Principal Stephen Greene introduced the Admin Team to the board. 

Principal Greene provided his report e.g. Entry Plan and Academic Vision to the board. A meeting was held at the beginning of the year with the Admin Team to discuss key entry plan elements which include teacher leadership, team building, and impacts on school and staff. The goal is to foster a supportive school environment characterized by consistency, collaboration, optimism and open communication, creating a positive ripple effect throughout our school culture. The focus of the admin team will also include the school's impact on students and the impact on parents and the broader community. 3 key areas of focus for the admin team will include learning expectations and student engagement, classroom culture and classroom routines. An overview of process will also include daily observations, feedback, data review and schedules for the teachers and the admin teach will be redesigning evaluation and accountability processes.

Principal Greene reported to the board that the admin team has already completed 71 observations which were completed by the instructional leadership team and also concentrated on rebuilding evaluation and accountability with 100% of the staff introduced to the evaluation system with TA and Subs supported as well.

Principal Greene reported that the first community meeting will be on 9/27/2024, an open house will be held on 9/18/24 for the middle school and 9/19/24 for the high school. Spirit week will be returning with the student government to plan the first positive incentive for the school. Coaching cycles will begin in October where trends will be addressed with PD and coaches.

The director of curriculum and instruction provided an overview about what the admin team and coaches are working on which included providing resources for teachers (new novels, deep discourse and building thinking classrooms), restructuring intervention and academic enrichment blocks (restructuring intervention W.I.N and Acedemic Enrichment Blocks), reviewing lesson plans (focusing on aligning learning targets, standards and assessment of meeting the target daily and writing with evidence weekly), observing and supporting teachers around instruction and classroom management and completing first round of NWEA Testing. The director reports that the next goals include coaching cycles for teachers which will begin in October, lesson planning will shift focus to Habits of Scholarship and Habits of Character as well as Do Now, awards/Incentives for Growth on NWEA and MCAS testing will being in November.

The Vice Principal reported (by way of Mr. Greene) to the board that the current objective is to meet with 100% of families of students in grade 9 to support transition to High School by end of Q1, 100% of families of new students in grades 10-12 to establish home school connections, and all students of concern in grades 10-12 to create student support plans towards graduation. 11 meetings have been held to date and 12 tentative meetings are planned for the week of 9/16/24. Next steps include daily check-ins with staff, weekly process monitoring by the team, monthly check-ins between the team and admin, SLC's have been moved from January to November to provide more frequent checkpoints. Data is being used to determine which students need to attend Saturday School of Attendance Recovery and Targeted Academic Instruction.

The Assistant Principal reported to the board three goals (1) scholars will interact respectfully and positively with their teachers and peers (2) scholars will be punctual to their classes and ready to learn (3) scholars will earn incentives to enjoy time outside to socialize with their peers. The Asst. Principal reports progress with admin presence during transitions and aiding scholars in getting to class. The school is now starting to stagger lunch transitions and are facilitating a competition to determine which grade will earn additional outside time and have the teacher line their students up inside of their classes. The school is ordering sports equipment for all scholars to utilize outside for outside resources. To earn grade level recess, middle school students will need to have met clear criteria as discussed in grade level community meetings.

Direct of Student Services reports to the board about PBIS (Baystate bucks) were used as a token economy system. Last year the school distributed over 24,000 Baystate bucks so they are looking to have a greater range of incentives. Last year the director reports that there was a large discrepancy in the equity of distribution of Baystate bucks. THE PBIS team was able to develop a calendar of events for student incentives. They have also created an attendance team consisting of the social workers, Mr. Greene, Mr. Sneed and Mr. Brunette to ensure accurate attendance daily. They are also retraining teachers in taking accurate attendance through PowerSchool and addressing chronic absenteeism. The attendance rate as of 8/26/24 was at 87.3% and it was at 97% today. Goals for the future include a grade level crew trophy challenge, perfect attendance, PBIS Calendar of Events, finalizing rubric for incentives and following the attendance protocol with daily fidelity. 

The Director of Special Education reports the DESE rolled out the IEP Improvement Project with the expectation of full implementation across the Commonwealth this fall. The following areas have been targeted for improvement are educational assessments, transition plans, compliance with IEP date and timelines and least restrictive environment and placement. The director reports that Frontline 2.0 is up and running and they have begun using the New IEP forms. They have held trainings on Educational Assessments and Transition Plans during Summer PD. She further reports that they are having daily morning team meetings to assess needs and build sense of community in the department and that morale is strong. Next steps include a specific training on the new IEP on 10/1/2024 and they are scheduled to have an onsite records review by DESE on 11/20/2024 and she hopes to strategically use our current positions to support students in their lease restrictive environment. 

The Dean of Student reports that Yondr pouches have been implemented and that the uniform dress code policy is being successfully enforced. Yondr pouches are a magnetic pouch for all student cell phones. This year our school will be cell phone free, and the goal of the uniform policy is to create an orderly environment, install discipline and eliminate competition and distractions caused by varied dress style.  THE dean will continue to educate the scholars and parents about the unform dress code policy and also reports that at almost three weeks in the Yondr policy is a success. Scholars are responsible and bringing their pouches back and forth to campus every day and we have had very few policy infractions that have ended in consequences and teachers are reported that the policy has reduced time out on learning because they are not having cell phones issues in the classroom.

The Director of the Multilingual department reported to the board about parent engagement and teacher collaboration. She is in the process of establishing a collaborative parent advisory council (the first meeting is scheduled for 10/8/2024). She further reports that collaboration is working well through professional development, sharing of lesson plans and reviewing ELL benchmarks and IEPs. A sign up for the parent advisory council will be available at the open house. They are also working on a bilingual library to provide parents with accessible reading materials for their children. The director will also continue to support all teachers with their collaboration efforts and create spaces for them to work together to provide services needed for all students.

The governance committee met yesterday to discuss appointing new offices for the 2nd Vice President, Treasurer and secretary.