##VIDEO ID:GTbVfyxffv0## right good evening uh for those of you that are logged into Zoom we are just running a little bit behind due to some technical difficulties on our end here we will be starting the school committee meeting momentarily e first is an adoption of the minutes from December 2nd we then have public comment public comment will be open for 15 minutes 3 minutes per speaker uh the vice chair will time and we'll notify you when you're coming up to the 3 minutes if needed then from there we're going to shift uh to my left your right to our superintendent for his report where there are two items first is around mcast uh question two and where we go from here now that that has passed uh then item number two is entry findings update then after that we will skip over subcommittee reports and discussions unless any members have anything but as of now there isn't anything under that category same goes for motions and resolutions then from there we'll take points of personal privilege from the members and then after that we're going to entertain a motion to go into executive session if approved it will be for three items uh the first is the approval of the executive session minutes of December 2nd 2024 the second item is is around Mass General Law chapter 3A section 21A 1 to discuss open meeting law complaints as follows December 18th 2024 filed by Brian deym Malden News Network against the Malden school committee and it's uh for the executive session minutes of November 13 2023 December 18th 2024 filed by Brian deacy Malden News Network against the Malden school committee and this is around executive session minutes of December 4th 2023 and then finally December 18 2024 filed by Brian deym Malden News Network against the Malden school committee and these are the executive session minutes of January F uh January 18th 2024 after that there is one final item which is pursuant to Mass General law chap 38 section A 3 the malen school committee convenes an executive session to discuss strategy sessions in preparation for contract negotiations with the Malden Education Association because doing it out in open will have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the committee so are there any questions of the members before we begin then from there we will come back out and move a journey after executive session all right hearing no questions Let's uh First Rise and pledge allegiance to our flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America into the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of all those who have fought for our country and continue to do so today thank you we'll now have our clerk call the rooll here Mr drummy Mr McCarthy here miss Bora here miss Macklin here miss hordy here Mr Gray here Mr Bernard here Miss Rose zberg here superintendent Sipple here student representative kathen Fontanella all right we have a quorum sufficient to allow us to come together let's take a look at these minutes from December 2nd any questions on those okay we'll entertain a motion to approve motion by Mr Bernard seconded by Mr McCarthy all those in favor say I anybody opposed the eyes have it that carries unanimously now we're down to public comment anybody wishing to address the school committee can do so now we only ask that you state your name and address for the record again we ask that you keep your comments to three minutes public comment is now open please come to the podium good evening good evening hello my name is Stacy Ruben uh and I reside at 33 Bloomer Street I have a note of thanks and then a request for the committee so first I am sure that you're not thanked enough for your work I really appreciate all that you do for our students and the families in this city um it's we have some of the most amazing public schools out there so thank you for that a special thanks also to the committee for um at the BB School in particular we didn't have a band option for um our electives and really appreciate the work at the beginning of this school term to get an after school option so that there is band now available as a club so thank you for the good work and now a request so I am a member of the BB school council and have been for a very long time um we have an open position for a Spanish language uh exploratory teacher for for the middle school that position remains unfilled this is the third school year where my child and all of her classmates have not been able to take advantage of a Spanish language exploratory the school council several years ago had um supported the the leadership at BB to post that position uh it remained unfilled with uh not you know we didn't get a lot of candidates we made a request to this Council asking that you make that position open to other languages Beyond Spanish and that request was denied we have reposted the position as a Spanish language position this year um I believe Dr Murphy posted that or the the relevant leaders posted that on October 9th it is still open with no applicants I have heard this Council talk about the need for Equity across the K to8 schools there are numerous K to8 schools that have a Spanish language exploratory BB does not so I come here as a member of the school site Council requesting that that position be expanded Beyond Spanish to other world languages because it's just not Equitable for our BB students to continue a third year without the Spanish exploratory and if there's anything that the school council can do to work with you on the school committee please let us know thank you thank you we will follow up with you thank you thank you anybody else wishing to address the school committee can do so now good evening good evening um and happy New Year you as well uh my name is Don oou I live at 130 Adam Street in Malden I am an ESP in the integrated kindergarten at BB I am here tonight to ask the committee to look at the weather chart for recess in the student handbook um and to resend this this to the policy subcommittee the current chart is vague at best and I feel it doesn't accurately take into consideration the wind chill or the humidity in the summer um at BB our kindergarten recess is out in the back and we're up on a hill and sometimes with the wind it's extremely cold many of our students um not just at BB but across the city have just moved here um to Malden from other countries and have not experienced our Winters in New England and do not have the proper winter gear um thank you in advance for your consideration on sending resending this to policy okay very good thank you anybody else wishing to address the school committee can do so now if you are uh watching from zoom and wish to parti participate in public comment I just ask that you use the raise hand feature so we can um activate your microphone and you can participate so this is open to zoom as well all right we're going to close public comment now let's uh shift to our superintendent Dr Sipple thank you Mr chair give me a moment to our presentation all right happy New Year to all of you um members of the committee Mr chair and Happy New Year to those of you who are here this evening and those of you are watching um at home in a warm place I hope um as as the uh mayor Christensen mentioned we'll be talking about U mcast question two and updates um in the district that are going to be needed as a result of that and then also an update on Entry findings so we have have um as I've talked about in our previous presentations uh Three core values that are guiding all of our work uh as a District administration uh one is to include and collaborate and um tonight you'll hear about efforts that we're making on several fronts uh to improve things for our students and for our children for our staff and um we have a commitment to include people in decisions that are going to impact them you'll see that as a theme through several of our the things I'll be sharing even when they may not be satisfied or just or totally in agreement with the decisions that are made people will have an opportunity to be included in that and give input meaningful input into those decisions we also as far as embracing growth we uh by that we mean that we see the potential in every single child every single student and every adult in our district and um we're committed to developing that potential and to coming alongside students coming alongside adults to help them become a better version of themselves um so they can um be what they're what they're destined to be and then lastly uh all of our students doing right by all kids we want every single student in Malden Public Schools to have the most options possible when they finish their time in our district when they graduate um and so we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to make sure that is the case for every single student whether they have someone who um is advocating for them um out loud and knows how to engage with this with the school and with the system uh or not so uh again you'll be hearing a examples of these values in action as we talk about the various uh things that we're going to be talking about tonight um as you know in November a lot of things happened on Election Day one of them was the passage of question two uh which uh has implications for graduation requirements and so I'm going to be sharing about that um and then also talking about why mcast is still important um even though it's no longer part of the graduation um scenario for our students um and then what comes next we uh by state law uh Massachusetts for many years has had uh criteria for graduation and those criteria include two basic buckets of of of of things one of the local requirements that each district has as far as cour work and other requirements that each district um has established and then the other are standards of a competency determination that were established and this was before my time in Massachusetts certainly but I think it may have been a part of Ed reform back in 93 that this competency determination was established um and so I want to talk about the local requirements first um because this has not changed this these two elements of local requirements and competency determination are still on the books we have um for the class of 2025 and for every class uh for the last several years years a minimum of 21 credits that students need to um pass combination of oneyear uh credits full year classes and half halfe courses that um need to account for these uh subjects four years of English four years of math you can see them all listed there I'm sure a lot of you are already very familiar with them because they've been they've been in place for some time through the efforts of many people and I want to give a shout out especially to our director of guidance Aon Craven who um really LED and coordinated a lot of this effort you all as a committee uh several years ago adopted Mass core and the aligning alignment of our graduation requirements with mass core which is extremely important because what that what that allows is a student they have obtained a high school diploma from Malden they have already uh past course workor that will make them eligible for admission to University of Massachusetts and a state state university system the big change and this is uh going to be an effect for the class of next year seniors the class of 2026 so really uh a lot of foresight that the committee had in adopting Mass core several years ago there are other districts that are scrambling to um catch up with malen and and other districts that have already adopted Mass core um and so it's it's actually a really a thing that that we should be proud of as a district with the Practical implication for class of 2026 is that they need to have two years of World Language as a part of their transcript and also a full year of Fine Arts and those specific requirements were not a part of the graduation local requirements before um beforeand so again there's local requirements and then competency determination before question two the competency determination was essentially whether they had met a minimum score on mcass uh English language arts Math and Science and that served as a proxy for whether students had achieved a 10th grade proficiency if you will on a host of subjects but mcast only tested those three now competency determination is still a thing but it's defined by school committee policy and so that's what the essence of what I wanted to bring to you tonight before question two again this is the actual language from Massachusetts General law the competency determination and at the bottom it links to uh a series of Assessments and in again the general law and in the regulations it was grade English language artarts math and science that were the the um the metric that students had to pass a certain score on in order to be considered competent for graduation now the text in red is what the text of question two was and what they've said is the students must satisfactorily complete coursework that's been certifi satis um certified by the students District a showing Mastery in the skills and competencies and knowledge contained in the State academic standards and Frameworks in the areas measured by the mcass high school that were administered in 2023 which were English language arts Math and Science and so um this coming um month in the month of February uh I'll be bringing for you um on behalf of the administration a proposal uh on what our policy our new policy should be as far as competency determination because we as a district need to have a policy that's aligned with question two um and in essence you can expect that it will entail specifying which courses we expect students to have passed and what uh what proficiency with what proficiency we expected them to have passed those courses but I'll have more detail for that um in February meanwhile mcast is still important um federal and state law require all public schools to administer um an assessment standardized assessment adopted by the state in grades 3 through eight and high school and students are expected to participate the mcast is actually a it's a good thing that we're doing that because it's aligned to the standards that we teach starting in grades in grade kindergarten all the way up and so it's a very important it's only one measure but it is extremely useful measure for us to see how are our students doing and what we've been teaching them since kindergarten all the way up through high school it's also an effective measure of Readiness for whether students are ready for Life Beyond High School whether they choose to go into a postsecondary college or university or not um the skills that are that are tested at the 10th grade level are important skills for any student to have regardless of what they choose to do after high school and then the last thing I just want to say about this is that um the State Department of Education is still legally required to use mcast performance for accountability purposes um to measure our performance as a district and also to assign corrective action if our district were to fall below a certain threshold and this is extremely important important for us to keep in mind because I I previously worked in a district that had corrective action and it's very very uh it's not fun to say the least um and the other thing I would say about corrective action to keep in mind is we have a situation now since we are not in corrective action we're not in the bottom 10% of districts uh we don't have any schools that are in bottom of 10% of districts um which is a great thing and because of that there is a cap on any Charter School enrollment um from Mal Public Schools if we were to fall into corrective action um and mcast is not the only Criterion that they would use to to determine that but if we were to that cap would be lifted and it could create additional um challenges for all of our schools and all of our students um which is you know still uh hopefully never going to happen but I just wanted to IND just make sure that we all knew and the public knew that mcast is still a very very important um assessment for our students and also for for our district so next steps again I'm going to bring a recommendation for the for your consideration at the next meeting on what are new competency determination policy should be um and the committee will obviously ultimately make a decision about that uh we have interventions with our current students um that I'll speak a little bit more about tonight um for the current class of 2025 to make sure that they uh are able to to cross the finish line successfully and we have an acceleration Academy um to better prepare our ninth and 10th graders our 10th graders who we're going to be taking that assessment this year and the ninth graders will be taking it next year it assesses what they've learned in ninth and 10th grade essentially so that is my uh the update on mcass and I'll pause there that's okay let's stop there and take some questions any questions of the members let's go to miss Macklin first uh thank you Mr chair um just um a couple of questions for the superintendent so I know that you're going to present recommendations to us will that take effect immediately once approved by this committee because my my Wonder is how will we measure um for this year the competency for this year thank you for that question member mlin um yes so the the State Department of Education uh hosted webinars for school district leaders leaders in December to basically present this charge to us um they are not making specific recommendations of what um of what districts should do um some districts have said well can we choose to use um um mcass or something and that's really up to the committee we're recommending that the the um that' be based on passing courses as question two stipulates and the what will again the specifics are going to be which courses and then what uh what um score or grade um will be sufficient to constitute competency it will take effect for this year because for the class of 2025 if a student um has um especially for students who had not passed mcast but really for all of our students that the the competency is based on School District policy not on mcast thank you Miss Macklin uh let's go to miss Hy thank you Mr chair uh superintendent simple I have a couple questions and a request actually can I start with my requests is that all right I know you I know you mentioned that um you would present a recommendation to us about the competency determination and as I'm looking at the local graduation requirements that we have now what I really like to see are a a real life schedule and action per grade I'd like to see what actually looks like for a student at the high school so that we as a committee know what the dayto day would be for student I also am wondering about and you know I'm not saying that I'm looking for this the next time we meet but just going forward I I think it would be helpful for us to understand um when we're talking about let's say passing n9th grade English could we please understand what are you know the five most important skills that need to be learned there I think it's easier for us to say you know a passing grade or a c or you whatever it may be if we have an idea of what the actual meat of the education is um I think it's harder for us to determine otherwise it would be for me it would be hard if I didn't have an idea of what the coursework was was or what the expectation was for the student and another another well I guess it's not really a question but it's more of a how is this state oversight going to work for this and I only say that because we know that there are know 351 communities I know there's less school districts than that we know Desi makes errors how are we going to communicate with them and they going to communicate with us so that the competency determination that we make clearly on paper it meets what they're looking for I just know that there have been I don't want to get too much into it because I know you're going to talk about it more later but I think you know where I'm going there's been some communication errors about what counts for what kind of situation and I'm just being mindful going forward that there is no confusion about what we've determined as the policy versus what they either think we're doing or assuming that we're doing like what's the check and balance in there does that make sense I think so okay thank you thank you um and I mean the sample schedules just to be clear um we our our our full intent is to make sure that the if if there were any student that didn't have um the opportunity to graduate this coming fall spring rather it would be because of a of a issue with the local requirements that were already in place and not because of the competency determination policy um we definitely don't want are not interested in seeing any one held back graduating because of the comany determination um changing at the last minute it does that doesn't feel fair or Equitable in any way no um so you can assure that and I guess that's to the point that member Macklin mentioned also um that the policy recommendation would be such that um it would be in in essence folded into the local requirements that were already in place okay that sounds good thank you all right thank you Miss Hy over to miss SP for thank you Mr chair um so and I don't mean to say this in a smug manner but we've talked about policy and procedure before so I just want to understand you're going to present a recommendation to this committee or to our policy subcommittee because I think something like this really needs to sit in a subcommittee to be worked on and not just voted on on the stage so so because I I'd really like to see what surrounding districts are also doing and making sure we're doing the work um with thorough investigation um before it it gets improved but I do know that time is of the essence as well because we want our graduating or our seniors um to know you know what they have to to meet before and and here we are in January with you know potentially crossing a stage in just 5 months so I guess should we be making a motion to send the sound into policy is my question Mr chair well there's nothing there's nothing be forced to send well it we have a current policy that says that we use mcass as a compeny determination so we have to L change that policy so we would be sending our current graduation requirements but they wouldn't be meeting on that until we have something from our superintended well I would hope he would come to the policy subcommittee with a recommendation and in the subcommittee we would then but typically the recommendation should be seen by everybody up here in order to refer it yeah I think so again time is UPS and so that happens in February then it goes down to policy in February and then it doesn't come back to us until a March meeting well unless the you know Madam chair expedites whatever is recommended and we have a special meeting perhaps to approve it but I think we've always wanted to give an opportunity for the whole membership to see what's being referred because they may not want it referred I've seen where motions have been voted down and not referred so I think by us you know presum in could open up a Pandora's Box going forward other members could just make motions without having any context to a subcommittee at least that's the way I've seen it over the years let's not say it's right but I just think we'd want to have a look at it first collectively and determine that you know what yeah this should be referred or perhaps we all agree on what's being recommended and we do it right here on the floor but I think we need that first the recommendation but I'm just one I mean I don't know how everybody else feels but that's that's my gut reaction anybody want to weigh in on that Mr Bernard do you I don't know if I'm making sense either Mr Louise tells me I often do not so that could be the case too uh Mr Bernard no that that I think I'm I think I'm okay with going and and having it be your first in in February um certainly if uh you know the chair of policy and procedure wants to go and get clued in as it as uh go and take an initial look at it I don't have a problem with that just okay just to go and then say I want this before we're your guys are going to have to send it back to us or uh or she says it looks good and let people unless the majority says they want it yeah you know I'm I'm as long as it's you know relatively clear and I don't think I don't think that we are I think it's within our capacity to go and and actually take a look at it at that point and make a decision you know with that understanding that time is of the essence to either approve it or say there's a couple items here we don't like and we need to go and have this rewarded and then at that point we can go and we can hold a special after yeah just typically and again I'm just speaking out loud the public the community has always been aware especially something like this what it is what it says it's being referred by us collectively you know this is and I want to hear from the chair of the policy subcommittee this is just saying you know sort of Let's Make a placeholder people will find out about it later and see what it is that's transpiring and then it comes back out to us and by then the process is over you know so that's yeah not end of the world we could do it I'm not going to stand in the way of what the vice chair is saying but just procedurally no no and that and that like I'm saying I'm just I'm agreeing with you that we should go in and for in the spirit of transparency yeah to make sure that people you know parents and students and community members know that we're doing our job and they that they can see what's happening in front of them yeah let's hear from the chair of poliy I don't know if that makes sense uh let me go over to her thank you Mr chair um one one request that I would have um knowing that this would be a fairly in-depth new policy to be looking at um is to give ample time for it if we're going to send it to full committee I need more than a day or two to look into it um also I do the ability to send it back to the subcommittee and we can you know work on maybe if we need to do a special meeting to um pass it um also gives the uh our constituents time to look it over raise any kind of questions and get feedback too I think that's an important thing too as far as you know I know that this is a short timeline and I have ultimate trust in you know the the people we have in place to create the policy but it doesn't hurt to also have people weigh in um with that eye and so if we get it and only have a couple of days and then have to vote on the Fly sure pass it and then you know you hate that idea that then the very next day you get a call hey but what about um so I do understand that we need to act quickly on this I agree with that and I know we've got things in place so we can get this through if need be um which is scheduling meetings um you know appropriately but I do think it's important to get feedback on it um and to give us this that adequate time to do a little digging on our own um so you saying would you prefer to wait until the superintendent makes his recommendation or should we make a motion right now to get the ball rolling um I think to have it uh as you have said I think to have him um come to us um again I would like to be able to see it in writing with enough time though for that meeting so if we have questions we can process them um and and get those ready for you um and then if because there could be things that we send it right back to the drawing board if we all are sitting here like no okay um could be part of it um and then send it to committee which also then I'm like I don't I could not pull it up but I know um we should be checking exactly how that whole policy procedure does all right maybe it's a compromise Miss P for what we could do is now that you're hearing maybe we on your end could try to move the timeline up and we could have a special meeting just to have everybody see it and then refer it over that's certainly possible Mr chair we we had um I'll just share that we had um not much time from the time that desie came up with its guidance on how to adjust how to address this issue um in December before the holiday break and so we had originally thought that it might be possible to bring a recommendation to you today but because it was a little more complicated than we anticipated um that's the reason why we um we asked to wait until the February meeting um so all right why don't we do this superintendent um let's try to expedite and are Miss ler let's be prepared to have a special meeting on this one item and perhaps we could even I forget when that remote law rigns is it March the end of March I think then the governor has to renew it I think we have another month or two on us being allowed to meet remotely so perhaps we'll do that for the members just to refer it over to policy and then we could get the ball rolling ahead of time so does that work for everyone I'm sorry Mr Gray I missed you uh my apologies let's hold that thought until we hear from Mr Gray it's okay thank you Mr chair um just a quick note um I I just wanted to agree with your original assessment it just before you even said anything I was thinking the exact same thing normally the superintendent present to all of us and then we say okay well this needs more work we'll send it to poliy you know that's that's how we typically do things and I just want to say I agree with your initial assessment yeah and I know where Miss fapor is coming from so we're gonna nudge the superintendent to try to do this sooner and then we'll perhaps meet remotely on this one item just to get the ball started um is everybody okay with that then all right let's take some more questions if there are did you have more you had the floor let me just ask um one from the chair superintendent I know sometimes the state legislature For Better or For Worse after a question is adopted does play with the language have you any indication that they are done relative to question two or is there still the potential that they may have something to say about question two there's always the potential yeah but what's the Rumblings been anything I I have not seen anything from desie indicating that um a adjustment or tweaking to the language was imminent um so I I don't have any I don't have any um information that that might be forthcoming I I guess I would just say um thank you for the conversation earlier and very very happy to come to um the committee with a recommendation sooner than February 3rd just that wasn't on the calendar um and we knew we weren't going to be ready tonight so okay and I I guess I would also just say that um it also is possible that a a policy could be adopted so that there's total peace of mind for the class of 20 25 and um and then it could be Revisited for a class of 2026 moving forward speaking of which superintendent do you plan to I presume you do host a town hall or an assembly with the students to thank you for that question I uh actually had the opportunity to present this exact information to the faculty at the high school this afternoon um and so um we have not talked about uh an assembly with students um I'll talk with Mr Mr Angelo to see whether that may already have been um scheduled with the current 10th graders uh and some ninth graders will be taking the mcast this year um as well as students St in the 12th grade Who Um this policy would um would be relevant for okay all right everybody there you have it so be prepared you know we'll come together remotely to have the recommendation or not it may not be referred I've seen that happened but R um to take it up at some point soon sooner rather than than February 3rd I think it was so all right let's go to your second item superintendent entry findings update thank you so um we just be sharing some updates on the priority items that I uh spoke about when we last met in December I want to share with you some additional themes that have uh come up from our town hall meetings and looking at all the input we received at those Gatherings as well as the listening sessions with our staff and the we launched a parent parent caregivers survey in December which wrapped up just before the break um so I'll just be sharing about um all of that and opportunities for engagement um for the public um coming up in January and February um I shared this last time um you know the the most of the fall uh was listening and learning really me meeting with caregivers and parents and uh stakeholders Educators students uh across the district District um and just hearing from them what they thought uh they loved about Malon public schools and then also the things that they thought were urgent in urgent need of of attention and what their longer term aspirations were for our district um we've been analyzing all that input uh we have I mentioned we had a follow-up survey with our parents um and world this was the timeline um engaging students continue to reservations of classes and focus groups and that report of Entry findings I'll be bringing to you in the spring um currently scheduled for the our meeting in March these were the emerging priorities that I shared about during our meeting in um in December and I just want to share the the ones along the top are the ones that were things that we uh as a team at the district office really identified as an urgent urgent something urgent that couldn't wait until next year um something that we needed to to do something about quickly um and then the the ones in the bottom are things that are really for next year uh but they really require a lot of advanced planning and that's the reason we're doing taking some specific actions um right now and so with that I want to talk about uh Communications this was an issue that our Educators raised as a concern er uh heard um actually one of the first school committee meetings i i attended um remember Mr Gray spoke about the website and a concern about the website um I heard that loud and clear from parents across the district as well um so Communications uh has has been a a big Focus we mentioned the parent and caregiver survey we launched a staff survey um which was just uh launched last Tuesday and as of this afternoon we already had 350 responses um which is exciting we have Improvement of our district website underway and I've heard positive feedback on that um it's relevant and time and actually up to date in many ways and uh easier to navigate than it was Prior um we're also preparing a new website which will be launching this spring the contract for which was already in place um but we're finally getting uh to launch that that much improved website later this school year we're developing a regular Cadence of communications uh from me um one of the items that we surveyed parents about was how often do you want to hear from the district and um in what way you want to you want to get you want to get that phone call uh or do you want to just email is good thank you very much or text updates or just how they want to hear from the superintendent from the district and we're developing a regular Cadence of that um and then engaging through social media something that uh we're we're on top of now and a new district-wide communications platform that uh parents will be able to interact with their school with their child's teacher and we'll have the same platform kindergarten through green kindergarten through 12th grade that'll be coming in July a lot of these efforts have been um made possible by a critical addition to our team her name is Tess marar and she's in the audience tonight she's our Communications coordinator and she has been very busy since the end of October when she joined our team so we're really grateful for her um extracurriculars we heard a a a consistent concern uh was especially our Middle School parents Middle School caregivers that they're needed to be U more for their students to um experience uh in general and then also after school we've uh collaborated with principles to provide more opportunities more clubs and those started today um I Heard uh just a sampling of some of the things that are happening we heard about band at BB there's an after school band and after school theater Club there among others uh lynon they've got tiger te TV which is going to have a weekly broadcast to within their school Community uh the students are putting that together along with the volleyball club which I think has at least 30 students involved um crochet and art clubs at salemwood are examples of things going on there and there's a bunch of clubs at fairy way with more than 130 middle school students involved so that's that's all just started um today and something that we wanted to try to be responsive about to make sure that our middle school students had more after school opportunities our mcast prep um this I mentioned about this earlier uh one specific thing is this acceleration Academy assistant superintendent McDonald is taking the lead on um working closely with assistant superintendent bassine and our directors um to make sure that we have uh something that's meaningful for students not just for mcast but definitely including cast to prepare them for uh graduation and for the world beyond graduation we talked about attendance last uh we talked about uh chronic absenteeism a great deal at our last meeting um three things that are going on again this is under the leadership of assistant superintendent McDonald um we have a message that went out to All Families about the importance of attendance in December there's a uh an attendance Playbook with um General how we as a district and how each School how each teacher um at every level of the organization how we can promote attendance for our students and intervene effectively when students are not um are not in school and making sure that that's something that's being done consistently across the board and schools are working on focusing on students that are um that are chronically AB absent we have worked with all of our district uh leadership our directors our principles our assistant principles our program managers on different elements of this um something that we're we're developing in a very collaborative way it's not um M McDonald didn't go in the go home on the weekend and come up with a Playbook and then tell her okay this is what we're doing like it's something there's a lot of a lot of collaboration a lot of input from a lot of folks to make make something come up with something effective and we'll be having more Community engagement to stress the importance of daily attendance as well recruitment um that I um the uh parent um who spoke earlier about the unfilled position of BB which that is one of a few vacant positions that we still have um the number of vacant positions has has shrunk thankfully over the course of the year but we still have some in World language in special education in English as a second language which are difficult to fill and when uh there are fewer applicants out there and districts are competing with one another to to attract those folks to our our district um we uh have engaged with a professional educational recruitment recruiter to fill those vacancies and also hard to fill vacancies we anticipate for next year we're also on track to post anticipative vacancies earlier um our um assistant superintendent and Director of Finance Miss MZ they've been meeting with principes um over the last few days and they'll be meeting with them next week to confirm the staff for this year and also if there are we're going to begin having those conversations about any anticipated vacancies for next year especially folks that are um have already put in their papers to retire or for another reason are leaving or leaving our District so we can um advertise those anticipated vacancies earlier in the year when more people are looking for positions high school schedules um the main reason I was at the high school today was to speak with all of the faculty about um work that we're doing collaborative work we're doing to address some challenges with our high school schedule um many of you uh are familiar with the term directed study um it's a a class where students are with a teacher that they're um they're essentially accountable to themselves for how they use that time um it's not um we don't feel that um and this is Universal Staff or concerned about it the administration at the high school my first day at malen high school back in June when I was just visiting the district right after my appointment um Mr mangelo brought this to my attention as something that that was in in need of attention um we currently have 664 students it's about a third of the school that don't have a full schedule of seven classes and they have a directed study as one of their seven classes um more than 120 of those 664 have two or more directed studies and um we we feel it is urgent for us to fix this and make sure that all of our students have a full schedule of classes next year um we are engaged in a collaborative process to go about fixing it um we've engaged with a an external um technical assistance provider education resource strategies who are has spent the last few weeks um analyzing our student transcripts analyzing our scheduling information and they're going to be bringing some data to us next week we have a design team made up of our district uh leadership and some key people at the high school including three uh classroom teachers and um I also want to shout out um we've had very collaborative um support from uh the union um president jaldo as well as members of our executive board are also part of that design team and um we'll be meeting again next week and uh Mr mistrangelo has uh has really embraced this opportunity to make sure that we do right by all kids at malen high English Learners um we have of some places in our district where students at at beginning levels of of learning English have been in self-contained settings um which has prevented them from interacting with English-speaking peers and learning um English much more rapidly um as well as learning um just making friends across uh um different different lines of difference um under the the leadership of assistant superintendent bassine and our multilingual um learner education director Carmen L we have already um made sure that all of those students are integrated with English-speaking peers and non uh multilingual Learners during lunch which is awesome um in just a couple weeks when the third quarter starts we're also going to have them fully integrated during exploratory classes um which is going to give them an opportunity on a daily basis to inter interact um with um english- speaking peers um to begin that Social Development and and English learning in a more informal setting that they have been um limited um in to this point we're also working with teachers um both those who uh teach English as a second language but also other Educators as well and the leaders in our buildings to optimize PL programming for English learners for all of our students all of our students who are learning English gdes K the 12 um those sessions have started this month listening sessions for educators that at the K8 uh level um but that work will continue throughout the spring and again we have to do it now in order to be able to affect and impact the schedules and the programming that we'll have for our students next year I also just want to share um some emerging themes from the Town Hall's listening sessions and the parent caregivers survey um on the Urgent attention oops sorry on the Urgent attention needed uh category um special education is something that has been raised uh as an area of of urgent attention as well as curriculum and instruction for advanced Learners uh um students who are well above uh meeting grade level expectations they're well beyond that making sure that they're feeling challenged and purposeful in their uh daily um learning experiences recess and CR and physical activity was identified by many parents as something that they wanted to see uh a more holistic approach to and more time given to students to uh develop um both physically and and socially in recess opportunities and then uh teacher support and training um making sure that our teachers have the training and the support to be able to to meet the diverse Learners that are in front of them every day as far as longer term concerns we ask the parents who you know what would you like to see in modern public schools in 5 to 10 years um expanded funding was something that a lot of them identified as a as a concern um again mental and physical well-being making sure that we're educating the whole child uh rigus curriculum for all students both those who are learning English and those who already uh already are fluen English speakers those who regardless of their background making sure that we have a rigorous curriculum for all of them and then World language education making sure that we've got a good um system and approach that um is accessible to students across the district so again this is the the the the path that we're following to um continue to engage with people I do want to thank all of the parents and caregivers who were a part of our town halls in the in the um in the fall those who came in person and those who engaged in the virtual Town Hall in November um there will be opportunities for um more engagement for parents that last one says Focus groups and Town Hall meetings by topic and so for example you could anticipate um for advanced Learners um having a meeting just for parents and caregivers across the district um who have that as an interest um it wouldn't necessarily be at at a a school particular school um but it will be available for all parents to have that conversation across schools um special education students who are learning English that the recess uh concern these are things that uh we'll be able to have um meetings specifically for those those topics um and we'll need to figure out the logistics of whether we can offer those on a virtual basis as well last thing um just that we'll also be talking with students I've had um the pleasure meeting with many students over the course of the last six months um and we do uh I also had focus groups with students just them and me where they've been able to be very very open and honest once they got warmed up um about their opinions and feelings about things things that they love about their school and also things that they uh they'd like to see changed um and that will be continuing in this next season leading up to um that report of Entry findings last thing I'll just say uh to close uh this my report is congratulations to the class of 2025 um we will get the competency determination figured out will not hold anyone back um as long as you've met those local requirements um and then the graduation will be Sunday June 1st as you all decided and approved last September uh 2m at McDonald Stadium the last day of school for seniors will be 12 days before the last day of the the the school for the rest of the district which is Wednesday May 28th um as I uh I think I I put in a emo that I shared with you all um last week so looking forward to seeing all of you on June 1st um and as well as the other events we'll be having throughout the spring to celebrate our seniors so thank you very good let's take questions any questions on the second half of the superintendent's report let's start with Miss Macklin thank you Mr chair um to the superintendent I knew uh during our meeting um that we had last month in your office and you did highlight the um the concern with the directed study and I'm just wondering what determines that scheduling and who gets one directed study um who gets two directed study uh classes and if you could speak to the demographic with with that so you know my concern is um if they're you know special needs Learners or English language Learners or um a disproportionate um number are students of color um if you could just speak to that if you know no thank you for that question and just to clarify the meeting we held on my office was with yourself and member Rose zyg only um so that question you're asking about is precisely one of the things we're um going to be looking at with the help of the technical assistance provider who's working with us um because we want to see on a variety of um Dimensions whether there are students who are more likely to be in an ex directed study than not are there students who um are meeting Mass core requirements more than others are there students who are graduating and we already know from the data that we looked at um I believe in December that there are certain demographics where the graduation rate is not as high as the school average as the district average so these are all things that we that we're looking at the they answer the other question about what decides um who gets a director study or how many it's very very complex um it's very very complex um and it really has a lot to do with um sometimes courses that students request uh are already full and they do assign students to courses that have been requested randomly um what I mean by that is they don't preference certain students over others when they have an over prescribed course um but when that happens and if there's not another course that the student is also interested in available when they're they have a slot in their schedule to fill then that typically is when a directed study comes into play um however that that it's very complex and there are many many different um circumstances that affect that but again we'll have a much better understanding of that once we have seen the data from um education resource strategies that bring to our design team next week thank you thank you now we're going to go to Mr Bernard he'll be followed by Miss H and then we'll go over to Mr Gray thank you Mr chair um I think this is just probably a really quick question um I I'm I'm excited that we're that we're going in being really um proactive on the recruitment um and I know that you know we're trying to go on also be proactive with people that are might be going and leaving our our uh our system for retirement and whatnot um just kind of went and triggered something that we were always always have seemed to be in uh lacking uh substitute teachers and typically we went and we uh tried to go and recruit from people that already had their teaching licenses and people that may have been in retirement and I'm wondering are we making any efforts to go and retain people that maybe going for a retirement and seeing if they would be willing to go and do the substitute teaching or uh another thing that hit my brain was uh if they would be willing to go and help with the advising some of these afternoon uh post school activities where we might not be able to go and find a uh a teacher that would be an that would be willing to be an advisor thank you for the question I'm I am aware anecdotally of several retirees across the district who are working as in in that kind of capacity in the substitute capacity um but we um and we're absolutely interested in wanting to many times people for very healthy reasons are ready to move on to the next chapter um but there are folks who are still local and love being in schools and it still brings them Joy some folks who are working as literacy assistants for example um several of them are um retired elementary teachers and it's wonderful to have them as a part of our part of what we're doing um so but yes that's absolutely something that um we'll continue to look at thank you thank you Mr Bernard over to miss Hy then Mr gr thank you Mr chair just a quick question about the extracurricular for Middle School students um I'm excited to hear that this is happening one of the questions that I have though because I felt like this was something that came up um even at the Town Hall that we were at together maybe at Forest um one of the issues that I remember people discussing is that in the past there had been a chess club but there was only a chess club at forestale let's say so and I know we had talked with everyone at that meeting too about about the transportation being an issue um has that come up with this are we addressing that are we able to replicate clubs at all five schools if not have we talked about how we can assist the older students in getting to where they need to be thank you for that question at this point we're excited to get clubs available to students period and um a lot of it has to do with the interests and the passions and the background of the Educators in each of those buildings um I didn't have um updates from forest ale because um there was some developments there positive developments that um prevented me from getting that update but um we we we'll bring make sure we bring that um next time and and as far as uh Transportation it's just really early at this point um transportation I know is is not really feasible but um as far as if something a hit in one place finding a way for teachers who have a similar interest to get it up off the ground at another school that's something we'll definitely look at one of the things that I was even thinking about is just a possibility um someone had mentioned to it mentioned it at at some point along these discussions even for so like if there's something at like Salem what is a much larger School than forestale there's a higher chance that there will be an activity or a club or a group there is there any way that we or the adults in the building could sort of organize everyone together and have them kind of do a walking school bus to Salem mode it's not that far you know and I mean sixth seventh and we're talking about sixth seventh and eighth graders here I'm not talking about sending very young Elementary School students a lot of those students are dismissed at the end of the day to go about their business whatever that may be um but I'm just wondering if we want to think about how we can help facilitate some of those things going forward you're agree with you I'm not trying to push this but I'm just saying like as we're thinking about expanding um I feel like this is gonna come up okay thank you very much thank you Miss H now Mr Gray then we'll go to Miss Rose zberg and we'll end with Miss Bora you Mr chair um I'm sure most people here know me by now I'm going to drill down on Communications um the first four bullet points of the communication section very clear very straightforward but um there's a little bit of fuzziness as far as in my mind engagement through social media um I don't know if that can be answered now but probably in future sessions we can get maybe a clearer explanation of what that actually means because that's very Broad and very vague at the same time um CU right now we have plenty of PTO and various spontaneous parent groups all across the city in the district on various social media platforms uh I don't know if the intent is to integrate with that or have an official School social media Outlet in addition to all these other spontaneous PTO and whatever the brought up but also it seems that engagement through social media is about one degree of separation from establishing a new districtwide Communications um in the future maybe that needs to be a little bit explain more because right now I think we have email we have text messages and we have different portals in place you know so if we're going to have a new districtwide communication what's that going to consist of and are we gonna dump some of the older platforms or grandfather them in and keep them um there there's sometimes issues where parents and families are confused which communication platform to use and there's a whole bunch of them currently on the current website so I'm I'm hoping that gets drilled down and clarified for the future um that that's pretty much all I want to say I just want to point out those two things are pretty Broad and pretty vague and as I see it that's the future of the district as far as Communications online but I also see it as a bucket load of work that's a lot of work to set up engagement through social media and a new platform and maintain it and create engagement so people use it so thank you Mr cig um so first of all much more can be said um on the engagement through social media what is intended there at this point is really uh using District accounts that were already established on Facebook Instagram uh X and I believe there may be one other um where those it's just a way for uh parents to uh another way if parents that's something that check more than their email for example or if they check that more than certain other um modes of communication that they'll some announcements and some uh events that are happening in the district or just good things that are happening or there's a way for us to to get that word out in those spaces the platform is uh something that will if you think about we have the connect platform that my messages go out to the all the parents and caregivers through and to The District staff which is uh is able to do simultaneous email and phone calls um we have the class dojo which is used at the classroom level and the school level to communicate with parents in most of our elementary schools we have talking points which is another system another platform that's been used at the high school to get messages out along with um sour which is another platform which gets written communication out the platform that we'll have will replace all of those things and will be one system that parent will learn when the child enters kindergarten and they'll have it all the way through and if they have children at the high school and an elementary school they'll be able to use the same platform for all the children in the district the and we're uh being a little bit vague about it right now I don't want to alarm people um there's going to be a a very very thoughtful rollout and preparation for people to begin to get acquainted with the new platform and before it's uh before it's the thing that we're using um but it's being used in multiple other districts um and it's uh very very positive I will say it also will allow teachers to communicate directly with students not just from the principal U to collect I'm sorry for parents uh and teachers to collect communicate directly as well um but that's that's what that that platform is that I'm referring to and we'll bring much more information about it so you understand it one of one of my many concerns is um in a PL I've never even heard of it but it sounds like it's good but if it can potentially filter because there's going to be that parents of high school students um aren't going to want to hear about what's going on in K to8 and vice versa yes so if there's some sort of filtering system built in that's even better yes and and I'll just add that it will it will have things it'll have an app that you'll be able to get things on the app if you choose or if you prefer just to let it go to your email that's fine too you can prefer whether to get text messages or get messages directly through the app there'll be a lot of customizable things that we'll have workshops for parents so they learn how to use it and in a way that makes things easier not harder good good thank you all right thank you Mr Gray over to Miss Rose zberg thank you Mr chair um piggybacking somewhat on Miss Hy's comments with um with Transportation issues and things when and looking at Equity issues between the extracurricular programming and again thank you to everybody involved with getting that up and running because I do hear about that a lot um to I don't know if people have explored using technology to link the schools so that what you're doing in one classroom and we all know you know we all I get it covid and all of that stuff still we don't want to go back to that stuff but there were positive things that we learned from those lessons so if there's a classroom at salemwood that could be communicating with the classroom at Forest and getting double the you know double the impact might be something to look into so where we can't physically move kids connect them electronically um be happy to talk to you more about that I did do some work with that kind of um programming um curious on that is it do the kids have to pay and is it this are the people doing it are they getting stiens um for coming in and teaching and now is it limited to teaching staff currently um will it open up to community members who might be interested in coming in I was uh interesting when you said like even like crocheting and things like that which is you know um sort of a different skill set and also because I do that um and just thought there might be people out there who would have a skill that they never even thought gee I could bring this into a classroom thank you for that question um the uh we were able to just to be clear this is not an everyday um activity it's just a certain number of days per week or one day per week in many cases and so there is a stien for teachers who are um who are the adviser for the activity that we're we were able to to get off the ground um but there's a there's a limited budget for it the um as far as volunteers from outside the school um coming in to to participate um that's something that I think is very intriguing to explore um but that we're just started day one with with it today it's great it's great to see it going yeah okay all right thank you and finally Miss Bor thank you excuse me thank you Mr Shar and I I love that idea like hybrid somehow connecting if we have Miss said chess club or whatever and and we could somehow connected in another school I think that's that's genius and um absolutely should be looked into so um I think Mr Gray brought up some really great questions along communication and one that um I would like to task you with actually is doing an audit on our communication platforms because I find that we have a handful that may have parents still on them that are no longer parents in those schools um does that become a safety issue being able to access information and no longer be there so um I'd love to see an audit done on Class Dojo talking points how many people have access to these platforms um because very easily you can move out of a district and um you know we all have some sort of app that sends us notifications that we may not use but um we could also have the the one in a million that would want to use it for more nefarious so um mam Vice chair can I just respond to that with the one advantage of the program that we'll be launching next year is that it is fully synchronized with Aspen every night and so if a child does withdraw from the district or does withdraw from the school then that account is closed in the system um and they also um it also makes it much easier for the teachers instead of having to set up their class dojo themselves and then managing who's in who's in who's out as all be done through the through the nightly sync with with Aspen um so um that's something that we'll definitely look into because a lot of these these platforms that we are currently using do rely on the Educators or other people to to make those changes I think our connect platform syncs with Aspen and so that's that's not an issue but some of the things being used at the school site I'll I'll look into that fantastic thank you and that's that's great I think Aspen has been underutilized thus far so um being able to have that connection and then just lastly when we talk about and we've had many com conversations on um attendance in these directed studies um and maybe this is more of a conversation offline but 120 students have two directed studies on their schedule so chances are at least in in an eight block period at least once a day they're sitting in a study over the course of two days correct over a course of so each day right if they have two directives we're talking about 120 have two are they on set I just be curious are they on separate days or is there a possibility that they have period one and two as directed study so they only have two classes on Blue day and then if two teachers are out is a student sitting in SSC for an entire day well these are the things that we're looking question I ask the question because this is happening in my household okay so I think it's top of the list and I know we've had this conversation but like if we can like even push it along further because it's so important because the absentee rates are and I see it because kids don't you know if they have nothing to do they don't want to be in school and that's not just your experience mad spap for and it's it's not anal well no but we were able to see for students with directed studies the uh the number of um days absent is higher than for the student students who have no directed studies so that's it's that's a quantitative fact and duly noted and we we the high school team uh and uh our team of the district we're definitely we're going to work with all deliberate speed to fix this well kudos to the team for making this a priority um especially as we enter this world of looking at graduation requirements and making sure these students are getting you know we're following Mass core and they have to have those 22 credits or whatever it may be and then all of a sudden we get to senior year and they're like oh my gosh I'm short eight credits and how do you or whatever it may be how do you squeeze that in so you can walk across a stage thank you thank you thank you Mr pfor just a technical Point graduation June 1st I think on the calendar is it still is it still June 8th can we update so the calendar on the website says June 1st okay I did a Google Search and it came up as June 8th and there's there may be a a a previous version of the calendar before the committee voted in September okay it was a PDF and so that older version may be in circulation on some websites but the the date is Sunday June 1st all right let's take some points of personal privilege are there any go ahead Missy ask this previously and thank you Miss f for because it made me J my memory um with the directed study classes um my understanding and I could be wrong about this so please correct me if you know that I am um especially for let's say like the freshman class uh a directed that there was a level of directed study that was slightly different for them than there was for the other grades yes um meaning you know if you're thinking that the majority of our students are coming from a k to8 school where they've really maybe only ever been to that K to8 school and they go to this giant high school that they might need a little bit of extra support so that's what the directed study sort of existed for in some ways like supporting them through some of that am I wrong if I am is there a way that we can still support freshmen in the way that I'm talking about if we're not doing that CU if feel like we should be so what I can tell you is that as students go up in the grade in grade from 9 to 10 and 10 to 11 11 to 12 the number of students in a directed study increases and in many ways is because students have already met many of their graduation requirements and so they're they can afford if you will to have um not a full schedule more than a student in ninth grade could um not that we think it's healthy for any of them um but that's that's that's in the data um that is the case that ninth graders have um fewer nth graders very few nth graders have a directed study where um a large much larger number of seniors do and as far as which ninth graders have a directed study I would really need to follow up on that question and sorry one more thing if we're going to reduce the amount of directed studies and I I completely understand what you're saying that you know as a senior I've met almost all of my requirements I've requested electives that I cannot get into because they're either full or the classes to begin with as small um is there a way that we're going to be expanding some of the elective options too because I'm just I'm sitting here saying to myself when I look at the course book for the options that are there they look great there are wonderful options there are we offering enough sections do we have the manpower to offer enough sections I I know a schedule change is pro probably needed as well but have we thought about where that go I know that that involves like teacher schedule and things like that but those are the questions that we're engaging with the design team and the support of erss to to really look at cuz we want we want to make sure that we've got hard good data that we're making the decisions on and and the the opportunities that exist with the current staff that we have or is there additional staff um but how much um because we don't know what the budget looks like for next year and there definite constraints are there better ways we can use the staff that we have and are there adjustments to the schedule and the structure itself that might be required um um so all of those questions are the questions that we're engaged in thank you thank you thank you points of personal privilege left to right Mr Bernard thank you Mr chair um just some announcements from the uh from the salemwood uh this uh this Wednesday There's an 11:00 a.m. dismissal make sure that uh you're coming to pick your kids up on time at 11: uh on Thursday January 16th the there's going to be uh Title One family night Zumba from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the 5day cafe and then Wednesday January 29th there's going to be a district family uh math night from 6:00 to 7:30 in the 5 to8 Cafe very good uh Mr Rose zberg thank you Mr chair from the lyen PTO for the K to 2 um this Wednesday from 3 to 6 there's a dine out at um Chuck-E-Cheese and Everett it's uh they'll get a little bit of money from that um but also just to um give kids something to do on their half day and to get together spend some time together then on Sunday we talked about this last meeting um it's the first ever craft party/ stuffy sleepover um which is stuffed animals so that is for um grades K to three that's going to be from 1 to three at the Lyon there'll be a craft and storytelling so students would bring their stuff to animal and a shoe box and then they decorate the shoe box and the air stuffed animal will get to um sleep over at the lynon and um they will get that back on Monday um starting February 1 is the readathon at lynon it's um kids will be tracking their times and then they different Awards and things given out um between individuals and for classes um and they're really looking to try to help encourage reading um especially during the school break um to have it then um they have arranged already for some authors to be coming in but if people want to volunteer to come in and read to a classroom all of us included um you can get in touch with them over there as well it's to volunteer your time for that um the their middle school club um to be on the lookout they're going to be hosting some fundraisers just been learning a little bit more about their Club there um it's run by Miss Ramos the science teacher who's there um the kids have been involved with doing model un and um actually they did competition um they came back they actually received an award um they got best public speaker um and have been invited to attend to other ones so they're doing fundraisers to help offset the cost for that um and so they will be looking to set those up so just sort of that's just a a placeholder to be looking for um upcoming fundraisers and it's great because the kids actually work on talking to other kids in the school gee what would you like for a fundraiser what would you want to do so I like that way that they're incorporating the kids from really um setting a goal and finding their own ways how to get there so that will be coming up as well and that's all I've got very good over to miss Hy thank you Mr chair on Wednesday the 8th the for sale PTO will have a virtual meeting at 7 o'clock on January 21st from 6:00 to 7:30 is family Zumba night at for sales sponsored by title one it's in the uh cafeteria and that sounds very fun please attend if you can um on January 24th the winter ball for grades 3D and I'm sorry for grades three and four will be happening please pay attention to your in to your email and um messages because more information will be coming out about the details surrounding that that is always a well attended and fun time for students as well thank you any other news out of the far still you want to share I guess so [Laughter] yeah uh Mr Wy is a very proud father to Chelsea um I seven pounds I believe roughly um wide-eyed and ready for the world so very good congratulations we're very excited for him and Tori all right uh Miss Bor thank you Mr chair uh adab BB so uh this Wednesday 11:00 a. dismissal Thursday January 9th starts our access testing um see Wednesday also January 8th um the BB PTO will be meeting from 6:00 to 7: p.m. and you can find the uh Google meet link on the PTO Facebook page also Tuesday January 14th title W Zumba night at BB in the gym starting at 6 p.m. reminder no school on January 20th uh to honor Martin Luther King Jr day Wednesday January 22nd the BB School site Council will be meeting at 5:00 pm and the link can be found on the school website January 29th and 30th denta care will be on site for dental checkups and then Saturday January 18th at Malden High School the Chinese Cultural connection will be hosting ing the Lunar New Year celebration from 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then Citywide we have Saturday January 18th Emanuel Baptist Church is hosting a Martin Luther King Day celebration from 3 p.m. to 6: PM very good we'll now entertain a motion to go into executive session motion by Mr Bernard seconded by Mr McCarthy click will call the rooll yes Mr JY Mr McCarthy yes Miss voro yes Miss Macklin yes Miss Wy yes Mr gr yes Mr Bernard yes Miss Ros Iber school committee is hereby an executive session