There were several community comments to start off the school board meeting on Thursday. Laura, a teacher, spoke in favor of the BLM flag staying up at the High School. Ember, a community member, spoke in favor of the BLM flag. Heather, a community member, spoke about the conflict of interest policy of the school and claimed board members O’Brien and Duquette are in violation of it by being involved in a local parent group. Alison, a teacher, spoke in favor of the BLM flag. Kerry, a teacher, spoke in favor of the BLM flag. Laura interrupted board proceedings at the end of community commentsto point out another audience member who was recording the meeting. Chairman Long assured Laura that because the meeting is public, it was being recorded and broadcast on live TV, that it was fine for the audience member to record as well.
The superintendent gave her report. She described the comprehensive needs assessment that is currently being performed. This is a way for the district to put together the Continuous Improvement Plan that is required by the state and sets goals for student needs. The Vermont Annual Snapshot has been performed as a state requirement to adhere to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. It looks at five domains to measure each school’s performance of the Education Quality Standards. The state then assigns one of three levels of support to each school. MTSD is identified as “Equity 1.”The district must include a continuous improvement plan to address these equity deficiencies. Governor Scott appointed anew secretary of education who needs to still be approved by the Senate.
None of the school board committees have met since the last board meeting.
The high school principals gave their report. Under academic proficiency, the Milton Innovation Center is back open for classes. The Vision of a Graduate was included in the board packet. Midterm exams were held for the first time since 2020. 98% of 9thgradersmetAlgebraIgoals. Under Social Emotional Learning, the “Up for Learning” group grows student leaders. Several students took CPR and mental health first aid courses. Under family and student engagement, there was a drive to register students to vote. Spirit night was a big success as were Arts night and the One Acts. The Opportunities Fair will take place in April. There is a Naturalization ceremony on April 4that 1PM and a school safety meeting April 4that 6:30.Both of these events appear open to the public.
There was a presentation on progress monitoring. The assessment is currently taking place. The results from the previous STAR literacy assessment showed mild growth across the board. Grades 9 and10 showed the best growth. Fauntus and Pinnell literacy testing also showed improvement in grades 1and 2. The STAR math assessment showed some growth in grades 1-4, but a large drop in grade 5. Grade8 was the only middle school grade to show growth. Grades 9 and 10 showed better growth. Behavior data was also presented. Major referrals increased in both MES and MMS. They decreased in MHS. The explanation for the increases was the new behavior policy and reporting.
The budget was presented again with much of the same information as before with some new slides to better illustrate the affect the new proposed budget will have on the tax rate. The budget information meeting will be on April 11th.You can review further here:https://www.mtsd-vt.org/apps/pages/fy25
Under discussion items the rules of engagement were reviewed and it was decided to add that emailed comments will not be read at meetings. The board retreat dates were set for the year. The transportation bids were discussed again and three policies were presented for first reads. B20 Personnel recruitment, selection and appointment was sent back to committee. F24 prevention of conflict of interest in procurement and F26 security cameras were moved forward.
There were no community comments at the end of the meeting.
Under action items, the transportation bid from STA was accepted.
After adjournment of the regular meeting, an executive session occurred
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