AGENDA ITEM TIME - Collaborative 24, 2017 Board Packet.pdf · AGENDA ITEM TIME Call to Order and Introduction of New Board members – Board Chair 6:30 2. Public Session 6:35 3. Approve

97 Hawley Street, Northampton, MA 01060 413.586.4900 | 413.586.0180 fax

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING AGENDA Collaborative for Educational Services

WEDNESDAY, May 24, 2017 6:30-9:00

This meeting will be at Franklin Regional Transit Authority Please Note: There will be a new board member orientation beginning at 5:30pm. This will include a brief overview of the Collaborative, board member responsibilities, and the new Collaborative legislation. All board members are welcome to attend.

AGENDA ITEM TIME

1. Call to Order and Introduction of New Board members – Board Chair Dan Hayes

6:30

2. Public Session 6:35

3. Approve Minutes of March 29, 2017 Board Minutes and Minutes of May

17, 2017 Finance Committee Meeting (vote required)

6:40

4. Report from working group for OTC and CCATT 6:50

5. Cost of Living Increase (vote required) 7:00

6. CES 2018 Budget Presentation and discussion – B. Siegel (potential

vote required) 7:05

7. Approval of FY18 Rates (vote required) 7:25

8. Financial Report – B. Siegel (vote required) 7:35

9. New Hires and Separations (vote required) 7:50

10. Executive Director Evaluation Committee presents findings and

recommendations (vote required) 7:55

11. Motion to go into Executive Session (MGL 30A, Section 21, Subsection 2

– “… to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel.”) (vote required)

12. Motion to return to Open Session (vote required)

8:05

13. Executive Director Contract (potential vote required) 8:20

14. Update on CES Re-Organization – Bill Diehl 8:30

15. Executive Director’s Report in Brief 8:40

16. New Business & Topics of Board Interest –

Senate 308: An Act Strengthening and Investing in Our Educators, Students, and Communities (implements the recommendations of the Foundation Review Committee) + Fair Share Constitutional Amendment

8:50

17. Adjournment (vote required) 9:00

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Collaborative for Educational Services Board of Directors Meeting Minutes (DRAFT)

March 29, 2017 Collaborative for Educational Services

Present from the Board: Hayes, Ahart, Goscenski, Fasihuddin, Douangmany Cage, Dion, Moore, O'Riordan, Conrod, Burke, Brown, Hamdan, Kwiecinski, Crawford, Roberts, Englehardt, Chase, Smith, Bartlett, Flaska

Present from CES: W. Diehl, S. Smith, S. Molloy, B. Siegel, A. Burke, K. Levesque

Call to Order The Board meeting was called to order by Dan Hayes at 6:32 p.m. A roll call was done.

Public Session Dan Hayes noted that CES responded to the requests of some Board members by not using Styrofoam cups and by requesting the caterer not bring bottled water. For the meeting in Greenfield, we will have to use bottled water, but we will make sure to have a recycle bin.

Approve Minutes of January 25, 2017 Board Meeting and Minutes of March 20, 2017 Finance Committee Meeting (vote required)

Hussain Hamdan moved and Lyn Roberts seconded the motion to approve the minutes of January 25, 2017. All were in favor with two abstentions from Suzanne Crawford and Humera Fasihuddin.

Hussain Hamdan moved and Cathy Englehardt seconded the motion to approve the Finance Committee minutes of March 20, 2017. All were in favor with three abstentions from Suzanne Crawford, David Chase, and Pat Smith.

Executive Director (ED) Evaluation

Bill Diehl noted that the Board had received, in their Board packet, artifacts and evidence for the Executive Director evaluation. These documents included: reports and evidence about progress made on the Executive Director’s Annual Goals; the 360-evaluation made of the Executive Director by the CES Leadership Team, and the evaluation completed by member Superintendents. Bill included all this documentation in order to give Board members data to use in answering their questions on their evaluation of the ED. Board members will be asked to fill out the questionnaire that will be sent out. All of the information provided by the ED, and the results of the Board members evaluation, will be compiled, and then a subcommittee will look at that information and create a summary. This evening, one of things we want to do is look for volunteers. They would review that information and come up with the summary. The summary is the public document.

Volunteers to serve on ED Evaluation Subcommittee

Cathy Englehardt, Pat Smith, and Dan Hayes volunteered. Cathy said Don Sluter did this last year and might again this year; Dan Hayes will check with Don Sluter. If anyone else would like to be on the subcommittee, they are to email Dan Hayes. Cathy Englehardt moved to approve the subcommittee and Melissa Burke seconded. All were in favor with no abstentions.

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Dan Hayes noted that we are a little behind the curve in terms of time. Looking at Bill’s contract, it states that in March we shall vote to extend (or change) the contract. Bill and Dan talked before the meeting and they would like the Board to move the vote to after the evaluation is completed in May. This evening we are looking to move that vote to May.

After discussion, Johanna Bartlett moved to extend the vote to May. Vira Douangmany Cage seconded. Hussain said this is a contractual matter and wants to hear that Bill is comfortable moving it to May. Bill said he is. All were in favor with no abstentions.

ED presents artifacts and evidence for the SMART Goals to the Board

Bill walked the Board through the Executive Director summary which includes the 360 evaluation by CES leadership team and the evaluation from the superintendents. The Board will get an anonymous survey to fill out that are the exact same questions the superintendents received. This will be the third year we use this. Our Research and Evaluation department compiles the information. The Board had a lengthy discussion about whether Bill should be able to see the comments and ratings of individual Board members as well as the Superintendents. The Board concluded that each of the evaluations will be open for Bill to review and will not be anonymous. The Board surveys are to be done in April. The evaluation committee then has the first part of May to meet and prepare a summary report to the Board.

Bill did a walk-through of his evidence and artifacts related to each of his annual goals (that were approved by the Board in September). His lengthy packet stated the goals then presented details, sub-goals, evidence, and artifacts.

Under Goal # 1, there is an overview of the Superintendent Induction Program and what he completed this year. Patricia Smith asked if it is his last year. Bill said it is.

Also under Goal 1 was the 360 review of Bill completed by CES Leadership staff. This 360 was part of the New Superintendent Induction Program. Bill especially called attention to this. The survey was sent to 25 people and 22 filled it out. The group surveyed consisted of key staff, heads of platforms, and directors. In many ways the platforms are helping develop second tier leadership in CES. Bill did a walk-through of the survey. The first part gave results of the Likert-scale questions. The next two pages are comments that were made at the end of the survey about strengths or areas to improve overall effectiveness. The comments are verbatim. Bill stated this is very rich information for the Board’s purposes and his purposes about what he is doing well on and what he needs to improve on.

The two pages after that are a comparison; this is the fourth time Bill has had this same 360 done, so the comparison points out trends over time. In some cases he got consistency across strengths and at some points it was more of a middle ground. The first one was in September 2014 after 7 months in the position, then again in April 2015, March 2016, and this March 2017.

Pat Smith asked in terms of staff that is evaluating, how consistent is the cohort – is there anyone is consistent over all four years? Most of them are the same. Audra Goscenski asked if this was his leadership team only. It was. Humera Fasihuddin asked when he started his position – March 2014. Dan added that previously, Bill was the Deputy Director.

Bill next presented key themes/trends. He was strong on external communications, being collaborative and professional, being inclusive, making decisions based on information, and being aware of and pursuing areas of growth. These are the five he thought really stood out. On the other hand, the trends suggest he needs to be more personal, less introverted, and goal-driven. He then listed his next steps. He talked to HR and plans on doing professional

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development in one of the areas listed. Also, the plan is to hire a Deputy Director to give him more time and to have someone who can complement his strengths so the agency benefits the most. As an introvert, he doesn’t know when he’s not giving information he needs to give, so every year he ends up requesting that the Leadership Team tells him when he’s not doing it. He needs help because it’s a blind spot. The Leadership Team agreed to do that.

Under Goal 1, Bill presented all of the local activities he is participating in, including meeting with all of the school committees. The last page under this Goal had state and national organizations and activities that Bill was involved with over the year, all intended to promote CES and its work to all of these different audiences. Dan added that Bill was at the small and rural schools initiative – it was nice to see him there. Also, he knows CES sent a few people, including Angela Burke and Albert Mussad, to the Summit on Poverty. Dan stated that it’s important for Board members to point out because it shows CES’s commitment to social justice and poverty. Bill said he really enjoys meeting with the school committees as he finds it invigorating that they are doing so much community work.

Goal # 2 is instructional leadership. For each of the objectives and details, Bill presented a one-page status report. His goal was to provide leadership that will impact instruction and student learning in our direct-service programs, including monitoring data that they have and what we are doing with it.

Goal # 3 is about student learning. For several reasons, the evaluation project with two of our member districts has not gotten off the ground. Instead, he is looking closely at one of the longer-term programs, including HEC Academy, Afterschool, and DYS.

Goal # 4 is to promote CES programs and services. Bill presented artifacts and evidence about: 1) the many ways we collect data to help understand our members’ needs; 2) surveys to determine Special Education needs and services, initially in the Berkshires, and then in Franklin and Hampshire counties; 3) a new initiative about having district liaisons; the ongoing meetings we hold with districts in order to keep our finger on the pulse of our districts; 4) Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) which meet roughly monthly; 5) monthly Superintendents’ meetings, with two-thirds of the meetings superintendent driven; and 6) CES involvement with promoting shared interests and concerns of our members, for example about the special needs of small and rural school districts.

Howard Moore asked about attendance at the Superintendents’ meetings. Bill said attendance is really good. There are 19 total superintendents: 10 from Hampshire County and 9 from Franklin County. Hampshire County tends to have 6-8 while Franklin County tends to have 5-8. He thinks the number is high because they get so much out of it. Bill Erickson from Hampshire County and Kevin Courtney from Franklin County help us organize them.

Goal # 5 is improving the operations of the agency. Bill reported CES has made a lot of progress this year. We plan to roll everything out on July 1st. The Business Office is training a lot for the new business services package. We are also doing a lot of work on standardizing processes and procedures. Sarah Molloy has been helping with this. Right now, we are working on standardizing presentations since it hasn’t been consistent. We can bring more quality by being more consistent. Angela added that the Technology department and Communications department met together and spent a lot of time invested in creating this set of resources, including slide templates, photo galleries, and videos. Everyone will go through training and everyone has to do a 10-slide presentation with some clear learning objectives in order to meet requirements to do a CES-branded presentation.

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Also in Goal 5, Bill shared the Social Justice and Equity (SJE) 3-year plan, which is included in order to give a sense of where we stand and what the goals are. Like many things, it’s taken longer than expected, but we’ve done a good job imbedding it in internal and external work.

Lastly, in Goal 5, Bill presented documents and artifacts concerning a re-organization of CES, driven largely by the fact that the education field and funding of education is changing, and CES needs to become more responsive, efficient, effective, inclusive, and innovative. Bill shared: 1) the key drivers for re-organization; 2) the input from the Leadership Retreat and Operations Team; 3) the current organization chart, which includes a lot of silos; and 4) the new proposed structure. In terms of the new structure, Bill first noted that we are representing ourselves as a servant-leader organization. The Board and Bill are on the bottom, then the two different major pieces that support all of the direct services who in turn support schools, districts, families, and federal initiatives. This is reinforcing that we see ourselves as servants of the various constituents we serve. Also important is that the re-organization calls for a Deputy Director and a Cabinet composed of leaders of the six major functional areas of CES. Right now we have a 25-person leadership team meeting monthly. The leadership team will continue to meet quarterly, but the cabinet will meet more regularly to be more efficient and responsive.

Results of Superintendents’ Survey

The Board next reviewed results of the Superintendents’ survey. Thirteen of the nineteen superintendents responded. Bill reported that he was pleased with the results. There were no “needs improvement” or “unsatisfactory” on any question and the comments were positive. Our Research and Evaluation department did the summary.

Dan Hayes stated that looking at all of the goals, evidence, artifacts, and survey results is important. It seems overwhelming, but when you read the report it helps you understand it’s a very dynamic and complex agency. We do a lot of different things all over the state. Bill stated that most of the Board members receive similar documentation from their Superintendents for their annual evaluation. Personally, he thinks it’s a good exercise to look at the year and put on paper what happened. Dan said if the Board needs further documentation or evidence, then they can email Bill.

Mt. Tom Update A committee met to review progress at Mt. Tom and make recommendations. The committee is: Hussain Hamdan (representing the Board); Craig Jurgensen (Hampshire Regional Superintendent); Sharon Levesque (Parent); Pedro Gomes (HEC Academy + Supervisor for Mt. Tom); Laurel Peltier (Special Education specialist at CES;) Barbara Cheney (Lead Teacher) and Bill Diehl.

Hussain Hamdan reported that there was a general consensus that this is a very valuable program. It has helped individuals to really excel who might not have thrived in a “one-size fits all” high school model. In a lot of cases, these young people can begin using college credit. It’s in his opinion that it is something we want to keep running. It fills a need. Bill added that he got a number of ideas on how to enhance and promote the program.

Barbara Siegel said the program will break even this year for the first time ever. She said enrollment was good and that a few budgeted expenses that were developed by the previous manager were found not necessary by the current manager. Bill added that we were able do an enhanced program through a teacher assistant and psychotherapist as well. He appreciated the Board pushed back on that.

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Howard Moore noticed that half of the students are not from member districts. He asked how they found us or if we found them and why there was low enrollment from member districts.

Bill responded that we definitely would like this not to be the case. We do a lot of work promoting it. Liaisons might help, but it’s been up and down. Part of it is word of mouth. It’s a particular niche of students who are best served in a college campus. He thinks we definitely need to keep promoting it. We will also investigate the possibility of a similar program at GCC.

FY18 Wage Scales to HEC Academy teachers, assistant teachers and paraprofessionals (vote required)

Barbara Siegel presented the following proposals:

• A 2% cost of living increase for all special education department staff based on inflation rates and what other communities are doing; the Finance Committee supported the recommendation.

• The second of three salary adjustments for the licensed content teachers at HEC Academy. The first was proposed and approved last year; this year entails a second $7500 per teacher increase at a cost of $30,000. Next year, the total cost will be just over $19,000, and will bring Academy content teachers to the same scale as other licensed teachers; the Finance Committee supported the recommendation.

• An increase to the base salary of paraprofessionals to $15 per hour; after some brief discussion, the Finance Committee supported the recommendation.

Hussain Hamdan moved to approve the wage scales to teachers, assistant teachers, and paraprofessionals. Cathy Englehardt seconded. All were in favor with no abstentions.

Tuition

Barbara next presented recommendations for HEC Academy and CBWE summer tuition rates. After discussion, Hussain Hamdan moved to approve the recommendations and Cathy Englehardt seconded. All were in favor with no abstentions.

Appointment of a Chief Procurement Office (vote required)

Barbara presented a recommendation to appoint Rebecca Lincoln as Chief Procurement Officer.

Phil Girton had held this position and has left the agency. Rebecca Lincoln is a Staff Accountant and Assistant Director of Finance and she has already taken the first course, She is well-qualified for this position. She will be overseeing procurement to make sure we follow all Massachusetts laws.

Hussain Hamdan moved to approve the appointment and Cathy Englehardt seconded. All were in favor with no abstentions.

CES Financial Presentation (vote required)

Barbara Siegel started with the changes in fund balance. She reported that there is a current deficit. If we look at it individually by department, administrative revenues have increased slightly while expenses have decreased. She did a comparison between this January and last

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January. It’s good to see that revenue exceeded expenditures in this period of time. When looking at SPED, there is a slight increase in revenue and small increase in expenditures.

The intergovernmental line covers all grants and contracts. It is lower relative to last year. They will both be spent out completely so every year we strive to spend every penny in every grant.

The In-service area includes Professional Development and Licensure. It is not news that this has been a difficult area as we’ve been trying to re-direct. Both slightly improved from the report the Board received in November. Barbara reported that the loss right now is improving and we are heading in the right direction. We will show a loss by the end of year, but we are making changes to try to mitigate that.

The Special Ed Department overall is currently at a loss:

• Special Ed Program (HEC Academy and CBWE) show a surplus of $32,000. • Itinerants are breaking even. • OTC and CCATT are both showing losses, with OTC showing a significant loss. Losses

in these areas have been consistent over time and are an area of concern. A recommendation was made to have a working group study these two areas in order to come up with a plan regarding how to address these concerns.

o Melissa Burke and Suzanne Crawford volunteered to be a part of the group to review the situation with OT and CCATT.

o Dan Hayes moved to approve Melissa and Suzanne being a part of the group to review the programs and provide a report to Board. Hussain Hamdan seconded. All were in favor with no abstentions.

Hussain Hamdan moved to approve the CES Financial presentation as presented; Suzanne Crawford seconded. All were in favor with no abstentions.

Treasurer’s Report

Don Scott was unable to attend (he was invited in January and March). He submitted a report that is very favorable. Barbara Siegel outlined the comprehensive process that the Treasurer uses in examining CES finances. Dan Hayes said if anyone has questions, submit them to Barbara Siegel.

Hires and Separations (vote required)

Bill presented the list of hires and separations. He explained that the three separations were voluntary. Cathy Englehardt moved to approve the hires and separations. Audra Goscenski seconded. All were in favor with no abstentions.

New Initiatives Under Consideration (some votes may be required)

Bill discussed the fact that we are facing challenges with out funding with the uncertain prospects of local, state and federal funding to support our work. Therefore, CES is looking at options for new programs and cost-savings. We want to see if there is approval for moving forward.

Licensure discount for member districts

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We have a licensure program that often has empty seats in classes. There are a lot of non-member district people. Can we increase enrollment and support our districts by giving a fairly significant discount to educators from member districts and to CES staff? Bill requested approval to move forward with doing a study of this, then bring a full recommendation to the Board.

Audra Goscenski moved to go forward with the study. Melissa Burke seconded. All were in favor with no abstentions.

Dan Hayes mentioned that Bill doesn’t need to ask for approval but it’s his way of having the Board involved and aware. Barbara Siegel added that it is also important for staff to know the Board approves.

Special Education transportation

Member districts are trying to save money and all districts pay for this. A more coordinated fleet could be a cost-savings, but we don’t know if we have the capacity.

Cathy Englehardt mentioned that we looked at doing this several years ago. Bill said we want to see if it’s worth revisiting. Barbara Siegel added that that was 7 or 8 years ago, because districts wanted to know where their kids were and have more control. The finance landscape has changed though, so there is a new interest.

Bill wants to do an investigation into how we can help.

Stephanie Conrod mentioned that she served on the CAPS board and they do their own transportation. We may want to reach out to them.

There is no board approval sought; this is informational.

New Special Education program(s)

There is new work in Berkshires through a sub-grant from North Adam Public Schools; North Adams had collaborated with CES on an Efficiencies and Regionalization grant from the Governors’ Office. Jodi Drury, has been hired as Project Director to lead this work. The first phase is to set up a collaborative-based special education program serving a student population identified though a survey of needs in the northern Berkshires.

A second potential for new Special Education programs comes from Superintendents expressing needs for support for Pre-K, K, and 1st graders with emotional challenges and behavioral issues. This conversation will need to be ongoing, and continue in the fall given the complexities involved in transitioning students from Early Childhood to Pre-School.

A third possibility is the request for in-school middle school program for students with Emotional Disorders; it would focus on helping students transition back into public school to get access to a general education setting, improve skill sets and be re-integrated into home schools. While the initial outlook was positive, at the time of the Board meeting, districts were unable to commit to student referrals.

Ongoing challenges with attempts to create programming entail balancing risk/cost with available student referrals, ad trying to find areas of growth that are not grant dependent but also serve our member districts. Further needs assessment will be required.

Space considerations

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We are renting space next door with a landlord that is not very attentive to our needs. We approached an architect and they proposed that we consider a third floor at 97 Hawley; apparently, zoning changes now allow this. This would save us rent next door and everyone would be in the same building. We need to do a cost analysis. The next desired step is for a team to do a feasibility study, which would cost $6000.

There followed a discussion of current rental costs and other possibilities, such as a new building or a site in Franklin County, as well as considerations such as how long 97 would be disrupted by building a 3rd floor. Cathy Englehardt then moved to go forward with the feasibility study as presented by the Executive Director. Pat Smith seconded. All were in favor with no abstentions.

Update on Professional Development:

Angela Burke updated the Board on Professional Development’s progress in the month that she has been in her new position.

• There are three upcoming retirements of long-time employees; the plan initially is to not do a one-for-one replacement and to do some re-organization.

• Albert Mussad, the previous director is now a fulltime Professional Development consultant so he is generating additional income. For the end of the year they should be in a better position.

• Next year, DESE awarded two more cohorts of SETLI. Each cohort has 30 participants. It is a year-long course and was extremely well received this year.

• They will be continuing the inclusion training in Easthampton and Erving. • They will also continue the SEI endorsement. They are currently running 11 sessions for

this spring semester. • This spring’s open enrollment was very successful. • Angela and her staff have been trying to determine what PD districts would be most

interested in and are looking at a shift to more online course options since teachers are increasingly interested in online options.

• We are exploring a tiered enrollment model, which they tried it out in the “Critical Reasoning in the Age of the Internet” course. The idea is to have a free webinar as an introduction, followed by an on-line self-paced PD session, followed by an on-line course or open enrollment offering.

• We are beginning to do more PD in personalized learning and equity. • Angela discussed other innovations that would help us be innovative and more

responsive to the needs and available time and resources for PD.

Update on CES Re-Organization

Bill gave an update as part of his report, including a presentation of a re-configured organizational chart. Budget implications will be part of next month’s FY18 budget presentation.

Executive Director’s Report, including update on CES services to districts

An Executive Director Report was included in the packet, and Bill reviewed highlights. We will get the Executive Director report to the Board as a separate document so they can send it to their school committees.

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Bill also passed around the district usage grids. Board members requested that we send these out along with the ED Report.

Two corrections needed in the charts were noted - RC Mahar and Orange need to be separated and New Salem and Wendell need to be together. Bill said we would correct these.

New Business / Open Discussion – Board

Dan Hayes said if there is any new business, they are more than welcome to email Dan, Bill, or Anne (it will get to someone).

Adjournment (vote required)

Dan Hayes motioned to adjourn and Audra Goscenski seconded. All were in favor and the meeting adjourned at 9:04 p.m.

97 Hawley Street, Northampton, MA 01060 413.586.4900 | 413.586.0180 fax

Finance Committee Meeting

May 17, 2017 The meeting began at 8:05 a.m.

In attendance were:

• Finance Sub-Committee members: Hussain Hamdan, Howard Moore, John Robert, and Dan Hayes, Board Chair, ex officio.

• From CES were Barbara Siegel, Director of Finance, William Diehl, Executive Director, and Sherry Smith, Special Ed Director

1. Barbara distributed these documents for discussion a. Combined Statement of Revenue and Expenditures and Budget vs. Actual for the 9

months ending March 31, 2017 b. Combined Statement of Revenue and Expenditures and Changes in Fund Balance for the

9 months ending March 31, 2017 c. Annual Budget, FY 2018

2. Barbara reviewed our position (Budget vs. Actual) as of March 31.

a. Administration and Special Education are healthy with slight surplus

b. In-service programs are running a deficit

i. The Committee discussed reasons for this deficit. Barbara and Bill talked about 1) licensure changes as well as a state (and national) decrease in people seeking to become educators; 2) changes in PD leadership; 3) changes in funding from the state as well as availability of PD funding for districts. Barbara and Bill also shared some of the plans to improve the income and reduce expenses.

ii. It was noted that, overall, we need to not run a deficit; at the same time, PD and licensure are key services, and we want to support them going forward

iii. The Committee discussed having a workgroup to do a deeper dive into PD and licensure and make recommendations to the Board, much as was done for Mt. Tom and for the OT and CCATT Centers. The workgroup could include Board members, a few practitioners at CES and in districts, and a few Superintendents. This recommendation will be brought to the Board for the May 24 meeting.

iv. It was noted that, overall, we reduced expenses by $382,000 from same time in 2016

3. Barbara reviewed the Changes in Fund Balance for the 9 months ending March 31, 2017

compared to the same period as of 3/31/16

a. It was noted that Administration and Special Education had increased revenues from the previous year. Inservice programs had reduced revenues of $558,443, but had also

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reduced expenses by $382,131. Intergovernmental (grants and contracts) had similar reductions in revenue and expenditures.

b. Overall, CES reduced expenditures by $928,663

4. Barbara next walked the Committee through the Annual Budget, FY 2018

a. Barbara explained how the new re-organization is reflected in the budget presentation

b. She reviewed the budget assumptions

c. She reviewed the combined overview agency budget of $37,308,015 in revenue, and with a projected revenues above expenses of $33,630.

i. CES is recommending no change in Member District assessments

ii. Service and tuition rates were reviewed and discussed.

d. Barbara next reviewed the Operations and Business Development budget, including the assessments to member districts based on the 2017 DESE student counts.

e. Barbara reviewed Birth Through 22 Direct Services

i. Reviewed Mt. Tom

1. CES is recommending increase – to $10,800 for members and $11,880 for non-members. Superintendent Robert said he believed it was still inexpensive for districts.

2. Barbara proposed putting Mt Tom tuition and SPED tuitions on a different schedule – so we have the figures for the following year by January so superintendents can plan their budgets

3. Committee recommended thinking about starting a Mt Tom type program in Franklin County (GCC) once we feel confident we have the program down

ii. Reviewed Special Ed programs

1. Barbara discussed the summary then reviewed the proposed tuition increases for HEC Academy and CBWE. The Committee discussed the increases and what made them necessary.

2. CBWE was discussed in more depth, given the low number of students and subsequent higher tuition. The Committee recommended that Barbara develop price points for 3, 4, 5, 6 students (set a range that is acceptable).

3. The Itinerant services, CCATT and OT centers – Barbara recommended we keep the same rates

iii. Afterschool – tuition-based –This is a relatively new area for us and we are breaking even

iv. Community Health Solutions – have most of the revenue in place

f. Barbara reviewed the Professional Services budget. Bill and Barbara described in more detail plans to increase the revenues while also improving services and meeting the changing needs of districts and educators.

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g. Lastly, Barbara reviewed the Grants and Contracts / Special Revenue Budget

i. She noted that the projection included $50,000 indirect revenue from “unknown grants and contracts.” The same item is in this years budget and we have already exceeded the projected amount by $20,000.

The Committee made four recommendations: 1) establish a workgroup to do a deeper dive into PD and licensure and make recommendations to the Board; 2) that Barbara develop price points for 3, 4, 5, 6 students at CBWE; 3) that the Board presentation, where possible, compare figures with the with previous year; 4) that there be a one-page summary for the Board. Hussain Hamdan moved to accept the budget as presented (with those 4 recommendations) and move it to the Board for approval. Howard Moore seconded and all approved. Hussain Hamdan moved to accept the 2% COLA as presented and move it to the Board for approval. Howard Moore seconded and all approved. Hussain Hamdan moved to accept the financial reports as f March 31, 2017, as presented and move it to the Board for approval. John Robert seconded and all approved. Dan Hayes moved to adjourn the meeting and Howard Moore seconded. The meeting adjourned at 9:33

Respectfully submitted,

William Diehl Acting Secretary

HIRES AND SEPARATIONS MARCH 25, 2017 - MAY 15, 2017

HIRESLast First DATE HIRED PROGRAM POSITION Part-time or Full-time*

DRURY JODI 03-Apr-17** SPECIAL EDUCATION PROJECT MANAGER - (BERKSHIRES) Full-time

SEPARATIONSLast First DATE OF SEPARATION PROGRAM POSITION Part-time or Full-time*

LUDWIN LAUREN 28-Mar-17 SPECIAL EDUCATION PT ASSISTANT Full-timePIOGGIA GINA 29-Mar-17 EARLY CHILDHOOD A.R.T. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Part-time

* Full-time: 35 + hrs/wk ** previously hired part-time 10/20/2016* Part-time 20 - 34 hrs/wk

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Collaborative for Educational Services

Executive Director Contract of Employment

March 1, 2014 to June 30, 2017

Approved by the CES Board of Directors, March 2014

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Collaborative for Educational Services

Executive Director Contract of Employment THIS Contract is made as of March 1, 2014, by and between the Board of Directors of

the Collaborative for Educational Services (CES), hereinafter referred to as the “Board”, and William Diehl, hereinafter referred to as the “Executive Director.”

By signing this Contract, the Board hereby offers the Executive Director the position of Executive Director and the terms of this Contract, and the Executive Director accepts the position of Executive Director and the terms of this Contract.

In consideration of the promises herein contained, the parties hereto mutually agree as

follows: DURATION_AND_COMPENSATION

A. This Contract shall commence on March 1, 2014 and terminate on June 30, 2017, except

as otherwise provided for in Article VI (Renewal of Employment Contract) and Article X (Termination of Employment). A contract year, as that term is used herein, means the period from July 1 through June 30 of the following year.

B. Salary for the Executive Director will be based on two hundred sixty (260) days, including paid holidays, per contract year. The gross salary for the Executive Director from March 1, 2014, through June 30, 2014, shall be $47,135, based upon eighty six days, including paid holidays. The gross salary for the 2014-2015 contract year shall be $142,500. The gross salary for the 2015-2016 contract year shall be $145,500. The gross salary for the 2016-2017 contract year shall be $148,500. Additional compensation in the form of incentives, merit, and/or any other increases of salary will be at the discretion of the Board.

C. Accrued vacation and sick leave earned by the Executive Director in his prior position with the Collaborative will be credited to him under this Contract, and the percentage paid by the Collaborative for insurance coverage will remain the same as it was in the Executive Director's prior position. The Executive Director's total years of employment at the Collaborative will be used in determining entitlement to other benefits, or level of a benefit. The Board agrees that the Executive Director may continue to participate in the Municipal Retirement System, and the Collaborative will continue to make contributions as required.

VACATION AND OTHER LEAVES

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A. Vacation: The Executive Director shall receive twenty (20) working days of annual vacation, exclusive of legal holidays. He may carry over vacation days from contract year to contract year; however, the total amount of accrued vacation days may not exceed fifteen (15) vacation days in any contract year. If the Executive Director leaves his position after July 1st and before June 30th of the new contract year, he will be entitled to pro-rated vacation days and other related benefits. At the time of the Executive Director’s retirement or resignation, the Executive Director will receive his per diem rate of pay for each day of accrued vacation time.

B. Sick Leave: The Executive Director will be entitled to accrue sick leave in the amount of

1.5 days per month. Sick leave may be accumulated up to one hundred eighty (180) days. At the discretion of the Board, a doctor’s certificate may be required for any absence. Such discretion may be exercised by the Chairperson of the Board, without prior approval of the Board. The Board, in its sole discretion, shall determine the adequacy of any doctor's certificate.

C. Other Leave: The Executive Director shall be eligible for up to three (3) personal leave

days per contract year to be used to attend to personal business that cannot otherwise be accomplished outside of the normal workday. In addition, bereavement leave shall be granted as outlined in the employee handbook.

OTHER_BENEFITS A. Insurance: Health, dental, disability and other insurance coverage and benefits will be

available to the Executive Director under the Collaborative for Educational Services (CES) plans, as outlined in the employee handbook.

B. Professional Organizations: The Board shall pay the annual membership dues for the

Executive Director’s or the Collaborative’s membership in the following professional organizations: Association of Educational Service Agencies, Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and any other organizations which are deemed important by the Executive Director and the Board.

EXPENSES

The Board shall reimburse the Executive Director for reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of his duties under this contract, and as provided for in the CES annual budget. Such expenses include, but shall not be limited to, costs of out of area transportation and other expenses related to attendance at appropriate local, state, and national meetings and conferences. The Executive Director shall provide relevant receipts as requested. The adequacy of the receipts will be determined by the Chair of the Board, or his/her delegate, prior to submission for reimbursement.

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PROFESSIONAL_CERTIFICATION AND_RESPONSIBILITIES_OF_THE_EXECUTIVE_DIRECTOR

A. Certification: The Executive Director shall hold certification(s) and license(s) as required

by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and/or by the Board.

B. Duties: The Executive Director shall carry out all duties and responsibilities as provided in M.G.L. c. 40, sect. 4E, 603 CMR sect. 50.00 and the Collaborative Agreement, and shall have charge of the administration of the Collaborative, under the direction of the Board. He shall direct and assign administrators, teachers and other employees of the Collaborative under his supervision; shall organize and arrange the administrative, supervisory and program staff, as best serves the Collaborative, subject to the approval of the Board; shall, from time to time, suggest policies and procedures deemed necessary for the operation of the Collaborative; and, in general, perform all duties incident to the office of the Executive Director and such other duties as may be prescribed by the Board from time to time. The Board individually and collectively shall promptly refer to the Executive Director for his study and recommendation all criticisms, complaints and suggestions that are called to the attention of the Board. The Executive Director is expected to attend all Board meetings and provide administrative recommendations on each item of business considered by the Board. The Executive Director shall keep the Board fully informed as to his administrative actions both as to reason and outcomes.

PROFESSIONAL_LIABILITY

A. The Board agrees that it shall defend, hold harmless, and indemnify the Executive Director from any and all demands, claims, actions, and legal proceedings brought against the Executive Director in his official capacity as agent and employee of the Board, provided the incident arose while the Executive Director was acting within the scope of his employment, M.G.L. c. 258 permits the Board’s action, and so long as the Board’s liability coverage is adequate and permits the Board’s action. However, the foregoing sentence shall not automatically allow for indemnification of the Executive Director for alleged civil rights violations; the Board will determine indemnification on a case by case basis in such a circumstance. No individual Board member or member school district shall be considered personally liable for indemnifying the Executive Director against such demands, claims, suits, actions, and legal proceedings.

B. The Board shall not, however, be required to pay any costs of any legal proceedings in

the event the Board and the Executive Director have adverse interest in such litigations.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

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By the date of its regular scheduled meeting in June, annually, the Board will approve goals for the Collaborative and the Executive Director for the next fiscal year.

EVALUATION The Board shall provide a yearly evaluation of the Executive Director’s performance. By the date of its regular scheduled meeting in March, annually during the term of this contract, beginning with the first full year of employment, the Board will formally evaluate, in writing, the performance of the Executive Director. This evaluation and assessment shall be related to the position description of the Executive Director and the goals and objectives of the Collaborative and the Executive Director for the contract year indicated. The evaluation procedure, as well as the performance standards for the Executive Director, shall conform to the requirements of 603 CMR sect. 7.00, et seq. to the extent that the regulations are applicable. The evaluation of the Executive Director will be discussed by the Board at a posted meeting, and will result in a single written document that represents the consensus of the Board.

RENEWAL_OF_EMPLOYMENT_CONTRACT By the date of its regular scheduled meeting in March, 2017, the Board shall vote on whether to renew or not renew the Executive Director’s employment and contract of employment. The Board shall inform the Executive Director of its decision in writing, as soon as possible thereafter, but no later than March 31, 2017. In the event that the Board has approved renewal of employment of the Executive Director, but a successor contract has not been finalized by June 30, 2017, this contract will be automatically extended, and remain in effect until a successor contract is signed or some alternative agreement is reached.

TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT This Contract and the employment of the Executive Director may be terminated as follows:

A. Retirement of the Executive Director. B. Disability of the Executive Director: In the event of disability by illness or incapacity, if

the Executive Director is not ready to assume the essential duties of the position of Executive Director, after the initial period of twelve (12) weeks of sick leave (if accrued and available to the Executive Director), which shall be coextensive with the Family Medical Leave Act as provided by law and the employee handbook, the Board may determine that the Executive Director is disabled, at which time this Contract and the employment of the Executive Director is terminated. In addition, in the event of suspected disability by illness or incapacity, the Board, at its discretion, may require the Executive Director to submit to a medical examination, to be performed by a doctor licensed to practice medicine. The Board shall select the physician who will conduct the

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examination, and the examination shall be done at the expense of the Board. The physician shall limit her/his report to the issue of whether the Executive Director has a disability which prohibits him from performing his duties. If, in the opinion of the physician, the Executive Director is unable to resume the performance of his duties, the Board may terminate this Contract and the employment of the Executive Director.

C. Discharge for Cause: Discharge for cause, and written notice thereof, shall be provided by the Board to the Executive Director, and the Executive Director shall be entitled to appear before the Board to discuss such cause. If the Executive Director chooses to be accompanied by legal counsel at such meeting, he shall bear any costs therein involved. Such attorney is limited to advising the Executive Director, and may not participate in the meeting. Such meeting may be in executive session at the discretion of the Board. The Executive Director shall be provided a written decision describing the results of the meeting.

D. Unilateral Termination by the Board: The Board may, at its option, and by a minimum of thirty (30) days’ notice to the Executive Director, unilaterally terminate this Contract and the employment of the Executive Director. In the event of such a termination, the Board shall pay the Executive Director his regular salary from the actual date of termination to the end of the contract year during which termination takes place, or for four months from the actual date of termination, whichever is greater. At its discretion, the Board may choose to have the Executive Director leave his position immediately and be paid for thirty (30) days in lieu of the thirty (30) days' notice. Should the Board exercise this option to terminate, the Executive Director shall be permitted to submit a letter of resignation within five (5) business days of the date of the letter of termination, in lieu of the termination, and the Executive Director shall still be entitled to the compensation described elsewhere in this clause. Where the Executive Director submits his letter of resignation, the letter of termination will be destroyed.

E. Termination by Mutual Consent: The Board and the Executive Director may mutually

agree to terminate this Contract and the employment of the Executive Director upon ninety (90) days’ written notice.

F. Unilateral Termination by Executive Director: In the event the Executive Director wishes to unilaterally terminate this Contract and his employment prior to its normal expiration date, for the purpose of seeking other employment and/or retirement, he shall give the Board one hundred and twenty (120) days’ written notice.

G. Death: In the event of the Executive Director’s death while employed by the Board, his estate will receive an amount of money equal to 100% of all accrued vacation leave.

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AMENDMENT This Contract may be amended altered, modified or changed in any manner only by mutual consent of the parties hereto, evidenced by a majority vote of the Board at a duly held meeting and in writing signed by the Executive Director.

ENTIRE_AGREEMENT

This Contract embodies the whole agreement between the Board and the Executive Director and there are no inducements, promises, terms, conditions, or obligations made or entered into by either party other than those contained herein. This Contract may not be changed except in writing and signed by the party against whom enforcement thereof is sought.

INVALIDITY If any paragraph or part of this Contract is invalid, it shall not affect the remainder of said agreement, but said remainder shall be binding and effective against all parties.

EXECUTION_OF_AGREEMENT This Contract shall be executed in two counterparts, each to be deemed to be an original and which, taken together, shall be deemed one and the same instrument. In witness whereof, the parties have hereunto signed and sealed this agreement and duplicate thereof this ___ day of _______________, 2014. ____________________________________ William Diehl, Executive Director ____________________________________ Lisa Minnick, Chair, Board of Directors

May 2017 Executive Director Report to the Board of Directors

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS May 24, 2017

Dear CES Board Members: This is an exciting time of year, when the dedicated work of educators all over Franklin and Hampshire County come to fruition with graduations and other end-of-year celebrations. HEC Academy will be having its graduation at 10:30 on June 2rd at Sage Hall, Smith College and you all are invited! We also have a number of graduations across the state for youth in DYS and SEIS programs. And Mt. Tom Academy will be graduating ten students on May 26th at 11:00 at Holyoke Community College (these students officially graduate from their home schools).

A few of the major highlights since we last met include:

• Earlier today (May 24), there was an out-standing conference – Safe and Supportive Learning Environments: Bringing Together Social and Emotional Learning, Trauma Sensitivity and Positive Behavioral Approaches. CES co-sponsored and co-planned the conference with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE), the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC), and Mass. Advocates for Children’s Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative. We were requested to be partners in putting on the conference due to our reputation in the Commonwealth in this area. Over 300 people, in district teams, attended the event in Devens.

• We held the Annual DYS Youth Showcase – Share Your Art, Share Your Voice – just yesterday (May 23) at WGBH in Boston. This annual Showcase supports and recognizes the talents and positive work of DYS-involved youth and features youth art, musical performances, youth presentations and more.

• I have continued to meet with member School Committees, with four goals: 1) inform School Committee members about the purposes and functions of a collaborative (or Education Service Agency); 2) review the programs and services provided by CES to schools, districts, and educators, with an emphasis on those used by the local schools; 3) discuss a few of the exciting new offerings, initiatives and innovations at CES that might be of interest to the district; and 4) solicit suggestions and ideas for new programs and services that would help meet local needs. As of this Board meeting, I have met with thirty-two of the member school committees, with one more scheduled.

• We have continued holding important staff training, geared towards building CES’s capacity to be responsive, effective and innovative. o We held a 2-day Leadership Workshop on Social Justice and Equity, facilitated by Dr.

Barbara Love and Dr. Russ Vernon-Jones, which included 30 staff members from across the agency; this 2-day event was paid for through a grant from the Community Foundation of Western MA.


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o Most of the CES instructors, consultants, and those involved in external presentations have now participated in Google Slide Presentation Training, conducted by CES’s Lauren Parent and Casey Daigle-Matos, with co-planning by Kathy Levesque. The training explores both design and presentation principles. Not only is this great PD for everyone who has to do presentations on behalf of CES, but the training will help us do much more effective and CES-branded presentations.

o There are has been training throughout the agency on our new technology (Infinite Visions for business; Salesforce; and Applitrack) – all designed to make CES more effective and efficient.

• CES has welcomed three very new members to our collective family: On April 8,

Sheela and Mohammad Owais welcomed their first child, a daughter, Hooria Noori; Mohammad works in our Business Office. On May 5, Early Childhood’s Sarah Lusardi, delivered Thomas Owen Alexander, at 6 pounds, into the world. Thomas has the good fortune to have older siblings - Kai and Lucas. And our Adapted PE teacher, Mackenzie Paolini, gave birth to a healthy baby boy--Cooper James!

• Nancy Desrosiers, paraprofessional in CBWE will be retiring after 27 years of service and dedication to CES in various functional life skills programs. She has been a steady, and highly valued member of our team over the years. Thank you Nancy!

• Lastly, I want to recognize and thank Cecelia Buckley, who will be retiring from CES on

June 9 after many remarkable and dedicated years of service in a variety of leadership roles at CES. There will be an open-house event on June 9 from 3-5 at CES to honor her.

Cecelia has provided inspired and inspiring service to CES and the districts, schools, educators, families, and students we serve. Her leadership in direct services, professional development, and licensure has made improved education for all learners a reality. Her entrepreneurial spirit and honed skills in writing for grants, reports, and programs, have helped CS flourish Cecelia has worked incredibly hard day in and day out to help ensure that CES is providing exceptional and needed services to educators and all students. It has been my personal privilege to work with Cecelia. She has been a wonderful colleague, talented leader, and valued friend.

Following this letter are additional highlights. Best regards,


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Other Highlights – May 24, 2017 STRATEGIC GOAL 1: MEETING MEMBER DISTRICT NEEDS by collaborating to build needed strength and capacity based upon recognition of current and upcoming demands and trends in education. A FEW SELECTED ACTIVITES • The Annual CES Customer Survey has closed, with 574 completed and 328 partial

responses (total 902). Analysis is underway and we anticipate providing the final report summary to the CES Board at the June meeting.

Professional Development and Assistance to Districts and Schools • The Franklin/Hampshire Summer Academy will be providing 17 exciting courses in the

following areas: Science, Math, Social Studies, Technology, Managing Classroom Behaviors, Special Education and Social Emotional Learning.

• Albert Mussad, with Professional Services, has recently completed intensive training to support districts in “Planning for Success.” Based on the Massachusetts Planning and Implementation Framework, Planning for Success incorporates legislative requirements, educator evaluation expectations, and effective planning practices in its design. Through his training in Planning for Success, Albert will be able to support districts in a multi-year improvement plan and annual action plan that supports implementation. Simple and accessible resources districts and schools can use to conduct an inclusive planning process are included. More information about Planning for Success in Massachusetts is available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/research/success/.

• 30 CES-trained reading interventionists, including 5 who were newly-trained this year in

schools in Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden Counties are completing successful work with 235 first graders in schools in Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden Counties using Reading Recovery, an intervention that meets the US DOE What Works Clearinghouse standards for alphabetics, comprehension, reading achievement and reading fluency without reservations.

• A community of practice made up of 28 ETLs (including Easthampton, Gill-Montague,

Northampton, and Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, and 23 ETLs from across the state) is completing end-of year online and in-person coursework in the SETLI Institute.

• Since April 1st, our staff of talented consultants have or will by the end of June provide

District-based PD for the following schools: William E. Norris School, Northampton Public Schools, Erving Public Schools, Greenfield Public Schools, Belchertown Public Schools, Westfield Public Schools, Fitchburg Public Schools, Central Berkshire Regional School District, Boston Public Schools, Holyoke Public Schools, Longmeadow Public Schools, Hinsdale Elementary, and Southern Berkshire Regional School District,

http://www.doe.mass.edu/research/success/


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• As part of a grant from the Community Foundation of Western MA to support ongoing Social Justice and Equity work in the Valley, we are hosting day-long sessions in Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties as a follow-up to the SJE conference held earlier in the year.

• Safire DeJong and a team of consultants have been working with the Easthampton Public

Schools to address racial tensions in their high school. We have conducted 8 student group meetings, 2 parent/community meetings, 1 staff meeting and multiple meetings with their administrative team. Safire is now analyzing the data and will develop a 3-year plan to work with schools to improve their school climate.

Connecting Activities and Perkins • Through funding for Connecting Activities, CES provided financial support to Easthampton

High, Northampton High, South Hadley, the Chinese Immersion School, Smith Academy and Amherst High for career speakers and transportation of students to career days, science exploration conferences, and more.

• Also through Connecting Activities, CES is developing the Hampshire County STEAM

Employer Action Group of professionals from area businesses and universities to increase connection (and establish career pathways) between high schools and businesses and institutions of higher learning.

• Through our Carl Perkins consortium, we continue to provide funding and materials support to

consortium members Amherst, Easthampton, Gateway, and South Hadley. We also will summer professional development of teachers, as well as professional development on reporting and the establishment of legacy protocol documents for school-based Perkins administrator teams.

Healthy Families and Community • SPIFFY Coalition received a $20,000 Opioid Prevention grant from the Attorney General’s

Office to implement LifeSkills curriculum in middle schools in Hampshire County. LifeSkills is an evidence-based alcohol/drug prevention program. Training will be offered in the fall, along with technical support and monthly Professional Learning Community.

• SPIFFY collaborated with the HOPE Coalition and the NWDA’s office to host a screening of “Resilience” at the Amherst Cinema to a sold out crowd. The screening was followed by a panel discussion. Plans are underway to discuss how to organize around Trauma-Informed Care and the ACES model in Western Massachusetts.

• HFC hosted a Youth Mental Health First Aid workshop for 25 teachers, counselors and

agency representatives at CES. A Youth MHFA Instructor training is planned for June. These are sponsored and funded by the Coalition of Western MA Hospitals.


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STRATEGIC GOAL 2: FOSTERING THE SUCCESS OF CHILDREN, YOUTH AND FAMILIES, WITH A FOCUS ON THOSE PLACED AT RISK – by providing educational programs, policies and practices that foster the success of families, youth and children.

(See also Goals 1 and 3) SELECTED / REPRESENTATIVE ACTIVITES – SPECIAL EDUCATION Enrollment: 41 Students TOTAL (as of 5/18/17)

• Academy = 36 and CBWE = 5 • Pending Referrals:

o (5) Academy referrals (3 member districts, 2 non-member districts) o (2) CBWE referrals (1 member, 1 non-member)

• Pending terminations: (1) Athol student; cannot meet needs here

• Members = 23 Students (56%) of TOTAL Special Ed Enrollment

o Members account for 64% of HEC Academy Enrollment Hampshire County = 70% enrollment (16 students) Franklin County = 30% enrollment (7 students)

HAMPSHIRE (16) FRANKLIN (7)

Amherst = 2 Frontier = 1

Easthampton = 2 Gill-Montague = 3

Granby = 1 Mahar = 1

Hadley = 1 Pioneer Valley = 2

Hampshire Regional = 1

Hatfield = 1

Northampton = 7

Ware = 1

• Non-Members = 18 Students or 44% of Total Enrollment o Non-Members account for 36% of Academy enrollment (13 students) o Non-Members account for 100% of CBWE enrollment (5 students)

Agawam = 1 Narragansett = 1

Athol = 2 Palmer = 1

E. Longmeadow = 3 Springfield = 7


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Holyoke = 1 Saugus = 1

Monson = 1 Events:

• GRADUATION on JUNE 2 at 10:30 a.m. (Sage Hall, Smith College) o (7) students expected to be on stage

(6) currently enrolled students will be graduating; (1) student who graduated in December will be joining us (2) students in their post-graduate transition year will be moving on at

the end of the year, but have already participated in graduation ceremonies previously

• Academy field trips to MASS MOCA, Springfield Museums; students had a great time!

Individual Accomplishments (staff/student): • 2-3 students interested in dual-enrollment at HCC for the fall • One (graduating) student applied for the Joan Schuman scholarship • Hire updates:

o We are still without an APE instructor; the person who was offered, and originally accepted the position, withdrew. We are currently interviewing.

o Michelle Geoghegan, the new Executive Assistant in Special Ed, started with us on April 10th, and is doing an excellent job! We are very glad to have her join us!

Other: • Clinical internship program came to a close in May

o (3) very successful interns: one each from Springfield College, Smith College and Lock Haven University in PA.

o We plan to continue our relationship with Springfield College and Smith College next year. In doing so, we will be increasing the numbers of interns we take and shifting their responsibilities to better support our students and school community’s clinical needs.

• We just submitted a grant application for Assistive Technology and UDL; if awarded this institute will be carried out over the course of next school year, with a renewal for the following year. The grant would include all members of the CCATT team, as well as Jodi Drury, our Berkshires Project Director.

SELECTED / REPRESENTATIVE ACTIVITES – Early Childhood Coordinated Family and Community Engagement (CFCE) We had a successful Week of the Young Child/Brain Building in Progress Week 4/23-29. This week is an effort to bring attention to the importance of early childhood in our communities and to celebrate young children. Some of our celebrations included: Ware - Ware Cares! – This outstanding community event on 4/25/17 featured a clip from Raising America and a discussion as well as a wonderful assortment of goodies contributed by local businesses.


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Amherst - Enchanted Circle: Reading Alive! - on 4/29/17. This early literacy event was co-sponsored by a Local Cultural Council grant. Attendees were treated to a dramatization of two children’s books in Spanish. Easthampton - organized by the Easthampton Early Childhood (CFCE) Council (e2c2), a special events playgroup on 4/29/17 with music and a diaper drive was held on 4/29/17. Palmer/Monson Family Network - During the weeks of April 10 - 28, various community guests, including police officers, librarian and school personnel visited the family center to read to children. Other Week of the Young Child/Brain Building in Progress Week celebrations were held in Belchertown, Chesterfield, Goshen, Granby, Hatfield, Pelham, South Hadley, Southampton, Warren, Westhampton and Williamsburg. Activities included: special activities during playgroups, story walks, children's art work displayed in store windows, magic show, puppet show and special art activities. Our competitive bid proposal for CFCE for FY18 was submitted on 5/5/17. Our PCHP program is ending the year at full capacity with a few families participating in a mini-program. Early Childhood Mental Health (ECMH) As subcontractors, we participated in the BHN FY18 ECMH grant renewal which was completed on 5/9/17. We currently have approximately 12 cases open and around 10 cases on the waitlist. Sarah Lusardi, our ECMH Clinical Coordinator is on an earlier than planned family leave and we have accessed resources within the department to support ECMH services. Strong Foundations for Young Children There are currently 5 cases open in both Easthampton and Ware. We have raised $1175 through our Valley Gives participation. Fundraising continues to be a goal to support SFYC. Recent discussion at our SFYC Advisory Board meeting included the beginning of an exploratory conversation on ways to reframe the program while still continuing SFYC. Parent-Child Home Program for Family Child Care CES Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP) staff participated in 4 training sessions for our new Parent-Child Home Program for Family Child Care grant and succeeded in recruiting the required 5 family child care educators to be served through an adaptation of the PCHP home visiting model. During an eight-week "mini-program" between March and June, Early Learning Specialists from the PCHP program are visiting family child care homes twice per week, bringing a toy or a book each week, and modeling ways to use them to promote developmentally appropriate early learning and school readiness. The families enrolled in each family child care program will receive a copy of the books to take home, along with a parent guide sheet that provides tips for parents on effective ways to share the book with their children and provide extension learning activities related to the book's theme. It is anticipated that this program will continue into FY '18 and will serve five additional family child care educators over twenty-four weeks.


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Also, one of the PCHP FCC Early Learning Specialists and the PCHP FCC Coordinator attended the two-day national PCHP conference on Long Island in early May. This opportunity to learn from and network with PCHP staff from all over the country will enhance the quality of our program. Assessment for Responsive Teaching In March and April, EC-ART offered 18 courses on using observation, assessment, and screening tools (in addition to 5 ongoing Professional Learning Communities), engaging 398 (almost 400) educators from 247 different programs. Training sessions were offered in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, in towns across the state from Plymouth to Lawrence to Chicopee. Our FY18 Assessment grant renewal was submitted on 5/12/17. EC Professional Development The following workshops were successfully attended by close 100 early educators: Sensory Processing: Creating a Sensory -Sensitive Classroom Curriculum and Experience for Young Children; Early Childhood: An Important Time to Introduce Social Justice and Diversity to Young Children, and Enhancing Infant Curriculum. In addition, we completed our Public Preschools Teachers PLC, with interest for another one next year. SELECTED/REPRESENTATIVE ACTIVITES – Department of Youth Services

• Grades 5-8 MCAS online was piloted in two regions with great success

• Another cohort of Fellows have been selected to participate in the Google Apps for Education and Chromebook 1:1 initiative

• Bargaining with SEIU will begin in May

• DYS Youth Showcase will be held May 23rd at WGBH in Boston from 1-5

• Director Clift has been asked to participate in a workgroup supported by ESE and MASCA on the development of 6 year career plans, based on the recommendations contained in the summary report of the Advisory Group On 6 Year Career Plans

SELECTED/REPRESENTATIVE ACTIVITES – Special Education in Institutional Settings

• SEIS recently hired the Associate Director of Professional Development and Curriculum, Diane Santos Long. Diane has been employed by SEIS in varying capacities of the past five years. Her rich experiences are a great addition to the SEIS leadership team.

• Lissa Picard, Professional Development Coordinator, with assistance from Kate Hobbs, Kate Lytton, Katie Galdamez and Rebecca Lincoln completed and presented an internal study regarding the impact of coaching in the SEIS system. Lessons learned and recommendations for the future were discussed with the Directors of SEIS from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.


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• Kate Firlings, Evaluation Team Liaison Coordinator and Muataz Almufti, trained teaching coordinators in all of our Department of Mental Health programs, to use the online MCAS system. The online test was given to all students in grades 3 and 8 in our DMH sites whose IEP recommended the online test. The testing sessions and the technology were problem free throughout the testing.

• The SEIS contract with DESE concludes on June 30, 2017. The collaborative will continue to administer this contract with three one-year renewals.

STRATEGIC GOAL 3: DEVELOPING EXEMPLARY EDUCATORS - through the delivery of high-quality and distinctive professional development.

SELECTED/ REPRESENTATIVE ACTIVITES (SEE ALSO GOAL 1 and 2) Professional Development • ESE has been so impressed with CES’s work in the Professional Development work we do

with Special Ed and SEL/SJE areas that they are launching second cohorts for two of our biggest PD projects:

o ESE is sponsoring a second cohort for the Special Education Team Leadership Institutes in 2017-18, ably planned and implemented by Laurel Peltier, Sharon Jones and (new this year) Jodi Drury. There are 60 slots available for Educational Team Leaders employed in MA schools.

o We will be holding another year of LEAP (Low-income Education Access Project). The training will take place July 24-27, 2017 in Marlborough.

• Angela Burke was recently selected by the Department of Elementary and Secondary

Education to serve on the Instructional Technology Specialist (ITS) Subject Matter Knowledge Panel. This panel will develop recommendations to address subject matter knowledge requirements for the ITS specialist in digital literacy (all grade levels), computer science (grades K-4), and coaching teachers in becoming digital age educators (all grade levels

• Casey Daigle and Suzanne Judson-Whitehouse delivered a sold-out MakerSpace session at the Assabet Valley Collaborative. We will be holding the MakerSpace training on 7/25 and 8/18 as part of the Summer Academy.

Licensure, SEI Endorsement Center, and Reading Recovery Credential Programs • 160 students started summer classes toward an Initial License in Moderate Disabilities,

Reading, ESL, mathematics and the sciences, in CES hybrid online programs • 35 licensure candidates completed the practicum this spring and will be endorsed for the

Initial license

• In April, the CES SEI Endorsement Center began the last in a series of 17 SEI Endorsement (RETELL) courses, completing provision of the courses to over 600 teachers and administrators across Massachusetts this year.


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• 90 teachers completed the Implementing Collaborative Teaching course, designed by CES and funded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

• 30 teachers completed courses - Understanding Differences and Disabilities and Learning Disabilities Instructional Techniques - funded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education through the Massachusetts Licensure Academy at CES

OTHER AREAS – A FEW HIGHLIGHTS

Communications

• Communications has been working with CES Web Developer, Travis Johnston, to design and create a new website for the Massachusetts Rural Schools Coalition. The website is in progress and near completion, and we anticipate that it will go live in May.

• Our Communications is providing support to our Evaluation team on a contract with Through My Window. We will be working through May and into June to provide analysis, reporting, and set up user dashboards for the client’s Google analytics.

• The Director of Communications and Marketing presented in late April to the MOEC Professional Development PLC group on Marketing and Outreach.

• We continue to work with ESE on the design and development of electronic files for their Writing Samples in Action program, and have begun work not only on new samples, but on redesigns of the existing samples library to update them for new standards.

Business Office

• Budgets for FY18 prepared to be reviewed by the Board.

• We continued training and development for the implementation of Infinite Visions financial software

• We are now interviewing underway for a new Accounts Receivable Specialist

• Cooperative Purchasing School and Art Supply Bids were awarded 5-12-17

• Cooperative Purchasing Food and Cafeteria Supply Bids will be awarded on 6-10-17

Human Resources

• Concluded implementation of Applicant Tracking Software & all hiring managers at

CES have begun using this system for recruiting and hiring of staff

• Open Enrollment negotiations completed - dental rates remain unchanged and health insurance increase was only 2%. We have engaged a new Third Party


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Administrator for our HRA and FSA accounts. Open Enrollment for all benefits is taking place from May 15 through May 26, 2017

Development

• Submitted a full proposal to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts for Leadership and Identity Development, a proposed program of After School at the VELA After School Program at Amherst Regional School. $60,000 requesting over three years. Award pending.

• Submitted a response to an MA DESE bid for Level V District Support for $125,689

in FY17 and $292,311 in FY18 for Professional Development. Not awarded.

• Submitted a response to an MA DESE bid titled Access and Equity for the Alternative Education Program for $58,195 for one year. Award pending.

• Submitted a response to the Preschool Expansion Grant Instructional Leadership

Series bid to EEC for the Early Childhood Department . Requested $53,772 for one year. Award pending.

• Submitted application to MA DESE for a Special Education Program Improvement

grant for the Special Education Department. Allocation of $2,194 for one year. Award pending.

• Submitted an application for Summer Enhancement Grant Fund Code: 647-B4 to

MA DESE for the Philip G. Coburn Elementary School After School Program. Requested $20,000 award pending.

• Submitted a proposal to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE):

Study Promising Practices and Scalable Models to Support the Recruitment and Preparation of Diverse Educator Candidates in the Commonwealth’s Educator Preparation Programs. Part of Massachusetts’ grant to Elevate Preparation: Impact Children (EPIC). Our Research and Evaluation Department is requesting approximately $15,000 per year

Documents

AGENDA ITEM TIME - Collaborative 24, 2017 Board Packet.pdf · AGENDA ITEM TIME Call to Order and Introduction of New Board members – Board Chair 6:30 2. Public Session 6:35 3. Approve