Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting
August 13, 2025 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
Go ahead. Okay. Good evening, and welcome to the regular meeting for August for the Andover Board of Education. We will start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And for public comment today, just make sure that you're less than three minutes and that it's something aligning to with an item on the agenda. Liz? Nothing for now. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. And Kim? Nothing right now. Thank you, Caitlin.
Thank you. For communications. So just for public awareness, we did just have our annual board, like, retreat, and we're looking at goals for the next year. So everyone in this room has pretty much been here since 4PM. In terms of communications, does anyone have anything that's not otherwise on an agenda item for today? I don't I don't have any. No? Okay. And then seeing as it's summer, do we have any student or other celebrations that we need to talk about?
No. I will give you a quick one, though. And I did have a communications upstairs. I'm so sorry, but it relates to it. We sent a gift over to Lois for her hundredth birthday. Lois. A basket of silver stuff for her hundredth birthday. Oh. We did send up an email back. I mean, a message back, a card that thanked thanked us for there was a shirt in there and a few other things and other things. And so it's very nice to see her because she's celebrating her happy birthday.
I thought it was cool. They put a whole article for her Easter. Sent to the right celebration at his church. Yeah. Yep. So
we can look at approving minutes from our meeting on July 9. I move to approve the minutes of our meeting on 07/09/2025. I second. K.
All in favor? Aye. I'm stating You're stating. And so Bria stays because she wasn't at the meeting. And then does anyone want to add or delete agenda items that we have on the agenda for tonight? I don't have anything. Do you have anything that we need to add or delete? Nope. Okay. So in terms of reports, I don't really have much of an oral report that wasn't getting ready for what we were out here for this afternoon already. For public knowledge, we did do our board annual review, and we have listed for later tonight an executive session for the superintendent's review. So most of everything has been devoted to that if it's not otherwise listed.
Yes. Yeah. Okay. So, still have not heard about the after school grant yet. They have pushed that up, obviously, pending them, trying to figure out where they're gonna come up with the money for all the other grants, that had loss of funding. So still waiting. Keep checking every day on that one. Let's see. In terms of other my related brand and and money things, we are back on track. I know that we were a little bit behind at the start of the year in our ACH transfer, but we're back on track on that now. I think the one thing that Terry and I will have to do differently at the end of this year is go to board of finance in May then and make sure that
they're gonna just continue doing things the same way in terms of our 10 ACH transfers so that there's no loss of time there before the treasurer will give that to us for for July. So I'm back on track there. I met with the town planner. I met with the town planner because there it's time for a narrative to be written for, the next ten years of planning. When I read the initial narrative, thanks to the board of select and members, there there was one that did let me know exactly how it was, you know, how it was going, gonna be written. And it had originally reflected deficit, a loss of of enrollment because it is a pre k 12 number for the town of Andover. So I'm working with them to have that narrative reflect a little bit more the trend data for our increase of enrollment for pre k to grade six in the past five years and then proper planning moving forward. So it was a good meeting with the planner, and we'll continue to follow-up on that. And as soon as that's finished, I'll share that with the board. I don't write it. They do. But as soon as we have that available, I'll share it with the board. We've been doing quite a bit with early starts. Thank you to Taylor and the team here at the school that have been working with Hebron and with Lebanon. And I take that one on here because, obviously, it's going to be new, looking at legislation.
I've been working with EastCon. Taylor's been working with the principals and the actual LGP group itself that is preschool, and looking at, what we can expect moving forward for state guidelines and involvement. There are roles just like there were on the school readiness council. They're just more enhanced. We'll be looking for parent ambassadors, to speak on behalf of the LGP. We'll be looking for more involvement from, community members in the three towns to fit those specific roles. And Taylor and the team here have been working with the other two to make sure that we're aligned. We are in excellent shape when it comes to that because a lot of the things that we had already implemented here are things that they are going to now start requiring of the LGPs. And so it's the local governance partners. Thank you. And it's the old school readiness council. Right. And as I said, you know, Taylor kind of was a unappointed leader to do that. But because we had just gone through the NIF accreditation, we have, you know, six rooms of that. We have a lot of experience here. It's worked out well. So I know Jenny's on that team with you, Morell. And who else has been going to those meetings with you? This summer, just Jenny and I Okay. And myself or me. Okay. So so so we're we're making a lot of progress there. We will start under liaison reports and updates in the fall to add in, you know, the early start updates because I think, know, you having the board be really up to date with what's going on and what the expectations are because keep in mind where this is different from school readiness is that it's gonna be birth to age five. And so you'll hear us talking about things, and you'll be like, wait a minute. I thought you had to be 2.9 years old to go to preschool. Yes. But the state mandates are now gonna be a larger focus on birth that we try. So that's the good thing. You've mentioned something that we're already doing things here that that
what what? Can you give us an example? Yes. So Yeah. For example so you all know with school readiness, there were school readiness dollars, and they were assigned slot wise. We get $6,000 of slot for the slots that have been assigned to us. Moving forward, they're gonna expand who gets to apply for those slots. So somebody who has an in home day care center in in, you know, next year could say, I'd like to get in on this. I'd like to be able to fund the program this way. And they say, that's great. So we will set some slots aside. But for you to receive that kind of funding, which is gonna be well, they'll really start now. You'll have to accredit your program with NIAC. Okay. Have six rooms that are accredited. Excuse me. You will have to look to start making sure that the people who work in your program, the teachers, are compensated the way teachers are compensated in a public school. Okay. Our teachers are all in a union, so they already are compensated at a certain level. We're good to go there. Our old school readiness council, which ran very well, I know where you were on that for a while as well, we already understood the, importance of having different roles on there. So the librarian was on there. A community member was on there. So we're all ready set in those departments as well. So so they're working on making sure all of that's in compliance. And then moving forward, we've been asking for more slots because then in the future that,
you know, allows us to to better fund it. Okay. They, for example, are going to, by 2027, have universal preschool in the state of Connecticut. So the goal is for us to look beyond the walls of the town of Andover and make sure that there's slots available. We already do fill our extra slots with students from other towns, which we are full right now. But, so moving forward, that is gonna be something that people are gonna have to do, and we already do that. So we're we're we're really in good shape there. Thank you. That we're already doing a lot of the We are doing all of them. Will be mandated. Taylor, don't think there's anything that's mandated that we don't already have on our radar.
No. The real kind of next purpose of this and we're should tell them, we're gonna be called the early roots collaborative. Okay. We have What her own name? That's her cute fancy name. I don't care for her. Because the we are a collaborative with Hebron in Lebanon. The real work is less so focused even on the specific school program, but more focused on connecting families to resources. So it's about how do we make sure all families with young children have the resources they need, whether they here or in surrounding towns. So we're also working with a lot. They're on Tressa is on our committee as well. And and like sometimes state initiatives go, there's a lot of details that they're coming soon on their website, their policies that they're developing. So in terms of even those specific members, there's been some guidance, but certainly the policy hasn't been published. So there's still a work in progress. We're working right now under the summer portion of that initiative. So as we get up and running, I anticipate we anticipate our collaborative in October meeting that would be open to the public, certainly, if people wanna find out more about us. So that's what we're kind of aiming for as we're getting up and running. Thank you. Mhmm.
Okay. The convention, free, registration, which is the the the lower price, that ends the end of August. So, anybody else who has not yet told me that they wanna go, we'll we'll we'll need that. There was a question also about the Norton Fund, the school fund, and you know that that's one of those accounts there. I mean, just to bring you up on on speed with that, what had happened was, there was a check for a dividend in the amount of $345 that the town was notified wasn't cashed from the bank. And so they they contacted the town contacted the Norton Commission and said, hey. You know, that check wasn't cashed, they said, that's not us. They said, if you look, that's the school fund. And so, somehow, with the communications, because we were on the communications, it was like, oh, you'll have to ask Val about that. And as we all know, that particular account, sure, it's a school fund, but it's not a fund that we, are the guardian for. It's on the town side. So we have a little bit of debate if you happen to hear going back and forth to try to figure out. Right now, they have custodial rights to that, I wanna say. They oversee it because it's obviously on their side. They know it's it's the school's account. But we have to figure out where that what happened to that check. And then moving forward then, how do we look at the oversight of that account when they don't really know what's going on with it? They're they're just the the custodian of it
to make sure that somebody every quarter is paying attention to the dividend checks when they come in, accounting for them. And if they don't come in, then then who is the person responsible? So there's been a little debate. It'll probably be spoken about, you know, at one of the other meetings, maybe with the board of finance, board of selectmen, about moving forward, like, the procedure. We do have the original documents. Remember we talked about this once before? We do have the original documents. I figured once school gets started again, we'll see about getting put on the agenda with the board of finance and sending them the documents ahead of time and saying, okay. Do we need to rethink where this account lies? Is it the library that or or is that that's So that's where the the debate was. The library said, no. No. No. No. No. We're different. Oh, okay. And then the Norton Commission said, no. No. No. No. We're different. The Norton School Fund is different. Okay. So we're gonna just have to take a peek at that. I'll put it on our agenda, and I'll and I'll look after the school year starts to put it on the board of finance as well we can have that conversation. But it all centers around this check that that somehow Why don't they just put a stop payment on it and reissue it? Nobody That's not for got to anybody, obviously. It isn't for us to found out about the check? Because
the bank sent it Oh. And someone had to try to figure out who would be the person to ask about this. And it's at Bank of America. It's not even at our accounts. And so, like I said, the Norton Commission said, call the school and have her take care of it. Why? I can't take care of it. And nor am asking to, but I can't take care of it. So I think we're gonna need to revisit some of that documentation and figure out kind of not just who is babysitting that account money. We all know that it's on the town side. That's where it is. But I think we do need to have a conversation with the other boards about, like, who's the point person for it then so that when there's an issue with it, who do you call? Because the treasurer was like, I I I can't do anything about it. I don't know anything about it either. So we and know there has to a lot of money in there. We we we knew that because the dividends are $3.45. So it's about what we thought it was, that $6,070,000 dollar mark that's in there. So so we're gonna revisit that. But if anybody asks, that's where we are with that. Mhmm. And then let's see. The hazmat group, I know these are on for your discussion later on, but the hazmat group will be here Monday Tuesday. Tuesday, I'm sorry, to do the inspection into the bathroom for hazardous materials. We've already done our asbestos. That was a separate requirement. You know that. But they'll come in and just make sure there's no hazardous materials there before we move Fire along. Right. Before we move along in that process. And we can talk about that, a little bit later there.
And as for facilities, month of July, USA did come in and look at that, exhaust fan that wasn't working, that the the town had put in. They knew about this. They knew that there was one that they were gonna have to kind of call for recall on and get another one in. Erica and John Murray took care of that. So now they're all working. That's fixed. We did have that HVAC inspection done that we had voted on, you know, a while ago. Our regular pest control getting ready for for school was done. My tech did a couple of maintenance repairs, small amount of $650 to the toilet seal in there as well as to a garage drain. We had our our hood in the kitchen done, our regular inspection done there. The we had switched to for for fire panel, because there had been an issue with our file fire panel. And a company that oversaw our fire panels, didn't have expertise in that particular panel, so we had to switch to another company. They said, basically, we can monitor it for you, but we can't fix the panel. So we said, well, what good does that do for you to come in and tell us something's wrong with it, and then you can't do anything with it. So we switched to Encore. Right? And they did the sprinkler and fire alarm inspection as well. And then we don't do it every year. We've done it only once in the five years I've been here, but the outside of the windows were clean this year. So every it should be on a two year cycle now is what we should do. We're we're realizing that, and so they were done. And then, the fire suppression inspection, the fire extinguisher, and the emergency exit signs batteries, those were all done for us now getting ready to go to school.
And then it is the season now where Terry and I will start getting emails every day about the next year for the Oi. So Tracy Sierra from Dime Oil started sending to us. And do this all over again. It but it's kind of fun when this happens because every day, it's like a gambling thing. You know? And it's like, okay. We're gonna come in at today. And we have $2.59 right now. That's what our current year is, and now we'll start bidding well, not bidding, but trying to bid in the wait to evaluate. Yeah. That's Hopefully, we'll go low. Bets. Right. So Terry and I are hoping that we're gonna get something in the $2.40 something range because that would be a savings for us because we're $2.59 now, and it came in at $2.50 right now, so we'll spend the next couple weeks hedging. Usually, we hedge through maybe October. By November, we're like, no. No. No. So, and it can change dramatically from day to day, week to week. Yep. So That's so stressful. It is this part's stressful, but that we're gonna lock in. And once we do lock in, then that'll be our price for the next twenty six, twenty seven school week. Okay. Because we're that far in advance. So Can
we go back to the after school grant? Yep. Is that the cool is that correlated? Yes. It is. We separate. Okay. Our after school grants are kind of correlated. Okay. So which so which grant or what does this grant fund?
So this we didn't have it this year. If you guys remember, we had it last year and the year before. It funds after school and family engaging activities. Okay.
And if you get it, it it'll fund it for a period of a year, then they look at your data. And if your data is kosher, then they move you to the next year, and then you'll get that funding for the following year as well. It is a competitive grant, and so you're not guaranteed that you will get it, and you're also not guaranteed the amount that you asked for. So we did put in for it. Last time, it was very successful, as most of you know. You know, you guys participated in those things. The only difference this time would be, Eric, is that now you have a target number of students that you have to hit in attendance. And if you don't, if the target number of students that you pick k six does not attend 60 times in a year, you won't be funded for the following six.
So Yes. So your children are pretty sickly. Have to go to every program. Here's
the thing. That number is not pretty high, but I am I will tell you that in picking the target number, we looked at how many kids came on a regular basis. We know that we whether we have a grant or not, we have one parent activity a month, September through the end of the school year. So there's 10 right there that most families come, as you guys know, are back to school events and things like that. So getting those 10 are no problem. And we have a number of kids that attend pool that when those activities run opt to attend our activities. That would be my choice. So right. So there is a little bit So we're seeing a number of kids that you know will attend. They don't all, but we know a percentage of them do. And then when we bring in our special events where, you know, like, the Saint Patrick's Day one where I feel for everybody and the dancers came, we know that there's, like, 40 kids that will come. Excuse me. Puzzling is, like, a 100. Oh, yeah. Puzzling too. Tailored puzzling. So,
we are confident Science with Mrs. Hoover. Okay. That one is true, though. That one really does get Yes. Yep. So we are confident in number. So I won't make you nervous about the number I picked. But, so we have 254 kids in the school. We figured 200 of those kids are, you know, our and over k six kids, and I picked a target number of 51. Okay. And the reason why I picked that target number was there's a formula for the number of kids times the number of hours you run it per week times the number of weeks you run the program, and then that's how much you can ask for per kid. So if you said, oh, we're gonna run it safe and just say 20 kids, and we're only gonna run it for, you know, twelve weeks, you're not getting much money. Mhmm. So it's fair to go home. You just have no doubt. I'm getting it. I'd say or go home. It was it was not really, really thick at all. I remember. It really was.
So if that comes in, of course, you can't use it for anything else except after school. You can't use it for anything else except supplies related to after school and the parent engaging activities. But if you get it, it's a $175,000. Yeah. Wow. That's We're gonna because every day, teachers actually
that's the thing is getting staff to stay. Sometimes people are like, they're never gonna stay. Taylor can tell you, we have teachers that are emailing us already, like, like, did Val get the grant? Did get the grant? Because they have these ideas of things to enhance what's going on in their classroom that they're excited for. And I would say probably five times in the last week somebody's asked me if we have the grant. Do we have a volunteer to replace April for Run Club? Because I will tell you. Well, we will make a note of that that Charlotte wants that. And then there were other things that you get points on. So I'm actually Taylor knows this. Maybe I'm overconfident, but I actually am confident that if if they're awarded, we will get one. Because every section that you could put in to get points,
you know, I'll just give you one last before we move on, one last thing is Sounds good. If you had a snack for grade. And there was street choice for snack, it fell into the category, you know, of healthy snacks. There was an extra five points for that. So the way we used to do it was we picked the snack, and we said today's snack is this, and then the kids got that. So if we have a part that has choices on there Mhmm. For the children to and where they can tell you, hey. We'd love for you to serve this. That gets five extra points just to have the snack bar. So, you know what I mean? Like, in going to the grand snack bar. Probably gonna get something, but you never know. You know? It's competitive. There's only so much money. They're giving I think it was, like, 5 and a half million was what the state had set aside. So if their funds still happen, they have 5 and a half million in or a little town, we're asking for $1.75. But we'll see. So Okay. We'll have to be good.
When when would you find out, Bob? Or I ask for it every day. I'm like,
do I have to sign up in the next, like, four days? She's like, maybe. Saying, like, so this morning It's not gonna be that. I'm panicked. Like It's so high. So did we get the grant? Because I'm like, people are gonna wanna have to sign up, you know, for September. I'm gonna Yeah. That's, like, right now. Yeah. Just you would put Charlotte down for her. Just put her down. It's on down Friday. Thank you. Yes. So we were supposed to be notified in July, and then the funding was held on those other grants. Oh. So they said we can't give you new money until we know how we're gonna fund the old So they're just a little bit behind now. But, I mean, as soon as we get that email and and, you know, I see it online, it's go time. Everything we're gonna start. Yeah. But just so families know, the 10 activities Taylor and I have already planned for the school year, those family gauging activities, the one a month will happen no matter what because You guys already planned the dates for those? Yes. Yes. So As a working parent, it'd be You're gonna get them. You're getting them. You are. Yep. You're gonna get them. That's why we did them over the summer. So Yes. So as families probably know, we seesaw went up on Friday so that we can start to communicate with whole school now because I kind of lose that function a little bit in the summer with double The first event is 09/20/1943.
That's first one? School night. That's the event date. The date. Told me that. Is it? Okay. You told me I
thought I said something. Yes. The twenty fourth. You're right. You're right. That is the first big event. Yeah. So because RAM was on the day we usually use. We wanna be careful of that. Their RAM is the Right. Is that Thursday that we have always traditionally done. That's the twenty fourth. So we're gonna try Wednesday. Because we get some feedback sometimes to switch up the day of the week too that families have specific items. Okay. Cool. My turn? Your turn. Alright. Go. I'm not sure, so I apologize because the board packet isn't in front of me when the enrollment is printed. But we're just very excited to report that we have 27 kindergartners. That's just very exciting. Wow. And I know you guys would find that exciting. I'm not sure if that's on you know, that was, like, a week just a couple days ago that people are walking in and rolling.
So that's that's awesome. I know we predicted 24, 25. So being in 27 not in our part. No. Oh, maybe oh, that's because I'm sorry. Yeah. I am the amount of support. Alright. We have 27 kindergartners. We're looking at about 254 students. Again, literally, even up to yesterday, I'm getting paperwork. So it's still you know, it's until the day it happens. But That's hard. Yeah. And and we're at 68 preschoolers. So Wow. It's that's 95 students right there. It's it's phenomenal. So we're excited about that. And new new to town, new second grader, new third grader, new sixth grader. So we've just it's it's been great. New elementary students as well. Does the new sixth grader put a set risk? So we have twenty eight sixth graders. Right? So, yeah, it's it's kinda where we ended last year. Okay. And, of course, it's like a swap out. Someone moves, but someone comes. You know how that goes. So we get lots of new enrollments, and we just say, please don't be in sixth grade. Please don't be in
Don't be in Don't be in o sixth. Where are my first graders at? So we did get a new first grader actually too, so it's exciting. You sometimes you just never know with enrollment. Is August gonna be busy or quiet, and it's been busy, so that's great. So that's that.
I covered the early roots collaborative, so we'll keep you guys posted, like I said, as we go on that. But it's just a really exciting collaborative. And I think even partnering with Lebanon, someone we don't typically partner with, is just a nice opportunity again to collaborate, especially in the world of professional development because that's the other goal of this community is that we are supporting teachers with professional development needs. And we know or if you don't know, but pre K professional development needs are a lot different than a fifth grade teacher. And so being able to have opportunities for them and share costs for that is really important. So we're waiting to there used to be what's called quality enhancement money in the smart start funding. That right now hasn't been revealed what that amount is. We're actually hoping it's a little higher, and that will go towards professional development for the collaborative. So we're waiting to hear more on that. Just a little quick curriculum update as we head into the new year. Not much has changed, so we're on the same page. We are excited about year two of bookworms. As you know, we did that year one. That's the state adopted program,
and that's a compendium. So if we agree to do bookworms, you also need to agree per the state requirement to have a phonics and phonemic awareness piece. So we use Hebrity, which is a program I think that's the one some of you saw. We did a demo with kindergartners. Yep. That's Hegarty. And then you might be familiar with Fundations. And so Fundations is our phonics program, and Val mentioned UFLY is the other option that the state gives for phonics. So UFLY right now, our special education teachers have already been implementing and very comfortable with, and just actually add reports just published last week, some really phenomenal ratings. So because the program is similar enough to foundations, we don't need new resources, the letter tiles, all the things,
very straightforward. Some of our teachers were excited to kind of pilot that and see. We're just hearing from a lot of districts that it's just giving them a little more than what foundations was giving. So why not? So we're gonna be, looking at that this year, some of our k, two teachers. So not all, but we'll pilot in each grade level and and see kind of what we're noticing. We'll do lots of data, certainly, if the state ever feels like releasing the public data, for SBAC. But in September, October, when that happens, when I'm kind of able to present some year end data, you'll see our DIBELS. That's our reading k three reading data that's required by the state. Hovers around 65% proficiency right now for our k three reading. And so that's what that's the metric that UFLY will address in trying to bring that closer to where we want it to be at that, you know, 70 between 7080% proficiency. So that's a little bit on that, and we will continue with illustrative math. So that is the program we, have been working with, and, that's implemented in first through six. Kindergarten uses it as a resource. We know kindergarten with NIACC standards is a bit different than the other grades, and so it's not implemented to the same way with fidelity that you might imagine in a fifth grade run because that's combined with developmentally appropriate instruction. And so I think I mentioned last month in our professional development world
I'm gonna stop for a second. Any questions on curriculum? Nothing too surprising. Okay. So professional development, we are heading into three professional development days as we made that calendar change to start school on Thursday, which staff was really excited about just being able to front load some of the work we wanted to do going into the school year as opposed to that May day. So some of the things that we're gonna be looking at is starting with that math piece. As we've mentioned, we know that's an area again, while we don't have state release scores, we know it's an area that's going to be weaker for us and that we wanna put a more of our attention towards. So we'll be building on illustrative and building building using unbuilding thinking classrooms as well and those strategies to talk about student discourse and all of those pieces that go in there. And, also, what's called accountable talk. So that's a way that we are improving and working to improve student discourse, how kids speak to each other academically within multiple contexts, reading, writing, math, science, social studies, all of those pieces. We're continuing with the zones of regulation. So that's our social emotional piece. That's how we talk about and build kids' understanding of their feelings, their strategies, and ways to manage conflict as well as positive and negative emotions. Continuing, very excited going into year two of our houses. We had pre K camp this summer. You know, pre K boot camp, we call it. And I just it's so funny. Some of the pre Kers, they saw me, and they were like, I'm in the greenhouse. I'm like, I know. Like, it was like, they just wanted to, like, remind me. And I was like, yes.
And so it's just it's just wild how how much it's really impacting. It was exciting. We had new teacher orientation yesterday, and they got their houses. You know? And it's just it's just becoming such a part of us, which is awesome. We also have had some upgrades now as we are the program we use is from a school down south that kind of runs it, and they have a new app that's really neat when kids earn points. Their face will actually, like, pop up on the screen. Like, you know, so, like, just some different things that are really gonna amplify this year. And lastly, in those three days not lastly, but another thing that's important that happens in those times are special education meetings. And so I think that's important for the board to be aware of as we acclimate and welcome new students and returning students with, IEPs. Oftentimes, those require a lot of collaboration to make sure the year starts off strong, and so those meetings happen, as they go to new teachers, of course, and new staff members. Our paraeducators will also be present for our professional development. Some of the professional development they participate in alongside of us, depending if it's teachers.
Others are specifically designed for them. So some of their we use three two one insights, which is a program that the state has funded for the second year. It's a company that designs modules of professional development specifically targeted towards paraeducators that the state funds. So there's 10 to 12 different modules, and we're in level two this year. And so it's kind of neat. It talks about committing to action steps, I mean, we're gonna use modules about teaching social emotional skills to students, challenging behaviors, and what diversity and inclusion for special education students looks like. So all of those things will happen for them as well. You'll also see coming up a calendar. We're gonna get on the website, just a calendar of our professional development. I know we've talked a little. It's come up a little bit in how do we communicate that to parents, and it's always,
to me, sometimes feels a little unnatural in the way in which that was happening. So we thought perhaps a calendar. So not I will just give you a heads up. Post PD that we can then post what happened. Sometimes PD changes, so I can't I I can't put a calendar for the year. Right? Because I was I'm responsive to student needs to teacher needs to all those things. But monthly, I can report out and have that on a calendar type format. I don't have the exact format. Canva hasn't created it with me yet. What that will look like, but to just give the what is it? What are the teachers work on on that professional development day? What are the paras focused on? So we'll get that going too. Can you add can you just add that, like, to your principal's report when we have At the board meeting? Yeah. Usually, we talk about the professional development. I don't usually have a physical sheet, but, yeah, I can I can certainly bring that? And then I'm sorry. Just letting the parents know what it's about. You know? And we've talked about that in other meetings. Like, the the professional development is gonna be focused on whatever. I think that's great. Yeah. That's great. And then lastly, you just you did get I just gave you a draft. Please note it's a draft of this strategic improvement plan. And so talked a little bit, I know, at your retreat about just
really clearly identifying for staff what our goals are. Right? And just like the board does, just like myself, it goes all the way down. And just like we have student set goals. Right? And if we need a common through line. And so, really, those three categories, you're gonna hear me say a lot that academic excellence, emotional intelligence, and a community where belonging matters. Because all of the things we do should filter into one of those buckets. And if not, then it's a waste of time. Right? We we should be able to find the purpose in what we do in every minute we spend with kiddos. So it's a draft for a couple reasons. One, of course, the building leadership team is gonna work with it in September and really look at our data, which, again, you know, from the state, from our pre data, from the opening of the school year, and we may need to tweak. You'll also see, as Mike talked about, there's not growth data point in there yet because the state won't release it to us either until they feel like it. So we need the that information as well. So this is, again, a draft, but certainly always good for lots of eyes. And you'll you'll just see it organized by strategies that we're working on implementing and professional development ties to those strategies.
And, again, in those three buckets, the academics, the emotional intelligence, and and then people might wonder, like, what is where belonging matters? What comes under that? And that to me is that differentiation. What are we doing? If you belong into a community, then your needs are being met. Right? You belong there. So how do we differentiate for our students who need more support? How are we enriching students who need more support in that area? And then, of course, as well as our special education with our students. So, certainly, take a look at that as we go. And those fronts, just reminding you in that front page, the skills and dispositions, those are those five skills and dispositions from random that I took down to us because I figured, why would we reinvent more adjectives for kids when they're gonna have the same ones? We know it would just be synonyms. Right? These are good these are good tools for kids. So I feel like that was a lot, but I think I got everything. Did I say we're sitting right at 254? Yes. Yep. And I will add, actually, under professional development, listening to you guys today, our work with RAM so that that can be reflected in our plan and how our fifth and sixth grade teachers work with the RAM staff as well and those kind of visits because that's a great
piece there. What does DIBL stand for?
Oh, comma. Sorry. Blessed. True lord. I'd have to Google it. Okay. So it's a reading it's a it's a reading assessment Okay. That's nationally normed. Okay. It's a short interview. So you come sit with me, and I'm gonna do one minute timed assessments. So it's looking at fluency, phonics, phonemic awareness, and it's different at each grade level. Okay. So it might be, say, cat. Okay? Now say cat without the. Right? Or it might be how many words can you read in a minute? Okay. It's so it's different one minute timed assessments, and that's progress monitored. But because it is nationally norm referenced, it's also a very reliable indicator for dyslexia. So as part of the legislation and all this reading curriculum, it's really a lot of that came from the need to identify dyslexia, and so that's a a great tool. Okay. We were always using it with our students who were receiving reading intervention, but we were not using it as a tier one with all students that's now required. Okay. It's what we are doing. When you were talking about
what was the new program? UFly? UFly. Yeah. Is that is that supposed to help dyslexics more than Yeah. The fun okay. Stuff that I have. I mean, of course, if you work for foundations, you'd say foundations will do it better. You work for you, the thing that dyslexic, I would say foundations.
Yeah. So right. So the thing that's a little different, and we always this is important when you're looking at education is foundations is a company. Right? Wilson is a company that profits like all. UFly, similar to Bookworms, came out of a university, out of research, and is more of an open source. Yes. Now they sell the manuals, but they that manual cost me $80. That's not for profit. Right? It costs them that to whatever to print, where all the resources to teacher teach it are open to teachers online. Oh, wow. It's a Beautiful. That's a different we you know, we call that typically grassroots curriculum. It is just a different I don't know. You know what I'm saying. Yes. It's like, that's about what's good for kids. You can trust that differently. Right. Right. And you still that has to be vetted. Like I said, it goes through, you know, all the processes, and Connecticut has said yes. But we're excited, I think, to see what drew us to bookworms, and so it might UFLD might be a good fit for us.
Yeah. Dynamic indicators and basic early literacy skills. Yeah. I have that. Michelle, can you just share with them the changes to the DIBELS assessment and the state
reporting? Yeah. So we to give the DIBELS, you could give the DIBELS. You can download it for free. Anyone at home. Right? It's online. It's a paper. I can sit with you, and I can just score it. We use what's called MCLASS, which is a website that when we when I give the DIBELS to you, I'm inputting the data right into this website. I can do it in paper, or I can actually just be right on my computer, read this word, write, and we're putting it right in. The state this year has decided m class, which is a company, Amplify, that we buy, is now going to take the data straight from MCLASS for us, how nice of them, right to the state. So they're gonna collect our DIBELS data directly from MCLASS. So the the not that we weren't before, but it will certainly be important that we are making sure our data is valid and reliable and consistent. And it's done three times a year. That's the mandate. However, teachers can, what we call, progress monitor students every one to two weeks and put that even directly into there. So, of course, the benefit of having it online, they make beautiful graphs, charts, you know, all that stuff that you'd have to do manually. But the state will now collect that to make sure, of course, that we're doing it for one and to keep track of how
how early childhood is going. Because remember right now, they only have SBAC third through sixth that's reported. They they can't really tell you how second graders are doing across the state. So my guess is that's what they're looking to do to be able to start to gather some data around that. Right. Got it. Okay. There are number there are, like, five assessment options that you had to pick from, DIBELS being one of them. Okay. There's another one that's very similar. Okay. Thank you. Yeah.
I have a quick question on my schedule, enrollments. So I know that Chris exceeded pre K. I think we were trying to hang around 15 per class. Like, something changed in strategy. Or Something changed in enrollment. Strategy.
We took the original standard number of repeat students from out of town based on what we knew with home sales here, and we were sitting exactly where we were. As a matter of fact, had any Andover preschoolers moved, we would have been able to go to our wait list when, in fact, when we were sitting at the numbers going, okay. What's our next step gonna be? Like, three new preschoolers moved in from the town of Andover. And so, obviously, they're you're not gonna then uninvite somebody else. So we are running one to two more than we originally wanted, but still under the maximum numbers because we know that there are a couple of students that will enter, through birth to three when they turn three. So we have to know Lots for that. So if you look the first week of school when in September Yes. Taylor does. Yes. Sorry. Does the enrollment numbers when, you know, the report that Rosemary gives us for our meeting It will say 63. You are not going to see
68 kids on there. My apologies. No. No. I I should've he brought it up. Yeah. Because there will be a couple that will be starting on their third birthday. So you're gonna see 64. Right. Okay. So that doesn't mean we have openings. It means they're accounted for with one and one children
that are coming. And so you capped at that. You said you're not bumped up again. Capped by square footage for NIAC.
So a lot of times you'll hear programs say 18, and that's just because that's the square footage of their rooms. Two of our rooms are 18. Those two rooms on the other side are very large if you've ever been in them and can go to 21, 22. We wouldn't do an additional adult because it's a one to 10 ratio, but it we're not at least held by that. There's not an obstacle should So we need more staff. Yes. You'd have to. So we wanna make sure, typically, 18 would be your most places cap if you have, you know, a decent number. But some centers will do 20 because that's a one to 10. You know, that's what they'll use as their cap. So it depends where you are and what town you're There's still houses for sale in town, though. Someone just told me one just popped. Is that this one up here? Oh, yes. Yes. Yeah. That is there. Yeah. I sent Amanda, looked really good.
Okay. Question? Any other questions? I felt like it was a lot, but it's August. So, again, I will in depending on timing of data and everything, September, October, whenever Val thinks it fits best and we have everything, happy to present a deeper look at end of year data, and then it kind of works out. We'll have beginning of the year data as well so we can kind of Okay. You know, kinda see where we're at, and I can link that to what we're doing. But I don't think, you know, that 65% in DIBELS is, I think, gonna be reflective of our ELA performance across the board. And like I said, I do think in math, that's where we'll see. And then student will be Karen and stop survey Yep. We're doing do all that. As well. Yeah. It's up to you and Val if you want me to split that, if that's how long you want me to go, but we can look at See what's on. Okay. Yeah. But I'm happy to do those those three I can do. Obviously, they're done. Whenever. So whenever makes the most sense. Okay. Yeah.
Thanks, Hayden.
Okay. I'm about halfway through your packet. You'll see the first report for the new fiscal year for the first month. And, I mean, we can if you wanna look at it, if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them for you. I also handed out a couple of additional reports. One to just wrap up the old school year with with the actual numbers. Okay? And then the other is just the first month, which reflects exactly what's on your expenditure reports in your packet. There is no preschool report at this time, and I did not receive bank statements from the town for our funds for this meeting, but I'll have them for the next meeting.
And then the the fund balance sheet, does that start that'll start over for anyone? This one?
This one? This is the this is last year's. Yeah.
This is this year's. It's just one month so far. This little one. This little one. Okay. It's only one line. Because they're already online so far. Yeah. Only one line. Was this was this in the packet, and I just missed it? No. No. She didn't. No. I just handed it out. Yeah. No. Sorry for the confusion.
Are there any questions on the financials? It's pretty straightforward for the first month. It really needs to Looks good. Okay. Thanks. I I don't have any questions. Thanks, Celeste. Anytime. Yeah. Anytime. Anyone else have financial questions? No?
Oh, I just because you handed this to us, this will be a part of the packet that'll
With the minutes. That's what I'm saying. Yes. Okay. Yep. Yep. She sends it to the board of finance. I understand. I'm making sure it'll be a part of the packets. Yep. Thank you. Yeah. The board of finance will get a copy of Okay. The July 1. So Thank you. Okay. We've liaison reports or updates. You don't have anything there?
Yeah. If you didn't meet, we might be next week. DTA, we're just we're we're we're getting rolling. Yep. Okay. So we'll go through items for discussions and engine,
solar project update. Have anything there? We're just waiting to get on the schedule still. You know, they're they're doing the best they can. They had, you know, had to put us off for a little while, and now we do stay in constant contact. And as soon as they have that torus, then we Okay. That's And then bathroom project update.
That hazmat, remember, I just mentioned earlier. So we'll be doing that. And we had met our little subcommittee spoken with, Josh and the team at Fuss and O'Neil, and they, have had sent out, for RFP forbid, and they'll let us know, moving forward, where we are with that in the dumping process. At the request of Jeffrey, we did make sure that the information for anybody else who did wanna apply even though it was going through Fuss and O'Neil, We're able to see that on the town websites, and we have forwarded it to Eric and to January
so they could post that on there. So To bed if they wanted to. If they wanted to, then we'll go through there. Yes. And then and then there was requests just in terms of, like, procedural that, like, the actual bids go to Yeah. To the town clerk so that they're all open. Like, even though Fossil O'Neill is doing it for us so that there's no, like, impropriety or anyone thinking that Well, so afterwards,
they will know. But ahead of time, since they're not doing the bidding, it would be the independent person who Fossil O'Neill, because there isn't anybody on the town side that is doing PRFA. Same that that's what you said in that
Right. So that so that if outside people are bidding, that they're given equal weight to the ones that that are bidding through Fasano. You know? Did I misunderstand that? But all of that goes to that independent person with Fasano. Yeah. That's doing it, not the counselor. Okay. Who's the independent person?
He sent he sent the name of the person. He sent it to you. He had sent it at that time. I don't remember his name. Okay. And so and then they will provide because they knew that, you know, we always have even if only, let's say, two people bid, we have the minimum to three. They have to let us know if they didn't get a minimum of three. Remember? Yep. And then they will provide for us the bitter spinach.
Yeah. And then just so that everyone is aware, like, all of that will be obviously open book, like, free access so that people can see some of the surgical When are the bids when's the due date for the bids?
I we left the process with them. Oh, okay. Curious. I think it was last week. Oh, okay. You know, it was I think it was while I was away. So I could look on their website. Just curious. Yeah. I could look for it. So
But the the hope for demolition after the hazmat thing would be demolition would be? They were hoping for demolition
prior to the first day of school. Yeah. Oh, wow. So that the messy stuff can be taken out and as long as nothing happens with the hazmat. And then from there, they'll work a schedule probably with Scott and Taylor in terms of when they can come in. They wouldn't be doing something, you know, during the school hours, but they might do it after school hours. So Taylor and I have already discussed if there was a need for them to just quarantine off a little section of the hallway so that they're not taking it out, putting it back in, taking it out, putting it back in during the course of the week. If we can work around that, there's exits to go around, so that they would have to spend their time setting up and unsetting up things. But Right. But we're confident, that we're gonna work with them for the schedule.
So try and move forward. Right? We're gonna use the bathroom. We are trying to move forward. Yeah. Anyone have other questions about that?
No? Like to buy some fancy new bathroom passes? Is that a thing? Feels right. Don't know. Canva and a laminator. No.
Is there anything Canva can't do? I love Canva. Right? Tell Canva plus chat. Can you not do?
That's why. And then we have the two thousands policies to go through.
So I I wasn't here in person. You already went through them. Right? Everything that Shannon wrote down on all of the notes for the for the changes and things were in Right. The thing that Diane sent you Yep. In your packet. Yes. Yes. So that you can see You just have to vote on it. So that you can see Right. How Right. What it looks like. Yep. Right. Okay. That's yep.
It's what we've talked about last meeting. We're gonna vote on it, and then it'll Shannon had brought in hers. Yep. Gave them to Diane,
and then she was able to get them in what you are looking at. Right? Yes. In addition,
we gave the director of special education policy to Holly Minorano to look over, and she made a couple of very minor changes as well that Caitlin and I looked over and we recommend to the board to adopt. That's policy 2135. What were the other kids that we told in advance, Caitlin? Was the one we had three that we were
Yeah. There was one that we needed a Reference. A reference. Which I thought you They thought you had it. They didn't have that. 12151. So that was one. And then one was about
about reviews. I think it was a super tender review. So I looked into what other districts had. I dug into about 10 of them. And our policy is very sound and detailed, so I wouldn't say anything that we wanna do in terms of the review. It should be in the policy. That would just be separate. So I think we're I'm good with the policy as is and what we have.
On on that note, the only other thing I I did email it out to you guys, but it's like, Kaye's recommended policy, like sorry. Not policy. Evaluation process on, like, a yearly basis. So Yes. Everyone should have this Yes. All copies. Yep. But our policy is in line with Yep. The way that's written. Yep. Yep. And
then I think the only other thing that was brought to attention is in some places, we took away the words of education, so it just says the board Yeah. Which if this were all one document would be completely appropriate. But if you guys all remember how people can access policy through our website, they can pull up just an individual one. So when it just says the board, it doesn't specify that it's the board of education Right. Which I think could be So we're gonna revert it back to confusing. When you're looking at each thing and just Yep. Separately one. Yep. So
do you wanna let me So we're putting back in of education where we took it out just for that reason. Yes. Okay. Yep. Yep. So I will make a motion to adapt the series 2,000 policies as provided to the board and as reviewed last month. So this would be our second review enabling us to enact these. There are a few more grammatical changes, but everything looks great policy wise. So
I think you can just go with that, and I'll just follow-up with Diane Yeah. Like I did last month. And then the only two exceptions are the few changes that Holly made. Yes. Mhmm. And then adding back in Oh, that you Oh, good. Yep.
Sorry. I I second or Is that Great. Motion? I don't know if we wanted if there's any discussion. Whatever. I'll second the motion. Does
anyone have further discussion? No. I don't have any. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Excellent.
Before we wanna talk about what we're gonna do in September? Yeah. Okay.
Before before we move on to, like, updating our goals for this year, which policy section are we going to attack next?
Valdez have suggestions. So the next one isn't quite as easy as this one that we've done over there, but it's pertinent because you're gonna be moving into, like, election and potential changes to boards. You know? And so the nine thousands because the 9,000 is the specified chairperson role vice chair. So it's a little bit more time consuming for that one, but it's probably a good time for you to do it Right. Since that's, you know, the again, that one will probably be done in two chunks. But I know you guys probably didn't bring your book with you because we weren't gonna talk about that right now. But I always have it. That's okay. I'll go to the this Have it. Series that The one that's gonna bake.
It is. Do we print a barrel? Or or We will. I will. She'll be one of you. Yeah. You'll okay. Don't worry about that. But this remember this thing that we got, this beautiful thing that we got with our one in? If we look at 9 thousands, the needs modification, there were six. There were no lacking mandated ones, so we were good. And there were three recommended that you might wanna look and add. So there would be about nine that might require changes, but the last time that these were adopted and looked at was 2008. So I feel like that would be, like, a lot of progress to to do that. Years. And then don't skip. Who was on the board in 2008?
Okay. So day. So they never made it because they made an order. So they never made it to the eight the September. But there were quite a few comments on these, which was good because that'll be starting points. So will you give these to us in September? Yeah. Or and then so we so how does this you'll give them to send them to you before the meeting. Okay. So we have to print them out, and then we talk about them in September? I'll print them out for you. If someone says no, I I'm I'm not gonna print them out. I don't like to read them on my computer. You know? We'll definitely touch base with you that week ahead of time and say, would you like a printed copy? And we'll we'll give you a printed copy later. Can you or can we put them up earlier? It's just a lot to go through Yes. Before we But we're but we're gonna talk about them in September. That's my question. So we need to read them before at the September meeting. Correct. Well, you need to read them before. Yeah. Okay. Alright. And you're gonna email them to or however. Okay. I'll give you plenty of time.
Thank you. Okay. Yeah. If I could get a copy if I could get a copy, and you could just send them home with soap. You know?
Absolutely. Okay. Thank when you have copies available, could you just email? Absolutely. Then people who wanna stop by can, or if you wanna wait till your kids start school, then Yep. It's only in about three days. Just like yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. I'll be So it's a section.
You know, we may wind up saying we'll do half at one meeting and half at the other, but you're not in bad shape with them. It's just there's a lot to them. Yep. Okay. K. And I like I like where they have their comments Like, those are Absolutely. And a lot of their comments on this one, for those of you who are not looking at it, just say consider
doing this. And they also just most of them are, like, be more specific. Yep. So It's it's it's time. It's been on my family years. Yeah. Yeah. It'd be so nice to be able to check that. Okay. No. Let me put it in. You have to delete that. Okay.
And then the last thing that we have Because So we're not able to at all. We're not making that attention to those I mean, last year, there's no way. I just did 29. It's fine. So the last thing that we have is just to go through our updated board of ed goals for this upcoming year Okay. Which will start this month because school starts. Yeah. So I'm gonna read through what we came up with during our Treat. Retreat meeting. And then we'll re I'll read one, and then everyone just make sure that it's worded the way that we want it to. Okay? Yep. So elevate academic and social emotional growth for all students. Everyone good with that? Okay. I like that. The second part of this, and I think after we vote on making these our goals, that's great. I would like to come up with measurable means for how we identify that we're achieving those, and maybe we don't write those on this. But Yep. Okay. Number two, develop additional communication strategies to reach community members with clarity. I like it. This one? Eric? I'm good. Yep. I'm starting. Number three, update sixth policy manual series. Yes. That's Excellent. K.
And number four,
create a process to update a one, five, and ten year capital plan on a yearly basis. Okay. So I will I think we probably should vote on whether or not we're okay with these. Yes.
Yes. I'll make a motion to adopt the goals as stated by Caitlin for our 2025, 2026 as our twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six BOE goals. Seconded. Okay. So all in favor? Aye. So
I will email those out to everyone, and then I think if we could come up with measurable ways measure them. How how we measure these. That would be appropriate for us to Okay. Try to maybe put on her. Great. So we'll move on to comments from the public on agenda items. It looks like we've got three people there. And then we have Anne Kerme here as well in person. Anne, do you have any comments? No. No? You're good? Hi. Liz? Hi. Thank
you all. I was just had a question as to when the your updated approved budget will be posted to the website. I've been, you know, curious about that and taking a look, and I don't see it.
Mhmm. Posted. Liz, I'm not aware that it wasn't already on there, so I'll look tomorrow morning. It might not have been placed in the correct spot. It could have been placed as, like, minutes to the meetings. So thank you. I'll talk to our tech person tomorrow. Okay. Thank you. Kim?
Hi. My question is for Taylor. Taylor, you mentioned that you have a new child in your pre K program. Is this an out of town child or an in town child?
Right now, we're just getting registrations from in town from Andover. So any out of chatter that would express interest now would just be added to our wait list.
So in July, you had 66, you mentioned, and in August, you're up to sixty seven? Sixty eight, actually. Yeah. 68. Of you. And this this new child is an in town Andover child. Two additional. Yes. Andover residents. Thank you, Keller. Sure. Now, Mercy?
Hi. Just trying to find the mute button. No. Thank you. All set.
Okay. Thank you. So we'll probably move on to executive session to discuss the superintendent's yearly review.
I make a motion that we go into executive session for the superintendent's review inviting the superintendent to participate. For yeah. For a part of it. I'll second.
Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. So she's good. I don't know how you see the waiting room.
So we're recording again according to what's You go to participants. You can see if there's there.
Yeah. No. Hannah's on the way there. Okay. So you can let her back in. And then Would you already You already did.
Right. So Yeah. You wanna make the to make a motion and let her make that decision.
Right. What you did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What you did. 9938. Yep. K. Okay. Okay.
So we're back from executive session. Does anyone have any other action items for tonight? I do not. I don't know. Okay.
Our next regular board meeting is gonna be September 10. K.
What items do we need on the agenda for our next meeting? There's series 9,000. It's just Nine thousand. Before the September meeting. We just have to have a reminder that Yep. Yep. Come up with measurable means to assess how we're meeting our board goals. Yes. Let me just go back again. Yep. I like that. Yeah. The.
Yep. And then in terms of what we want Taylor to report, do we want her to do, like, survey results from staff student or staff parents? Yeah. As well as scores? Yeah.
Do we wanna separate that? We could plan on sorry. Survey for sure September. Just I still haven't heard we haven't heard from the state on when there would be a filling survey then. Like, it's just survey because that's we know. I have it. Yeah. Let's do that. Just in case we have to get to October. And then we have to get to October for this forest. Okay. Last year, I had them by now, so it just feels weird. Yeah. No. It was October because that was my first meeting. Thought you did that presentation. Okay. So maybe we're used to And we'll do survey results. That's totally fine. Yeah. Survey You can do that.
Anyone anything else?
That's that's what I had written down was the the series, the measures. That's what we can decide. Yep. And then whatever Taylor was gonna talk about. That's all I had. Okay. Yep. K. She's the best. I'll make a motion to adjourn. Exactly. All in favor.