good evening calling to order the school committee meeting of Tuesday July 23rd 2024 we'll all rise and the flag conations to the flag of the United States of America and to the republ stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for Dr Garcia would you call the role Mr Stacy Bronson Rizo here Mr Anthony cajano here Mr John Kingston here Mrs Aisha melbury Ellis present M Jaclyn monteroso present Mr Frederick salala pres mayor Patrick ke here have so the first item I know that there was a few that wish to have uh some points of personal privilege and I would like to uh Stacy Rizzo's on the zoom and like to offer her uh first to speak then Jo thank you mayor um unfortunately we um all had to say goodbye to um Tony Mata a couple of weeks ago um it was only a few short months but I was looking forward to Tony's honesty along with his non-political views and education um he had so much to give to this committee Tony was not only a colleague but considered him family and a friend his students as did my sons adored him for his talent in simplifying complex subjects and making learning enjoyable his unconventional teaching methods such as lessons with dropping the egg contest from the roof of Lincoln School microorganisms and Mark um mock stock market Investments showed how Innovative he could be when educating our students he believed that incorporating fun and to learn an enhanced comprehension and retention among students Tony's absence is deeply felt and missed and his family friends students and colleagues will mourn his passion it's crucial to give ourselves time to mourn his loss but also important to look back on the happy times we have had with him as we move on we should honor those memories to keep his memory alive my thoughts prayers and love are with Denise Alexa Max Jenna Paul Joan Mark and Chris always and I'm sure their students his students will never forget the good times they had in his classrooms thank you thank you m Rizo I want to also acknowledge committee M Kingston wishes to speak but also that um Miss Mata Denise and uh Max a teacher at G Middle School are in attendance this uh this evening Mr Kingston thank you thank you Mr Mayor um Ed devvo uh posted this on Facebook I read it I thought it was great um I thought it was a great tribute to Tony my friend for over 40 years um so I asked Mr Devo if I could read his words at the me commit meeting tonight um because I felt he did a better job than I could ever write my only apology will be is if I st to cry I'll do my best and I apologize for that on Friday June 21st 2024 our family our community the world lost a good man no it lost a great man in his life he was a devoted husband father and grandfather a loving son brother uncle and friend Tony was a great friend to me an amazing friend he never said no I made all kinds of requests for him in his in his business and I would never said no and always said we'll make it work John he was a man who loved his family loved his community and loved his life he took a great joy in entertaining at barbecues with his family and friends enjoyed watching his favorite Boston sports teams I don't know how many hours I spent at the Mata house watching football and sometimes baseball his favorite rock band was the band and he loved their farewell concert movie The Last Walts he loves spending the Fourth of July week with family in a gun quit even though he would wake up early every morning to drive back to Rivier to check on the house and other things and then get back to a gunit for breakfast before heading to the beach with a couple of beers and a book he was loved by all his students for his ability to make complex subjects simple and fun to learn his lessons on amius his contests to rap protect eggs and dropped them off the Lincoln School roof and is teaching about investing by having students pick up a company company stock each year and trade track it see how it fade in the stock market with classic examples of his outof thebox approach to education I participated and helped him with um egg drop a couple of times I thought it was a great thing um it was just something you know to see a teacher climb up on a roof um I don't know how many other other people would do something like that it was always something special and even after my kids graduated I'd ask him Tony when are you doing egg drop I'm going to come up and watch in an ironic way his illness and his passing serve as a final lesson and the way only Tony could teach it Tony was not only overly mindful of his health was not very overly mindful of his health I used to talking about it all the time and he's like John shut up he would use another word I can't use it on television Tony was not a man you would have thought contract the illness that beset him after he was diagnosed with his illness a couple of years ago he continued to live his life as best he could while undergoing Medical Treatments through it all he gave all he could to the best he could in the end the time he was granted to be with was shortened and came even faster with the prognosis the lesson once we have heard often one we have heard often one that bears repeating and more importantly one lived by and Left To Us by Tony live your life at best you can be the best you can and enjoy it to the fullest because you never know when or how will end sorry I'm having a technical difficulty in the end he was granted to be with us was shortened and even came faster with the prognosis the lesson we have heard often one that bears repeating and more importantly one lived by and Left To Us by Tony live your life as best you can be the best you can and enjoy it to the fullest because you'll never know how a when it end he gave it all and everything he did right to the very end continuing his work on the school committee and working hard to complete a set of bunk beds through his two grandsons C khib and Ethan to sleep when they visited the beds will be ready for them when you come for their last visit to say goodbye many people seek notoriety to establish a legacy in which they can be remembered others go through life as Tony did doing the best that he could in everything he did to bring about good and everything and everyone he met and taught in some ways Tony achieved a sort of notoriety in winning a seat on the school committee in the last election he called me and said John I'm running for school committee and I said you're kidding and he said no he said I want to work with you and work with the other members and it was something that he was excited about and I I wished him well and I was happy he made it and I was more thrilled that he sat right beside me so we could talk and if he had questions I was happy to answer them and I enjoyed that time he was always giving of me and I was happy to be able to give something back to him but he did it quietly and humbly with little Fanfare allowing those who know him and trusted him to favor him with the opportunity to once again give his all as a school committee representative despite his illness I'm sorry despite his illness right up to the very end he once again quietly and humbly continue to do his best to contribute to provide quality education in his hometown the city of Rivia there was no greater Legacy than that with all M Tony and grieve his loss that is natural when you lose someone you love let us take time to grieve his loss but let us also take time to joyously remember all that we all we loved about him and then he let us go forward celebrating those memories so he continues to live thank you for the courtesy Mr Mayor and also I'd like to thank the mayor um I reached out to the mayor to help the family with a matter and the mayor uhum jumped right on it and took care of it and I'm thankful to say the city council uh voted um on it last night so I appreciate your I appreciate the efforts of the mayor thank you thank you Mr Kingson any other committee me Members wish to speak Miss milver Ellis sure um my time with Tony was uh shortlived I only got to um engage with him on the few times that he was able to come to the meetings and sadly I feel as though I got to know him through all the pictures at his service and um there's no doubt that that was he was somebody who knew how to live and enjoy life and I am going to miss um the work that I feel we could have done on this committee I um appreciate when he did speak um he reminded me that there is still common sense that we could that could that could do some use and um I'm sorry for your loss I think he's he's it's been a loss for the community as well but I'm truly sorry for your loss Mr K uh I never had a privilege of knowing Tony before this uh school committee and I really enjoyed the time you know we spoke a lot and uh he had no filter and but he was all about the kids and uh it's it's you know I'm sorry for your loss and uh it's a loss to this thank thank you Mr sell thank you Mr Man I had the privilege of knowing Anthony as a young man we both taught at different times naturally at the Lincoln School I continued in education as he did ending up with the assistant principal ship of the Wayland school but I even knew Dr mat at Riv high school and all of his people Sylvio Chella and all the all the people at that time to have a rever educator educa and rever children in my opinion was a bonus and he really truly enjoyed what he did he made education fun and no one says it has to be tedious so my condolences on his loss and I hopefully will continue in his behalf thank you thank you Mr sell and um if I can wrap I'm not sure if you wanted to speak Miss Kelly but um I I I didn't have a chance to uh know Mr Mata very well uh but the few just a uh quick conversation on the night uh when uh Mr Mata was sworn in he did uh let us know about um his illness and the battle that he was going through and that he had already been through and he said uh very respectfully he said um you know I have reasons that I wanted to join this committee and to help and support uh but if I'm not unable to fulfill my obligations I will uh do the right thing and step back um he never had that opportunity to do that because he did work until the very end uh which was very admirable uh and I can just say that I knowing his children he reminds me very much of my father so I know that he has wonderful children and a wonderful wife and and family um but his respected he always paid towards myself and I didn't ask for that because um I always feel that you should respect your elders more than you're looking for respect but just the way he spoke to me was um you know it was very honorable we sat we sat here together uh calling me Mr Mayor and I really didn't expect that you know everyone that knows me tends to know that I'm okay with you call me Pat or Patrick um but he's a very U very respectful and extremely hardworking man that worked literally up until the very end um even messaging me when he couldn't make it to a meeting I was was unable to um to be present but um I I'm sure that you you know what we're talking about here he's a very good person you should be proud of your father you should proud of your husband uh and what he served to and what he's done for our community so we thank you for uh offering to us very up until the very end thank you and um like to offer a moment of silence uh from Mr Mata and the family oh M Kelly for sorry just briefly um I I I think I've expressed my condolences on all already to the family and um I just want to emphasize again as I have with this committee how influential the Mata family has been across the ravia public schools um and when I saw uh Mark at at the services he said you forgot about my father and I said I didn't forget about your father I wanted Tony to be the you know the the center of that discussion but um as Mr sella pointed out um Tony's father had an assistant superintendent here in the district and held many other roles in education prior to that and then we have uh Tony and Mark who's retired and Chris who's still with us at the Susan B Anthony um but we also have the next generation of materas and Max I know how very very very proud your father is that you followed in those footsteps and and he's aware having taught with you at the Garfield Middle School for some time about how you have adopted his belief of teaching kids in these ways that are unique and different and really engaging them in the learning and make it fun to be in school um so I always think of that every time every time I look at you I'm going to look at you and I'm going to think of how proud how proud your dad is at what you're doing in the classroom and the lives that you're continuing to change third generation of the material family impacting kids in revier um so thank you very much for that thank you Mr Garcia doc I don't know Tony so you know very much but uh there is there is a story i' would like to share on the day that I went to the wake I was uh carrying a picture of him in my hands there was a man right behind me who asking me for that picture and I said they have more pictures out there but I I'll be glad to give it to you I gave it to that man so I turned around he was sobbing crying and I said um is it your brother your acquaintance or somebody that very close to you then he turned around basically said the following words it's because of this main that I'm alive today he was able to change me so much what I regret the most is the fact that I never asked the man for his name and uh he wanted to speak with the mayor that was in front of me there was another man uh there was another person in front of me so uh but uh it touched me profoundly because it those comments are important uh coming from somebody that uh left the city for probably uh 15 years he told me he lives in a different city here in Massachusetts but they came all the way just to see his friend somebody that made a difference in his life so it touched me profoundly thank you thank you this point we like to take a moment of silence thank you so moving on to uh the next piece of agenda we have recognition and uh I know that monteroso oh miss Rizzo yes mad thank you Mr Mayor so last week this is a little bit too late but last week um I superintendent and our assistant superintendent attended their summmer Institute which I was really jealous um because they always have a great time and great speakers and I'm jealous that I didn't get to listen to Manny Scott um one of the freom writers that I really am looking forward to hearing someday but I wanted to say congratulations to our superintendent Dr Diane Kelly for receiving the kristo date ulis award I'm not GRE so I can't can't say the name correctly each year this Accolade is presented to a superintendent who embodies the finest attributes of committed School administration and has had made substantial impact on mass Massachusetts Association for school superintendence Dr Kelly also shares the same level of enthusiasm for the influence and her influence and influence and significance of leadership Mass chose her a strong dedication chose her because she's strongly dedicated to fostering leadership across all levels of public education system including student leaders teacher leaders District leaders and superintendent leaders so Diane congratulations we're proud of you um you keep doing the good work please and keep those um leadership roles throughout the district going thank you any other recognition great thank you you may so just a quick thank you to Mrs Rizzo and I know several of the other committee members had uh reached out with congratulations um it certainly was unexpected and humbling to receive uh that award especially knowing that it's uh you know my colleagues across the state that uh voted on who should get that award I certainly wasn't expecting it I would have done my hair that day if I had known that I was going to be getting an award which I didn't do but um it it really is humbling it's it's uh it's it's it fills my cup as the elementary school kids would say it fills my cup to know that um some of the hard work uh doesn't go unnoticed and is recognized by uh colleagues across the state so thank you Mrs Rizzo for bringing that up and sharing it with everybody and and and thank you to the others who uh also acknowledged that accomplishment thank you thank you we have the next item the consent calendar yes Mr Mayor motion to approve the consent calender second second second roll call please is there any discussion no any questions okay Mr Stacy Bronson Rizo yes Mr Anthony cajano yes Mr John Kingston yes Mr Aisha Milbury Ellis yes Miss Jacqueline monteroso yes Mr Frederick tala yes mayor Patrick yes thank you passes there's no student student representative report this uh this meeeting uh the next item is public speak we open this up public speak is there any Miss Kelly would you check to see if there's any public speak on the zoom attendance um there's nobody on the zoom okay anyone attendance wish to speak no he and seeing none motion to close public speak second all in favor I any Nays okay superintendent report thank you Mr Mayor we have uh just one item under the superintendent report tonight and it really is just an introduction to the new faculty handbook which we hope that you'll be voting on at the August meeting along with some additions or changes to the um student handbook which had a complete overhaul just a year ago um and I I know that the team that worked on this um has spent a ton of time they they are listed in your packet but I'm going to I know Dr Garcia has just a small presentation that he wants to do and along with him U Mr Linds and um Mrs Flynn are here as they helped spear ahead this work so um let me just actually share my screen give me just a second here figure this out okay these machines they never want to behave okay microphone good evening um I would like to start this uh small presentation you know that's very short presentation on the one of the you know U critical piece of um of Our Lives um you know uh that we put together um but first I'd like to thank Dr Kelly for interesting me and the members of our committee to put that presentation to develop something that really was a complete overall overhaul of the previous um faculty handbook so we started this work uh back I think in November and uh the work was completed very recently uh certainly uh it took a lot of hours uh you know a lot of work uh on the part of my team um to really um you know get this project completed so the purpose of the um of the you know of the faculty handbook or employee handbook that's what we call it now is basically to ensure that uh first of all um you know this document it's not a policy document I would like to start that way it's not a policy it's basic guideline uh in other words what I'm trying to say by that is that the leaving document it's a guide that will guide Our Lives administrators staff teachers everybody so um that's the first thing the goal that we had uh is basically to ensure that we have a document that is personalized but also inclusive we moved away from the compliance space document um very mil militaristic where you tell people what to do you know you you site articles and stuff like that something that really scare people off so we want to do the still Compliance Document we want to make sure that is more appealing more personalized more inclusive and really reflects the vision and the mission of our school you know in other words the core value of of who we are as a district certainly Rivier has invested a lot in areas of equity and restorative ju restorative juice practice restorative practic and that's exactly the philosophical uh principles that guide the development of This Book of this uh you know handbook so we want it to be um a reference to the policies procedures but not a heavy document that really will scare people off so we also wanted this document to be um you know it was based on the five RS five Arts are that are principles of RJ practices one relationships that's actually one of us uh one of our principles respect responsibility repair and integration those are the five tenants of RJ practices that's select so in terms of organization uh this is the organization and there's a lot of uh new things there for example over the last two or three years we have a new office of the human resources so uh as you can see we have the employee benefits we have the payroll it's all spelled out and if you read if you go to the language you can clearly see that the language is a little bit more um you know appealing to our faculty members as well so these are all the elements that are part of the Brute the the book you can go through it I'm not going to go through it so this is the organization of the book uh you have the employment guidelines and the employment guidelines technology the payroll so these are all the elements that Encompass this uh this handbook yeah next so I would be remissed not to mention the names of the people really uh brought a very strong contribution to this book this handbook um obviously I let this work I don't take I don't take credit I give the credit to the community they are the ones who really uh day in day out they really focus on all the elements we conduct a lot of research we see what's going on around our cities our neighbors and uh certainly we did a lot of research to inform this uh this handbook and those are the names um I'll start with Richard um the assistant superintendent of pil and Personnel we have Lori the Director of Human Resources Jamie fle you know made a strong contribution also to this book especially with the tech aspect uh Linda Barber is the RJ practices uh for our district she was a great addition also brought a lot of uh uh knowledge and insight into the conversation roxan uh she's the uh Union the RTA Vice President we have Jill also director of comprehensive uh health and wellness also she also worked with us very well John I cannot you know thank you enough for bringing um a good formatting and with the visuals with the language to review you know reviewing this book um and uh Caitlyn also you know she's the deputy principal of the high school she has a lot of things on her plate but she really made time to come to those meetings as well and we have Cy Williams also um the director of Fine Arts also who contributed to this in addition one you know uh you know when the book this book was put together we wanted to make sure that it reflects the views and perspectives of all our administrators we got the all ad meeting we brought the the student hand the uh faculty handbook to the meeting we asked the principl to give as the feedback uh it was what we call in research you know um we call the peer review or you know member check to make sure that we have all the things together we did not want to leave anyone uh you know aside central office Dan mcab also brought you know some ideas into the handbook so it's a community that put this together then we have all these meetings keep in mind these are formal meetings but not counting the countless hours uh outside the school hours that we all did uh you know uh polishing the product uh contradicting ourselves and uh contrasting and comparing the language uh and disagreeing with each other what really makes this group special is that we did not have any you know uh assumptions or when we do sometime we disagree the conversation gets very overheated but in the end we can come together that's what makes up a good team there's no no you know getting offended by this or that we work very well together so next one uh this is a short quote by coffe Anan uh coffe Anan he was the General Secretary of the United Nations you always have some wisdom to share next there's something else uh oh I think that was like way back did we did we talk about that oh yeah so I wanted to share so the that's the old version and that's a new version you see the the clear the pictures more appealing more visual it's it's certainly a good product and then there's also another piece there that basically remember when we talk about the heavy loaded kind of language and then you get you see that we can say things differently we don't have to be so heavy compliance you know SC people off so that's a replacement of that language just to give an idea in terms of what is in there so this is a living document we don't want to say we pretend that it's perfect it's 100% you know you may find some War seting there but that's what we have and that's what the committee put together for you for you to appreciate to uh to consider uh moving forward I don't know if the elements of the actually if I can just add one more thing so you all received the link to the electron Ric document which is very dense and has a lot of links embedded in it what we were hoping is that you could take some time over the next month to look through that click on the link see what you think give us any feedback in between now and then and um we would hope to have a finalized document for your vote at the August meeting sure I'll be quick um so having having um worked on the student handbook I acknowledge how much work goes into this so I just want to thank you for that I do have a question I'm curious and I'll see it as I um I've kind of gone through this but I'll and I'll and I'll make note of it as I go through it more carefully but I'm curious as to whether there's any type of language that speaks to um teachers and staff adhering to policies that are in place I believe there is a uh there's a section talks about uh let me go over the document there's a section talks about uh cell phones uh and stuff like that in the in this U uh uh handbook okay um obviously there's also reference to the school Pol school committee policy okay so great thank you thank you so much thank you for all your work on this of course yeah Miss mon Roo yeah I just want to thank the team that came up with this going above and beyond your job description and truly revising something through an equity lens can be very difficult and to bring together multiple perspectives for the best interest of our teachers is not an easy task so thank you all and I look forward to reviewing it and then um are you asking for feedback through is it a Google doc or is it in PDF uh just if people want to email any feedback to Lorenzo we can take it from there great thank you actually one other thing I want to highlight we used to have two separate handbooks we had a faculty handbook and a staff handbook and there was a lot of redundancy between the two of them and there were a lot of things that should have been the same that weren't aligned um and issues like that and so we went with the with one book to apply to all staff members because we also want to emphasize the fact that every employee is equally important to the well-being of the children and the function of the school department um so we went away we did away with the two separate handbooks and now we have the one that as Dr Garcia mentioned we're now referring to as our employee handbook instead of a staff and a faculty one more question um one more question are you going to have legal council review this especially for like the title 9 this is all being reviewed and Ved by El perfect thank you thank you any any questions great and that's it from the superintendent's report okay thank you next up we have hearings there are no report of the subcommittee so we have the Personnel subcommittee update I believe that's uh Miss monteroso yes so this update is a little it's not really an update because it's our full uh recap during the live meeting of the superintendent's formative evaluation so I'm just going to give a little bit of an overview we're going to dive into the evaluation give the superintendent her feedback and then uh we will have this posted on the website for the public to see and so uh I will be speaking a bit but I I'll pass the mic for sure to to my other committee members and make space after I'm done with this but I first do want to start uh by thinking the committee I'm on wrong notes one second thanking the committee for all the work so this uh for all of you watching this is the first time we went through a formative evaluation so usually we every year we do a summit evaluation that comes with ratings uh and different categories and then we vote on it as a committee but a few years back uh the former school committee passed a new uh procedure that requires a formative evaluation every other year and so as a school committee although we do a lot we have three actual legal responsibilities one is the budget second is policies and third is evaluating the superintendent every year and our students are only as good as our superintendent and our superintendent is only as good as a school committee that does their job their legal responsibilities and um just really holds you accountable so it was something new for all of us as we created this new process so I do want to thank my fellow committee memb for working with me through that especially the Personnel subcommittee for really engaging in planning meetings as we reviewed uh everyone's data and evaluation and so according to Desi guidelines the formative evaluation is truly just the verbal check-in with you Dr Kelly during a live meeting but our committee always goes above and beyond so we created a memo for you that actually summarizes the feedback from members and so we don't have to go through this verbatim because you can read it you have a copy the whole committee has one and it will be posted online for the public to also see and so I just wanted to reiterate that the feedback presented is by those who com who actually completed the evaluation so your feedback is from Mrs bronzen Rizzo Mr Mata Miss mberry Ellis uh mayor Keef and myself we acknowledge uh Mr sella just came on so he didn't he wasn't here for the evaluation process and it's because it's a formative evaluation it's only on your six goals as a reminder to everyone uh who may be listening on how did these goals come up with so the superintendent drafted her goal when her contract was renewed and then the school committee approved these goals and that's what we uh had to base ourselves off of and so the first goal Dr Kelly that we evaluated you on was enabling students to exercise choice and how they demonstrate their knowledge and learning and the committee found that you are on target to meet this goal I think every member here has gone to countless uh Civic project engagement Fair student District showcases the pop presentations at the PO R School so we've really been able to see through that in our district uh presentations that come to the school committee at our monthly meetings how students are demonstrating their knowledge but I think something that a lot of members who felt that the evaluation also echoed was the student advocacy and freedom for student leadership that we've seen our students really did I'll say it again they are why we are getting a new high school and so their advocacy there our students advocacy when they ask for an honors program to be brought brought back I think are good examples of how they're demonstrating and owning their knowledge we did have additional feedback of some members wanting to learn a little bit more about what uh Competency Based learning the what the model looks like what are those expectations and requirements for students to demonstrate their learning so and you'll have an opportunity to chime in after so that was just one point that members added and then I'll just go through all the goals and then I'll pass it on to my fellow committee members if there's anything else you want to add the second goal is a review of handbooks critically through the lens of equity and identifying areas needing Improvement the consensus here was that you are on target to meet this goal I think we just had a clear example of the work that's being put into this so I won't speak more on that but we've had committee members sit on these working groups we've approved and reviewed these different handbooks and we've seen the changes that are being made so that they are more inclusive of our community and we really were able to document that throughout the evaluation the third goal is ensuring All Families feel supported and included in our diverse Community this goal you are also on target to meet and folks were really able to share a lot of examples of how the school district has increased their initiatives to really involve families from the new Coffee hours that we have with elected with the mayor and other members we have more translation services available to families more service fairs caregiver engagement nights that Dr Garcia has really helped put together for our families and so the success of your District staff is your success in our success as a whole so that was really great we did also acknowledge that before we had our communications director John come on there was conversations about how we could reach families even more and I know that's something we're always thinking about so we just added in here a recommendation that we hope you'll take up about exploring a districtwide Facebook or Instagram to continue posting updates we know individual schools have had success with those so just more of a district one there and then I know folks had more ideas on that so I'll please uh chime in Once I pass it over uh your fourth goal there's only six anyone listening halfway there is uh review existing and and create new student support practices to ensure alignment with student needs and make necessary changes when needed and so the consensus is that you're also on target to meet this goal and so we have seen we've had presentations come to the committee about how there are changes being made based on student needs a few examples members provided were the redesign and the move of uh let me remember the move of one of our special ed departments from one Middle School to the other uh how we've introduced honors in the middle and high school to support accelerated students and the redesign of the Riva High School to adapt to student behavioral needs and so those are just three examples of what we've seen that there is a constant uh process to reviews review and revise our student support systems and so we also did acknowledge that there's only been one year of the high school redesign and although that doesn't cover our whole K to 12 support uh we look forward to seeing data and sitting down uh with your high school team to really see how successful that was and uh where improvements could be and just hear how it went it was one year the fifth goal was increase the district's capacity to provide social emotional and mental Behavioral Health interventions and so the committee acknowledges that ever since Co there's been a national shortage of healthc care providers in our Public Schools Across the Nation TR truly and so the extreme shortages that we see in our district from social workers to guidance counselors to psychologists is something everywhere and so we did acknowledge that the district has come up with Creative Solutions to try to help fill these gaps from having contracted providers to paid Partnerships with uh home for lit Wanderers for example and the north suffk mental health and Haven and we know that we have prisions posted we increase in our budget to have more social worker and guidance counselor prisions we just haven't been able to fill them because people aren't coming into the schools and so we we acknowledge that we also acknowledge that when we can't address our te our staffing shortages that increases the case loads for the providers that we do have in the building and so we did want to Echo that as well and then the final goal was to provide more internship and early college dual enrollment opportun so all students can participate and so we also found that you on target to meet this goal and the committee spoke very highly of all the expansion opportunities that we've seen in our students from the transformation of SE Coast to City lab to the expansion of evoke Tech through our budget to have more programs through Partnerships with the city through youth works and so the list goes on of all the opportunities that we're providing our students from extracurricular to Advanced coursework through dual enrollment and advanced coursework and the honors program as well and so those are the six goals I went through a little fast because I know you the committee has a copy of it and so the last point I'll make here is I really do want to thank everyone again for navigating this new process with me I'm very happy that we are now um caught up and so next year will be the summi of evaluation and so because the evaluation process falls under the vice chairship I want to work with you all to create a very clear timeline guide book and handbook so that the next Vice chair really has something to follow and we all kind of know what we're doing and so I'll work with you all especially our policies and procedures to create something that's a tool so whoever comes next can really guide the whole committee through that work so thank you all once again and then I'll open it up to other committee members and Dr Kelly I'll let the mayor take it back from here thank you very very well done Miss monteroso I appreciate it I know it took a lot of work so we appreciate what you did um any committee minutes members wish to speak Mr kajo first I didn't uh I didn't give you any feedback I've been reviewing this the notes everything that Dr Kelly provided to me uh to this committee first she has met her proficiency and uh I want to congratulate you on on your award also but to be honest with you I've been torn with this evaluation is with the goals as well as it hasn't been done in a timely manner I just feel it has to go back I I mean I look back as back as maybe 2020 2021 I think the school committee's ideology changed and we're not as focused I feel on academics as we should as well like for example our math proficiency science mcast even the Dropout rates increased and uh that's been a concern of mind and I feel we don't address that in the evaluation now we touched on the uh The Vocational School currently like 60% of the students from the 8th and 9th grade appli to the voke and when they couldn't make it in and when they got the email I got the calls and each year it gets more and more and more and it's not just about vocational education it's about quality of academics here as well as this IPL and I think part of the it seems like it's been going up like about 10% a year when I started it was like around 200 now it's about 360 so it's been increasing and I think if we focus more on the academics I think we can decrease possibly the enrollment into the vocational school so that would allow more members you know more students to get into the school as well as the additional seats that will be coming up in the near future and with my ending I just feel this committee's goal should prepare our students for the next chapter of their lives involves higher education starting a business entering a trade preparation requires a strong curriculum Innovative programs consistent support systems the primary focus should remain on delivering high quality education that equips students with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in a diverse world thank you thank you m uh Miss Milbury Ellis sure I'm just for the record this is my my small annotation um I I recognize that these goals have already been in place for several years um and the the goals that have been established for the district and The Five-Year Plan and including um Dr Kelly's goals um have been inherited and can be adjusted at some point um while I do feel that the goals are here are important um I would just like to note for the record that I think it's equally important that um the goals include the foundational um areas involving education namely a demonstration of improved academics um attendance mcast scores High School completion rates college trade attendance rates increasing reading rates and um a a measure for reducing chronic absenteeism so I guess that's just a Tickler to to put as to where what I'd like to see moving forward um and as a priority and I think there is a correlation between the lack of these issues in our goals now with the the issues that we're facing um that's my my bit but I do praise you on clearly meeting and excelling in all of these areas of expectation with respect to the goals established thank you okay um Miss Miss Kelly did you wish to sure I uh I'm a little bit taken back because I thought my evaluation was focused on the goals and I can appreciate the fact that the current school committee inherited goals that predated them I just want to clarify where those goals came from they didn't come from me with approval of the city of the school committee it came from a community meeting and it was the people of R over 120 of them who attended those meetings and set the vision for the 5-year plan it was parents students and teachers they are the ones who established what the goals should be and each year in that 5-year process which is going to end next June um we as a district have identified areas that we thought we could Target to accomplish the goal set by the people of rier the students the parents and the teachers um and I can appreciate that must be frustrating for a school Committee Member to come onto a board that has pre-existing goals but I want to um acknowledge the fact that change does take time and if we're going to stop and and reinvent our priorities each time that there's a new committee voted I don't think that you'll see a lot of progress in the district and I I agree with you that there needs to be a stronger focus on academics and that that's a direction that we need to move in um but I I I also want to acknowledge the actual data that I have shared with the with the committee around the percentages of kids and the numbers of kids who are engaged in advanced course work especially across different demographics when we're talking about equity and inclusion and we've made huge gains in those areas um and I think that that is equally important evidence as to what's happening beyond the five goals the six goals sorry that were articulated here um so I just don't want to lose sight of that I just um I I feel like when the Educators and the families and the students came together to write those goals it was really preco because we had done the work of writing the goals in 2019 leading into in preparation for the 2021 school year which was the first year that um the new um go set was in place um and a lot has certainly been upended by Co this among it but the academic side of it too uh and I'm excited to I said to Danielle today um and one of the things I'm going to want to talk to the committee about when Matt gives us a final tally of where we are with the numbers um I anticipate that we're going to have a little bit of carry forward money that we haven't allocated yet that we'll be able to say you know what do we want to do with these funds and one thing I want to do is hire a consultant again who can come in and repeat that process and have the meetings with the school committee and the parents and the students and the teachers and identify the new set of goals that's going to guide the practices for the district for the next five years um so I want to thank the members who did take the time to give me feedback on the goals and where they saw progress specifically on on these goals um and I agree like learning more about uh what's required in Competency Based learning is definitely important and we'll try to make that a focus of what we do in our presentations for this upcoming school year um the Facebook Instagram piece is big I wish I was more of a a technology person I am not I'm excit to have John on board because I think he'll be able to take care of that I understand there ways now that if you post in one it goes to all of them um really you're really stpp up I'm not he's going to um but that I that I do think will be helpful cuz I know that different people like different platforms and are drawn to different technology platforms for their work um on the fourth goal the the jury is still out on the redesign at the high school I think it's actually going to take us a whole another year to fully get that nailed down and functional and um we'll have a good data set then to look at what impact is it having on The Chronic absence ISM on the um tardiness on all of those pieces that you talked about Aisha and um you know make sure that it's really working and then if it's not tweak it or change it um let me see what else I highlighted here um the the large case nots on guidance counselors and social workers I actually feel like we've done we've made huge progress we're not down social workers or guidance counes it's a school psychologists that we're really struggling to hire and we have as you know the school committee voted to increase those positions by five in previous budgets which is Hu hugely helpful and as if you as you all wrote in here the problem is finding the people to fill them we have hired two School psychologists in the last few weeks so that's helpful it's not the five that we need plus the one that left which means we really need six but um you know we're still pushing in that direction and we'll continue to and we'll continue to contract with outside service providers when we can't find people to sit in those positions um yeah and I think that's about it I think it's it's it's high time it's the right time for us to engage in a process again where we look back look through and evaluate where we are and where we need to go and then how we map out a strategy to get there so thank you all very much thank you Dr Kelly if and if I can also add it's you know I get amazed that the first of all this I think this is very very good and I think that you you you put it out there and I know that the committee was very respectful of it too is these are the goals that were set and you've done a very good job at them and you continuing to work on them and you know that as new goals are adapted uh you're going to if I we asked you to run 100 miles one way you tend to do it and you run 120 typically you you know you absolutely do and that's one thing I I really appreciate out of you but something just to kind of point out like the evolution that we talk about and how educators have had to change over the last just the five years but last 20 years and you've been an educator for longer than that is you know I had a conversation I mentioned with you uh the head of mass C or uh U climate Tech right which no one talked about no one even knew what the word climate Tech meant 10 years ago uh Rivier received one of the first pathway uh grants um Rivier U City lab received one of the first State's pathway grants to teach kids climate Tech Pathways starting next year one of the first schools in all in the all of the state of Massachusetts climate Tech is as everyone knows Governor Mara Hill is one of her newest initiatives and the country's newest biggest initiatives pumping 600 um million dollar into the into the into the state's um finances over the next few years it's the next biotech or life science buzz and Rivier is again starting from the front and leading in in ways that we didn't think about 5 years ago and that wouldn't happen without innovators in our school district but also good great Educators great principles and a great Administration so these are the types of things that of course everyone wants to have the top ranked school when it comes to grades but that's not the only single measurement um of our school system and it's not all and and it's can be very skewed when we're in an urban school district and we know that everyone here knows that we we live it every day we see the great successes we have and we see the opportunities so as long as we continue to collaborate we're going to be in a really great place so thank you thank you have my policies and procedures policies and procedures Miss Miss aish Milbury sure um so this is a followup to our last meeting when I promised that I would provide the committee with the two policies that we wish to um put to a vote tonight you have in front of you uh bedh which is the public comment policy um with respect to school committee meetings and policy bdg regarding the school attorney um the language in red reflects the changes that we've made um so by now I'm assuming that all of the committee me Members excuse me have had a chance to review I haven't received any feedback from these so I'm assuming that we are all in agreement to put this to a vote is that a reasonable assumption I I should make okay um so at this time do have okay you want me to make a motion sure okay it is on we added the agenda at the committee of the whole um at this time I'd like to make a motion to accept file BH public comment at school committee meetings and file bdg School attorney as drafted second any discussion questions roll call please Mr Stacy brono Mr Anthony cajano yes Mr John Kingston yes Mr Isa Milbury Ellis yes Miss Jaclyn monteroso yes Mr Frederick sella pres mayor Patrick yes thank you you great job uh you can see your attorney background stepping in with those red lines this Miss monosa and yes and we also I would actually like to make a motion for another document so motion to approve the recommended language addition for the guide to rever public schools for students and parent caregivers it was long but it was also included in here um that that is my motion is there a second have a second second any discussion no call please Mr Stacy re Mr Stacy Bron re M Anthony kajo yes Mr Aisha milal yes M Jaclyn monteroso yes Miss Frederick sella yes yes Mr John Kingston yes mayor Patrick yes sorry about that thank you thank you Jackie so we have the next item is to approve congratul ation we have a motions to approve the r administrators Association memorandum of agreement so moved is there a second second questions um is is this agreement that's reached and yes sir to accept or deny or yes to accept on um this is the administrators yes just the administrators correct thank you the power professional were done last month this is the administrators and we we hope to keep moving I'll forward you the copy so that you have it Mr sella thank you and just some brief highlights uh and I I should uh share with the committee that the Raa did ratify the memorandum of agreement so they have voted in the affirmative for this uh and now they need the Committees vote so that we can proceed to uh the contract itself um but just a brief summary cost of living adjustments at 3 and 1/2 3 and 1/2 and 4% in each of the next three calendar years um we did agree that we would form a committee to take a look at um long-term planning for differential setting one of the things that we are seeing is um because teacher salaries are increasing and and administrative differentials are an adjustment on top of the teacher salary we're seeing some places where assistant principal are making as much or bumping up to the salary of a principal which of course then makes it difficult to hire principles because people would prefer not to have that head job if they can have the same uh Financial incentive to stay at a lower level in the administration so we've agreed that we'll talk about try to work on a long-term solution for that uh over the course of the next year or so um the same percent different increases were made to the differential um and we talked about having right now when a principal is absent the assistant principal who covers for them uh gets $150 for covering the day and we're going to extend that to half days only when the principal's on vacation if the principal has a half of a vacation day and is out of the district then the assistant principal would get $75 for covering for that half of a day um we did some other housekeeping things like made sure the titles were correct for each of the administrators currently on staff um and we put in some new contract language around the hours of the day where administrators acknowledge they have to work the hours needed in order to get the job done regardless of whether typically that's you know 20 minutes before students come in and one hour after teachers are dismissed um but they acknowledge and will do due diligence when circumstances dictate they work differently than that um we changed the uh sick leave buyback um to $30 for their first 100 days that they have banked this is upon retirement 40 for the next $160 each for the any days beyond that um in exchange for that concession they agreed that uh we would include the language around family illness right now this language around instances of absence when we can speak to an administrator about their performance um and they've agreed to include family illness as an instance of absence in that um and then we also have extended them um for a a birthing parent who is eligible for an unpaid leave under the mpla or FMLA that they will get one calendar week not to exceed 5 days of paid leave um and this leave is to be used and will not come from the employees sick time but must be used first before any other time available to the employee um I think that's pretty much oh we extended the same for a non- birthing parent under parental leave um and then we adjusted the longevity increments for uh folks who have been with us more than 15 years uh the 10-year um longevity stayed the same but from 15 on WE increased those and I think that's it anything else John or raisha no just that um negotiations went smoothly yeah very pleasant yep and I want to thank the both of you for taking the time to participate in that thank you Mr chairman Mr sella um through you to the superintendent back up a minute where you made reference that an assistant would be making more than a principal okay just back that up a minute how how does that work out and also when you negotiate with the principal that's not contractual you agree so that if if assistant principal is making 130,000 and you're not going to get a principal for 100,000 you have that ability to go so I guess what I'm asking is why are we going to penalize an assistant because of contractual agreements I I'm so we don't we don't want to penalize them at all because they do work very hard and we can um make sure that we are paying our principles in a way that that Gap isn't quite as tight I think the point that I that I would like to work with the administrators Association on is is there a way that we can structure administrative salaries that are not tied to the teacher salary which is what's CA causing that Gap to come up um and and and we want school committee to be part of that by the way we want to have um principles assistant principles school committee and myself a group really thinking about is there a better way we can structure this and quite frankly it might be something because unions rightly want to protect their membership that doesn't kick in until the existing administrators retire off but we can do something now if we think about it now that might predict uh protect the district in 10 or 15 years so that this issue doesn't continue to happen thank we have a motion to approve have a second second a roll call please Mr Stacy Bronson Rizo Mr Anthony cajano yes Mr John Kingston yes Mr Aisha Mr Aisha Milbury Ellis yes Miss jacn Mont Roso yes Mr Frederick sella yes mayor Patrick yes congratulations okay uh any unfinished business subte Mee new business and so no unfinished business great ex any new business Mr Mr Mr K um this um the how the ways and means subcommittee had a meeting this this um evening this afternoon at 4: 45 the agenda item was to discuss um hiring a um or paying a stien to someone to do the minutes of the subcommittee meetings the concern was that the subcommittee subcommittee meetings um currently on on on a YouTube um basis uh it's so not televised and not recorded so it makes it difficult for the chair to create minutes the chair is trying to run the meeting and pay attention to the words that are set on both sides at the meeting from the the administration side and also from the super uh school committee side so it was felt that uh someone um recording those minutes um for the subcommittees would be helpful in a stop Gap measure um the committee um um voted out um to begin to um at least YouTube all the meetings until the secretary position could be squared away at least the um chair who was responsible for the minutes would be able to look back at the recording to make sure that everything was um the minutes were recorded properly so the the two recommendations one was to YouTube all the meetings which currently is done on some meetings but not all so that would be the first part and the second part would be looking into the feasibility of getting someone to do those minutes um it was felt that if the meetings were youtubed um a secretary could um do the minutes at a later date and wouldn't have to be present for the meeting but could do them based off the recording which I think makes a lot of sense so my hope is that the committee will vote to have um all future subcommittee meetings on YouTube and then uh and as well look into hiring a secretary whether it be a stipend or just uh some other way of having someone transcribe what's uh put on the YouTube and um in the proper format to make sure that we're not making any errors the concern was missing something or not properly um having the minutes or leaving something out or whatnot um because they are a public document they are published and to try to just be as accurate as we possibly could as we actually record them and be proper uh in the way that which they were done do you want re your motion I didn't know well the motion would be to the motion would be to um at at first um to YouTube all the subcommittee meetings and that would be the first motion if you take them together or separately whatever you ask me to do the second motion would be to look into the feasibility and come back to the full committee um with an amount and um so on to have someone actually um you know write the minutes up based on the based on the YouTube um that would that wouldn't that would help inless the person wouldn't have to be physically present at the subcommittee if they couldn't make it due to other um obligations thank you a second I guess I would we have a we have a second on that second so we can discuss second any discussion second so sorry just to be clear I think John didn't you make the motion and then so the second is Mr cajano is that right okay oh you did okay all right I didn't know if I thought for a minute that I heard John no I asked for a uh yes so I know we have two motion do it there's two motions made in one so we're going to assume the second was to both so the first one the live stream doesn't need a motion we can all just agree because we're already doing it so I would recommend uh with withdraw of that motion then we can all just agree to that the second motion well I'll pause for that one first so we don't get confused so well we're not doing it consistently so that's the motion is to have none of them are live streamed so we can just agree to it but we can also vote it just it's not a necessary motion but sure I mean it's just a vote we can do a roll call real quick uh so on the first motion to live stream or YouTube all subcommittee meetings moving forward yes okay great all in favor well we have a second yeah sella and and we have a roll call please Mr Stacy Bronson Rizo Mr Anthony cajano yes Mr John Kingston yes Mrs Aisha Milbury Ellis yes M jacqulyn monteroso yes Mr Frederick senala yes mayor Patrick yes motion's approved and then your second motion is to Second motion is to um look into the feasibility of hiring someone either stipended or whatever whatever means available to have someone um create those minutes from the YouTube but the YouTube was the priority at the moment for me anyway Thank you do we have a second sure second second and in discussion okay I would actually like to introduce a substitute motion to refer this to policies and procedures because that's the next step would be it's we actually our subcommittee Duties are actually a policy we have so the policy subcommittee meeting would have to look into those recommendations um and then bring back to us saw this way we there's a clear action to who it falls to so I'm now placing a substitute motion to refer the exploration to the policies and procedures subcommittee is there a second is there a second second discussion on mine ideas I'd like to take to the subcommittee and then if others have ideas as well as I like the idea of live streaming just for the sake of transparency we should continue to live stream I also when we discuss whether it's an additional snip into a secretary we have or uh trying to be the most fiscally responsible we could be and good stewards of our resources we could also explore the idea of a school committee um student intern so leverage our student advisory Council we could give them community service hour so that they can take the minutes so that we can so I just want to share put those recommendations to that subcommittee and then if anyone else has others that you want to give to the subcommittee so we can continue that discussion but I think there's some good I appreciate the ways and means meeting for that first fiscal um kind of check to make sure that we have it and I I look forward to exploring some good um Steward resources before we go into the money part of it all I would just add that during the ways and means that's exactly what was discussed and those were some of the um options that we thought to explore as well if I can ALS Mr K if I can also add uh I know that for the committee's uh edification we use the term Secretary for outside administrative assistance please thank you thank you not but I think that that would be a good you know if someone's doing extra work they should be stiped for it absolutely so refer the so so all in favor oh sorry roll call on the uh motion substitute motion from Miss monteroso Mr yes Mr John Kingston yes Mr Aisha Milbury Alis yes M Jaclyn monteroso yes Mr Frederick sella yes mayor Patrick yes any other new business no nothing in the executive session we have a motion to adjourn second and then second since we don't have any more zoom attendance we can probably just all in favor oh um please I'm sorry done okay we just I'm sorry you're on no I don't want to okay a motion to adjourn we're in adjournment sorry I apologize have a good night you e e for --------- good afternoon calling to order the Tuesday July 23rd 24 24 Committee of the whole will all rise incl the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with li Justice and Mr Mayor um member Rizzo has joined through Zoom oh wonderful welcome so uh in attendance this afternoon we have school committee John Kingston OH you going by I'm sorry Mr Fred sella yes John Kingston yes Aisha milberry Ellis present Anthony kiano pres Jacqueline monteroso pres and woman Stacy Rizo pres pres thank you we have a forum if we go down the agenda approval of the minutes any questions on those no no questions uh because there a zoom attendance we have to do roll call or is that just that's when we vote that's right okay still need a roll call yeah sure for um even for committee of the whole for the for the yes we just asked if there was questions we're not voting on anything the vote's not until the next meeting Stacy oh I'm sorry I thought you were looking for a vote now no I was unsure too so the uh okay so no no questions on that any attached warrant I just had a question Matt yeah uh one item 280 and 281 uh reference safety barricade Gates and I was just wondering what those were needed for all right let's see so those are purchased directly from the instructional account at the rumney marsh um I'll have to pull the purchase orders on those typically those would go through the plant maintenance director but it made something that that they were dealing with right on site just at at that school so is that like for construction or like was it like a student safety concern issue and there was barricades I don't know oh yeah the to see this coming directly from the Ry Marsh account means it would have been something directly triggered by the principal there as opposed to something districtwide that that involved us the Clinton maintenance and it looks like there was two purchase orders used so I can pull the PO is in the detail and then forward those to the committee and you can see great thank you that was a great thank you any other questions on Wars no sir okay so just to note there's no other financials because it's the July meeting we're still working on closing out the fiscal year from the 30th in August we'll have a number of financial reports for you to see and we'll get them out to you as soon as we can before that meeting so you're available that will include the final Financial Port for the fiscal year and then any other updates that we can give also I think everyone would have seen But the conference committee did their work signed off on their budget so we've seen the Statewide numbers the numbers for R haven't trickled down yet as soon as they do you'll get a communication from myself and superintendent Kelly that shows if there were any changes that affected Us in what we're being awarded or what our n school spending is going to be so I was hoping they would have posted that before tonight they haven't got to it so we'll do that as soon as as soon as we're able okay good it should be within the next day or two it y thank you okay any other questions on Wars financials Financial reports thank you Matt okay thank enj yourself thank you man uh Food Service financials are on great Communications none enrollment update and uh next we have Personnel new highest retirements resignations orations and you have those lists in your packets any question any question how how you doing on hiring we're doing well there's we still have some um positions open in particular um special education positions if anybody knows anybody who's interested in a special ed job please send them our way um but other than that we're we're doing pretty well principles are plugging along and at the August meeting we'll have an exact list of what's still open and unfilled thank you and I saw we had a few promotions internally for some um assistant super assistant principls yeah in particular um Alex cbone has been promoted to assistant principal at the Garfield Middle um Alex is a lifelong reir resident went to rir schools um has been a teacher in the district for couple of decades and I think she'll do a great job over there absolutely abolutely congratulations Y and okay great any other questions fantastic moving on uh donations and gifts so one new piece here that uh Matt Dr Costa had applied for and was awarded um this uh Grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center it's the second time he's been awarded this grant um this one is a total of 79,000 $831 the majority of that money is um going toward the purchase of science equipment for classrooms and labs and there is a above $155,000 that's set aside for training teachers on how to use the new equipment and um and the new programs in the lab so um it's pretty exciting and spaning our stem Focus uh as we always like to do it'll it'll be great uh the the equipment is going to be specifically at reier high school um and it will help let's see what he wrote here uh replenish our burning a sensors and probe wear which provide students with different ways to design and investigation and then collect and analyze data so good stuff when you get a chance could we have could I um have a copy it was missing from my packet oh yeah sure I just want to read it thank you good stuff I didn't I didn't I I'll get a copy of the full Grant what I have is just the email the email oh that's all oh okay it says attached so I didn't know okay what was GNA I don't know why that says that think that's a I think that's probably a copy and paste okay okay no worries and then while we're on the topic of donations I will over this see Dr Kelling just letting you all know uh re janino connected me with someone from Jet Blue corporate who's interested in a donating to our Beachmont library and then also bringing uh any students to identify female into a stem conference free of charge so I will send that connection to you and letting you all know it'll be great to get that partnership free is always the right price this is true yeah great and then did you want to mention the Amazon that your office is working on sure uh a little um still in the working stage but um Amazon which as everyone knows um has a good relationship with the city of Rea having two uh fulfillment centers and are pretty much thriving in the city of Riv very much want to give back myself and my team and the mayor's office have had um a formal working relationship with people at Amazon so they have um they have really enjoyed the relationship so they much like the backpack tribe that we did last year we serviced over 600 students with backpacks filled with u goodies for kids to get back to school they wanted to do that plus they wanted to take it to another step and my um my idea and I because I noticed some teachers were asking for school supplies to start up the year and I said can we get with the the district to find out what the the teacher needs are and maybe work on the wish list through Amazon and they can they can supplement that with funding and whatnot so nothing finalized yet but more than likely Amazon will be sponsoring wish list for each School along with the back back drive but we'll roll great I think Claudia scheduled to meet meeting for tomorrow on there's one earli today too so so we'll we'll find out I mean might be it might be announced at the next um school committee meeting but more than likely it'll probably rolled off before then so I don't think anyone's going to have a problem with Amazon thank you for your work is that going to be something annually or just uh you know as often as we can this is the second year and they made it bigger and if it happens again next year we'll keep doing it great I think it's all about you know relationships and your success is our success vice versa you know so oh thank you and then I know teachers will speak more to what they need but I few teachers who lead their small learning groups have reached out to me because sometimes they can't get school like the school budget to buy little items that certain students would be feal emotional needs need like if I have a red toy car that helps me concentrate but a lot of things are in bulk so maybe it'll be um there's an opportunity to also like Loop that into the conversation so the collaboration once we find out you know kind of the budget perimeters tomorrow um we'll be reaching out to the schools and the leaders of the schools to say all right what do you need because I don't know what I mean I don't know if they need pencils or if they need red toy cars you know so uh I think that the schools will be able to help lead you know whether it's the principals the administrators and then probably their relationships with the teachers on what do we need let's let's look at those big big ticket items or small ticket items and and then kind of create those and you know we want to have seven wish lists for each school and that's that's the goal right um each seven schools seven wish list seven 11 I I apologize I don't always call the middle schools as I I more like more like buildings yeah seven buildings but that's okay so you call building you're trying one yeah it's one building yeah right build anyway gotcha great news gotcha well anyway yeah thank you make 11 wonderful you can say we're sorry round up 12 so that's that no field trips no field trips yeah so I had asked uh Robin to put this on the agenda because I wanted to talk to you all about it um I think you're all probably aware that in the last several years has been a lot of communication and discussion at the state level about how students are admitted to um the votch schools across the Commonwealth um and what a lot of the data shows is that there may be some bias and how kids are admitted when they look at the percentage of white students versus non-white students when they look at students who are economically disadvantaged versus kids who are not um there is discrepancy in um the percentages of kids who actually get accepted after they apply to the votex and so there there is a group who has reached out to me called The Vocational educational Coalition which is working at a state level on trying to find ways to maybe level the playing field so that um more kids can get into vocational technical schools when they apply um and one of the things they've asked us to do that I wanted to run by all of you is to reach out to the families of kids who applied to the voke but didn't get accepted and then give them the op opportunity it's up to the family if they want to do this or not to talk to them about um what reasons they were given for why they weren't accepted did or why they think they didn't get in um they're just doing research along those lines and there's a number of communities especially the urban communities uh that don't have their own Vocational Technical programs like us um who are engaging in this process to try to help increase accessibility for um families and so I would like for us to participate in that but I wanted to hear if the committee had a had different thoughts on that or I just have a question when a student is told that they don't qualify or that they're not accepted are they provided with a reason I'm not I'm not aware of that to be sure no it's it's an email just saying you on the waiting list okay at the end of the day the I get all the I was going to talk about this later today but when kids don't get accepted I get all the phone calls and this year was particularly the worst and uh and it comes down to more so at the end of the day it's about academics M okay uh the state kind of limited what you can say for discipline as you know absenteeism so on so at the end of the day it comes down to academics and uh what's happened in a lot of the trade schools the V doesn't have the problem because we go from Winchester to Chelsea so around 55% of our kids are non like uh we exceed all the state uh as far as special needs we exceed all their their guidelines the issues is is the other communities like the essics the GL and everything as far as our vocational schools we don't the problem is is there's just there's a variety of reasons and I was going to talk about it later on today if I have the opportunity uh but it's uh more so that more kids want to get in and it's not just for vocational reasons there's a lot of other reasons yeah definitely but I I probably got at least 50 to 100 calls yeah so and I talk to everybody and I call everybody back sometimes two three times they don't always like the answers but it's so it's academics and 10% of the of the full enrollment is on a lottery at the vocational schools so 10% of the R's allotment is done by a lottery and uh that's something done by the committee you know none of us are involved or anything and uh that's basically it but at the end of the day it's it's I hate to say you got to be pretty much on an a student to get into the boat right now so the findings that you're talking about do those pertain to us in our vocational school that our students are going to they they are but like Anthony said we have less of an issue um than some of the other botex where there are wider discrepancies than at Northeast I feel like we have such a good relationship with Northeast and we work so collaborative with it with collaboratively with them um and they're so collab with all of the sending districts you know um I feel like it's less of a problem here um but I think that if we want to make some change at the state level and find more funding for votex and create more seats for kids and move in that direction or I and I'm I you know this is just me talking I have no sense that this is going to happen but maybe it becomes that um with all of this demand that they allow districts to have some more oot tech programs even they're part of a regional like maybe there's things like that that could change at the state level I don't know um but that's what this organization is trying to work toward is let's at least explore this problem find other ways to create access and opportunity they tried like the at uh the after do program and that's probably the only thing that's going to work to be honest with you in this area and uh I think me and you touched upon it a little uh we could get work Grand Capital program like you know the work Grant capital the VC will even do the work but we need a location and if we can work with r and create an after do program so in all those kids in a waiting list for R and R only can go to that yeah and we can do up to four and we don't need exploratory so we would just need a location location right and uh we need a location and like I said between workr capitals we can we could get the uh the uh material like I said at the end of the day we need a facility yeah I don't think it hurts I don't think it hurts to talk to families but I also I also am am weary at times when there's an agenda of extracting information that maybe isn't accurate for the sake of supporting the agenda I mean I don't know whether you know if the risk outweighs the harm in that yeah so to provide more context as well this comes through a bill that R kashmer filed for V Tech Lottery admission and exploration so there's different coalitions that are already reaching out to parents directly as well to just gather intake on the differences like Dr Kelly said R doesn't have a problem because the school the VTech that we feed into does have a proportion of students of color but it's more like Western Mass where there's some schools where the application require even like a video interview top scores attendance and so right I get all that but if we don't have a problem I guess why are we subjecting our families to something it's optional and it's just passing on the message and it's also part of that Collective effort togethers research and be part of a commonwealth approach yeah feel can say no I want nothing to do with this she just passing on the email um I want to that has our hand up since I'm the only one who can see this okay M Rizo so just want to say masc last year and we had brought it up at the school committee last year also a resolution on the emission process for a vocational Tech we also work with mava on it um we also spoke about after doc um and many of the urban areas that it more than likely wouldn't happen and wouldn't be able to be done with our students because most of them work um and they're taking care of their families and those are the ones that would really like to go there um but unfortunately after this school day they go to work um but it was an agreement that we should be making this locally um because what might be working well here might not be working well somewhere else I know uh Blackstone has been working really hard with the um person who put this bill forward so there's a many of the vocation have been reaching out to um see what they can do locally and if it means just getting in contact with families I've had 10 families this year contact me because their kids didn't get in and wanted to know what their chances were for next year or even if they could join City lab um so there is a need in our city I mean we might have a good relationship but there is still not enough seats for our students ESP for the students that you know whether they have an absentee problem a behavioral Pro problem maybe that behavioral problem might turn around when they're doing something that interests them in the classroom so seeing that um the mayor joh and why I speak I won't po anyone anymore no I apologize that wasn't you I was actually gonna say something too an hour ago by the way um thank you uh M Rizzo I if I could ALS Al mentioned I I wanted to ask like what is what are we agreeing to are we agreeing to partner with them are we agreeing to divulge information no we agreeing to send a communication from them to the families of students who applied to the voke and that communication would say if you're interested in working with us click here uh call this number or send an email something of that nature my my I would just say my I don't think that it's kind of like double-edged sword to me it could be provoking something that's not there because we get the calls already and I would just say that you know like to Anthony mentioned um you know couple years back and I'm sure the policies have changed it was it tended to be attendance related kids were calling me parents were calling me and come to find out their their kids were missing 30 or 40 days of school and the voke was basically again this is well before your time right but we can't use that anyway right so so that's changed but you know like I said before your time they would say why going to give a seat up a coveted seat to someone that doesn't clearly shows that they don't want to be in school and that was like a quick a turnoff for the vocational school and I'm just going to say that that's the truth six eight years ago I'm not saying that is today right um now clearly we've been reading about this for the last couple years vocational schools and you mentioned it in other parts of the state you know it's probably a majority of um of of white students uh maybe maybe it's because of its unintended bias because their grades become better because of something that's happening in their life that's less they're less impacted but for us it could just flare up not just the I'm not necessarily concerned about it flaring up um someone suggesting there something happening here I think it's just going to flare up the same as like the school Lottery that we have in the city of Rivier the more the more you bring it up the more problems it it just drives out there we can't I think if I could see the correspondence that's going to go to the families and if it if it comes with like this caveat that while we're not experiencing um necessarily these issues if that's true there are other communities in the in the in the Commonwealth that are and this is a Statewide initiative as long as that's clear and doesn't suggest in any way that somebody was not um was rejected from the vote school because of a bias then then I would be fine with that I just want make sure it doesn't um the Boston Globe I believe it was on Sunday did a huge article on the B schools so somebody wants to look at it I did read it um they did point I don't remember the name of the school and I won't mention it here one of the uh um one of the vocational schools was really taking a task for it they were the I I'll say Chief offender I don't know what word to use but they were the top of the list as far as having a problem I think I think just from talking to Mr cajano in the past I think the the um admissions policy for the v's really been updated and I think it I think they do a good job at it um I think in years past it was a little different and it was more kind of who you know and I think that's been eliminated which I think is good um so um I don't I I would like I agree with Miss no Al I think if us us looking at the form before we say Okay um because I don't I don't want to say that I'm agreeing with something if I really don't and I don't want to pass any excuse me and I don't want to pass pass on any um any problem with the you know the voke Unfortunately they just don't have have enough seats and I think that's the biggest problem I think the state really wants to address the problem build some more vocational school yeah and and and I will say that the new building we are going to have more seats because they are increasing enrollment so that will help us Mr snow that that kind of a piece here peace there peace there if we enter into any kind of an understanding the average citizen going to come looking to us it's going to give them false hope it it looks like you're throwing a life preserver um if we're hearing what we're hearing we've got our allotment we're within reasonable districts lines I wouldn't poke it with the sticker one thing else I want to say and as far as a lottery goes we would get hurt if we went to 100% Lottery and why is that is everybody has certain allotments and when they don't fill their allotments we get the first shot we get 20% on empty seats uh why is that is that contractual no what happens is we get we have 20% of the kids so if there's any openings we get 20% of the openings okay but what we're we're scared about if we go to 100% Mary a lot of those other schools if they have problem kids they're going to fill their allotment and get rid of their problem kids and those openings that we for the S of just filling the and those openings maybe I get two or three I'm going to lose two or three so I'm kind of concerned with the lottery that way because I'm trying to get right now when I started Chelsea had the most kids now by far we have the most kids and uh and I think the 10% lot is great uh I have no problem with that but I'm just concerned if we go to 100% I'm going to lose seats and it's only gonna be wor when the V school first open going back Charlie Michelle and the H Winchester never sent anybody they used to get their a lot right we paid whatever the for a head was is that still in existence yes but we're scared if we go to 100% La no I heard that but there is yes we do get extra because right and whatever is extra it's open we have 20 25% of the kids we get 20% of the opening thank you one more I'm sorry but you did tell me at some point that some of the districts that used to not send all their kids they're full too they asked you about reading I asked you someone asked and those more wealthy communities who didn't fill in in the past are slowly starting to fill for the first time North Reading filled their allotment but reading Winchester still hasn't done their 100% but we're scared if it goes to 100% we're gonna so you could just send it to us okay I'll get I'll get the um I'll get that document and send it to everybody yeah that'll be great I mean I want to do our part in support the Commonwealth Mission but I just want to be responsible about it yeah the other thing that that that I struggle with is um when we talk about troubled kids often they're troubled because school our regular Traditional School isn't the right fit for them they might problems H we don't call them problem yeah uh it it might be that that kind of an environment is exactly what they need to thrive and whether they're from Rivier or Winchester or Chelsea or or wherever the kids all kids should should have what they need and and that includes having more seats for kids from Rivier um I don't think you'll find disagreement that hasn't Chang that's been the same since I was in high school and 100% right uh but the the stigma that's around it now it's much different we've actually shown kids that vocational schools are not like where you send b kids way to success and and when I was in high school you know it was like hey if you're not doing good you're going to go to the V and it was the Bas well now you can't even get into the book because it's academically challeng um um um driven as far as their acceptance yeah and so the kids who do get accepted to the V are typically or of not all of them but a lot of them are college and tending and they go on to college they don't join a trade necessarily join a trade right so and then there's all these kids that are just lost in The Ether because they didn't have that opportunity they're not intending to go to college uh and they're trying to figure out how do I get into the electricians yeah without any of backround tells me we need to strengthen our high school so they're not looking to the vot for their academics thank you um location of school committee meetings I I asked to put this on the agenda um I know space is tied up here I know we've talked about the Portables we're trying to schedule a meeting I think for next week um and the plant and maintenance our new plant and maintenance uh committee person was going to schedule a meeting next week um I just think if um if we I know the school committee room is sometimes used for meetings but even if we got one or two classroom periods a day in there that there could be a class in there I think it would help I think we have to look at every Avenue and every space in the building I think it could I think potentially it could be used at least for one classroom a day I would hope maybe more and also I think it shows people that we're you know that we're putting the kids first and that we you know we're trying to give them as much space as we can by you know vacating our so it's something I'd really like to look at and with the new setup coming in a year and a half with the new election and two more members um gets a little tight in that to add too more to the rest so I think I think it's something we should seriously consider yeah I mean it's something that I've mentioned several times if if that space is going to help you um with the spacing issue that we have then I mean I think the committee is all in agreement that we would freely give it up and um and use the city he space yeah I asked Caitlyn um for an update today or yesterday I forget which um and she said where they are right now is um and this is without using the school committee room that first period there are only four rooms there that are unoccupied second period every room is occupied third period there's one room that's unoccupied and fourth period there are three rooms that are unoccupied that is super tight especially like when you just think of an intu meeting or when we have service providers that come in from North suffk or uh some other organization that we partner with we need a space for them to go into and you use the school committee room now well well what this is saying is there's virtually no place to put them if we had the school committee room that at least could be a little bit of flex space to John's point it might not be used every period every day but at least they know that they have that resource and what they said is we don't feel like we need to tear the whole thing apart so if the committee wanted to work on a transition plan with the city council to ultimately go up there it doesn't mean we have to stop that in August what they would want to do is install some whiteboards on um the back wall so that if somebody was in their teaching or doing a seminar or whatever it can be a classroom or it can also just be used for a meeting space or used for your meetings um until we get a full transition plan in place so it's workable um without making a major change to the room but we are again bursting at the scams and so I would say by second semester when we're doing that schedule we won't have the four rooms open first period there'll be more kids than more classes and yeah I think what I'd also like to know as I know we'd have to work with our city clerk on what that scheduling looks like I know there's a meeting is it at 4 or 5 every Tuesday I think there's a meeting in the chambers every Tuesday so they do have they do have a schedule of different events and I know that they have the site site plan which is a little bit earlier in the day and uh I got to double check on what their meeting agendas are um so Clark Melnick pretty much handles the council chambers um I'm not I'm I'm sure that they would be accommodating the only thing I would just say just to kind of think ahead is the technology piece is different so RR TV um pretty much hosts the technology side of the meeting along with the clerk who uh sits uh and and and helps kind of coordinate a little bit and their their microphone setup there's no um screens um so yeah they're working on installing them yeah so they are in they are installing a new the with the ETB funds that's what I want to say is is try to get in coordination with is there a timeline for that they they just we just approved the ETP fund request which is about $100,000 or so so there's going to be some new technology I would just say try to coordinate if there is if there's going to be a use so that it's similar like I know Paul does it here and he's very good and proficient and he works with rier TV all the time like we could because I'm sure rier TV doesn't want to do a whole another set of meetings but Paul could maybe yeah right I don't know I don't say that but I'm just saying perhaps he could so it's something just I think the coordination piece would be would be good I mean listen I'd be honest you I have no problem doing this easier for me I don't love the idea but I know I know it's it's a little bit of a you know the change and also the temporary espe with the addition SCH Comm people in a year certainly it makes sense yeah I think when there are more members on the committee we're going to have to this room just won't accommodate that many MERS thought with show school and while you're considering space yeah right that's why I'm exactly it would just be scheduling But ultimately I don't know if there's a standard Tuesday meeting right now at 6 o'cl worst case you have the holes in in in a forum like this it could be in a conference room or could be in a different side room which isn't the end of the world uh it it could incentivize me to I'm trying to build up that back area as a conference room trying to find the money maybe the school commity wants to throw a few bus M no the city can take the charge what about the r m Academy Ampitheater and the Wayland School auditorium for meetings I I think it's it would be good to not take more space if we're trying to move space is not used it's not used it would require more restructuring so that we can all sit and meet because meeting in an auditorium sitting on top of stage I think it's it's a little different so I think it'd be good for us to explore all the options I don't know I maybe if this goes to the pl and maintenance or you guys want the chair and vice chair to kind of come up with the transition plan or I think it'd be good to figure it out with the clerk to see what that would look like and then figure out the decision my only thing is sooner rather than later I just think you know I don't want this to take a year I don't think it should and you know it be you know I don't think it's that we're not you know we're not moving mountains here so hopefully it doesn't take yeah if you want to inquire as to the I mean if I didn't have a screen for a couple of months at my desk I think I'd be okay we could sorry if you if you would want to inquire with the scheduling work with the chair to um you know first thing tomorrow then then we could and obviously three of you yeah and I I would just if we do go to City Hall there's no point in us going up there and learning this audio visual system that they're about to take out if we can go there in October there already going to be may we look at that you know mean maybe we could donate our screens to them I'm not gonna need them here so um the mayor and I will work on figuring out that transition plan for us we'll share updates they're getting like the latest tech too so think about that those aren that old the ones we have well we can purpose I guess yeah whatever but I mean if you said to me John not gonna have a screen for a couple months can I just ask why this isn't going to plant and maintenance to work with Kyle and the um R High team what we can I guess why would it I'm just I'm not sure why it would could you just tell us why you think it would go to that subcommittee well because first of all it was we were talking about Portables to loosen up space so we're still waiting for track two to come back for that information so even though we want to get on board ASAP we're just waiting for some more information before we can make our final recommendations I think that's a separate conversation from us in general wanting to just move to city council chambers to conduct our official meetings there okay whatever you want well we won't make any decisions today so no I just want to have a discussion that was the purpose just to get a talk because you know maybe it won't work maybe City Hall's tied up that night who knows but I just I just think it might be free on Tuesday yeah we can always inquire and then once it sounds good if the subcommittee then wants to take it over to draw a full plan to start to move us over what that coms looks like and we can always take that next up once we at least know what collaboration looks like with the city by and to the mayor and superintendent I also put in the chat the planning board meetings are 5:30 at City Hall um in fact there's one this evening um also we keep talking about the school committee room and I don't care where we have a meeting as long as there's classrooms for students but it's not just school committee meetings that are held in that room and the rest of the day it's empty they use for our health and wellness meetings they're used for admin meetings there's many meetings that go on in that room so that's another thing we would have to look at where the all these take place so it's not just as yeah and I agree Stacey like that was one of the things that we talked about today because we had a um a meeting for the I'm going to forget the right name of it but the group that's looking at what the interior and exterior finishes are going to look like on the new building and we met in that room and we were planning on having a monthly meeting recurring after that and became a question um about if that room is going to become a classroom where would those meetings happen and um the rhs staff was present for that meeting and they were like well we don't need it every period we could look at you know if we don't need it first period Then those meetings can happen first period or second period whichever it may be whatever the case may be um so we can look at that we can also look at the eastwing conference room is available it's a horrible space I hate it down there but um it's what about are these used um at the time when you would have those meetings the this room is used a lot during the day teachers bring classes down and The Writing Center and the m and the stem Center kids do tutoring but we we can reserve space in here we can there are options to do that and again you can keep using that room if you want to like your meetings are separate from the committee Ching to move right so it's your your space to do as you please yeah so we'll get um information to you all about what that can look like and we'll keep exploring thank you and then for the last one uh regular meeting agenda items before we all vote to approve the consent calendar with the agenda there's a few items I wanted to add if everyone's okay under recognition I just wanted to make a few comments and to acknowledge Mr Mata Mr and then recognition of Dr Kelly's award to the community knows and then under report of subcommittees we wanted to add the policies and procedures subcommittee update that we didn't get to add so is everyone okay with those additions yes yes also um I know that M gzo wishes to as well ackn knowledge okay as Mr Kingston anything else I think that's it motion to adj Second all in favor all right any oppis okay thank you thank you thanks