Take two. We're gonna call this meeting to order at 4:59. This is the Education Student Services Committee meeting, Wednesday, February 11th, 2026 at 5:00. Welcome everyone. Nice to see you all. Can we start with a roll call, please? >> Here. >> Kathy Magcguire here. >> Cross here. here. >> Joe Rutz here. >> Michelle Bizuino here. >> Martin Hayes here. >> Altha Tomlinson here. >> Next, we'll do the approval of the minutes. In 3.1, we approve the minutes from the January 14th, 2026 Education Student Services Committee meeting. >> Second. >> In favor? I item four, approval of the agenda. Be it resolved that the education student services committee approves the February 11th, 2026 education student services committee agenda as per the attach. Are there any corrections that need to be made by law? >> Second. All in favor? >> I. Next. Uh, community comments on the agenda. We do not have any community comments as far as I can. So we'll move on to item six, information items. Thank you, Mr. Depalio. Uh I can share that we have upcoming board meetings and committee meetings. Our finance committee meeting is scheduled for this Thursday, tomorrow at 4:45 p.m. Operations Committee meeting scheduled for Friday, February 13th at 11:00 a.m. And we have our schoolboard meeting committee of the whole Tuesday, fe February 24th at 7 p.m. I will also share in terms of other topics and upcoming um uhformational items, uh we plan to have a presentation on our middle of the year data in March. as well as bringing to you opportunities for a summer Lego camp. Additionally, a solutions for ensuring we are able to provide the summer book packs for as many possible students as we can. Um, April, we're going to be looking at bringing forth subscription renewals, which would be ongoing. And then in May, excited to talk about and present and share outstanding achievement award for Centennial employees. >> Great. Thank you. Any discussion or any questions? >> I have a question. So um your achievement awards for outstanding employees um is that all because of what happened with the bus department, transportation department? Um I'm not sure if you're aware of that. That >> no. And I'm aware, but that it has to do with um a longstanding um many decades tradition in Centennial of recognizing um staff who are going above and beyond >> um in Centennial School District. >> It's like the five-year pin, like one of those type of things, 20-year pin, whatever recognitions. No, it has um and this is it's it's it's outlined as as I've learned very explicitly in policy and I'm excited to really get to be part of this and lead this recognizing staff who have served in Centennial for a set period of number of years who have are being recognized as it relates to a specific rubric for exceptional service. That can be aids, it can be cafeteria, it can be our custodial staff, teachers, principles. Um and it is a very formalized process. um and uh and really neat and I and I don't want to misspeak with the date but I want to say that it's three plus decades that it's been going on >> and we always do it in the spring [clears throat] other discussion the next information item Mrs. Tomlinson that plan. >> Good evening. How are you today? Um Dr. Zacken, would you be so kind as to scroll down to 6.2 and click on the document that's to the right. Thank you. And if you could click on the link. Thank you very much. So this document um this link is actually posted on the website. Um if you go to the comprehensive plan um it is where the original survey was posted for the last 28 days and now in its place you will be able to see this um highle overview or summary. So if you could scroll down for me. Wonderful. Um you can see here that there were four main participation groups which breaks down into um elementary, middle or high or other. Um there were 224 per participants with 54 thoughts and 50 555 ratings which means that of the 224 participants um 54 comments were written and then those 224 participants rated all of those comments. Um, and so based on that, then certain comments went to the top as being high high level comments that people agreed with or certain comments went down to the bottom of the list as being ones that they didn't agree with as much. Um, so you can see here what the breakdown was by building. Um, so you can see that the most participation happened from William Tennant High School. Um, we did include students um, in the avail ability to uh, respond to the survey. was sent out to all high school students. Um and so you would probably see more participation there. Um additionally, um then looking at um the other participation, um then you would see that Clinger, thank you. Um thank you very much. Um was uh participating as well in that survey. Um and um and then all of the the other buildings. >> You're only supposed to respond once, Mr. Hayes. [laughter] I heard vote early and often. >> Excellent. If you could scroll down a little bit more. Um and so then this has instead of um if you click on view there, instead of having all um of the 50 some uh comments, it has the top five comments that were most highly rated um for the comprehensive plan. I'll give you a moment to take a look at that. And then um it breaks down the information into um sentiments. So basically whether or not the comment was considered to be um negative, positive or neutral in regards to the comprehensive plan. And this is um determined by AI within the thought exchange um platform. And so you will see that generally the thoughts were either neutral, they were just comments about implementation or things that to think about or they were positive um positive sentiments about the plan overall um and then um there were a few negative com lesser negative comments of of other nature. So when looking at the the feedback as an administrative team um we did share that the feedback overall with the committee and got feedback from that committee um which we met on the 27th of January um and I did receive um a form from that committee about feedback about specific areas to look at. What we felt was that most of the feedback could be things that we addressed during the implementation of the plan. There was nothing in the plan itself that needed to be changed, deleted, revised. And so we're going to take all of that feedback and use that as we move forward over the next three years. Any questions? The feedback. >> So the administrative team has looked at at the at the comments and the information that is there. Yes. >> Idea of trends or anything that stuck out. So there there were a couple of of things to look at as far as just making sure that we're informing everyone, being transparent about the plan as we move forward. Um we talked a little bit with the committee about some of the themes that we saw overall. Um one of the themes was a lot of comment about trying to um support and improve attendance. Um was a piece that that came about. Um, and um, I'm trying to think if there were other themes that I can think of off the top of my head. Um, but I can I can look more and share that with you as well. Do you do you remember >> a few positive ones? I think we're about kind of staying the course. I'm I'm really wrapping it up with what we've done with um, curriculum, continue to >> align standards, continue what we're doing with the assessments. I just remember some of the positives that popped out. >> Thank you. So the survey was posted 28 days ago starting in January. So the the the comp plan work which we presented last night had been working since um since last January. And so any of the feedback that we received within this particular survey was just over the last 28 days about the work in the plan. essentially. Yes. It was nice. It just stood out to me. It was nice that this is a comprehensive plan and in the seeing the progress that we've made as a district in the last three years from the last comp plan. Um, someone's really reading the comp plan, which I appreciate. Um, was Dr. Maguire, good stuff. Continue what you're doing in these areas of curriculum, instruction, assessment. um and speaking to that was just it was just nice to read because it still informs our comp plan now for the next three years as well. >> Thank you for that clarification. I don't think I understood your question at first. So, thank you. >> Any other questions? Thank you very much. Next presentations Dr. Zack the 2026 2027 Thank Thank you. Um I I I I want to lead and share and start with um uh gratitude for getting the opportunity to um to run through the uh the calendar process in Centennial School District. Having experiences with putting an elementary school calendar together, middle school calendar, high school calendar, and now the district level calendar there. It's never easy. and um and and I'll share that that there is a and we'll I'll talk in more depth about the committee um but I would like to recognize gratitude towards um the team here Miss Mrs. Bisquino for your help and putting this together. She and I looked at this calendar up down left and right turning it sideways at times and counting over and over again. Um and what we're presenting to you tonight is the proposed 26 27 calendar for initial review. um any feedback and um ultimately tonight I I think of as a key milestone in getting this approved for um what will go to the our board and you in March. And if I could lead with our mission, vision and how we used the calendar. I think think the committee and the team uses the calendar to ensure we are focusing on all our children and giving every student the opportunity they need to thrive and and be successful. There's a calendar committee and this was these were the objectives that I shared with the calendar committee. I'm not going to read them to you, but ultimately um if I could in summary share that um historical context, understanding specific challenges of previous calendars, understanding the culture of our of our school district, the community, recognizing all stakeholder voices, ensuring we have compliance and continuity in particular as it relates to contractual obligations and um giving an opportunity for feedback and uh and that was my main objective, our main objective for the committee. We met we met two different times and I will talk about that here shortly. Talked as well about the compass, our centennial compass guiding our decision-making as well as ensuring that we are student centered, leading with integrity, excellence in teaching and a unified effort and this calendar reflects just that in my opinion. These are slides that I think are incredibly um important and I will give credit where credit's due to previous leadership. This was um this was the why for a counter committee. And if I could um share that the greatest impact and source of student success is the teacher, right? And the teachers in front of our students and is getting our students in front of teachers as much as possible. You can see that the reasons and rationale here for the committee ultimately that it's my understanding that there were some challenges with previous calendars. So a count a Centennial School District calendar committee was formed. Another slide that I I find highly valuable as it relates to the development of a calendar. I'm grateful that the focus is on curriculum, instruction, and assessment, why we do what we do, but all the systems within it. And this one of those systems being the school calendar. And at the center of it is our students. Another slide that I lifted and I will share the value of the calendar committee. The why and in summary to improve student learning and growth. main focus of a the committee, but also creating consistency and continuity from our for our families from year to year so that they they know what to expect and they're not caught off guard. And I will also um and I'll breeze through the next couple slides, but just share that that we did our best to mirror what has been done in the past for previous calendars. The committee was made up of union leadership, association leadership from CEA, uh building level leadership, teacher leadership, uh uh district level leadership, and we met two different times, the 22nd and 29th, they to go through um and share uh draft feedback or d the draft, get their feedback, review revisions at the next uh meeting. And now we're bringing it to you on the uh for educational committee discussion and then we'll bring it to the board meeting on the 24th of March. some some feedback that was shared from the calendar committee ultimately an understanding and justification for the minor adjustments we had to make the you know we the calendar for lack of better phrase excuse me it is what it is in terms of when the weekends fall when the holidays fall what what we have to adhere to with our our collective bargaining agreement um the and and it gives us very little wiggle room in terms of the days. However, there was uh there was um there was some feedback that to strengthen some feedback for consideration for future years as well as feedback as it relates to instructional opportunities for our students and staff um that doesn't necessarily uh impact our academic calendar but could impact how we provide professional learning. So, here we are and I think you have a copy of this at your seat so you can see it closely. It's hard to see on the on the um on the screen here. And I'm just going to quickly walk through walk through this some of the highlights. I'll I'll lead with [clears throat] excuse me that the we will welcome our new teachers on the 19th and 20th for for our new teacher orientation induction or our new teacher academy. The 26th is we will welcome all teachers and staff back for convocation. The 27th will be a professional learning day and the 28th which is something that came out of committee is will be a we will have the teachers and staff will have a long weekend before we welcome everybody back on August 31st. You can see that we will have a few days off in September. Labor Day will be recognized on the 7th. Yam Kapoor will be recognized on the 21st. And I should also share that Rashashana this coming year falls on September 11th and it begins in the evening and runs through the weekend. We will have almost a full month in October but the there will be an early dismissal K12 and we'll have professional learning day. November, we will recognize that Thanksgiving holiday with uh for students having give or take 5.5 days off, including the weekend in there. Our our teachers will have will be off for a 4-day weekend. There will be the winter recess, which is a a longer one again this year for 11 days. and we will welcome everyone back for 2027 on January 4th. Martin Luther King Day will be recognized on the 18th. We have President's Day on the 15th of February. our spring break and I've read a lot of notes about spring break and how we've had spring break in Centennial over the years modeling spring break um after um excuse me after uh after this year there will be five full days and just interesting um I can share with you that we met with a student advisory group um and asking for asking their feedback on our calendar and their input and um in sharing uh they had a lot of neat things to say um one of them being asking about the spring break And uh and the three the three respon responses, one we want it to be the whole week. Two, we like it how it is so we can get out earlier. And the third was I don't care. [laughter] Just tell us what it is. So some mixed uh mixed responses. Um also noting on here the fine arts festival. the fine arts festivals I'm coming to to know, learn, and appreciate is uh is is a is a huge recognition of the arts and centennial. We're putting that on the calendar. We're making sure we outline that on our calendar, and that's going to be in April. Also in in April, I want to make sure that we point out strategically [clears throat] that it is a longer a longer amount of time in front of teachers and that's we we're approaching the the testing window, the high stakes testing window with our PSSAs, Keystones, and rolling right into uh as well as the uh our AP testing as well, which I I'm confident that the AP teachers would appreciate and do. And then the finish line, I would say the finish line um will be the last day of school is June 10th. Um however, the backing up our high school graduation will be the day before and and we uh Dr. Carac Kappa, the team and I went back and forth on what do they want, what is best and um recognizing um that Memorial Day falls on, you know, still falls on the 31st as it always does, but where it falls and having to ensure we have the night of reflections. Um the uh the the other events, senior Thank you. Thank you. the senior awards. Um uh the MBIT graduation was another um uh schedule that we had to work around um that it it falls on the 9th of um of of June. And the the feedback and the thoughts were the earlier we have it, the harder it is for those to work around those dates and almost the more impossible it is to get all those things in and not to overlap. And and I recognize as well we do not and cannot overlap with some of those incredibly um capstone celebrations. So all activities are lined up prior and uh we will have the staff there to support as well. So when when senior you know when the seniors leave the high school it will be one day with the rest of the student body K1 if you will. So to uh just to to summarize and count if you will um we have the 190 teacher days. We have 181 student days with one snow day built in like we do again this year and that is um on the 18th of May and our senior days are 180 senior days. So there's an equivalence and ensuring that we um meet that that requirement. Well I recognize there's flexibility. I'm als I also learned the respect of those those days that we look at the uh the days as something here in Centennial is incredibly important. The number of days. So with that said, that's the proposed 26 27 school calendar for Centennial School District. What questions do you have? >> Dr. You don't know when MBIT graduation seven. >> Is it the seventh? >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Right. Say there. I'm just thinking night of reflections is usually Monday. Senior senior awards is the week. >> Correct. >> Okay. Was looking at the timeline Tuesday the night before graduation. I just couldn't remember what the senior were, but the >> Thank you. >> Looks great. I can I can check with Dr. Caracappa to ask him what date he has on there and I can always I can add that if you'd like. Um he just wanted me to make sure. >> Yes. >> Usually like the Wednesday before. >> So you think maybe the second of June? Okay. I can I can check with them and I can add that for sure. >> Yeah, no problem at all. Yeah, >> senior awards >> induction is still um that's not a paid program is it anymore induction do they get paid for that now? It is part well the part of the part of the CBA is where those two days fall and they're required. So yes, the new teachers are getting paid for it if that's if I'm okay. >> Yeah. Yep. >> Used to be getting paid as far as I remember. >> I'm going back a long time. >> Yeah. Um in terms of the those who lead new teacher I call new teacher academy excuse me uh induction um they they too get compensated for that professional learning >> right >> works great Dr. Thank you so much Oh, yeah. It's a long month. October. Thank you so much. All right. Uh item number eight, recommendations. So, we'll talk about 8.1, 8.2, 3, and four. and all recommendations to move the 2026 2027 calendar to the full board for approval. >> Absolutely. >> Still learning. There's your second. Yes. So, >> I vote to move it forward. How about >> I get a second? >> You got a second. changes. >> So item 8.2, 8.3, and 8.4 are the recommendations. >> Do we vote on them individually? >> I move them all at once. >> Okay. Can we vote to um move 8.2, three, and 8.4 the full board for? Yes. All in favor? I any discussion? Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. >> Um, did I miss the discussion about the um facts, Mr. Rutz for the summer? >> Talked about >> the last meeting. Uh, Miss Mey had presented um it's in the minutes, but the executive summary of where we are with that and bringing uh back to the egg committee a more fiscally responsible plan. Um, we're we're going back and forth with publishers with two options. If I can in a nutshell summarize, it's um either uh acquire book packs for fewer students or get book packs for all students with maybe fewer books. Those are the two options right now. while we are currently um exploring uh grant options so that we don't have to change the structure at all and we can get all K5 students book packs of five books like we have for the past four years. >> That's where we're at right now. So, we'll be bringing something back to the ed committee once we have more solid numbers in a plan >> with a hopefully with a grant. Yes, >> I know. Thank you. >> You know how I feel about the summer book. So, >> yes. Yes. I appreciate that too. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh item nine, additional public comments by residents. >> Seeing none, item 10, the next education student services committee meeting will be held March 11th, 2026 at 4:45. >> Second. >> All in favor? I meeting adjourned.