Seeing a presence of a quorum. I'm calling to order this meeting of the regional school committee at 632 p.m.  Please state present Mr. Demling Mr. Herrington Herrington present Miss Kenny It's not here Miss Lord Lord present Miss Spitzer Spitzer present miss dancer dancer present mr. Stammel demo present Mr. Sullivan Not present and McDonald present We also so Miss Kenny will be joining us. She will be a little bit late and Miss Kane our student representative is not able to join us this evening. And we also have Dr. Morris superintendent dr. Morris and Seattle shark us Our first item is to approve the minutes from May 18th, and those were included in our packet any Discussion or edits miss dancer you're muted miss dancer. Thank you In the in attendance section under guests duck slaughter's name is got an extra letter on it an H at the end On the second page About in the first paragraph a Little over halfway done. We did not apply for virtual options. So this fall we will not be online Not should be inserted On the the page third page under second paragraph under superintendent evaluation process Next the last line of the second paragraph comments on previous versions. I believe it should be comments on previous sections We were talking about Yeah and On page four at the very end on June 15th meeting will it have The last line superintendent's evaluation findings. I believe it's actually The superintendent's presentation of artifacts Relating to meeting his goals for the current school year Maybe that's what evaluation findings meant, but I wasn't sure That's all I have Any other edits or comments Seeing none. I will make a motion to approve the minutes for May 18th 2021 as amended. Is there a second? a second Moved by mcdonald and seconded by spitzer. Um, any further discussion? Move to a roll call vote. Um, mr. Demling. Demling. I mr. Harrington Harrington I Miss lord lord I Miss spitzer Spitzer I Miss dancer dancer I Mr. Stammel Stammel I Mr. Sullivan Sullivan I When mcdonald I the motion passes unanimously Next up is public comment and we received no public comment today. Um, so I will just remind Viewers that we accept public comment at any time Up until 3 p.m. On the day of our meetings. Um, so Uh, you can submit a public comment for our next meeting two weeks from now By emailing me at mcdonaldaarps.org with the subject line public comment Or by leaving a voicemail message at<PHONE_NUMBER> And all of that information is included in each of our agendas So we will now move on to uh, next up is superintendents update and I will Um make my reminder again, um to um our school committee members that um this this item is intended for the superintendent to update on us on matters of interest and importance for the community and for the committee We can ask questions. Um But if there's a topic that is in addition to what was covered I ask that you bring that up for future agenda planning So that the committee can weigh in and and have that discussion So, uh turn it over to you dr. Morse. Sure. Thank you, um chair mcdonald and so Uh, I think I've got six items for tonight One was that we had a highly successful second shot vaccine clinic. This is for 16 Uh students age 16 plus last week was three weeks after the first um First shot and we had 100 percent Of our students who received the first shot receive a second shot with the exception of one But that person had Another medical appointment that day and we know rescheduled with the town vaccine clinic. So that's how we get to 100 percent That didn't happen without a tremendous amount of work. I want to thank our nursing staff Who made a tremendous number of clay called every single family every single student Um, particularly our ELL department at the high school. Um, again walk students down held hands For the people like me who would have needed it Um in terms of shot phobic people, um, you know, just people were really on it So just really happy because we know how important it is for that second shot to actually occur and and you know While there's not tons of people not getting their second shot. It still is happening both in massachusetts and elsewhere We have our uh upcoming second shot for um 12 plus on friday. We're It'll be at the middle school We're meeting with the town tomorrow morning to assess whether the same outdoor site is Better or whether we need to move to an indoor location because of the potential Thunderstorms that are forecast for friday and it's not easy to quickly move a vaccine clinic inside. So We'll make that announcement tomorrow. We'll communicate out. Um, everyone has the same vaccine time They had the first time um, they were emailed About a week and a half ago about the date and we'll send a reminder as well Could we want to make sure we get the folks their second clinic and just again continued thanks to the town for their Their work on that with us and their collaboration Kind of relatedly, um The town of amers is doing really well as it relates to coven So the last positive case in the community Was on may 20th and that was coming from a test on may 18th So, you know, we're not out of the woods. I wouldn't use that terminology I want to be really clear about that and we haven't had a stretch Of say may 18th. Is that like roughly two weeks something like that with no positive cases in a very very very very very long time So this is good news and we'll just thank the community for, you know Both the vaccination rate being high here, but also for folks taking it seriously in terms of safeguards and making some good decisions. So, uh, you know, we'll want to keep that rolling We'll see what happens, you know tomorrow every morning. I get sort of the update that gets posted publicly But it's nice to see the goose eggs continue to come every single day and You know, so very fortunate to live in a community where people have taken this covid safety But that level of seriousness Um, third thing I have is retirement award ceremony. So it's really nice We are having things in person again both school but also some other events So the retirement award ceremony which we have every year Is scheduled for june 23rd at four o'clock and this is to celebrate folks in the district who are retiring as well as Folks who are at least at 15 years of service and then every five years after that so 15 20 25 and so on So we'll do that under the tents behind the high school Any committee members want to you know, want to come it's a really nice event, you know Please just shoot me or actually please shoot W. S. Moreland an email She'll be much better at getting back to and she's planning the whole event Uh, but you know, it's nice to be able to get back to that last year, you know It's one of my favorite events of the year those we've been on the committee for a while Know that um, and it's last year just you know, wasn't quite The same and so i'm glad to be able to get back to that Similarly, we have our graduation schedule this friday is summit academy. So that's our first one at the regional level Um, and uh, again much like the vaccine clinic We're looking at couple options in terms of location given the weather forecast that we see for friday We'll make that decision probably by the end of the day tomorrow if not thursday morning Uh, we have a large number of graduates from summit academy this year Which is great and they're going to do some in school kind of celebrations as well as the formal graduation The high school graduation is at look park. It is on the 10th uh in the late afternoon And I think the committee members you should have gotten an email from sasha and just please confirm by the end of The day today. So uh, I have to end of this meeting. I know uh, because tomorrow we'll be trying to get the final information out And seats and all that so with the state Uh, loosening the restriction and outdoor gatherings It does mean that uh, families are going to be able to see their child graduate and committee members can attend more than just the chair It'll be a briefer ceremony than normal. Uh, my words miss mcdonald's words principal sedique's words Everyone's going to be very very brief and the majority of it will be celebrating the students and having them get their diplomas But the state guidance is very clear on having short ceremonies. So i'm more than happy to oblige On my end of that. I know i'm miss mcdonald and mr. Siddique are as well Uh, some in the middle school will be it's Customarily a second or last day or last day and that'll be a briefer one. Um, probably by team to reduce the number of people But still working on that one Second last thing on june 3rd, which is two days from now the high the middle school rather will hold its climate change carnival So it's an interdisciplinary approach. There's hands-on workshops guest speakers You know, so the the staff members are karita wayfield tiffani tibodeau and ivy and the roche Have taken the lead on that and rich carnival rich ferro is the coordinator Of the climate change carnival and this is all sponsored by an aef amherst Education foundation grant so just many one of the many ways aef contributes as they made this possible And again looking forward to seeing that I think a committee an invitation was extended to school committee members for that as well And the last thing is we have the high school musical coming this week. Uh, so that schedule shifted a bit because of the weather on thursday So it's now looking more like friday saturday sunday, but just you know, I've seen some of the students went over and saw them rehearsing Fabulous job john becktold is facilitating that but the students as always take the lead and You know, really really good experience. Hope everyone is able who is interested is able to do that outside On the library side back to your old neck of the woods School committee's old neck of the woods that side of the high school Should be a really really wonderful event So lots of good in-person things going on as well and with that i'll take any questions anyone has Mr. Gemley Yeah, just a couple of on-topic comments So just another shout-out to principal sidiquan is his team at the high school for all of the Flexibility they've had with graduation planning this year. Um You know, they certainly could have taken the easy way out and and stuck with the original plan and the state has not been timely Are giving us a lot of you know, uh Lead time with its changes as has been typical and they've just responded amazingly They just don't tremendous amount of of work. So I just I just really want to thank principal sidiquan Assistant principal camera and and and all the rest of the the staff who have worked out all those logistics to make it What will hopefully be a great ceremony? Um, and the musical. Yeah. Um, the only thing I would add about that is that tickets are still available So if you just google arhs Sound of music is probably the easiest way other than uh, or if you go to event bright Um, and it's it's all outside. Um a small small ceremony. So very covet safe and um The proceeds go directly to rebuilding the program It may not be well known, but the you know takes a lot of effort and resources to put on a very large Production and so the ticket sales go into funding the next year's Um, uh production and so with the cancellation of spring awakening a year and a half ago Um, you know, the uh, there's uh, there's a tightening of resources there. So the ticket proceeds this year will help Continue to keep the keep the program going one of one of the largest community events at the high school Which has been really tremendous. So I just wanted to thank the performing arts Um heads as well for for really responding very quickly to to putting that together as well Any other questions? seeing none And move on to our next item then. Um, which is the chair's update Um, I don't have an update for this evening so we'll move to uh school committee announcements and um, I do have an announcement here for um the policy subcommittee um met A week ago and we'll meet again on thursday evening to continue discussions on um the supplier diversity commitment policy proposal Um, as well as any other policy referrals that come out of tonight's meeting That is 645 on thursday and it will be streamed on the youtube channel Any other announcements from the school committee? Is light Yes, I have um an announcement from my position on the ces subcommittee, which is collaborative They have hired a new executive director. His name is dr Todd Gazda, and he was a superintendent in Ludlow and we welcome him and we're grateful. Thank you Dr. Marx Yeah, I just want to say dr. Gazda is uh incredible. He's a close colleague of mine from his work in Ludlow And I was just thrilled to see that he Uh took on that role But I think uh for for the committees uh all the committees because you know, we've got the almost the five You know in terms of representatives here, um, I think you know, he's from western mass. He understands You know rural towns for for our three rural towns But he also worked in Ludlow and does a lot of great work with diversity and equity So I think we will all uh really benefit from having Todd in that role So thank you for mentioning. I probably should have done that myself. I appreciate it miss lord for that Um, and I look forward to working with him in that role new role Any other announcements from committee members? Seeing none, um, then we can move on to our new and continuing business um and tonight um first up we have a discussion on um supports for student mental health and well-being um And we have several guests here. I'll turn it over to you. Dr. Morissa help me introduce Who's joining us? Sure. Thank you. And and thanks, uh, you know, it's too bad ruby couldn't come But I know she's rehearsing uh right now, but she could always see the video and I think it was a really worthwhile topic so uh last month I think or and how it's No, sometime in the next last uh previous few meetings Uh ruby who's our student rep uh, you know was interested in the topic of student mental health The pandemic has had an impact on everyone's mental health and thinking about particularly our high school age students both at Summit Academy And at the uh at Amherst regional high school So we have a group of folks who are going to do a very brief Overview of the work. I just want to like frame that that I asked them to be very brief They certainly have more to share than we have time for them to share it So, uh, you know, I appreciate their ability to to talk about many many things succinctly and briefly which they do wonderfully, but um We thought we would Ask them to share that and then open it up for questions or comments So uh with us tonight is Karen Peters from the bright program at the high school jimmy knocks from summit academy Uh principal sadeek from the high school principal sloven from summit academy And there there's febriety. Um our student services director. So I'll turn it over to whoever would like to start. I want to um, just one more comment is This has been tremendously important work for our students. You know, I think you can't Read a newspaper on this and and not read articles about the tremendous strain. This has caused Um, and all sorts of ways in terms of impact on families who have been deeply personally affected by covid themselves or in terms of um relatives the inability to see others whether that's friends family All around um, it's it's had a major impact on mental health And I feel very fortunate that we have our team here Uh who even from last spring. I think of some of the workshops we did Um by we I mean they I just was the you know talking head who is asking questions and learning a lot by listening Um to be able to facilitate this work and to really support our students in very trying time So i'm not sure who is starting us off, but I will turn it over to that group I think our plan was to start with high school Give a brief update so Karen if you want to get started really appreciate it sure great. Um, so I'm Karen Peters I'm a school adjustment counselor and I also um coordinate the bright program at the high school. Um, I'm very glad to be here and I'm Um, really happy to see that wellness is on the agenda. Um for the school committee Um, so like dr. Morris said we were asked to share some broad strokes around themes That our students and families in school community have been dealing with in this pandemic year And then reflect a little bit and answer some questions You know and as we know as we as sort of to frame this conversation We know that pre-pandemic One in five teens have been diagnosed with a mental health condition So that's just sort of where we're at from a baseline and that data comes from the national institutes of mental health um So what I want to share is that you know while we didn't do sort of a large-scale data collection with every student We know that that one in five number Is rising and is Becoming more of a concern for our students And supporting students in regulating the acute stress response that they've been living in Navigating relationships and managing their capacity to sort of reenter Their world and all of their developmental tasks is something that we feel really committed to as a school community So what are our students struggling with what have we heard what have guidance counselors heard in teachers? I just want to give you a sampling of some of the the reasons for referrals that we've seen For mental health support this year I'd say first and foremost is isolation social anxiety Direct impact of coveted in families around grief and loss struggle for stability in fam for family well-being and financial otherwise academic struggles how to manage The being a student in in this remote world that we're living in And as I mentioned we know that these developmental tasks of high school students who right now are supposed to be Increasing their independence moving towards goals for themselves has really been stunted And again, we believe very strongly in our role to support health and well-being in addition to supporting students in learning And we think that that's probably stronger now more than ever So I just want to share a little bit about some of our tiered interventions that we've done Um, and you know, of course, we've had to pivot a little bit in these remote platforms Whether it's walk-in talks on the phone with mental health sessions google meets and other creative ways that our Our guidance counselors and our mental health staff have really tried to meet the needs of students and families We have really important partnerships with in place with our local mental health agencies Service net community support options river valley And we also work with a lot of the private therapists in the in the area that we really rely on To make referrals for community based support So in the high school, um, what we typically offer is what we would call typical school adjustment counseling This is my seventh year at the high school and we've had more referrals for individual And group counseling that i've ever seen so we've had over 50 referrals for individual student counseling, which is much higher than the number which typically hovers between 2025 so that feels very significant Um, we've also been really fortunate to have the support of graduate student interns from the smith school of social work and umass As well as a wonderful partnership with river valley That's provided us with a tier two counselor who's been able to really get in there and make student needs You know very rapidly So individual short term counseling typically four to six sessions around some of those themes. I've talked about Connecting families connecting kids to resources as well as building skills to help them in their daily experiences We awful. We also offered Three rounds of four to five sessions of group work The topics here were um teen wellness stress management and academic organization I wish I could say that those groups were were more um, we had more interest In those groups what we heard from a lot of students and families is yes, we want this But oh my gosh, we can't manage more screen time And so really trying to figure out how can we deliver the content? Whether it's through a webinar or whether it's through other other vehicles to to get these skills and resources to students Is what we've really tried to put our heads together around A couple other things that we've done We introduced this concept of wellness wednesday, which I think is everywhere UMass has a wonderful wellness wednesday program that we sort of tapped Into and we really look forward to expanding that next year right now There's tips and strategies that we post in the weekly announcements, but we have some really good ideas around expanding that for next year for not only skills, but community building um At the higher levels of support like for the program. I run which is bright, which is a tier three gen ed intervention My referrals have been higher this year than than typical Um notably more ninth graders have been referred to me this year than I've ever seen before so That that's something that I'm paying attention to and not surprised by at all In terms of In addition to gen ed supports, there's also at the high school mental health counselors who are doing special education counseling and consultation with teachers and families as well um What's next? I I think that themes that we really hope to continue to build on again I I brought up the idea of that Students and families living in this acute stress response place after being in a pandemic being afraid Um of so many things and really working at what skills can we can we bring to all of our students and staff and families? To help them regulate those things whether it's mindfulness or emotion regulation Or other things that we can that we can infuse and the things that we're already doing um So i'm gonna stop there and hope that I was brief enough And i'm happy to answer questions. Um when my good friend jamie is done speaking next Hey, good evening everybody I just want to echo what karen said. I'm really grateful that mental health was put on the agenda And I I think it's even more kind of delightful that it was uh brought up by the the student representative Um, so I am jamie knocks. I'm a clinical social worker and I'm one of two clinicians at summit academy You all know this is our in district public day high school For students with IEPs in grades 8 through 12 who benefit from a therapeutic setting to further support and address their individual needs Listening with karen talk. I would say that I agree when she discusses what our students and families are dealing with in terms of presenting issues around isolation increase in anxiety feelings of depression loss grief Family struggle not to mention academic challenges So at summit we were we did have pretty strong student engagement and attendance while we were completely remote And still do currently for those students who who continue to be remote Myself and my co-clinician erin edinson began using google voice early on It was an on-the-fly intervention that has paid dividends. Um, it's been an amazing resource So we've been able to use this to text families and students in the moment In their native language with the addition of the the google translate app. Um, and we've just been really, um Grateful at how effective this this intervention has been in the overall engagement of our of our students at summit Um, whether it was, you know, prompting a student to log in partnering with a parent to help them log in when a parent was at work And we needed to text quickly troubleshooting or understanding why they weren't logging in and then building Interventions as needed for for individual students and families. So every student at summit Is receiving pre-covid and currently um, a minimum of Weekly individual counseling between 30 and 90 minutes based on their IEP Weekly small group either dbt or CBT, which is part of our social emotional learning curriculum We have weekly community meetings. Um, focused on community building, which is a huge part of who we are coming together Mindfulness practice, which is a cornerstone of our milieu Teaching restorative practices kind of rooted in circles engaging with one another Managing conflict in the moment talking through things acknowledging one another supporting one another And we have a rotating repertoire of other groups that occur kind of monthly Um, so all of these interventions at summit during this time And moving forward allow us to assess how the students are doing Contact and collaborate with our families when there's a change in their students attendance or engagement Better assess an individual and group counseling sessions how our students are managing and feeling and how to support them And also to make appropriate referrals to community providers The clinicians collaborate regularly without patient and community providers So we're looking at other therapists case managers primary care dcf, etc That our students and families are working with so that we can ensure as much as possible That the whole student needs are being addressed And also clinicians at at summit consult with staff pairs and teachers throughout the day is needed Which has become an ongoing Daily all staff google chat and I laugh because it's just it's it's a very intense and very Effective way of communicating with one another. It's all day long We're checking in about how a student is looking in the classroom. It's how I find out if somebody hasn't arrived Which prompts me to reach out to kids and families? um, and then we also consult weekly in in scheduled weekly staff meetings about specific interventions and techniques that address and Reinforce our students social and emotional skill development. So um, I would say in closing before we take some questions that I am consistently buoyed by the resilience of our students Of how they've adapted to the circumstances of this last year We're continually looking for ways to encourage and help them channel their energy into gratifying pursuits be it activism or finding creative outlets And there's something real to be said about them realizing their own strength around how to adapt to adversity now and for the future so That said we do have concerns that we're being alert to There's really long waiting lists and and lack of access to mental health resources in the community right now and I think that only underscores the importance of mental health interventions in the public schools right now As for many families, we are kind of the main provider You know, we don't know as yet potential kind of long-term impact for our high schoolers transitioning into young adulthood Based on this last year And as always the crucial need to continue to be supportive of families who will continue to be under stress As the school and the world reopens So, yeah, we're remaining really vigilant and connected with our students and families around those things So thank you and Karen and I are happy to take any questions Mr. Sam Yeah being new to the committee. I was just curious how many students are enrolled at summit and How how it's determined who? Who enrolls? Sure. Great. Oh I was gonna let Dave answer that but you're welcome to go and I was just trying to you You know trying to spread the spread the load to Dave if you're okay answering that I'm sorry if people already know this but I just no, no, that's a great question. It's a great question Jamie knows it as well. So so, um everybody that's at summit is Has gone through the ip process. So they're all students on on ips and we're a day school, which means We're as as far out on the least restrictive Environment, which is a a key term In in special ed as you can go publicly So the next step is a private day school And so we've done this and we've had a public day school In our system for many many years Um, and it's looked in lots of different ways and so that's that just gives you the history of that And we have about right now. I think we have about 26 students We also take in tuitioned in students from other communities and we've done that for years And interestingly enough that number has risen in the last, you know, six state months that people are looking for uh placements that they can't but they want to be as close to the public school as possible And we're one of those in our local community and we've always been there for North Hampton, South Hadley and others and and um, and so That's what we offer. Um, I I just wanted just a real plug My clinicians and Karen Peters have been just stalwarts. Um, just I I almost get emotional thinking about the level of work and commitment they have had towards our students Every day of the week Right. So every day of the week during vacations Every day of the week during summer and it's not the way it has to be but it's the way it needed to be and they stepped up and um, and it just and it and you see the difference That's the key you see the difference in the students and um, I really appreciate that and I couldn't Not go on without saying that I hope that answered your question Thank you for asking that question because I think it's always helpful for us to um and in our community to be reminded of the role and Uniqueness of Summit Academy. Are there other questions? Mr. Demling Yeah, so thank you so much for this. Um For this talk, I love hearing from staff who are like on the direct front lines of this this stuff So it's really adds a lot of color to the abstractness that we usually talk about at the school committee. So um Appreciate that the the two questions I had were um, are there already specific resources? Whether it's staffing or technology or something else That you're thinking of would be really helpful in the coming years as we Help kids recover from coven the specific reason I ask is that you may know that we have um A certain amount of funds from federal stimulus dollars It's about 1.6 million over a maximum of the next four fiscal years To spend specifically for things that coven has impacted and obviously mental health Uh supports is is like write down that main street. So it doesn't have to be right now You know, maybe you know in the coming weeks and months as you're thinking But if you have ideas tonight, that that's great But it's it's something we're really going to be trying to engage the community on And and wanting to to get the most Impact for you know, and this is definitely something that we want to Be uh be be alerted to the other thing That's one question if you have thoughts now the other one is is about um referrals and I'm just curious about about the methods of how Students at the region in middle school and the high school are able to self-refer Like is it is it easy to drop in anonymously? Like without stigma I mean obviously, you know, it's better than anybody that mental health still has You know too much of a stigma in society than it should and we're obviously all working on that And but that's a socialization thing, right? And so I would imagine with some of these things like isolation and anxiety It might not be the easiest thing in the world to Take time out of your day walk down to the guidance office to somebody Maybe you don't know and say hey, I have a problem. I need to talk to somebody about it Um, so if you could just talk about about the um the opportunities that students have for that I I can answer that one. Um, unless uh, mr. Siddique you want to you want me to start Yeah, you can start okay I think that it's really important to address stigma And how we help our students and our faculty feel more comfortable Not only being uncomfortable, but letting people know they need some help I I think that our guidance counselors have done an incredible job very similar to what jamie described Making it much easier for students to make appointments to be connected whether it's through Hey, make an appointment from my from our virtual website or we're going to have this scheduled appointment already in place Small groups that we try to offer in classes to talk about things like that and give students access to staff members We certainly want to increase The visibility for students that it is not only okay, but really important health and wellness wise and academically to be addressing these things and to get more familiar with your With how you work Last year right before cobit. Unfortunately, we were right in the swing of doing what I think was a really cool seven session grouped with a lot with about 75 students In a partnership with one of our tier two programs just about the teenage brain And it brought so many other so many students to sort of our To the guidance office and to other people saying hey like I want to talk about this or I have some concerns or I didn't know that I could do something about sort of building my Ability to be more organized. I thought that I just this is who I was so providing that psycho education Whether it's through advisory, which we're really excited to Plan for and we're already doing um for next year really doing that psycho ed I think is step one in helping students be accountable and understand who they are and what's happening in their brains and in their bodies and in their relationships And then your first question I I'm so glad to know about that and this is something that Mr. Sadiq and ms. Effer and the guidance counselors and and I and dr. Brady. We're we're sort of all really talking about Some of there's been some really cool partnerships with the bright network and desi and A local foundation or a statewide foundation. I'm sure say you can talk about this a little bit more But there are there's some really exciting opportunities For integrating more of this mental health In in tier one that we really want to take advantage of Yeah, thanks karen. Some did up really nicely. I honestly don't have too much more to add to it, but that Like I said, some did up very nicely. Thanks Um, I think karen did a brilliant job. So so in in the uh and not trying to make this too much longer The only other piece that kind of came to mind as we're all talking is just um, mr. Demi when you talk about, you know, the stigma You know the the importance of the language from the district and from all of the adults and how we talk about kind of mental health And who accesses it? Um, and I have um been really proud of the way that that our district has has done that you know, even even in small ways when You know, mic is able to when mic puts in blurbs about kind of the amazing thing Summit academy is doing in the all student newsletters or we talk about The the work that we're we're doing at summit the really important work around kind of mental health and meeting kids where they're at and Um and really trying to do away with and I grew up in this community You know, some stigma that still exists around, you know, who are students who access those most kind of The the a place like summit academy or used to be the the south amherst campus And and how we we can kind of promote summit academy within the community And and just talk about it. And so it it it also kind of starts at home with all of us and how we Um and how we do those pieces. So it's an important piece Mr. Semmel Well just to prolong you a little but so is summit academy in a separate building from the high school? And i'm wondering Can the kid to the kids at summit ever integrate?  So that's a good thing. Um, so I want to say it was two or three years ago time You know, there's like weird vortex of the last 14 months that messes up How we remember what happened beforehand, but um summit academy used to be on uh, right off southeast street The building is still there And several years ago. There were multiple factors that Contributed to moving the summit academy over so it is now a distinct part It's located at the high school, but has a distinct wing in in the high school building and You know, I think we could have a much longer conversation of how things have changed, you know And how it's impacted some, you know, some students have enjoyed that and some students. It's been a harder transition I'm not trying to be polyan ish but about it But one of the advantages it does allow for more opportunities for integration In the way that you cite, um, you know, some of the reasons just so so, you know, the history of mr. Stammel You know, there was retaining wall, uh, that was having a problem at summit that was going to be hard to fix There were a lot of facilities issues And then there was a fiscal implication of having its own campus So there's a lot of discussion a lot of conversation. I really want to thank dave jamie and the staff Because they were critical in making that transition work. It's it's easy for someone like me to go up here You know a school committee meeting and say it'll work much more challenging for people who are on the ground to actually make it work And uh, they did a tremendous amount of individual work Some of it done as a group but some of it's about individuals, you know, kids who were excited to go got there We're like, oh my god, this isn't this isn't doesn't sound great anymore And then we had some of the reverse kids who were anxious about it and actually Really enjoyed the experience of being in the same building as the high school So right now it is in this the building it had a lot of facilities worked on and continues Need uh, some some work that, uh, you know around hvac system because of how we change the classrooms to accommodate that Um, and I think the last thing I'll say on that one is in mr. Sudeek and the high school staff also welcoming summit was really critical Because it's it's one thing again to work out all those details Another thing how how people feel and even you can see it tonight in terms of Karen and jamie that there is There are connections made right and they're you know One of the advantages from the adult learning perspective is there are people Teaching similar things or working on similar Aspects and the fact that they're down the hall versus Across town can make a difference in terms of the professional culture as well So, you know long-winded answer to your question, but I think it's a really important one And it's in the not so distant past of of the school committee who had to weigh lots of factors in making that decision I would just add one a couple things actually the mic's right on Um, you know the notion of stigma anytime you have a public day school and and this school has been around for believe it or not More than 35 years and but it's changed in lots of different ways. It used to be an alternative school and we're always Fighting the stigma of what does it mean to go to that school? So the question you're asking is really important because the students that represent summit academy are the best and the brightest And I mean that figuratively and literally right, you know, because these kids are Doing incredible We're going to have graduation on friday And they're going to four-year colleges and they're going to the community and they're already in the community working And sometimes all people think about in public day schools if they're the problem student Or the behavioral student that is an absolute killer And we still battle that even with the adults in our community Even with teachers at the high school and it's hard. And so I don't want to just you know Sugarcoat that that is something that the school committee and they did it and continue to step up for summit academy We had a great and that this is years ago Michael and some some people remember this but we had two of our students represent who they were And that is the best you can ever do and so I I invite people when we can and people have come to Summit academy, uh, you know and and and just to meet the students. They're just amazing the art art ability the The athletic ability that academic ability Matches everybody and the thing that I love about our students the most is they're out there They don't walk around with a veneer They walk around just right there and it's something special. And so so We're really proud of the students we have and we want and know the community is too But that's something we're always going to work with and and we have to work it with our students We have to change their frame. What does it mean to be a summit academy student? And when they go to graduation every year, they see what it means it means to be resilient It means uh to in the face of real tough odds to keep moving forward and and um And they do and they learn and they build these skills and and it's just uh, it's wonderful that We as a community have kept a public day school because you know, it's it's one of our gems and I You know, I just wanted it's important. So thank you for the questions. I really appreciate it thank you for For the for the passion and leadership as well um Any other questions? Not seeing any. Um, so I really appreciate um you all joining us tonight for this conversation. It was really helpful to sort of hear the frame of of of the challenges that our students are facing and the supports that they're getting Through all of your working quality. So thank you Yeah, thank you very much Thank you for having us. Yeah Take care everybody. Thanks We'll move on to our next item, which is um this session of uh consideration of a district indigenous lands acknowledgment um in this agenda item was proposed by um miss lord Um, and so I will turn it over to the floor to the Okay, thank you I want to thank chair mcdonald for being eager At the suggestion of a land acknowledgement and putting this discussion on the agenda Part of what drives to me in this comes from a quote by dr Shirley Whitaker in her movie ashes to ashes She's one of our own and her son graduated from our district school district a little while back In the movie ashes to ashes she throws a memorial service for the victims of horrific murder by lynching Most of whom were denied a funeral or service In the movie. She also works with the survivor of a lynching attempt Winfred Rembrandt wanted to bring his name up. Thank you Winfred Dr. Whitaker says that as a doctor she needs to know the medical history in order to provide a treatment for healing She likens that to this country In this country if we don't acknowledge our history, we're not ever going to truly be healed Um the raw ugly hurtful truth so that we can heal and hope to create a country that isn't still replicating much of the harm in a different way I'm grateful this district voted to celebrate indigenous people's day a few years back as opposed to columbus day I'm grateful to the school committees that have banned or are fighting to ban indian mascots in the 1600s Decapitated head of an indian earned someone's 30 shillings. So when I see some of the mascots, especially ahead It's traumatic and painful reminder of that violent past A land acknowledgement is but a first step If we stop there the action becomes performative and harmful in full transparency I would like a land acknowledgement to be a step in a multi-year journey That may involve looking into the curriculum. We used to teach the indigenous past and present Um to prevent erasure and misrepresentation What books do we have available? Are they deficit based and only told from the side of the conqueror? We have amazing librarians. So I know that's not the case, but Um, what more books could we add? How do we connect with local elders and members of the indigenous community? Um, we have a restorative justice practice that uses circle practice And that has been an indigenous practice for thousands of years. Are we honoring that and connecting with local elders around that? How do we support our students who are indigenous last year at graduation? A mother spoke to me about the heritage shows skull some of the students wear and she asked why didn't we have an indigenous one Where's the space for us to? Have someone get a skull of their tribal colors And are we even having these discussions? So That's what like the land acknowledgement to me is the first step In a very important step towards us embracing our anti-racist or multicultural Truth that we're living in If we decide to go further, I have tons of resources that I can condense and share with everyone and um Yes, if you have any questions or any thoughts, I think is that what we do next I'll actually I'll throw it back to chair mcdonald because she knows the deal You were doing you were doing really well. You that's all I would say is uh um Thank you for that that um helpful introduction. Um, and as as lord acknowledged, um When she first proposed this um, we we talked about it just to educate myself about sort of where you know what other districts are doing and and What this what this could look like for our district? So um, I I've I've learned a lot and probably the last couple months when he first proposed this topic um I think that's the discussion. So we're not trying to move to any sort of decision right now we think it's really to understand sort of what the temperature is from the from the committee about wanting to Fix for um a land acknowledgement as well as um as this lord describes some of the other Um other ideas You had your hand up. I'm sorry. I didn't give the basic a land acknowledgement is where we take a moment to say This land belonged to these tribes that were here first just in case we're throwing around that word And I realized I didn't stop and just say we are acknowledging we're on stolen land and here's who it belonged to before It was taken Mr. Samo Any particular land is it the country we're talking about? Is it The our general area Amherst Where the school is I was envisioning our district I know it's nip monk and a couple of other tribes that were here first but Mr. Dunley So I really appreciate this being on the agenda because I had never heard of the concept before it was on our agenda um And I really like the I so I still very much novice learning the basics of it. Um, I really like the idea though I like how how localized it is that um That in in talking about and because we're the Amherst poem regional school committee. We're not, you know, see a mass chiefsitzer Or anything greater than that, right? And so, you know, so we have our own um zone of Zone of focus and to understand and learn what who those tribes. I mean you just mentioned the names, but I'd never heard that before Um, so that that's that would be a really great educational learning opportunity I think um for our students, uh for for our community I could certainly imagine engaging Students with this this would be a great opportunity. I think for school committee collaboration with with uh student So I'm sure I am sure there must be some teachers that are passionate about this topic as well Who could who could um, maybe tie in some projects or some community groups, but um And and I'm glad we're not voting on something today because I I think this lord mentioned, you know This shouldn't just be performative like oh here's some statement that we Blow by and just I'll say a it's that it's It's a means to or towards an end of of building awareness. Um and uh, you know, I mean just generally speaking it is uncomfortable to be um, you know living in a space that Originally isn't ours or at least at least it's not mine. Um and and struggling with that and and coming to terms of that so I I definitely am into um having this be the first step and and um And I'll put some more effort into it Mr. Stamble. Yeah, I mean I love that. I'm very supportive of the whole idea. I would um you know in discussing this Personally, I would stay away from words like stolen land, which might be totally true I'm not saying it's not true But if we were to support this I think I mean I would most likely favor language that was Hmm, I'm not sure how to say it. I don't want to say neutral because it's not a neutral topic But I don't Think it's a good thing to politicize it anyway. I think it's a good thing to make a statement about it in a way that shows that we recognize and are appreciative of the people who were here and Whose land we're on but I I'm uncomfortable with the word stolen when um, I did uh It was poking around and looking at sort of what other districts and other regions have done This is actually something that's really um, I don't know if it's legislated like required in canada, but across canada um schools are And I don't know that it's every single school day But sort of like for some of us older folks here when we were required to say the pledge of allegiance at the start of school every day It's it's the equivalent um and and more and there's lots and lots of examples of different um phrasings and and and wording depending on um The location and relationship and one of the things Um, I think it might be useful to share some of the information. There's um lots just from within canada, but also um from some u.s. Organizations that have Have guides for how to approach this and I think as miss lord described You know the key is connecting with elders in in the region or area um to define And collaborate together and defining what that acknowledgement could look like and sound like um again not sort of To not be the group that sort of decides how we're going to acknowledge Something um that isn't ours or wasn't ours and miss lord you have your I do I just wanted to speak for a moment to the discomfort in certain words And I I didn't use the word genocide Because that makes a lot of people comfortable But that's what happened and so I know we might struggle with calling it a stolen land or or genocide But these are truths and these are realities and um, how can we be like not how can we sit in that discomfort? and help us grow into um A loving peace and a healing around that Um, whoo, sorry It's overwhelming But every year I do the day of morning for the indigenous a lot of indigenous come together And they tell their stories and there's still so much pain and discomfort in the indigenous Community that I can't make myself comfortable by rapping it in words that sound nicer or like hey We borrowed your land So I understand what you're saying and it will turn a lot of people off to use words like stolen or genocide But um, I have to honor the pain the history and the truth and then the healing that can come from just being raw So I just I wanted to acknowledge that I heard what you said But I also need to push back a little about my use of words and why I go there. Thank you Mr. Harrington Yeah, I kind of wanted to double down on that because I feel like if we're doing this genuinely We need to represent what genuinely happened, right? Like we need to use words like forced removal from land these sorts of things stolen land, etc, etc Because that's what it is We also need to figure out ways that so we're we're an educational Body here, right? We also need to tie in those sorts of things because these people They had concepts of education in in these sorts of things like we actually need to represent Who it was like specifically that was here And pardon me for like actually literally reaching for a voice right now, but I'm kind of under the weather there I don't I have a lot more to say about the topic. I just don't have a when to do it right now Mr. Dancer um, I would just like to say that I support this I support the language Um, and I would be very interested you said that there are resources and I personally would be interested in Knowing about some of those things Yes, that's her I'd also just like to state my support for us moving forward with this and especially bringing in folks with connections to The native peoples who are here before and students or other outsiders outside of our committee who might have Is the best word would be stakeholders people who who are connected to this issue more directly Thank you, miss lord for bringing it to the committee I'm here in general Ascent to to moving forward with this from the committee. So I'm just going to pause to see if there's any objection comes up Um, so I'm wondering if a next step might be if there's somebody who would like to partner with miss lord and and sort of coming up with and developing that process for How we how we will move forward and sort of develop that Um, some ideas that then the committee can consider at a future meeting Is that Miss dancer You volunteer to I yes, I do. I volunteer Great, so, um, I think some next steps is um We'll share some some resources for the full committee to to Get build our understanding of this and miss stands and this lord will take this Um and work together. I'm coming back to us with a proposal Or ideas Great any further um comment okay, so we will um move on to the next item, which is uh An update. Oh, sorry. Uh, quick one discussion on um, the funding support that we that the district receives from our town colleges and universities um, and I think this is We'll start with just um understanding sort of what we currently receive From the various institutions And I think uh, dr. Morris you prepared something yep, so um in terms of the current funding that we receive uh for the More years than I've been in this role. So more than five we received seventy five thousand dollars from amherst college That typically is went to support um some work in the family center and Is primarily used at the regional level the other major institution in town you mass Last year the year before again years get a little funny Had not historically had a funding stream that went directly to the schools However in support. I don't want to thank the town for supporting this as well It was a hundred so it gets a little complicated, but at the current time it's a hundred eighty five thousand dollars What gets a little complicated is only fifteen thousand of that comes to the regional schools The rest goes to the amherst public schools and that's based on the number of students who attend our districts Who live in off-campus housing? Um, and that is queued much more heavily at the elementary level on amherst than it is at the regional level And I think the additional wrinkle is right now the place where off-campus students live um Excuse me, uh Yeah, no where where umass students live Uh in umass supported houses, which is not taxed no longer exists right now. No one lives there So this is puffed in I think that's the right name. Um, or north I'm gonna mess it up. Sorry. It's one of those days where the words aren't with me But carrier peter will remember i'm sure they're not in there They're not in their heads that they will But in any case the place because there's actually more than one. It's just primarily in I think it's our village um The place where you mass students live in tax exempt housing is getting rebuilt And I want to publicly state I appreciate that that funding stream is continuing despite the fact that there are no Students right now are very few students living In tax exempt housing with children who attend the amherst public schools Because that's a two-year project, but they committed for three years And this is a second year and so we appreciate their support That's not to detract from the larger conversation that the committee has but that is the current situation to summarize I'll do much more succinctly. Uh, thanks gary Is that we received seventy five thousand dollars from amherst college and that goes directly to the region And the regional school district receives fifteen thousand dollars as part of a larger sum that comes from umass that is Making uh acknowledging the tax exempt housing where we have students Living but no taxes coming into the town So I think that's a summary you wanted to give. Sorry. That was a little circular way of describing it But that's that's our current status Mr. Sam off the seventy five thousand per year or was that a one time? It is uh, it is yearly we do ask for it. It's not in perpetuity It's not a forever commitment, but it has worked that way and we have a commitment for the next two years for that to remain in place And and for UMass is a three-year commitment made a year and a half ago. So again, that'll potentially have to be renegotiated And that gets a little, you know, I want to I think it's worth talking about the complexity it gets a little more complicated because when north village is redone It presumably is larger and it was done based on a formula a tax exempt housing that will need to be reassessed as The north village comes the new north village comes online. I think it's in 2022 Could be wrong in that but I believe that's a year. It's supposed to come online Miss dancer Um, dr. Morris. So I'm not sure I quite understand about the 185,000 from UMass You said about 15,000 goes to the regional schools And so that would leave what 170,000 and that goes directly to the elementary schools in amherst Where it goes to the town. I don't quite understand that Sure. So the mechanics are that it goes to the town and then that directly goes to the schools Um, so it is there is one step in the way But the town of amherst has committed to having those since it's Related directly to school funding for that fund those funds to be directly applied to the schools Sorry, I should have been more clear about them Mr. Demily Yeah, um, just so just to put a finer point on what dr. Morris said it subsidizes The town of amherst support for amherst public schools. It's not We don't get the town of amherst like say town of amherst says 3 percent for service departments We don't get 3 plus 170 k at the elementary level It it reduces the amount of of support that the town of amherst Pays to to run the public schools which For the school committee is an important point, but we're talking about the elementary but um Mr. Demily Yeah, so separate point um Yeah, so I mean so I asked for this to be on the agenda. So I appreciate it. Um, I really just wanted to Roach the topic because I feel like it's an important but um awkward Conversation to begin because what we're talking about is voluntary currently is voluntary contributions from Are uh from the colleges and universities in our community, right and and um And there is active discussion across the state right now about whether or not these organizations That have some of whom have many millions of dollars of tax exempt property Um, shouldn't be pay if there's an open question discussion about should they be paying more to their towns? um And should they be required to pay more to their towns and there's some bills currently being um Uh advocated for at the state level that would that would give municipalities the ability to require Colleges and universities to um to pay more than than what they currently do. It's called So right so right now the there are different agreements between universities and local towns across the state harvard and Williams and whatnot and they're generally referred to as pilot payment in lieu of taxes Which is a fancy way of saying that a voluntary informal agreement has been reached between um the municipality or school district and and the college university um And uh just from some groups that I've attended recently on the topic Um the the amounts that these pilot agreements are vary quite a bit Um, and they're not always um fall through on about two-thirds of the time. They're they're not Or rather I about a third of the time they're not meaning if you look at say a pilot agreement that X x schools are supposed to pay a hundred thousand dollars a year It's it's it works out to about two-thirds of that because it's there. There's an enforcement mechanism um, so this was really about um, you know, is is there an opportunity to maybe Rekindle some of these discussions with our local universities and it's interesting because I think the schools that we're talking about are in much different positions You know, so we have um Hampshire college Um, which is what we haven't mentioned yet. Um, but we probably all know they were on the brink of Going out of existence very recently Um, so they they've had very very difficult financial situation and they're a much smaller school Um, than the the other two we're talking about UMass is of course larger and and we have The agreement, um, but it's it's a very limited definition right based on off-campus housing And does not um take into account the other benefit. There's a lot of benefits from uh to the university Gets from being an Amherst that they go far beyond Off-campus housing that they get that they get from the public schools, right if you want it's a The excellence of the Amherst public schools is a big um a big attractor to To an employer um and UMass is the biggest employer and then Amherst college, you know is um I think a focal point because um, they they have uh a very um large amount of resources to put it put it bluntly um You know, they have a large endowment and when you compare them to a school like Williams, um that has a similar level endowment Williams has historically and I think very publicly in recent years Supported their public schools because they've they've talked about how it's part of their mission To support excellence in public schools and and the benefits they get from public schools They've contributed Literally millions of dollars to renovations of high schools and elementary schools and and they pay. I think it's about 200k a year um to to um to their local community, so um I just thought as we emerge from this pandemic um And you know, we have a certainly a number of major capital things on the horizon That our region would love to get to track and whatnot. Um But it might be an opportunity to to go back to to Amherst college And revisit and say, you know, is is 75 000 The right amount or is there an opportunity here to talk about What Amherst college values and what regional schools provide and is there something, you know, that that we can Is there an update that is appropriate? So That was that was a region for prompting the discussion miss candy Quick question about Amherst college is Amherst college That funding handled the same way as the mass funding So like it supplements what the town pays so I It's a hard, I mean It also It goes directly to the district. There's no intermediary. So that would be a difference. Um so so if Amherst Says, you know, we need this many dollars for level funding. Therefore, it's the what was it like three three percent two percent something like that That it's the two percent in addition Or that seventy five thousand is included in that two percent So at the current time, that's part of our operational budget You know because we've counted on it. So, um, I mean I suppose it's a philosophical, right Question because we do it pays things it pays for things every year that If all of a sudden Amherst college was to say, no, we're not doing the seventy five thousand dollars We would have to realize a reduction in that And what it's paying for in the family center and that money would have to come from somewhere So I don't think it it applies as much in terms of what the towns are giving us it is it does supplement whatever Because the regional level whatever the Increase is but we we it's part of our operating budget at this point because it's been so durable for six or seven years Okay, but it's not included as like What the tap like it sounds maybe I'm misunderstanding It sounds like the money from UMass is included as the money in within that money from Amherst But Amherst college is not included the same way Amherst college comes straight to the region and That's it. It's separate money So let me say it differently. So I think You know, peter, you can correct me if I'm misstating What you shared but so in terms of the funds that come from UMass the fifteen thousand dollars that Benefits the district it doesn't necessarily lower the assessment for the town of Amherst It's not, you know, it's it's not like oh that just lowers the assessment for Amherst and everyone else has to pay more as a result It goes There's not that additional step It just it goes to the town and then we would essentially get a check in this case for 15 thousand dollars From the town of Amherst to support the regional budget not to support the Amherst portion of the regional budget Okay Does that help? It's not I'm not I'm not having the great night talking. So luckily it's mostly about you all stuff Something is there. I'm not even it's it's all good So can I just reframe that so that that money would show up not in when we review budgets Or when the public is looking at our budgets that wouldn't show up in the appropriations or the appropriated budget that shows up As as other revenue Is that correct? Yeah, okay Miss fitzer thanks, um So I want to start off by acknowledging how much um the town gets from having the university and colleges located here So I don't because I'm worried that my comments are going to come off as as being against the university or against Amherst or Hampshire and so it's none of those things I think um So there are two things I want to say one is I am frustrated with the I think this is all rooted in the fact that The way our public schools are funded in the united states is through property taxation And so when you have these large nonprofit public institutions, it could be a hospital It could be a you know a university in our case. It takes a lot of land off of the property tax rules for for our districts so As we're facing more acute budgets, this is becoming a bigger issue and I think It's worth addressing. I I I know we get a lot, you know from the universities in terms of you know things that we can't you know Can't count But I do think that we do provide Also on you know less tangible benefits to to the schools and for example, you know We have students from the university who come into our schools and receive some other training in our schools Correct me if I'm wrong about any of this, but um So I think it's the right thing to talk about I guess my concern is I don't think we have much leverage You know, we we we don't have um You know, I would be welcome to accept whatever funds The university or in the embers college would be willing to accept but I I want to point out embers college recently one of the students and you know published an op-ed putting pressure On the college to consider increasing the amount of support that they give to the local community and I think It in the ways that we can support those types of efforts. I'm all for it I think if there are town counselors who want to get involved or state reps or any other Kind of other stakeholders in the community who want to also work together because I don't think it can just come from the school committee I think we need to and peter, you know, it sounds like you're doing this getting involved and I'd be happy to You know work on efforts going forward to do this. I just don't know um I think we could provide information to these efforts. I think we could provide Amplification of their message as well. Like I think it's interesting I don't know if anybody heard from the embers college students who wrote but I'm You know in the district, but it's interesting that this kind of popped up in in in the in the college newspaper um The other thing that I'm going to point out, which is kind of getting into the weeds is that I'm I have a lot of concerns about the way that the UMass um is calculating how much And I know this was something that was decided long before and we engaged with the Donahue Institute for this report and was something I think that the other members of town government were Working on from Amherst, but it seems to me like it shouldn't be about how many students You have in the district it should be more about the amount of land that you're essentially taking offline from increasing our towns revenue and um, you know Amherst college doesn't have a lot of Their you know students have I'd be surprised if it's more than you know, just a handful of students from Amherst college You might have students within our district and so if we use that kind of logic and apply it across the board It doesn't it doesn't make a lot of sense. So I would be in favor of thinking about ways we can um Partner with others to increase the the amount of money that our towns get from these institutions, but I'd also want to you know Consider trying to move away from this idea that you only need to contribute to the town if you actually have Students with students in the district if that makes sense. So thank you I think I'll um add to that um I share that that the same concern is this fits are about sort of philosophically It's it's about sort of being a member of the community as opposed to paying for services the schools are providing. Um, and You know much as we benefit as a school district in a town from the presence of the colleges and university in the town So do those colleges and university benefit from us from the town having a quality a high quality An attractive public school system, right? So their ability to attract faculty and staff um that are top notch Is dependent and related to the quality of our public schools. So I think it's a It's a it's a co We both both groups Benefit from the presence of the other and in that sort of collaborative spirit of sort of what's best for our overall community Is sort of how I would approach the the conversation and I agree Um How much leverage do we have this is not a new conversation. Um, and So things haven't changed other than the legislation at the state level and I feel like that's in my mind That's probably our strongest option or approach is to is to partner with our representatives. Um in the state house in the senate to progress that legislation In that avenue But mr. Emily Yeah, so I mean these are really good points. Um, you know, the the point of leverage is is Isn't interesting one and if it is the the full term of why this is awkward Right, because if if the if some of the bills that are currently in the works Became law then then it would it wouldn't be a choice, right? You wouldn't you'd have the leverage of law You could do whatever you like. Um, so I so while I think that that is worthy of pursuit Um, I think the other opportunity here, you know to to try and be as fair as possible to to amherst college, right? Who's currently giving us 75 000 Without having to is Is um, you know, it's like we don't we don't currently know how they're feeling about this right now And it's and you know, because they've already given us money It's of course not a new conversation, but I would call it a dormant conversation It's it's certainly never come up on since I've been on the committee. Um, and um, you know They're busy if they have things to attend to and and and management and people change it and and so this it I'm uh, the idea of a discussion isn't so much to You know, let's have some Machiavellian high political pressure Campaign to force their hand. It's more Hey, let's let's let's let's open the door to an opportunity, right to have a conversation and say Hey Amherst college, you obviously benefit from being in the town. We benefit from having you here um, you obviously have a very publicly stated mission about equity and we have a public school that services a lot of high need students You know, we're a big draw for your first staff Is is this something that you know, you want want to engage and just and just give them the The opportunity just to have that conversation You know, and I'm also, you know, I want to be sensitive to that even though Amherst college clearly has a large endowment It's the devil is always in the details of these things, right? And it's I don't want to make this so simplistic that like Oh, they're rich therefore. We should use their endowment as a checkbook to find our public schools That's not like where I'm going with this. It's more it's more when you compare to other pilot agreements williams and some other places out out west Um, you know, we're we're quite the outlier in terms of the level of support And so it's it's an opportunity to just kind of explore that I think Mr. Spitzer, did you have a hand up again? Just a quick follow-up question. Um, when you brought in the example of williams You mentioned that they had funded specific capital projects in part. Is that so to me a pilot is sort of Um, I'm thinking of a steady amount, but I'm wondering if maybe Just the gallon would strategy With with potentially would put capital projects be something that you'd envision Looking to our community partners for support in a way that hasn't been done in the past. I'm thinking of fields or other types of large ticket items Mr. Demlin, I mean, yeah I think I think it's all on the table, right? So um, so the williams they they um, they helped rent Or over they contributed over a million dollars Or actually it was it was five million. I'm sorry five million to help renovate mark rail. I can then 1.1 million to To help renovate an elementary school and then in addition to those One-time capital expenses they contribute about 200,000 a year in operational and like the pilot. Um So so that's just one example from the other pilot agreements that I've looked at there They run the gamut of variations of that Um And you know, you bring up a great point, you know, our region obviously has a very urgent need for uh, the track and the fields Investment that's going to be very difficult to do for given the capital demands of our member towns particularly particularly emersed, um And what they're trying to do in the next five years. So um, so yeah, I think I think all that's on part of the conversation, right? I think that's Um, and and who knows how far either one of those threads would get but um, you know, we wouldn't Won't know what's possible unless we let's we look for it. I guess any other Lots comments Do we do we have a a next step coming out of this discussion? hearing I've heard lots of lots of support for the idea of of Um Pursuing the support for and advocating for that pilot legislation, which I will note. I believe that exempts public institutions tax exempt institutions so that would not impact UMass Um Is as I recall the meaning of that so it's private institutions over a certain amount of Loss of exempt property tax um, any other sort of ideas on next step Do you want to come back to this in a future conversation? Mr. Demley? I Just the general next step. I thought of was either dr. Morris or chair mcdonald or some other Individuals that I'm not thinking of might be more appropriate. Um, just reaching out damers college Our points of contact over there, uh, who who set this this this gift up that they currently have to our region. Um, and just, you know Seeing if they're open to having a conversation, I guess I'm not I don't really have any well formulated plan beyond beyond that. Um, but I'm you know, certainly interested to hear what dr. Morris has to say and Dr. Morris Yeah, I think, you know, I'd appreciate I'm happy to be part of that conversation I think given that they've communicated with dr. Sutter and I and myself already on their existing gift. I think it'd be helpful if the school committee Not mr. Deming in particular chair however it works out, but took the lead on it I'm happy to be part of those conversations, but I just I'm a little concerned about the optics of me accepting a gift and then um Seeming like I don't want to accept the gift and that was done without school committee, right? That wasn't uh You know, I think I think school committee is really clean on that That's not something that we you know talked about openly or that there was a school committee vote on but Again, I'm happy to be part of any conversation, but I think if the communication came from the committee I think it it would feel more comfortable to me. I think has a better chance of being successful So I'm happy to do that if the committee wishes that I do that seeing smiles and nods so I will Move forward and I'll connect with you doctor more fun. I'm sort of mixed up miss petter. Did you have another comment? I was just curious because we always read out loud gifts and I think we're talking about this as a gift But it must not be structured as a gift. Otherwise, we'd probably be reading at the end of the a meeting an acceptance of So is it structured as a grant? Is it structured as? So It is a gift but We went and we read most of our gifts. Yeah, so I will have dr. Slaughter respond to you about how that's coded Um, and he can send an email later this week great question Okay, but there's no other um comments or thoughts on that and we'll move on okay, um So next up we have the updates and discussion From our member towns. Um, if there's any updates on plans Regarding fixed grade To the middle school. So miss dancer Um, I can just say that at the last palom school committee. We did um decide to open the door to talk about it that I always felt that it would be appropriate to have the discussion And I'll just um share that the amherst school committee Also is doing that and there's um Um, I believe mr. Harrington and this but sir We're working on an engagement plan that the amherst school committee Will hear at our next meeting next week So that's the quick update from the amherst Mr. Stannell The non-update from lever is that we've had three regional meetings And we before we're having our next meeting which is next monday. So we still have not met Uh, and we'll be having that's on the agenda for monday Mr. Sullivan Oh, sure. So there's no no change in shootsbury that shootsbury will be holding on to its students But we are very happy to open the door up or kick it open or whatever it is for anyone else that would like to Put their sixth graders in there Fill that space up Mr. Stannell So this is for steven there. Uh, so does that mean That the the school committee in shootsbury has this has decided or voted To keep their sixth graders. I mean, is that a firm decision you've already made just curious Well, it it's uh, you know, this is my seventh year on this committee So that I've been part of the discussion every time that it comes up And yeah, it hasn't changed that we've never taken a vote one way or the other It's always just been understood that at this point we wouldn't even consider it Any other Mr. Demling Dr. Morrison terms of like engagement process We feel like now that we've had this update is is the next kind of bus driver the elementary districts In other words, is that work here done for the moment in terms of this or or in terms of public engagement? Is this going to be Like we've already decided okay the door's open if you all want to explore it and it's logistically feasible and whatnot so at the regional level are we kind of on pause until The the feeding elementary districts districts get back. I'm just trying to Organize my brain in terms of do I think of this as a regional elementary topic in the coming months? Yeah so I think Can't give you a binary answer on that. Um, so I apologize. I think the reality is that Until an elementary district comes with a real plan of engagement They may want to partner with you. It may be an opportunity to have Perhaps even a joint, you know, there are going to be some joint meetings for other reasons this spring And I think that may make sense I think I think you're right. I think that at this point the elementary To use your metaphor the elementary districts are driving the bus, but I wouldn't say the region's not on They're just you know a couple seats back watching Seeing what's happening. They're like the bus monitor Because at the end of the day the reality is, you know, the elementary districts could want to and the terms might not be suitable the regional levels, so I think at this point, you know, I think the continued engagement like updates like this are going to be really important Um, and perhaps at one of those joint meetings if we're mapping out engagement, which I think I think we will I think the likelihood that we will is high I think that's where the region needs to sort of get back involved But I think at this point it's more in the observer offering feedback from a from a regional level Because we're it's not entirely clear yet that we have an elementary district that Is Desiring to send being open and wanting to do it or two really different things and I think There's some point in between those two things of like, yeah, we're interested and yeah We want to do it where I think the region needs to weigh in But I think we're not quite there in terms of what I've heard from the elementary districts We may be there by the end of the month Of wanting to plan some some joint engagement, but I don't think that we're there quite yet Mr. Sammel I'm pretty sure this question is real premature, but um You know just trying to figure out What a discussion might look like in levered at our school committee Um So if if if x number of towns if if some towns chose to send their sixth graders to middle school And levered and shoots berry or some other towns didn't Um At at some point would there be some kind of curriculum? Alignment would there be some kind of coordination? Between or among sixth grade teachers, you know at the middle school and at individual schools I mean that's that's one issue in my mind Dr. Mars So we currently struggle with that Uh, and I think one of the advantages perhaps of having sixth grade in the middle school And I'm not going down a road of saying we should do it is that there'd be more opportunities to align the curriculum And not just between our member towns, but you know between the three schools and amour steven There are some challenges with that So, you know, I think is I think I maybe I mentioned last time Superintendent colkeen has a lot of experience with this more than me frankly In her work in union 28 because she does one of our other elementary districts in union 28 sends students to a six through eight middle school But sends them at seventh grade. So I think that'd be a great conversation to have at the levered school committee I'm certainly happy to participate in whatever makes sense But I learned a lot talking to her about how they've Made that work well and it wasn't really working almost before her But how they've improved the situation from when she came in and they've made some very intentional decisions Around what it means as a seventh grader to enter a six through eight middle school In seventh grade. So we're very in my opinion. We're very fortunate to have her in general because I like her a lot But also we're very fortunate to have her experience because this exact phenomenon Currently exists in union 28. So I think it'd be a great thing to bring up and lever it again I'm happy to attend any meeting or you know to uh connect with her offline like I typically do on that topic Mr. Sullivan Yes, so gene I was wrong about one thing we have Discussed one piece of this and it comes up every single time and everybody in town Who knows about it? It they ask about how does the assessment change? if Somebody did put their sixth grade in the school Dr. Marx. Yep. So there's two ways to think about it and I'm not proffering a Advice or feedback on them one of them is to change the regional agreement Which would have a direct impact on assessment methods and and things like that and assessments The other way is a rental agreement Where town or towns who want to have the sixth graders in? provide a financial support to the region for rental of space and Access to staff members that would cut across a sixth grade middle school such as a nurse Um custodial staff, you know, I mean there's some question marks in there But it's clear that custodial staff and nurses and uh would would be cutting across those So I think there's different ways to do it and again That's where the region would want to jump in with some of its thoughts about how to do that. I think You know that's probably as far as I should go now until we know more of who's seriously considering it But hopefully that's helpful in just giving some context mr. Sullivan of different ways it could be addressed financially Okay um So when we come back to future agenda planning we can talk about sort of our our next steps and in this disc ongoing discussion Any more thoughts or questions? Seeing none We'll move on to our next topic which is um a discussion. Um, we talked about wanting to talk uh Look at our subcommittee structure and And our policies Any any conversation about our subcommittees? Actually needs to refer back to um to looking at our policies and what do what did we commit ourselves to doing with regard to Subcommittees, I'm going to share my screen because I don't think that this the sort of compilation showed up in the packet The public packet so for folks watching at home um Just to be clear again, this is a discussion. We're not looking for A decision on anything other than a decision on where we want to go as as next steps coming out of this. Um Okay, so can you see my my screen? um, so What I wanted to what I want to start with is just looking at what our current policy is and and sort of how that compares to sort of um Not just a model policy, but also surrounding districts because ours is a little bit different um And then look at our current subcommittees and appointments and structure And then just have discussion and I I shared some ideas starters or thought starters for that discussion And when we get there and then just finish with where we want to go from there Now I do I lost my cursor There we go. Okay so, um, this uh, this links to our online policy so for folks watching at home if you want to click into that it's on our school committee website Under the policy and it's um if you search for bde you will find that but this is a quick summary um The school committee may create subcommittees as needed. Um, so we we decide what Which subcommittees we want um The members are appointed by the chair of the committee And the members can may include residents staff and students as desired Um, again, that's up to the school committee and the and as appointed by the chair Um, the school committee provides the subcommittee its charge its function and its duties Um subcommittees make recommendations to the school committee, but they don't act on behalf or for the school committee The school committee may decide at any time um to dissolve the subcommittee or to reappoint it And um as our subcommittee members all know open meeting law applies to all subcommittees Um, what I put in the in that in that packet was just a link to The model policy because if you look around um, and I looked at also at other districts um around across the state Just poking them. There's there's some key differences in our strap in our policy versus others And it's not not a value judgment. Just sort of calling out where there are differences So one of the key things is that most other policies have a time limit Their annual appointments and it doesn't mean that members don't serve longer than one year But just that that it is a discussion every every year um We were in the practice of doing that even though our policy doesn't actually stipulate that So I will say that we were in the practice of doing that. Um, we The other habit is that if we have standing subcommittees that those are actually listed within the policy that there aren't Standing policy standing subcommittees that aren't described Within within policy and with their specific functions and duties Um In the most cases it does it specifically calls out not including task forces or advisory committees And some actually specify this but it's implied In most other policies that the subcommittee is school committee members And not sort of non school committee members Um, and I mentioned that because then it that's that's why they call out that it doesn't include task forces advisory committees advisory committees is where it's um in that model policy and in the most other districts in the state an advisory committee is where it's um designed intentionally Intentionally to be include members other than school committee members. So whether that's staff students community members um residents parents, etc um, and those also are typically annual appointments A slight difference between an advisory committee and a subcommittee is that The specific tasks are assigned by the school committee and also with um with designation So when when an advisory committee is established of when is the reporting schedule to the school committee? um And also makes very clear that there's no standing overall advisory committee Um, so you there you can't create an advisory committee just in general to advise the school committee um An example um is and it this specifies also that sort of advisory committees are that are Required by law Follow those policies and and stipulations of that law So an example would be this um CPAC the special education parent advisory council Or what we call the bilingual parent advisory council Um is also sort of stipulated by law Um, and those as you as you might be familiar those do have annual report requirements to the school committee um so um Any questions on just policy right now? I'm not saying any so I'll move on. So just looking at our current um structure um And I pulled this from an old spreadsheet and updated so I apologize So if you if you see your name on one and you're not on the committee Or you don't see your name and you and you are on the committee, please Let me know so that we can get this actually accurate and representing our current thing, but we have um a budget subcommittee a policy subcommittee superintendent evaluation audit um We refer to our contract negotiating as a subcommittee or three subcommittees And then school equity task force These this is sort of currently what's in our old spreadsheet for what the charge or description is for each subcommittee And our current membership Um The and just to be clear even though this is on one row. These are three separate groups They're not there isn't just one contract negotiating subcommittee Um, one of the things that I also noticed is that For some of these roles that we call subcommittees Other districts don't refer to them as subcommittees. So um, if you look around Um and poke around and sort of other school districts There's a budget a policy and then Uh an evaluation committee that is actually sort of um also includes um working on setting goals as well as sort of Spearheading the the actual annual evaluation. So sort of full circle setting is setting working to propose the goals as well as the evaluation Um contract negotiation is an appointment as opposed to a subcommittee and a lot of other districts And that's a little bit of semantics because those are still Government by open meeting law These are other subcommittees or appointments. Um, there was a data trends subcommittee that um in my To my knowledge has not met in over three years um But that charge was um that was established back in 2014 to recommend data trends for measurement and reports to school committee um But as I mentioned that hasn't been happening We have our warrant authorization representatives. Um miss spitzer for the regional school committee um The representatives for the collaborative for education And I believe these are our our reps. Um And then we have the zones for the advisory committees the cpaq and the um bilingual parent advisory council um So that I think is all of our One more We also have um, and I don't know who volunteered to do that for us this year the clerical merit award selection. Mr. Demling. Thank you um We um are in normal years when there is an annual masc conference. So massachusetts association of school committees Um, we send a delegate um to represent us. Um as a voting member there Um, there's a professional leave request representative and the regional assessment working group rep, which I don't believe that that um, I also believe that that hasn't really um been meeting so a lot um A lot of various ones and a lot of uh, oh dr. Morse Yeah, I think miss spitzer had a question about amherst media rep and that is um that comes from the amherst school committee Not from the regional school committee. So that's I imagine I didn't I didn't put this together miss mcdonald did but I think that might not be listed here because these are From the regional school committee because that's the meeting that's being tonight But it is something that another committee has a representative on And that other committee also has some other um appointments for To lia's with the town with for um budget and capital plan um, so I I also Note that we we tend to be um Very flexible in our definition of what is a subcommittee? Um, where boris says sort of what it looks like other districts treat and and look at that so These were the questions that I posed as sort of to get us started on the conversation as um for these subcommittees there's A couple um, you know wrapped up in is the charge still relevant But also related to that is that do we need that subcommittee? um, are there changes that we want to make to either the subcommittee charge or the subcommittee structure um membership, um, I'm happy to sort of um, we've had a change in um representation from the town of lebrate so um Lebrate is is noticeably missing on any of this of the um uh subcommittees um And then the other question is do we want to consider Changes in our policy, um, whether needed um, or or desired um as it relates to both subcommittees and or advisory committees So I'm going to stop sharing so I can actually see you all better thoughts Mr. Sullivan Yeah, gene you'll be very excited to hear this That besides committees that require the chair To be on them the only subcommittee we have that actually has an unofficial official requirement Is the superintendent evaluation committee which we decided in 2018 Would be one member from each town So congratulations I volunteer for that committee Mr. Dunlop um So yeah, so thank you for being this up. I think I feel like this falls under the general umbrella of um school committee running itself um more consciously and official officially and according to its own rules um Uh, if if you've ever tried to go through all of all of our policies, we do have quite the um uh Quite the overlapping set of of policy and some some of them that we haven't revisited in quite quite a number of years um So it's it's it's good. It's good to get this refresh. Um And it's a good time for it to I mean, I'm not super surprised that given the kind of emergency Crisis footing that we've been on for the last year and a half that we haven't gotten around to this So I don't feel terribly bad that it's taken this long, but but you know now that we're kind of Like emerging um from that I feel like this is a good opportunity So yeah, I mean my my initial thoughts on this It certainly makes sense at a bare minimum that we should be refreshing our practices For our current subcommittees to be in line with the policies that we currently have So in terms of you know membership requirements about being Either on the committee or a resident from a member town or a staff member You know should certainly refresh and apply that Um And um, I I do remember I don't think we did it this past year, but typically And this was more common before Amherst's government switched over and we were all sort of on a similar Springtown meeting cycles that after all those new school committee members came on we would do a okay Here's the spreadsheet list of subcommittees Who's going to do what for the next year and we kind of went down the the list So this the idea of annually refreshing membership I think makes a lot of sense not only for school committee members, but for for any public members that are going to contribute um And then I think categorizing a bit more accurately Uh our different Subgroups here in terms of what they are. I think would really help not just the committee function, but for for public participation as well Um, you know, like you said, we have some groups that are actually True subcommittees. We have some others that are really just Individual appointments or contributions, you know cpac is is its own group and we have a liaison So it's not a subcommittee of the school committee, but it's still a very important Some more thing. Um, same thing with lpac Um, you know sc tf has it is is you know group that's been around for a long long time 2014. I think it was initially um set and um You know some some of the original members there too. So I think, you know, certainly that's That's it seems like that's more aligned with what that masc reference policy was talking about in terms of advisory committees so, um You know, that's a lot of administrative questions with a lot of answers But I do think I do think this is the time to kind of identify You know and and just kind of chunk chunk at it, right? Let's let's let's apply our current policies and then and then go go for a kind of a cleaner organization of what we have You know, hopefully so that when we get Restarted with next year, you know, we can we can kind of execute on a on a cleaner slate You're reminding me of one other key difference between our policy and sort of other model Both the model policy as well as other district policy is that our policy says that members are appointed by the chair um Most the model policy and others say that it's Appointed by the chair with the approval of the committee. So it's a notable um Not that I would willy-nilly just appoint people without asking you all but um, but it is something that that's missing in our policy I think um, so um Another key point The emmer selection cycle being now in november with new members being seated in january as opposed to the former Where everybody was probably newly appointed or elected At about the same time the same couple of months makes it a little bit challenging for us to think about an annual appointment, but um, Just means we have to be flexible, I suppose, but any other ideas And are you raising your hand or scratching your ear? Yep, scratch a layer miss fitzer thanks, um So i'm i'm generally in favor of us The lack of a better term kind of cleaning up the list. I guess partially um We all just bear There's a lot of work that comes with the school committee members So to the extent that we can potentially reduce the The administrative burden on any of us and let us focus more on on core issues. I think that's important. That said, I mean um I really would like the idea that we continually Not continually, but at least annually Look at membership mainly just because I if you look at that list some of our names appear a lot more often than others names, so I think to the extent that we can evenly distribute the burden of subcommittee work across Um the membership of of the school committee. I think that's important. Um And I would encourage us to to at least annually do that Mr. Emily I think another opportunity here too is with this the idea of um of Residents, so, you know, what do residents of our member towns? How can they contribute? I can imagine some other opportunities Other than the committees that we are the groups that we already have Uh contributing, you know, if if there are Uh members of the public who have a particular interest in in budgeting, you know, you one could imagine um Them joining the the budget subcommittee and and and providing some meaningful um positive, you know contributions In that regard or or data trends, you know, so or you know, so we have we have the concept on nctf. We have the concept on CPAC even though it's a subcommittee, so I'm just thinking if One benefit of sort of making this a lot clearer and transparent about What are the opportunities to engage with and provide input to the committee? Because you know, I do because it's it's another sort of side topic right is how to how do you provide input to meaningfully other than the public comment and emailing us To the committee and if you have a particular interest whether that's equity or Our data trends or budget what not this could be another opportunity where we say hey Here's an opportunity and and you know and every year we talk about here's You know here's where we're at, you know when we welcome, you know people like could be uh Could be a nice thing I think one one thing um that strikes me though is I think we get we get Blurry and and and it gets sort of unclear both with within our committee as well as with the community This this definitional of whether it's a subcommittee or something else and whether it's only school committee members And therefore a public meeting or only community members or predominantly community members And I think we have significant opportunity to sort of help ourselves as well as the community and understanding How we do the work that we do by sort of teasing that apart a little bit so that um either following What you see in a lot of other communities is that the subcommittees is really how the school committee conducts its work um And you know not that we would be taking that out of the full committee But that the subcommittee is for progressing the work in between the full committee meetings um sort of much is what we just assigned some work that The stands are in and this lord are taking on and that where we want sort of community engagement and and sort of You know in an advisory and a reporting mechanism that we use a different um Structure and group structure and definition for that so that it's clear that the subcommittee is elected elected members conducting the work of the school committee and the advisory committees are really just that and I think by by having sort of That this sort of mix, you know this subcommittee designation and some Are serving this purpose and some are serving another purpose Can become challenging for for all of us to keep track of everything So I see that as an opportunity to see a couple of hands. I don't know if it was miss stancer first and then mr. Sullivan Mr. Sullivan I'm just curious as we're talking about subcommittees And that the shootsbury town meeting is coming up on the 12th we had talked about During the budget season of creating a school committee Assessment committee to make the final decision on what we thought Should happen. I was just curious if we were going to try and do that this summer or not So I sort of interpret the question as should we have a regional assessment working group Again, sort of revive and refresh that group well, we I think it was mr. Deming who brought it up that He felt that and I I totally agreed with him that the school committee Should be the working group and others can join But we would be the main body miss dancer um, I think in that in that discussion or conversation whatever it was part of it was How do we educate the community about our budget process? um And because at those assessment meetings With with the new town counselors There was a sense that a lot of those people were not at all familiar with the assessment method or anything like that. So um That was one of the things I um That i'm sort of holding out waiting because there hasn't been a good time to talk with dr. Slaughter about how we can Describe the budget or the budgeting process In a way that's a little easier for the public to understand Um, so that was kind of my recollection of that discussion What are um other folks thoughts about this? structure of our subcommittees which subcommittees Our policy Mr. Stamel Well, uh to be you know to be blatantly honest, um Um, I was I I I know guilt really well. I was brought up with with plenty of it. So I I feel as though I'll need to join a subcommittee Um, but it you know, I didn't go 10 rounds with all my fellow leverage School committee members to get on the regional committee. Believe it or not I I did volunteer to to be on this subcommittee. So I thought Twice a month in fairly long meetings was my kind of that was my Amount of subcommittee duties So, uh, the idea of being on another subcommittee Surprises me. I mean, I but I also see that people are putting in a lot of work um, so Uh, I'm I'm re I would reluctantly join a subcommittee. I certainly want to know how much how many how often certain subcommittees meet And uh, what you know, what the Expectations are for subcommittees I think it was one of the key next steps is I'll share out that the actual spreadsheet because some of that information is in there, but And again, I would say that we haven't looked at that in Over a year. So, um, because we've been in cold with time. So, um So just because that that doesn't necessarily mean that that's The way it is, um right now, but it's a starting point. Um Looking at folks that haven't yet spoken. Um, this lord You I I want to say I appreciate the work you've done So that I could understand better about the role of the subcommittee or how other school systems are doing it I mean, I'm sorry. I don't have much more valuable to offer beyond that um, because I I looked at the slides and I was like, wow, there's a lot of things I didn't quite understand I'm glad to know better and I'm here for the discussion in any way we want to um shape our efficiency and our our phenomenal work Just I claim it So, yeah, that's all So is this um You know as a as potential next steps Is this something that um the committee would like to refer to the policy subcommittee to look at um Our current policy, um, whether we want to establish advisory committees separate from subcommittees seeing some nodding heads And as it happens the sub the policy committee's meeting this week, um We have another policy on tonight's agenda. That was not the intent um for a policy subcommittee just to be clear, but um the um what I'll share this this spreadsheet the full spreadsheet and um, I think maybe um at one of our end of june ones We can come meetings. We can come back to this um discussion again, um with input from the policy subcommittee at that point that that Makes sense for folks I know this is scintillating conversation. So, um, I I can just read it on your faces Okay I'm sensing thumbs up for those next steps Okay, great Moving on. Um, as I referenced we have a proposed um first read of a revision to our policy ebc f a on face coverings Um, and those both the current and the proposed revision are included in the packet um and as a reminder for folks new to the committee Policy ebc f a was one that we adopted a year ago um in covet and it is um nearly identical to the model policy that was developed by the m a sc um regarding face coverings And there is a proposal now to revise it effective july 1st And uh, can I speak to this mr. Donald? Yes Yeah, and so this was developed in consultation with you know legal counsel and and just the ever changing some of the challenges that we've experienced this year um and the fact that guidance continues to change um and um Policy is not intended to change as frequently as perhaps guidance Has shifted so it's trying to align the district's work with the recommendations from you know the state both the department of public health and uh from desi so that it gives um the ability for us to be nimble um as things are loosening up who knows in the future they may tighten up again right with there's lots of things we don't know Um, but you know, I'll just go through it very briefly if it's okay. It's pretty short Um, so it says starting on december on july 1st. Excuse me 2021 the districts will follow the face covering guidance from the mess chooses department of public health dph And the department of elementary and secondary education desi the superintendent will manage the interpretation and implementation of guidance this guidance In the short term it means three things for our summer programs The first thing is that students would no longer to be need to be masked When they're outside in our summer programs is the current guidance A department has this would look to implement it for all of our programming in the summer Secondly would be that staff members who are working in our summer programs If they were distanced Would not also not need to wear face coverings If they were outside during our summer programs, that's a little different students. It's um distancing is not part of the Kind of face covering or not but for adults it is for summer programs and that's again the recommendations We received the guidelines from the state And the last one is uh in the non-school setting so primarily in central office We'd be following the kind of sector specific or sector general guidance. Excuse me Coming from the state, which is vaccinated people would not need to wear masks in indoor settings But unvaccinated people would need to wear masks in indoor settings. So those are the three distinct implications for the summer What the state said last week is they will be putting out face covering guidance in the summer for the fall. We don't know what that is yet But um, you know the short term implications of the three I mentioned um I say personally, I think aligning with the state guidance is the recommendation we've received from the local health director That when we sort of create our own policies, uh, we have discordance between what's happening at the state level and What's happening locally it creates some challenges and I'll give one tangible example and then just open up for questions or comments The most recent state guidance is that contact tracing um should only be done for Folks within a certain distance only indoors. So in other words the the kind of past practice of contract tracing when Folks are outside is no longer the department of health recommendation in the commonwealth of massachusetts And so since our town, uh, that contract tracing is primarily done by the town's Contract tracer if we have different rules or different methodologies Then the contract tracer and this has come up this spring a couple times It leads to some challenges where we're not working with the same rules Uh as the the town is or the contact tracing from dphs So this is from me an effort to align our work with the department here in massachusetts As well as frankly other districts in massachusetts as well So that's sort of the thinking, you know, I think what I'd ask Whatever this policy ends up is if it is possible to be voted at the next regional meeting Which is the 15th which actually would be a joint meeting. That'll give us enough time to inform Staff members families of whatever the rules will be on face on face coverings for summer programs Because I don't want to do a last-minute notification of them and our summer programs start on July 6th So it gives us a little bit of time to both communicate out As well as to develop guidelines for use. So, uh, that's this is the first draft. It's it's Uh, unbelievably short as it relates to policy. Um, so that doesn't mean it doesn't have a broad implication So wanted to bring it to the committee tonight See if the committee had thoughts so that we would have enough time to make edits before a potential second reading vote Two weeks from now again on whatever the policy ends up being questions Comments on the policy this dancer Um, I guess I would just say that I think we learned over the course of this past year that flexibility is Is important Um, that when things are written so strictly it leaves no room for variation and and um, I think some flexibility is important, um in In the the situation and I think this change would be a good one Miss Kenny I agree with miss dancer. I think flexibility is is key Uh, and I also think that uh putting Our policies and our practices more in line with uh, the department of health and uh Other public agencies that know far more about changing pandemic issues than I do or you know, I don't work in in health care I think is a really good idea. So I am in full support of Updating this policy Mr. Demlin Yeah, I mean I agree. Um You know The state isn't a much different place than it was. Um A few months before school began last last september where they were really late and drip drip dripping with with their guidance to us And so we sort of forced the hands of many districts including ourselves in terms to you know, define very specific policies um and uh, yeah, I mean the flexibility is is is what we need going forward in terms of Minimizing the potential disruption to student services um I also think that I mean if the state ever really went off the reservation desi And and it did something that we all felt very strongly was wrong There's nothing that prevents us at our next meeting from passing a policy from proposing and then Passing a policy. So, you know, it's not like we're giving up that authority. We're just not statically defining What we project is the appropriate public health guidance, which I think given this point of stability Not that we're completely out of the woods of coven. I'm not nearly suggesting that Um, but given the relative point of stability what we are at with this experience um Deferring to the department of public health. I think makes um all the sense to the world That's better I don't have much to add other than to say, you know, I I agree with following the guidance from the department of public health. I also feel Like the communication around this is going to be really important. So not so much about whether or not I think this is the right policy but if it's okay to Talk about it decently. I think implementing this is going to be tricky because a lot of um community members, I think Will have um, I mean we've been getting communication from community members who wish we'd move faster with Shifting towards the state guidance um, but I do believe that the you know, personally talking about folks who are going into, you know, new environments without masks You know, there's a lot of anxiety around this and so I think just communicating and making sure that we are Affirming that anybody who still desires to wear a mask can wear a mask and just making sure that we allow people to You know, have some grace during the transition So we're not um Plenty so to follow our policy and policy We um, we don't we review policy um as a first read any any Requests to for edits or updates to the language in the policy We refer to the policy subcommittee and then the second read is where we consider a vote That just to be clear. So I'm not hearing any Sort of edits on the on the wording or phrasing of the policy itself. Is that correct people are Generally in board with that. Dr. Voice Yeah, I just I want to highlight I think miss spitzer's point, which is incredibly important and that's really why you know I feel like i'm pushing at a time of year where there's lots of things that need to get done to Try to have this resolved on the 15th is that it gives us time to communicate. Well school is still in session About this for for summer program for families that may be considering where they want to come in, you know, it's For our special ed program. It's the last opportunity for virtual school for families who want that and if this is a factor then Certainly, we want to communicate that in enough time where families can make, you know The best decision for them themselves and their child um, so I think that's really the thinking of trying to Be able to have this vote with enough time where we're able to let folks know that That's what's planned. So I just wanted to highlight the point because I think it's really important And it's going to be really important throughout like in the summer when desi finally and the department public health does have their Face covering guidance. I mean you might have seen that, you know, they came out with some There was a parenthetical expression in a desi document last week that then guarded lots of attention and and lots of thoughts From any stakeholder groups. So we know it'll have a lot of attention You know down the road, but certainly for our summer programs want to communicate as much as possible And the other thing I wanted to say really clearly is we're not In a place where we the district will have the vaccine passport program will be, you know We're a district for not The commonwealth commonwealth at this point. I'm like, you know, new york is the only sort of other Counter example to it doesn't have A system around that. Um, so, you know, we want to also be really clear in terms of the office side that, you know, we will You know, that's going to be a challenge But it's going to be about challenge everywhere as well And I think it's, you know, we started talking about at a leadership level today about How do we make sure people feel comfortable both wearing a mask if they choose to regardless of their vaccination status that there's There's no pressure to to make any decision that people are uncomfortable with as long as it fits within the guidelines So, you know, I think that communication piece and that kind of sensitivity to the fact that people may be in really different places on it and You know, I think was well articulated an article I read this week and um That for unvaccinated folks this may be, uh A different experience and and they may want to, you know Mask up in a different way, uh, than they did before as more unvaccinated more vaccinated people Uh, maybe unmasking. So I think all of that is we want to approach this as sensitively and carefully as possible And have our communication be as clear as possible to all stakeholder groups Sorry, it's long-winded, but I just I'm glad you mentioned that because I think it's critical Mr. Gemling The only other point on this that and I don't know if this needs to go into the policy or not But it certainly needs to go into the communication is that And this is just how I feel though. I have no reason to believe anybody else in the committee feels differently If people or staff of students or staff want to wear a mask if it's not required that it's not only okay, it's totally supported and encouraged in a Stigma-free environment. I mean, I totally I believe the vaccines as much as anybody but somebody wants to wear nine masks and a hazmat suit like, you know, it's it's it's your own feeling You know, it's your own experience and um, you know and where and In addition to people being in different places in a possibly possibly immunocompromised situation people are in different emotional places in different Places with their experience with covet, you know, I mean, it's certainly not inconsistent to be completely Believing of the vaccine science and yet still want to wear a mask outside, you know, that's that's that's a valid human choice Um, so I again, I'm sure everybody feels that way But I feel like when we're when we're going to the point of like lifting all requirements, which is it's Are many or most of the required mass requirements of the past which sounds like what Desi is doing. Um, I think we just want to make sure we're always emphasizing that point Any other um Comments So we'll um look at this again. Um and consider a vote at our uh, June 15th meeting Which brings us to the next topic Which is future agenda planning. So we have a meeting right now, um, plan for Sorry, I keep losing my cursor. Um I think if I move there it is Um for the 15 That is planned to be a joint meeting With the amherst school committee and the pelham school committee Um, where we'll hear the artifacts presentation To support the superintendent evaluation Um, we'll also be looking at um in hearing about the return to school guidance from desi, which We expect to have by then hopefully And then the possible vote for This this face covering policy. So those are the joint topics Then the region we will continue On our own, um Come back to the subcommittee policy instructor Any next step continue discussion on that Um, would also like to talk about um our summer meetings And I should say retreat. Um, because I uh, well that that'll be what we talk about is whether we meet over the summer Um, as well as um our proposed meeting calendar for 21 for the next school year Um, and then potentially if needed an executive session and negotiations Do we miss anything? Mr. Samuel I'll probably just I don't I don't know if the sixth grade uh Topic will come up, but I'll probably want to say something whether it might be very little about our discussion Good point I mean, but that's probably wise too for us to just have that sort of as a standing one Even if we don't need it, we can just always move very quickly right through that potential item Okay Great and just as a reminder so that you're mentally prepared um that after that Superintendent artifacts presentation We will be going um from there into we'll have one week to Complete our evaluation based on the that artifacts presentation um, so just sort of be just know that It's a it's a short fuse pretty short fuse this year If there's nothing else then we can move on to the next item, which is our warrant report. Um, So miss spitzer do you have warrants to share with it? I do indeed. Um, just give me one Moment one So I have four, but I'm having trouble Oh, it looks like I've got one twice. Okay, so that's the explanation. Okay, so I only have three Um, so I carry spitzer authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of $212,810 and two cents for the warrant dated May 19th, 2021 This included general fund expenses of $199,367 and 27 cents revolving fund expenses of $824 dollars and grant fund expenses of $12,618 and 75 cents and this was signed by me on May 20th, 2021 I authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of $223,728 and eight cents for the warrant dated May 25th, 2021. This included general fund expenses of $194,613 and 32 cents revolving fund expenses of $22,661 and 13 cents and grant fund expenses of $5,734 dollars and 53 cents and other funds in the amount of $719 and 10 cents. This was signed by me on May 25th, 2021. I authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of $411,511 and 37 cents for the warrant dated May 28th, 2021. This included general fund expenses of $376,758 and 99 cents revolving fund expenses of $2,354.40 grant fund expenses of $31,897.98 and other funds in the amount of $500 and this was signed by me on June 1st, 2021. Thanks. And next up we have some gifts to accept and those were added to the packet. I will make a motion. I'll move that we accept the following gifts from donor Anthony Brackett to support 2018 summer blast bass clarinet number 1430 LP with accessories for the middle school and high school band program estimated amount of $1,750 from Barbara and James Pistrang number 2677 to support the FY21 arms ultimate scholarship in the amount of $1,000 from Gardner's supply to support a gift card for Summit Academy students with a value of $250 for a total cash value of $1,000. Is there a second? Second. With that McDonald's and seconded by Spitzer, any discussion? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. Mr. Demling. Demling aye. Mr. Harrington. All right. Ms. Kenny. Kenny aye. Ms. Lorde. Lorde aye. Ms. Spitzer. Spitzer aye. Ms. Stanser. Stanser aye. Mr. Stammel. Stammel aye. Mr. Sullivan. Sullivan aye. And McDonald's aye. And the motion passes unanimously. And I believe we are now, yes. So I move that we enter into executive session according to MGL chapter 30A section 213 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining with the APEA. If an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares and I declare with no intention of returning to open session. Is there a second? Lorde second. Moved by McDonald's seconded by Lorde. We have not taken a roll call vote. Mr. Demling. Demling aye. Mr. Harrington. Harrington aye. Ms. Kenny. Kenny aye. Ms. Lorde. Lorde aye. Ms. Spitzer. Spitzer aye. Ms. Stanser. Aye. Mr. Stammel. Stammel aye. Mr. Sullivan. Sullivan aye. And McDonald's aye. So we are adjourning to executive session. Thank you Amherst media.