it is 6:01 p.m. and we will officially begin uh roll call for attendance uh mayor Garcia uh Miss Brunell I am here miss lefave present Mr Romero Miss tensley Williams present Dr Rivera cologne Dr cab present Mr willan here Mr Kore here Miss Wilson present and our Stu two student reps are here with us this evening as well all rise for the pledge of allegiance to flag un States America the for stands Nation godice all all right Excuse me while I have to go over some brief housekeeping on March 29 2023 Governor hilly signed into law an act relative to extending certain state of emergency accommodations which among other things extends the expiration of Provisions pertaining to the open meeting law to March 31st 2025 specifically this extension allows public boards to continue holding meetings remotely without a quorum of the public body physically present at eding meeting location and to provide adequate alternative access to remote meetings the ACT does not make any new changes to the open meeting law other than extending its expiration date to March 31st 2025 a notice it's hereby given to all members present uh that this meeting is being audio and video recorded all right so this evening we will be starting with our student showcase I'm excited to bring forward the principal at Kelly School uh Mr Aaron Morris good evening everyone tonight we have with us students from our three dual language prek classes led by our three dual language prek teachers who are new to us through resoning yet seem like they've been part of Kelly school forever so I'm going to turn it right over to them because my friends are getting antsy and Kelly School roll rolls pretty deep [Applause] [Music] spee fore are B all right here we go here it comes [Music] [Music] for foree fore spee spee spee [Music] [Music] spe foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] spee [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank you thank you thank you I got it got it you are great a good [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] kid kept looking back at [Music] not going to stand up what's wrong with you you play [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we're all staring [Music] [Music] oh my [Music] goodness time when when you Kelly scho remember R yeah all right well I would just like to thank all of the guests that came it's so great to see the wonderful turnout from Kelly school this evening thank you all so much and uh if anybody has any comments saying none we'll move right along so uh student reports Holo High School North oh I'm so sorry I apologize that we're we're not done with student showcase yet give me one second have a couple more you want me to Y if we just lift if you push back so so also in student showcase this evening we have some Pioneer Valley excellence and teacher Award winners um that I wanted to turn over M to uh Mr stto to recognize Mr SoDo yes so uh every year we get the opportunity to recognize and nominate uh six teachers in the district one of them a new teacher which uh within their uh first two years of teaching and um I really just wanted to uh take an yet another opportunity to recognize them publicly um I'm going to I'm going to say that their all of their names first and then for the it looks like we have three of them here today I'm going to read uh what the nomination said about them so at at Holio High School North we we have Sheila Fallon here and um it it what what they wrote about Sheila Fallon is that in education we talk about the irreplaceables for a school Sheila Fallon is an Irreplaceable at Holio High School North Campus Sheila gets so much done in one day I would swear that she has truly figured out how to clone herself and there are two Sheila fallons working at Holio High School Sheila truly cares about her students and works to know each student for who they are as an individual so that they feel like they are seen and like they belong this is what helps her students to be successful in her class and take academic risks Sheila can be seen cheering on every sports team walking in the Halls during her prep to see if her students are making the right choices narrating the howls in her classroom to support students as they learn to become independent Learners and giving students specific feedback to improve their work to grow as Learners and to meet high expectations she has set for them Sheila has been the supervising practitioner for three of the English teachers on our faculty and you can see the strong practices she uses in her classes not only does she participate in and implement the learning for professional development she has led some professional development and she leads her grade level content team with weekly planning and data meeting Sheila loves her students it can be seen in everything she does our students are lucky to have her as their teacher and her colleagues are lucky to have her as a colleague Sheila Fallon epitomizes excellent so I just want to say thank you Sheila and congratulations I also have here um from Cheryl kley Rivera she actually um she uh laminated an article that came out and recognized you so I just wanted to give that to you [Applause] um and we were all also able to recognize them at a at a dinner um at the Log Cabin uh about a week or two weeks ago was a very nice ceremony um so uh anytime we we have the opportunity to show off our staff we do and next we have uh marle Vega who is at Sullivan and merily Vega is a trans transformational teacher and we are very fortunate to be able to work with and learn from her every day Miss Vega teaches both our sixth grade Spanish language arts classes and our heritage language classes she has demonstrated on a daily basis what is possible in our school and in our district Miss Vega holds the highest of expectations for students is a loyal trustworthy colleague and a dedicated partner to the families that she serves she is welld deserving of this award and her whole team is excited that she is receiving this recognition so congratulations [Applause] midley out [Applause] and our third one is Nicole Fisher at dunah Hue um who's a big part of the leadership team over there um I'm writing to enthusiastically nominate Nicole fiser an exceptional Elementary School teacher for the Pioneer Valley excellence and teaching award Miss Fischer has consistently demonstrated an un wavering commitment to Student Success a collaborative spirit with fellow Educators and an exceptional ability to leverage data to inform instructional practices Miss fiser has shown an exemplary dedication to utilizing data-driven approaches in her teaching and coaching methods she consistently analyzes student performance data to identify areas of improvement and supports teachers in tailoring their lesson plans accordingly by leveraging this information she ensures that each student receives a personalized learning experience fostering academic growth and achievement one of Mi Miss Fischer's outstanding qualities is her collaborative nature she actively engages with fellow teachers and shares insights strategies and resources her willingness to collaborate has created a positive and supportive environment with within the school where teachers work together to enhance the overall educational experience for students in addition to her focus on individual students success Miss Fischer has also demonstrated a remarkable ability to create multiple plans and strategies to help Educators address diverse needs whether it's differentiated instruction targeted interventions or enrichment activities she is known for creating trackers I've seen a lot of those trackers to keep everyone organized the versatility has had a significant impact on the overall academic performance of all students at dunu thank you for considering this nomination I'm confident Miss Fischer will continue to make significant contributions to the holy o Public School Community congratulations Miss fiser [Applause] [Applause] so I'm not going to I I don't believe we have any of the other Award winners here but I just wanted to give them a shout out uh we have uh Christine loope Lopez at meaf um we have Suzanne planitis at McMahon and we have Amber Dutton at Morgan so those were the other recipients and they weren't able to attend today but uh I just wanted to public publicly recognize them for this achievement [Applause] yeah yep does anybody have any uh comments for the teachers before the exit Miss Wilson so I know you're um trying to get out of there so you can do some lesson planning correcting papers Etc getting all that stuff but thank you so much for your dedication to our students um it really is it's a wonderful thing that you give your all every day and it it's nice to be recognized for what you do it really is so congratulations Dr cabay yes second what uh Miss Wilson said well congratulations welld deserved hard work keep it up it's not easy but and that's why we all appreciate what you've done and continue to do thank you so much for your work thanks thanks Miss teny Williams I'm just going to uh piggyback a minute you guys are awesome and thank you so much the work is very hard and I promise you I will be saying a prayer for you okay welcome Mr colore did you have something say okay on behalf of on behalf of all of us dur in the school board thank you very very much for everything you do for our children in O and we appreciate appreciate it probably more than you do and how much we appreciate what comes out of these students when they graduate from kindergarten all the way through our high schools we appreciate everything you teachers do for us thank you all right thank you thank you guys so much for joining us we appreciate you especially Miss Fallon my daughter's freshman English teacher shout out all right great uh and then we have one more thing on student showcase questbridge College Prep scholarship yeah if if I may have uh Steve come up and talk about the scholarship unfortunately uh Michael Melendez wasn't able to attend today and um Anna regali but but Steve can can uh talk about this this um this particular student showcase yeah we um uh questbridge is a uh uh is a scholarship program that actually uh recognizes students when they are Juniors uh in high school the idea is um that that they become part of a cohort of students uh it's a national program and um they become part of a cohort of students they're connected nationally but they're also connected locally these students get um a really uh Rich uh uh kind of introduction to the opportunities that are available to students who have excellent academic records um as they enter their senior year and then through their senior year so Anna regali who is our uh college and career counselor at the north campus has been working with uh questbridge for the last five six years uh Michael is the first uh uh holy oai student to receive this um uh this scholarship uh since Anna's been um Anna's been trying to to get that um he will uh participate in a summer program of enrichment and and rigorous academics and then throughout the school year um he'll continue to uh do both academic programs and get uh enriched robust College counseling um questbridge Scholars are um colleges look to Quest Bri Scholars they they're almost like draft picks um these are exactly the kinds of students that colleges and universities want to have on their campus the other really great thing about questbridge um is that it stays with students through um their college year so it's not just about getting into but it's about getting um uh it's about getting through um and so uh Michael uh is uh is that nominee um he is an amazing kid I'm sitting down with him next week to get a sense of of what direction he's looking to go in and um that's that's questbridge thank you so much Mr Mahoney any Miss Wilson sorry no no please don't ever apologize what's the process um to become you know to be recommended um you know what did what things did um you know Mr Melendez have to achieve in order to be recommended to this you're nominated uh and then you're invited to apply so there's nomination then you're invited to apply and then um you go through a a written application process in an interview process um yeah so it's a it's a pretty great thank you yeah anyone else all right well thank you so much and our extended congratulations to the recipient and to miss regali for her efforts all right so now for student reports we'll have our hoo High School North Campus Student First uh hi my name is Nicholas Rodriguez the Holio High School representative on the school committee uh last Monday we hosted our first student family Summit it was an opportunity to connect with and hear from students and families around some of the key work we were doing in holoai we focused on what makes students feel like they belong along what adult what can adults do to build learning Partnerships with students and families and how can adults support students and families inside and outside of the classroom last Friday senior Morgan Murphy represented Holio high school at the District Attorney's youth Advisory Board end of year celebration that's a mouthful Morgan has been working on the healthier relationships project this year with student reps from other schools on Friday we had an early college graduation for the students who complet completed the early uh college program while at holokai school early college is an opportunity for students to to earn college credits while in high school students have taken classes at HC Westfield State University and bayth University also last Friday uh last Friday night was the annual ethnic studies block party it is an opportunity to come together as a community and play games listen to music eat food and participate in the open mic last Saturday 20 students from the north campus went to UMass for a celebration for earning the Seal of biliteracy this is earned by students taking a test to demonstrate literacy skills in at least two languages the Holio Roots restorative practice team has been partnering with Morgan school to teach restorative practices there they have supported the school by facilitating circles and Med uh mediations seniors are presenting their senior Capstone projects on Tuesday the 14th and Thursday the 16th the projects represent the culmination of a student's High School Journey students in the community and Global Studies engineering and life sciences acmy and the Performing and media artsies will be showcasing their Academy aligned projects to students faculty and Community Partners in our small gym and bandr we have lots of activities coming up to celebrate the class of 2024 on Wednesday the seniors will take on the faculty uh or and staff in the annual senior versus staff basketball game senior finals will begin soon followed by the prom class day and their graduation thank you thank you Nick any comments folks thing none Mr Kennedy all right I have a lot of dates here some of them are uh repeats from previous meetings but I do have a lot of dates so if you need me to repeat any of them I will at the end um first things first our May on May 11th our our students who participated and passed the Seal of biliteracy were celebrated at UMass we are very proud of the result and is important to celebrate the students who accomplished this amazing and vital goal we have six students who have earned the seal on April 11th our one of our seniors natly cologne was celebrated in the Worcester area for vocational student of the vocational student of the year she has an MC girls in trade and has been on Co-op since her junior year she represents Dean Tech Electric electrical program I cannot speak tonight um on May 21st and 22nd our sophomore will be taking their math mcast grades 9 11 and 12 will will have a delayed start to their day this week our seniors are taking their shop finals both in theory which is their written and classwork exams as well as Hands-On projects and on May 18th we are hosting our annual Dean Tech Car Show competing cars are rolling in at 9:00 a.m. uh sorry from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. our festivities begin at 11:00 and end at 3:00 with trophies such as uh best Honda best Toyota best audio system best class and I have the best in show that I need to be careful with right here um and Miss Brunell over there has a one of the gift bags that is given out to the car show participants um she will oh yes and everyone gets a free air fresher everybody gets an air fresher um we currently have three food trucks for the event from uh surrounding communities such as Hartford and Springfield and yes uh a senior collage was created by the yearbook staff I'm so sorry Miss Wilson please pass this down to thank you um tomorrow is senior night for two of our basketball for two of our basketball team players and boys volleyball is a is tomorrow night sorry that was edited right now um so I will clarify that if you need me to um just a friendly reminder class day award ceremony is May 23rd followed by prom at 5 5m at why yoff Country Club thank you um oh I'm sorry sorry so sorry going right back up to the car show everyone does have a flyer from the car show both a hard copy and an email copy of course I can get you another flyer if you need me to where was I right here on May 20th the seniors will be going to Brownstone Adventure Water Park and on May 29th the seniors are having their breakf uh senior breakfast receiving their yearbooks and rehearsing their graduation following that um on May 29th the National Technical Honor Society ceremony will be will begin at 3:30 p.m. here at Dean uh May 30th is our graduation beginning promptly at 5:30 and last but not least on June 3rd we will be hosting our student government elections for the school year 2024 and 2025 the with the exception of ninth grade which will be elected in October because obviously they're not here yet that is all thank you Mr Kennedy any questions comments or concerns Miss rosley Tenley Williams again I will donate three yearbooks to Dean and three to hooai thank you Miss William welcome anyone else all right thank you so much gentlemen always helpful to have your information um you guys can email me that ahead of time too if you want and I can share it with the committee if you ever feel like the dates are a lot to read off we can share it that way too all right so Vice chair reports um okay so attaching your packet is a quite a bit of information oh let me just recognize mayor Garcia just texted me he has joined us online um and Mr Romero it looks like has joined us online as well um I don't know if the mayor needs to be promoted okay great thank you thank you so much okay so um as discussed in our Retreat earlier this year um we need to adopt new rules and protocols for the um organizational purposes of the school committee so attached in your packet is ma Mas protocols and procedures a couple examples of what other communities um have adopted for their rules and procedures and then um it was suggested that we start to review our operating policies um so with that being said um if we want to jump in to the Mac I don't really feel like I need to read through this specifically um basically what I'm looking for here is we need to dedicate some time to go through these and to adopt rules um as a committee for our governance so we can either do that and start the discussion now and and discuss these in open meetings we can refer it to policy we can schedule a retreat we can do whatever we as a body feel like we need to do but I want to establish like um a timeline that we want to accomplish these by um to get these policies updated and procedural goals accomplished Miss Le fa um for me I'm I think it's um better if we do it in a retreat style um again this is the operational um duties of the school committee um and we want to make sure that we put in anything and everything that specifically we will we do and what we are going to do cuz you got to look Beyond um I think we really need to make sure that the positions of chair and vice chair and what their roles and responsibilities are are really detailed um in our operational policies um I know there's a history of what we do the vice chair is the one that runs the meeting sets the agenda is the the is the one that speaks you know um to the media um they're the ones that kind of guide it for for the committee the problem is is that it's not really written but it was something that has been going on for many years maybe it has and you you know unfortunately we can't retrieve um those meeting minutes but this is it well if Mr colmer I'm sure I'm sure is aware of because that was quite the time frame but it's not something that was within our time um I've been here 10 years it was way past that so with that being said I think it's really important that a retreat should be scheduled because this is to sit here during a regular school committee to address each one and make sure that we're addressing everything and making any recommendations to change it that could be very time consuming because everybody's going to want to share something about it when right now what we need to be focusing on at our school committe meetings is our students and their and their educational achievement and what we need to do to move our our district forward and make sure that our students are um succeeding yeah to to to second that Mr fa I remember when we were reviewing these La in the late of last year and the the policy that talks about the role of the chair it all specifically says chair and we use a vice chair so I had called it out then that even just simply that language needed to be changed because we don't operate that way so I couldn't agree more um I think I saw Mr willian's Hand yeah thank you yeah that's a good idea just you know back and forth is going to be interest um you know each Community does it different I know Springfield the the mayor is the chairman and currently he he runs the Mee as opposed to us where our mayor's present this mayor's this mayor's pres and the vice chair runs it so the Dynamics can be different for each Community it's really you know what what fits best for us you know that's what we're concerned with you know I'm not really sometimes concerned about what other other towns do I'm concerned about us as a body you know um going back to just adopting our Rules of Order you know the Roberts Rules of Order you know I've been on eight years and we've never officially adopted those other other communities the hoo city council they adopt that each year and there's other Rules of Order that other rules that that that they could adopt too Roberts is the most popular but there's other ones too so that's something that need to be flushed out thank you Miss Tenley Williams I totally agree with um Miss lefave we all will have some input so having a retreat would give us time because this would take three or four days if we did it this way okay thank you Miss Wilson so if you look at section B which I think we're referring to section B has over 30 policies um in that uh section where it it defines you know our role and so um you know I'll be honest I'm not even sure uh you know the board governance I'm not even sure we're going to be able to um get through all 30 of them in one re you know one review unless there's a lot of pre-work done um from the standpoint of you know looking at our policy reviewing to see um any significant changes um that you know using the Mas template which is the Massachusetts Association for school committees um because we generally use their template uh and then you know identifying and then as a group then we can move forward from that to discuss any um any additions um per se or any significant changes based upon how we currently operate um again once out of receivership and and then also how we plan on operating um as well so um you know I I you know I'm just in the few policies that you posted um that you shared for us to review for the meeting tonight um you know in my quick overview of the masc templates there is not significant changes proposed language changes um so there hasn't been any like legal you know kind of uh updates that we need to make to them but I think um it's going to take take time for us um to really think through you know and ensure that everything we do and what we want to do is going to be captured yeah at the mayor's request and Miss Le's request this uh this was add to the agenda and uh at the mayor's request I think specifically we need to definitely get our our procedural rules in place um he also sent me a copy of what the um city council adopts annually for us to use this reference as well but um you know definitely getting a retreat on board to get that scheduled yes Miss Wilson so for those people who were not at the meeting the local Control meeting um prior to this I just want to give an update if I might sure um because the work was done around policy and so um I just wanted to share that uh I did ask on behalf of our our district that they uh fund a complete policy review um and you know I noted a vendor a vendor uh they can't specify which vendor but I did share um that there was a cost that we as a district could not uh cover based upon our our tight budget this year and it wasn't planned on and we did ask uh the state to support that uh cost with and then they said they probably will be able to with a grant once they review things um Mr stto if I might share is giving the thumbs up um relatively speaking it's a nominal cost for for reviewing over 350 um you know policies that we have um one thing that we are going to be putting on the agenda is looking at which policies we want to uh which sections we want to go through first which ones we want to prioritize with their support so um you know if if if it is approved and once we have the money and we can enter agreement with a vendor for this um this might be the section that is Led through through the vendor discussing and leading us um not only what is what we currently do but what we should be doing and then us bringing it down to our local focusing on our student outcomes our teacher outcomes and you know our all of our constituents within our community Mr Kennedy oh I was bringing attention to Mayor Garcia's hand oh thank you Mr Garcia anybody else before me I was I'm up you're up batter up yeah I was just gonna like you've heard about I brought this up over over again last year and this year revisiting our rules I think now couldn't be even more of a perfect timing to to do exactly this I I know I I you know the little bit of what Aaron shared yes in the past who knows when the existing structure that we operate under just kind of happened that way and it might have been a decision made at that time every year there's a new there's new members on our board um and there's a new election time and we do our reorganization and we elect our vice chair and I think every year we should be at that time adopting what it is how we want to practice um and so I just it's so critical because it helps with how we want to govern ourselves and meetings um in in different aspects of what's uh involved when when you have rules as far as the the governance governance of our meetings are concerned uh but until then the rules do say that the mayor is the chair and we got the vice chair um and it's helpful the way we operate currently just because like even today you know we have the MEO bike ride I had to come to this meeting late it's very helpful to have that Vice chair dedicated um but you know until those rules change here we go we it's going to be noted right here this is our then we'll revisit again in January if rules or um after election time if rules don't change then but I am hereby delegating powers to the vice chair uh to help continue to manage these meetings um set the agenda uh and and govern accordingly as the way we've been doing it um just so that it's clear everybody but I know sometimes it just comes up and even in conversations Mary you know you're the chair you know or who's who's in well that's why we need to get these rules in order that way we can uh be sure that we're all on the same page and again that since we're transitioning to local control now couldn't be even more perfect to have that conversation do it in a retreat whatever the case let's look at different examples ones that we want to adopt and make sure whichever whatever we adopt doesn't conflict with Charters and then that way we can uh get to a point now where um we're structured the way and operating on the structure as written in some for some policy format yeah agreed I think we're talking about like two things right so we're talking about like reviewing the entire section b as follow as as far as school committee governance and then we're also talking about procedural practices right and I think it's the procedural practices that we need to probably have a retreat for and work on in the near immediate future while we're engaging the vendor and looking at the overall District policies and going over you know obviously all of section B but for example like right now we don't have a rule that says like how many times each member gets to speak right so those are the kinds of policy rules and procedures of how a meeting runs not the governance of the board overall but how a meeting runs it's those policies procedures and rules that I think as a body we need to really firm down um so I will entertain motions for whatever you guys see fit but I think a retreat should happen for the firming up of our policy procedure rules for the practices of a meeting and then of course as Miss Wilson said we're looking to engage an outside vendor to do further in-depth policy review so I think it's kind of two things um but however the body feels is best to proceed um whoever would like to speak first Miss Williams sure you certainly may a motion that we at The Retreat go over there quite a few of them do I have a second was that the procedural one or no she's her her her motion is to review the entire section B at a retreat that is the motion on the floor we don't them all oh well honey B is like a very large section with multiple Authority we got committed legal status we got a whole bunch right so have them all here yeah I'll make a motion that's okay there there's do I have a second on the motion on the floor no okay Miss cavan Dr cavano yes I would like to make a motion to have um you know time during a three a retreat to go over the procedural practice format of okay policies that we need to okay so the motion on the floor by Dr Cabo is to have a school committee Retreat for the purposes of uh establishing procedural policy uh rules for governance of the school committee meetings seconded by Miss tensley Williams any discussion Mr colore is this gonna be brought in in sections or are we going to start going before and bring in everything and try to solve these things the motion on the floor would be to solely have a retreat to just go over the procedural processes of how we want our meetings to run so as I said for an example how many times does each person get to speak on a particular topic um putting in writing for clarity that the the vice chair assumes the roles of the chair for the purposes of MC's description of the chair so the policy procedure and practices of how our meetings are structured for example rules and regulations adopting Robert's Rules so I'll share with you all for example what the city council adopts yearly and so that is the motion on the floor to Simply focus on that Miss William I'm Sorry Miss lefave I was looking right at you that's okay um so I I'm getting the part of the procedural practices right and so it could also mean like how many times somebody speaks and then you know uh you um the deadlines but it also goes to speak in regards to the role of the vice chair and the duties of power stow to me you might have to include at least um BDA which school committee organizational meeting which says when we have our organizational meeting the voting of the vice chair right you might have to then put in look at the other sections of B that might fall into sort of your um operation procedures so that that way if we can bang at least those out versus come up with an operational and then find out there's a policy as well and now we got to amend that and change that might as well do all of that not going to be all of B but let's pick the most important things that that um yep that really Define what we currently do so that it's updated Mr willan yeah that's a good point um I mean we can start just just taking the city Charter for one thing start there take the city council rules and regulations how they operate just for reference like I said and you know in terms of the rules on how many people speak and Y yada you know those are rules that have been adopted throughout throughout the ages I can use that term we don't have to have those rules right those are added those are they they've thrown those in you know you know term limits you know on the vice chair do we have that yes or no does a charter specify it yes or no so again there's going to be a back and forth you know know the the consultant that that Mrs uh Mrs Wilson talked about you know there's two comp there's two you know the Ken Center they do this for a fee The dunu Institute they do this for a fee they'll take our take the city Charter the City Rules you know and where do you want to go with that you want to keep it simple and sometimes the city council with their rules are like whoa you know you know you might not want all those rules in there you know so you know just the body will kind of kind of break that down Miss Wilson so when I I look and I think that I would like to stay and I'm going to say with the motion as made from just looking at procedural process um I believe that we're currently practicing a way that doesn't meet our policies but you know the the main one that we would look to change would be just one and that would be bdb school committee officers that would be the only policy that speaks to the chair the vice chair um you know when we're looking at if if we're so worried about that that would be the one where we would you know focus on but again if we're going to be you know putting forth a robust review I I would hate for us to review it to review it again and then to review it again when we have the robust review I would rather focus our time on our procedural Pro process um and and then move through our actual policies when it comes time because once again we're acting in a way that's not in accordance with our policies but then again we are under receivership so we're not following our our policies anyway based upon that Mr Colmore I think we uh first of all find out explain how this ever happened because one time the mayor had nothing to do with the school committee whatsoever we had our own chairman of the scho and when may couldn't come to a meeting and speak whatever her opinion on matter because he wasn't recognized he went to the state legisl got a law passed that all Mays Commonwealth shall be the chairman of they they passed it pass and then when when it came back to us now it was the law who was going to run the meetings and it was suggested by the chairman that it should be the president or now it becomes the uh Vice chairman of the school committee shall run the meetings at all times because the mayor even today doesn't have the uh time to put into organizing the school committee's agenda and everything else so that's why we at that time we said the vice chairman shall Now do the duties of this and run the meetings so it's just part of history that we go back and let people know why we have a vice chairman of the school committee did you have something you wanted to add so I'm looking it up and obviously section 31 of I actually don't know uh chapter 43 regarding the mayor they're the ex officio um chairman of the school committee but not all cities or towns is the mayor even the chair they're not even part of the school committee so for instance City Charter isn't it it's yeah so Southbridge I know that they have a chairwoman and it's a school committee School Committee Member they have their secretary um and their Vice chair there's other towns and cities that it well mainly towns where it's member of the school committee it's not the mayor um you know I mean this is off topic it it is what it is we have our mayor who is the chair we have our vice chair um who we who we elected to be the the our our representative right for the whole board um so with that being said I mean operational procedures that's what we're going to talk about about but again I'm just going to reiterate that even if it's that one that one is the one that's causing the most confusion as to who um who will be kind of like speaking up on on certain things who is it that the media will be reaching out to who is our spokesperson on behalf of the school committee um and just to point out too though with even in reviewing bdb and this right this is the one that I mentioned because it says the duty of the chairperson where we pass all that duty to the vice chair but even just looking at this so as example it says enforce the committee's policies relating to the order of business and conduct of meetings and we don't have currently set policy for the order of business in the conducting of meetings and that's Josh's point is you know we haven't had we haven't been adopting rules for the or for the order in governance of meetings since receivership because officially we don't have legal voting rights right so Miss Wilson did you want to add something actually no okay okay so I'm not really sure the best way to go from here but we do have a motion on the floor the motion on the floor is to have a retreat for the purpose of establishing doing the work to establish our operating rules and procedures for meetings so on that motion any further discussion a second we had a second yes so roll call on the motion mayor Garcia you're muted hun that includes everything mild was just referring to well the both of you were referring to about being clear on the officer's positions right well no so technically that would happen in an in-depth policy review we're just trying to get like the operations of like the rules the school the city council adopts it can but it can be it can be whatever the body feels like it needs to be but for clarity purposes the motion on the floors for operational like the the rules and regs of how a meeting is run not necessarily all the other things but we can add in other things or we just wait and see that Desy confirms we're getting the money reach out to the vendor get that in-depth policy review scheduled make sure that chapter or section B is the first thing that is done and we sit down with them and we establish all of this all at once but currently the motion on the floor is to have a retreat to go over the rules and regulations of governing a meeting that's that's fine the only reason why I just bringing that up is at some we have to be clear on that I know and I've heard a comment comments a couple times already about you know this is what we adopted we didn't adopt anything this body didn't adopt we just new members come on and we think we don't know we think that's the way it is so we go with it and we're told the vice chair is the chair no our rules and policies here says clearly the mayor is the chair until it changes otherwise that's what it is now where does it say that huh that the mayor is the chair of the committee right in the school committee policies where does it say that does at the mayor's it's it says it right there dbd says the the the duties of the chairperson it doesn't say that the chairperson is the mayor right so I think it's in the city Charter versus the school committee policy it's not so nowhere in school committee policy that I can find do it state that so we need Clarity maybe this needs to get referred to the Joint meeting first so that we get clarity on the charter right because it's not our job to know the city Charter necessarily right person got elect get elected I'm sorry I mean it says we we vote on a vice chair it doesn't say we vote on a chair I don't know what the charter says and I think it's the charter that that dictates the duties that the mayor is the chair Y and we gotta then to to everything we're talking about we just want to clarify and confirm these things but I know what the what the chart reads and um and so until then yeah like to say that this committee is adopting this because this the way we've done it because this happened 10 years ago and that H I can't run with that right now I'm looking at the policy and I go what the policy says however the mayor is it's better to have that Vice chair working side by side with the mayor who is is a chair under our current written structure um because it keeps the continuity going it keeps things flowing um uh but you know obviously like you know at some point we need to just kind of make make sure that's clear in writing and and and as far as the delegation of power so that we know where things stand but I'm a yes vote okay um I see hands but we had already discussion and gone to the vote so I have to take the vote if you'd like to vote no then you can make a new motion as opposed to continuing discussion okay I'm going to vote no Miss Le fave no Miss teny Williams sure you can abstain if you'd like sure uh Dr Cabo yes Mr willan yes yes Mr Kore no Miss Wilson yes so I think the yes is carry four yeses three NOS one abstain oh I'm sorry uh is Gustavo still on Mr Romero I'm um abstained so oh I count four yeses three Nos and two obstain is that correct r one three four five six it's a simple majority four yeses yeah yeah it's a simple majority four yeses okay so the the motion carries on four yeses so I will work with I'm sorry Mr colore just a moment I will work with the chair of policy to discuss this a little further and then reach out to you all to discuss a retreat now keeping in mind this Retreat doesn't have a timeline on it so if we decide that it should wait till we contact our vendor then so be it okay Mr colore correct me if I'm wrong but under cannot abstain without giving a reason well we have not officially adopted Robert's Rules of Order as the functioning process for the committee that's why we need we we have adopted we have not as of this calendar year Mr colore we have not adopted officially Robert's Rules of procedures in about nine years and that's the point of this conversation Mr no continue please yeah but every single policy we have right now written stays in effect until we change it correct so it hasn't been changed that uh you must give a reason for abstaining can you show me which policy it states that you have to I or show me which policy it states that we've officially adopted Robert's Rules no I can't give it to you right now then I'm sorry we can't enforce it if if we can't find the information I will happily come back to you because I think some others have some opinions on the on the discussion I know that I understand that but uh then every single policy that we presently have people you're allowing people to obstain I don't understand for clarity purpose exactly what you're saying I'm not allowing people to abstain um I I I don't I don't really know what to say to that comment so we'll just move on uh Mr willan thank you yeah Mr cmer I know the city council has you know they're they operate they take a vote every year they take take a vote operate under the rules of Robert's Rules we have not done that okay the eight years I've been here we have not done that okay that's a fact okay that doesn't mean we're not following our policies policies are in the are in you know the the good book okay the the way we run the meetings has nothing to do with the policies okay way who run the meetings it's a good example Mr colber said you know the city council you have to give a reason to abstain or walk out of the room and not be present so I agree with that there are reasons to abstain you know but you should be you should be making that you know uh that statement you have a personal conflict okay or you know weren't there for that meeting I've seen other other communities where they do abstain without giving a reason so I'm not sure what rules they're operating on so again it goes back to the rules the rules the body the rules of the body which is different than the policies Mr fave was your hand up you know what I think we need to move from this this is Miss Wilson you're good Mr K more and then we're going to move on okay yeah whenever we have this whatever please get a copy of CH not the charter the state laws I have the book actually there's one right there laws that pass this law that the mayor brought before the state legislature and they passed it okay and it should in the whatever they passed should have a spelling of everything that has to done okay duly noted thank you so much all right folks moving along uh Excuse me while I get my agenda screen back up okay superintendent receiver reports uh update on early literacy in K2 curriculum adoption thank you um and I am going to ask uh Rebecca Thompson and Caitlyn rosazza wrer there um just going to share my screen and my screen is this guy right here I was going to ask for support from my tech director over there but I got it um so I I wanted to take this opportunity to share an update on our early literacy efforts um I think one of the things that that has come through loud and clear throughout this local Control process is the theme of of school committee making sure they're they're um supporting the Strategic priorities the Strategic plan and their supporting any efforts that are are about getting better results for our students and um I have here a list of all of all of our priorities early literacy learning experiences inclusion old child and educator development I think we we have spent uh the large portion of the last three years on these uh top two ones early literacy and learning experiences I think we made a a pretty significant effort this year to really focus and uh on inclusion although we we had a a you know the Staffing challenges that have presented themselves have have not allowed us to carry out that you know our vision for inclusion as we had expected and I feel like a lot of our focus is Shifting in the coming year to uh the the these bottom to educator development and whole child you guys all seen the recommendations from the teacher retention work group and a large portion of that is higher quality professional development that resp respects their their tenure and differentiates and makes it more meaningful to them so um but I can't think of any priority that's more important than early literacy I we went to go see the PEC building the other day and uh the the construction of the PEC building and you saw basically all the footings and the the I think it's rebar uh that that you know supports the concrete it it doesn't look impressive at all right but it's the foundation uh without that there is no building we like to see the nice paint and the nice beautiful lighting and then all the like bells and whistles that come with it but when when I saw that Foundation I really thought of our our priorities in early literacy and we're we're not we're not going to see you know the results right away we're not but it's so important that we build that Foundation that kids get to read by the time they're in third grade um everything else is going to be uh very very hard to accomplish if we don't get this right so I'm really happy that we named this as part of our strategic plan I'm really happy that we had um you know we had a an amazing person that helped lift it with Rebecca called Kina and I'm so appreciative that that we were able to find uh somebody to really uh take the lead in this work and Caitlyn has just been doing a phenomenal job she presented at one of our Retreats um and and she's just been doing incredible we're so lucky that we were able to replace somebody who was amazing with somebody who is just as amazing and she's doing uh some great work I wanted to start with some celebrations in addition to uh being able to find Caitlyn and and have her jump in and hit the ground running and and really take the bull by the horn and and help us with this very important work um we've already been able to uh all of our K2 teachers um including our ELD and special education teachers and reading interventionists have already completed uh year two of of Hill which is the the 10 science of reading learning modules um our star data shows a 22% increase in districtwide uh in uh students that are above Benchmark so uh beginning of the year we were at 19% and we jumped all the way up to uh 41% in the middle of the Year our K2 star data also shows a 18o decrease um in students in Urgent intervention so we have less students that are in Urgent intervention within uh the K2 grade band uh we were at about 40% of our students at the beginning of the year and and in the middle of the Year we're down to 22% um there the quarter 3 early lit walk data utilizing early lit tool indicates that K2 teachers observed we're effectively imp implementing uh an S so a science or reading strategy 73% of the time so um all the professional learning that they were getting we actually saw it present in our class rooms as we walk through um and we've we're adopting a new new curriculum so I just want to name those are some of the successes those are a lot of inputs and and a lot of what we're what we're seeing but um I'm just really excited for this work and it's so important and I want to make sure that we continue to keep the the school committee um up to date on all of our priorities but this one is just like it for me it's it's just so important and we need to get this right um not that it's more important than any of the other priorities but you know those other priorities um this this this one will definitely support it so very excited to share some of that data we do have a ton of data at the end of the presentation we're not going to go through those it was included in your packet but I you know to respect your time and um I you know I trust that if you have any questions you'll ask them but I am going to ask Rebecca and and Caitlyn to uh continue with the presentation uh thank you um first I just wanted to say I'm really happy to be here today and to meet everyone for the first time um I started my career in hoo and to be back here serving in this capacity is just really great because it's it's such a wonderful community and I'm happy to be a part of it in this in this capacity um and I'm really passionate about all things early literacy and and dedicated to supporting our students our families our teachers and our administrators um to ensure that all of our students um in the district become successful readers and writers so thanks for having me here today um and thank you superintendent stto for sharing those celebrations we're really excited about all of the good things happening in the realm of early literacy here at um HPS um so I'm going to share you all know um that early literacy is one of our priorities um but here you can see um um the different strands of the priority those three strands and the benchmarks for the year um so that first strand um has to do with ensuring that our students have access to a high quality curriculum um also it has to do with our teachers being empowered with deep early literacy knowledge so all of our teachers in the district have that same Foundation of learning um and in that that they are aware and able to effectively Implement science of reading aligned strategy um the second strand has to do with um our instructional leaders providing direct coaching and support because we know we can provide the professional learning but we need to also couple that with um the coaching and support so that it is a successful implementation of that new learning and then our third strand uh has to do all with Data Systems right so that we are looking at the data to um continuously monitor student progress in um foundational reading skills slide thank you so now I'm going to highlight um a little bit more in detail some of the work um across the three strands um so the first um priority again has to do with that um deep early literacy content knowledge and as um superintendent Soto mentioned you all know we've partnered with Hill for literacy and we are at the end of uh we're really excited that we're closing out year two of that partnership and now um the teachers who have been here for those full two years have engaged in all 10 modules they've completed their coursework and uh all along we've been seeing them start to implement but now they're really going from the learning phase to fully um the implementation phase um which is exciting and additionally we have to think you know we know um retention is something of concern in our district so we have to think about those new folks coming in who are here for the first year how are they getting that same um knowledge so that all of our teachers are on a Level Playing Field and able to best support our students um so those folks coming in have um engaged in asynchronous modules that goes through the same coursework and then they have um their coach at their school who's very knowledgeable and has gone through it all themselves who's supporting that implementation um in a differentiated pathway so that all of our Educators no matter when they're joining our district are receiving the same um basis of learning go to the next slide um so again um superintendent stto highlighted um our walkthrough data for quarter three but again um we wanted to see how are these strategies being implemented in classrooms across our district and we go on a walk and get a sample of that um and we're starting to see an increase in the effectiveness of the use of those science of reading Alli strategies um teachers uh excuse me teachers are becoming more comfortable with executing their learning and utilizing um the feedback fact that they're getting from both their external Hill coach and their internal expert teacher uh literacy coach um to improve their practice and um just to highlight again that um quarter 3 win that um the data indicates that kada to um teachers that were observed were effectively implementing one of those strategies um 73% of the time um which is on track to reach the Benchmark for the year so exciting uh implementation data to make note of and then moving on to that second um strand uh priority um again we really believe um this is the model of our coaching support and just a graphic that kind of shows how it all comes together but we found this model to be particularly um effective because teachers receive the new learning they get support from their internal coach with planning for um you know implementation like a C- planning session um trying it out um amongst them M themselves and then um they actually receive coaching from that external Hill coach um and their internal expert teacher and that that really supportive dual coaching method um has helped um our teachers to be really successful because they're taking the learning they're getting support in planning and they're getting um implementation feedback and continuously improving their practice in that way and then our final if you want to move to the next slide please um our final strand has to do with again our data systems and um in terms of data systems and the teaching and learning cycle um again we want to analyze the data and respond to Student Learning needs and one of the ways that we do this here in the district is with the Dibbles assessment I'm not going to go into all the detail but the slide offers you some more detail as to what the assessment includes um but it gives really specific data related to foundational skills and early literacy skills um and in gives teachers the knowledge to then Implement those science of reading strategies but with like a data informed instructional focus and then the last slide just um for reference if you want to see when um kind of each of those subtest is assessed at which grade levels um it could be a helpful visual for reference but I'm going to now turn it over to Rebecca Thompson um she's going to discuss how early literacy is promoted in our dual language programming as well as go over the um curriculum review process proc if you wouldn't mind pausing for a question Miss Wilson so um as someone who has done um you know benchmark assessments um throughout the school year I'm just wondering how the district now um helps teachers manage um that three times a year times 30 students um impacting uh getting the good data while not losing that instruction time and I'm wondering you know how is that done now yeah great question um so um I definitely think it's a school-based effort um we have really amazing expert teachers at each of our schools and they're very organized and detail oriented and creating kind of a schedule of testing and it's all hands on deck right expert teachers are taking students to take some of that lift so that teachers can um maximize time on learning as well as our reading interventionists they um test all of the students on case load oneon-one so that you know that percentage of whatever 25% of students has taken off teachers plates as well so it's definitely a group effort um in making sure that um we're getting good data from the the testing but we're not um losing time on [Music] learning and then finally I I just want to um you know at the school I was at um Donahue um they did a wonderful job um having a a a resource for all the photoc copies that are needed to collect the data and I'm hoping our schools are doing that same thing so teachers not are not spending their time making photoc copies of the you know note-taking data and that there's a general you know place for them to go just grab you know anything that they need to jot down when they're doing a a reading record or things like that so I'm just making that general statement that I I hope we're using our Educators wisely and not standing behind photocopiers yeah just if I can respond to that the system is all digitized now so there's an mclass digitized platform and then there's so all the recording is done digitally and calculated digitally so you're not sitting around and calculating words per minute by hand oh when you know how to make a teacher happy yes and the resources as well come in a binder that students they don't have to photocopy they they just use them over and over so it's very low prep thank you on behalf of all the teachers thank you Miss Thompson please continue okay thank you um we did not want to leave out our dual language classrooms and early literacy and um you've had a whole presentation from associate director of dual language Laura Espinosa mufson um so I won't go into detail here but I think it's important that we when we're talking about early literacy we're talking about early literacy in both Spanish and in English um so I just wanted to mention it here um she did put a slide together for us so that we could review that here but uh she certainly speaks to it in more detail and and has previously this year at a school committee meeting um but they use the foundational skills program inarc to SLA classrooms um based on authentic development of Spanish early literacy skills instead of dibles they use anneal um in our dual language programming as the assessment piece um they have professional development around common core standards in Spanish just as we do um for English and around the priority foundational skills standards um there's coaching support just like we have our expert teachers we have the same for SLA in our um dual language programming we have the data system that monitors that um and a protocol for teachers to utilize that data and just the promotion of cross linguistic transfer of foundational literacy skills um to English so all of that is happening I did not want to leave that out in a presentation on early literacy but she certainly went into it more depth when she was here um and then recently there was a recommendation brought to me um from two committees that we had running for uh K2 curriculum uh we have what's called a district literacy leadership team our dilt uh that meets once a month it's uh composed of kat2 teachers expert teachers interventionists from all across the district there's representation from every Elementary School present on our Dil committee um and we talk about a range of topics a lot of it has to do with the health for literacy and sorr implementation and how that's going and what problems are we running into and what successes are we having and then we also have additional topics that we talk about during those meetings to support um and a good chunk of the time this year the meetings have been spent on this curriculum review and uh we also pulled together a dual language curriculum committee to go over a review of the K to2 curriculum in the Dual language programming as well um both of those committees recommended um they did a thorough analysis with with the desie protocol and rubric but also the dilt committee used the hill for literacy rubric which had to have had 50 different components for looking at all the different aspects of how you um acquire early literacy and K2 um and all of those different pieces and so after a thorough review they came to me and um both made a recommendation to adopt hmh into reading arba Alor um and tomorrow in our content Tuesdays teachers will have their first overview um review start to get familiar with some of the materials and some of the programming and then this summer they will have uh professional learning there are choices for either like the end of June or beginning of August whatever more flexible and they'll be compensated for that time to come in for training for those that can't make it will'll certainly also have um professional learning that happens at the start of the school year this is um I exciting in that one it will give us alignment with our three to five programming so K to five will have the same curriculum principales expert teachers last year were saying Rebecca why aren't we doing this kto five and my answer to them was we knew we needed something urgently in grades three to five k to2 has different needs we don't want to make a rash decision and and move and jump into something new we really want to pull committees together make sure we're including ELD teachers special educators language programming all of those pieces um and really give it a thoughtful go and we weren't looking at all different we were looking at look at our current programming and utilize the rubric to see is it meeting the needs versus the hmh into reading and it was a resounding we we want to shift to this our teachers are currently using multiple resources and having to pull and they're teaching more than one content so for just early literacy they might have to pull from four or five different places and this will help to streamline that and make it easier for planning it'll also make it easier for new Educators coming into the district that they're not having to pull to meet all of these needs that they have one resource to utilize so um we're excited about this our principes and expert teachers are certainly excited about this um and our teachers that were on the committee um really have started to dig in and um some are even starting to Pilot I believe because they were so excited so um so thank you do you have any questions on this any M Dr Cabo thank you so much for the presentation on this live show I think this is um an amazing job that needed to be done I know like last century but um I appreciated the fact that now teachers are doing meaningful uh professional development something that they it is theory that can be applied immediately and it's like sort of like a an increase in literacy apparently 50% almost you know from 20 to2 was a 41 um I appreciate that so much you know the children need need them and as Mr sod said that's the foundation if we're not taking care of that well what are we going to expect the rest of the building and the knowledge and the students thank you so much appreciate it yeah Miss hensy Williams all I want to say is there was a lot of work that went into this um I had a lot of reading to do this weekend thank you so much this took time and talent to do and we really appreciate everything you guys do okay thank you so much Miss Wilson so according to our policy IG curriculum adoption um the school committee itself um will consider and officially adopt new programs and courses when they constitute an extensive alteration to instructional content or approach I believe this meets that so I was wondering I would like to make a motion that we adopt the new curriculum um um as a school committee keeping in mind that it's just for Kumbaya purposes practice makes perfect can I have a second on the motion seconded by Miss tensley Williams any further discussion Mr Kennedy um I was wondering if I could ask two questions and make my discussion then before if your questions are not related to the motion specifically I will come back to you for your questions if they're related to the motion specifically you may ask them now okay then I'll just I'll just make my comment about the curriculum if this curriculum is if the format of this curriculum is anything like what we have in the high schools which I believe was mentioned um I do not believe that this curriculum is going to be efficient in teaching our students I have been I have been one of those students who have been very against the curriculum that in our high schools right now because I just don't feel as though I'm being benefited from learning it um even the expert teaching teams like the coaching I do not believe is benefiting anyone matter of fact I think it's actually doing damage to our students and to our staff um I think that yes it looks great on paper and I do appreciate the work that you guys are doing but it I feel as though I'm one of those students that have been failed by the system and I know that there are a lot of students in there who have um this is obviously much different for students younger maybe but if it's anything like the curriculum that we have in high schools that we have even in my middle school then this is not a curriculum that I feel as though is beneficial for our students and I as a student who again feels as though I've been failed by this curriculum numerous times um I think that it would be a mistake to implement it into our schools I mean obviously I don't know if we have a if we if you guys really have a say in that but that is my opinion and I I have my questions after but I'll you can come back to me thank you Mr Kennedy Mr Colmore yeah someone tell me has this gone to sub it has not but it does not have to I know it doesn't have to I agree it doesn't have to but I really think that should go to curriculum subcommittee for re first then being brought back so we don't have a curriculum subcommittee specifically for curriculum um and the district itself has already adopted this so this is already happening so us approving it is just for like we can approve or not approve it it's still happening so um if you'd like to refer it to subcommittee you're welcome to but we don't have a curriculum subcommittee no no continue I just want to okay thank you Mr bullan was your hand up yes when you say this is just for Kumbaya what does that mean well I just mean that for all intent and purposes the board does not have voting rights to adopt and approve procedure or policy at the current time under receivership so the the the receiver can and I don't mean this in any disrespectful way can do what he wants um so if we want to take a vote and to support support the decision we can um but we have no say on whether or not this is the curriculum that's adopted currently all right so we did have a second on the motion so I'll take a roll call whether or not the school committee would like to vote to show our support for the curriculum adoption uh Mr Garcia I think he has signed off I don't see mayor Garcia I myself am yes yes Miss lefave no Miss teny Williams certain yes uh Dr Cabo going to abstain Mr Mr willan no Mr Kore no Miss Wilson yes all right uh Miss Romero I'll do yes okay so I think it passes then yes passes okay so the motion passes the school committee has officially endorsed the policy or the curriculum adoption um okay thank you ladies appreciate your presentation uh did you want any did you want to add anything I'll just be quick I I know the state's actually trying to pass uh pass uh some legislation around around early literacy and I just want to name that like we are ahead of the game because of the great work that this team is doing um essentially what they're trying to do is to get other districts to to do what we're doing um you know in terms of making sure you're selecting high quality uh instructional materials and curriculum making sure that there's uh really good implementation and Prof professional development and that you have Data Systems in place there's a lot more to it but I can tell you from everything that I've heard from experts in in this area like we are well ahead of the game so when this new law passes and this initiative passes like oio is just going to be able to continue to do what we're doing because we we started this process a couple of years ago so it's something to be really proud of and Mr Kennedy you had a question before we move on um yes who like who specifically is it like people from this area like from this uh district from people from your office who created this curriculum or like the yeah the curriculum specific um it's hmh hotton Mifflin is the name of the company that that does it so one of the one of the great things about I wouldn't even I'm not going to say the great things but there we went through a process and that desie goes through a process to vet and vet all different curriculum and kind of rate whether or not it's high quality and this is on their list of of curriculum materials so I apologize that you know uh I I don't know what specific curriculum you're referring to but this is new and this is part of the reason like what we've been using has not been leading to better outcomes this is going to help us get kids to a better place by the time they're reading hopefully by third grade um and it'll just change the trajectory of of their learning we've also adopted new curriculum this year in grades 3 to five around Ela um and you know so I'm not sure specifically what uh what curriculum you think is is not high quality and is doing you know damage to kids but uh I think a lot of experts have looked at this curriculum and believe it's high quality a lot of it isn't H how you implement it and how you support it and how you're giving teachers the right professional development and support and I know this team is dedicated to making sure that's happening Mr Kennedy um yeah no that's a that's a good point but I would also like to like point out some of my observations and on teacher development like here at my school I have observed something of two different groups of teachers one of which who follow everything that the expert teachers give them and everything that the district wants from them to a te and students don't feel as though they're learning in their classes and I I know that's what the district wants because those are the teachers with excellent evaluations when the district comes to evaluate them and then we have teachers who get quite awful evaluations which is very unfair because those are the teachers who are teaching in their classrooms right they're teaching their own way and it's not a way the district likes it but those students are learning right and like that's kind of like me for example in my in my math class I I have a hard time learning from one specific math teacher so I go to a different math teacher for support because one math teacher follows exactly how the uh District wants them to and I'm I don't feel as though I'm learning um also in this District I pointed this out numerous times teachers don't often have control over how they teach right that's what that's what it feels like to students and that's what it feels like to teacher that's what it feels like to teachers and maybe that's not what the uh Vision or the expectation is on the district level I'm not saying you're I'm not saying you're intentionally controlling every aspect of teachers teaching but that's is what it feels like and these expert teachers often don't know what it takes to teach a classroom and every single classroom is different like to me this curriculum that like we have now feels like it's very is being standardized and that is just like not that is not how learning works right and I understand that's like you need a baseline in every school you need a baseline of how things are going to go but also not giving teachers the freedom of teaching in their own way is damaging to the students and I just went on a huge I'm sorry but that that's my point so you're fine um I will I mean we can go into more detail about this privately or I mean I'm sure I will be happy to talk yeah I'm sure I'll be hearing about it tomorrow so um Mr Kennedy thank you for is always Dr Cavo now your the curriculum is from K to five right fifth grade the one the early literacy right right and uh we have seen quantitative and qualitative you know data that shows that it's working something that we need it um taking a vote and let us adopt it you know as a curriculum to me was you know sounded very premature that something that was needed to be done when uh from my point of view I would very be you know I would be very glad and happy to just study it but it doesn't mean it doesn't u mean that I'm rejecting everything that this curriculum has accomplished no to the contrary I I want to read more I want to do more my homework you know but it's showing that at least from K to five to fifth grade right is working we have the data and um it'd be great if teachers who are doing it you know present in studying and doing all the professional development you know we're here also to support the results that they have been obtaining and U and that's that's why I abstain because I would really like to to read more and learn more about it yeah Miss teny Williams and then miss lefave um Mr Kennedy you're saying that excuse me the coach is sticking right to it never mind what some of the teachers are kind of relaxed and um kind of like down to earth students helping them to learn that what you saying they just protocol and just sticking with it that um what what I was saying was that some teachers um Let me clarify I'm not throwing any shade to these teachers because they're doing exactly what they're expected to do by their superiors some teachers stick directly to the curriculum that is handed down to them by their coaches by from their principal from their from the district offices and then some teachers strongly disagree with that curriculum so they uh do it their own way and as a result they get poorly evaluated when Administration comes in to evaluate them and I find that to be unfair because those are the teachers that a lot of students are learning from um so I hope that I hope that helped Miss fave thank you so as for me not an educator I'm a nurse so um for me I'd have to physically see to say that I would agree that that is something that's going to help our students um and again it's about consistency and making sure that it's done straight across the board in all schools because one of the things that we did here when we went into receivership was provide a lot of autonomy so now different schools are doing different things and that's where this whole confusion comes to um so I guess it's for me to see it being done and hopefully maybe said some some classes are piloting it um when we do our walkth through maybe that's something that we might observe you know I might notice it and you know whatever um but then now I'm going to shift to Evan and I want to make this very clear don't you ever feel sorry for what you say okay my vision of a student rep is one that is going to sit here and be part of this committee and tell us what's wrong and what's right not somebody to tell me when the bake sale is happening okay so don't you ever feel sorry for anything that you you say because you know what we are here for you guys we are here to move our students forward and to help them succeed don't worry if somebody's giving you the look like oh you're in trouble tomorrow don't worry about that you continue doing what you've got to do because you're here as the representative for the students they put you there for a reason okay so feel proud of what you say because you know what that when I hear from you and what I'm listening from both of you guys right is what I'm thinking is going to drive my decision because my decision is for the benefit of you and like I said I've got to see it he's giving me an example I could have jumped real quick and not even heard from him being yeah great no problem and he may have been sitting there saying should I say something you know I don't want him to ever feel like that because our decisions are for the benefit of our students thank you so much Mr Kennedy all right thank you everybody thank you ladies appreciate you all right moving right along uh under new business uh Miss lefave asked that I bring this to the committee's attention there are some expiring resolutions from masc um you can go on their website and look at the list of resolutions and if you'd like to see one be refocused on I will let Miss lefave tell you what you could do from there okay so really quickly uh we moved into where we we can't keep having like a list of a hundred items and and to go and advocate for right we're so we've got to kind of streamline so we resolutions are brought up to the delegate assembly obviously the delegate assembly says yes or no and then that's what masc is going to be advocating for and going to be pushing for for legislation with that being said uh we moveed to a three-year model these are things that we're really going to focus on on right and this is what masc is going to be backing up so there are um 17 resolutions that will be expiring in November 2024 if any of these resolutions I'm just going to name it that poio wants to adopt I've got to know by the next meeting because June 1st is the last day for any resolution that you may want to put in as a committee say you want your very own uh resolution and create one it is also um if you want to have this one move forward again so it'll be on you know like the Holio public school committee uh re uh is adopting like for one something Aaron always talks about recess that's in here um that's one of the expiring ones so you can review the the resolutions you can uh amend and create your own and then submit um by June 1st again so the ones that are expiring that we still haven't accomplished is pertaining to educator diversity and professional lure full funding of Transportation cost for students and Foster Care Universal quality prek access in Massachusetts access to menstrual supplies Charter School Reform lowering the voting age for Municipal elections retention of Medicaid Revenue dedicated funding for school B clinics and services Ida full funding act recess alternative to mcast prohibiting the use of Native American mascots what's still ongoing but hasn't been fully met is climate change poverty and children and school committee anti-racism and what's been partially met but is expiring is School transportation and homework G and Wi-Fi internet access so um you know next meeting if you guys review this on the masc website think if if this is something that really resonates with the Holy o school committee then that's something that we can take a vote on to adopt and and move forward to the delegate assembly well to the resolutions committee um and then the delegate assembly thank you Mr fave Miss teny Williams can we talk about this um at The Retreat make a decision because no you guys should review them on your own and bring any recommendations to me as the chair to add to the next agenda okay which is 528 okay um sorry I don't have my glasses on you guys got to forgive my eyesight today um this was kind of tied into the vice chair report uh also suggested by m fave that we develop School committee goals um I feel like as a committee we are with all the work we're doing with local control that's pretty much what we're going through uh step by step um and then we have overarching like uh outlines for how our you know this the schedule of our meetings run um but at the retreat I had mentioned like one of the main goals is getting procedures and policies done um but um that being said if anybody anything else they'd like to see as an overarching goal of the committee please bring it to my attention um and it'll be something that we can work on uh as a committee or if anybody has any suggestions now um if not we'll move on um kada2 curriculum was covered um under the superintendent Vice chair report Miss Williams you're good right oh Wilson I'm sorry yeah okay I just just making sure you're good cuz she put it under new business too K2 curriculum and you're the one who wanted a report so I just wanted to confirm okay good to go um this is just as an FYI attached is the program and course study for both high school campuses for next year um if anybody has any questions feel free to stop me but that's just attached as an FYI um ongoing business I'd like a motion to approve as a package school committee meeting minutes the revised minutes from the 226 meeting and then we have meeting minutes from 3:25 48 and 423 make a motion to approve uh thank you the motion on the floor is to approve as a package seconded by uh Mr Colmore uh roll call Mayor Garcia is not with us I'm myself Miss Bernell and my yes Miss lefave yes Mr Romero yes Miss teny Williams see Dr Cabo yes Mr willan yes Mr colore yes Miss Wilson yes motion passes um updates from subcommittees uh policy committee will be held on May 20th from um at 6 pm at 57 suffix Street uh Miss Wilson did you have anything else you'd like to add no I'll be getting the agenda out later this week okay thank you um and as she mentioned earlier policy was dis discuss at the local Control meeting you'll have the minutes from that next week um actually and I I'm going to share out what I wrote up so everyone's aware of what I I spoke to at the summary okay awesome uh Finance operation subcommittee Mr bullan meeting was held on the 6th thank you um yeah we had a meeting on May 6 um full attendance um our finance director was in attendance um sort of leted us through the agenda which is um presentations uh so we had a 2024 budget update 2025 budget proposal um had a facilities update and I think that's the first one that we've had Mr Comer has been calling for that in my year for years okay so we finally had that so we basically reviewed um a lot of the facilities that that have been updated through the um Esser funding terms of boilers playgrounds Etc so there'll be a spreadsheet that'll be presented to the full committee um forward um couple data points just to bring up I know um the current budget uh there's a couple budget Busters um in terms of transportation and special education costs I don't know if Mr soda wants to chime in on those real quick in terms of um District we'll cover that at the May 28th meeting all right so that was concerning to the committee I'm I'm speaking on their their behalf um this point um so we're going to have going forward a u the full budget presentation for FY 25 that'll be held on um May 28th at our next meeting so um John will be here right correct lead us through the budget um and uh we're going to have our uh the budget hearing on June 10th that will so that'll be the full the full hearing okay um we approved our minutes from the March 8th meeting so I'll I'll have those included I try getting them included for tonight so I'll have those included at our um for our next meeting for the full approval of the um the committee thank you and just to note with the local control meetings happening 5 to 6 we'll do the budget hearing at 6 and the school committee meeting will officially begin at 610 is will be the time posted um because we can't do 545 five and six cuz you know local Control subcommittee meeting so just make a point of note Mr Willian um the full um the full uh the full committee will start at 6 10 it's immediately following but you have to post the time and then wait till at 6:15 we'll be sitting here doing nothing so probably 6:10 okay thank you yep no problem um diversity equity and inclusion oh I'm sorry did you have your hand up yes oh I apologize please proceed I just um so I continue with the same question is the B budget supporting the affordable connectivity program for our families is that part of the conversation um that program is the one that allows our students and families to connect to internet and I would like to know if that is still uh if that is part the plan of the budget it is not um and and it you know e basically Comcast doesn't work that way they have you know wherever they set up internet that's the resident and the you know the the contract agreement is between the resident and Comcast they wouldn't allow like a third party to put it under their name or anything like that so um that's just not something that we you know we're we're not we haven't been doing that actually since uh after we came back to in-person learning you know where that conversation might come in handy is with the mayor and our host agreement with Comcast um and then just to point out too I did get an email from somebody at Comcast when you brought this up before um and it just basically says connectivity is at the core of Comcast and consistently to refining what that means they've recently increased internet speeds in Massachusetts is providing extra boost to customers who subscribe to connect connect more fast and prepaid products at no additional cost with the possibility of the affordable connectivity program sun setting as soon as may we want to focus on boosting speeds to ensure those who may be affected by the end of the ACP can continue to stream um live sports play the latest video games and take full advantage of data Rich applications all with fast affordable reliable internet options the speed increases rolling out are made possible by Comcast fiber based Network which is built to deliver an exceptional and I'll forward this to you um so it looks like they've tried to um do some things at Comcast to help offset that um this is part of a conversation of the digital Equity groups and it's a combined group Holio and Springfield and I'm a member of that and the conversation keeps coming up um to please support at least rally as a school committee you know for famili might I suggest that you um make a motion to refer that subject to a subcommittee like maybe Dei to have more conversation along it um and try to come up with some kind of actionable items yes I make a motion to that great that point uh I heard uh Miss Wilson on the second so thank you so uh the motion on the floor is to refer to Dei the Comcast connectability um research um all right r call we do not have Mr Garcia uh I myself and a yes Miss lefave yes Mr Romero yes Miss tensy Williams see Dr cab yes Mr willan yes Mr Kore yes Miss Wilson yes all right thank you uh moving right along diversity Equity inclusion she is not with us this evening um local Control subcommittee meeting was held uh ail 23rd and May 13th I know they have one scheduled for June so I'll turn it over to miss Le fave you passed the Joint City Council now I know that was that's the one that's the one I was literally just saying but I think I called it local control I apologize I'm literally talking about Joint City Council school committee I'm telling you I need to not ever forget my glasses again my apologies yeah we do have our meeting scheduled but um so now there's a talk about the renaming of PEC it's coming up next no that's your draft but were you on that email is that something that are going to refer the reason this is back on the agenda is so that way we can refer it to the joint committee so according to the city Charter city council has final say in the naming of a municipal building so in conversations mayor Garcia has already gotten legal opinion on this and they agree so what we thought would be a good idea and why this is back on the agenda is to refer this to the Joint Committee present it to the city council and basically get their blessing on our plan because we don't want to go through all the work and then have them deny the name change so we want their blessing in advance that they agree with our plan and the work we're going to put forward and ultimately will agree with how we decide at the end and if they're not going to then we won't do all that work right so that is why the draft plan with a minor edit from a conversation with myself Dr Rivera cologne and Miss lynville is back on the agenda so that way we can entertain a motion to refer it to the Joint Committee because it was brought to our attention by a city counselor that they have the right to yay or nay thank you Mr colore thank you Dr cavano any further discussion on that motion Mr willan thank you what did we approve at our last meeting it was just like a working draft right wasn't it we approved we haven't approved anything right in theory right we approved a draft plan that Dei created on how they would go about the Outreach to discuss the potential renaming there is no name yet but we just figure rather than go through all that process to come up with a to then have city council deny it let's go to city council now have them give Their Blessings of the process which is saying in good faith we'll we'll agree with your decision at the end of the process right in theory is what we're looking for from city council at this time I me that the draft that I have right now in front of me you know school name and plan updated May 6 so the Bullet on the first page school colors and mascot will be decided by the school I know we we talked about that and then the next page another bullet decision on name school colors a mascot must be made by November 24th November of 2024 so it's contradicting each other so again is this a working plan is a finalized plan up in the web what's going on with this so the plan our chairman isn't here so we're discussing something with her her chairman night here so yeah so the plan was approved by Dei and then brought to the school committee at our last meeting which we approved however then it was discussed with Miss lynville and that she's the one who threw in that date because of ordering signage and things like that for the school um how am I supposed to know that okay yeah Miss Le so the motion is to refer it to the Joint City Council so that's all we're talking about right now we're not even talking about the draft plan so can we move with the vote any further discussion seeing none roll call Mayor gy is not with us I a yes Miss lefave yes Mr Romero yes Miss tensley Williams yes Dr cabero yes Mr willan yes Mr Kore yes Miss Wilson yes and God bless you bless you okay did you have any other updates Miss LEF nope I'm emailing them now so we can get this onto the agenda for June 13th okay thank you now in regards to local control we had a meeting tonight we did approve two sets of minutes that will be included in the next agenda um the next meeting is on the 28th and it's uh regarding stakeholders and local collaboration uh okay then you have a bunch of FYI oh I'm sorry Mr willan so who is on the joint joint committee from from from this body miss the fa it is going to be you Mr Wan okay it is Mr cmore it's Miss tensley Williams and myself there's four four okay there be three I think Council has three three members so again this is another reason why we need to go through Section B of policy because in that it states that subcommittees have four members so the reason this one has four is because I accidentally had somebody on too many and needed to move some people around and I was asked somebody asked me specifically to be on that committee so again according to our governance policy our subcommittees are supposed to have four and we've only have three on most local control has four because the commissioner requested that I'm on that one um we have an unbalanced unbalanced committee so you got three three members of the city council and you got four members of the of the schools well then we win the vote yeah maybe the city council wants to add one it's something that can be reviewed but again this is why we need to review our policies to set how many are on each one one we have some with four and some with three and I think city council does too they have more on finance than they do on others so okay moving on okay there's a lot of FYI attached to your agenda um attendance chronic absentees and referral discipline Staffing update uh Middle School building update we have a meeting Thursday um Administration assistant position I do have one application I need to review uh and get back to shanea to see if we want to call the person in for interview out ofate field strip uh Sullivan school is going to the Bronx Zoo ho high school dean is going to Brownstone stem is going to Washington DC and another section of stem I assume is going to uh CT Science Center um and Student Activity approval any comments on any of those FYI saying miss the fave so funding wise did did um they already find out where they're going to get the funding like the Bronx us $71 but it says that's to be determined or yeah there's every everything is funded um okay these are these are simply put on the school committee agenda because my I I believe one of the policies is that out of state field trips are approved by the school committee so I started to get in the habit of sharing those with you guys last year and I'm going to continue that but uh we did give midyear allocations we allocated about $2 million to schools in the middle of the year we announced it right around the holidays and asked you know part of our charge to principles was like create some cool experiences for kids and a lot of them are using that funding to to do field trips and still teaching kids how to fund raise and things like that but um a lot of it is covered out of our existing budget that principles great I just want to make sure nobody loses the opportunity of going because they didn't have the funds Mr colore uh I'm I'm reviewing these uh travel and uh the nurs isn't covered yeah the nurse is covered Whenever there there's a need for a nurse so if we have a student that requires a nurse to be there the um you know we we make accommodations for that to happen and when there's not then you know we don't need nurse all right as long as it's clear that the nurse doesn't have to pay anything part of her duties and responsibility yeah that wouldn't happen she gets paid for that wouldn't happen we we'd have a hard time finding a nurse to participate in field trips if we were charging them to go all right announcements uh all right any member that would like to be a part of the Committees for masc or MAA for the upcoming year please submit their interests to not me but Mildred uh no later than June 1 which is coming up for consideration all committees are are listed on the masc website for example special education legislation Etc mildra did you want to add anything to that and resolutions um committee so I know the resolutions committee will be meeting on June une 27th in Marboro um 6:00 p.m um that's when they go this committee will go through review the resolutions that have been submitted by the districts um if anything needs to be changed or and then vote on moving it to delegate assembly so if you're interested that's also part of one of the positions if You' like to be appointed to that I would need you let me know your your interest also MIAA Mr colar I know you're always on me that you want to keep being on the volleyball but letter of intent to continue on the volleyball so that you can be appointed for the MIAA positions because it restarts in June and friend has been informed and he said all clear it's to the president you got to do it send your letter of interest to the president president so last year was Stacy this year it's me next year is Jason Frasier so every year you have to submit the book that you get in the mail you have to send that in okay all right announcements continuing uh DPAC meeting May 14 at 6 PM Middle School building committee as I mentioned is this Thursday at 6 PM uh CPAC or SE pack sorry meeting um May 22nd um you guys have all these affinity group local control subcommittee h school committee um attendance celebration hooai Dean graduation hooai uh North Campus graduation by the way Miss kabala has sent an email she needs headcounts for graduation because you guys get gown not you guys but we get gowns um and have chairs you know placed for us so please let me know if you can't let Miss Cala know if you're planning to attend both graduations let her know the first thank you um all right that's all I've got Mr willan thank you um there's a uh Memorial Day ceremony at the War Memorial building and Monday um May 27th um I don't think been officially invited but I know there's a ceremony we're all welcome to participate along with the city council um so if um want to go to that uh the ceremony starts at 10 o'clock I think there's coffee Donuts maybe at 9: so if anyone's interested um it's just got to show up there at the war Mora building um I know there's a third graduation in June for the opportunity Academy um Friday Friday June 14th it's probably not why it's on this this agenda uh 10 o'clock at the War Memorial building right Moto or Memorial Building okay just letting you know Memorial Day is the first thing I mentioned okay thank you Miss Wilson oh miss lefave motion to adjourn that's that's what that was my motion second motion to adjourn made by Miss LEF seconded by Miss teny Williams no further discussion on the motion roll call Mayor Garcia is not with us miss Brunell is a yes Miss lefave yes Mr Romero yes Miss teny Williams C Dr cabero C Mr willan yes Mr Colmore yes Miss Wilson yes thank you all meeting is officially adjourned at 8:13 p.m. have a good night --------- I myself Aon Brunell is here Dr uh Rivera clone could not be with us this evening and Dr Cabo Roa present thank you all rise for the pl of Allegiance all right thank you as I mentioned Dr Rivera clone can't be with us tonight so I will be subbing in uh to chair the meeting on her behalf um some quick housekeeping so bear with me on March 29 2023 Governor hilly signed into law a supplemental budget bill which among other things extends the temporary Provisions pertaining to the open meeting law to March 31st 2025 specifically this further extension allows public bodies to continue to hold remote meetings without a quorum of the public body physically present at a meeting location and to provide adequate alternative access to remote meetings the language does not make a substantive change to the open meeting laws other than exchanging extending the expiration date of the temporary Provisions regarding remote meetings for March 31 2023 to March 31 2025 this is a um public is hereby informed that in all attendees that a video and audio recording is being made of this meeting all right so welcome everybody welcome welcome um Gloria or Gustavo I would entertain a motion to recognize uh Committee Member Elanor Wilson and to suspend the rules to allow her to participate in tonight's meeting Gustavo can I have a second I'll second thank you um all those in favor we will need to roll call because Gustavo is on Zoom so uh roll call Aaron Bernell is a yes uh Gustavo Romero yes and Dr glor Dr CTO see thank you welcome Miss Wilson um Miss Wilson is our chair of policy and governance and that is the main topic for tonight's meeting so we want to include her in the meeting I'd like to also just bring to the table and recognize the acting commissioner of the Board of Education here in Massachusetts Russell Johnson and his chief of staff Lauren woo and I'll just also like to recognize that committee members Ronnie Kore and rosley tenzy Williams are with us in the audience this evening all right well moving right along and getting started item one on our agenda this evening in correlation to the Hoy Public Schools uh capacity building uh memo tonight we're going to be discussing policy um so in policy development we're discussing basically what we're doing for policy now uh giving the commissioner an update on what we've been doing and what we're looking to do moving forward uh so Miss Wilson I know you've prepared a summary for him and I will turn it over to you to go over that thank you thank you very much you're welcome so starting in February 2022 the Holo school committee reinstated subcommittees so as the chairperson of the policy uh subcommittee um which has been recently renamed the finance and governance subcommittee we've been working on some priority policies all policies are reviewed through the lens of what is best for our students first and foremost and our district while meeting state and federal regulations and laws uh the Massachusetts Association for school committees uh supported uh the subcommittee through the first through uh few meetings to ensure that we were knowledgeable um about updating policies and the procedures there are currently approximately 350 school committee policies so we've established a collaborative practice with our receiver superintendent and his Administrative Assistant uh We've developed a tracking system to manage this process uh we recognized that it was quite cumbersome um going through all the steps um so our first uh step in our process is that we review the current policy and we look at the um masc again the Massachusetts associations for school committees model policy and we make adjustments as needed the receiver superintendent comments on the policy and brings any concerns to uh our attention once the updated policy has been agreed upon by the subcommittee the full school committee reviews and approves it for public comment the administrative assistant posts uh the uh proposed policy on our website for two weeks to allow for public comment and review and then after that period we come back to the full school committee to review any public comments um and if necessary make adjustments there or we haven't had this experience yet of actually sending it back to the subcommittee if there are significant concerns that were called to our attention um then we the full committee full school committee approves and votes to send uh to the receiver superintendent for review and adoption um and then once the adopted by Our receiver and superintendent the administrative assistant notifies mask to to update the online policy so just to note that um masc mask um currently houses all of our policies on their website there is a translation function integrated into masc website and there are a number of languages that can be accessed through that translation function um so there is a $950 annual fee for that service so going back to those 350 policies that haven't been reviewed since the start of receivership um this leads to where we now need a review of all of our policies which is a timec consuming and tedious process so we would like to um contract with masc to lead a full review of all policies in collaboration with the district in addition during receivership school committee policies were overwritten by the receiver which caused District policies to be established from my training I understand that school committee develops district-wide policies while District Personnel create plans procedures programs systems and guidelines based upon the school committee policies so what we also have to do is we we have to review District policies listed on the HPS website um and we'll work with our receiver and superintendent to address them through either adopting them as a school committee policy or transferring them to a district guideline procedure Etc uh the receiver and superintendent has collaborated with the subcommittee on significant District changes which has been really helpful I believe um they've included shifting uh hooai North to the block schedule and reviewing the new Dean admissions procedures as well as the Yonder bags procedures so it's nice that we're being brought into the loop and we're being consulted even though they're not some of these are not policies per se but they want our input so that again it's that wonderful collaboration that we've established so moving forward um as I mentioned earlier um I would like to engage masc in a full policy review um that involves masc collecting all documents from Holo that contain policies contracts handbooks existing manuals um budget documents Etc and we match the existing policy with an masc model uh that compil compilation is sent to the school committee um the subcommittee typically uh two sections at a time because uh there are some heftier sections and we review them policy pipe policy with discussions on relationship to the law regulations best practices and where appropriate making District specific in uh matches um to what actually happens here in our district policies cannot be made District specific if it if the specificity violates law regulation or any other state or federal bandid so this is an expenditure that was not included in the budget so this robust review only costs $10,500 um we are asking the state's financial support in this process to ensure that Holo public schools have current school committee policies in effect when we return to local control um and then recently there was an ADA update that has new uh requirements around ensuring availability of web content for lined and deaf people so guidance will be forthcoming from the association on policy revisions for compliance reasons so the masc legal council is looking at that now and our district as well as all districts are looking into ways to ensure availability so that's my summary do any of the Comm committee members have any comments yes Dr cab thank you so much for the summary and um all the work that's been put into it I had a question I have actually a question you mentioned that um all the policies were designed to support the students and to represent the students I would like to know how that is done you know what is the Outreach that is done how is that done is it through uh school by school is are the parents involved into uh learning and knowing about all the policies um I would like to know a little bit more about that so currently um there is not a procedure uh where uh we engage with the public outside of getting feedback when we're updating policies um we have so I'm thinking here give me a moment because that was that was easy cuz I had written that um so um we have not done that um we as a subcommittee um want to make sure we look at things through the lens of students making sure that uh things are meaningful I'll bring up for an example um we just were meeting about uh lunch time as well as recess um and so we were discussing you know we looked into research as to what is you know what is recommended for the amount of time students have while sitting eating lunch you know do we need to take in consideration um the time when they're standing in line because sometimes lunches are larger and so you're not getting let's say 20 minutes to eat you're lucky to get you know 12 after waiting in line so these are the things that we think about When developing policies we look at it through a students's lens um and that has to be tempered sometimes with looking at it through a district lens and are confinements based upon you know the size of our school the size of our lunchroom things of that sort um you know Staffing all has to be looked at where you know yes would we like to make lunches 30 minutes that'd be wonderful in a you know in the ideal situation where we had had large cafeterias which could manage you know a larger lunchtime which then could you know then move to recess but sometimes you know our our cafeterias or caf torium are small in such a way that we just need that rotation and it doesn't really lend itself so we're always trying to balance the needs but to go back to your question that you asked right now we are not engaging in any um Outreach besides um just getting the feedback on policies did that answer your question much thank you I would just like to comment to though even though feedback isn't necessarily solicited in the initial phase of creating policy we of course are always open to hearing from folks right so we had a PTO come speak to the school committee we took some of their recommendations brought it back to policy took that under influence and advisement when looking at the lunch and recess policy and of course all agendas are posted all meetings are open to the public and encouraged to have people come and attend and speak up on so you know the more we can engage the community and get their input on things the more we'll take their views into consideration even if it's not like a direct uh you know ask about something specific um that's why pto's for example are so critical to the forming of a district um all right uh commissioner did you have anything you'd like to comment add questions concerns very much I have great good wonderful that's goal so really um uh and sorry the green light is on but okay keep it closer all right uh that you know Statewide organizations are looking producing materials that are meant to be available and accessible for every I really like the idea about how you want to customize what so I just really want to reinforce that idea said it it was very clear to me there's a it's not even that you said it there's a plan for it in the way in which you have the sub work stto so I am very encouraged by that and I think that's really you know you want to you want to own the policy to Holio and I also had the same question about stakeholder engagement and I which about it is on that you do have people who come and present to you and so being able to take their feedback way of uh formulating future policy as necessary right don't need policies for every little thing want to make sure we're do just into policy I also think that um you all are representative form of government and so you all have the ability to outu about policy that comes to mind about uh what should happen to Twins when they are assigned to a grade level should they be in the same class or not that would be the type of thing that You' want to hear from parents about absolutely I don't know what that would be the type of thing that I would maybe want to find out constituencies who be affected directly by thisy I think you can lean on that representative form of government that you have in a school committee in order to engage stakeholders and also just want to reinforce that um I was not surprised but know that the two of what you are planning comment your very deliberate School process so so there's actually three times where because our subcommittee agenda is posted for public comment as well so there are three times where uh we can get input great great here the um main question that uh I still have is just about time on um now desie can't endorce a particular say yes you're asking correct so I have to leave it a little bit more at that yes I understand that are open-ended from my manage what type of um time frame so I would think that um if we were to meet on a regular basis a monthly basis probably also pulling a couple um maybe Saturday Retreat type meetings to to do this um to be honest uh it's the I would think a a year and a half um maybe even longer and it's not just about developing them it's that it's that we have a meeting tonight if we were going to it's it's it's a full month until we can get the second review so it really is every time we take a policy to the full subcomittee I mean sorry to the full committee it's a month before we can vote to forward them um to Mr SoDo to review and then to adopt so I was just to too um once out of receivership the process changes slightly because then we approve and adopt um I think the district goal would be the same goal that we suggest for our actual transition when we come to this final decision in August whatever time frame our transition time frame is I think the goal could be once we know that time frame to align having this complete for the same time as ex exiting receiver leers ship um there's obviously always policy work to be done policies are always being governed policy will be a committee that meets regularly even after a policy review is complete um but I would say employing somebody like MC or another vendor to assist with this I'm sure they have a timeline in mind of what their typical process would take I was just scanning the email I couldn't see it in here um but I would say to to piggyback it with whatever timeline we ultimately establish as how long our transition would be um it's going to take about that I would say that would be the goal so a school year and then ultimately if it's not done just simply because it can't physically be done in that time frame then obviously we all discuss it and adjust from there but I would say that would be a reasonable goal I would I would be um is that too ambitious I don't think it's too ambitious um per se I I I think it's just um I I think it's ambitious from the standpoint of working on that collabor collaborative Focus um the subcommittee could move through them rather quickly by itself in a silo I mean we could get it done for the sake of getting it done but we don't want to do that we want to make it meaningful we want to make sure that we have the partners who the policy effects review it I know Mr SoDo if it's a finance he Farms it not Farms it but he Farms it out to have the finance department review it if it's about curriculum we'll have them look at it so it's done with a collaborative effect so that there's no you know oh my goodness how did this get you know that's not what we do how did this get approved so you know the process is one that's very meaningful and I would not run a rush it for the sake of getting it done if it was going to be done let's say it was local control was going to be sooner I think we would look at the lens of which section needs to be done first and prioritized I think that's the way we would do it rather than just starting at a that sounds really fair commissioner if you'd like to respond yes uh Miss Wilson I think that's right on uh when I think about when we imagine ex that this work in particular I don't in order for there to be I think want to make know vendor is going to run on and myage I agree well um um knowing that it's a it's up and running and then like you said when transition obious but theend actually that big of aiver I'm not sitting here this is some a Tas that has great yeah as long as it's organized and in process and all of that that sounds completely reasonable okay and I think maybe what we'd want to see is just think about what are those priority polies that might be um okay oh there we go okay that one was not I I trusted you the the green was on green was on Green's off now but we could not hear you very well hopefully the people at home could hear you okay great and just to piggyback on that too for example like for you know there's procedural policy of the school committee as well so we're already jumping the gun and starting to work on that because I know one of our final topics in this process is reviewing procedural we discussed it at our retreat in the beginning of the year as well and then you know we've been quite busy so we're working that back into our agenda to make sure that we're working on setting our rules and procedural processes which is different than the over arching policies because that's the function of the body um so we we hope to have that all organized and complete for you so when we come to our final local Control meeting where we're set to discuss that we have all that organized and ready to go um for you as well okay Dr Cabo Dr cabero I'm sorry I don't know where that came from Mr Gustavo any comments Mr Gustavo Mr Romero where is my BR I have a case to the Monday thank you um yes was when uh the word prioritize policies those two words came up it's really what I would love for us to focus on and so that that aligns also with the turnaround plan that we have been designing policies turn around plan and what is it that we're prioritizing so we have a final product that makes sense that is customized you know to our community needs and that is really solid so um I appreciate apprciate those words thanks so I would suggest adding if I might do so um to our next uh full school committee uh agenda items um out of the uh numerous sections that are included um in our policy manual um you know trying to lean into if as a full school committee what we believe the priority sections are um in order to really have a better understanding that sooner rather than later um as well as I would be um and then I can also seek guidance and support um from our masc representative um to share what their thoughts are and I can bring that to the meeting um just to kind of like they've been doing this business a little longer than I have so I'd rather um have uh their support with uh figuring out um you know what what are the ones that we what sections we should focus on yeah and then also too at the next meeting we'll review this meeting's minutes so we can put on that agenda to formally like vote on as a body to recommend to the receiver to spend the money to enlist a vendor so my understanding is that the uh the the funds are not allocated in this uh financial plan the the uh I'm missing a word here tonight the budget thank you um that that $10,500 is is not within the budget and that the way funds are looking right now that could not be added in that's why I was looking for uh the state um to possibly help support that as part of our transition plan how would we formalize such a thing commissioner green light is on uh we actually provide funding to the district on over the years uh to varying degrees right and um through a grant and so I think Lauren and I would go back and look at our available reserves and um but we had said that we want to be able to invest in the transition so I'm not initially I think that we need my intention is to make good on that promise and for us to go back and look at how we can do that and so uh but we have a mechanism it actually isn't hard at all and I just want to reiterate that the good um you know finances of this team the financial health of the district um we appreciate app the work that uh the finance team under receiver Sho leaders s Soto leadership uh has um gotten the district to a point where they're not Reliant upon State funds to the extent that the way that we began the receivership just really wanting to invest the district But ultimately that investment has to um you know be reduced and just really appreciate the work that's been done here to do that that is being a bit reiterative of uh a previous conversation but funding this makes uh great sense as it's really means to an end towards local control and we very much appreciate that okay so would you like to see the full body formally vote on it or do you consider this the actionable step oh this is the actionable step yeah this this is just to confirm so that way you know we can do that if we need to all right great um so uh topic two for this discussion is discuss and recommend approval of the district's uh school choice participation plans um so I was reviewing this and I I mean we basically don't have a customized plan too um if you'd like I'm happy to review our current school choice policy um it's pretty standard um so may of every school year the administration will determine the number of spaces in each School available to Choice students uh by June of every school year and consideration be given withdrawal from the pre provisions of the Choice Law a public meeting will be held to review this decision um the selection of non-resident students for admission in the form of a random drawing when the number of requests exceed the number of spaces available there will be two drawings for the purposes um that will first take place during the last week of the current school year but no later than July 1 uh the second will be conducted during the week immediately preceding the opening of the next school year and will be based on the possibility of unexpected additional openings um any student who is accepted for admission under the provisions of this policy is entitled to remain in the district until graduation from high school except if there is a lack of funding for the program the school choice committee affirms its position that it shall not discriminate in the emissions of any child on the basis of race color religion national origin sex gender equality age sexual orientation ancestry athletic performance physical handicap special need academic performance or Proficiency in the English language um we don't have anything more specific with regarding school choice Choice within the district um so I think that's something we probably want to look at when we're doing our policy review um like if I'm zoned for Morgan and I want to go to Kelly we don't have anything that I could find that was outlined if I'm not mistaken by all means Miss Wilson I believe that would not fall under the purview of the school committee I think that would be a um Administration uh procedure um and not fall into that that high level overview uh I would feel that it's something something that the administration would be able to manage and they probably have a procedure or a guideline for that yeah just an observation reviewing it I noticed we don't have that currently so um other than that uh I wasn't sure if there was anything specific you wanted to go over with this I know school choice is something that this committee probably wants to see continue I can't speak for the committee um this is not something we've been reviewing on an annual basis where it says that by June 1 of every school year in consideration is uh being given to withdrawal from the provisions of school choice um so that's something that as a body we need to ensure we're doing um so I can certainly add that to our May 28th agenda uh seeing that it's by June 1 every single year um so that's something that we'll certainly make sure we're doing other than that um did you have any direct concerns or or questions regarding this policy uh my understanding is we just had it there as an example uh I see no yeah we we were just listing policies as an example but that one in particular has an annual timeline so felt it was important to list but of like you were saying Miss Wilson it's just part of the annual review of policies um and things that the committee will need to vote on or take action on yes so I I I think one thing um we can do as um a policy subcommittee policy and government subcommittee is I think we need to identify uh policies when there is deadline lines attached to them or uh Personnel um sometimes are listed within them um I was in manufacturing years ago so I have a Six Sigma all that you know tight keeping policies tight and so uh keeping a tracking method uh method so that if there's changes um and we are ensuring our dates with reviews so we will be making creating that as well okay great moving right along then get back to my screen I think we covered item two in our discussion under item one um so it's 543 does anybody else have any questions concerns or topics they'd like to review commissioner uh two things um I really appreciate this process and I think it's been so open and transparent love that uh you know the community can see our engagement together uh we had talked in our last meeting about beginning to draft a plan and I'm wondering about just the status of that because we there's so many good ideas that we're coming at together and I just want to make sure that we are beginning to develop I can confirm Dr Rivera clone has drafted a plan because she has shared it with me um she's not here today so I don't want to speak for her and present something that she's been working on but I will confer with her and Ure it's shared with you I thought she had but I guess not um but I know that it's being worked that she's as we're going along she's adding and adjusting um so I've seen the Google Doc so I know it's there and I will ensure it gets shared with you uh probably tomorrow that' be great I know that we would just love to you know because conversations will be fresh in our heads if we can look now and say like you want make it's supposed to be a working doc so you can make edits in um additions as as we progress as well great so great um my second item is just beginning if you don't mind to look ahead to our next meeting um where we're really thinking about collaboration and stakeholder engagement and um just thinking about is there any pre-work that we want to do before that meeting and uh I'm thinking about uh not unlike the conversation we had here about engagement and Community engagement um how do we begin to think about that for our next meeting particularly those that we might want to invite in either prior to or after our meeting and in particular I'm I'm thinking about the teachers as well um in terms of their involvement in this processes as well yeah so what we've been doing is uh meeting with the the folks that we feel are important to the conversation about a week prior to meeting with you guys at this meeting um so again I'll conert with Dr Rivera clone and I know that we plan to meet with the teachers union uh the PA professionals Union um I know that we'd like to invite other people that are involved with the children in the community for example Girls Inc Boys and Girls Club YMCA those kind of Community Partners um probably even stretching into our other Community Partners like Lighthouse For example right you know because you know they're an option where we do send students and so maybe they have ideas of how we could not send them students per se but um you know and other ideas so I know that we do plan to do some Outreach to try to get some meetings going in preparation for that meeting and if not certainly having people at the table for that meeting um so I'll make sure I connect with her tomorrow as well and we'll we'll get on planning that and I'll update you on exactly where we're going with that sounds great appreciate it yeah of course all right great so seeing nothing else um I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes from 48 and also the minutes from 4:23 motion to make a motion thank you second thank you um all those in favor I'm myself Miss Bernell is a yes Dr uh hi Dr you can call me Gloria no worries uh Mr Romero hi thank you all right we seeing no other discussion for the evening then I will entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn thank you Mr Romero if you could second second thank you all those in favor I myself am a yes Mr Romero we know he's a yes uh Gloria see thank you so much thank you so much for joining us thank you Miss Wilson for your attentiveness this evening as well and the regular school committee will meet at 6 p.m