Board of Ed for December: Southbridge

 It has been a very long time since any of the receivers reported to the Board. Since this is literally the only public body to which they have any smidge of accountability at all, we're overdue. Southbridge has been in receivership since 2016.
This is Jeff Villar who has been in the position since 2018

"building capacity in Southbridge"
Bringing achievement levels to what students deserve
"has taught me some lessons"
"every year we go back to the drawing board"
"much like an elaborate sand castle" by November know if the plans are working
"building systems that will outlast all of us" will stand the test of time like the medieval castle
fill gaps in capacity with outside resources
multitiered systems of supports for children
schools are ecosystems; levels that have the greatest impact on ecosystem
improve systems around climate and culture
impact of what adults are doing differently
UConn supporting climate and culture work using PBIS across all schools
"use this work as an example of a scaffolding"
collection of classroom data
Hill for Literacy
Instruction Partners
Looney Math
Building data systems to inform what's going on with the district
"various dashboards that we now have for decision making in the district"
"I've had many meetings about how people feel and what people think...asking people 'well how do you know?' is a really important question"
Johnston praises him for having elementary schools open
"our teachers were amazing coming in to work every day, taking care of our kids"
"it's pretty difficult, because you have to set conditions where people are forced to go to work, essentially, because it's right for kids, and in our district, they did, and they did a great job"
"impact was tremendous"
this is your reminder that there so far has been no correlation found between in person instruction and student achievement
"it's amazing what you saw and what you dealt with"
90% high needs, huge instances of trauma in our young kids, and fighting in older kids
...which would also be trauma and it's troubling that he doesn't frame it that way?
added social workers, deans, assistant principals, after and before school programming
didn't have digital technology for three or four months at the beginning of the pandemic 
"staffing turnover has been dramatic since this"
"very difficult for teachers to go in every day...has made our hiring very difficult"
doing signing bonuses
thankful for funding
74% high needs to 90% high needs
"We have also seen the minority population shift dramatically"...it's essentially flipped
"particularly at the high school where our data are really bad"
student advocates: supporting student needs; advocating for students, helping solve school related issues; "jury's out" on this endeavor, not inexpensive
shift in grades over two quarters
"clearly the gold standard assessment are the MCAS results"
"I try to create an environment where we don't teach directly to a test but we teach quality curriculum that are standard based and aligned with state expectations"
cites some MCAS results
Middle school was considered biggest challenge across the district
"middle school can be a difficult time for children"
dramatic changes in climate and culture
says in 2018-19 school was "pretty chaotic" with 443 days of out of school suspension 
21-22 had 42 out of school suspensions, which he says is still too high, but says the school is "quiet and orderly"
this is my note that this only tells you specifically what it tells you, which is out of school suspensions; it does not tell you how the school feels or operates
teaching expectations around behavior; "suspension as a punishment is ineffectual"
cites as a challenge "declining local investment in the schools" as it has gone down every year since FY21
their school district used to be funded over net school spending and now they're "bumping up against the minimal."
I believe that I am in the position to say: yeah, it's tough, isn't it? 
"what we've got is increases in state funding but there isn't a local match"
need at least $28M in school renovations pre-pandemic
have an RFP out for an update "and hopefully seek some state funding for some major building repairs"
nope, sorry, there isn't state funding for that, just rebuilding or renovating
"that is an obstacle that is looming for us for sure"
"never before in my career have I faced a struggle like this to attract individuals to come and work in a district"
"what frustrates me is I have the ability to create a lot of positions and do things differently in a receivership model, but it is all about talent"
peaked at 77.8% retention, now have dropped off again to 65.8
that is really not good
it was 57.9% in 2019
bright spot to work with many local people; "19% of staff are Hispanic, more than doubling that rate"
have created different recognitions for staff
advancing coursework for staff
every Wednesday have professional development
Elevate K-12 "which is remote instruction into our high schools" as they don't have algebra and chemistry teachers; facilitator in the building, teacher is remote
"it is technically working" but not what students would have asked for

Moriarty: "we are in a way your school board, in a way"
seeing what looms large "exactly what I would have expected to see"
"incumbent on us to reflect on"

Lombos: what's the end game? What's success?
she says "after four years" though he hasn't been there for four years
"My job is to work myself out of a job"
people asked how long he'd be there "they'd had nine different people prior to me" of which at least three were the receivers or filling in as for the state
have moved to a discussion of "when will we end"
specific language about engaging with community leaders
say "we need to show on dramatic improvement on all the indicators"
except the state has shown no ability to do that
"not only to accomplish that...but to get some roots in there"
"our system has to be designed to meet their needs"

Hills: what are examples of things that are either easier or different as a receivership district?
Villar: not a job I would have taken as a superintendent
"I would have been fired twice maybe three times lately if I was just a local"
he talks about implementing curriculum
claims that not everyone believes as he does that kids can achieve
"some really complicated structures in place"
very real worry as superintendent worry over losing job
but it also means he doesn't have to take the district or community with him, and he isn't
Hills: early literacy
What resources might be needed? 
MCAS goals?
Villar: using local assessments; Dibels
takes teacher training in moving them forward on top of Dibels
MCAS is "a long term project"
"gold standard"
"need to grow that faster"
larger measure
need talent: "we need to be able to attract people, retain people"
I wonder if it occurs to anyone that the lack of retention might be due to the lack of working to bring community with him 

Plankey: my first full year of high school
perservance of district is really really admirable
student support: thought peer mentoring; thoughts on that?

Hills notes losing quorum shortly

Villar: not to the extent that we should
"we candidly need more student voice in our system"

Stewart: "you are the right person in the right time in the right place in Southbridge"
superintendents educating in the pandemic "said the same things"
they didn't, though
Stewart: this isn't the work of the schools alone

Hills gives Peyser the last word and invites him to gavel the meeting to a close
Peyser says a really important message to hear
And asks for a motion to adjourn