits being shifted to quote unquote student choice. In our opinion, the process to arrive at this proposal was a little concerning. We previously shared a letter with you all to the school committee detailing the timeline and process used to arrive at the new grad requirements. Hope you were able to see some of the holes and wonder about the validity and justification of the proposal just as much as we did. We're also here tonight to publicly express how sad we are to witness how vocal some people have been as they actively advocate for the reduction of health and wellness education for the students of Westford Academy. It's frustrating to be a part of a district where an attack on any particular department or curriculum is accepted. If we all have the same goal to shape the future one child at a time, why is anything other than the promotion and advocacy of academic development allowed? It's become more than just the need to hear from all community members and welcoming all perspectives as a part of a decision-making process. We feel it's become an attack. When did it become okay to openly point fingers at other curriculum areas? When is it ever okay to advocate for a reduction of force in any department? We wonder what the future is now going to become. If it's going to become a series of retalatory attacks from one department over another with every budget cycle the district faces. Westford is better than this. Lastly, before I hand it over to Mel, given today's high stakes academic environment with every acronym imaginable, SATs, GPA, APs, and the continuous demand we put on our students, I want to remind you as a parent, when your child is born, the only question you have is, are they healthy? I hope as a

district we never stop asking that question about our kids. Thank you. Thank you. We have come to understand the decision to change the graduation requirements for our department came down to a comparison of Dart schools in a student survey. Students don't always know what's best for them. Just like when it comes time to eat their vegetables, students would obviously rather eat snacks or go to Chick-fil-A and order their nuggets and their fries. And while Chick-fil-A is okay in moderation, we know what's better for them. Students would also love to be on their phones all hours of the day and night. But we also know that's not good for their social, emotional, or even their physical health. We are the adults. We know what's best for them. If we leave the decisions up to the students, particularly those through a survey in which not every student had access to nor filled out, we are doing the entire student body a disservice. And we've been given the reasoning that grade nine students will now have an option to choose an elective. I've been teaching grade nine students for 25 years. Grade nine students are overwhelmed when they enter the academy. Having health and PE as independent nth grade classes for the year is a huge benefit to them. Being in these comfortable courses with their same age peers allows them to be more open, participate more, unlike multi-grade level electives they may choose. Come to think of it, most college freshmen don't even get to choose their own courses. They are given gen eds in a schedule that is dictated to them for their first first year. It's a state law that PE is required every year. And if you were to do the research, it would tell you that students should have PE in school every day and at every level because it not only increases attention span, but it also improves concentration and overall academic performance. If you honestly looked at the science and data the way you looked at sleep, you would find we should be increasing the amount of PE students have, not

decreasing it. It is true that some schools try to get away with it, providing students with a wellness class and combining health and PE into one semester. However, they are not the same subjects, nor do they have the same curriculum or overlap. And we are not some schools, nor should we try to be. We do not take this personally because we are passionate about what we do and we believe that it's in the best interest for our students. We do not want to be a dart school. We do not want to be as it's been suggested so many times at these meetings act in Boxboro whose community suffered six suicides in a span of 30 months between 2016 and 2018. We want what's best for our students in Westford. Let's take a stance on what we value when shaping the future, one child at a time. It doesn't get much more personal than that. We do have some questions for you tonight regarding the discussion about graduation requirements. We have been left out of the loop as subject matter experts. On the P6110 graduation requirements document that you will be reviewing, it says that PE and health is going to go from 12.5 to 10 credits, one semester per year. Below that, it also says four semesters of PE are required unless excused in writing by a physician. Does this mean that we're getting rid of health? And if it does, we as a department haven't been told that. And Brian Ror as our curriculum coordinator for the district also doesn't know that because we asked him at our department meeting today. Also, wouldn't parents have a right to know if the health curriculum was being dismantled? Of all the subjects that Patrick mentioned and all the topics that he mentioned, who will be responsible for

determining what subjects get left out? Thank you for your time. Thank you very much, Kevin. Do we have anybody online? Uh, nobody with hands up. Hi. Hi. I'm Elizabeth Chiliki. I live on 138 North Street. Can you either sign in or just say that a little clear? Elizabeth Chiliki. Okay. Um, there are proposed changes to the graduation requirements for the PE and health department and I am here today to encourage you to not approve the changes because it would cut vital components of the health program. My time at WA has been greatly impacted and benefited by the health and PE department. I have not only been through this class my freshman year with Mr. Muse, but I have seen it through being Mrs. Jazok's teacher aid. Being a TA allows me to look at the younger class going into health and shows me that it takes the teachers a full semester, providing students tools and approachable subjects to get them comfortable enough and ready to discuss the harder but important aspects of health class such as suicide, drunk driving, addiction, and mental health. Teachers like Mr. Muse, Mr. Brown, and Mrs. Zokus also provide a needed safe space to go to if students need any support through the rest of high school. We the students need this education to improve our long-term mental health and give us tools as high schoolers to become resilient adults. Reducing or removing these elements from the curriculum will be a disservice to current and future students. Please take into consideration the future WA students that will be impacted by this decision. Freshmen already have a difficult time transitioning into a new school and cutting this department would greatly impact them. Thank you for your time. Thanks for coming very much. Anyone else in the room for public comment? And uh do we have attendees online? We do. Yeah. But nobody has their hand up. Okay. I'll just give that one more minute for if you have if you are on

Zoom and want to raise your hand for virtual public comment. Um, while we wait that beat, um, just a reminder that, um, any like prepared remarks can also be emailed to us. Um, that's helpful. Yeah. If nobody Okay. All right. Great. We're going to move on toformational updates and start with our students. Um, so seniors last day was Friday, um, which was really exciting. Um, we had our cap Daniel's face says it all. senior capstone orientation um meeting the day before where they you know be good people be representatives of WA and um you know get out there and learn something. Um so that was really exciting and it started today. Um I know I'm on a capstone and I really enjoyed my day. Um yeah it was exciting. I can't wait for more. Um and then we also have a lot of trips come going on at WA. We have all parts of the world which is really exciting. Uh Costa Rica trip leaves this Wednesday and it goes till next Thursday. Uh as a Costa Rica traveler, I am very excited. Um still packing, but very excited. Uh we have the French exchange leaving on the 20th and they go till May 4th. So I think that's like about two weeks. Um and I know they're very excited. Again, as a French student, I get to see that and it's awesome. Um and then the Spanish Exchange, I believe they're I know they leave on the 28th. I believe they come back on May 2nd, but I'm not 100% sure. Um but again another really exciting um opportunity for WA students. Building will feel definitely a little bit empty coming back after break but that's okay. Good things. Um there's also graduation speaker auditions are happening and in the process so that's all hap like behind the scenes seniors are you know doing their best for speeches and you know someone awesome is going to go out and speak at uh graduation. There are some really great candidates. Uh there's also we just now um with Valerie, Katherine, and Lori, we had a student info meeting which consisted of student

advisory committee, student senate, student council, and of course you three. Um where we basically just talked about the efficiency of student government at WA and how we can improve it and how we can kind of more clearly define the roles of each branch. Um and we I think we heard some good thoughts, good feedback, a lot of good ideas and I'm really excited to see where that goes for next year. Go ahead. Uh yeah, so this Friday we have early release for the start of April break and I I know I'm I'm excited for that. But um in addition, Westford Academyy's math team held a very successful inaugural math competition for middle school and elementary school students where I think there's over 50 plus competitors and I was able to see firsthand like the commotion. It was a huge success. Um uh Westford's HOSA had their like annual state leadership conference uh with many of the competitors competing in all different areas of healthcare. Uh moving on to their international competition in uh I believe in Nashville, Tennessee. And lastly, DECA has their international uh conference as well coming up um I believe like they leave on Thursday of next week to said head to uh sunny Orlando, Florida. So, lots of traveling for students. Thank you. Great. Thanks. And administration. In tonight's packet, uh, the quarter 3 report from Valley Collaborative, the financial reports are there. So, I just want to point your attention there. Something you can review if you have questions about, you can certainly reach out to me and if I don't have the answer, I'll get it from Dr. Scott who's a who's the executive director at Valley. Um we had some for a number of years our sixth graders have been participating in what's called the cool science extreme weather art contest and um we just found out this week that four of them specifically uh received special recognition. Anvy Wari uh Alicia Rivera

and Pam Chuck Ravari were all honores and Stella O'Brien was the overall winner. And so Stella's artwork is going to be displayed. It is already displayed on buses um city buses around Massachusetts. And so I just it's it's great work. Uh the I I want to thank the the sixth grade science teachers who help guide the students through this process as well too. Uh one of them, Miss Chener, specifically shared with us that she just talked about their effort. the creativity and commitment to environmental awareness is truly commendable and they're proud of their hard work and the important messages they're helping to share with the world. And so we want to congratulate all those students and and especially to Stella and Stella's artwork there and there's a student there's an artist statement that goes along with it um is going to be well it is like I said it's going to be but it's it's already there. It's on the bus. It's on the outside of the bus on the inside of the bus and so that's um just fantastic. We want to congratulate them and and there's like really specific like like there's specific sizes for the paper. They have them like go as a having a sixth grader this year they have them like do a draft and like work through the process and like a rubric and so it is really you know it's not just and it's a specific theme too like each year they they guide them. It's not just any kind of extreme weather I think you could pick from or something. Yeah. So this is not the first time that a Westford sixth grader has won this too. So, that's kind of exciting. Yeah. A couple years ago, um, we had another winner. So, that's great. That's amazing. A couple quick items. Um, MCCAST has been underway at both the elementary and the middle school level um, last week and again this week. Um, as Maddie said, senior capstone projects started today and we have um, seniors that are sprinkled throughout our district as well. Some probably budding budding teachers or guidance counselors

or doing various other projects for the district. So, we look forward to um seeing their projects. And a final reminder that the Monday after April vacation, which is April 28th, there will be no school, only for our current kindergarten students as we are preparing for the new kindergarten class coming up. Um they will receive their kindergarten screening on that Monday, the 28th. So, our kindergarten students will have one extra day off. Great. Thank you very much. And Courtney, is there something that um rising kindergarten families should be doing right now? Right. They have to register. They've registered, right? And so they're signed up for their screening. They should already have their appointment and there's no need to cram for the test. Um it is it is what it is. And rising kindergarten and it's and it's usually perfect. Yes. Asking for a friend. Okay. Thank you. Check with the wives. They usually know. and school committee updates. Sorry, Tom. I always feel anything. Um, I just came from math and science night at uh NABN NASA. Um, I was there last week with the kindergarters uh grade two tonight. I just want to applaud all the volunteerism of our parents and our students um that are making these activities happen. Um it's just it's awesome to see uh the engagement that happens. Uh the kids just, you know, running along with each other, the social aspects to it. Uh it it doesn't come without volunteerism in the community. So uh keep it up and we need more help. So thanks Sean. None Lori. I attended Lion King kids at a school and it was amazing and as a former director of fifth grade musicals I was astounded at the number of people involved and the level of detail and the the performances in

general. So, including our very own Yeah. Uh, sound supervisor. That's right. Kids did most of it. Thanks, Lori. Anything else? Um, I don't have anything, but I did want to and I don't know, Valerie, if you had noted, just to remind people that we've changed the bus registration um, deadline for next year. So, I know we it's kind of new dates and and so I kind of thought this is a good opportunity to get the message out just to remind people that the deadline for um registering for the bus is June 1st this year. Um it's typically been later. So, um if you can get registered now because obviously there's changes happening as well with routes and and bus configuration for next year. So, just to remind people. Yeah, that's great. Sure. Yep. Thanks. I have a couple updates. Um, finance subcommittee has met since our last meeting. We're doing um an initial we had an initial discussion on our facility rental policies. Um well, there actually more procedures. There's there's no one um uh official policy that dictates it, but there's all these um guidelines and procedures that go along with it like the fee schedule. So, that's coming. Um, we've got some feedback from the business office and facilities director on some updates there that will be coming back to us probably in May. I think we'll we'll work on that. Um, and it was it's just always helpful that even if that committee doesn't have a specific um like project um now that we're through the non-general fund guide book um we have a standing agenda item on there for a update from the finance director. So Jenny always gives us a little bit of a um preview into what's going on in the business office and this

past meeting she was explaining um an increase in heating costs across all buildings so we get a little bit of a heads up. Um I'm sure we'll learn more when Q3 uh comes to us next in the next couple meetings meeting. So yeah. Um and also an update from the Robinson School Building Committee. Um, I know I said at the last one that we thought there would be like a bit of a quiet time before um kind of doing a bit more communication outreach in the fall and working with the community um and that timeline is still holding. So, I'll just keep giving updates until you're sick of it. Um, and using this um uh meeting to check in on that. Um, and this past week was um League of Women Voters Candidates Night. So, just a reminder that local elections are coming. Um, election day is a no school day. Um, polling locations are at Stonybrook and Westford Academy from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6th. There is also early voting at the town clerk's office over the counter the week before during town hall hours. So, okay. So, our first order of business tonight is a first reading of the draft policy for P6110, the graduation requirements. Um, just following our usual policy timeline and review. These are on our agendas for three meetings at at the minimum um with a first reading tonight and then it goes up for public comment. it's um has like a discussion point at our next meeting and then the third meeting would be our final reading and um tenative vote. Uh so and as you remember from our last meeting we voted and approved competency determination to get that locked in for the class of 2025. Um and that so that's

a big piece of this draft policy that you can see in the packet. Um, and then I'll hand it over to the policy subcommittee. Do we need to wave the first reading? Yes. Okay. Motion to wave the first reading of P6110, which just means we don't have to read it word for word. So move. Thanks, Tom. Larry second. Okay. Um, all in favor of waving the first reading. Great. Thank you. Policy's upcoming. Okay. So um policy met on Wednesday and we worked on um just uh updating the policy as you can see in the packet tonight. We pretty much took um the Westford Academyy's um competency determination kind of first part and just slotted it into the um the existing policy. And um as you can see there were some slight tweaks made in terms of some wording. Um and then on the um area then where we were talking specifically about graduation requirements there were some um notes or astercted notes that were kind of outdated um and so we were looking at removing those. Um I did want to maybe come back and kind of clarify based on our public comment question about um seeing that note about uh four semesters of PE are required unless excused in writing by a physician. Um that was already an existing line and I would so that kind of stayed as is because PE and health is being combined. Um so I felt it's still the proposal is the proposal. Yeah. Um, so it wasn't suggesting that we were just we were removing health. The idea is that we're combining them as a subject is my understanding. And so that therefore it still stands that the four

semesters are required. So why don't why don't we just take take a minute and um step back to the working group because that that's that's a recommendation from the working group, right? Yeah. And I'm wondering if that is the clearest way Yeah. To um kind of put it into that table, right? Like if there's if it makes sense to break it out by year or something so that it's clear that because remind me the recommendation was to combine PE and health for grade nine. Yes. So that was that was a part of the proposal saying that a wellness course that that could go over nine and 10, right? Stretching it out over two years was was a possibility. Okay. I I don't necessarily think because I think it's a legitimate question if someone thinks that health is being removed and it's not. No, that is not part and so I don't know if the policy wants to I'll figure out a way to kind of clarify it a little bit more because the other thing that they had talked about was well are there other ways in order for that that to happen if they didn't necessarily combine those two things but that was one of the recommendations and um and uh principal Tumi is here tonight and I know Tom was on the working group as well too the that was one of the reasons why they had said to to not implement it for next year but the year afterwards was to give them time to look at all of that uh curriculum. Um but I think there isn't to the to the point of the question nobody is advising or recommending that the curriculum not be addressed and that the standards not be included in the coursework. M when you say um the recommendation for it to to go into effect next year that the following year, right? Sorry. Okay. And that's

that lines up with the class of 2030, right? Yeah. Okay. Y um yeah. And questions so far? Yes. Freshman entering the 2026. Right. From the working group standpoint, it was the idea of we knew that students would be selecting courses or schedules would be kind of in in process now, right, for next year's freshmen and and really needing to provide that time for for parents and students and teachers to kind of understand what what the impact would actually be before. Makes sense. And so just this may be redundant but I'm just going to ask the question anyway. So then the idea is that the health curriculum will be woven into the PE time. I think that that's one of the proposals. I think another way to in looking at the whether you're reducing the the required credits or not one of the conversations that came up and again I I wasn't in that conversation so please correct me if I'm wrong but there was also a conversation as to whether students take health instead of PE right that that was also another that's another model that that that they've seen where it's either freshman or sophomore year students are enrolled in a health class and not taking PE. Um, so it's it's it's meeting that requirement. So then it would eliminate one semester of physical education that that would Yeah, I'm just bringing up might help. This was the presentation

um screen mode. So, as we're bringing that up and uh principal Tumi could certainly correct my memory if it's if it's not correct, but um there was certainly a lot of um discussion around uh PE and and that um to the point that yeah, I I think it was overly focused on on that. Personally, I feel that and I expressed that. Um but this proposal of going from 10 point uh 12.5 to 10 um was something that was brought to the working group. It wasn't something the working group kind of created created on the fly. So uh yeah, just a little bit of I'd like to express concerns about that this time. I won't be on this committee on May 12th when it looks like this vote's going to happen. So, I'd like to say a couple of things right now. Um, I think that I agree with what folks talked about about the suicides and act in Boxboro when those things happen. That really, really, um, concerning to me. I obviously come from a place where kids mental health is really important to me. We have also had WA students who have gone on to college and died by suicide after leaving here in their first year away at school. And to me, that is still a failure on our part. Um, if we have kids who are in their first year of college and we haven't given them the coping mechanisms to make that transition, I think that's also work that we didn't prepare them for. So, as much as we haven't had kids in high school lose life by suicide, we have also had kids who were shortly out of our gates who that who that happened to. Um I think that um obviously I think that physical education is a really important part of mental health and I think in the times that I have asked guidance for information about mental

health they haven't come before this committee with data about what the mental health of our kids really are at the at the academy and I think that's an important thing for folks to bring before this committee if you can access that information from guidance because there is data about what kids mental health looks like in our system and we haven't received it in the past when I've asked for it. I think that that is a really important part of this conversation. Um, and I think that as the committee moves forward, um, that that should be really taken into consideration. Okay. Thanks. Any So, I will also um I think you want to say something. No, no, no. You guys go Tom. Um I I will also say that I I do value the health and P curriculums. Um you know the the need for it. I see I see the value in it. Um and I I I have expressed in the past the pressure cooker that I see at at the academy. Uh and that was one of the reasons that I was struggling with the idea of and I know this isn't the topic of the discussion today, but the idea of substitution um you know substituting PE for um in order to get another AP or whatever the the um more pressure classes I would say. Um and and that's not a dig at at PE. Um just the the ones that have that that greater impact on on homework and and stress and whatnot. Um so yeah, I I I do have some concerns. Um and like I said, this wouldn't have been something I would have thought of. Uh it was a

presentation that was brought to us um which I thought had more support behind it. So, thanks. Go ahead, Ch. Just from from the policy standpoint, and I think that was a really good point that was made, like it's not abundantly clear based off of what's in front of it, particularly because of footnote too, right? Whether or not we're eliminating health that I mean, first of all, I I think that's been said, but I'll say it again, which is that eliminating health was never part of this or a discussion or any proposal that was put in front of this committee. But I there's got to be a better way that we can maybe get rid of footnote 2 or at least clarify that of the 10 that we're referring that two and a half of it has to be used towards health. But that's confusing too because it might be woven into the Yeah, I think we need to figure out a more general topic because I think it's going to be dependent on how WA rule it out. So, um, yeah, maybe we can kind of connect with you, Dan, and kind of just figure out some wording on that. Actually, Marasaw, I appreciate Marasaw saying this because I'm I'm in the same boat as her. I won't be here. Um, so you guys are a hostage to what I'm about to say and I won't be here to vote on it. So, we're in a dimension. Uh, no, I there were some really really really good points that were made by our physical education department who was here and thank you for being here tonight. Um, yeah, it's it's that's a concern of mine, too. I mean, we do we we've made it a priority. It's in our STEP is social emotional well-being of all of our students, right? And you know, I

guess we have this problem of having a really really short school day which is impacting our students in their ability to have freedom to choose classes. And then we have on the other hand we have physical education right now which is already includes uh a lot of social emotional components that we want to keep intact somehow. So I guess the question is is there is there something that we can do that achieves both tasks that I guess and and I don't I don't know the answer to that. Um, and yeah, I think as so as the two lawyers on this, I guess the other thing I'll say is is it a short school day or is it what we're prioritizing? Because I think that's something that we've talked a lot on this committee is how to, you know, there's been a lot of conversation over I am so sorry. I put salt water in this and I did not expect that to happen. Well, thank you for not pulling. Sorry. Go ahead. Um, I think that there's been a lot of conversation since I've since my kids went through the school district and since I have been on this committee about making um prioritizing kids mental health and prioritizing different things and not just academic success and and and I'm leaving so I'm going to say I don't feel that we've done very much in the time that I've been on this committee to change that. And I think taking um taking away an an unstructured time, right? Like what whatever you want to think of that like I was I am now an an athlete, but I wasn't when I was in high school. And I think that gym is not for everybody. But what it is is a break from other types of um parts of your school day. And even if you are not going to be the person who's like excelling in in PE that day, like it is

a transition. and and the data that exists around focus and you know stress relief and all of those things is real. Um and so I think that the comparison to the things that we've talked about with regard to the school day and using that data to to make decisions around school start times and what have you I think should also apply here. I agree. I think what the present presenters said today was very um moving and accurate and I think you know what we've often had from guidance are presentations around who got into what school and how how much they're moving the ball forward for kids to move on to their next adventure which is really important but there's a lot of other things that we're teaching kids too while we're here. I just want to add like a a quick almost like a footnote is in my brain because of the conversation. But I I I do think though that that like break in a day looks different for every student and for some student it's orchestra and some student it's PE. So I don't I guess I don't see them as mutually like they have to be tied that like taking away PE means um or or like reducing that that freshman. Thank you for pulling the visual up. um like like com reducing that purple line in one freshman year means that we are taking a break that break out of you know all of these students because maybe they're adding an elective that is that break for them. So maybe they are like we're not requiring them to Sure. Sure. And so and what the drive of our academics is here in Westford is not about taking that break. Right. I mean, it is a valid point though, and I I think this came up in our policy

committee meeting the other day, which was like if we were if we were taking away recess at the elementary level, I mean, everyone would be very fired up, right? Like in that in many ways, this serves as part of that, right? like Valerie was pointing out as that break in someone's day so they can you know just focus on things other than the rigome roll and the stresses of reality which as an adult I don't think any of us probably do enough you know so I will say I kind of struggle a little bit like I see both sides I I completely agree with what you guys are saying the other thing that I come at this the other point of view I come at this firm is the number of years I've had conversations with parents um and families kind of within the CPAC, the special education community. And one of the kind of themes or pattern that I'm seeing is that they're feeling like um they're very limited with some of their kids when they get to high school because of issues that are occurring almost at the middle school regarding getting access to foreign language classes or potentially even math classes depending on what their IEP looks like. And so um I think there's some equity issues maybe that also require some kind of you know um conversation and examining and my thought right now is does creating some flexibility in the scheduling um at least give a bit more opportunity for the students who maybe are limited in in in when they you know from based on something that happened in seventh grade or eighth grade or you know um and and that's where I I struggle with it because I

totally agree. I love the idea of you guys having that break in the day. There's no Maddie I think you said it before there's no homework associated with the class. Um you know that that mental health benefit from it. Um but you know there are other components to this um in terms of the flexibility that I I'm kind of struggling with like how do you get the balance for for the students that are possibly you know their hands are tied before they even get to nth grade. And I think one of the challenges is is also that we're talking, you know, the purpose of this conversation is to talk about the graduation requirements at WA, but we also are looking at it holistically and looking at it districtwide. Ironically, in a few weeks, you're going to hear from the elementary school principles with their proposal to increase fizzed um at the elementary level. um when this conversation was taking place about um even last year, the year before when people were asking, you know, why why there wasn't a reduction in the the fizzed department and we were like, well, because they're fully subscribed, they're overs subscribed, right? Like there was no there was no question about that. Um we had um a parent from the middle school reach out to me and Brian Ror because they were concerned how little PE exists at the middle school. And then when we looked at it, we were like, WA has much more PE than the middle school does. And so, and that honestly was something that I hadn't looked at because no one had asked that question. And I just knew it fit in our six day rotation and that was the way that it had been. And I hate I am not a fan of that's the way we always do things, right? That's not who I am. But I I didn't have an answer for that. So, we started looking into it. And so, we started looking at what is, you know, what is the what is the experience districtwide? because at the same time I met with the the the um the PE

department at Westford Academy. I also met with the the members of the VPA, the visual performing arts department at Westford Academy, who first and foremost just wanted to tell me how disappointed they were in me and in Dan, but more me um because they didn't think that we were advocating enough for visual performing visual and performing arts and for in in for that to be increased. And across the board in both of these conversations, my concern is about the flexibility that we're trying to provide to students. I hear you when you say that they might take another course. I feel like putting the requirements in is not helping the direction that we necessarily want to be going in. And I do know that Dan is working with the staff at Westward Academy to be looking at other ways to address things. One of the things that we're that we're talking about right now that hasn't gone anywhere more than just conversations is are all of the weights that exist for the classes at the academy right now is that structure actually hurting or helping this process and the idea I really I'm glad Valerie had said what she said about you know what are what are those options for students to to have either release or what is the what is it that that they're most engaged in in that day that's bringing them some sense of strength and grounding in their social emotional development. That is different for everybody and I wish we could figure out what that is so that that's what we could be supporting as opposed to removing the flexibility. And so that's why for me this is about flexibility and it's about providing more flexibility for students. I think there's an argument to be said for, you know, changing the the different requirements in in other ways. Some of them are driven by the laws. Some of them are not. Some of them have just become best practices. Some of them have

just been, you know, I mean, we've just decided that's what is best for for students. But we haven't always had the same number of requirements in all of the other content areas that that we have now as well, too. So, I kind of just went down a a rabbit hole with that, so I apologize. But my point being is that I I feel like in in another one of the things I wanted to say, and it's similar to PE and and health as well as VPA. Yes, we're looking at the graduation requirements, and yes, we're looking at the experience that the Westford Academy students are having, but I don't want to discount the fact that the students have a very robust experience in these content areas, K through eight, right? So there's a lot of there's a lot of um things that students are exposed to that they're getting the opportunity to develop skills in a lot of different areas before even they get to Westford Academy. And so I just think this is about the policy, but if there's ways that we can be looking at the programming throughout um we should also be having those conversations. Go ahead. um to to speak on the programming note across the district though this has been a 25- year update to the fizzed and health standards and coincidentally we're looking at graduation requirements at the same time that Brian Ror and our teachers are trying to digest these standards and implement them across the district fairly and with balance and addressing all of these practices decision- making and problem solving physical activity and fitness self-management and goal setting, social awareness, relationship and communication skills, movement skills, self-awareness and analyzing influences, information and resource seeking, self- advocacy and health promotion. There's probably 10 standards that are that are asked by the state at grades 9 to 12 and that list isn't exhaustive. I just

think I want to practice caution, expressing caution here that we're not running headlong into something that we may regret and have to go and change again to fulfill how we look at graduation requirements which are important and that flexibility that you talked about that we all care about. Um, I just think these standards were very needed and we haven't had a lot of time to look at them and figure out how we're going to again K to 12 across the district. So, Mar, were you going to say something else? I guess I was thinking about um how we if we were going to really be creative about what you're talking about, Valerie, about like how how different people like view wellness then we would create something um like a wellness requirement that would hold that space for kids to to to learn some of these skills that you're talking about in the way that um is comfortable for them so that we don't just use that space to continue to add to the pressure cooker of what it's like to be in a college preparatory school. And so, um, a middle ground would be thinking about other, um, ways to hold that space. Um because as someone said like you know there's a lot of information about what it means to be a successful um adolescent um preparing to go to college and a lot of it is not about centering wellness. So, if we could think about a way to create like more of a middle ground to hold space for kids because we are the grown-ups and so I think that's yeah,

Bill's so that I I I I just and again every standards list in the state I I mean the the new fizzed and health standards I think there was about 70 experts and uh parents and district members across the state uh universities. I mean the the this the scope of the work that happens to update these standards is immense. Um adults with the expertise. Yeah. So now to segue out of wellness, is there anything else anyone want to say about wellness before I talk a little bit about BPA? No, go for it. So we were talking and in policy about the possibility of increasing the BPA requirement to one year and that has to do the first thought was that the mass core actually recommends a year of study and that's been a whole gray area. I know we discussed that some about what does that really mean and in the FAQ of the mass core it says a unit represents a full academic year of study or it's equivalent in a subject but it does not mean that students must be seated in class for a specific number of hours to receive credit for the course. Rather, students demonstrate mastery of the knowledge and skills represented by unit of instruction. Students may also earn credit for testing out of or accelerating a course. Um, so I did receive an email from a a Desi representative regarding the mass core in which they said said that the current recommendation is that students complete one unit of each course which is a full year equivalent of credit. A semester could be a full year equivalent depending on how credit is awarded.

My interpretation of that would be that you need a full year or five credits to fulfill the mass core requirement. Um, a few other reasons why we're feeling like it could be increased are that um all the other subject areas are meeting the mass core requirement except for VPA as far as what they're as what they're recommending. um and that the credits earned for BPA are actually 2% of a student's entire high school credits required. Um neighboring towns, Chsford and Littleton, many Dart schools all are complying with the one-year arts credit. Um and it's interesting we're talking about student wellness and engagement. One of the, you know, the arts are really an exception in many times in terms of a student's ability to express how they're feeling emotionally. Um, that is something that students are not able to do in many other subject areas. Uh, it really does tie in with social and emotional health um and many other skills. And in fact, experts experts are telling us that future career options are likely to evolve throughout a lifetime. And that creativity is what the arts teach us. And it's an important future vocational skill that employers are looking for now and in the future. Collaboration, self-expression, and that many students are deficient in that ability to be creative, which the arts teach us. Um it doesn't look like this would

increase our budget at this point. We do have space for kids, enough space um to meet the need for an increased um requirement. So also in terms of choice, the VPA electives offer a total of 58 different classes. There's a lot of choice within the VPA. There's fine arts, there's theater, there's music. Within those topics, there's also many different areas. Um, and uh, Lori, what was that com? What was that number? 58. 58. No, I mean, what does it represent? 58 different courses within uh, visual arts. Yeah. Thank you. which could be like digital stuff and you know well yeah fine arts has about 23 theater has eight and music has 27 okay thank you um and if we don't require it the mass core is recommending a year or year's worth of credit and we're not requiring that what are we saying are we saying I just feel like we're saying it's not important enough it's not we like it and other students might like it and they might enjoy it or be engaged by it, but we're saying it's not important enough to require what they're recommending. So, okay. Thanks, Lori. Yeah, you're welcome. on that. I I don't remember what the percentage was, but I I recall it to be a fairly small There was some analysis done on how many students if this had been a requirement this year. It was 80 seniors. Yeah, it was it was a fairly small percentage that if you spread that out over four years to be able to get it

in. So the the flip of that data point would be that a large majority of our students are choosing to do this anyway, right? That like without the requirement, right? And I don't know about you, but when I was 14 to 18, I had no idea what I was going to do when I grew up. Had no clue. Mhm. I certainly wasn't going to be a teacher. I knew that for sure. To me, I think that's the example of why I I do believe they need more choice and we need to be re-examining how the classes the classes themselves are competing against each other for students. If students are trying to chase some GPA or chase some type of resume, then are the courses and the and the way in which we've leveled them andor weighted them so that students are are not having to give up something that they want to take because they need to maintain a certain grade or something to the effect it kind of goes to Mari's point about just the the academic pressure because we'll have I mean there's a there's an argument for we should have a requirement for financial literacy. There's an argument, you know, as we talk about increasing the VPA, we're having a conversation as to whether we should or shouldn't be decreasing the the fizzed health requirements. I mean, the committee could decide to leave the graduation requirements as they are and not make any change to them. This came out of discussions around the budget and we we should be looking at what the requirements are and are the requirements driving something I fundamentally agree with the idea that we don't want to create a structure in which we're actually encouraging a problem. But that's where I I just see

students are going to benefit if they have the ability to select which courses they want to be taking more so than they currently do. But I just raised the question, have you ever taken a class that you didn't think you were going to be interested in only to find that it changed your life? Because I have. I don't think we always know ourselves as well as we think we do when we're age 14 to 18. I I and I think there are probably plenty of people have that example. I just don't necessarily think that that's a rationale for forcing it as a requirement in in for that regard. I think that's you you want we want to be encouraging students to try things. We want to en encourage them to have these opportunities, but I don't know what we've heard more are people who aren't able to do what they want to do because of the gates that seem to exist with trying to fit things into the schedule at WA. And and I I I think that's just my and that's just my recommendation. I feel like the more flexibility that you're able to provide, the better. But I think to again I'm just going to say back to Mari's point too. I would also love to see if there's some type of uh guard rails to that. you know, the idea so that then it's not just somebody I am not I don't like and I'm and I have consistently tried to counsel people out of chasing the GPA and chasing what they think they have to take in order to have the most competitive um resume because the colleges ultimately throw that through their own, you know, they take that they take the students transcript and they put it through their own process anyway. And I just that that's that's just where my my uh my feeling is on it at the moment. Yeah. I think we want a well-rounded education in high school. I don't think we want people who are already majoring in things before they get to college,

but the Mass does recommend a year and they obviously thought that thought it was important enough to put it in there. Can I can I um sort of related to that because this this did um this was sort of a conversation point in the working group, right? The VPA came up a little bit. I'm I'm just looking at the slides from December. Um and their recommendation at the time was to maintain BPA at 2.5 credits, but I'm also reminding myself that there was a recommendation for a grade 12 DT. Did that come up in the policy conversations for this draft? It didn't because it wouldn't wouldn't we wouldn't be would Isn't that the course of studies versus the that's the lower the total? Yeah. Do you remember that? No, it wouldn't have lowered the minimum. So yeah, what we're voting on is a minimum. Okay. What what we're discussing is a minimum number and then there's that extra chunk of flexibility. Okay. Okay. that uh a student can take up to the additional in the all the dark grays are very dark gray are additional classes whether it's it could be BPA could be uh an extra math or three um or business classes deal but number three says students are required to take 32.5 credits each year and on that second to last slide it says maintain 32.5 credits for grades 9 10 11 and formally changed to 30 credits for grade 12. So that was part of the working group recommendation. Where was it? Here uh right there. Yeah, that last slide form. Okay. Oh, right. Because they didn't they wouldn't receive be receiving or a credit for the DT, right? That allows that. So wouldn't that change the map? Just the number.

Yeah. So if if we were going to put that into the draft, that would be on number three in the policy required to take 33 32.5, right? Yes, that would be where that would I'm just pulling up the policy. So I have it I haven't done the math to does that change the 117.5. No, that would just take out one of the Okay. Because that's the minimum number you're talking about. Yeah. So the only Yeah. So the point three in the policy we just need to add in a line of adding students are required to take 32.5 credits grades 9 10 11 11 and 30 credits for grade 12. So that would be 127.5 was also from the working group which would which could be considered in this draft policy. Yeah. So I guess I'm raising that for consideration also. and and just that's not requiring a DT that's just basically giving an additional pressure relief to have the DT for college applications and that whole process which is a full-time job in some cases. I guess to that point it doesn't change the to the tangentially to the conversation we're having. doesn't change the chance that that a a student fills that with a high pressure course though. It doesn't affect that because the same it would still be the same spot, right? It means that they Yeah, they could take one less class. So, and again, it doesn't have to be about college. It could be they're just they're they can take one less class. Okay. Okay. Right. I mean, they currently have nine uh spaces for electives, I believe. Do that math. Is it 22.5 credits? Um,

if Why isn't this math mathing? If if you do 30 credits for three grades plus I'm sorry, if you do 32.5 credits for three grades plus 30 credits, I'm not getting the 117 point. Sorry, that's the minimum, right? Third time that's coming through. And it also it also um it allows for someone passing a class, you know, but if they So they have to their schedule has to have this many classes on it. Yep. But they have to pass 117. Sorry, I couldn't figure that out. No, that's true. Good point. Because it was too close. Yep. Right. Like if it was bigger. Yeah. Anyway, okay. I was like I'm I'm typing the engineer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Always end the um Okay. So I I guess what's so for anyone watching and just to remind us as we waddle through this, wade through this, our policy timeline, right, is that it's not that we're voting tonight, it's that this goes up for public comment. Um can you remind us of those dates? Give me one minute. I would give you those. So, it goes up for public comment on our website for some amount of time and it would be on our Febru uh February wow April 28th meeting um for another discussion point. Does policy have set a set schedule for check-ins? Like sometimes you guys meet on your own. Yeah. In between. So, we're meeting this Wednesday. This Wednesday and then we'll we'll schedule another meeting um if we need before the 28th. What's the date or after? Um 16th. I should know that the public comment period will be open Tuesday the 15th of April to Wednesday the 30th of April. 15 to 30. Yeah.

Okay. And then so we have like a discussion item on the 28th and then it would be a second reading slashfal reading at a following meeting. Um, so the three proposals, just to recap, are whether or not to change grade nine PEalth, whether or not to increase VPA, and whether or not to reduce grade 12 total credits required. The one I just talked about with the DT, the math I couldn't do. I'm just I'm I'm trying to summarize in case anyone else is getting lost. So, the other thing we can do is because there's clearly a lot of discussion and comments and thoughts. Um, you know, I kind of thought we might have come away with a bit more direction tonight, but I'm not too sure people necessarily feel like they may have a direction on one, two, or three options and that um maybe we add this to the agenda again for a second meeting and then get a more um give everyone kind of the two weeks to think about it. Um, and if we need to like pause that third that third meeting vote, we can update the policy then. Right. The nice thing the nice thing is that the time sensitivity piece is removed by approving the competency determination. Right. So we knew that this was going to be a bit of a meteor conversation and we can allow that in our policy. Yeah. Um would it be helpful to policy if we just if we were able to come to a consensus on that point number three? You know would that that would be lovely. reduce the to reduce the credits you can take off. Yeah. If people feel like they could be this evening. I mean I I definitely think that it's it

doesn't impact the choice. It actually gives that opportunity to to make a a different choice um and some freedom. So I I mean I would support that reducing the minimum but still having for grade 12. For grade 12 grade 12 any other thoughts on that particular point tonight? seems like it goes along with what we've been talking about in terms of social emotional health and breathing room and choice and it makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Okay. I'm seeing head nods. So, okay. So, we can we can update that specific language and again we can come back and look at it again. We haven't voted on it so it's not set in stone. Um Okay. So, this version that we're like, will you will will policy be able to add that? Do the math. Will policy be able to make that change in the draft that's up on public comment? Yeah, we can we can make those draft those changes anytime. Okay. So, I think we're meeting the first week in May. Actually, we're not meeting next week because it's vacation. You're meeting this Wednesday. She said we're meeting this Wednesday. Oh, we're meeting this Wednesday. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and then we'll figure out the next. Yeah, it's only Monday. That's right. Yeah, I know. Yes, we are meeting this Wednesday. All right. So, I thought it was Friday. With the with the reminder of our process, is everybody okay with tonight or any other points someone would like to make on the discussion tonight? Okay. Got speed, friends. You're in it for one more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're not getting away with it too easily. All right. So, our next item of business tonight is um our re consider uh whatever I don't know the right word. Um we're voting on job descriptions, which we're on our April

1st meeting agenda. Um so, just following our typical protocol that we don't vote on something typically um the first time we see it and allow for that um feedback and discussion. Would anyone like to raise any feedback or points for the job descriptions? Either or. Or are you going in turn? Let's start with assistant director of special education. All right. Well, I got some feedback. Yeah. Um, so I I I it being the assistant director of special education um assistant special education director, it made sense to to present this to the uh special education parent advisory council. So I did get some feedback to it. um not nothing really of sub like huge substantive changes, but um some areas that we may want to consider or uh adding specifically to the I guess it would be the uh responsibility section, but there was there was um some suggestion that we specifically reference IEPs um talking about the development and uh working with families in that actually don't think it's referenced at all in the description as it stands. Um another addition regarding um partnering with community groups related to that and uh communication with families. Um do you do you want to pause there just um just in case because I I did have some thanks for coming. I did have some um questions that I had sent to Dr. myself and one of them was a

reminder to myself about you know that process that admin administration has gone through in the last couple years with that HR consultant to sort of reduce barriers in some of our job descriptions as part of an inclusive hiring initiative. Um, so I'm just want to check in on the your questions to see if any of them were um like if if I felt like some of the, you know, it doesn't list all of the laws, right? Or like, you know, so some of that I think is to make them to make the job descriptions more evergreen and some of those um points that were raised during the consultant. So if you wanted to if there was anything to add. I I I think that if we were to list all the laws. Yeah, sure. Sorry, it's a bad example document, right? And so one of the bullets does speak about ensuring compliance with federal and state laws, regulations, policies related to special education. So that certainly does encompass an IEP because that's under state regulation. Um certainly if someone feels comfortable to call it out, we can we can call it out. I think what's important to recognize in this position itself is that it is a new position. Um there are many different roles that maybe an assistant director of special education might take on. In this particular case, we're looking at two of our part-time positions which we are looking to combine so that we're so that this is a budgetneutral decision that happens. Um a large amount of this position will be around out of district placement. Okay. and and because that is the case right now. Our numbers have increased over the years and so that's going to be the responsibility of the assistant director. Um that being said, that position is certainly poised to

understand what we see in other collaboratives, the strengths, the weaknesses, the private schools, the strengths and the weaknesses, as well as reflecting on our own um subsparate programs in district to make sure that we are able to, you know, offer something that's as robust as possible so that we don't bounce to an out of district placement when we don't have to do that. Certainly there are times that it's 100% necessary and the team makes that recommendation but if we can do a better job at programming in district then hopefully we um save that. So the two main pieces would be that out of district responsibility as well as overseeing some of the subsparate programmatic um responsibilities that you might see with our reach program um the sale program pathways and roots. Um other than that, you know, we would love to be able to stretch the bandwidth um as far as we can. And so there are certainly other bullets in here that just kind of speak to uh the collaboration that will take place between this assistant director and um the director of special education and social emotional learning which we purposely have two different names for it because the understanding is that Gerard Karlin's position is a much bigger umbrella that includes um our guidance staff, our school psychologists, the um the nurses um and So, you know, McKini Vinto, um, students that are in foster care, and that will not be necessarily part of this position itself. I appreciate that. And I I didn't mean to cut you off, Sean. I I want to hear more. Um, I just thought that that was good framing for No, and I I I think that's helpful, too. And and and thank you for reminding me and the public um that we've made an effort to kind of

make these less complicated, right? um as you so eloquently pointed out removing barriers for um qualified people to apply. So I think that if we had the opportunity to create a position where it was an assistant director of special education without collapsing other positions into it. Yeah. Um the description would look a little bit different. Um but we can't obviously lose uh track of what those other pieces are that need to continue to happen. And I I think that you covered them, Courtney. So, like I did a kind of a mishmash job of synthesizing what the suggestions were, but they were really surrounded around IPS and communication. And I think you covered it that these are already articulated. They're just articulated in different ways. Um, one suggestion that I will that I do think is was a very very good suggestion was um, under job qualifications. If you look at the second line, I'm sorry. Uh, sorry, last line, first paragraph, the candidate must be a productive team member and work collaboratively with colleagues and the community. Um I would suggest that we put with colleagues, families, comma, and the community. Okay. Just to just to draw out that I mean separately than the community, right? Okay. We use community colloquially here to you know whatever interest groups and yeah it's school community but yeah y great and there were a few just grammatical errors that I had noticed that we'll clean up around the um bullets where um change you know like in the first bullet uh provides rather than providing so just to make it more consistent. So we'll clean that up as well.

Any other feedback from members? Uh I just follow up. I I think it's it's sometimes challenging if you do put too many specific tasks for one position, especially in an assistant role where we know who the director is right now, but will that be the director in five years? And you you really want you don't want people with the same skill set, right? You you want people that can complement each other. So I think that having it a little bit more general is actually good for for that where we don't have to come back and approve a change if staffing changes. So and I think one of our uh earlier comments were around you know do we want to state uh a certain amount of years of experience and so yes we do but we will articulate that in the job posting and so we're not going to put that in the job description itself. um our job qualifications as you know a preferred master's degree and license as a special education administrator. Um and then from there you know our posting might look a little bit different. Sorry. Do you mind if I just come back to something and forgive me Courtney if I misunderstood this. So I know some of the feedback um I think that Sean was sharing was kind of came through CPAC and and one of the points that they had also noted was um yeah you were talking about the IEP development. Um so that role currently we do have that member involved in some ways in IEPs of our students who are out of district. And so not mentioning an IEP in position responsibilities. Um I kind of wonder should it be included because you need somebody who's obviously clearly up to date and engaged and and understands the IPS and can be

involved in the process. Well, if it's the oversight of the out ofd district placements that would be included in it's included. Yeah. We would be asking our collaborative programs and our privates and residentials to be developing those IEPs with the coordinator coordinator to make sure that there's consistency and that there's depth to it and um and it's also a team decision and the parents play a role in that too. Yeah. So I mean we're not asking our assistant director to write draft the IEP and walk in to a meeting with it for our district students. That's not happening. No. they do have a responsibility to ensure that it's aligned with the students needs and that it's we are the LEA that ultimately signs off on it. So, right. So, having that understanding um of compliance with federal and state regs um is is essential. Yeah. So, is this person is this position the team lead for the out of district placement? Correct. Yeah. Like the chairperson. Sorry, I'm probably using Okay. Thank you. Did you want to propose an edit or was the conversation sufficient? Completely up to Courtney if any of those changes want to be made. I mean, would it be providing programmatic oversight and uh including the development of IEPs, facilitating the development of IEPs in the placements? I mean, Everybody understand the proposed amendment? Okay. Would it be after the word placement or before that? Like providing programmatic oversight for out of district placements and the development of IEPs and the development of development or putting it before that? What would make more sense? I just think it's such an entire

I don't I don't I don't personally feel like we need to word submit it. I think the intention is there and Yeah. Exactly. Okay. And that the consensus is to support that. Yeah. And I I think um with the the idea of it, I would say, you know, however it grammatically works. Sure. Okay. Okay. So, we have two proposed changes. The add families and families um addition and the pro um including the development of IEPs in the first bullet. Any other considerations or feedback or discussion or motions? I would move to approve as amended with the allowance for additional grammatical changes. Second. Thank you, Tom and Lori. Any final thoughts? All in favor? Thank you. Okay. Next up is the instructional technology supervisor. Another mouthful. I'm on fire tonight. Do you want to pull that one up too or um is there any context for that that you'd like to add before? So, this would be another 12-month position um that we would be adding um to um our support system. we would be collapsing several other positions that already exist. So that again it's a budget neutral um position. Uh the director the uh instructional technology supervisor would work under the direction of the director of technology as well as the superintendent. We would um be really looking at the integration of educational tech support. Um as you all know keeping up with technology whether it's the latest apps and you know which bells and whistles that we

all want and trying to maintain those subscriptions um becomes pretty daunting. So really would want this person to take a heavy lead in that to see what is best for the district. Um the other piece around um security for everything that we do on the web, whether that is being a good digital citizen for our um staff, for our students and making sure that anything that we purchase uh in district does follow the uh proper policies and regulations that are in place. Um it'll also be somebody who is working with the technicians, not so much um overseeing them, but listening to how they're supporting staff and it troubleshoot if there's a a more efficient way of doing something or or using a different app. You know, each each year someone says to us, "Hey, let's use this different um subscription." And it's difficult because some teachers get very comfortable with the subscription that they're currently using. And so, you know, for this year, we're really looking to um provide an opportunity during our next PD in May to introduce some of this technology so that they can say, "No, we're not going to use this subscription. We're going to move to, you know, a book creator." And then and and give them a little bit of a cheat sheet on how that might look. So someone that can really um work at the district level and tie in all those pieces. It's does get very very costly. Um the unfortunately you know during co so many of these things were dangled in front of us and we were so desperate to provide remote education. Um some people fell in love with some of those apps and they were all free at the time. Right. Yay. And then the next year what happened in the following year? So technology, you

know, some of our subscriptions are going up 7 to 14%. And it's pretty darn difficult to keep up with that. And that that's normal, unfortunately. 7 to 14% is normal. Uh and just a little bit of context going to the year, the full year. Um I'm assuming that would be also helping with rolling out computer replacements in July and August and all that type of stuff that the technology department has to do anyway, right? Well, I mean, yeah, the technology department is the the the IT staff really does a lot of that. This is really helping us. I I think one of the big pieces here is this interface, if you will, between the curriculum coordinators and the technology. So, helping to support uh those because that's one of the pieces that I think we're we're we're missing, right? Is that idea of who who really understands both of these languages. Okay. Like a foot in both camps. Yeah. Yeah. I mean reading it, I thought it was exciting to think about that integration, right? And and all these things having a a point person sort of to follow a similar line when you think about the posting. You going to think about a license attached to that? Would it be a digital literacy computer science? Would be a director supervisor noncore? like what's the is there no license required for this or just relevant experience? And it's a master's degree for one thing, but no license, right? To to Bill's point, many um IT positions in schools are listed with some kind of educational license requirement. Um I don't know if this position would fall into that. you know, supervisor. One could argue the director supervisor license fulfills that. I don't know. Yeah, that might be a tough one. To be inclusive too of our candidates and to get a robust offering,

we maybe want to leave it open-ended. I don't It's also one of the the pieces here is that we had a director of digital learning a number of years ago that we then absorbed as a retirement and after the couple of years we're realizing there there were things that are not getting taken care of. And so this is not the director, right? It's not it. That's one of the things we're specifically looking at. It's somebody who's a who's a yearround position who's a member of our central office staff who's providing the support to the buildings, but this individual is not at that director level. Got it. Got it. Any final thoughts or motions? Motion to approve the instructional technology supervisor or IT. Its bad acronym. There we go. Thanks, Bill. And a second by Lori. Appreciate that. Final thoughts. All in favor. Thank you. Okay, great. And a motion to adjurnn. Okay, I've got Katherine and a second. I'll second. Thank you. All in favor? Thanks everybody.