AI-generated transcript of Special Education/Behavioral Health Subcommittee Meeting

[McLaughlin]: just, you know, quickly introduce ourselves that could be helpful. Again, I'm Melanie McLaughlin, school committee member, chair of the special education behavioral health subcommittee. Stacey, do you want to go ahead while I somebody's texting me about a link, so I'll send it over to them now.

[Schulman]: Sure. Hi, good evening. I'm Stacey Shulman. I'm the director of school counseling and behavioral health for Medford Public Schools.

[Bowen]: I'm the director of pupil services.

[Tanya Sullivan]: I'm Tanya Sullivan. I am the co-chair of the Medford Special Education Parent Advisory Council.

[6ToLK-34czQ_SPEAKER_12]: I'm Charlotte Heim, Occupational Therapist and Transition Specialist at the high school.

[Edouard-Vincent]: Marice Edouard-Vincent, Superintendent of Schools.

[zdRFAfm1Rlg_SPEAKER_14]: Suzanne Galusi, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education.

[Lh9iUewuUkw_SPEAKER_15]: I'm Susie Weiss. I'm the assistant to the superintendent. I'm taking notes.

[Cushing]: I'm the assistant superintendent. I'm currently babysitting, a.k.a. parenting, according to my wife.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, dads don't babysit. Much agreed. Susie, can you do me a favor and just send me the link? Instead of having me trying to hunt it down right now, I have a community member that's trying to find the link via Zoom and is having difficulty. Yep, I will. So let me just get back to the agenda for a second here. So we were going to talk about identifying research and best practices to inform policy recommendations and addressing the behavioral health subcommittee goal of supporting trauma-informed schools for MPS in the 2020-2021 school year. One of the things that I would really like to see happen just off the top, and I just did email Susie about this as well, um is just finding a uniform way in which we're putting together our um subcommittee meeting notes um hopefully on the on the website because other members aside from the people who have access to the google drive the school committee members need to be able to see these minutes so that we can refer to them and in our subsequent meetings right so that we can look back so that everybody has access to looking back on them um for the next meeting so that we can can see them. We've also had, I have anyway, I think it's been, I think it was just sent to the general school committee. We had some questions about where these recordings were being posted or whether they were being posted for our subcommittee meetings and also any minutes from both the regular school committee meetings and subcommittee meetings. So definitely would like to see those posted sooner than later. And in the interim, if we can think about how we can get this material to folks for the next meeting, if it's problematic getting it on the website between now and then, I'd like to think about options for doing that. so that you all have our previous meeting notes. The last time we met on specific to behavioral health was in well, actually, we did discussion in the previous meeting as well. But I'm going to let Stacey sort of I'm going to hand it over to you for a minute, Stacey, and let you do a little brush up with us if you'd like. And I'm happy to jump in as well, Stacey. If you want to just again, start with the introduction. I know you did just do that. But just sort of so folks know, you know, why we're turning to you specifically for the behavioral health piece. That would be helpful.

[Schulman]: Sure, so again, I'm Stacey Shulman. I'm the Director of School Counseling and Behavioral Health. And in meetings previously, we had talked about focusing on trauma specifically for the school year based on the COVID-19 pandemic and what our students were facing, not only to support students and what we were doing in that vein, but also professional development for staff as well in a multifaceted way. Some of the things that we've done so far is that we've trained our counseling staff in a program called CBITS, which is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which was actually just for fun facts, was designed after Katrina for the Louisiana school system. And so Cognitive Behavioral Therapy talks about how our thoughts influence our behavior and how our behavior also subsequently in reverse affects our thoughts. So if our body's feeling tense, we may feel like we're having anxiety. If we're having anxious thoughts, our bodies may feel tense. And so we are starting now to recruit students for groups based on CBITS. We've sent out referral forms to staff and we're forming those. We waited a little bit from the beginning of the year because we wanted to make sure students had time to sort of settle in and see if these feelings continued as the school year began, obviously with the typical supports they had. We also trained our faculty in trauma science and symptoms, as well as an intensive push on mindfulness. So we partnered with AIP, Alliance Inclusion Prevention. They're a nonprofit in Boston to provide us with some both synchronous live trainings in the spring, as well as some asynchronous trainings. And then we also had some trauma training from Better Lessons. had our clinical counseling staff become certified child and adolescent anxiety specialists as well. So that's sort of the rundown of what we've done so far for our students and staff. We provided also some parent trainings asynchronously online for mental health for students and children, adolescents, and how to recognize signs and symptoms. if you're a child. Where was that training pushed out? That was at the very beginning of the year in a Google classroom for parents. Certainly if people are looking for it, they're welcome to email me, I can send it to them.

[McLaughlin]: Did you have a lot of attendance for that? I think we had a good amount. Great. And so for folks who also may not recall in our last meeting, there was some conversation about what exactly does the, how are we going to be driving policy around these issues? Hi, Heather. Glad to see, hi, both Heathers. Hi, Heather McKinnon-Glennon and Heather Ruminapp. How are you? Glad to see you both here. And hi, Marissa. Folks did some interviews earlier. So if you guys want to interview, you know, Heather, if you want to go first, I mean, not interview, introduce. Heather, you want to go first? Introduce yourself, Heather McKinnon.

[SPEAKER_12]: I'm Heather Rumenab. I am a sophomore and a senior at the high school. I'm a social worker. I focus in trauma treatment, and I'm just happy to be here. Nice to see you all.

[McLaughlin]: Nice to see you. Good to see you. Heather McKinnon. Hi. I'm Heather McKinnon.

[8kUnsaXIsWQ_SPEAKER_06]: I'm a mom of We're not hearing you, Heather, for some reason you're coming in and out. I'll grab my mic and I'll speak later.

[Unidentified]: Oh, sorry. Great. Marissa, do you want to say hi?

[SPEAKER_06]: Hi, my name is Marissa Isbell. I have a son that goes to the Roberts. He's in the connections program. He's on the spectrum. And then I have a daughter at an eighth grade at the McGlynn and a daughter in the fifth grade at the McGlynn.

[McLaughlin]: Mel, you're muted. I said, great, welcome. Sorry, I'm typing on another screen, so I didn't see my mute button. Welcome Marissa. I was just saying that also in our last meeting, we had members so I was talking explicitly about, you know, thinking about what the policy levers are that we're using to drive. specifically the subcommittee meetings for behavioral health and special education. So in other words, what are we thinking about in terms of school committees role in creating policy for the district with specific regard to trauma-informed schools, in this instance, behavioral health trauma-informed schools, which we identified as our topic for this year, our concern for this year. for behavioral health and as I said we'll get to special education shortly. So I'd like to have a little bit of a discussion maybe explicitly about what sort of policy ideas that might be out there for moving forward the topic of trauma informed schools and I know that Stacey, you talked about the training that's been happening in the schools, the mindfulness, the CBITS, the student involvement, student training, those sorts of things. And those are things that I believe you and your staff have sort of taken the initiative on and that you're keeping us apprised of and informed of.

[Schulman]: That's correct.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, go ahead.

[Schulman]: I think in terms of policy, one of the things that had come down from a state level in the last five years was there was a mandate for three hours every three years of mental health awareness as a suicide prevention model. However, that was never appropriated with funding for schools as it was meant to. So therefore there is no formal requirement for us to do so, but that may be something we could consider proposing to the school committee to add in to our Medford schools policies to mirror that.

[Unidentified]: So basically that was an unfunded mandate from DESE?

[McLaughlin]: Correct. Was it in response to some political background? I just I'm not familiar. I don't remember. Was there something specifically that happened that usually there is that sort of?

[Schulman]: Yeah. So I think that this came around. I'm pretty sure it came around of one of the more severe school shootings. So they were looking for more preventative models because it was with a gun law that was around the same time.

[McLaughlin]: And it was in when suicides prevention specifically because the the perpetrator was that something that had happened in that instance, or I don't think okay, I don't remember specific. I'm just Yeah, I'm just trying to understand why it's specific to suicide prevention.

[Schulman]: That was one of the requirements that it had to include.

[McLaughlin]: Oh, okay.

[Schulman]: But it was one of the requirements. Yes, mental health, behavioral health overall.

[McLaughlin]: Okay. mental health, behavioral health awareness overall with a requirement for suicide prevention?

[Schulman]: That was the intent. Okay. So to be able to identify students who may need more behavioral health supports.

[McLaughlin]: I see.

[Schulman]: In your school.

[McLaughlin]: And did you do do you still or can you get us some resource information or record of that, I'd be curious to know. So again, when we're talking about sort of populating resources or what have you for us, this is, you know, I guess for both member Ruseau and Superintendent Edouard-Vincent, how can we be thinking about creating these subcommittee shared folders, I guess, with, you know, access for the community or the members of whoever is participating in the subcommittee? And, you know, maybe it's that the chair is creating the subcommittee folders themselves on their own Google Drive, and then, you know, uploading them at the end of the year to the Google Drive that's not editable or accessible to outside members or what, but we need to be thinking about this so that, because there are lots of materials that I want to share with our subcommittee that I know that Stacey and Joan have access to, and that other members of our community, like Shanine Peliquin, just shared this great friendship. building resource with us. And, you know, there's a number of resources that that would like to share. So I really do want to think about that. So but Stacey, if you want to share that, I guess, Desi mandate and anything that you have, you know, around that, that would be really helpful for us to have some background. So ultimately, what I'm thinking, we'd like to do, again, as the subcommittee and what we've done in past on other committees that in the past on other committees that I've been on, is we do this sort of legwork, brainstorming, boots on the ground stuff in these meetings during the year that culminates in a presentation, if you will, to school committee with recommendations, policy recommendations moving forward. And hopefully they're acted on at that meeting, but that's generally sort of where I think we're going. these meetings so sort of building our resources around this as we're preparing the presentation and can share those as part of the presentation so that you know folks have some background and some understanding. So from what I'm hearing from you Stacey is that perhaps one of the policy levers we would use is thinking about funding this three hours every Well, it says every three years, but I suspect you're saying at least three hours once a year or not.

[Schulman]: It gets tricky in that way because we only have a set amount of time for professional development. So I think, you know, at a minimum, we should have two hours a year focused on mental health, which we have in the past, you know, five years, at least one in the fall and one in the spring. would be my suggestion. And the one hour time limit kind of helps so that we can use specific times throughout the year.

[Ruseau]: Stacey?

[Unidentified]: Sorry, I'll go ahead.

[Ruseau]: Member Ruseau? Are you saying that there's a certain number of hours every year that already are happening for every teacher?

[Schulman]: They're happening, they're offered. So it could be an optional offering along with everything else. We do a lot of mental health awareness and principal meetings as well. I think that, you know, as a policy would help sort of firm up a requirement for staff that, you know, everyone to participate in it.

[Ruseau]: So, so do we have teachers that have never taken anything related to mental health that we've offered?

[Schulman]: Oh, I would be very surprised if that was the case. There's been so much offered. I can't imagine that.

[Ruseau]: OK, good. Because the word offered gets me uncomfortable. Sort of like looking optional, that will address racial equity, which is a different topic. But it can't be optional. We can't have teachers that are just deciding that, like, that's not my issue. I teach math.

[Schulman]: I agree.

[Ruseau]: So I guess going to mandatory gets complicated because mandatory every year for every teacher. If you're the first or second or third year in the district or as a teacher that perhaps isn't too much, but 15 years of the same mandatory training probably would be not a good use of anybody's time. So I just, I feel like there's gotta be something between mandatory and optional. I don't know what that's called.

[Schulman]: I think under the behavioral health umbrella as a whole, there's so much, and it's a constantly changing climate and landscape. So what we feel like students need and what we feel like students are presenting with, that one to two hours a year, as a professional in Medford, you would not be receiving the same training every year. We would change it based on the needs.

[McLaughlin]: And I'd like to hear from other community members or anyone who sort of wants to, you know, jump in about, I mean, again, as we're thinking specifically about policy, it's, you know, I'm sure there are folks thinking, and I'm sitting here thinking one to two hours a year on mental health awareness just doesn't feel like a lot, right? I mean, it doesn't feel like a very big policy shift, especially, you know, if they're already doing it, you know, so I get that it's, you know, important to sort of have that as a requirement and certainly stated as a value potentially for the school committee to do, but I guess I'm sort of thinking about what other folks are thinking regarding this specific topic, behavioral health and mental health awareness.

[SPEAKER_06]: Is there, could there be like some kind of webinar or something that maybe like staff could watch something not too long, especially right now with COVID going on and how stressed the kids are and how like different the situation is and what they're used to, like just to kind of give them a sense to, or give them a way to recognize, you know, abnormal behavior and, just anxiety in the students. And I know I just, I worry about that because I think this period of time has really put a lot of like stress on the kids and there's not, you know, a lot of outlets for them right now. And I just, I wonder, you know, if we're missing things just because we're all so stressed right now.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, Marissa, I think that's a really good point. I mean, I think that, you know, last year before COVID even, we were working on the on the Medford Community Media Show Ed Talk. And I'm working with a number of students on that show. And they were all, you know, wanting to do their next show was actually going to be about anxiety. And they were talking about how much they're dealing with anxiety. And this was even you know, pre COVID. So I know that they're experiencing it even more. And I think being able to have that communal experience and help each other identify or recognize that would be really important. And again, I know that that's not policy specific, but I also feel like the purpose of these subcommittee meetings are very much to, you know, bounce these ideas around with each other and think about, you know, what we could be doing to help students in this area. So thank you, Heather.

[zdRFAfm1Rlg_SPEAKER_14]: Um, I was, I guess I'm wondering too, is there a way to do an emergency type of, um, just requirement? And I know the teachers are under so much stress, but is even if the kids are going to be going, I know some of the kids are already in school, but, and maybe this has already been done. Um, but just having like having them do a virtual training or read some things about kind of acclimating back into school and kind of this emergency COVID situation. And I just feel like even if there was a grant as part of the emergency, you know, that it is, we're still in an emergency situation and it seems more urgent than anything else that's going on in the schools to support the kids' mental health and the teachers' mental health also. And just calling awareness, you know, with the administration, the awareness of how to support their staff, how to support themselves and self care, and then write down to the students so that, you know, it's just, it's even more important than school right now. Like three hours just seems, and at the same time I understand, I would rather have my kids spending an hour playing outside and they're in high school than an hour doing homework and just even, even some training around that, that like we really have to focus on kids, just mental and physical wellness right now and teachers and administrators. And I just don't, I don't know how much has been done around that, but also a connection with resources in the community and people that people, parents, kids, and teachers can reach out to if they're having any of the struggles. So I don't know. That's just some of the things I'm thinking about.

[McLaughlin]: Thanks, Heather. And what would that look like? Are you talking about what Marissa was saying, like a webinar or an instructional video? What are you thinking that that actually looks like? I'm curious.

[zdRFAfm1Rlg_SPEAKER_14]: Yeah, no, that's a really good point. I think a webinar obviously makes the most sense right now, just something that people can do even in an hour and maybe actual resources that everyone can, you know, like a Google doc. These are, you know, if you're seeing any of these signs, these are clinicians that you can contact or contact your guidance Councilor and they'll refer you. But I'm, I'm trying to like give the teachers less work. So if there's a way to do that, not pile more on the school, um,

[McLaughlin]: I know the other part of me is thinking about, as I'm thinking about, I think this is a great idea. And I think the students need it clearly so much. And I'm sure the teachers really do too. And I think I'm thinking to some of Stacey's mindfulness stuff that I think could be really engaging or even like yoga, sort of a communal yoga event or something like that, that could be engaging for staff and even for students. Because the other thing I think about with a webinar is I think, know with me today particularly as well I've been in front of the computer all day long and I know with my son you know I swear like you can almost see the smoke you know after him at 2 15 or 220 when the you know when the computer shut down he's out he's like gone you know at the soccer field he's like you know don't even talk to him essentially he's not And if I, he's even loathe to get on the computer to get his license right now right and he wants his license so I think that that's really tricky about like if we're going to have a webinar specific or even a video I guess unless it's a really engaging sort of you know, maybe find YouTube piece or something like that that can help address some of the issues with the kids. I don't know how we're gonna get them. And I guess for that matter, maybe even the teachers back onto a screen. So I don't know, I'm just putting that out there too. I'd like to hear what folks think. Heather McKinnon, I know you had your hand up.

[8kUnsaXIsWQ_SPEAKER_06]: So I am thinking just tangentially on that piece that maybe there's a way to do some sort of recreational hangout, um, like a, I'm not sure. This is, I'm just, this wasn't what I was, what I was really thinking on, but some sort of recreational hangout where kids can be outside and sort of like, I'm just envisioning like those, those cameras where they, you know, they, they can, um, sort of photograph what they're doing, but do it together, you know? But that's an aside. And now I'm gonna take it from fun to like, whoa. But I do think that three hours every three years is like really ridiculously underserving mental health. I'm thinking about like, our community members who are probably stuck at home and in domestic violence situations, and in situations that they're not talking about, that they're now trapped at home, and our students who are stuck in situations that they can't talk about, that they can't, I mean, and that they can't get out of, and logging into a computer every day. I'm scared for these students. I apologize, I've got a very lively five-year-old here. But I am scared for those students. Former colleagues of mine, I've heard from union reps that They're making accommodations for for former colleagues of mine to go back into the office So that they can get away from certain circumstances at home What are we doing to serve these? students, you know I'm I'm worried because people I am a I'm a survivor myself and I am concerned about things that we don't talk about, because I didn't talk about that for seven years of it going on in my life. So I think it's a really, really, really touchy situation to have. He's really funny in light of this serious topic But I I'm worried about our kids. I'm worried about our our parents. I'm worried about families. I'm worried about our community Because this is like a pressure cooker that we're in right now. I and how do we help people? And I think three hours every three years is bananas. I'm just gonna say that's bananas. And mandatory, absolutely. It should be mandatory because there's so much under that umbrella, for sure. Absolutely. So that was my piece.

[McLaughlin]: Oh, that's great. Thank you. That's really helpful. I know this is what keeps me one of the things that keeps me up at night as well. I do know, interestingly, and I'm sure Dr. Cushing can speak to this as well. Senior mentioned to me this morning, although he was, you know, we were just sort of passing in the hallway briefly that that there's going to be this, you know, drive in or or experience that they've set up for the senior classes sort of this communal experience. I haven't seen the email about it myself yet. He was frankly disappointed. Dr. Cushing, I don't know if you're aware of this, but He was disappointed that, I don't know, they were saying that the students cannot be in cars unless it's with their direct family members. So he's like, I mean, he's got this bubble, like his girlfriend is in our bubble. So he was like, why would I wanna go to the drive-in movies with my... my parents, right? And I'm like, I get it, buddy. He's like, what does that do for us? That doesn't do anything for them. And in fact, he feels like it's more insulting than anything. And I kind of agree. And so the other piece that I think is really, really, really important is that we're not checking in with the kids to see what it is they want and what it is they need and how they're handling. And that was one of the best experiences that I've had doing the Ed Talk show and Medford Community Media was getting the opportunity to spend some time with some, you know, juniors, 17, 18 year olds, 16, 17, 18 year olds that were not my own children, just sort of in a general, in a more general way, and I'll never forget we were doing a show on vaping, right, and they were talking about you know, we had several guests on that were talking about, you know, the dangers of vaping or whatever. And I was just so moved by one of the young men there who was a student and talking about like, when I said, well, what would you wanna say to parents or something to that degree? And he said, well, I just wanna tell you that if you do find that you're, if you don't think that your child is vaping, you're wrong, right? Because most of them are. And he said, and if you do find that your child is vaping, that, you know, basically don't take it personally, don't make it about you, don't think that it's some failure of yours, right? Don't make it, you know, don't sort of catastrophize it, but more so like talk to the student and listen to them. right? About what's going on and what they, and, and I thought about that. Cause I thought, I remember back in middle school when my, my kids who are now ones, a sophomore in college and one's a senior in high school, but back in middle school, they would come home. I swear to God, they came home for like at least a good month, every single day telling me about vaping. And they would be like, Oh my mom, you know, there's this thing vaping and it, you know, blah, blah, blah. And they would tell me about it. And I would just sort of be like, Oh really? Thank you. No, that's interesting. But I never really explored it with them more because I just automatically assume like, well, they're not doing it. Cause they're, Number one, they're telling me about it. And number two, it sounds horrible and blah, blah, blah. But I wasn't exploring it more with them and listening to them. And I think that that's one of the biggest issues that I'm seeing with the mental health staff or that I feel like with the mental health staff, even in our own home, is that we're not checking in with the kids to see what it is they want, what it is is going to help them in this situation right now. You know, I think we have these family surveys that we're doing across the district or that we've done across the district for data collection, right? But we're not doing it with the students at all. And they're so, they're so, they're so techno-friendly. Like we could probably get out, you know, a Google, a survey monkey to them or something, you know, whatever to them and their platform. And we'd probably have more responses than we've ever gotten from parents. because they're so, you know, prone to that. So I sort of think about that a little bit too, like even like a texted survey monkey or something where they could let us know what it is they really want for mental health support and what it is they really need around behavioral health and mental health support.

[Unidentified]: So yeah, that's just sort of my ruminating. Lisa?

[Evangelista]: Hi, Heather brought up a good point. It just happened to roll with what we had today, which I know, Melanie, you had wanted to attend. The district attorney was here and spoke with our early childhood, our health assisting and our cosmetology students. And I'll tell you, I don't know if it was almost better being on Zoom because all of the students really had a lot to say about Maybe how to approach domestic violence, and I know the district attorney even said that there were measures that they had changed up due to call it so that people could reach out for help. say via texting even because most people had been working from home and so it would look inconspicuous and nobody would realize, you know, potentially that they were asking for help. But I really, really loved the fact that the students really, really participated. And again, I don't know if it was, excuse me, the Zoom, because we have had this. two years in a row, the district attorneys come to the health assisting classes. But the students who really are all sophomores, and I will say they had a lot to say, they asked questions, they had a lot of good comments. So again, although it was Zoom, I found it really a great learning process for all of us. So it was really, to me, they are thinking about this stuff and they do have questions. And I was glad that they didn't hesitate to ask. Respond was on the call as well and portal to hope. So they also made brief presentations and the kids had questions for them too so it went, I thought very well, but I just wanted to share that with the committee since Heather had brought it up.

[McLaughlin]: Thank you. Do you know if that was recorded? I know, I wanted to go, I wasn't able to go today.

[Evangelista]: No, it was considered like a class, so we recorded it. And was that pushed out, was that? They wanted to do it by Zoom, I guess, so we were like the test patient. And I think they were very pleased on all sides. I mean, Dr. Cushing was on the call as well, so I'm sure that he thought it was wonderful because the students really participated.

[McLaughlin]: So it was really like a class. It wasn't a community activity. It was during class time. Yes, it was their class time. So that's the other consideration, really, as we're thinking about this, right, when we're talking about what the students want or whatever else. And again, maybe bringing it back to the policy piece, too, is that you know, if these were occurring or if something like this, the webinar, whether it be that idea or the video observation, video, or even like the assemblies that we normally have in regular people time, right? That maybe it's something that can be happening. I'm focused on the student, excuse me, the students particularly right now, but maybe it's something that could be happening during the school day where there's something similar to what Lisa was talking about with the district attorney's training specific around domestic violence, but a specific mental health event, Stacey, behavioral health, mental health event that takes place similar to what one would think of that normally would happen in an all-school auditorium, but that in this format would be during school, maybe in a Zoom session or something similar.

[Schulman]: Yeah, thank you for bringing that up. So just for the students perspective, two things I wanted to mention. One was today during the high school advisory, we had students fill out a survey about homework and homework stress. And the reason why we did it during advisory is because students received so many emails that they're reporting to us like things are falling through the cracks. So they're so tech savvy and they're really, you know, wanting to share this information, but we wanted them to have that dedicated time and also to have a staff member available if they were like, I don't know exactly how to answer this question to help work with them. So we got a huge number of responses, of course, from that, and we'll be analyzing that data. We surveyed the faculty as well to say how our students are reporting specifically stress from homework related. We also provided students with an over, sorry, faculty with a flow sheet for identifying students who may need counseling support and a referral form to send to Councilors. We created a 60 page community resource book That also went out to help so hopefully we'll be figuring out a way to put that online, too. And then in terms of an assembly mental health format, we have the NAN project, which is a subsidiary of Elliott Community Health, and they're going to be coming in and doing a three part series on mental health. And they're going to be working with grade by grade. So we have had NAN project in previously. They're a mental health awareness agency that is provided free of cost to Medford. We love them. and they have peer mentors come in and speak about their mental health experience. But the most important part about it to me is that they talk about recovery. So 95% of people who have challenges with mental illness do recover over time with good support. So they really talk about the struggles they had, who they reached out, what was helpful, and where they are now in their life. So they're going to be doing a three-part series In small groups with students were starting with the senior class because I felt like that that was a good place to start and will be working all the grades from 12 down to six throughout this year in these small. segments with the NAN project, and that's all related to mental health and faculty are obviously able to join as well. And I think it's really helpful for them, faculty, to hear about those who have struggled, you know, in their high school, college days with mental health challenges and what that looked like for them at the time, what felt helpful, what was helpful, and some things that weren't helpful. either they talk about too for approaching people. So those are some of the things that we have going on that I felt would be helpful based on the comments folks are making.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, that is helpful. Are you spelling it M-A-N-N project?

[Schulman]: N-A-N.

[McLaughlin]: N-A-N, NAN project, okay.

[Schulman]: So I believe the founder's sister's name was Nancy and they called her Nan and she died by suicide. So they created this foundation in her name.

[McLaughlin]: Okay, so if we wanna look up information about that, we can just Google the NAN project, is that right?

[Unidentified]: Yes.

[McLaughlin]: And that's starting, you said it's a three-part series in small groups with students starting with the senior class?

[Schulman]: That's correct. That all students in the senior class? That's correct, yes, during that advisory window. And they're gonna be working with them during that time and also staying on after. So if students feel like they have more questions or concerns after the information presentation giving, the NAN project will remain on for follow-up care and also refer to Councilors if needed.

[McLaughlin]: That's great. And can you share, Stacey, with us, can you share with us the data from the stress from homework?

[Schulman]: I don't have it yet, so we just- No, I know, when you do.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, when you can have it. Yeah, yeah. Certainly. That would be great. That would be very helpful. So we've got just we're at 545 marker for the behavioral health, but I just want to sort of wrap it up for a moment. I was taking some notes during this time, so some of the things that we've talked about clearly are, you know, some training, whether it's webinar based or other video based, but also some survey around what students want. Some of that has been happening as we can Stacey, and again, some of the many of these things happen, as you can see on the subcommittee independent of school committee right it's not like school committee has to create a policy for these things to happen, they happen. And it's really great to be informed of them and to sort of be aware of them, both as school committee members, but as community members, which is another reason that I really feel like we do have this subcommittee. And, you know, we can continue to be thinking about what policy aspects as we continue this conversation will drive the presentation, which I think we'll schedule probably for May. I know that's our budget heavy time as well, but, We can talk more about that, how we wanna do this presentation and how we're scheduling our recommendations for policy. So I'm gonna ask everybody to sort of maybe take a deep breath for a moment, just close your eyes. We're gonna switch our mindset here, because we have this sort of dueling actually agenda of these two topics, behavioral health and special education. And as again, we've said before, behavioral health, we're really focusing on trauma informed schools and looking at what our community is going through currently and how we can support our students, teachers and staff. And then for the special education component, we have identified the need for building community and school-based friendships. And part of the reason that that was identified, the genesis sort of of this committee was the special education subcommittee was created last year. I think it was a full year last year, or maybe it was a year and a half. Yeah, I think it was a year and a half. So not with Erin DiBenedetto from the school committee created the special education subcommittee as a result of recommendations from the Medford CPAC special education parent advisory council around issues and concerns that they had and wanting to be able to have some closer connection with school committee to address those issues and concerns. CPAC put out a survey last year as they do generally every year for a report that they also do to the school committee or present to the school committee at the end of the year with recommendations. One of the recommendations previously was that this subcommittee be started. So thank you to Medford CPAC for that. And in the most recent iteration of the survey of our parents of students with disabilities, probably the biggest component that we found that they wanted to talk about, to ask about, to foster was building friendships in community and building connections to each other. I think that we're all feeling isolated during these COVID times, but I think that, and I think that parents of children with disabilities have a unique isolation and certainly experienced that long before COVID. and have always tried to work to find their place in the community and to figure out how they could involve both their children and themselves more when they're already feeling marginalized. So in a way, I feel like we sort of have a little bit of expertise on sort of some of this. And in another way, you know, you deal with double the isolation in these sort of situations as well. And so I think it has even more, we have even more need for building community relationships and friendships for our more marginalized students. And so with that, I am going to turn it over to Joan for a moment, if you don't mind, Joan or Charlotte, to talk a little bit about what we've been discussing, and maybe some aspects of policy that we can consider. I also want to let folks know that we got a really great email from Sheneen Peliquin, who was formerly recreation with the EMARC, which is now Communitas, which is the local DDS-funded organization for parents of children with disabilities. And Sheneen specializes in recreation and friendship building. And she sent us an attachment from the Arc of Mass, where I used to work, actually, that was a project based on building friendships that we can look at as we're moving forward. I'm sure folks didn't have time to look at it in the short time that we had received it. I'll make sure that central administration also has a copy of it. It's a really great project that the ARC put together about how to build friendships for students with disabilities in schools and in communities, and adults, frankly, as well.

[6ToLK-34czQ_SPEAKER_12]: This is Charlotte. I did have a chance to just graze through it, And it's a fabulous document, the Friendship Toolkit, the way it breaks down the components of friendship, looks at the developmental levels. It's about one of the best resources I've seen. So I think it'd be a great guide for professional development of some sort, or just as a document for our staff to read, and also for paraprofessionals to read too, because often they are the folks that are right close to the student. One thing that stood out for me in that document was reducing adult proximity because often we are all helping people and there's too many adults close by, so we need to fade back. So anyway, thank you for sharing that.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, no, 100%. And it was done by both folks out on the South Shore, but also Dr. Zach Rossetti at Boston University. And I've done a lot of presentations with Zach, and he's a great presenter, and he's also a sibling. Actually, his brother passed away this past year, but he was an adult. His brother was an adult, and they had a long sibling relationship, and it has driven a lot of Zach's study and research around disability and friendships and awareness. So I know that Zach would certainly be able and willing and interested in presenting for PD as well. He's a great presenter, so that could be something that we could be thinking of. And I couldn't agree more with the paraprofessional piece of it, especially as the children get to the middle school level and even at the fifth grade level. You know, even I remember with my typically developing daughter having that we, we hosted the Girl Scout dance, we did an 80s dance back in the day. And, you know, it had been a lot of fun. And just, you know, probably months earlier, she would have been happy to dance with me on the dance floor with all of her friends. That night, I learned a hard lesson as I was trying as I was dressed as Madonna trying to dance with them. that I was not welcome in that situation. And, you know, a lot of times with our students with, you know, disabilities and explicitly in our students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, they aren't always able to tell me that, tell us that, right? So my daughter, my fifth grade typical daughter didn't actually tell me either. They just sort of all gave me the cold shoulder and walked away. But my child with the intellectual and developmental disability might not even be able to say that. And just even recently she was telling me that my voice was annoying and to stop talking. So she was able to say it in those instances. But I think that you're right. No fifth grader, middle schooler, high schooler wants the adults around at this stage. So when kids are trying to develop friendships, and it's tricky because, you know, for our kids too, sometimes we have to facilitate the conversation, right? Like, especially the reciprocal conversation, right? So, you know, if somebody's asking you a question and you're just sort of sitting there not responding or trying to process or whatever, it's the prompting to say, you can ask that, you know, and thinking about how to fade that back. So I think that that's a really tricky, tricky piece, but I did like the book as well. Tanya, you were talking about some things that you really liked about the book, share a little bit?

[Tanya Sullivan]: Yeah, I actually, thanks, Mel. I actually did have a chance to read through it, which was, and I was as impressed as Charlotte was on the whole thing. The one thing that I thought was really kind of neat was in, they talked about building friendships, it can't just be, you can't stop at inclusion. So once the child is included, that a lot of people think that's where it stops, that's inclusion, but that's not where it stops. Then you have to do the, you know, friendship building and things like that. And I just thought that that was really, it was really great because if you're just doing the inclusion, it kind of ends up being more of a mascoting situation. And we don't, definitely don't want that. We want real, you know, friendships for our kids. But I also thought, and Charlotte, I don't know if you saw this, there was a quote from a student with autism and it was really, you guys will all see it when you look over the document, but it basically talked about the adults being like a hidden tiger. So in other words, adults can be present with the kids with disabilities, but they need to step back, but they need to also from that stepped back position facilitate. and provide the supports that are necessary in order for that friendship to happen without looking like they're facilitating anything. It was just, it was really, it really stuck a chord with me.

[6ToLK-34czQ_SPEAKER_12]: I could just add to that. That takes a great deal of training and confidence in a professional or a paraprofessional, because sometimes you do look like you're not doing anything, but that's the appropriate level of support at that moment. So, and, and when the less the training, the more the helpfulness, it's like the para that's got really great art skills that's in art class with the student that winds up doing it for as opposed to allowing for some risk.

[McLaughlin]: Right. And we have stories, I think that's in a book that I've seen too, those stories where the parent, you know, sent a note back in to thank the parent for the drawing, right? Because it was very clear that the child hadn't done the drawing. It was, you know, a really well done and it was nice. I mean, they would, they would sort of, you know, this joking around with it, but it's true. It's sort of the wanting that line between the helpfulness, but also I think Tanya, as you were saying, you know, mentioning the authentic friendships too, it's like one of those things where, you know, we've had a number of friendships in school. And, you know, they've been really great friends and, you know, really felt genuine in terms of the friendship. But then the reality was, were we really getting phone calls to come over to the house for a play date? Or were we really getting the invitations to the birthday party? And if you're not, just in the adult relationships that we've had, or frankly, even in the school, the younger relationships we've had in our own life, if the relationship is one way, then is it really an authentic friendship?

[Tanya Sullivan]: You really want to expound upon the common ground program too that Carla has because that program, it kind of, so I'll give you an example. They were Common Ground. My son was on a call with Common Ground this week and they were doing team building games. they probably didn't realize that's what they were, but that's what they were. And it was really, it was really very cool. And, and, you know, they were speaking to the kids just as peers. It wasn't, it wasn't in a mascotting way. It was, it wasn't in a, Oh, you're, you know, a little child, you know, when you're not, it was, it was just in a very real peer to peer manner. And it was, it was just really, it was really neat. And they do actually, they do come to the birthday parties. So a lot of the kids in the common ground have, will attend, you know, have attended birthday parties. The kids have gone to, you know, basketball games together back when life was normal. I'm not sure what that would look like now, but that program to me is a microcosm of what we need to make a macro of.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, and that's exactly, I'm missing Carla in this conversation right now, but that's exactly some of the things that Carla has been talking about in these previous meetings. And so again, getting to the policy piece of it, it is what does that actually translate into in terms of school committee driving some policy around that? you know, we are, you know, supporting and, you know, and provide and either looking for grant money or providing funding to help create similar programs, you know, at the two middle schools and the high school to ensure that, you know, that's the first step in building, you know, specifically and focused on building friendships in our communities. So that might be one piece that we're looking at, like using the model that already exists at the high school. Marissa?

[SPEAKER_06]: So my son has a new ABA company, kind of new, about three months, and his behavioral therapist, we were just chatting this week, and she's younger. She recently graduated from college, but she was telling me that when she was in high school, she was the president of her school's Best Buddies chapter, and that actually kind of got her interested in ABA therapy and being a therapist. We just chatted briefly, but I think she could be a real valuable resource, especially to as far as like building friendships, you know, with between, you know, kids with disabilities and, you know, typical kids and then also like, how would you run a program, you know, the things that they did, could we do that here too?

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, that'd be great. Would you invite her to the next subcommittee meeting?

[Unidentified]: Sure, I can.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, that'd be great, Marissa. That would really be great. Heather, are there any updates on the best buddies conversation?

[8kUnsaXIsWQ_SPEAKER_06]: I apologize that I haven't actually gotten to reach out to my contacts there. I will do that as soon as we get offline here. My life has been a little bit, crazy, as you will join the club, right?

[Unidentified]: I think crazy is the the word. I'm gonna I'm gonna try. I'm packing. You moved. Nice. We can't hear you, we lost your audio.

[8kUnsaXIsWQ_SPEAKER_06]: Marissa and I were having this great conversation where she was actually, we had breakfast this morning and she and I were chatting about just how we can possibly sort of make some sort of impact with implementing the Best Buddies program. Marissa, I'm gonna let you take over from here.

[SPEAKER_06]: Well, I guess the first thing I wanted to do is just reach back out to the principals and just, I know we can't really do anything right now because of COVID and I'm not really sure it's worth trying to start Best Buddies until we can meet in person again, but I just wanted to remind them, kind of keep us on their radar and just let them know that, you know, our group does have the funding to start Best Buddies, at least, you know, for teacher, Not really salary, but a little bit of money for the teachers that want to facilitate it and then hopefully a little bit of money. To put for things that they might want to do in the club.

[McLaughlin]: So yeah, I think one of the things that might be really great that I'm thinking of is a couple of things. One is I would say maybe as a charge to the community, if you will, to the folks that are here now, is to maybe think about coming back to the next meeting, next month's meeting with maybe, I'm writing this note down as we're talking, with maybe, two suggestions of staff that you think are aligned with some of the values that we've talked about here. So teaching staff or other that are aligned with some of the values we talked about here, just in terms of, you know, as we're thinking about whether we want to think about Whether there are teachers that are, you know, folks that are interested in this type and piece or just in general I think it would be really good at every school to identify just a couple of staff or, you know, people that are at the school that we know are aligned with what we're discussing here right that are interested in building friendships and community. building with students with disabilities and so that we can sort of start, you know, generating a little bit of a list and we did talk last time about generating a list of of students volunteers. who would be willing to work on what we were calling sort of a friendship project. But also as we're sort of thinking about, again, community building and who are the people in the community that we know are aligned with these values. So I think let's be thinking both about staff and about students. And so I guess I would put a charge out to the subcommittee to say, maybe think about coming back with two names of each. staff and students or community members if students, you know, if that's too specific. So two of each staff or students that we know.

[8kUnsaXIsWQ_SPEAKER_06]: Melanie, we were talking about just as a starting place, building a siblings group. Even for the recreation piece, but additionally possibly as a support piece for each other. Yep.

[McLaughlin]: So, from recreation last time as well because they really need volunteers for these adaptive programs, and we did talk about like doing that but we didn't actually. a sign, if you will, sort of, you know, us each coming back with sort of, so I think that's another piece is that we could come back with, if we know any siblings, names of siblings, right, and I'm happy to take these if you want to email them to me, and I'll put together, I can put together, you know, an Excel spreadsheet with one of each or whatever, but siblings, students and staff, and community members, I guess I would expand that, and community members that you know, through some conversations that you've had or through some work that you've done or anything else that value, you know, this topic and these issues and that we could start building sort of a community base around as we're thinking about what policy pieces we want to request for implementation. And then I just want to sort of put out there for some low hanging fruit, if you will, you know things that we've been bouncing around via email so you know the little bit of more the adaptive pieces around building these, these community friendship and school based friendships, I also wanted to say that I think we should ask, and, you know, This is something for the superintendent but certainly also something for Miss Andre or CCSR or whoever, but I think it would be also really valuable, especially for the folks that are looking at best buddies Marissa and Heather and that are willing to, you know, commit some funds or, and or do some fundraising to potentially observe the common ground program, or the CCS our experience piece of it. So, I don't know. whether you guys want me to reach out or Joan or Maurice, if you would reach out to either Carla or Mr. Skorka or both and see if that's a possibility. But I think it would be really great for them to see sort of what that looks like as we're thinking about do we want to bring in an outside organization or pilot something that's already existing at this level.

[Bowen]: Melanie, I can reach out to both of them this week or tomorrow. Tomorrow's Friday. But I'm supposed to meet with Mr. Skorka anyway regarding a project for one of his CCSR students. So we can have a conversation regarding that. And that might be the direction that this particular student wants to take with their direction, with their project too. So I will touch base with both of them in the next few days.

[McLaughlin]: Thank you. And Mr. Skorka did mention that student to me as well and had asked if he was or she is welcome to attend these subcommittee meetings. And obviously these are public meetings. So, you know, of course, but so please let him know that as well, that the student should have links to these so that that student could be coming. It would be really great to have a regular attendee.

[Tanya Sullivan]: Can I say, Mel, I just wanted to say, sorry. I think that's a great idea because I know that that particular student is looking for a specific direction to take this project. So this might be a win-win.

[McLaughlin]: Good stuff. Charlotte, did you have something you wanted to add?

[6ToLK-34czQ_SPEAKER_12]: I just wanted to add, I have a disability rights leader coming in to speak to the Common Ground group in early December. We're waiting for the letter days to be published to settle on the day. But Epic Service Warriors is a fabulous organization in Boston. They're an outgrowth from Triangle Inc., which is in Malden and one of our primary a transition services provider for young adults. And so Jeff LaFada is going to come in and speak about civil rights, the history of civil rights for individuals with disabilities. So we have that lined up and I'll let you know when we have. When is that? We're working on a date. Jeff has agreed to come sometime in early December. And we're just working on the schedule because it's the ABCD days. Yeah. And who is he coming in to do that with?

[McLaughlin]: The Common Ground group. Oh, good, good, good. That's great. So I do that presentation as well. I mean, I'm sure they're varied, but I'll be doing that with the disability awareness group that Susanna Campbell is doing, the professional development. So I'm really interested in seeing sort of his and what he has. And that is a component of the, so please let me know. when they're doing that. And that is a component of the disability awareness program that Susanna Campbell is also doing with the district around professional development. And she brings in family members like myself and self advocates and siblings and all these other folks who talk about this, but I do a specific human rights and disability awareness and civil rights, the history of super compelling and really powerful. And also can, you know, really eye opening as it's our recent history, it's our lived history process. So it's just a really good one. I'm glad to hear that they're doing that. That's great. So yeah, let us know. Tell us about Epic Service Warriors just a little bit because Tanya was just telling me about that at breakfast or wherever we were Tanya.

[Tanya Sullivan]: Yeah, I actually, I'm actually gonna have JoJo, there's a wait list to join. They have to go through a specific application period, but JoJo has been invited to attend their fun Friday Zoom calls and their youth support calls on Wednesday. So we'll see how that goes.

[6ToLK-34czQ_SPEAKER_12]: I can give a little more background on that too. I consider it a life-changing program. And you have to apply, you don't necessarily get in. I've had students that have been so confident after just the application and the interview process that they feel good enough to go out and get a job. So it is a year-long competitive organization. They do service projects all around Boston. It's kind of a heart-stopping risk to send your kid out into the world. There's an element of travel training that goes along with it. They do interviews with business leaders. They go to the Statehouse and learn about civil rights. It's quite a, they have students that participate and graduate from the program. I think you have to have at least, you have to do at least a hundred hours within their program of volunteer work in order to graduate and become a official service warrior. And students have had made lifelong friends and they also continue to go back as alumni. So we have students that, were in that program maybe eight years ago that still go back and do volunteer work with them and participate. So is this for students with and without disabilities or? It is specifically for students with disabilities, but the bar is high and there's a commitment and... What's the age requirement? I think it's 16 through young adult. So it's a nice bridge program too, particularly for our older high school students because then sometimes they stay in that because it's their year between the beginning of the end of their senior year and into life after high school. into our project transition program.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah. And, you know, to that point, I think it's really important when you're talking about, you know, friendships, community, when we're talking about friendships in the community, it's, I think for so long, I was really, you know, sort of pushing friendships for my own daughter with non-disabled children. Right. And I was never really thinking about fostering friendships for her with disabled children. And I just hadn't, you know, I was working so hard in inclusion that I wasn't thinking about that yet. I was benefiting from my friendships. with people in the disability community and parents of people with a disability community. It wasn't sort of giving her that opportunity. And so I learned a really important lesson there. And so it's really about building friendships between and with students with and without disabilities for all of the obvious reasons. So, you know, when we're talking about a best buddies obviously or a common ground or whatever that it's not, you know, it's not one way or the other, it's all together. and that we're building those friendships across those sort of identifiers, if you will.

[6ToLK-34czQ_SPEAKER_12]: So this group is doing service for schools in the Boston area. So they're out in the community serving the general community.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, it sounds great. It sounds like a little mini Peace Corps. Yeah, in the community. It sounds like a great, great organization and similar to our own gem, CCSR, which I really love. And I love that it's at all of our different schools. And I'd like to see what the demographic is for our students with disabilities participating in the CCSR programs in their individual schools. I do know one of the things that we addressed in some of these enrichment programs, and we had to address this I think a year ago or so, is that the requirement was at the elementary level anyway, that the CCSR students would have a partner to participate in the projects. And it was like, well, we don't have a partner, and I'm not in the school to facilitate a partnership for her, so then who is actually going to be doing that so that students with disabilities can participate in these enrichment programs? And I guess to that end, and so we did address this with CCSR and Mr. Skorka, and there was some training provided for administrators around, like, you don't have to have a partner. you can come to the CCSR program and you can be partnered or trioed with other existing groups so that, you know, it's all inclusive. Nobody should be, you know, left out. But to that end, what I was saying about sort of the low-hanging fruit around how are we identifying accommodations or the requirement for accommodations in all of these social programs that exist within our schools and within our cities. And so, you know, I know that we had spoken recently at school committee meeting around the before school and after school program and the director, Megan, and we had worked with them last year, two years ago, CPAC actually had worked with them around some language to, you know, for inclusivity. And they adapted that language and now they're adopting it they adopted the language and now they're adopting it a little bit more because I think the language they had was specific to if you're on a 504 or an IEP and you require accommodations. And I was saying that there are students that are, you know, not on either and require accommodations. So, you know, we need to be thinking about how we're creating some uniform language. So to the policy piece, I think one of the things that school committee could do and that this subcommittee could do is help advise on what some uniform language would look like. across all of our entities. That would include our sports programming, our community schools programming, our afterschools programming, our MFN programming, our recreational programming, any of those things, because there should be language that is inclusive, that certainly lets folks know that we don't discriminate based on any of the isms, if you will, but that also we provide reasonable accommodations to make sure that every person can access the life of the school and the enrichment that's involved in the school. So I'd like to say, I'd like to make a motion to put forward that we, that, you know, part of what we do as the subcommittee is that we create universal language around, oh, but we don't have a quorum. So we can't, I can't make a motion. I'll have to save it for next time, I guess, Paul, right? We don't have all our members of our school committee here.

[Ruseau]: That's a quorum. We can do whatever we want, but me again.

[McLaughlin]: All right, then I'm going to say that, you know, I'd like to make a motion that one of the things that we focus on as a subcommittee is that we create some universal language around accessibility in our schools and on our recreation programs, programming through the schools in the city. Can I get a second?

[Ruseau]: You got a second.

[McLaughlin]: All in favor? Any opposed? All right, so we're gonna put that forward certainly as part of our... our recommendations. And we don't have to wait till the end of the year for that, frankly. So we can do, we can report that out at our next meeting of the school committee, and we can take a vote at the school committee. And then we can just let them know that we'll, we can get back to them with the language, the specific language. So maybe that's another thought. I can do some research between now and the next meeting about what language looks like in, you know, other places, Joan, maybe, you know, if you can do some as well.

[Bowen]: I was going to say that I can look at, I can reach out to the before and after school, the athletics, the things with the community schools, programming, those sort of things to see what their application looks like so we can have information that I can share it with everyone so we can look at what is actually there and then what needs to be put into the specific form.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, that would be really helpful field trip forms as well. Anything like that any permission forms you know anything like that that we're thinking about would be really helpful and then again where are these going to live and so this is the this is the sort of practical piece that I keep thinking about. And because you know we have the difficulty of. you know, accessibility on the Google Drive for, you know, school employees versus the general public and, you know, how we work around that. So I guess, you know, I'm gonna defer to the superintendent on that. Maybe I don't wanna put you on the spot, superintendent, but maybe we could be thinking about sort of a universal, if you will, design for our Google Drive as well, so that there is some accessibility around, you know, having our community members and our committee volunteers and other folks be able to access some of these documents. How would you like to address that superintendent?

[Edouard-Vincent]: I'm going to have to look into that because as you know, at the high school level, especially we've had so many challenges so that I just don't want to prematurely say yes. And then it has such a ripple effect. So I would just, you know, when I heard it said earlier, I just jotted that down to try to look into a way where we'll be able to have the information posted. What I can also say is that when we have our regular school committee meetings and the minutes are approved at the regular school committee meeting for a previous meeting, then at that point in time, those minutes will end up going online. So there is a delay between when a meeting takes place and the next scheduled regular school committee meeting for the entire school committee to take a vote to approve what has been shared publicly, and then it goes up. So that could be an explanation sometimes for the delay. So I just wanted to also explain that piece to you.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. And I have to double check, because I'm not sure that I've seen them up. And also, our webmaster, we don't have a webmaster anymore. I mean, people are doing double their job. And so there are those elements to it as well. But I guess in the meantime, what I'd be willing to do is to have my own version of the Google Drive for at least resources for this group that I could share in a limited way with members of this group that want. to have the resources shared. So for example, the friendship book that we were talking about or the different forms, Joan, that you're talking about, like that we can start to build at least a smaller one that's not the public version. And then we could be forwarding to Lisa or to Susie, the items that ultimately go public, right? Whether it's the minutes or, you know, obviously those automatically go public, but other pieces. Yeah. Who just raised their hand? Someone just raised their hand. Was it Heather? I think Heather, and then she dropped, no. All right, sorry. So I'm happy to do that. And oh, yeah, Charlotte was raising her hand, saying she had to leave early. So that's why she just texted me as well. So if there's nothing else, we have our next meeting at, let me just see, our next meeting is December 17th. want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate and celebrate safely and We're gonna come back to the table, if you recall, with hopefully two staff members and two students and any siblings that you can certainly email me in advance if you want, but we'll start to build. I'm actually happy to share, I can share a shared screen, Google Doc, that I can give you all access to as well to join and add some names to those contexts that we're all gonna hopefully bring back to the table. And I would also encourage you to invite some of those folks that you know are interested to come to the meeting. So for example, Marissa, the Best Buddies person that you are aware of, and certainly Carla. I thought I invited Carla and Mr. Droudski, but they must've had something else.

[Tanya Sullivan]: She might've had something going on today, Melanie.

[McLaughlin]: Yeah, and I'm sure Craig too, because, you know, he normally would come, but, um, and Mr. Skorka, but just thinking about sort of in the community who, you know, that you think are interested in, in both the trauma informed schools and in the, um, and the, in the building community friendships and inviting them to the December 17th meeting would be great. And, um, are there any other, uh, next step items that I forgot that anyone wants to remind me of? No. Okay, then I make a motion to.

[Ruseau]: Motion to adjourn.

[McLaughlin]: Second, Paul's motion to adjourn. It is. I just want to make note 6 23. Yeah, just saying. We're going to start a little competition, Paul with our committee members to see who can finish earliest and all our meetings. How do you like that idea?

[Ruseau]: I will always lose, right?

[McLaughlin]: We'll have to figure out what the prize is going to be. All right. Good night, everyone.

McLaughlin total time: 41.18 minutes total words: 7447	Edouard-Vincent total time: 1.2 minutes total words: 183	Ruseau total time: 1.35 minutes total words: 184