welcome to belmont public schools now my neighbors john failed in the superintendent of the bubble of public schools and i'm here with assistant superintendent janice darrius today would like to give you an update of all the things that are happening in the belmont public schools as well a focus on our social emotional learning update for the two thousand and fifteen sixteen school year very very excited to talk about today that our budget season has taken its course we presented the budget for next school year the two thousand and sixteen seventeen school year to our school committee at our last meeting we are now in the moment of speaking with our finance committee to review every line of our budget as we prepare to meet with our work committee in town hall to have the budget presented at town meeting in may the meeting this year with the town meeting for budget will be one that we will ask for an increase followed by the guidelines set forth by the financial task force i think the public should be glad to know that we sit at finance every other week with our finance committee as well as members of the work committee at times to review every single line of our budget to make sure that we're in line with their expectations as we move this forward to a transparent process for town meeting late in may and in june we also had a great town meeting  last we talked about the new high school i was able to with the chairperson of the school committee to speak to town meeting about our space challenges and how we're dressing them moving forward as well as talking about the new high school project that will about to take under with the massachusetts school building authority at town meeting the town meeting vote voted to approve the moderator to appoint a school building committee here in belmont for that high school project that will start as soon as we  that money some funds for that in may so very excited about the high school project and we're very excited about some of the options we have to increase in space from the elementary middle schools well all the which have been presented at school in the over the past few months we want to talk about the should teach a plan for the last two years we've been working on a strategic plan built on some of the thoughts and concerns that the school community had for the public schools moving forward those topics included things like an rom budget as well as social emotional learning in other aspects of the district that we have explored over the time that i've been here we've worked very hard to take that information that the community has discussed and research and build it into some components of and then prioritize those items to really focus our efforts in our energies on what was important to the school community here and don't want we're happy to say that our two thousand and fifteen sixteen should teach a plan had social motional learning as its number one priority with the second priority being researching this year the local achievement gaps that we see in our schools every day although we have great success for the majority of our students we want to look at who's who was not performing well why and what could we do to support that learning last year we're very happy to say that we researched social emotional learning as a task force in assistant superintendent janet starr is here with us today did some great research with a group of teachers m superintendent time kingston who had asked us to do modeling reports and look at different asset facets of of the school community and what was going on for students and one area that surfaced as an area of concern was student  life the kind of emotional challenges that students were facing and how they manifested themselves in the classroom and frankly got in the way of students being able to learn so that of course is a really serious concern for us to me want to make sure the students have an optimal opportunity to be successful in school so as we started doing research and talking with some of our educators in the schools like our school counselors like our school psychologist and really thinking about how can we do a better job at supporting this aspect of students development it was became clear that this was an area that we really needed to focus on so last year as you said we had a task force that spent a lot of time investigating this and thinking about how can we make sure that we implement this in a comprehensive way in our school district and one that is not simply something that you buy and deliver like a curriculum it is it pervades all aspects of what we do every day with children because children are always whole beings that are with social beings they're emotional beings and they're thinking beings and all of those pieces interact and we have opportunities to to really think about that and to support that development in a healthy way that that  ts all children so it's been great with that work done by the task force in that research for me personally as we begin to move forward into the school year with we hired a consultant to the facilitator to work with us  starting in june this consultant worked with the whole leadership council in our retreat and to me it was amazing that the brain research that was part of this work that she brought to us to for the adults to  understand the way in which social emotional learning supports the academic learning even though we're looking at the whole child and making sure that they feel safe and that they understand good routines and they know how to work to the best their ability is a key component to success not just in school but in life and this is learning that students do at home as well as at school but really to do to articulate a marcel's as educators what does this mean and what how does this impact our work and then how can we best support that has been an important part of our work this year and just to back up a little bit when we were very fortunate as you said to hire a consultant rachel palmer who has been working with us and continues to work with us and we're also very grateful to the foundation for bauman education who helped support this with funds to pay for the consultant and other materials and presentations along the way but working with rachel has helped us have a clear path forward and and she shares our desire to make this comprehensive throughout the school district and to talk about the the the different  competencies that the collaborative for academic social emotional learning define social emotional learning is as having self awareness self management social awareness relationship skills and responsible decision making of course all of those pieces overlap they don't they're not discrete things that we do day in and day out but there are ways to to highlight for students and to have opportunities in classes at school why practices and through direct instruction to make sure that we are both teaching these skills  and also modeling them in giving lots of opportunity for practice so it's the the layered approach that that has been from the expertise of our consultant from rachel who who believes like like we do that it's not a curriculum that you buy and you teach it for half an hour a week and you're done that is one component of it but most importantly it's having all of the adults that work in all of our schools understand how everything that they do is a chance to model and to give students practice in these skills and so those layers r r starting most importantly in the classroom so the classroom practices how does the teacher  speak with students how does the teacher greet the students when they arrive what kind of routines are in place in the classroom that that create a safe and healthy environment for students to feel confident comfortable and to learn these skills what are the school wh practices that are in place maybe things you know how do how do children play outside at recess what are some of the practices in place in the cafeteria that support this kind of emotional learning and give children opportunities to practice what they're being taught in the classroom and i think it's really important for people to know that while the direct instruction is as a big focus for the elementary and some of the schools use a curriculum called second step some of the music curriculum called open circle and some have also created some of their own curriculum to to enhance what these curricula offer that this is also something that direct instruction carries through to middle and high school and that students aren't done learning these things and in fact adults are never done learning these things so when students are in middle school that direct instruction might take place in their health class or in their physical education class and similarly at the high school through our wellness classes positive decision making in the physical education classes that students take that's where that direct instruction takes place when you talk about the content in our academic courses there are many opportunities to infuse as rachel has taught us these skills and attitudes and knowledge into the curriculum there is no piece of literature where there isn't some where the characters don't experience emotions where you could talk about what what a character is feeling or and how they might have acted differently on that emotion respect taking you so you can look across all kinds of events in history and think about well what was the the perspective taking happening or not happening that might have changed the course of events there are other other the other two layers one is characterize as of vents think of it as an assembly that might happen at a high school and the assembly puts on an issue on the table like maybe making responsible choices as as you are a teenager but  most important with that within that event is not the event itself it's the conversation that might happen before and after and helping to bring that that issue to light and to surface that and then finally it's family gauged men because we but we do partner with their famil in supporting this learning in this development in a in our children and we have been very fortunate again funded through the foundation to offer three parent presentations that we had one in january in two in february we had great up to the patient and wonderful feedback from the parents who attended and where we not only talked a little bit about what we're doing in the schools but also provided some suggestions of things that parents can do at home so that we are they are understanding some of the language and things that we're doing and able to reinforce that at home so all of those comprise the layers if you will of implementation that we are working on this year it's interesting that we say a lot a lot in you have already mentioned it was two occasions that this is your program that you buy that the goal of the bubble in public schools is to slowly move in these experiences for teachers and adults to get to get educated in well run it in these strategies in this research in why this is important and then bring it to the students tell us about the decision to have a building  based that was important for us to make sure that we talked about what we already did right around this time a world that was aboard that is so important so we sent an e mail out to all staff last spring and invited anyone who was interested to join  steering committees each school had a school based hearing committee led by the principal and continues to have and those steering committees started their work in the summer attending a two day institute led by rachel palmer to build their learning and knowledge on this issue and then from that they use that as the jumping off point to create professional development for their colleagues and really and we emphasized with the steering committee members and also has been part of the professional development for teachers this year that that this is the time when we as the adults doing this work are building our knowledge base and also as you said taking an inventory of what of the bright spots what are the wonderful things that are already happening much of this much of  the practices that we've been talking about are things that teachers already do naturally but what's more powerful as we talk about them across schools and across the district is how can we articulate that more clearly among ourselves that it's more visible to children and to the community outside that that it is a coherent practice that is not just one teacher or a cluster of teachers but that all teachers understand and  and and then when when a student's experience going through the district from kindergarten through twelfth grade the next step beyond that is to think about well how do we make sure that as we move through the years and they are growing developmentally how are we continuing to build on those skills and knowledge so that the by the time they graduate from our school district they really are well prepared not only in terms of their academic content and knowledge and skills but a also in terms of of  functioning as really wonderful and hopefully happy young adults moving off into their next phase of their lives parents have asked me a couple of times at the p t o meetings that i've been i don't have know you've presented at certain schools as well in my elevator on their ceo's that working very hard with our elementary students to give them skills with probably a little more explicit direct instruction than to have our middle school students which middle school is a hard time already for our adolescents to practice those skills and have the modeled by staff then to have them even further that at the high school level when they're out in the community more the community service component of the high school there they're doing a lot of different clubs and activities and learning  that when they can experience each level of that support modeling direct instruction routines in word in that kind of a climate what are the damage that places them in when they go out into the real world because the content that there are that they have been getting around their academic rigor has always been there they were fortunate that our students were and have great outcomes but then to be able to give them that advantage to go out and also be able to navigate the world with this content and all of that they've learned to build one high in k to twelve of all public schools and i just think it's a gift for the for these students that that if we look back in five years we'll see that kind of work start to to come together  and i think will be really proud the future of these students graduating with that type of skill set in addition to the record then with the skill set and not only is a great for kids it's great for adults it makes for a school climate that is nurturing of all of the people who are there and i think it's very authentic to who teachers are that they they have always and cared deeply about the children that they work with and supporting each other particularly in some of our bigger schools what has been wonderful coming from this initiative is a strong effort to really make sure that all the faculty know each other and and and so we are modeling that relationship building and safe learning environment and support for our children the same time we're providing that for the adults in the building and that's wonderful so you would i would just at the high school a few days ago when they had they have to really really stay in good amount of that professional development time was social was still there in time for the adults and we were in different classes and we cross each other in the hallway but the energy in the building was so positive the teacher led team of folks presented in prepared to present to their peers in their colleagues  was in a relationship building class i was in a wellness class and i agree that that environment and that told in that climate was a very positive learning environment for all those adults that's one hundred five teachers in professionals that got a great experience in a professional development that was prepared and developed by a building based team of teachers supported by rachel poller there what a great experience i was the other day right yeah it was amazing they did a fabulous job and the energy was very positive and i know i learned things from the four sessions that i was had that pleasure to attend and i'm sure everyone else did as well and i think what what has struck me and i think others as they've learned more about this is it's really not something new that you're adding to what you're doing it's just thinking through a different looking at your work through a different lens and thinking about everything that you do as you interact with other adults and with your students how can you do that looking through a lens of supporting this development for example you could have students work in groups and just have the move the desk to gather in there working in a group or you could have some more explicit instruction what does it mean to have a good group discussion where everyone's voice is heard and where everyone's contributing and where you're listening in a way that's really productive to to the person being heard and then having your opportunity to so choose to be able to share your opinion so those are the kinds of skills that with just a little extra something or just a different way of presenting the the project or the work we can continue to build those skills with students and and they will be even more prepared as they as they move through our grades and as they graduate to be able to to be the kind of amazing citizens that that will be very proud of i got a quick word about our teachers they  have been phenomenal during this professional development they're building based teams led by teachers and supported by the administration in the building principals there's a time where they came in on their own time for this professional development in august  some of the members of each building team are also members of a district wide team that you lead that's on their own time i can't think the the teachers enough for you know taking on this work is always we're always trying to be sensitive to the fact that we don't want to be an add on our teachers work very hard because a lot of the updated things on their plate from the federal and state world in eugene are still a wonderful job of trying to make sure that that s put into a way of working in our school system where teachers we can is much as we can take the heat off of them to be creative and do their thing in the classroom with each other which is the most important piece in do so in a way that we still mixer so that feedback we're taking in were taken into consideration how we can shape the next step so tell me a little bit about what you think will in the year talking about maybe project a little bit about what this summer next year will for sure so one of the things that that district steering committee has been looking at and thinking about is well how do we articulate for ourselves what what might those skills be as they move through the grades we've been looking at the example of standards that were created by the state of illinois and considering whether that is a good starting place for us to to think in a very clear way well what should a student loan be able to do at the end of elementary school during middle school during high school  that's really to so that we can benchmark for ourselves and make sure that we are doing our part as the students move through the grades and that's been exciting and i think we'll have a recommendation for the leadership council as we move into the end of this year  we do have some time set aside with rachel palmer to work with teams both the leadership council as well as the teacher teams at the end of june and hopefully we won't have you know what days seems like the were we're doing ok in that department and that will have time during that last week of june for for teachers to be able to meet again with rachel and to take those next steps and whether that's continuing to look at the classroom practices and how do we create a resource for teachers that there's a clear understanding of what that might be at each grade level already subject it might also be looking at for a particular content area looking at that infusion into the content what would this mean for for a science class or for a math class or for a history class and they be that could be a focus for us so the district team started to think about that at our last meeting which was actually just two days ago and we will continue to talk about that as we meet in  april and then begin to operate offered the opportunities to our staff and as you said i can't say enough how grateful i am to the teachers who have really embraced this work and who bring such energy and enthusiasm t to this effort and i have had many educators share with me how how grateful they are to do it because it really does feel so authentic to to what they what they believe and in their work with children and and that in fact if you take the time to create that safe learning environment to have the optimal emotions for learning the academic learning actually goes even more smoothly  so that while it may feel like you're spending time on something in a different way other than academics when you start off the year maybe the first first few days it actually is an investment that that makes all everything else go more smoothly because that that optimal learning environment and the brain research supports is so well that that students actually can can learn better when they have are in a place where they children ourselves one is that teachers inherently have been doing this for a long time some teachers more than others and now that we're able to place research and vocabulary to it i think that that's really exciting for them because a lot of this is natural to who they are what do and the other big takeaway is that the brain research really shows that when when children do feel safe and they do feel they can take risks and they see here and in and in collaborate with with confidence that that does open up the learning for if we have really great brain research to back that of so the other part that the public should stand is that this is a movement that started to happen across the state that at the state wide convention for our superintendents and assistant superintendents groups  social motional learning is now starting it's now starting to have some traction throughout the state that you would rachel be presenting over the summer at the massachusetts association of school superintendents conference which i think is very exciting and it's really nice to feel that the pendulum of teaching and learning has swung back to children into climate in schools into what's really important about how students feel about themselves and how that can enhance the learning in classroom environment and also providing that for staff as well that hopefully will one take away from or two ticks away from that testing environment where everybody is just talking about what the test score was it was opening up the learning for all pieces of the day i feel music in art in wellness in world language is equally as important as science and math in language arts in this this movement that i believe is picking up across the state i think take that into consideration all those are big important pieces thank you very much for your time today and you're very welcome i'm very excited to say that genesis work will continue i can't thank the foundation for belmont that you are in education enough for their financial support they have provided the financial support for the entire initiative so this is totally been given to the the district through a grant from the foundation which we can't thank them enough shifting the culture of the belmont public schools towards this direction will take several years of professional development and work with students and families and teachers and we look forward to we have dedicated ourselves to that work over the next few years one of the nice things we can say as we begin to segue is that it feels great to work in a system that  with a full court mock trial process that's beginning with the novel of of mice and men so we're very excited the more trials taking place around in a great piece of literature the students have their own trial every week from nine students will take the roles of lawyers jurors reporters courtroom artist successor and everyone will see the trial community media will be filming the faculty in the students as they go through this process it we look forward to showing you clips of that in the future so thank you very much for watching the show today please enjoy the clip that follows it will see you next time don't want public schools now this project came from our reading of of mice and men terms of the not trial and how it kind of came about it was always after george shot lenny there was always that question of what was that you know was it a mercy kill is that even something that you can talk about in court and you know was it first degree murder what is it exactly in the kids really want to wrestle with that and so that's kind of how we developed it in the classroom initially and what is your name sir anthony de marco what are you doing your thing i'm a witness frank small what's this whole project  i think the kids really take away the collaboration piece and recognizing that they're part of a team and they get to showcase some of their skills that their classmates may not have seen before and in working together they get to you know they feel that they are taking ownership over a piece of something that's bigger than themselves and we see you know kids really come out of the woodwork in the roles they do they totally surprise them selves even our quiet students are definitely the kids you know they might be on the witness stand in the other their their peers don't even know that they have these talents these hidden talents and then they're able to really showcase that for the for their peers or in the court all right yes it's all very directed it's all very sequenced it's all very scaffold and i mean it's got all of these different levels and layers that we really try to flesh out and work out so that way we don't have any issues i mean you could kind of see it today the courtroom was essentially quiet you know and we've got leaked what twenty five thirty students sitting in the audience and they're they're quiet and they're doing their jobs whether that as a courtroom artist or whether that's a newspaper reporter on you know we've got the jury that's intently taking notes i mean so everybody i don't know it starts off kind of slow as everyone's getting into their roles and they're researching and they're preparing and then the day that we all end up here and we kick off the trial the excitement and energy can just really  i've been learning how to work in a group with my other witnesses and my boy yes i have also learned how to make up background stories about a character from what you get from the book and  that it's quite a lot of pressure but i enjoy it it's quite fun really and i like to i like to know that everybody's relying on me than that i can do a good job if i try do you realize that you're probably affecting people in the room with your performance i mean i guess i hope i do because then they'll vote for me but yeah