March 25, 2020 — Meeting Transcript

Machine-generated transcript — may contain errors.

Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Hi. I think we're still waiting on Gary and Jake. So just to let everybody know that we are, so we're streaming now.

So this video is live and meeting is live and being recorded from this point forward. Also, once we actually start the meeting, I will go ahead and mute everyone. And then so Joe or Sean is ever starting that meeting, you'll just need to go in and individually yourself. Keep speaking.

As I kind of covered with everybody in our test runs is that, you know, we will definitely want to keep our microphones muted unless we're needing to speak just to reduce the background noise. As you guys can hear, there's quite a bit of background noise coming from, you know, everybody's different homes and offices. Hey, Chris, I have a question. Can you hear me?

So if I want to refer to my documents on board docs, because usually I have hard copies and I don't. What happens when I switch over to board docs? I know you guys can see me, but there's no way for me to see everybody when I'm using, when I'm looking at board docs. Okay.

Not unless you have a second monitor, no. Or you can just make the screen smaller. But no. Okay.

Thank you. Sure. Okay. So we're going to give it, I know we're live streaming now, but we're going to give it just a couple more minutes here.

And then we're going to, hi, Gary. Hey, sorry, I didn't realize I didn't have that on. You're good. You're good.

So we'll just give it like maybe two more minutes, guys, and then we'll wrap it up. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And then we'll go ahead and start. Spermingham, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Okay, guys, I think we're going to go ahead and just get started just because we are live streaming for the sake of time. So we can go ahead and start the meeting.

Adequate notice, albeit virtual, for this virtual meeting has been given. We're actually going to, I know it might seem silly, but we're going to do the Pledge of Allegiance just to kind of honor how we always start. So Sean's got a flag. So I'm going to stand up and we're all going to do the Pledge of Allegiance to start real quick.

So I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Awesome. Thank you. Appreciate that.

I will say that we do have a lot of public comments. We actually have 20 public comments that we're going to read into the record. I know. Hey, guys.

We're going to read into the record. Before that, though, I just want to say thank you to everybody and kind of a particular thanks to Sean and the administration. This is an incredibly unprecedented and trying time. And I thought maybe I even start it out with I think an interesting quote from Maya Angelou.

And I just wanna read it. It says, during bad circumstances, which is a human inheritance, you must decide not to be reduced You have your humanity and you must not allow anything to reduce that We are obliged to know we are global citizens Disasters remind us we are world citizens whether we like it or not So I just wanted to share that with everybody to start with And having said that we move to public comment Okay. So, we, just so everyone knows, the way that we did public comment is that we did a form where people could submit their public comment, and Chris compiled all those, and I asked him to read those tonight, so that way we can record those and have those on record. So, I'm going to ask Chris to go ahead and start with the public comments.

All right, thanks. I'm going to go ahead and just do this without video because it'll be easier for me to actually keep all this up on my screen. So our first comment is from Robin Frankel, and her comment is as follows. I realize that distance learning has begun, but not all children will receive an equal amount of parental support and resources to thrive.

I have three questions. One, considering the very real possibility that school will not resume in the final quarter, when will the Board of Education have a plan in place to ensure that students, particularly in primary grades, K-3, will receive adequate instruction to prepare them for the next grade level? Two, will children begin next school year in the same grade they are currently in? Three, will Supertowns, Missouri, try to collectively get legislation reversed and permit schools to begin the next school year earlier than usual to help make up for lost time this spring?

Next comment is from Brian Ireland. The comment is as follows. While internet learning is undoubtedly better than doing nothing at this time, it cannot replace in-person classroom instruction. Consequently, has there been any thought given to treating this hiatus as the district would a snowstorm?

By classifying COVID-19 as a snow day, a portion of the canceled days could be made up. Adding days or weeks to the school calendar and mitigating the amount of classroom hours lost would be preferable to merely using Google Classroom as a substitute. Next comment is from Kimberly Henderson. It was actually just a question, will prom or graduation be postponed?

Next comment is from Kristen Stahl. Her comment reads, since the election has been postponed, could candidates remove their signs from yards? They are distracting and unnecessary at this time. And then all of our remaining comments, just we'll still read them all, but are related to an agenda item on the, related to the work being done at Glenridge Elementary on the field.

First of these comments comes from Allison Heading. She says to the members of the board, over five years ago when I was the PTO co-president at Glenridge, I partnered with Tim Wanisch and his incredible crew to attempt to make the Glenridge field a usable play space for our community. Since that time, I have watched grass grow and die, grow and die, grow and die. Time is right to move forward and construct a field that will allow our students to utilize our outdoor space safely, effectively, and year-round.

I want to thank the district for taking the time to investigate all the options, for making a valiant effort to keep the space green, and for recognizing the need to move in a different, more feasible direction. As I write this from the confines of my home, I am reminded how crucial it is for human beings to be outside, having a space where students can be active and play safe during school and PE. No matter the weather, all year long is priceless, and the benefit to our community knows no bounds. I trust the district to educate and care for my children each day and know that every decision about the design of this field has been centered around what is best for students.

I've been waiting a long time for this day to come, and I thank you wholeheartedly for your support. Nicole Miller. Nicole's comment is, first, I want to thank everyone that has been involved in the Glen Ridge Turk Project, from our amazing PPO, previous and current, to Mary Jo, Tim, and his staff. With the approval of this new and improved space, the Glen Ridge community will be able to have a place to come and play that is safe and enjoyable for years to come.

As a PE teacher, I know we will utilize this with our students, which will help decrease the volume of students in the gym and give us the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors more often than we can now. Please vote yes for this project and thank you for your continued support. With much appreciation, Nicole Miller, Glenridge PE teacher. Next comment is from Kathy Weeks.

To the members of the board, our son finished Glenridge Elementary in 2019. For most of his six years at Glenridge, the condition of the field has been atrocious and an unusable eyesore. Even though tremendous amounts of money and time were invested by the district to try and keep it usable and safe. As Moreland community members we are in full support of having the field turfed It is a much needed improvement to the school and will benefit teachers of many generations and many generations of kids Peter and Kathy Weeks The next comment is from Kara Majunkin The comment reads over the eight years I have had kids at Glenwoods the field was pretty much always a muddy mess despite the efforts to make it nice and green We're fortunate to have the support and resources to make the field, which is used during school, after school, and on weekends, an evergreen space for kids to play.

Next comment is from Sadaf Kanyani. I apologize for the pronunciation. We're relatively new to Clayton and Glenridge, but my son is always to be found in the Glenridge field playing soccer. It is a great place for him to hang out with his friends.

Last year when the field was not accessible, he had a hard time trying to find an alternative place. It would be wonderful to have an evergreen field, which is available all year round. Next comment is from Lisa Flynn. Glyndard Elementary School is the foundation of our neighborhood and a core reason we purchased our house.

The playground provides an opportunity for our kids to play and for families to build relationships. Unfortunately, a large part of the outside play area is unusable due to weather or just plain being a dust storm. Playing and maximizing the time outside is crucial for growing and educating healthy children. We have wasted more money over the years instead of just turfing this area.

Putting in the turf is an investment and will provide a usable surface for the school and community throughout the year. Next comment is from Ivan Baxter. I am writing to ask the board to support the turf at Clinton Ridge. The school has no usable green space for children to play and has tried for years to get grass to work.

It's time to try something else. The turf field will employ a local company and will be a great gift for students when they return to school after the long time at home. Next comment is from Lisa Flynn. Glenridge Elementary School is the foundation of our neighborhood and a core reason we purchased our house.

The playground provides an opportunity for our kids to play and for families to build relationships. Unfortunately, a large part of the outside play area is unusable due to weather or just plain being industrial. I think this is a resubmitted comment from earlier. I'll finish reading it.

Play and maximizing the time outside is critical for growing and educating healthy children. We have wasted more money over the years instead of just turfing this area. Putting in the turf is an investment and will provide a usable space for the school and community throughout the year. The next comment is from Mary Bauer to the members of the board.

Thank you for your time and effort during this trying time. I am making this statement on behalf of Liz McCandless, Joanna Dismore, Kathy Weeks, Jackie Starville, and myself, Mary Bauer, regarding the artificial turf field and our experiences within the community as we have worked together on this project. Our goal from the start has been to transform the Glen Ridge field from its current state into a safe and usable green space with state-of-the-art turf. These necessary upgrades will ensure students and teachers have a low-maintenance, high-quality space for active play for years to come.

We have hosted parent coffees, surveyed teachers, and held an open house. And we have had tremendous support for transforming this field through the use of artificial turf. We repeatedly heard frustration from parents regarding the current field and its uneasiness and unsafe state for active play. Additionally, we currently see kids digging in the sand on the field, exacerbating these issues.

These poor field conditions then lead to the kids playing multiple sports on a blacktop instead. It's so frustrating to be a parent watching kickball, soccer, basketball, football, and any open play happening on the blacktop next to the large field where they should be playing some of these games. Parents also feel the field is currently greatly underutilized for PE purposes for these same reasons and due to wet field conditions, all of which will be greatly reduced with turf. Concerns for the current field have been an ongoing issue as numerous attempts have been made to keep grass on the field, but unfortunately none of these have worked and continue to suck time and money in a losing battle.

The amount of use this field gets does not allow for grass growth and recovery, and this is with the limited use it gets now and with the field being closed and fenced off all summer. During our discussions, the only topic of concern was regarding infill or pellets used in some artificial turf. Those concerns were mitigated when we noted that the turf that would be utilized is a non-infill synthetic turf. Parents would love to have a safe and level field for kids to run and play on without concerns of uneven surfaces causing injuries.

The turf is vital to offer our children the best experiences possible from a play and safety standpoint. We appreciate your support and desire to give our students the best experiences, both in the classroom and in their outdoor spaces. The next comment is from David Gardner. Although our boys are now in middle school and high school, we fully support the initiative to convert the Glen Ridge soccer field to turf.

It should have been done years ago and will save current and future Glen Ridge students far better than the current grass field. Next comment is from Molly Poe Potts. My family can't wait for the field. It's so important to us that we can finally use that space.

And from what I understand it will save the district time and money in the long term to no longer have to maintain an empty lot This is going to be used every day by the entire community You cannot wait for it to go in It would be extremely disappointing if this wasn Next comment is from Tyler Johns Please vote yes for the approval of turf field at Glenridge. It is what we need. It's a great long-term investment that will provide a better experience for our students and community. Thank you.

Next comment is from Heather Johns. I am in full support of a turf field at Clinridge. Please vote yes. It is a good long-term investment financially for the students, teachers, and neighborhood.

Next comment is from Rita Gardner. We may not attend Glendron anymore, but our children still use the field to practice and for recreation. We love our community and want to see our facilities progress and continue to maintain high standards for our families. The next comment is from Patrick McDaniel.

As a parent with three kids at the Glenridge neighborhood, it has been an incredible community to be part of. We make it a point on the weekends to visit the playground, to visit with other Glenridge friends and parents. We have an opportunity to enhance our school, our neighborhood, and our community by upgrading to an eco-friendly turf. We've seen other communities do the same, and their only regret was not to do it sooner.

Please allow us to upgrade for many years to come. Our final comment comes from Anna Live. As the Glenridge family, we fully support installation of a turf field on the school field site. It is important to continue to build momentum for improvement of the grounds and making the most utilization of each part of our site is critical, is a critical part of this.

We support the teachers and administration in helping make this happen. That's all the comments that we have. Okay, awesome. Thank you.

So we're going to move to Superintendent Communications. Okay. Can you hear me okay? Okay.

All right. Well, thank you so much for everyone's flexibility as we're having this virtual meeting. This is truly one of those situations that is a new experience for all of us. It's also causing us to think differently and to work differently.

And so I appreciate the board's flexibility tonight. At our board meeting at the beginning of March, the board requested an update on the coronavirus and how it's having impact on the district. And at that time, I had no idea that we would be at this point with the closure of our school buildings and launching a continued learning plan. However, we were proactive in our conversations in February and our leadership team prepared for this experience.

I want to publicly thank our central office team and our principals for their dedication, ingenuity, and their selflessness as we develop this plan. And I also want to say thank you to our families, because they are in new roles in their homes, and they have been really, really supportive through this whole process as well. So the purpose of my superintendent communications is to kind of give you a current reality of where we are. And then I also just want to put the caveat is like this is the reality right now.

And in another day, something could change or in a few hours. So I just wanted to make sure that people know that these things are changing. And then this is going to be a little different than what we've done in the past with superintendent communications. I'm going to read what we're doing.

But if you have a clarifying question or something that you wanted to put out there, just let me know at the end. Okay. So at this point, our school buildings are closed until April 22nd, but our district is still open for learning. This timeline, it could be extended beyond April 22nd, but that timeline is also aligned with the stay home order that was put out by St.

Louis City and County, and all the school districts in St. Louis County and City are adhering to that order. Over spring break, we deployed 1,700 devices to our students. K through second grade students got iPads.

Third grade through eighth grade received Chromebooks. And students at the high school already had devices, the Chromebooks. Our technology department has been amazing because we now have a system for making sure that all of our students have a device to have this continued learning, but also our technology department is supporting all of those devices across our entire community. That deployment was quite a process and want to say thank you to Jeff and Melaina because they made it happen and felt really positively about it.

During spring break, all of the devices were cleaned by our facilities department and labeled with an asset number and then a name was put on all of the devices. So a student's name and the asset number was on the device because although we want to make sure our students have these devices, this is an investment. We want to protect our investment and make sure we know who has all of our devices. Superroportionate, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

Many of our students and teachers already use. They are able to upload videos and assignments through Google Classroom. Today, I had an opportunity with Milena to tour our elementary classrooms, so able to go in and see what is happening. I saw teachers doing video lessons.

I saw students who were responding to assignments. Assignments. I saw some of our teachers who were giving our students some of our specialist teachers giving them choices in terms of physical activity. It was quite impressive in terms of the amount of work and information that's in these Google Classrooms.

Now, the Google Classroom suite is asynchronous in that they can put out this information, the students can respond back. But we also have Google Meet, which is allowing teachers to be synchronous with the students. So that way they can do conferring with the students. They can still do small reading groups with the students.

We also know that our support people, such as our nurses, our counselors, our social workers, are still going to meet with students through that. So there is going to be some opportunity for live either instruction or conferring with the students. We have been using both district resources and community resources to make sure that all of our families have internet connections. So we were able to provide hotspots to all of our students who needed them, or we were able to get them connected with local services that were going to be able to give temporary internet support.

At this time, we have grab-and-go lunches and breakfast system at Captain Elementary each day from 1045 to 1245, where anyone in the community can come and grab a lunch and breakfast. We have decided to move that to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so that way our families don't have to come up so often, and they are able to get food for those two days. And we're also making sure that we have our regular food pantry families in the same system so that way we're continuing the needs that we had in place before this all happened. One of the other things we did was our student services department did a needs assessment to determine what other specific needs our families needed beyond just meals.

So it might mean maybe some check-ins around developing schedules or just social emotional needs. And our nurses and counselors and social workers are also providing that support as well, as well as our EL teachers for families that are English as a second language. So this week, today was actually the first day of our continued learning. It was the first day we were able to launch it.

Our focus is on routines and completing assignments and providing feedback. And some people might ask the question about what are we doing for grades, because that's also something that's out there. Our goal right now is to get into the routine and get established with the system. At this point, we're at hold harmless, meaning that our students' grades are not going to be negatively impacted.

However, we are developing some criteria and having conversations about grading, because if we're having some extended time and extended closure, we might we're going to be thinking about how we can be proactive about making sure we're providing students the credit that they need. All the buildings have been thoroughly cleaned during this closure. Spervantage, P.D., and the next one. Thank you, everyone.

We are going to move to the next one. We are Support for our technical needs and also making sure we have people in the business office to take care of paying the bills and making sure we're taking care of payroll. So one of the other things that's putting in, we have been, I feel like we've done a really great job with our communication. I want to say thank you to Chris and his department because they, I feel like the communication we've worked to be very clear.

We've developed a website that is an abundance of resources. It's claytonschools.net backslash continued learning. And I also am very impressed with our principals because they've been very thoughtful about making sure they are creating normalcy for our students. Superroportionate P And putting videos out there to make sure that we getting a kind of a sense of normalcy for our students The other thing that is you know there a reality that there things that are going to be very disappointing about this situation And one of those is prom.

And we had to cancel prom. And we're being very thoughtful about not saying right now postponing that prom because we don't know the reality of the timeline of this. And so our high school administration is working to think about what is a way that we can celebrate our seniors and do something for our seniors once this is all over. So it's not that we are going to postpone it to another date, but we're going to figure something out that's going to be a celebration for our students in some way.

We've canceled field trips that have extended through May because some of the things that we, first of all, we need to make sure that, again, we don't know what the timeline is going to be. And then there's also some contracts that we have to give. There's a certain point where we can pull out of these field trips. Superroportionate, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

Thank you, Adam. We also have our playgrounds closed at this point. We have signs throughout the district so that way people aren't using them, and we'll make sure that those are cleaned as well before students return. I think I shared with you that DESE has canceled all of our state mandated assessments that usually take place in April and May so we're not going to have our map test, and we're not going to have our end of course examinations.

And then I also wanted you to know that some people have asked about filling positions. We still have positions that are open for next year. And so our Human Resources Department is working to have a creative type of process that's going to allow us to have video interviews and different types of performance events that are going to allow us to maintain that focus of getting the very best people for our classrooms. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

Demonstrated and also their level of creativity and hope that they've put into this process. So I actually think that we're going to be stronger because of this. And it's terrible that we're going through this situation, but I feel that we're a district that has come together. I have been, I feel completely so fortunate to work with the administrative team that I have right now because our collective efficacy is so high right now.

We feel like we can accomplish anything and nothing is impossible for us and what we've done over the last two weeks. I feel like it's all about what is in the best interest of our students. And so that is where we are. That's our current reality.

Next time I talk to you, it might be something else. So I just want people to realize that we are giving our heart and soul to this situation. And I really feel proud of where we are with it. Thank you, Sean.

I really appreciate that. So I think what I'm going to do, just because if we all unmute at the same time and try to talk, it'll be mayhem. So I'm literally just going to go around the horn and ask you if you have a clarifying question for Sean, and I'm going to do that with various items tonight too, because otherwise, again, I think it's not going to work. So Gary, I'm going to start with you.

Do you have any clarifying questions about this update? Sean, you may have said this and I missed it, but is there, are principals or is anybody in the buildings kind of on a regular basis to be part of the process of building out this, these materials that are, the teachers are putting out? Or is everybody literally working from home on this? I'm sorry if I missed that.

Everyone is can you hear me Everyone is working from home and that includes our administrators but we have what we put in a place is that if people need to get into the buildings because teachers might realize I need this for a demonstration or I might need these materials We told them to contact the building principals and they will be able to get them into the buildings The building principals still have access to the schools, but we also we're wanting people to work remotely and adhere to that stay home order. I will say that I have been in this building each day, but there are probably going to be days that I'm going to work from home as well. Thank you, Gary. So I'm going to move to Kristen.

Kristen, any clarifying questions? We're cutting on from Kristen. Lily, any clarifying questions? Yes, I have one.

Sean, have you and the team given thought to if any of our students, staff, or parents of our students are to get sick with the virus and or seriously ill? Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. I will say that we've had families who have said that they, you know, they've traveled, they're going to self-quarantine, they just wanted us to be aware. A lot of people have been very upfront about self-reporting.

And so we're trying to track that as much as possible. Amy, do you have any questions? Any clarifying questions? I just want to thank everybody for all of the hard work.

I know the admin and the teachers that have been working day and night to make this happen. So thank you. And nobody's had a break. So we all appreciate it very much.

And that's all. Jason, you got any clarifying questions? No, I don't have any. Can you all hear me?

Yes, we can. Yeah, no, I don't have any clarifying questions. Okay, great. Stacy, do you have any?

I don't have any questions, but I just want to thank Sean for your leadership and all the teachers and everybody that took spring break to work on this. I'm so impressed with everything that we're doing. And I appreciate you being so proactive with this because I think it helped ease the stress for the teachers, the parents, and the students to have something in place so early. So that's all.

Thank you. No questions. Adam, do you have any questions? No, I don't have any questions.

Sean, I don't have any questions. Again, I just want to also offer my thanks and a praise to you and the administration. It's hard going out there every day and doing all the planning that you're doing. So thanks.

A very thorough report. And, you know, kudos to you, the administrative team and all the teachers and staff for doing such a great job. Thank you. Yeah, well, thanks.

Okay, so we're going to move to student rep update. Adam, do you have anything for us? Yeah, sure. First, I also wanted to thank the administration on behalf of the students because as our lives are changing so much, it's nice to know that the administration is there for us and making our lives the best that they can be right now.

So we appreciate it. But I thought I'd tell you a little bit about what my day was like today as a student and what it looked like and what it seems like it'll look like for me. So we started off to, I got email, I've been getting emails for the past few days from teachers who have been updating us on how the Google Classroom will work and where we're going to get our information. And so today, I woke up this morning around 8.30, 9 o'clock, and you can get up pretty much whenever your body needs to, which is nice for us teenagers.

Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superroportionate Proposition O levy agenda motion carried Superroportionate, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Thanks, Adam. Appreciate it.

That's helpful. So we're going to move into our information items. And we do have, we have two this evening. And the first one is the social studies self-study for year two.

I think, is Melaina doing that or Sean, are you doing that? Melaina is going to give the report. Hi, everybody. So I was going to set up this report similar to how I've set up the other ones.

So to first start with the social studies piece when we came to you last year, we talked about some of our potential areas of focus being around our enduring understandings around critical thinking and historical thinking skills, the elementary social studies curriculum, and then civics and equity. What we heard from you at that time when we presented to you was a lot of support for a focus on equity, liked the focus on the civics and the citizenship, and really liking the idea of encouraging students to explore their areas of interest. So thinking more around that personalized learning kind of piece. So when in the report that we submitted to you recently, our goals took a little bit of a shift from those potential areas because some of those things that we identified as goals in the first part became just normal work within the process.

And so it didn't feel like it needed to be a goal in and of itself. So we ended in a place with four goals. Our first one around equity and the fact that students will see themselves within the curriculum, have their voices heard, and learn about others through listening and valuing differences. Our second goal and our fourth goal kind of work hand in hand.

So it's a pedagogy goal and a curriculum goal. The pedagogy being focusing on inquiry-based pedagogy to increase student voice and choice. Spervantage, curriculum piece, looking at the elementary perspective and reducing the overlap and redundancies and being able to expand in a way that we haven't done in the past. And then a particular focus on civics across the board, so throughout the system.

So developing and refining a K-12 articulated curriculum strand around the rights and responsibilities as citizens. So when you think about as we do the work within these goals, how will we look different moving forward in our connection to the profile of the graduate? The equity goal will help us to focus around cultural competence. So that idea of respecting differences and understanding under other cultures and empathy.

So through discourse, developing understanding of others. So thinking pedagogically about how we approach that. Our pedagogy and curriculum goals will help us to increase intellectual curiosity and creative thinking. So like I said, they support the personalized learning focus within the district.

And then that civics goal, really focusing on self-actualization, creative thinking, and collaboration. So kids being able to advocate for change, challenging the status quo, and being agents of change while also being engaged citizens. So we're pretty excited about this work. I think it's, you know, pretty, some of it looks like a big, like sort of heavy lift, but we're excited about where it can get us.

Thank you, Milena. Appreciate it. So again, I'm just going to go through, probably in reverse order this time, just to see if folks have clarifying questions. So I'm going to start with Stacy.

Do you have any clarifying questions? Yes, thank you, Melaina. I thought the report was great, very thorough, and I appreciate that you use so many outside sources and resources for feedback and inside sources like the focus groups. I just had a couple of, actually you just answered one of my questions.

One of my questions was, I think it mentioned that the Social Studies Department offers eight AP courses at the high school. And I'm wondering, this might be a larger question than just this department, but has there been given any thought to being able to take any sophomore year so that kids can maybe spread those out or have the opportunity to take more of those classes? Right. So sort of historically as a building, the high school, they have had some conversation about this in the past.

One of the things that we've sort of stuck with philosophically is this thinking about if an AP course is really supposed to be some component of like replicating a college course, thinking about it as being an upper level high school kind of piece. So we've historically stayed with 11th and 12th grade for all content areas for AP. It could always be something that Dan and his leadership team could continue to talk about. Most recently, about two years ago, we started to have a little bit of conversation about that and still stayed with that philosophy at that time.

Okay, thank you. Awesome. Adam, do you have any clarifying questions? No.

Thanks, Milena. Sure. Okay. Jason, any clarifying questions?

Jason, you're on mute. We can't hear you. Okay. Can you hear me now?

Yes, we can hear you now. Okay. Yeah, I have a couple of clarifying questions. The first one, well, number one, two things.

I want to say everyone did a good job on with the expedience of getting prepared for this online process that all the students are having to go through and the teachers and administration. So good job on that. And I really do appreciate that. It was actually pretty, pretty fast.

I was actually amazed by how prepared we were. And then pertaining to this particular social studies piece, there was one thing that I wanted to talk about, which goes back to the idea of, what is it? Give me one second here. The idea of how we communicate to the students.

Matter of fact, can you give me a second? Can you all continue talking and let me get back to you? Because I can't see anybody. It's for something that's kind of bothering me.

So if you all can continue talking, I'll come back and say my points in a second if that's okay with you all. That's fine, Jason. We'll come back to you. That's cool.

Yeah. All right. So Lily, do you have any clarifying questions? Yeah.

Yeah, so my question, first of all, it was a really good report. I appreciate that and the flow from kind of what you presented early on to the finished product just, you know, makes so much sense. So, and the areas that you focused on. So, one of the questions that came up for me Spervantage of the If certain students are not feeling connected or a part of and that it informs how we're doing some things in the classroom.

And I also saw, though, at the lower grade, there might actually be teaching of social emotional content, like in first and second grade. I guess what I'm wondering is how you guys conceptualize that, because while I know we need to be working at improving social emotional learning throughout, you know, pre-K through 12, at the same time, I do wonder how much of that falls within social studies and what might end up, if anything, be taken away if there's a lot of focus on the content. So I be really interested if you could just expand Melaina on sort of how you all see social emotional learning being part of the next few years So you were cutting in a little in and out a little bit for me but I think what I understanding your question to be is what how are we seeing the sort of connection between social emotional learning and social studies, particularly at the earlier grades, fitting together so that social emotional learning isn't necessarily taking over the content of social studies? Right.

OK. Yes. So there are a couple of things to talk about. And, you know, Sean and I had made the decision to not have the coordinators here with me.

So I'm going to answer this at sort of a very high level. But then we could always get a much more specific answer for you from Paul if you don't feel like I'm getting where I'm going. But some of what we've been thinking about is like currently within our kindergarten and our first grade social studies content, there's a lot of overlap. And the big focus within those two grade levels is around community.

And so in thinking about social emotional learning from that idea of belonging and being a part of a community and what does that mean to us? So from an age appropriate sort of standpoint, thinking in that way and thinking of the ways that we can partner with the counseling staff. So counselors currently go into classrooms to provide lessons. How could we do that in partnership with one another within that lens of sort of community and moving forward in that way?

Like that's one of the ways that we've been thinking about this, but that kindergarten and first grade and first and second are sort of the places that we're seeing that we're just recognizing that we have overlap in that content, that there's places to pull back a little from social studies. And so in the development of those lessons, we would still be developing through a social studies lens, but thinking about how we build some of those other sort of social emotional competencies within that development of those units. Great. It's like weird when people get muted.

I'm like. Thank you, Valena. Amy, do you have any questions? Any clarifying questions?

Hi. Yeah, thank you for the report. I really liked it. And I thought it was great, that focus group that we did.

I really loved that a lot. And I would encourage us to do that more and be getting the kids input to see how we could enhance all of our curriculum. So it was good to get their feedback on that. So the one thing I saw missing from this report is I didn't know if, you know, other than teaching Holocaust, and I don't know if look right, that's it.

If the Jewish population is represented anywhere in our curriculum, and if you guys have given any thought to that, given that we have such a large Jewish population in Clayton. Okay. So what I'm going to do, I don't actually know, like you said, beyond the Holocaust, what are the things that we teach? I'm sure that we do.

That would be a question that I would direct to Paul to sort of give us some more specifics and then I can get back to you with his response to that because he'll have a much clearer picture of sort of where those places exist within the content. Kristen, do you have any clarifying questions? Hi, everyone. Actually, I don't have any clarifying questions.

I just wanted to reiterate that social studies always does a great job of really looking at constructive criticism and welcoming that feedback and that opportunity to push them and to do better. And it goes along with the whole Clayton way of never settling, always trying to see what we can do to be better. And I really appreciate that the social studies group really does that well. They've done such a great job with the dual teaching this year.

And I appreciate and understand at the high school level anyway, how many students choose to take history. And they don't take the minimal. They choose above and beyond. And sometimes two or three history classes in a year.

And I think that says a lot about the department. And I really appreciate the way that this is heading and think that the intense myths on pedagogy and equity and civics is, is going to make a brilliant curriculum for the next several years. So thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Gary, do you have any clarifying questions? Sure. Thanks, Joe.

Melina, I was wondering about the folks who came and did the equity review Yeah Rob and Maxine Yeah I wondered if you had any you know they kind of broke this down into curriculum and climate and strengths and weaknesses What did you think about what they observed and how they categorized those things into strengths and weaknesses? And how do you think that maybe fits into, or maybe a little open-ended, do you think I think that is sort of a good representation of where we are in equity questions and looking at that issue generally. Right. I think they were, I think sort of how Kristen was talking about the social studies department being open to this feedback when Paul came to me to talk about Rob and Maxine being the people to come and do this work.

Some of it because of both of them had been educators in Ladue so they they sort of understand a similar system to ours. Superroportionate, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Evaluation. And then we had a lot of things that were really influential in sort of helping us kind of laser in with some of those goal areas where and the things that they noticed and the things that they were able to articulate to us both within our written curriculum and in what they saw within classrooms.

So yes, they saw positive things, but they saw areas where we need to continue to grow. And then when Chris Tennell did the focus groups, like all of that sort of triangulating together really sort of helped Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. We're willing to ask those questions.

Thank you. Jason, going back to you, are you ready for your question? Yeah, I'm ready. Yeah, I'm ready.

So, yeah, so, all right, sorry about that guys. But I wanted to talk about a couple of things. One, I wanted to understand more about, so it says that it reads that we took the first grade First grade and shifted a lot of that, some of that curriculum into the second grade. And we're focusing more on social emotional in the first grade.

Exactly those, I heard you mention earlier with Lily, but if you can speak to a little bit more about what exactly are we talking about when it comes to social emotional in this capacity? How are these kids going to get, what are we looking to get from this first year and first grade? Right. So I don't know that we know exactly right now what that's going to look like.

Some of that is going to require us to do some exploration and some partnership work with the counseling staff. So like Robin and the counselors have been doing some work around the CASEL standards, around social emotional learning. And so how does that work influence what we're thinking? So I can't really pinpoint an answer for you because we still need to do some more work with that.

And that's why they're sort of intended to be long range goals. But what we know is that by reducing the redundancies within the curriculum, it gives us the space to explore some of those pieces. And that idea of kids having more choice and more voice within the work that they're doing within social studies is a piece that I think is going to fit in the development of those units and what those look like to give children more agency and what's happening within that space. So there's a component of sort of focusing on that sort of advocacy piece within there also.

Melaina, is it fair to say too that, like in here they're talking about their own personal identity. And so I think that that is going to be more of a focus for the first grade too. That's fair. That's fair.

I think you mentioned, it mentions also in there that We want the lesson to be appropriate also. I mean, this is kind of like down the line, but I drawing a connection there about like what appropriate for children to learn And I trying to draw an understanding of how and what will these kids be introduced to in first grade that will allow them to have that onboarding of socially emotional in the social studies capacity So I got you there. I got you. And I think we're just going to continue to explore that with the teachers.

So the teachers, the elementary teachers on the committee will be the ones who will be spearheading that piece. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay.

Yeah, so I did notice it mentioned a lot about equity. And then, of course, it goes into, and then I was trying to draw an understanding and thinking about our last meeting. Are we missing an opportunity to actually identify equity in this case as racial equity? Or is it more so?

Or is it more of a broader term of equity? Right. When it comes, because it also, it kind of actually speaks to American history, being slavery and the idea of how the country was built, of course. So I'm just trying, I'm trying to, or maybe that's my lens.

I'm just kind of jaded slightly. I'm just trying to understand. I think that's a fair analysis. When we think about the questions that we asked within the focus groups and we think about what we asked Rob and Maxine to focus on, it was through a lens of racial equity.

So what came from the children in the focus groups, and Chris might be able to help with this because he was the one who was facilitating those, but what came from the students was something that started from a lens of racial equity about black and white and became something broader in some of the information that the students gave back to us and thinking about, like our Asian students saying, we don't necessarily see ourselves within the curriculum either. So where it started and where it got to may have, like you said, sort of broadened the definition a little bit, but where it started was through a lens of racial equity. Right. And so making that point there about how Asian students might not see themselves in the fabric of our social studies, the history of our social studies, or even speaking about Jewish people, right?

So they, because there's a short period of history that really is really inclusive of American history. But then we're talking about the world history. It's a much broader subject. Right.

And I guess the question is, you know, how much are we, I know you got, you kind of have it as a layered model. It goes through second through really through 10th grade. Right. Am I right?

The American piece? Yeah, like, it's civics, it's also... Well, you have that civics piece across the board, that we're looking at that across the board, but then you're looking at, like, our American history piece is like a 5-6-7 sequence, and then our world history is an 8-9-10 sequence, and then you start to get into all of those electives after 10th grade, so kids can sort of go any different path. Yeah.

Yeah. So I guess the question would be, and this is just me, probably a little too in the weeds. I'm reading this. I have time.

But like the American history, how do you incorporate what's happening in the outside world, like folks that were actually playing a part in the American history between that time period we're talking about? So, but that's not here or there, but I'm looking here to understand how that's going to work out. And then, you know, I would love to have seen a quick little bio on Maxine and Robin, just so I can have an understanding. Yeah, so I can have an understanding of what their lens, what shaped their lens and what's their philosophy, right?

Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. My other question I had was, we were talking about an equitable written curriculum. So exactly, like, what is an equitable written curriculum? Curriculum.

And I'm thinking about like also about what some of the students said when they met with Robin and Maxine, how they felt like they were, it was always from the deprecating side of history. Never really as someone who was an integral part of building it from a positive perspective. So I guess the question would be is, do we have the human resource capacity, like do the teachers have the capacity to actually teach from that perspective? And then the other question would be is how do we ensure that if teachers haven't, if they don't believe in this, if they haven't had the experience of thinking this way and being this way, then all of a sudden they have to teach a certain way.

Because, you know, a lot of us grew up a certain way. We all learned American history or history a certain way through a certain lens. How do we ensure there's a fidelity to that, to the idea of an equitable curriculum? Right.

And I think that's where we're going to have to tap into outside resources to help us with that. I do think we have some components within the district, but I think in order for us to really grow in that way, We're going to have to lean on some help in doing some professional development involving other people besides the people that are within our system. Gotcha. Okay.

That's fair, too. I didn't think we had an answer, but I do like the idea that we are, this is a delta, right? We're in this constant delta. We're trying to evolve and make this a really robust social studies program.

Yeah. Go ahead. Jason, you got more questions? Yeah, I got two more.

Just finish your two and then we'll come back to you, Lily. Okay, it was related to what he was just asking. Okay. Oh, go ahead.

You want to... I was just going to ask, yeah, did you put in the budget for the professional development? Yeah. Is it part of the consideration around the racial equity or the racial building that...

Great. So it's within my department budget. So you know how we've talked before about when we go through these reviews, then I start to shift money from departments that we're using things to this. So like Paul started to consider what would that look like to bring in people to help support us with that.

And so when he submitted his budget to me for next year, he's got that in there. Okay, Jake, go ahead. This is actually the last question, actually, and it's kind of specific, but it's on page nine. At the bottom of the page, there's where it says number three.

I'm pulling up on my phone right now. Hold on real fast. So I don't have page numbers on the, like I'm looking on my computer screen, so we may have to negotiate what that means. No problem, no problem.

Here, I'm going to show it to you. I can show it to you. So it's action steps. Oh, you can't see that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. But it's action steps. Under the equity goal?

The action steps under the equity goal? Yeah, I think it's under the equity. Yep. Goal one, equity, right?

Yeah, exactly. And it's at the bottom of the page. And it's action steps. So it's improvement strategy, and it's number three.

And it says improve after school club to advance African-American students in AP classes. Initial effort. So that's what it says. It reads that.

It reads improve after school club to advance African-American students in AP classes. And my question is, when you all read that or when you wrote that, it seems like it's from a deficit model. But I want to make sure I understand it correctly, what I'm reading here. But it seems like that we're trying to prepare African-American students to be in this class.

But my question is, are we going into it looking at it to say there's a deficit and we're trying to get them up there? Or is it or how should we how should we be looking at this? Right. I don't that wasn't the intent of how how he wrote it.

What what he was thinking about it was more in thinking. And Chris, maybe you can help me with this because you talked with that group. We have a group of students that meets on a regular basis, almost as a, because there's a small population of African-American students currently in these AP classes. So they meet together as almost like a like almost like a friendship group kind of group It less about academics and it more about like them being able to Superintendent Board of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Well, I think that's a really good question. I think we have a couple of questions for you.

One of them is, you said that you had a conversation with Jason about the way that the action step is written in here feels like it's coming from a deficit model. To say that the way that we wrote it was improving afterschool clubs to advance African-American students in AP classes. Yeah, I wouldn't consider, yeah, I wouldn't see that as a deficit model. I mean, my experience was just kind of meeting with them once when we sat to do the focus group.

But I mean, as you were saying earlier on, I mean, it's definitely a group that comes together for a number of different things, including working together and studying together academically. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. And I think from my perspective in terms of the different groups of students that we met with, it was a very effective group to sit down and have some really just honest and good conversation with about where we were trying to go and the things that we were trying to learn about the social studies curriculum. I'm not sure that that answered your question, Melina.

Well, I got the gist of what you're saying, but I do want to be mindful of how these things read, right? Because these are the types of tropes that show that it makes it feel like African Americans have a short, there's a shortcoming when they reach the classroom. And so what we want to be mindful of and be careful of is providing, instilling in them a lack of confidence, right? Right.

Someone was was inflamed or whether someone was actually a someone who actually had who had authority, was able to build and able to instruct and construct right through and throughout these these years of American history or history. We want to make sure that they're shown in whatever light they need to be shown in whatever capacity, right, not just one. And we also want to make sure that That the students who enter the room feel like this is a fair and balanced process. And so that's why I bring this up.

We do want to make sure that our African-American students are achieving at a level. And I do think, I think you all, and you can disagree with me, but I do think you all feel the same way. It might not just be about the students and what they're missing, but it could definitely be about also our perspective of them when they walk in the room. Yeah, I think that's a fair criticism.

And I think like, so as we look to make adjustments to this before you all vote on this, I think that's one place that we can adjust the language within that action step to make it not come across in that way. Because that wasn't our intent, but I appreciate your feedback in that. Right And I also noticed that in I think Maxine and Robin write in the appendix that they also talked about the deficit model And I felt like at that point in time okay everybody right on target Because we talking about the same thing we mentioned in the last meeting And I sure you all were discussing that way before I was ever even thinking about academia and education and all that So, but yeah, so I felt good about that. Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Thanks, Melina. I don't have any clarifying things, plenty of questions. So let's move on to 6.02, English Language Development Self-Study Year 2.

Okay, hold on. I got to find my notes on that one. Okay. So with this one, when we came the last time, we talked about three areas of potential focus.

One was around co-teaching, one was about a welcoming school community, and then the last one being around newcomer support. So what we heard from you at that time was that co-teaching sounded like a good idea, but we needed to consider it from a financial perspective and a staffing perspective. The welcoming school community seemed like a good focus area. And then to consider the short amounts of time that students come in, that certain students come in, and how do we make sure that we build a program that is welcoming to them.

So as you saw in the report, we then, like our final report has three goal areas, which feel pretty much sort of in the same vein as what we had initially presented to you. So developing and strengthening that co-teaching and collaboration to support English learners in a general education classroom. So thinking about that both as the idea of delivering language instruction as well as delivering academic language simultaneously. So as opposed to sort of that older model of thinking about pulling students out to do English learning, to learn the language, and then infusing that back into the classroom to do those things simultaneously.

And that the classroom teacher and the English language development teachers would work side by side on differentiation and scaffolding throughout the day. So similar to how we talk about gifted, that students are gifted, not just for 150 minutes a week. English learners also are English learners all the time. And so how can we build in those scaffolded supports?

The second one around ensuring a welcoming school community. So opportunities for international families to meet and engage in community events, and then really thinking about the newcomers. So we merged those two kind of into one thing to think about the welcoming school community across the board. And our newcomers really needing some of those same things around community events and being able to engage as a group, but then also needing some different kinds of support or additional supports as being new to the country and sort of acclimatizing.

And then the third one is a curricular goal. So that's a little bit different from what we had presented to begin with, but really thinking about supporting the development of language, so skills in English, Spervantage, while also working on academic language. And as the district focuses more on this idea of personalized learning, looking at English learners needing some support, but also being able to express themselves and really being able to think positively about them and how to empower them. So as we move forward, how would we look different?

Our collaboration goal we feel really focuses around intellectual curiosity. By keeping students in general education classrooms, we can encourage authentic interactions with peers and content. So we think that actually is beneficial both to our English learners as well as our other students. And then the idea of cultural competence.

By having English learners in general education classrooms as much as possible, it would increase all of our students' understandings both of different cultures, so valuing the differences and then discovering commonalities across those different cultures. And then the welcoming school community, again focusing on cultural competence and empathy. Empathy. So similar to the other goals, this focus could build on the cultural competence and empathy of all of our students, not just our English learners.

And then the last goal around curriculum, like I said before, as the district increases our focus on personalized learning, the curricular changes we envision will continue to build that intellectual curiosity and creative thinking for our students. Thank you. Gary, any clarifying questions? Thank you.

Thank you. Amy, any clarifying questions? Yes. Hi.

So I'm wondering what we, I'm on, I guess it's, Melina, I guess it's number, goal number two, which is the welcoming school community. Yep. So this is sort of around that. How, you know, what are we doing, I guess, to make sure we're embracing the social emotional needs of these students, especially given that there's that that language barrier.

Right Nancy the coordinator for this group is starting to talk and connect with social workers and thinking about those perspectives And I know I think Robin and she have connected on it also So it is a piece that there I wouldn say that we have it well defined right now but it a piece that in our thinking as we start to develop what this goal really would look like once it fleshed out Okay. Yeah, I mean, it'd be also along those lines. I love how you put that goal in the welcoming school community. And you guys might already be doing this, but also finding a way for students to connect with, you know, some of our students that speak English to be able to connect with some of these students and form bonds and relationships.

So that they feel connected to their peers, too. Yeah. Kristen, any clarifying questions? No, thank you.

Yeah, I'm good. Thank you. Lily, do you have any clarifying questions? I do.

I've got three. Great. So my first question is, again, I'll just step back for a second and say thank you. And I'm amazed at how much, well, first of all, this really hits on such a great aspect of our community and our district that we have so many students that come to us with English as their second language.

And how much that you all look at in this area can be used with students in general. So I'm struck by both of those things. My three questions. One is, I noticed on the testing piece that science, I'm going to ask you kind of what your thoughts are that within science that we have like 60% of the students in that category testing basic or below basic.

Spervantage, and the next is the next is the next is the next Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. I don't need to hear all that as long as you all are kind of looking at it and paying attention because compared to the other subject areas, there wasn't that. Like math, the students are doing really well. So that was one thing.

The second question I have is about the collaborative teaching. And I see that there's no, I got it right, that there's no impact on budget, right? Kind of what you were recommending is not. So it's, yeah, go ahead.

Sorry, finish what you're going to say. I would have thought from reading that that you would be coming to us saying, hey, we really could use some more staff in this area. And so my question was going to be, you know, am I getting that right that you're not recommending any additional staffing? And is there a was there a process that you guys talked about it where maybe the teaching staff or the principals are saying, hey, I think we could use more staff.

And this is a place where central office or you said, you know, let's, we got to figure out a way to do it without doing that. I guess I'm wondering about that piece. Sure. So we have started to move in this direction of the collaborative teaching model already.

And so started to have fewer pull out classes of English learners and more of the push in piece. Spervantage, Equality, and Efficiency. And then finally, we have a question from the audience. What, like with other reports that are related to curriculum, I always walk a fine line with this.

Like I don't feel like staffing falls into a curriculum report. So the way that we worded it within this is as, as we think to expand this, we're going to have to make, we're going to have to make some decisions from a, from a district wide standpoint, Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Probably are going to have to talk about staffing. So can I just add something to that too is that I would agree with everything that Melaina said, but also over the years we've also looked at how we use our, our staffing differently than we've done in the past like we, we had someone at one school one and so we look at our staff being a group that supports all of our students, and so we have people from the high school that will help with the elementary school.

So we've looked at how do we utilize our staff based off where a need is necessary. So we've been thoughtful about that. But I would echo what Melina said. It doesn't necessarily mean that we won't ask for additional staffing if that need would arise.

I'm glad to hear that because I think if that is what would be best for students, I think the board needs to kind of hear about that. And then my last point is really just kind of a recommendation that you might have already considered with the rule number two about welcoming. I think within that, I saw that you're going to have parents be speakers. I think that's a great idea.

I wonder if it'd be worth figuring out some way in which to use volunteers. And I think it would have to be built in where you have some staff members sort of figuring out and coordinating that. But that might be a really good way of kind of asking for the wider community to be able to assist with that. So just something to think about.

That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Stacy.

Do you have any questions? I do. Thank you. My first question is about that first goal collaboration also.

And I love the idea of more of the push in as opposed to the pull out for the reasons that you said earlier. But I'm wondering, are our content area and regular classroom teachers and specialists, are they, have they received or will they receive any specific professional development around this? Or are you expecting our EL teachers to kind of guide them? So there's what we've been trying to do over the past couple of years is being able to look at clustering students differently within classrooms.

And so in the places where we've been able to cluster, then what we've tried to do in sort of hand in hand with that is have the English language teacher and the classroom teacher attend some professional development together, particularly around the area of co-teaching with EL students in mind. And so that has been a pretty successful model. So sort of starting small in that sense and then expanding across the staff as the years have gone on. We also have done, particularly at Glenridge, because of the sort of larger number of EL students within that population, brought some outside people in to help support.

So we had somebody from DESE come in to do some overall like building professional learning with the teachers. Thank you. Thank you. My second question actually was that about Glenridge because the graph showed that the numbers were about double there and I was curious how we're supporting that school in particular because of that and you kind of just answered that question.

So from a professional learning lens as well as from a staffing lens. So Nancy, so there are two, we have one full-time staff there and then Nancy, our coordinator, she's about 0.5 at Glenridge. So they have more staff there for English learners than the other schools. Great, thank you.

Thanks. Adam, any other questions? Yeah, I've just got one quick question. I know we were talking about staffing and even professional development.

And my question was just if, especially at younger grade levels in our elementary school and even middle school, if there's time built in for English language learners to meet with their classroom teacher individually and just connect throughout the year? So for the student to meet with the classroom teacher? Interesting. I don't know the answer to that question.

Beyond like what would be a typical sort of meeting with them, like so conferring around reading or writing, like those things I think take place. Also the English language teacher pushes in oftentimes during those times to help support but that an interesting question I don know the answer to that Yeah that just something I was wondering about And Jason any questions Jason, did you have any questions? Yeah, not really. I do want to say that I noticed that I do, I like the way this was written.

And in particular, let me tell you what I'm saying. I'm not just attaboying you. What I'm trying to say is, The approach in which we wrote this is very, there's a lot of latitude and the assumption that these folks are capable is what I like a lot, right? The assumption that they're capable and they can contribute and that they're smart is what I like a lot.

And I just want to make sure that this is the theme across most of our types of curriculum when we're dealing with everybody when it comes to diversity. Because this is, if I read this, you know, in a vacuum, I would think that this is an excellent place to be and that everyone's treated this way. So I just want to make sure that this is kind of the model, you know, the tone that we're trying to set, what we're trying to convey to people when they're reading stuff like this. But yeah, no, good job.

This is good. I mean, and, yeah, I didn't have, I mean, otherwise it was, I did have a question about what was their need for more support and is there a cost? Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. That's why I guess we'll find out over time.

Okay. Thank you. Thanks. All right.

Thank you very much, Melaina. We appreciate it. Thank you. So we're moving on to 7.01, which is policy JHCD, administration of medications for students.

Who is that? So that's gonna be Robin. And I'm gonna ask Robin just to kind of give a quick Overview before we see if the board has any questions pertaining to this policy. This is the first read.

Actually, for JHCD, this is the second read. This was the one about the CBD oil and the designees of who would be administering medications. So, yeah, this policy JHCD is the administration of medications to students. I just wanted to highlight three things that have changed since the first read based on our board meeting last month where you provided feedback.

So I just wanted to bring your attention to page four in the held harmless paragraph. We added an addition to the second sentence about the qualified employee, and we included some examples of who that designated person might be. So you can see that it says now and may include but is not limited to an administrator, teacher, paraprofessional, office staff member, or nurse designee. The language before that change, when I collaborated with our district attorney about it, she had said that that part was lifted straight from state law, and she advised that we maintain that language in this policy.

The second one I wanted to bring to your attention was on page six in the version that I had provided you with during the first read, that medical marijuana and CBD oil paragraph, that last sentence went applicable. Superroportionate, district staff will administer. That sentence should have appeared as struck out of the document and during the first read it was not. So that has been corrected.

And then the last change I wanted to highlight for you is on page seven, we eliminated the use of the his or her pronouns and replaced it with their. Great, thank you. So this is a study item. Jason, any questions?

No no questions Oh yeah Well not really Not really No Okay Okay Adam any questions Okay. Thank you. Stacy, any questions? I do have two questions.

And I'm sorry, Robin, for maybe not noticing this on the first read. But on page six, where it discusses the CBD Well, I don't, CBD comes in many forms, not just oil. So I don't know if we want to expand that or if we are allowed to take out the word oil, but I think that gets so specific. And so that concerned me a little bit.

Okay, so your suggestion is to maybe say or CBD infused products. Yeah, I think that would be better because it comes in many forms, not just oil. Okay. And also the added part on page four where you were adding the other designees.

Right. I did think of, what about coaches? Should we list, is that someone that we should list also? We can.

We can add that if you guys would like. Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's a sample. Lists that we put together, those are, these were examples of people who are often, you know, the next in line. And you're right, I mean, coaches are absolutely informed of what students' needs are, particularly if they're asthmatic or have any other exercise-induced medical conditions.

And so, yes, I'm happy to add that as well. Okay. Thank you. Thanks.

Lily, any questions? No. Thanks. Gary, any questions?

My only thing I was going to point out is in that same paragraph that Stacy was just talking about, this may just be a formatting thing with the way that it's uploaded or whatever, but that second line, it's like reads as one long word smushed together. So we're coming back with this anyway, right? We're not voting on this right now. So might as well fix whatever weird.

Any questions? No. Kristen, any questions? No.

Great. Thanks. Okay. Thank you, Robin.

Appreciate it. So we're moving, Sean, I think to checkout. Checkout. So, I mean, there's really no checkout.

I mean, the checkout with the policy, we will make sure that we are including coaches, and then we'll also make sure that we're saying infused products, and then we'll fix that formatting. In terms of the things that I want to follow up with, with the social studies and the world language, making sure that we're answering that question around Jewish students and history with Jewish culture. We're going to follow up with the bios around our consultants. And then also looking at the language and making sure that we're not using deficit type of language in our writing.

And so we're going to reach changing that third action step to make sure that we're really it's really indicating what we're truly doing versus looking at deficit. What I also heard too is that throughout these, although we don't align staffing with the curriculum reports, is that we need to be cognizant of if we're going to be promoting and doing these things that are going to be changing the way we teach, do we have the right resources in terms of human capital? And so we would bring those back to the board as well. But that's all I had about that.

Thank you. So we're going to move to action items then. So the first action item is 8.01, approval of policy DJFA, which is federal programs and projects. So could you read, Gary, for us the motion?

I can. 8.01, I move that the Board of Education approve policy DJFA, federal programs and projects as submitted. Second. Thank you.

Awesome. So it's been moved and seconded. Are there any questions or comments? I'm not going to go through everybody.

I'm just going to ask if there are any questions or comments. Unmute and speak. Having heard none I guess what everybody going to need to do is unmute because I going to ask for a voice vote So all in favor Aye Aye Any opposed Okay thank you It passes unanimously. So we'll move to 8.02, which is approval of policy DEA, revenue from tax sources.

8.02, I move that the Board of Education approve policy DEA, revenue from tax sources as submitted. Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments?

Okay, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, it passes unanimously.

Thank you. 8.03, which is the Glenridge Synthetic Turf. 8.03, I move that the Board of Education approve the bid Any comments or questions on this one? Okay.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

Passes unanimously. Thank you. So 8.04, which is approval of policy DEA, which is revenue from tax sources. 8.04, I move that the Board of Education approve.

Hello. Okay. Are we doing repeating? I'm sorry.

It's 8.04, right? Yeah. IKE? I think it's written wrong on here.

I think there's a mistake on the – I'm sorry. Can you hear me? Oh, you're right. Yes, I can.

I'm sorry, Sean. No, it's okay. I think it's written wrong on the agenda. It should be approval of policy IKE, promotion, acceleration, retention.

Gary, do you have that in front of you? That's what the, yeah, that's the agenda. I think that's right. Yeah, it's just on the summary one, it's incorrect.

Okay, yeah, I'm just reading, I'm reading from the agenda. Thank you. Okay, all right. Should I try that again?

Okay, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, 8.05 approval policy IKE, promotion, acceleration, and retention. 8.04, but yeah. Sorry.

I move that the Board of Education approve policy IKE, promotion, acceleration, and retention of students as submitted. Second. All right. Okay, it's been moved and seconded.

Any comments or questions? All right, all in favor? Aye. Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Okay, it passes unanimously. So then, and I guess, gosh, the one I printed out last night was wrong.

So it's 8.05, approval of policy, IKF, graduation requirements. Yeah, that's right. 8.05, I move that the Board of Education approve policy IKF graduation requirements as submitted. Second.

Okay, thank you. It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? Okay, all in favor?

Aye. Any opposed? No. Okay, it passes unanimously, thanks.

So 8.06, approval policy IGAED, sexual health instruction. 8.06, I move that the Board of Education approve policy IJAED, sexual health instruction as submitted. Second. Okay, thank you.

It's been moved and seconded. Are there any questions? Okay, all in favor? Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, it passes unanimously. So this next one, actually, I have to recuse myself from. So I am literally going to leave the meeting, and then somebody is going to maybe text me when you guys are done.

I don't know of another way to do it. So I'm going to log out here, and Amy, you go ahead. Okay. Let's wait.

Good. Okay, is he gone? Are we good? Yep.

Okay, Gary. Can I get you to read the motion for certified staff re-employment 8.07? You can. It's 8.08 on here.

So 8.08, I move that the Board of Education approve the re-employment of the certificated staff as submitted for the 2020-2021 school year. Can I get a second? Second. Okay.

Are there any questions or comments? Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Hi.

Hi. Hi. Motion passes. Okay.

Is somebody going to... Yeah, I texted him. I told him to come back. Good job.

Okay. There he is. All right. Sorry, guys.

Thank you. Okay. So we're moving to the consent agenda. Right, consent agenda.

Do we have a motion for that, Gary? Sorry. Welcome back. I was just admiring you being back.

I was distracted. 9.01, I move that the Board of Education approve the consent agenda. Second. Okay so moved and seconded Any questions or comments on the consent agenda Okay All in favor Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, it passes unanimously. There were two donations that we just want to recognize. The first was from the ExxonMobil Corporation Pursuit.

The first donation was from the National Elementary for Math and Science. The second was from the Memorial Foundation. 2020 Natalie Millman invitation for the donation of $1,000 to That did say Exxon Mobil, right? It did say Exxon Mobil.

That's correct. All right. You're right. You're right.

Okay, so financials. Do we have a motion for the financials? I moved that 10.01. Sorry, I moved that the Board of Education approve the payment of current expenditures and investments as submitted.

Second. Second. Anybody second? Thank you.

Second. I did, yeah. It's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments about the financials?

Okay, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Okay it passes unanimously thanks So we are going to move on to board communications and I just go around the horn and ask folks if they have something or not So I going to start with Amy Do you have any board communication I do not You do not okay Thank you Gary do you have any board communication I'll just add, I didn't really say anything about this earlier, but just my own acknowledgement and appreciation for the staff for putting so much effort I'm going to jump into the adjustment here with the learning from home and all those things that are going to go into that. It was interesting to see today how that started and what the kids were doing and I thought it was really great that we had Adam here to talk about that from his perspective. I can't imagine not having a student telling us what that was like today, but that was really great.

So thanks for that, Adam. Kristen, any board communications? I don't have anything. Thanks.

Thank you. Jason, any board communications? No. Okay, thank you.

Lily, any board communications? No. Thanks. Stacey, any board communications?

No. Okay. Adam, any board communications? Yeah, actually, I just want to let everyone know, I know DESE canceled end of course exams Adam Werner, notes from the budgetOperative Program, program to Med Bent Program.

Aaron 피個動かdo, Ko-ste müs takie, CD wird lado Superintendent Board of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried Superexpensive Bored it changing as it goes on So just wanna let you all know about that Great thank you And I have just two things real quickly for folks So one, obviously the board PLC that we were talking about for May 2nd isn't happening in terms of a meeting, but we are gonna get together the group and see if they wanna do something virtually. We'll see. And then second, because, you know, this would have been Lily and Kristen's last meeting. And so thank you, Lily and Kristen for serving a little longer.

The election, obviously, has been postponed to June 2. But what we're going to do, and I just wanted to share with you, we're going to rearrange the calendar a little bit to try to honor kind of, you know, old board, new board stuff as much as possible. So we will not have a meeting on April the 15th because that would have been our kind of, you know, welcome new board members and we won't have new board members. So we're not going to have that meeting.

We will have one on the 29th. We would have then had three board meetings in May, one of which was Sean's review. But typically, again, that's with the new board. So we'll push off that May 18th meeting until into June.

We're thinking about June 10th. We'll obviously work with I just want to share that there are in essence two meetings that would have been on the calendar, April 15 and May 18, that we will take off the calendar. So just so folks know. And I think that is it.

So do we have a motion to adjourn? I move that the Board of Education adjourn. Second. All right.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. We adjourn. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, everybody.

Bye, everyone. All right, see you.