##VIDEO ID:-7BnIikTtcE## of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all has anyone signed up for public participation negative right okay um at this time we will close the public participation part of the meeting but just a reminder if you cannot make the meeting in person for public participation you can send an email to Martha maaso meth. k12.us before 3 p.m. on the day of the school committee meeting and your uh letter will be read to the school committee that night thank you may I have a motion in a second to approve the superintendent evaluation subcommittee minutes so moved move by member Keegan second second by member daglio thank you for to see you um discussion remember will I yeah just a a clerical thing just under spelling of my last name it wasn't spelled properly so just want to note that for the record appreciate that thank you I also wanted to make a note uh my name is spelled wrong on one of them um I don't know if that matters we can fix both of those before we post it after approval tonight yep my apologies any other discussion Mugo member you guys are trying to screw me up by switching sides huh yeah any other discussion on the evaluation I I did want to make a point and and I said this for public consumption and and I say this with all due respect to you I I talked to U the vice chair before the meeting and said I'm fully supportive of the evaluation and I want that to be known uh I do not however agree that we've made significant progress on the learning goal so why I I believe we've made some progress um and I think you know that doesn't be smirk the hard work that you and your team are doing and I get that um but I I just you know for me when I did the evaluation and I looked at the rubric and I looked at the uh you know where we were and where we are um um still some way to go from my perspective right and so um not a not a negative in any way shape or form I just um wanted to make that no any other discussion do you have anything you wanted to say about it no this is just the approval of the minutes so we're going to do we're going to go through the whole um evaluation that later yeah that's what happens when I take a meeting off yeah okay appreciate that okay uh so that'll take it up to a vote um all those in favor signify by saying I I hi post I'll be voting present okay thank you um going moving on to the staff reports um so that would be one two three six six yes and one present um staff reports uh the superintendent ass assistant superintendent updates are there any updates for us tonight to share yes yes I have I sorry that's okay Dr Kowski has one update that she wants to share tonight that we'll have more uh solid information for in the coming weeks but I think it's important she share tonight sorry sure good evening everyone I just wanted to give a quick update on the um rebuilding of the media centers and the K through 8 schools so the shelving has been ordered um and it's due in uh midt and we have professional installers coming in to install the shelving properly um toward the end of the month as well in mid October the next phase of um fallet will come in and they're going to bring a team of um professional weeders to make sure that we have what we need still on the shelves and to remove what should be removed um and then they're going to take on the task of reshelving all the books in the proper order on the new shelves which is a lot of work um and so this team is really great and Promises to be able to do all four schools in eight days total with their Fleet of people um and on top of that um each of the new buildings will get an order of new books um that we anticipate being between 30 to 40,000 per School so we're excited about th that too so those will be shelved with the other collection great so I want can you handar me is this thing working I want to start with the one that made me the most happy um for the CGS all the poison ivy being mowed down and treated I cannot tell you how many soccer balls I've chased into the poison ivy over the last four years so that that was a a big one for me um there's a couple on here that say completed but also say ongoing so that would probably be my fault to typo by me can you point them to me and I'll tell you which it is uh well I mean the first one is the second bullet so I just I assume that we're just perpetually doing oh elevator inspections but like there's a couple of them and yeah I'll make sure those are corrected for the next one um they're all scheduled I can tell you that yeah that's uh there was a couple on here about rug Replacements in the classrooms and the abatement being necessary I guess I want to make sure that the rugs are all still securely down so none of that glue and asbest has been Disturbed like they're all we're in a good place with them currently where they're not coming up yeah I mean so and Al Ian can answer that too but so right the whole dist whatever rugs are left in the district are on a capital Improvement project hope list um to to be to do that over the next we'd like to do it next summer uh to get rid of all the rugs left in any of the grammar schools um and most of the ones that are left are the ones that need the abatement which is why we can't do them ourselves um but any rugs that are in those rooms are being secured now I'm not saying secured by like really good uh Like Glue secured but we're securing it so that you're you we can't get underneath the rug I hope that makes sense okay so yes they are that I mean there's no loose they're trying to there's no loose asbest or any danger of that becoming Airborne so no if that was the case we'd do those room be more of an emergent issue all right thank you okay um I know it's it's not on the list to be provided but we all have been receiving um Communications from members of parents of the hockey players can you just give us a little update on where we are with that yeah so I emailed you all um an update on the hockey rank so Ian and myself and um Paul Trussell the rank manager Bruce Stella and the president of methan Youth Hockey met and did a walk through on Wednesday morning it was really great um to do two things to actually talk about the boards cuz there was some confusion about the need to replace those boards and we have a much better understanding of the boards and the Plex glass around the rink um you know they do need to be updated they haven't been updated in a long time right it's so so the the Glass isn't as high as it is that you see in new rinks um but he was fantastic the safety issue comes from um not the boards themselves but where the doors are so we know that we can actually rectify that shortterm and then have that be part of the long term so where the doors are the Zamboni door and the gates to the bench there's there's just over time there's spaces between the door and the wood that's that's the spaces I know a couple of the emails talked about hockey sticks getting stuck so we asked him to explain that um it was that piece so again it's not the it's not the rink is not unsafe the boards aren't unsafe that was the big most important piece for me to have the conversation um and we got a really good understanding of the process it's a it's a I will share with the committee and then it will be a city council you know at some point but it is a huge project to replace the boards in that Rank and all of the glass huge I mean lots of money um because it's a it's like we'd have to hire an engineer first so there's an RFP for engineering to actually replace the boards because there's only certain companies that could do that um and with ice ranks underneath comes a lot of technicalities there's G gly glycol uh lines underneath that if we break those that is a disaster that's what helps us keep the ice cold um so we talked about all those things so there's a process that would be here I think for me understanding it better was what I needed and then we also were able to um take them out to the new Bus Loop area to look at the back where the Ada parking will be the new entryway to the rank so we had some great conversations there uh knowing that his his season starts on August 26th the likelihood that we're going to be able to use those back doors on August 26 is Slim slim uh so he knows that that we're going to just be in constant communication when that whole back area does open that's the last step for us right we want the Bus Loop open first uh and then we have to finish the back entryway and replace the door so it is going to be a little bit before we have that all settled for the public to have that be the ice rink entrance uh but the parking lot and the paving should all be done by the time school starts but thank you yeah it was a very productive I thought very productive was a great uh great meeting and he gave us some uh ideas and we were able to tweak some things indoor with the new door so that was just from his perspective of how many kids are coming in and out of there for his program it was very helpful and I will say I talked to the ice rink manager today about calling the vendor who to look at those doors to see the problem with the doors are they're they're all wood and they're very heavy heavy so they wear on the hinges um so we're looking to see what it would cost just to replace those doors with lighter versions maybe with um aluminum fiberglass or you know um structure rather than the wood which would make them lighter easier to open you wouldn't have the the gaps forming over time you do with the wooden ones so I actually asked him to call the vendor today to have him come out and take a look at fixing those problems short term while we think about longterm replacing the whole thing you're welcome thank you for asking and I think it goes without saying since you brought it up the parking lot looks terrific right I mean I know it's not finished but um um any any doubts that they'll get there no um none I I have to say this is having done a couple parking lots now in my career which is kind of funny I never thought I would uh have this much construction experience but um this contractor has been just spoton great to work with communicative with Bruce he knows the company doing the tennis courts it's just been a really uh smooth process the weather has helped us that's for sure you know not having the thunderstorms and things like that that we did last summer threw us back a little bit on all of our projects this summer I think they were lucky with the weather um so Paving will happen on both the upper the main entrance and the Bus Loop on uh the 14th so that's this week um so we're excited uh it'll it needs a couple of days to cure and set and then they will be line painting likely next week so it really will come together uh within the next week we'll be able to see it visualize it um but it's amazing the work yeah it is amazing how much work has been done yeah so yep um so no we're not the only part is that back entrance to the ice rink door yeah not even the paving part they they think they'll get all of that done but getting the platform to the door and the walkway and then the actual door is a different that will do that so just that last piece we might be into September to get that final Entry Way done for the ice rink but as far as the parking lot and the Ada and the lines and the loop uh we even talked to um him about the drop off what the loop would be painted on the ground so cars would have a a loop to turn around putting a gate in the back so it be really clear for everybody that parents will have the opportunity to drop off kids with equipment and or or visitors who are watching can drop off off and come in and then they would go park in three different directions but um so yeah he was he was excited about it too yeah um if there's nothing so um is that eversource that's using the Tenny parking lot for storing they put the bulldozer in there at night and pipes or anything somebody is somebody's putting equipment in the Tenny space can I just ask you to find out who if it's ever saw us did they ask you no we were not asked okay so so I'll take it action if it's from the construction going on in the street if that's urce I believe that's who's been using the parking lot okay but they they they don't get to just want we also know it's a city project so we weren't going to okay but you know what I mean we weren't going to create a f we like the project to get be honest my my level of satisfaction with evces uh at a ner just ask your yeah your cube mate over there right I don't think they're doing jobs half you know what throughout the city and it's going to stop so um one more thing to talk about that any other questions uh on the maintenance report okay moving on how about uh does the committee have any questions about the assistant superintendent of Student Services report question sorry you guys can ask me I hopefully I can answer all of these Gina is actually out of state moving her son into college today forward in terms of I know it's the the summer so we're not going to have obviously any activity on residency enforcement right the the school committee unanimously reinstated the hotline but it's not reflected on the website so before we go back into okay the school with the kids I want that prominent restoration of the hotline because that was directed by the school committee yeah okay I thought that was put on her page okay no that was taken off okay thank you you're welcome any other feedback okay does the I'm sorry me Kean um based on the staff report I just want to know do we have enough specialed teachers to start the school year we can combine some of this information if you'd like if you want to move to the staff report if that's okay oh sorry don't say sorry because it does combine I mean there's a special education piece of this and then there's a whole staff piece of this right um so I think um I I alluded to here or um Miss Bose and I both did this for under special education we are looking at some um alternative models right now and I would say that we have some work to do with the union and the staff so I am not uh I really don't feel it's my place tonight to share that information because we haven't sat with the all of the staff involved um and signed all the side letters that we need for this so um but we are looking at uh some creative alternatives to making sure that we have our subpar classrooms staffed so those are the ones that are most critical right now and most vacant at Branch Street and at the marsh so those are the two places that uh we have the most vacancies for uh professional staff and program assistants the second piece of that is we already have uh Sula Gina and um myself have Met m and Colleen have met multiple times over the past two weeks uh solidifying any final hires for program assistants uh to make sure we have already secured multiple staff members through contracted Services already uh and we knew we were going to need to do that in early August because the contracted service providers uh are also going to run out of you know staff uh to to contract with us um so that is ongoing as well at this time so we're looking at a sort of a tiered approach to that work to make sure our oneto ones are covered our subpar rooms are covered right there's a priority to this to the program assistant we're looking at to have coverage um and then at some point we'll probably have another conversation with the program assistant Union about how we managed that last year to supplement people who were covering things like that we do have a plan I just can't quite I I we're doing it Wednesday so I just I feel like it would be really some some unnecessary stress to our staff if they didn't hear it from me on Wednesday first thank you you're welcome Emet I don't know if this is efficacious or not um I looked at the paper recently and I know Andover they they're promoting the job fair and I'm not sure if we've ever done that in the past of advertising a job fair I don't know if the efficacy of it if it's just something you're just doing the promote yeah and maybe catching some fish so to speak um I know it's a very difficult market and I'm not knocking the school system and that was part of what we're going to talk about later tonight but have we ever done that in the past of like promoting the draw fair in the paper and what was the result of that not positive so just it was just and over will be the same thing you're just promoting it just I mean you're promoting it you're hoping a whole bunch of people show up but uh we we usually have I'm looking at I don't know I keep looking at you because you've been in the room for those but I know uh last year we did the past two years we've done one for support staff lunch monitors program assistance right all the support staff we can't find and we typically have more of our staff in there than we get visitors coming so it just it it hasn't uh Pro it haven't it hasn't proven a viable source to actually get staff um and we've done it during the day we've done it 5: to 7:00 we've done it multiple times of the day to see if we can get different people we've done different shifts uh in the past and we typically do it here in the cafeteria because it's easy access um we did not do one this year uh just we just did not do one this year and again like I mean it does cost significant money to place in that in a paper and the efficacy of it I thought I'm in line with what you're saying what say keep posting on Facebook that we have openings I mean I'm posting on LinkedIn and all my social you know I'm not on Facebook as much but I keep posting the fact that we are still looking for support staff all over cafeteria lunch monitors program assistance it we're kind of in the same place we were last year we're in a better place with professional staff which that took us a couple years to get there we are we are still currently hiring some professional teaching staff um but it's the support staff that I mean you can see the numbers here I mean to have 62 support staff open right now is right about where we were last year at this time now when they have like the opening night and welcome back and registration and and kindergarten events do we ever Envision setting up a table and saying okay these parents okay oh I'm oh I might be interested in doing that during school hours y have we ever done that in the past of like setting up a job table when we have these type of events for registration and kiding G and welcome back and yeah so we're not uh I would say we're more informally open about it that our principals at the kindergarten welcome back events uh I will say it openly if any parent is looking for some support stff like I will say it openly um and if anybody wants to come talk to us there's enough administrators there to come talk to us so we are trying to recruit at every opportunity we can uh for anybody I think the CGS had like a play date today and I think Katie might have been out there at the play date you know asking parents if they were interested in anything but um we don't do a formal thing but we certainly we have the welcome to kindergarten at event at the nans next Monday so we can try to do something a little more formal even inserting something like you know welcome back contact information Yeah just something I know we're trying everything yeah um and it's endemic throughout the whole country is yeah so it's something that but I'm just curious yeah thank you yeah you're welcome thank you Mr chairman I guess on the same line a member will Ed are you thinking you know I'm sitting here thinking um you know it's it's hard to see this many vacancies you know in Pas and things like that and so you know is it worth like um going to merac college in UMass L and looking at their students that are at you know not not ready to graduate necessarily but they're second or third year and they've got enough training and they have enough hours in their schedule that they could really support and I would assume use some money you know from doing the job but do we ever reach out to you mol or we we typically do for UMass L and um marac the kids typically do bbes for us because they pick their days it's harder to do the program assistance because you're talking about the student service delivery so so we do have students who can do like a Monday Wednesday Friday and we'll hire them at this point for those three days because that's what they can do in their schedule we probably have done the same thing for pro we'll take whatever we can get uh to some degree but I worry about that for the student now you're being inconsistent with the student delivery but I know we do that for the bbes there's a lot of kids that don't have classes on Wednesday or Friday and so they we offer them the BBE two days in the building that they could come into it all all of it helps that's yeah we're open to to expand on member wet's statement um memory serves and correct me if I'm wrong but the city council approved a tax abatement for senior citizens could we maybe do something at the senior I mean I'm not seeing them particularly wanting to be involved in a 30 Hour Week PA position you're laun monitors you're crossing guards those those abatements are going to go a long way yeah I can send something I can send something to her at the senior center too and see if she wants us to come visit can't hurt no we did do a job fair with the city at the days in as well um the mayor and I and miss boac and a couple of City staff met with CTI which is the organization that is housed at days in to support um a couple weeks ago I think now and uh that idea came up the the director over there you know said their jobs you know are we're trying to get more of the younger kids into Head Start and daycare programs so the adults can work and we said we got jobs right we we have jobs we'll show up um unfortunately it didn't for us anyway I don't know how you guys panned out yeah it didn't we didn't get any bites from that uh I sent three or four staff there that day Colleen being one of um both principles from the CGS and Marsh uh and it didn't really it didn't it didn't result in much um anything I don't think for us same on the city Side nothing yeah so we're we're we're willing we're willing and and trying out there to get to get anybody we can not sure what's happening oh okay my coughing's disruptive when you cough you got hit the button okay sorry yes I'll the senior center I'll definitely do I'll send something to her if there's a good time for us to come or she wants to just even give out the information that would be great thank you yeah that's a good one any other questions about the school Staffing report oh sorry remember Des yeah to touch on um asking marac and uh UL I know for me for my masters I had to do hours for my placement and stuff do we have kids doing their placement here yes as well yes yeah Mar and LOL and now Rivier we're going to we're starting to we're going to start getting some student teachers and observations from Rivier as well we're partnering with so we're trying to Branch out to some of our different schools Rivier is one of them that we're trying to Branch out to uh it's one of the few schools that allows students to actually either get certified in New Hampshire or Massachusetts cuz it's so close to the border which is helpful for us cuz if the kids live in Massachusetts right and and either travel to Rivier or do live on campus sometimes they want to still stay in Massachusetts which is great and have we thought about hiring them as well because I know M Daran knows this as well for me to work with her at the Tenny as a as a par I was doing my placement there as well so yes that's what I was saying that mostly we're we're hiring I know you were hired as a PA but yeah the kids who have the time and the space in their schedule uh we typically do it by day and do the BBE right so that the principles know that they have these kids on these days and can actually use them uh in the spaces they need probably not necessarily assign them to AA because then we still have holes on the days they can't do it right and that's student facing services so it just makes more challenges but but yeah we definitely have I think probably in if not not all the schools more than half of our schools we have college students as bbes doing a couple days a week or doing some hours for their student teaching or observation and can do a day or two as a BBE to get some experience we definitely support that welcome that whoever wants to come we will take them yeah and a lot of them are our former graduates which we also love right yeah great couple ideas there it's excellent think you hit to watch me at city council they they have a white light especially for me it pops on so yeah go to the light man go to the light yeah old business and under the petting matters there are none new business uh may have a motion in a second to approve policy number AC non-discrimination and harassment Revis and reopt first and final read so move seconda second by member dagio discussion so yep so I'll say there's a memo there that um Miss bozac added so this is and I gave you some sub subsequent information on I think Thursday evening or Friday uh one of the members had asked for where did this come from it is Law and it it's actually in effect now so uh it took effect on August 1st so we received knowledge of this from our legal council somewhere in April I think I gave you that memo as well that this was coming and going to be you know resulting in some work over the summer for them to rewrite our policies and also do training which our staff will be trained on August 23rd uh that's when they are coming for a half day of training on the new law for our staff so there's a lot of work that's happening but it is already in place so I have to adhere to it you have to adhere to it as the school committee I should say we do as a district there are things we have to do wet thank you Mr chairman um and I appreciate the information from the superintendent on this the concern I have is that these regulations to my knowledge didn't originate from an act of Congress this is not a public law or amendments to to title uh nine these regulations emerg from the administration and it's a significant part of the country that's in strong opposition to the regulation now part of the regulations I support but part of the regulations I'm con very concerned about because I believe it it's encroaching upon services and activities um that should not be doing and when you have in the past the Civil Rights Act the Voting Rights Act uh major education Landmark laws you do it on a bipartisan basis this was no bipartisan basis on these regulations this strong opposition in Congress and a division in Congress on these regulations um I'm very concerned about the MIAA and how they address Sports I'm concerned again about encroachment um I know I'm not going to be on a prevailing side and I'm fine with that uh but I I have to stand on principle that this did not unless someone can tell me the public law and everything I've read it was regulations issued by an Administration and we're talking administrative State that's been uh curtailed by the Supreme Court what it should have been done is a compromise through an act of Congress became a public law by partisanship right this is not a hky Dory everybody Kumbaya regulations there's like 26 States in opposition to it there's schools in Massachusetts an opposition to it there's schools in California that are an opposition to it so uh without invoking what my specific concerns are about because I'll talk to people on the side um and I have to balance because we have students that have that situation and I'm always sympathetic to that but the process itself uh reeks like something WR in Denmark um so that's my two cents I'll be voting against it uh if anybody wants to talk to me separately I'll be there to do that thank you IIA so I guess I need to understand to m wet's point was there a regulation change is this being mandated it is my understanding it is being mandated I I don't know how to take it other than you better do this that's the emails and information we get because it is the federal law so there are repercussions if we don't do it so if the committee is Massachusetts is not one of the states that is wholesale fighting this uh so there it might be individual but Massachusetts isn't one of those States right now so we haven't been told not to adhere to this okay and that's our legal councils work with us and every District that they work with on the language is I'm sure the same in every District that they've worked with this is what we get and the training that we're going to get is going to be the same as what they're going to do in every District right so so I don't know how else to say that other than like this is what we were are being told to do and getting emails like the one I sent you wasn't an email and I assume from the office of come from desie say that I'm sorry I assume those emails are flowing down from desie no those are coming from the office of civil rights that's not even coming from desie this is federal they're coming from from a a federal rolling into US yeah I just assume it would roll down to desie and then desie would de I meie is saying you know I mean desie is doing the reminders that the law is in effect now to make sure but it's not the information that I like I sent to you that was a that came from the office of civil rights right Federal to state so that the different department so I understand that this is all boilerplate and whatever is happening out there in politics land will work itself out and some someone will tell you and you'll tell us right um but in the meantime when I look at this my one call out in caveat knowing that these are templated documents and there's not a lot of room for change I would like to see a mandated disclosure added and what I mean by that is if a parent a employee whoever goes to Administration and says hey this is what happened it shouldn't be oh okay they that administrator that receiving party should be required to say this is a issue under Title 9 we have a title 9 administrator yes you have rights and Options under Title 9 please contact I I think it's so that is here that is here it's not in here but it's actually in the non-discrimination it's in the under the grievance procedures and policy so there's no require enement for the administration to tell a parent when they come in that they have a right under title n it says they that it's there we have a right under title n but there's no mandate for a receiving party to tell a parent I'm sorry this happened to you this is a crappy situation you may want to go talk to the assistant superintendent bozac and have a conversation about your title n r oh I understand what you're saying not the actual procedure once it happens because we had that's very formal so reement procedure has also changed to adhere to the regulations my my proposal if I could get it to I understand for a friendly Amendment would be something along the along the lines of upon receipt of a complaint that would be covered by Title 9 building based staff are required to inform the reporting party of Title 9 their rights to file a complaint which would cause an investigation in addition they should be required to provide the title 9 administrators contact info should the reporting party need more information or wish to file that claim and I think that that information should go into both the non-discrimination and the sexual harassment to AC and acab okay well acab is actually what we're resending tonight oh and it will just go to AC it'll go to AC and then if I had to add the language to the Discrimination notice in the handbook I would added to that that's a different level of that's not a policy by itself but there was a non-discrimination notice that we are required to post in the student handbook right so if that needed to be in both places I would add that to those two places I I quite frankly think it should be in all the places including the training that way staff are aware and parents aren't expected to just have our somewhat convoluted website memorized yeah so I don't I don't I hate the fact that Miss bozak's not here but I don't have issue with that cuz you're not asking me to take make this less of what the law is asking us to so um I'm okay with that friendly Amendment it just simply means I I totally understand what you're asking it's at that moment that starting moment right remember shilia yes it's not the when the moment happens we have the grievance procedures it's that starting moment to determine if the grievance procedures are actually going to be put put in place right I'm I'm pretty sure I completely know what you're saying so I have no problem with the friendly Amendment I'll second your friendly Amendment thank you y i you might have to completely repeat what you said or maybe type it email or write it down for me email it to Martha tomorrow okay um but I can repeat it again if the body requires or wishes that would be you repeat yeah yeah that would be great if you if you want to do a friendly Amendment to the vote and read it one more time that that's way Martha can get it too off the recording for the minutes upon receipt of the complaint that would be cover where would you want this written I'm sorry at the end is there a certain part that you're looking at to actually interject that not not anywhere particular I mean it's a short document so as long as it's in there okay it fits okay um so the body of the text friendly Amendment would read upon receipt of the complaint that would be covered by Title Nine building based staff are required to inform the reporting party of their Title 9 rights the right to file a complaint which would cause an investigation in addition they will be required to provide the title 9 administrator's contact information should the reporting Party require more information or wish to file a claim okay so there's a friendly Amendment on the floor um we've got a motion in a second um any other discussion or we'll go to a vote do Zug though did you have something I do but I don't know if I should word it properly in this I'm just trying to no I because and we are asking I'm sorry just I don't know if you said it mayor and if I did if you did I'm sorry we are asking for this to be a first and final tonight so we can actually get it in the handbook appropriately we don't often do that but sometimes we do in cases like this just so we can get it organized appropriately now and never remember Des I have concerns about this mandate um but what my personal preference is compared to what it is for my constituents is a total different thing that's why I'm I'm thinking about abstaining to it um because I don't yeah I don't I I feel is questioning that this could open up doors and I'm concerned about about about that and so yeah I I just yeah okay any other discussion all right so the motion on the floor is for a friendly Amendment uh that member shabil just read all those in favor signify by saying I I I post and we have I'm abstain abstain I'll obain okay I'm sorry I'll obain so three abstains motion carries thank you member moving on to the U I have a motion in a sec I need a motion in a second to resent policy acab harassment policy 2019 first read well we have to still finish the vote the amended thank you very much yeah yeah so um we have to go back and um um vote on the amended uh policy AC so can I get a motion to we already have the motion we do um I motioned it member do uglio seconded it so we're just looking for a roll call on that so all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed no andain what did you say m so two Nos and an abstain did I get that right okay okay thank you all my apology y I take one meeting off and I'm getting all rusty all right um may I have a motion in a second to resend policy acab harassment policy 2019 first read so moved second move by memb shilia seconded by the Vice chair so discussion so if I could just share a little bit about this why we're doing this tonight um this is one that unfortunately we realize has been overlooked for a couple of years now and there's there's repeating and contradictory information in this policy compared to our updated policy that you like even the most recent updated policy uh AC so um that was the advice of uh attorney Joyce was to adopt the new AC have the uh non-discrimination notice in both handbooks posted as required and resend this one because this one is now old and very outdated so that's why we're doing this process this doesn't have to be first and final cuz this policy actually isn't in our handbook it's a it's a standalone policy so we can do first read tonight to resent and then a second read next meeting to resend it to give you the backgroundia why would we need two votes to resend this if the one we just voted to approve replaces it well because we're not asking for our first and final vote our all of our policies take two votes so Mar we actually made sure too with Linda gagnan at the city that we were using the resend the same way we would do a policy and the answer was yes uh so it does take two reads to resend and two reads to approve okay so it's procedural not it's completely procedural uh and we just didn't I mean I guess you could amend it to do a first and final tonight you would have to do that because it's not it's unnecessary that's all I'm we just didn't think it was necessary to push this one faster and just follow the procedure okay no no good story behind that one no any other discussion member Willet I mean obviously since I voted against the first proposal I need a template as a backup so I'll be voting no to resend so that'll be my rationale I can correct the second one but if you eliminate it then I have nothing to go on thank you okay so the motion on the floor is to resend policy acab harassment policy this is the first read all those in favor signify by saying I I oppos say nay no obain a nay and an abstain did you say no to okay so two Nays and an abstain motion carries thank you all may I have a motion in a second to approve the 2024 2025 pk8 handbook to include policy AC so moved second move by move by the Vice Chair seconded by member shilia discussion all right I guess it'll be me I've communic communicated quite a bit about this in the last 24 hours so I apologize for all of the delay oh this is the handbook now for the KA um not correct so I because of the confusion with the packets and things not being color coded and changed I read I read the entire thing because that's I feel like kind of my job um I do think there's some stuff in here that needs to be updated uh the nurse's message still references the bird flu and we've had like 30 bad things that have happened since then so I I feel like we could we could maybe catch up a bit um the appendix or the table of contents is a little out of whack the the page numbers oh yeah that won't yeah so the page numbers don't get corrected until I accept any of the suggestions yeah um thought i' T type that in the memo I'm sorry if I didn't we don't adjust that until so I have it in a Google doc right with the strikeouts and new language so if it gets accepted then I go in and accept all the suggestions that which will adjust the page numbers again and then Martha and I will go in and correct all the page numbers before we post for the opening of school um so I guess my first question superintendent is there's a lot of language in this one and the next one we're going to talk about that should be the same as like our Baseline but there there seems to be some differences is there a reason why we don't have like this is our standard here's our K8 Rider here's our 9 through 12 Rider handbooks um yeah no I've been intimately involved in handbooks for a long time so um there are some things that are the same and we try to keep policies and uh procedures the same that pertain the high school however there are some different things that are required of the high school that look very different than the grammar school for example the credit denial atten attendance we tried to keep the same this year which we haven't always in the past um devices cell phones we are keeping it the same this year and trying to remove any language that is vague um there's language in the handbook that also pertains to I know courses and grades differently than at the grammar schools that are required for accreditation purposes so it's a little bit of a different beast and of course all the that whole last section on MIAA is not applicable to our Kats so so in the past it really has been done it it's been written by two different groups of people to make sure that we have everything that the high school needs and everything that the PK through eights have and I will share this with all of you this is a beast of a task and I'm the one who does it and so I'm the one who goes in and does the PK through eight handbook every single year since I've been assistant superintendent I'm the one that goes in changes it gets feedback from people goes back in so I try to manage that um the high school I do have help uh Dr golovsky helps as well but but it is a beast and so I recognize member shilia and I will quote myself saying to Martha s last week uh and then maybe I said it a few times this weekend after I was alerted last night that you didn't have the right one that I think this the whole handbook needs to go out for a full review this coming cycle so meaning meaning this is something that uh attorney Joyce and makoy do do for school districts we have done it in the past where they've done a full review take our two handbooks make sure our policies all match make sure every the language matches like they do that work I am 100% going to recommend that we do that next spring um to make sure that if there's things that we like we missed did we miss other policies that we should resend because the new ones we just update and AD right so there's things we're missing so I will 100% tell you it's a beast and I'll 100% tell you I want to go out next spring to to send it out to do a full review of both of the handbooks to make sure we don't have any contradictory language and to make them as symbiotic as we can so my understanding is that masc policy review We Are doing y will also review our handbooks they will they have a very different lens though oh okay they have a different lens table that for a different no they just it's a it's they need to do it but I I do need uh so our legal so Matt McAvoy and Michael Joyce of mavo um McAvoy Joyce and nuttle are our legal council who work with us on student facing policies actions disciplined IEPs 54s all that stuff right um they have a different lens that masc isn't going to have necessarily on what is going to protect the school committee when we talk about civil rights when we talk about um even Title 9 like masc is going to give you the boilerplate language but they're not going to go into making sure like though Michael Joyce is going to make sure we're protected by what we're posting what is our process what is our training so they just have a different lens for that what would be ideal is if the masc is in works and we've updated some things so that we know what we can give to M exactly so that over time we we're completely uh just in a really good place with what our policies are and what's updated and right because they'll find policies that we probably need updating or we still have posted somewhere that we need to resend or change but are in our handbooks appropriately um that's what I'm hoping for for next spring all right so I'm going to take full responsibility for that that we're looking at sort of the big language changes uh you know each year to keep it up to date but I do think it's time for us to do I don't think we've done one probably in six or seven years of full review of our student handbooks all right we can get to that one later then um I do want to call everyone's attention to page 40 of the K8 handbook page numbers are at the bottom on mine um it's the bus Behavior consequence chart that's a good one too well that's why it caught my attention um I can only imagine based on the stories I hear what kind of chaos ensues on a boss filled with a bunch so you're looking at but you're looking at the current book correct not the one I gave you today this morning yes yes I'm trying to figure out what page it's on on the one I gave you guys this morning it looks it looks like this for those of you who want 48 got it page 48 on the one I gave you guys this morning I think I don't know the one you gave me this morning doesn't have any page numbers oh okay so I can't find it it doesn't have page numbers no that's you're not even looking the right this is the handbook yes this is what you gave me this morning we delivered we delivered you a new handbook with the colors in it this morning the one I emailed you guys last night yes people got those yes I looked at each one myself so so all right the bus one is towards the end it's after after the discipline section um I'm looking at what you're looking at chart it perpetually it perpetuates in my opinion negative behavior because the consequences are so non almost non-existent I mean you could have 24 different reports of a level two offense which are defined above and only have warnings so I don't know if we need to update this prior to posting printing I guess I'm not following you so four or more reports a student can get suspended up to 20 days on a warning or up to 20-day bus suspension yeah so my my proposal was that the first report would stay the same as a warning yep second report would be a 1 to three take off the warning take off the warnings I mean we've given warnings how many warnings do we really need to be given fine with that but then again I I would look for input from the committee because I have not had to deal with kids getting on a bus at the end of a day I'm not the one who's going to have to live with the consequences of this change so I I welcome feedback into removing those warnings and making these more of a structured tiered disciplinary schedule yeah I think I think the harder the hardest part and I'm I'm totally okay with that um removing the warning part of that we haven't looked at the bus behavior infractions in a while too um but we also keep in mind this is going to be part of and maybe the larer conversation about our bus what we're doing next you know later tonight our bus contract conversations because this only works if the bus driver or somebody reports the infraction right right and that that system is a little bit broken I think agreed which I yeah but I'm I'm I'm totally get what you're saying remove the warning because the the level ones don't have that right there's the warning is off of it and it can be up to and then possible loss possible loss up to right so I see what you're saying yeah I wonder if it might be um because some of the level two infractions could be things like unnecessary noise that maybe if they received a warning in the fall and then it happens again in the spring it might not warrant necessarily a suspension but another warning so that kind of gives us the out to go one way or the other depending on the circumstance Point yeah be far apart I'm in agreement with member shilia because it's like warning warning and then well there's there's the cliff oh the 20 days is like all of a sudden like you could have minor warnings and then all of a sudden you have the possibility of being suspended up to 20 days it's like I rather have like a better te system and having notifications home um and an encouragement of the US Drive is to follow the policies that we we have and even once in a while pulling the tapes and monitoring those tapes um you know again that's vigilance too is all of a sudden we're pulling the tape and if you see the tape and it's Romper Room on a bus and the bus driver is not doing anything and again I'm not like you know singl all bus drivers I think we've had good reports about for the most part with the bus drivers but like if you pull the tape once in a while or I've mentioned to the superintendent maybe once in a while have a bus monitor if the problematic buses um sort of like an air marshal on a plane but if you have someone on it that's going to um dissipate very quickly if you have a separate adult monitoring those buses and i' I've mentioned that to the superintendent but I think that the T structure has to be revised CU you got warning warning and then it's like almost like the Himalaya oh you have 20 days to like there's no continuity to that it makes no sense I like the fact that you had two two referrals one to Romper Room and one to the Himalaya not bad huh it's summer time and you shattered all my all my childhood Illusions were shattered it's not bad by taking Romper Room and putting a negative Con on you I wonder if I mean and and this these are conversations too uh that if you let me start with the first thought is I wonder if the committee would be amenable to each this happens but it's by trimester so if we do a it everything starts over the next trimester clean Sate next trimester clean Sate so at least the kids have like an opportunity and then that way what Dr golovsky just said of like if a kid gets a warning in December and then gets another warning in June am I really going to give him a suspension when there's so much time in between maybe it's by trimester at the grammar school this happens and this is going to be the consequences that build up that to me might seem a little more um even with parents uh you know doable right like as kids development um I also want to just put it out there there's if you haven't figured out which you will uh when we present the strategy plan and my goals for next year right chronic absenteeism is is a huge uh priority for us for the state this is where the state is going with support for school districts we need to do it we know it um this is also a challenge for principles is when you start doing bus suspensions often kids just won't come to school because they can't get to school right so we work with parents but there is that I know that that is something that will come back to me from the principal saying if we do this which we can it means that if a student is suspended for 2 days from the bus automatically uh they just aren't going to come to school for 2 days and that is our reality and so we just we want to balance that a little bit I want to share that that doesn't mean you will change what you're thinking um but I do think maybe a trimester uh calendar of something like this would be more reasonable for families and for kids because because I would support a trimester for the level two infractions as there more of I guess a nuisance yep whereas the level one turn infractions you know such as smoking y fighting vandalism bullying I mean those are those are more big ticket items and I don't think those should have a statue limitations on them of a month and a half yep um I I would be amenable too I am too I'm okay with that breaking out the level two infractions and giving a trimester schedule for them yep I totally understand that those are the right the Lesser offenses and squishing it in a little bit by trimester if it continues and the behavior doesn't change in a shorter period of time there are consequences that build and like I get that absenteeism is the push Statewide but I don't think that we let kids bully other kids on the bus and then say the state wants to make sure you come to school feel free to get back on the bus right so if we have to take a hit hit one way to avoid another kid taking a hit another way I I I'm willing to take that one I guess my question is you proposed some amended do we need to vote Bunches of them yeah yeah do do we need to vote on those well so here's so so the handbook Works in whole package right right so so what I would be looking for is there were three sort of larger pieces in the PK through eight two in the high school that are equivalent the cell phone uh language that was of interest to the school committee and I put in here where the where we landed and gave you the information about where and how we landed there um the Chromebook uh language is also new and something that is uh long overdue a little more structure to how we're dealing with Chromebook um vandalism and damage and so we want that was something that was a collective uh practice too from our tech department our administrator uh put in some we had some collective conversation about that this summer um so that was a big one for the K8 the attendance language right I pulled some language and statistics from attendance Works uh to put in there we are making a big push for you know the the the way things are done really didn't change in the language I just added language in there to just strengthen the idea of why we want kids to come to school and what happens when they don't right um that is going to be again a big uh PR piece for us uh working with families and engagement it'll be part of a a big part of our new strategy plan draft that we'll present to you at the next meeting um so so that gets right like so all those pieces your approval and this is hard sometimes to explain uh and our legal council keeps explaining it to me but uh the the handbook is not a standalone policy right so does we don't treat it as a first read second read There are Standalone policies in the handbook that we have to treat just like we did with AC that actually belong or required to be in a student handbook but your approval of the whole handbook then sets policy and procedure and practice in motion collectively so so while there is only one vote of approval for each of the handbooks I'm certainly open to the conversation of those for me those are the big chunks of pieces we've T and the holiday theme we I'm sorry there were four for the grammar school um right those are the big pieces that we changed there are some little changes in there grammar names we did all that right that's I don't think the biggest concern um but those are the pieces so again it has to be approved so to all or nothing and if each piece needs conversation then that's what we have to do tonight so how do we make sure your your inputs like this so the on the tier one issues I completely agree with you right so how do we are we are we capturing those we're I'm capturing those okay to do it I mean we're in agreement to do it so if you vote for the I mean we if we vote for the handbook any changes you make to what I presented tonight you need to tell me what you're voting what you're approving so there's no no need to vote on the amendment to the that's my point yeah discipline chart for the buses no you're just getting a general head nod from the majority of I'm getting a head nod so I and I'm and you know I'll change it I mean that's what I'm the note I'm taking when you approve the handbook I think we're all in agreement this is what this conversation is for that wasn't something I was focused on with my team this summer to change right all right so on that unfortunate note I have a few more okay sorry well you you gave me a packet and then I read it my bad I'm glad you did um um so for me it's page 55 it is the social networking policy uh reviewing this I mean there's a several paragraphs in here um paragraph six of it for example starts with if a teacher conveys School related messages to a student parents on his her private account from a social network I think all references to teachers being allowed encouraged or anything from their personal social media to a student should be completely removed from this policy okay say title the policy again that you're at because my page numbers are different than yours social networking policy so that's at the end too right I mean for me it's I don't know late middle I guess you could call it late middle was it after or before the last it's after the after the last one I read it Pages sequentially listen I got it I'm learning I did a find in replace so like paragraph six and then on the following page you have paragraph nine teacher to discourage from using their home phones personal cell phones personal emails Facebook accounts to communicate with students I don't believe they should be discouraged it should be disallowed we have talking points we have a million other ways to communicate with students you don't need to be jumping on your personal Facebook and dropping them a note on their personal or or Twitter or X or Tik Tok or whatever it is like we have ways to communicate and this policy the way it's written is clearly a little bit older than some of the other ones and encourages or not necessarily encourage in some places it does but doesn't discourage the use of personal social media right so it's there's a lot yeah there is a lot here and you're right I think it needs some updating um I don't know I don't think these are Standalone policies that's the one thing I'm trying to check here because usually when there's a legal reference that means it's a standalone policy but I don't see it indicated as such here like and I'm open to if someone wants to tell me that I'm being too Vigilant and that this is no I think that's a good point oh okay well just inviting the devil way to oh that doesn't work because we can't hear you there's no way to document the communication between parent and student I mean teacher and families if everyone's on a different platform than talking points and that can get us into a lot of trouble that's what he's saying that's what you're saying right you're like just do away with all of it I've I've watched Criminal Minds I know how this goes like I don't want there's no reason for a teacher to be sending another kid a message on Tik Tok right so hold on a second what what language specifically Dan are you looking at I'm sorry member shabil are you looking at paragraph six jumps out at me if a teacher conveys School related messages to students on his or her private account that paragraph should be REM uh res restricting and then paragraph nine teachers are discourage from using home phone personal celles personal email accounts and personal Facebook accounts to communicate with students it it should be are not allowed like don't just straight up don't do it okay I think it's hard to follow this because I don't even have this like I can't even find this policy yeah I think it's really hard to follow and make amendments to something I can't even read I have one question about this particular thing why are there policies for teachers in the student handbook in general that's because because some of them are we're required to post so that parents know what those requirements are yeah I know some of these sound weird cuz they're two teachers but like there are there's some language in here you're going to like sexual harassment language you're going to see it's towards the adult but the parents need to read what we're telling the adults as well required so there is some of that but I'm I'm making notes of what you just said memb shamilia cuz our team I also don't believe our team would disagree with anything you're saying so I'm striking out those sections um if I find that it's a standalone policy I will have to bring that to you on the 27th fair I don't believe it is because it really we do indicate that in the handbook so this is our our written policy uh which means we can't amend it okay so my next one is my page 61 it's on plagiarism but you said number nine hold on number nine I just want to go off what you oh sure so so the thing I'm confused about was when we first when the mayor and I first stepped into office we had a situation where a principal sent an un um sent uh an event that was not being hosted by the school for the um students emails about a rally and we sat here and we said said we don't think that's even appropriate without parents being notified so that's why I'm confused about these policies because that policy just saying unauthorized school why is teachers being able to use different platforms too that whole conversation was brought up even when we did that back then and I think the mayor you remember when we did all that and we struck yeah a bunch of those things like that's why I'm confused why this still was in the handbook cuz that so so the the change in practice that came from that that was through our system through MPS email and to student emails the policy that was changed is that the parents should have seen it first before it went to the students and that's what we changed right but had nothing to do with platforms no but what we said was and I remember Madam pesh even said it that we don't even think that's appropriate through student emails and then we went through all these different platforms saying that teachers and students because remember this whole big conversation spilled about it how we shouldn't have had we shouldn't have policies at all that teachers shouldn't be communicating with students at all in all platforms or not just the emails without parents being notified that's just that I just remember I could have been confused with what we definitely announcements like that but that's the only way our teachers communicate with students is through email our own email what I'm saying was and I remember Madam P was saying we didn't want unauthorized school events or other things that involve curriculum or that should be only allowed on those that one platform correct and just be through that but then we started having that broader conversation that teachers shouldn't even be communicating without parents being notified or principles now again that could be just a total different concept that I got from that but I that's why I'm looking at this the platforms and Facebooks and all that what members travil that whole conversation that we had that the mayor and I was part of we thought that unless it was involving the schools they shouldn't be communicating at all no staff should be communicating with students without parents it's just it was a I thought it was a broader conversation than that one criteria quick we already have a state law that prohibits political activity on campuses to me because of the Modern Age that would be an extension on that would be electronic devices now if we have to update the policy reflect that the only thing that should be communicated Through official channels academics that's it nothing else no rallies no political agenda fix that no Union contracts nothing we went through that uh earlier uh coming into this new group of people right and if we have to shore it up but there's already a state law you cannot do political activity on on campuses no and by extension communicating that to students to me is violating that original state law that's my opin the electronic devices would be the same thing it's already done I got to be honest with you and don't think I'm kind of lost because I'm having trouble with the pages just like m m I think we're kind of we're kind of painting ourselves into a corner here yeah right we're talking about now pardon me I think we're talking about I heard one thing yeah two things three things right so the two and the three are not yeah right I'm using what we did yeah to say I thought that was about a specific event that but we changed that whole policy of did communication with students that's what I thought I thought that that changed the whole mindset of that conversation that just keep it academics I think the simple solution to this is let's refer the policy back to the subcommittee amen and we'll come back with a a a update that way we can clarify what you're saying and clarify what he's saying we can for the bundle it all bundle it all for this one yeah I think that's great that would be helpful for me too all right um my next my next one is uh the plagiarism in the high school handbook we talk about plagiarism using AI right we don't talk about it in the K8 and I don't think we're giving our K8 kids enough credit because they they know how to chat gbt better than probably most of the people in this room amen so I think that those languages should be mirrored which we can which I think a lot and all the things I'm suggesting currently should be mirrored yep for the upper school appropriately as well um not the upper school the high school yep um and then the one thing I didn't notice in the handbook and I mean if I if I missed it please point it out to me there was no bullying section in the K8 but there is a pretty hefty bullying section in the high school it's there did I saw that my I only because I know that's in the one that I got today maybe not in the one that you got the other day but the buling is in here it's the old one I mean even real quickly running through the table of contents there's nothing here on bullying and I made note that in the high school handbook there's an obligation to notify others so there is a there's a whole section in the um the discipline with oh no no hold on rewind there's a whole section the discipline with students with disabilities on bullying and the laws cyber bullying bullying retaliation prohibitions but it's under I don't know why it's only under that one so no so it says massachusett general Law chapter 71 section 370 bullying policy and training requirements meth Public Schools Endeavors to maintain and then it has definitions so it's its own section cyber bullying bullying aggressor retaliation prohibitions prevention and intervention plans publication and notice that's in the pka handbook all right I will go back and check it I it's right it's right above general policies that general policies section okay that's all I have for the so plagiarism hold on now I got to capture this hold on so plagiarism will'll get in both the same language are you we have we haven't we haven't done that but we would want it to mirror right that language is really good for the high school okay and then the social networking policy will take that whole thing put on a separate document and have the policy subcommittee look at that maybe have Nancy Lopez our director of Technology involved any principl like to update that work that policy subcommittee can do for us so when it's updated so what will happen is it will remain as is for the handbook that's the that's the hard part about this it's there's a process right so remain as is once it's updated by the policy subcommittee we can update it and repost it on the website with the date that it was re reposted and send a notice to all the parents that it was please read this part it was updated and reposted by school committee does that make sense yes so that we won't change anything now cuz we're not sure what we're changing it stays the same we refer it to the subcommittee for policy once that process happens and it's brought back to the school committee we add it to the handbook I repost it with a new date we've had to do that in the past when laws changed in the middle of the Year repost it with a new date and we send a notice to all parents that this section has been revised in the handbook to please take not notice and review it okay just so that I understand the process too will oh sorry member maxw go ahead okay so to my understanding we're voting as a whole on the whole student handbook yep correct okay so I think just based off of the confusion alone it should be a no I mean that's my vote because the handbook you gave me to review the other day is different from the handbook that I was given today so I didn't even come across the things that Dan pointed out however um I I just want to point out a few things in the one that I did review um the holidays um I wanted to touch upon because at one point it does say that um MPS cannot celebrate religious holidays but we can teach our students about important religious holidays and how they're celebrated um I don't think that we can say that we can't celebrate religious holidays um as long as they're not we are acknowledging religious holidays um the second piece of it that I wanted to touch upon is the dress code policy um I think the dress code policy needs to be updated because um in one of the policies it says that students must wear shirts covering the Torso and I'm sure every single one of us has seen that that's just not happening anymore um to buy fulllength shirts is not in style it's not um I understand we don't want kids in sports bras but I I don't see the harm in them showing some of their um bellies if you will um so to say from the top of the chest down to the waist and not showing your midrift and backside I think that I'm not sure what's inappropriate about showing your belly um so I'd like that um changed and and then cell phone policy I'm just a hard no on the whole the whole policy that we're proposing um because you are against punishing the behaviors of the current cell phone infractions so in to put together a whole new policy and say kids you have to put your cell phones in this this is their personal property you have to put it in there when none of them have been um in trouble for actually using their cell phones um I also am against saying that you can't bring cell phones to school dances or schools School whatever if kids have do not take my picture forms in on record sure I understand the problem but if somebody's like well I don't want Bobby taking my picture because Bobby might post it later and I don't like Bobby so I don't want Bobby having my that's not my problem I'm sorry um so that's the second thing I think that I think that the whole handbook in itself is wordy I don't think we need to understand why attendance matters I don't I don't think that that's important to parents or anybody I understand that attendance does matter but to put it in our handbook is wordy and no one's going to read the handbook um the bullying policy needs to be updated because the bullying subcommittee did update the policy I don't know why it's not showing there I don't it was brought to the school committee okay for process so it hasn't been updated formally by the whole committee okay um the attendance during suspension I know that that was brought up a couple times here meaning if kids are suspended because of something on the bus and now they can't take the bus and they can't get to school again that's not our problem I think that if kids get suspended um it's unexcused you're suspended because you had a bad behavior and you cannot be in school and if the the bus can't get you to school because you're not responsible enough to take you then your parents get involved and your parents have to drive you and if it's an inconvenience for your parents then they're going to get in trouble at home you know I think that we're taking away discipline and that's why we're having so many issues um and then my last thing was just the lockers it says that they can only go before home room before lunch and after lunch um but yet backpacks are not allowed to be carried throughout the day so these kids now have to carry all of their stuff all of their belongings um with them and I know kids are on their computers and we have computers now but I'm also against computers I think we should bring back writing and books so uh but that's a different topic I I those are just the few updates that I would like to see updated in the policy um because I do think that they're discriminating against some people um especially the dress code policy I think that the dress code policy for one if you are allowing your sports teams to have tank tops and short dresses and short skirts or short skirts then you can't tell your students when they're wearing the same thing that they can't be wearing those things when the school you know the I'm not going to say the cheerleaders because it's I'll use the cheerleaders because I just use them as an example their shorts and their shirts and whatever those are short and they're allowed to wear them because they're representing the school school but being a part of the school you're not allowed to wear certain things I have a hard time with that so um that's all those were my only points um so I have a couple of things the locker um issue the other thing that I have a problem with with the lockers is that it says no non-school items can be stored in the locker um but if you have something that you've brought from home to go someplace after school are you going to carry it around with you all day it doesn't really make sense that you can't have things personal items in your locker um especially at that age so um that's a little bit Troublesome for me the um attendance policy has typos in it and some of the sentences don't read well so if you could just go back over it and make sure that it reads correctly that would be great y um if you could do a g Global search for two periods in a row that would be great too because I see that a lot in there um that would be fabulous um and for the attendance policy I have an issue that's both at the elementary school but also at the high school so it's the same issue and especially at the high school because it leads to credit denial um if a student is sent home by the nurse by the guidance counselors it is considered unexcused and especially at the high school that causes credit denial when you have a student let's say hypothetically get sent home by Guidance say six or seven times in a in a trimester or I mean a a term um those kids are getting credit denial because of that and I it's catching kids that you're not trying to catch and I think in the policy it needs to say if if the student is sent home by the nurse or by Guidance for whatever for a valid reason that needs to be an excused absence in the system so that those kids aren't getting caught um so that's my big issue with the attendance policy and that's all I have thanks andette so I have a concerned about the dress code policy and I've really baned about this you already have like clothing and jewelry with language or images and invoking Hate speech profanity or pornography so that covers that basis and there's a specific with civil rights a specific uh definition of hate speech so then you go into images or language that creates a hostile or intimidating environment based on any protected class well most of the students are in some fashion might be a protected class and what is the definition of intimidating so if I wear a trump shirt at the next meeting is that intimidating to somebody if someone wears a Harris shirt is that intimidating to somebody it's a very nebulous language and I think when you say hate speech and you can look it up with civil rights there's a specific definition of hate speech but like if we're intimidated is that now something we're going to be going after the kids like if I don't like certain music or if I'm triggered by a certain event or a public figure that I don't like that language at at all so that would be my recommendation is to remove that language you already have the other language about hate speech and again a SWAT is hate speech you know um that's a straightforward thing but intimidating what is that that's very nebulous so I would rather have that protected class the I would rather have that removed and then the other thing was we were bantering back and forth about whether it' be discretion with the cell phone policy or mandatory my interpretation is once they go into that classroom it's either going to be the bin or the plastic sleeves and that's it during the instruction time so the teachers will know once we approve this uh package it's going to be a mandatory thing it's not going to be at the discretion of the correct we we changed language to will uh that was feedback that we got and our team also agreed when we met for our half day to go over some of these pieces was reflected with the teachers is that we want to have the power as a mandatory vehicle to take the so during instruction time and I think there's a balance being we can't take them right we're asking kids to put them in it there going to be a a punitive if they don't do it then it's there is you know have confiscation correct correct correct and we we but there are ready for it we purchased clear Pockets we've we've done everything we needed to do in the district to prepare for this uh if it is approved yes to support I think it's important on that point too to distinguish that if the student doesn't put their phone into the holder but it remains unseen in a way throughout the period nothing comes of that it's if they're using it inappropriately during instructional time and also had chosen not to put it in there that's where the issue lies right it's what do you do when you're not already abiding by keeping it out of instructional time so then it becomes discretion because like how you how are you going to force that one is in the pocket like if everybody was okay here's the bin put your cell phones in we're going to have examination academics instruction time and at the end of the class take your phone back and then you proceed to the next class or it's going to be a discretion oh it's in your pocket but it's not in your pocket now put it in your pocket and then it go goes back to square one that's no so our our whole point in the language was that we were we were providing the opportunity for teachers right this is all about not interrupting instructional time and supporting our students and our staff without using cell phones there's no reason a student needs to use their cell phone during instructional time in that classroom so so if we if we provide students will do it but I'm not I can't have teachers pack down kids for cell phones so if they don't if I don't see it and it doesn't become the purpose of this is for it not to become a problem during instruction so whatever that student does if it's not a problem during instruction we've solved our problem so if half the class puts it in the pocket and half the class doesn't and there's not one interruption in the class we have solved our problem and that's I hope I can come back and tell you this has solved our problem right we don't have the interruptions we've had our teachers feel supported we have a system in place when the interruption does happen right when they've had the opportunity to put it in the pouch or they know that they can't take it out during the it's not put it away put it away put it away right we're not doing that nonsense anymore right so our our whole purpose and I shared all those articles with you on purpose this is not this is not a situation I'm trying to make up here in methan this is a national concern right there's a national the Surgeon General said that that the social media platforms and cell phones are addictions for our kids they don't belong in classrooms during instructional time and we're trying to weigh this so we're not asking and I and I don't think our team agrees right those pouches some of those other options are going to be challenging for us and we're not ready for that I don't that's not what we're asking of you or us or of our teams or kids right they're still going to have them during the school day when they walk out of the class they take them to the next class and do the same thing they'll have them on their person at lunch we don't want to see them right it causes it it I I've shared this with you I don't it's going to be in the will of the committee to make this decision uh but I I can't tell you how much um cell phones interrupt our school day and yes there are good kids who don't interrupt the day but there are many many kids who do and and having one teacher and one administrator trying to enforce these rules of put your cell phones away put your cell phones away it's just we're not we're not making gains right and and it's our our instructional time is getting interrupted and so I think this is a really appropriate approach to start with and and to see if this actually works and we are putting all the systems in place to support the teachers have everything ready um you know roll this out um in the right manner on the opening day I I hope the school committee supports this um our teachers need the support our kids do not need to be on cell phones during their class time they don't need to be receiving text they don't need to be on social media it is causing they don't need them in the bathrooms when they leave class to go to the bathroom that's when things aren't monitored by adults which I can never get to do um so you know I'm hoping it curbs some of that behavior as well and some of the discipline that comes with that kind of cyber bullying and cyber harassment that has been happening Mr Mayor I'm gonna ask to move along from the cell phone policy we just voted on this there's no reason for us to be rediscussed the cell phone policy that we voted on not even six weeks ago we taed it yeah we Ted we Ted it so I could reword it for tonight to to reflect what you guys were asking me which I did reflect in the language here and no no offense Mr may I think the two people that work in the that work and work in the professional we we kind of have something to say about it if so I don't want to move along it I kind of want to say my piece when it comes to the cell phones if that's okay three minutes or less go ahead yeah I I only need three minutes because at the end of the day we're so worried about test scores but the reason why our test scores are like we're approving but I guarantee you those students that are not testing well I guess if we ban the cell phones in the classroom our test scores would go up I think so that because as a teacher well where I work we have a no cell phone policy it works it's enforced nobody's crying that they they have their cell phones in their pocket their bags and they go to the class and they're not screaming out like I want my cell phone it it is perfectly fine I just think it's it's we're so focused on like they need their cell phones they need their cell phones when one of the reasons why parents were trying to get us back into the schools during covid was that their kids are socially acting with each other face to face but if you look in schools like I've gone to the high school and the kids are locked in on their cell phones and not even talking to each other by having the cell and we're not saying when they're going through the hallway at the high school they can't pull out their cell phone unless that's no but they can't but when they're in the classroom where the teacher is teaching them and their job is to write down notes okay do their work and then go and leave no there's no need for a cell phone in the classroom so I like the policy it's not going to hurt them um and if the kids were 504's IEPs that's in their accommodations and by law we have to follow those so they are a separate category we're talking to students that are literally just going there into the classroom and they're just not paying attention and they're playing and they're they're not doing anything academic on the cell phone if if your kids are telling you that Mom I'm looking up on Google what what I'm supposed to be say doing in class they're lying to you that's a fact they have their Chromebooks they could do the same thing on their Chromebooks and so because cell phones they're not looking it up they're texting their friends on on their phones they're looking on Tik Tok they're looking on Instagram they're going in the bathroom and doing Snapchat okay that's what exactly they're doing on their cell phones that's that's it so I I I I just want to kind of counsel us all at one so uh kudos to you I don't know how the hell you even follow this I mean I and and my watch the recording few more times I mean so we're all over the place as a committee bit I mean we are all over the place and I'm going to cause so um you know and I'm going to pick you said some things that I don't agree with right that the use of a cell phone leads to the declining test course there's no proof of that none none whatsoever right um I I would far rather see us focus on Parental involvement right and and how many times they go to Insight rather than the cell phone I I think you know to member shila's point we discussed just the cell phone policy we tabled it we tabled it so that we could get through tonight and now we are waffling all over the place so I am happy to take the committee where we want to go um I I think to me and I'm going to give you my opinion to me there is nothing wrong with asking a student to put a cell phone in a in a sleeve during class right during instructional time there was no need for them to have it other than that my view is that is not our purview if a parent gives a child a cell phone right that's that's we're we're in everything we pointed out is examples I could show you examples every damn day during City Council meetings during uh uh meetings you know not let's not restrict this to children to to to kids in high school or kids in you know K through 8 this is a rampant issue Nation wide period right you got adults sitting at a table at dinner they're not even talking to each other they on the cell phones so this is a prevalent issue I think we've got to focus on what is it that the the administration wants what are they asking and to me I thought that was quality instruction time is what I heard this is getting in the way of instruction time so as much as I'm I'm all for teaching our students about proper use of cell phones if you remember I voted no originally when this came up I listened to you and I said okay I don't want a teacher having a fight with the student because the student's not is dragging the whole class back if he or she is using a cell phone so I think we've got you know kind of an alternative on the table I just want to caution that we we put out 40 different opinions here and I don't even know how to tell I don't I don't know what we're telling you to do and my AP ologies for that mayor can I just comment on what you um the instru I I do agree with the instructional piece I am 100% on board with that my only problem is is that it's extended past instructional time and I support you on that yeah I mean I don't think we should be telling kids they can't bring their phones to dances or or the trunk or treat or you know that's not that's not our business right if it's a so so the point behind that is if it's a school sponsored event but it's not imposing on their instruction it isn't but it's still causing behavioral issues that the school has to deal with for Behavioral consequences so kids are posting pictures of kids at dances inappropriately that lead to them in offices in the school with cyber bullying bullying harassment inappropriate things being said and we have to deal with it so that's all we're trying to curve that's what my team is saying there's so many things that land in the school's lap that that I again I don't know how else to say it publicly I don't know how else to say it to all the Committees I've worked with there is so much time that our administrators and teachers spend dealing with issues because of cell phones all we are asking the committee is to help support us in curbing the use of cell phones during the school so that we don't have instructional time disrupted or dis additional discipline behaviors happening when kids are videotaping each other that don't want to be videotaped is a problem it is a significant problem and I'm just we're trying to we're asking for the support to try to curb that and again in a way that I think is reasonable to start this process to see if this works and helps us curve that problem so are we asking kids to put put cell phones into baskets in the cafeteria we're not do I want to see cell phones out and kids taking pictures and recording each other I do not that is not okay for us to do that it's it's infringing on our kids are not 18 they are not adults and it will always land in the school's lap always so I hear what you're saying and it's the parents problem it's not our problem it is our problem because we're the ones who are absolutely 100% taking care of all of those the first person a parent is going to call if there's a problem on a cell phone a text a Snapchat that the kid gets is the school 100% of the time and so that's that's all we're trying to do here is get support to be able to courage that behavior there is work to be done this is not perfect I certainly wouldn't say this is perfect I don't know how this is going to go this will be normal for some because some people have used those pockets in the past and the kids won't have any issue with it because it's it's been used optionally anyway um and it's going to be very new for some to not have earbuds in to not have headphones around their neck there are going to be some things that are going to be more strict um and we're just we're asking for that support so the teachers have something to hold on to and our admin have something to hold on to that's where I'm coming from and again it's at the will of the committee I don't know how else and how much more I could express this to to the group about what our team and what our staff deals with I just have one more question the follow-up question if we are voting on the handbook itself as a whole and we have to vote Yes or no and this cell phone policy has been tabled and we haven't even voted on the cell phone policy how can we approve the whole handbook it's not a it's so the only things that the school committee has to vote on singularly are Standalone policies the cell phone policy is not a standalone required policy but we can't vote Yes on a policy that isn't that's not a policy it's not a policy yet because we've tabled the conversation and now it's in the in the handbook as a policy you tabled the conversation with me so that I could I could rewrite the the language to put put in the handbook of which I told you I would bring back tonight that's what I said when we had the conversation and I watched it three times to make sure I got everybody's comments uh when we talked about it with the admin team so it was the conversation I think was tabled for me to bring it back to the committee during this time with the feedback that I got I needed that time because you guys were all telling me some different things some different ideas that's how I understood it that's how I understood it when I watched it tonight how yeah M yeah and again all I was asking for was like points of clarification the prior meeting I said the catalyst is always going to be the teachers and we made sure we surveyed the teachers and again there was a group that said make it discretionary versus make it mandatory right and I think we're moving a direction of making it mandatory right all right and I don't necessarily have a problem with that because we will have to study this anyways correct we're going to have a full school year to see the advantages or disadvantages of it because it is a a seismic change it is a strong enforcement policy and we'll have to study it and bring it back to the school committee but if we just like again waffle back and forth we're not moving the train down the road and again the mandatory nature was emanating from the teachers themselves that's correct right okay okay so that's all I needed to know on that all was just points of clarification the debate between mandatory versus discretionary will moving towards mandatory we're going to have a full school year to study it we're going to survey the teachers we're going to get feedback and then if we have to revise it then that's it but at least do something that's my opinion thank you m denovan did you have there was an article in the New York Times yesterday that used the word no mobia it's I guess a new term describing an obsession the kids have and I think we now have with whether or not to have a cell phone it was a great article in the times but I need to say this anything that is a distraction or A disruption to learning I think we need to support our teachers this is everything Dr Quang said I lived it is true everything and I think we can support the teachers by adopting this because it creates norms what are the expectations for a community a community could be fifth graders or eighth graders everyone has the same responsibilities and rights and I get it there's some kids who follow the rules all the time however it doesn't mean they have more rights than others everyone has a responsibility to be part of a community where you can learn without being distracted and by having those phones put somewhere we're telling the teachers we our biggest concern is that you get to teach and kids get to learn and I think as you said so eloquently like the big debate last time was May or will and now we're telling we're putting a lot of responsibility on the teachers now everyone's going to own it so I look forward to see where we are six months from now okay and I'm say let's vote so I guess the only thing I'd say finishing that up is I fully agree with you I don't want anything to get in the way of instruction there a butt coming there's a butt I knew it yeah there's a butt well because I'm I'm all about teaching people to be responsible adults too right so uh I don't know how you can say you can't have yourself wanted to dance doesn't mean that they won't do something that's wrong that needs to be addressed or disciplined are you going to do it at high school football games every Friday good luck you'll be walking the whole because everybody's got their cell phones out they're taking pictures of what's on the field they're taking pictur I I and maybe I'm getting too old may I I I don't want to write policies that we can't enforce right I 1,000% support that they the phone shouldn't even come out in class should not come out right whether we choose to mandatory use the sleeve or whatever is m whether it to me right it's the other events it's the outside the instructional window if you will the way I look at it and I and we shouldn't be doing this back and forth I just want to say but those and I'm thinking K to8 those pictures at the dancers they do disrupt learning Absolut because on Monday yeah everyone's in the principal's office including the police because someone took some photos yeah or someone took a phone you know or whatever so this meeting I I got to tell you I think of that phrase Soup Sandwich that's where we are right we did spe I mean I specifically use the example of obviously we're not talking about a football game because I can't do that right but if I'm if I'm supervising a school dance and it's the staff that's volunteering and the administrators running it there is going to be some rules that kids have to follow that's kind of how the handbook is right like if we go on a field trip out of the state kids have to follow the rules in the handbook right that's that's what we live by while we're sponsoring these things so there are that that discretion is all I was saying and a PTO event is not necessarily a school sponsored event so I would never track that at a Fall Festival on a Saturday or a trunk or treat um that I did put that in here there's a little discretion there that has to be used because there are school events that like dances that are absolutely with no parents around right so there's no it's not an ice cream social or anything like that there's no parents supervising the kids it's us that that need a little more um we need some leverage there but that's that's that was where I was trying to go with that piece and it's clearly you can't we can't do that at all school events uh but the nature of the event is what I was trying to De um differentiate we got to fill on the topic I st taking notes we're only voting on the handbook right so we're not voting on this policy so that was my question thank you we we are because this is not a standalone policy correct correct how would we go about making something a standalone policy is there a established process for that should the committee choose to go that way yeah so would be um looking use working with masc and actually the sections under masc that have sections to see if there is a section that matches that's what we always do so there's always like you know how they're always alphabetized those alphabets actually mean something in the Mas world it's the topic of the policy that says it starts with the letter A or the letter K or the letter M right so working with masc we can decide like is there a place where a cell phone policy for students fits I'm not sure there's going to be one because this is more of a student directed student direct like I don't know I don't know I don't know the answer I mean that's the answer is we have to work with M yeah we have to work with masc to see where it would fit and if it fits and if other districts have it as a standalone policy like is it a standalone policy and then it's Standalone policy um so how will we monitor if um a staff member or a teacher takes a picture and that child doesn't like that picture that comes to our attention when the parent calls us and says a teacher took a took a picture of my child then we deal with the Personnel matter behind that with the staff we have a cell phone policy for employes it it's a Personnel procedure that I have to follow when there's discipline for personnel that is definitely uh procedural and legal okay asking teachers yeah so is there a policy for Teacher cell phone use as well I mean I know I know it was said that you know school dances this is just an example I mean like everyone else has said I am 100% on board for no cell phones in the classroom 100% I agree with that the the problem I'm having is the the dance portion and the outside events that that's a huge issue for me and I understand where you're coming from I really really do but you know when there was an incident where cell phones were being used at dances and we were told we couldn't bring our cell phones the alternative was well the kids can't take their cell phones in to take pictures but I'll have a staff member take pictures so what's the difference if the staff member is going to share the pictures on a drive with all of the students who attended the dance now they're all getting those pictures anyway so I think I I would hope that I would have more more uh uh trust in the staff member taking pictures of the student appropriately is what I would hope than 12year olds taking pictures right and having 100 100 cell phones out than than one but I understand your point yeah it's move along time yeah anything else that hasn't been covered I got to go back to my notes because I lost my just again as a point of reference if you look at the the L policy it's a very Corian policy so I think we're trying to compromise on this we're not doing the Lawrence policy we're not doing the LA policy we're compromising yeah so if anybody I can give them any time the law policy it's very Draconian I I got to be honest you quite frankly I don't care what laws polic is I only care about M's policy and I don't mean that offensive to you this is an issue you know we talked about it it took a long time there's disagreement right it's disagreement but it's respectful so um let's leave it on the table let's leave the policy in we'll move forward um I'm going to strongly suggest we revisit this at some time because it's a it's a topic that everybody's passionate about yeah right definitely um okay I have one question though about the um uh the the edit or lack no edit of the dress code policy can we change the wording on it a little bit I mean to conversation to the school committee I wouldn't advise changing it but if again it's at the of the committee if you want to revise this the dress code it would have to be the will of the committee it's just it's just um I mean it's I mean I don't have to talk about it it's just a it's just a problem it's a real problem when we are shaming girls for what they're wearing because their shirt is 3 inches above their jeans I think you know and and and not all kids are held at the same standard you know we're where're girls are developed in high school they are not being reprimanded for the clothes that they're wearing and whereas elementary school kids are and again it's just the style like it's hard to buy kids clothes when they don't tell them like that so I I I just wanted to ask if maybe we could change the J code policy a little bit what line specifically um the part that says um it oh number two I see it something about midriff and Y the first bullet number two yeah what page is that I'm sorry well we don't have the same page numbers I don't think I do wi the old one um well I'm on the one that has the suggested edit so mine's 42 but I guarantee that's not yours it says students must wear and the bullet says shirt covering the Torso top of chest down to waist mid drift and backside yes so I would just so open for conversation with other committee members if you want that amended so that is a standalone policy correct nope no so I would just take out it says covering the Torso I would just take out top of chest down to waist midu and backside like yes torso can be here it doesn't have to be touching your jeans because when I raise my hands right now you can see my belly um that's all do you want the parentheses removed the parentheses yeah it just says like up above it says basic principle clothes must be worn in such a way that genitals buttocks breasts and nipples are fully covered and then underneath it says students must wear shirt covering the like obviously they have to wear a shirt you know so maybe just put shirt keep in mind I would I would just caution and keep in mind we're not just talking this is not gender specific right right none of this dress code is gender specific so you're talking about shirt you're not just talking about females and crop tops I'm just saying until you get to my stage kids who will take this is it at the will of the committee that I I got to be hon so no I'm going to say something here so uh while I am 100% lock step with you on the telephone I'm not here and I'm not here because um forget school um uh I learned through 40 Years of private sector employment you you got to dress code has to be locked down locked down it has to be specific if it can't if it there's wiggle room what happens is the those who would challenge the system they find the wiggle right and you spend we don't want people spend we don't want teachers spending their time on on cell phones um the dress code is kind of tough I hear I hear that and I respect that I just think that a shirt not being long enough and it's at the principles or the teacher's discretion and then the teacher or the principal is calling children out saying you should be ashamed of yourself awaring that while other schools are allowed to dress how they please I think that that's you know we're talking about holidays infringing on people's rights this is infringing on people's rights it's their clothes they want to wear what they're wearing um just so oh wait no she's coming next so I think also what based off of your concern is how administrators are approaching it too because I have heard that as well and and so I I really don't think it's the policy it's the way we're enforcing it and instead of H like calling a student out in front of everybody take that individual boy or girl into the office and say listen like you you can't do that you can't wear this you or call a parent say hey can you bring a change of clothes be for her or him I because I understand in my school we we have that procedure like hey if you feel like a student is not appropriate you need to call the office we'll call the student down for and then we proceed like we don't I I get it I think it's the enforcement that we need to fix too as well Madam Vice chair um so I don't have as much problem with the policy and having the the shirs go to the waist I do have a problem with the wording of um how the school can replace the clothing or have the have the student wear other clothing I think it needs to be seasonally appropriate because I've heard too many stories about girls being told they have to wear sweatshirts in 90° weather um and so I feel like seasonly appropriate alternative would be nice um but I I personally don't have a problem with having kids wearing clothes to their waist and having their bodies covered I really have no problem with that so I'm happy with the policy it's feeling soupy again Mar remember Donovan it's feeling soupy again yeah yeah yeah swim soup go ahead I don't know where we are but I just have a couple of very specific questions may I just real quick be like yes or no ask away when I looked at the attendance oh we're we're moving off of the are we moving off of the dress please God I don't know done I'm not sure never really be done with dress codes ever but uh the attendance okay I may have missed it but is there any reference to a student who's out for no good reason and there probably is a good reason but a student who does not come to school consistently misses a whole chunk of time is there any reference to potential retention in there yeah there is and I miss yeah it's in the it's in the beginning section under promotion and ret yeah okay that's where it's in the promotion section I couldn't find it okay great there's that and it's a days mist and then it's a principal teacher decision we changed that a few years ago too y okay but it's not in the attendance attendance part okay that's where I got confused thank you you're welcome um and that was easy give me more like that and the Chromebook dealing with the Chromebook damage yeah you like that yeah like what if the P I know that's the hard part getting the money so if the parent can't pay what happens I think um our our team has worked diligently with families at this point so I don't think that is the it's not it's not is ma concern okay and the only thing I worry about I think it needs to be reported as such that parents have to understand the replacement cost if it's intentional damage which we're seeing more of okay and I wonder I would just this is more of asking for some input and one of the um when there is Chromebook damage and the child loses Chromebook access for a couple of weeks that means the teachers trying to come back with some old timey paper and pen it's going to to print everything yeah yeah that's going to be I mean we're doing that now I know there are consequences that because that can really change the direction of the uh instruction right I don't know how to get around that but it is a districtwide yeah it's a really tough one and we just we need to be a little stronger on this as well especially since we're going to be buying the insurance which we shared during the budget season right so there's accidental insurance that the process will go faster when those Chromebooks do break but it has to be reported that we may get those fixed and it's intentional and then there are consequences that will right we'll get it fixed but it's if it's intentional there has to be consequences that go with that so the behavior changes that's what our hope is gotcha and that is all they do have them for four years it's their Chromebook and right you know we don't have there is there is no uh as you guys are aware this this financial season there's no additional Grant funds Sr money coming there's nothing that gives me additional funds to keep buying and replenishing Chromebooks that time is now done like we've had that opportunity for the past few years to be able to replenish and make sure that we have loners and everything else but we we don't have that it's that's done so there there's also that that we need we need to teach the kids to take better care of these School issued devices which uh you don't see this in the high school because it is not an issue in the high school so we're not making it one with the iPads it's just a completely different situation at the high school the kids do not intentionally damage those iPads uh like they do the Chromebooks so it seems like just a lifetime ago but uh there is a motion on the floor uh to approve the 2024 2025 PK handbook and I'm not a lot of the feedback has been good um I get caught up in the you know what's mandatory versus what you know U what's the word for the policies discretionary thank you um discretionary so I I don't know is there more that the committee would like to discuss about the PK to8 handbook I will tell you that the chair has certainly heard his fair share and he thinks it's time to move on all can we bring it to a vote okay and you can vote no I respect that um so the the motion was to approve the 2024 2025 PK through 8 handbook to include policy AC all those in favor to signify by saying I I I oppos say nay nay thank you uh and the eyes carry for the record I was n as well can I have a motion second I'm so sorry mayor may I just have one clarifying moment yeah yeah so the approval was with the agreement that the social networking policy stays will be removed and sent to the policy subcommittee correct yes stays as is in the handbook until the policy subcommittee can look at it and revise it and then we'll put it in when in that time happens correct right sure and and then the plagiarism is everybody in agreement that that language goes in both cuz that would be the those are the two things I wrote that seem pretty concrete to me that everybody seemed agreeable with without much consternation and then the bus infractions the bus in I already changed that yes so the bus infraction I already changed as well to take off the warning and have it be by trimaster level two not level one and I I know it's going to be a losing battle but the intimidating language of attire just for the recet I don't think it's constitutional but that's just my opinion that wasn't something we unilaterally changed though I don't think that was okay understood so I think I've captured the three things that go with the approval at this point that we are changing okay do it again okay very very typically I say may have a motion in a second to approve the 2024 2025 9 to2 handbook policy thank youil seconded by the Vice chair discussion please go I think we discussed what did you say I last we did this one should be quick um so this should be quick so I'm G to end up being a hard no on this if the credit denial catches kids who are being sent home um through guidance or through the nurse as unexcused absences and so if that is not changed I am a hard no on this handbook is he still still behind me Mr caret would you mind joining us for a moment nothing like pulling me somebody somebody whispered in my ear he was sitting behind me so this may be helpful so this isn't this isn't the formal introduction that I wanted to give but we'll give it now so this is Tony caret this is the interim supervising principal at methan High School who was the associate principal for the past two years three three three uh and was in hail a high school as assistant principal previous and then was at Methuen as a coach and a teacher previous to that so we welcome him he's been he hit the ground running all summer um but this may be a question since he's sitting behind me and can join us for this so member keegans I don't know if that's a deal breaker or not I'm not sure how the high school handles that piece um that's very specific and if that is something that should be excused or un you know how we want to do that we share yeah I mean so I'll just share that um for us it's trying to find a balance right uh in the eyes of the state it doesn't matter whether the absence is excused or unexcused um if a student is not in school that um and they exceed the 18 absences um they are considered chronically absent now with that said we are trying to protect them from our credit denal policy as well um so I mean if you look at the handbook um a few bullets down there is um a bullet in there that that gives us some autonomy to um take situations on a case-by Case basis uh and it specifically says I I shouldn't say it specifically says I'm not exactly sure what what it specifically says but um it just says um at the discretion of an associate principal or the principal um you know that we have the ability to excuse absences as needed so I know that there have been uh circumstances where I personally as an associate principal um have you know tried to take into consideration dismissals you know for example uh by a school counsel by a school counselor because a student was uh in crisis um you know we we we take that and and obviously that you know for us that's that's an appropriate reason to um um have the student be excused from school um knowing that you know in the eyes of the state that's not going to change anything um but then you know for us we could obviously put in all the different reasons why we might make the decision to excuse in that moment um but for the purpose of you know not having a list where we then end up missing something we kind of keep it General like that well my concern is is that if the school is making the decision that a student is either unsafe to be in school or too sick to be in school that it should be an excused absence as far as credit denial goes and so if if there's School Personnel making the decision that the student shouldn't be there and it's not just a parent coming in and dismissing the child it shouldn't be treated the same way and it shouldn't be parents shouldn't have to be worrying about credit denial for their kids when their kids are being sent home by the guidance counselor because they're in crisis or by the nurse because they're sick so the and what ends up happening is the end of the day you end up with lots and lots of absences because these students that happen to have this issue tend to happen multiple times and so these are the kids that are getting caught in this net of credit denial for no reason and it's causing lots of extra stress for no reason so in my opinion if the school is making the Judgment that the kid couldn't be in school it should be counted as an excused absence as far as credit denial I understand that the state doesn't look at it any different and it doesn't matter to me that way it has to do with the credit denial policy that we have that those students if the school is making the determination that the student shouldn't be in school then those students should be it should be counted as an excused absence and not counted towards credit denial yeah I mean I'll add like that I'm not opposed to having language like that in in in the handbook um uh and and I mean I I can't think of a situation where a student um you know was in credit denial as a result of you know being dismissed by the nurse or being sent to him by uh you know the counseling department for for whatever reason um but in the if in the um honor of of trying to protect somebody who might slip through the cracks again I'm not I'm not opposed to language like that okay so I just want to make sure I understand if I may so hypothetically you have a student with some kind of chronic illness that student comes in in the morning and they're fine but by 10:30 the day is deteriorated they're no longer okay they parent has to come and get them that kid's gone 23 days get sent home 23 days because of that chronic illness there's a potential for that child not to advance to the next grade despite having completed coursework testing adequate grades the whole nine yards yes that's that's my problem yeah I'm I got to say I'm with member Keegan on this one yeah and again I mean I I can't in my three years think of of of a situation where you know that that's the case we do have embedded interventions um because at the end of the day um you know it's it's also about the the student um getting what they need to move on to the next grade level um so we do for the students that that aren't where we need them to be um as a result of um you know having to miss an abundance of school we do have the embedded interventions that they can be a part of Saturday school holiday break interventions to do um Class Credit uh recovery so it sounds to me like this is this should I say should be but that has bit me in the past this should be an easy one I mean if we're catching kids that we aren't intending to catch we should put some discretionary language in here so memb shilia I listen I'm good for two or three a day we were on the same wavelength just now I as I'm looking at the language uh it's very clear that in the unexcused part where it says dismissal dismissal for the remainder of the day prior to 10:30 I think that is an easy ask for us to put language that goes with that right dismissal due to illness or uh safety concerns at discretion of the school staff can change that to excused I think we can put language there that leaves sort of what you said the practices but actually have it be explicitly written here that there's that opportunity for that if they're dismissed parentheses if it is due to X Y and Z the administrator can actually change that to excused do you think that fits I think that fits there the best is that what what you were thinking member shilia am I close yes okay that's a I just think that we don't want to work so much in the black and white cuz we all live in the ground yeah no I to and I understand that and it just gives explicitness to the nature of and the administrators being able to have that flexibility to change that when a student is sent home ill or the school is deeming the student needing to go home for safety reasons does that make that's exactly what I'm looking for yes so I'm I'm typing that suggestion in now is are we nodding is that like is everybody in I saw like four nods so I'm feeling that we're in consensus of that and this is the place I would add it okay got it any other discussion on the 9 to12 handbook if du to Mia just would like to see that the changes we made in the K8 yeah float over as appropriate these the two that we agreed on is that what I mean the the bus one which I assume is going to be less of an issue with the high school and the the policy I'll remove the polic yes and the plagiarism is already in the high school y yep got it m let thank you Mr chairman I'd like the GU counselor Department language the revisions the only uh concern I had was U the students meeting with the guidance counselors and building their schedules uh for the following year like again I like I went to high school I went to college I went to grad school but I don't know what my kids personally what they can handle what they can't handle because on a day-to-day basis they have instructors and outside classrooms and stuff the the building the schedule for the following year I think requires a certain level expertise that I'm not there on a day-to-day basis that they would have that language there as opposed to Gathering the their course requests was like okay that the the parents are going to work with the kids go over their their requests but I think a guidance counselor can guide that individual you might be overloading your your course load you might be you're you're a high achiever why don't you do additional courses why don't you go into Junior ROTC why don't you go into the vocational profession I see you have a a talent I think we're losing that with with the language that was was changed is just my opinion on that I like the the header what section are you looking at remember the guidance School counseling department and I I like the head it because it's more like an open door policy you know as opposed to setting up an appointment or email you're going to have these Crisis Intervention situations or even a check-in for kids to say h i have an issue can I talk to you for a few minutes and I think it's more of an open door policy with the guidance counselors and i' like that approach the other thing was gathering their Cur requests so it's more like the impetus is on the parents and some parents again they're working multiple jobs they do the best they can tracking their kids they're not there on a day-to-day basis so I don't know why taking that from the gu's counsel is what the impetus for that is but building schedules I think is a very important component I thought of the kids developing a good Pathway to sophomore year junior year senior year that's just my opinion my two cents but I I like the header at the beginning thank you okay any other inputs all right so the motion is on the floor to vote all those in favor of the 2024 2025 9 to2 handbook to include policy AC signified by saying saying I I poos say nay nayk you the eyes carry thank you appreciate it nice meeting you thank you Mr K that was perfect timing you sitting back may I have a motion in a second to approve Brandy lwang superintendent of schools as the fi25 board member to Crest so moved second hang on I got to keep reading Gina boek assistant superintendent of student services as delegate Mr chairman so was oh you had a motion by member doag on a second by member Keegan thank you very much appreciate that discussion yes good Dr Quang um I guess my my question here is I reached out to I don't remember his last name his first name was Eric at Crest because I didn't have an answer and member Donovan couldn't provide me with one on short notice so um that's the business manager at Crest he was the first guy on the website who had email address okay so that's not a good sign okay um not to call into question your ability or desire but why is it always the superintendent um so good question because I thought my first year I said to me it is except um so it's all made up of all superintendents of member districts and uh it mostly is that way because we're making decisions on behalf of the school district uh there are some some things that we bring back the mayor might get something as a chair um I have to then speak on behalf of the betterment of the collaborative as a point of view from the whole District so it it there's a there's a special ed administrator leadership cohort that meets with Crest as well um this is just it's a more it's a wider view we talk about Finance we talk about Municipal law we talk about Capital Improvement plans we talk about things that are not special education related so it's it's much like what you guys do here so it's not a special education focused conversation it's it's a little different and I mean that was the way I Justified it in my mind as it's it's the school committee for the crest correct that's exactly what it is that committee is also setting rates for all the member districts they are and as the superintendence of all those member districts for you folks to be setting your own rates it it looks questionable from the outside me just now realizing what's happening yeah I just I didn't know if there was history there that I may be missing or there's no history I mean I had to take a uh it's not an oath I had to take a we all have to take uh sort of it's not an ethic I don't know how to describe it it's by the state I have to take it every member who's on the board has to take uh every two years uh ethics training it's kind of an Ethics training for the collaborative to understand that while I'm sitting on the board of the collaborative I have to act in best interest of the collaborative understanding that I'm also one of the four most sending school districts to the collaborative my investment in those conversations is very high I go to every single one I don't miss a board meeting right my investment in Crest collaborative is very high that relationship is very important to our district uh for sure I'm not saying it isn't for others but I also have to make sure that when I'm there voting I'm not just voting on the on what is best for methan public schools so it's it's a weird place to be and we all talk about that when we're in our board meetings um but and sometimes there are no it's the same like here there sometimes there are no votes from certain superintendents because we don't agree but we it's a majority vote in your opinion should it be the superintendent of each district or should it be someone else it can be a School Committee Member as well I think we have not anymore but yes so we right now there's no I don't think any district has a school Committee Member as their delegate but that can be the person what is what is your opinion should it be you are you the most qualified person because I can assure you that we certainly are not I don't know who else would be in the district to be honest with you to to sit there I mean Gina boac is the delegate so if I can't can't be there I can delegate her to go and vote right cuz we're a voting member um there are some districts that go that are not vot voting board members so when we have to vote or we have an executive session they have to leave um but I don't know who else would be I think having had done this now for 60 years I understand the system I we were involved in hiring a new director executive director familiar with the programs there again our relationship is really strong with press collaborative for a lot of reasons and again the conversations are much like here it's it's budget it's Finance it's Capital Improvement plans how much money are we putting in there's there's different accounts for collaboratives too so it's understanding an opep account versus that you know they have accounts you can put money in to pay for their Capital Improvement plans because they don't have a city that can pay for Capital Improvement so it's just it's a different process that we've all learned so I would say at this point I'm probably the most knowledgeable just because I've been doing it the longest and it is again it's you know when there's whenever there's a special education focused conversation I certainly would consult with my team if there's anything there that would bring up something where I'm unsure of fair enough yeah it's been a it's been a very interesting process and it is hard I will say it is hard there are times when we have to vote and sometimes it's financial and you you have to weigh what is best for my own District but what is best for collaborative right I'm supposed to be acting on the best interest of the collaborative but not everybody we don't have agreements just like you all right there are people who vote yes and no on almost every item sometimes in one night yes all right so contracts we do contract negotiations I get to live it twice in that in that setting too I'm getting tired so I'm getting humorous um okay so the motion is on the floor to approve uh Dr kuang as the FY 25 board member to Crest with Gina boosic as the assistant superintendent as a delegate all those in favor signify by saying I I I post thank you carries unanimously um oh may I have a motion in a second to approve superintendent quang's 2023 2024 evaluation so moved second uh moved by the Vice Chair seconded by uh memb shilia yeah discuss I assume there's discussion coming in yes I believe Miss Donovan is gonna so um so my job tonight is to give everyone a background about the process and how we moved through it I also will be reporting out on the findings and and then I'm sure there'll be a discussion and hopefully a vote so here's a little background about the superintendent evaluation um slides are up there um I'll make sure we can sh I can share it I just put this together um it's the whole evaluation system is designed by desie um it this framework that we're working off of applies to all Educators and so the evaluation of Dr kuang really mirrors the evaluation that takes place for every single teacher service provider in our district Pas also are evaluated uh it's a different process it's our role as a school committee we have two big jobs to do the budget and to supervise the superintendent and part of that being the evaluation the interesting thing and it is all this information comes from the desie site is our superintendent is evaluated by a collective body which is not happening in the rest of the district and this Collective body brings a wide variety of expertise we're not all experts in education we're experts in all sorts of things um and that makes this a particularly challenging process in order to provide transparency and fairness and a deep understanding of what we need to move our district forward and I didn't know this until this year uh the superintendent is the only city employee to have a public evaluation so this information is out there no one else is being evaluated publicly so I'm sure that's one of the perks of your job Dr Quang that may have changed with social media but yes yeah that's true that's a very good point yeah yeah yeah formally that's a formally required yeah what is that the court of public opinion right right um so in the next slide and thank you for helping me out here is just B basically what the cycle looks like it looks like this for every other teacher in across the state starts off with the self-reflection creating the goals the plan um then testing the waters doing what she said she wanted to do and seeing how it works the formative assessment typically comes midye and I understand the facts were presented midye and then here we are um and then it'll all start again the evaluation is broken down into two parts goals and standards the goals um there's a couple of different kinds the professional practice goal which is what you referred to earlier mayor would be the literacy goal and that's really what's the measurable impact on student learning what's the best bang for the buck in moving kids forward uh the professional practice goal is often about building capacity for providing you know inclusionary servic Services whether it's Behavioral or working with um El's um just making sure that everyone in the district is moving forward to provide the right instruction the right environments for students all students and then the district Improvement goals were set up earlier um this cycle by Dr kuang and approved by not this cycle how many years ago now three three years ago and approved by the school committee the goals are set up um the ratings rather it's did not meet some progress significant Pro progress met or exceeded uh Dr Quang provided evidence for all the goals I know we all got our big binders and um in doing the evaluation our role was to look at that data very carefully to see what kind of progress was made in moving towards those goals the second part of the evaluation are the standards they're a little bit slightly different from the teachers um superintendant uh rated on their instructional leadership management and operations family and Community engagement and the professional culture um under each of these standards there are indicators that we also looked at for instance under the management and operations um some of the indicators would include Pro you know having a proper learning environment that's clean and operates and it's open when it's supposed to be open um so and those ratings go from unsatisfactory to exemplary it's important to note that the goals that the superintendent sets are used as kind of a road map for administrators and teachers for the rest of the school year because they they will often build their own goals based on the vision the superintendent has so for instance um Dr Quang noted the use of talking points in one of her goals and so many teachers this year opted to use as their professional goal learning how to use talking points and implementing it in their day-to-day engagement with parents okay so and off we go to the next one so what was our role as school committee members um each member got the evidence for the goals and standards provided by Dr Quang she provided us with the desie guidelines uh and the performance rating rubric and we all scored these individually the subcommittee was made up of member Keegan who served as chair myself and member daglio so it was our role to synthesize the responses in cre create the evaluation which will be voted on tonight the subcommittee I I must tell you we spent a few hours looking at everyone's input relying going back to the rubric over and over and looking for what desie said would be a preponderance of shared views and supporting evidence now desie also did say suggest we don't just put all our evaluations add them up create kind of an average because the out there could be outliers that would skew the response for instance if one member said everything was exemplary that could skewer the response so uh we took our job very care uh very responsibly and did rely on the tools provided by S desie I think it's important to note that six of the seven members did participate member wette abstained and shared um with the chair that he had concerns with the for at so let's talk about where this all landed the student learning goal which was a literacy goal um and that was all about improving literacy outcomes significant progress the professional practice goals improving instructional practice to our eles revising safety plans to reflect the best practice in our community um and these safety plans are within each building and finally engaging and supporting family and Community engagement all significant progress now the progress towards the goals oh I'm sorry one more District Improvement goals um significant progress decreasing student rates of anxiety depression and Trauma and providing students from historically disadvantage youth Equitable access to education and once again all those goals were um Dr kuang provided data and plenty of evidence so we could make our um decision and then we come to the four standards once again they um the ratings could range from exemplary which would mean that the superintendent work would be used as a model to other districts too unsatisfactory um so under instructional leadership here's some of the um responses we had and shared with the state or will share with the state if appr the vote approves it tonight uh the majority of members significantly noted her use of data informed decision- making and communicating that information other statements she works hard to create a shared vision and hold staff to high expectations under management and operations uh an indicator of law ethics and policy Exemplar a multiple members also noted in their responses the challenges these days of hiring staff family and communication family and Community engagement the rating again was proficient there were some mixed responses um and suggestions that members would prefer more school-based academic events during the school day and some consistent across the four grammar schools under professional culture proficient rating as well managing um although there was one area that um was rated as needs Improvement and those indicators that I spoke of earlier that props up the standards um one aware of issues Dr Quang responds in a timely and professional manner but here lies in the rub which everyone um spoke about often if issues that parents have concerns families have are reported directly to the school committee and not to staff or Dr Quan directly or they show up on social media res and this results in Conflict some miscommunication and delayed resolution so one thing I'm sure that we be discussing tonight is how to address that why parents are not going directly to the schools and why they feel the need to go to school committee members and how we can get to the root of that so we can facilitate a quick resolution to these issues so what is delaying why why are parents not feeling comfortable doing that so finally our next steps it's going to be a vote by the school committee tonight to accept or reject the evaluation and then uh Dr Quang will use this information in our discussion tonight to create work on her goals for the next year and um which she will be presenting to school committee for input um and I'd like to thank it was chairman Keegan Mr daglio we spent a lot of time working on this asking for clarification and uh going back to the desie site if you any information people in the public are interested in the desie site has Pages devoted to the evaluation of the superintendent it's riveting um thank you Mr chair and I do this every um every time we do this and in Dr con you already know it's going to the question are you updated with your license yes okay welcome to mat yes bur us once never again yeah discuss other discussion y me Mell yep um so I am just a little concerned and and there is nothing personal um but I'm just a little concerned with the report or the collaborative reports saying that everything is met or exceeded one specific goal that I had a concern with was the student nobody said in the final report and I don't want to steal your thunder chair nobody said it is there's no evident I'm sorry exceeded is not noted in the final and what we hope to submit to desie sorry so not what we have in front of us no there was an updated one sent last night with um and delivered to you this morning and that exceeded because it was both of them were checked off exceeded was taken off okay keep going um so the one um specific one that I had a concern with was the student learning goal my main goal with that kind of reflects you know what mayor Perry had to say um this is we have to remember that this evaluation is a three evaluation these goals were set by the school committee 3 years ago and the superintendent herself the goal originally was 85% that's not correct I'm sorry correct the the strategy plan was created three years ago my goals are every year and my evaluations every year okay um so the only concern I had with it was that the original goal was 85% within the last 6 months we moved it to 65% which is great um and it's still even at 65% I think we were at 63% um um 61% um so I I just have a huge concern there I I don't I I do feel like there was some progress maybe um but not the significant progress that we're noting um I also have concerns um with the management and operations and I think that somebody asks why our parents go on a school committee because parents voted for us and parents expect us to do something about the issues that they're trying to get fixed and they're not being fixed so they're coming to us as school committee members to do it for them um so the management and operations I mean we get complaints and emails all the time from staff and parents and and all of this and um so I'm not sure where the proficiency is there either the family and Community engagement I do think that um Dr Quang is making significant progress there I think that she's trying I think that um there has been a um I think there's been great um adjustments to the family and Community engagement I think that we could still grow um but I just wanted to State my opinion on the evaluation itself I think that although there is some progress it is not the progress we hoped for um and you know this cumulative report reflects differently so so I can imagine this is all sorts of fun every year um I do think you you kind of got a bad bad ball when they set up that first goal and I know there was a lot of ambition for the 85% but that we I think we all knew deep down that that was never going to happen it's just it's too lofty so I do agree with the change I can understand member Maxwell's position but I think that positive progress towards the reading goals was made do I think it's perfect no do I think it's ever going to be perfect still no but I think I think we're we're doing the right things you're doing the right things and your team is doing the right things and I think once we get another year in and we're then now settled in our new system systems yeah I think that'll be the real Judgment Day to see kind of how things are working and if they're working the way that we all kind of hope they are um I I do want to drive home for not only you but for the committee as a whole that when you bring goals forward for next time I wish I want to be more anchored in reality about them the previous school committee should never have allowed 85 it's just it was a pipe dream um I do agree with member Maxwell on her point about why members of the community come to us I mean it's tough to have to explain to a member of the community that we are legislators and not Executives and we can't do the things that they want us to do the majority of the time but I think that it speaks greater to a culture that a lot of these families are not comfortable going to their building administrator or to to the superintendent's office and I I don't think it starts with you and I know for a fact it doesn't this is a longstanding culture problem that unfortunately you inherited and now you kind of got a fix but I I would like to see that continue um I know that there's been great connection made with the the pto's across the organization I mean I know I made note in mind to see more consistency throughout um in that Community goal to really I think that Community goal goes hand inand with the culture outside of the the the outside culture going into the school the parents teachers administration because when you build that Community some of those walls will crumble and I think that huge hurdles have been made even in the four years my kids have been in the district and I think that we have still have lots of work to do which is great job security so all in all we all have lots of stuff we could complain about every single day but I think everything's going progressively well trending towards well that's it thank you anybody else M Kean so I just want to um clarify something that her goal was 65% I understand we changed it Midway but it was changed so our Benchmark our our our judgment point was 65% and so she didn't meet 65% which is why met is not on there but 63% is significant progress versus say 50% which would be some progress right so so that's where we came up with a significant progress is that it's close to the 65% but it didn't make it so we didn't say met and so that's the rationale behind the significant progress just so people understand that's where we're coming from I guess the only thing I'm going to add is um um so I agree with almost everything that's been said I will say that if you watch the school committee if you pay attention uh every meeting that the goals have been presented I said that gos too high will'll never get there that goals too high we'll never get there right so in my mind you can't just evaluate to the 65% because that came in the 11th Hour the change was in the 11th hour right I think it's a lesson for us all that we need to be more reasonable so so the danger here is and I got great appreciation for the superintend position believe me I step into this all the time on my own um if you put the gold too low you got to people saying what you're striving for 68% that stinks well um in in in my book when you're 53 68 is wonderful right so I just I just want to caution us we have to be reasonable in our expectations and goals and um the superintendent has to trust us that we're going to see you know um I I like you you said I this is not a question as was progress made progress was made right now the question will be will it be maintained right and how will that translate right um so I just the only caution I give is you know write your goals and and I come from an environment that does the same exact thing with goals it's called catch ball right so they make theirs flows down flows down flows down so the person at the bottom of the the totem pole literally has a goal that hopefully not in every environment he and she can explain that this is why this goal is important to me right um and to me that that literacy goal is to be all and end all right I'll be honest so I'm I'm not being what I consider overly harsh I think he did a fabulous job and I use the word fabulous intentially I I it's a it's a circus um it's it's very difficult um you know all the things that we discussed you know difficulties hiring staff all of those things um I gave a lot of consideration to that when we looked at some of the other goals right when you look at you know how you um you know underrepresented communities how you get them to kind of Buy in right we we we've made some progress there um you know um but I again I go back to um we got to be careful how we set the goals right and we got to as as a group we have to make sure we stand with the superintendent say well and I don't know what the goal is going to be this year right so maybe it's 70 right if it's 70 you know somebody in social media is going to say 70 what the hell right uh but there has to be an appreciation for where you are and where you're going and how you're going to get there and if you if you don't have goals that people see is achievable most often they discard them at some point right or stop paying attention to them so I give you kudos for that you didn't do that um and you updated us Faithfully um so I think job well done you go ahead did you have something no getting ready to cck my vote I'm I'm ready yeah all right um so a motion on the floor is to approve the superintendent's 232 War evaluation all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed say nay nay one nay and I'll vote present pres thank you do you think that your objection will will be cast aside for next year I could I could explain quickly if no you don't have to explain it I'm just I have a methodology to why I object to what was going on okay I want an unv vanished evaluation of the superintendent unincumbered by what desie is telling me to do and if I have if it's two or three pages of concerns I want to have that part of the record and again not necessarily reflection of the superintendent but if I have concerns goals expectations coming in in January things that I thought I had to clean up as a school Committee Member yep I don't want that pigeon hold into a couple of sentences and that was my rationale it was nothing against the committee it was a Stella committee that would oversaw the process again I the superintendent is always responded back to me I just thought the format of if you go into any type of job environment you're not going to have just a couple of sentences of an evaluation you're going to have detail evaluation you know again the the metrics and the benchmarks and the the test scores and the data that's all that's all good yep but I want to have an unvarnished evaluation that's part of the record of concerns I have as a school Committee Member and that I was not uh afforded that because of operating under Desi rules okay and that was it thank you appreciate it yep all right moving on to finance and operations just a note FY 24 end of year fin final reports will be presented on September 9th 2024 fy2 monthly reports will begin on September 9th 2024 munus we got a lot to look forward to all right contract Awards May I have a motion in a second to approve FY 2425 Massachusetts School buying group sanitation and were washing products and service for schools contract for $10,000 so moved second membership bill you moved seconded by the Vice chair discussion question go ahead uh for each of these contracts I have noted a uh OSD contract number is there a reason we're putting all this stuff out to bid when there's already State blankets for it uh well we go through the that buying group was over actually 400 schools so we go through them and try to get a better price do we know that they're better prices so like this first one fac 114 and 118 cover all the products on this particular contract do we know that the rates are better the the rates and the ancillary services that are bundled into that are better under our GP than they are under this um yes otherwise we wouldn't be going through them okay yeah well well I mean yeah hope there's some kind of some of the stuff being State there's I mean our GPO be it as large as it is maybe a third of what the state is buying under some of these particular contracts right so I just I want to make sure that we're not just dismissing the work that's already been done for us right I know youve you're short people so well they go out to bid the group goes out to bid it doesn't come out of my office oh well still so is they represent 400 schools and they have lawyers and they have they they go out to bid for us for the 400 groups and we're ha so far we've been really happy with the prices we have get okay thank you all those in favor signify by saying I I I oppos say nay thank you the eyes carry unanimously appreciate it may have a motion in a second to approve the fy2 425 Massachusetts school buying group paper products cont contract for $150,000 so moved second moved by member Zago seconded by the Vice chair discussion seeing or hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I those saying nay thank you carries unanimously may have a motion and a second to approve the FY 2425 Massachusetts school buying group Dairy contract for $300,000 so moved second move by member shilia second by member discussion hearing and seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I oppos say nay thank you carries unanimously may I have a motion in a second to approve the FY 2425 Massachusetts school buying group groceries contract for $1.5 million so moved second mve by member shilia second by member discussion see you're hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I oppos say nay thank you carries unanimously may I have a motion in a second to approve the FY 2425 Massachusetts school buying group fresh bread contract for $880,000 so move by member isia second by member daglo discussion I like that we have the word fresh bread in there you all those in favor signify by saying I I oppos say nay thank you the eyes carries unanimously and one more I have a motion and a second to approve the FY 2425 Massachusetts school buying group fresh produce contract for $120,000 so moved second move by member shilia seconded by member zag any discussion does this include barley what's that is includ broccoli yes I vote against it no I'm just kidding all right all those in favor signify by saying I I po say thank you carries unanimously yeah now yeah it's 3 minutes to 9ine so we just have to do a motion to go past 9 o' I need a motion and a second to continue the meeting past 900 p.m. so moved second move my member the Zago seconded by the Vice chair discussion thank you all those of fa signify by saying I I I both say nay thank you carries unanimously uh notifications of appointments and other Personnel matters may I have a motion and a second to approve one: one RBT and one to one program assistant so moved second move by the Vice Chair seconded by member Daga discussion so this is a request so by contract uh if we have uh IEPs that that require Services which we've had two movein that require Services since our budget process um if it happens before August 20th uh we can hire a full-time staff and post it this was not in the budget so I need your approval to do that these are required I'm going to have to support these students that's unfort you know how this works um so I do need your approval for these two positions after August 20th uh if we have movein or IEPs Changed by contract and then program assistant contract those become long-term subs for the year so there's no need to ask for you know it becomes a long-term sub for the amount of time that we have the students I understand the need and I don't dispute that but given what we went through with the budget where's the money come from so well that's a school committee uh question to the superintendent um so the money is part of our contracted service and part of our circuit breaker funds there's no other place for me to get those funds that's why we have that account um which is what we're going to have to be using for all I mean we're going to go into circuit breaker uh for contracted Services because of all the positions we're filling and so it that is the purpose of that account to help us with unexpected costs when we vote the budget these these would be those things um and they're going to happen this isn't the last of it it's just you won't see the permanency of it until the ne next budget cycle if they're long-term Subs they're not actually 1.0 ftes in the district I I hope that makes sense it's contractual um after next week uh we are not able to hire full-time staff I suspected circuit breaker but I wanted to have it circuit breaker it's the only place we can go for contractor Services which is where we would go for these two positions like many of the others I mean they will get posted like all of our positions are posted great question any other discussion okay all those in favor I signify by saying I I oppos say nay thank you the eyes carry unanimously moving on to business from the committee would a member of the transportation subcommittee please start the update on the transport ations subcommittee and the transportation efficacy report I'll help them out yeah um so this the subcommittee wasn't able to meet because this just the final version came to us uh I think on Friday or Monday of this week so I didn't we didn't get a chance to pull the transportation subcommittee together um but so everybody has the same report there's there's been no other you know discussion in the subcommittee about it but this was the uh report that we agreed on doing sort of the this was the audit if you will of our transportation system to see if there was something that we could do differently going into this school year Roots busing any any kind of I think when Rich lebre spoke to us you know he said sometimes we recommend an amendment to the contract or something like that if we need more Roots less Roots um it appears what we have here is no no expected or uh recommended change changes to our routing system uh but our next step would be uh working and this is also part of the agreement with Rich liy and his group uh is that they would help us write the RFP for the next Transportation bid which we we really need to do like right now uh because our contract with nrt Trembley ends in June of 2025 so his recommendation was see what this brings uh with the data that we have and uh put out an RFP with the suggested changes and Reflections which uh for me when Ian and I spoke about this um I was pleasantly surprised about our rooting and how they actually took the data and did all that um that they're not recommending that we change our system of rooting and seem to be getting for the most part and I'm not saying collectively and every day um and that there's some very specific recommendation he has for the RFP to making our contract stronger which I don't think anybody here is in disagreement of with our conversations about Transportation so uh that's where we are um Ian is in the throws at this point of doing all the bus routes and trying to get everything finalized to send that out to parents in the next week next week I at 7 o'clock today the first email went out oh great Transportation email and um we'll get the routes out next week we're moving we're moving along so in our first meeting with Rich I I guess I had higher expectations I mean I'm super happy that he reviewed our systems and procedures and all the hard work you guys do and said we do an awesome job so congratulations but I was hoping that we would get some meaningful recommendations that we haven't already discussed as a committee publicly to what to do next um I just we already knew that we needed to do an RFP we already knew that it needed to have some stronger language it needed to have service level agreements with repercussions in it there needed to be check and balance in there and that's that's what this tells me um I mean I guess it's nice to have justification for our ask but the reality is nrt already knows it's Justified um so I guess I'm cautiously optimistic on how that RFP is going to be prepared and received by nrt and hopefully some of the smaller companies around that may be able to augment and take on portions of our program I guess I'm just a little bit underwhelmed and I'm not going to leave you out there alone because I agree with you um and I guess you know uh the point I would make is uh you know there's uh so if you're going to show me tables and tables of data I'm your dummy I'll read it I'll read it all right and not lost on me it's a point I made to members at the beginning of the meeting is every every expected load equals the actual load that's ridiculous that is ridiculous and that's just one fact right it's not not possible like completely not possible and I guess I I'm less concerned with the Positive nature of the report I I I do appreciate this things we do good but I think you know we have to look at ourselves as a committee as legislators and say we heard a lot from parents on dissatisfaction on the bus service we had the bus company come here um and I don't think I'm going too far when I say that was a train wreck of a night right um you know there were questions that were answered that night that still aren't truthful right and I point out the do thing just as one right telling your drivers go read this and make sure that's not ensuring that they they apply right and so I know I'm getting into you know probably elements of the RFP that we should write since we've done so many I just worry that the overly positive theme you know we we're going to release it the parents and they're going to say oh these guys aren't doing they don't even watch it when the reality is to me um there has to be a much heightened emphasis not on MPS on nrt's half to communicate right to identify issues so that we're not finding out about them like that incident last year right and I don't need to go back to that so to me that's the the hard part here it's it's it's almost a glowing report and I struggle with that knowing some of the issues that we've had communication wise and otherwise um and so I think parents need to hear us say okay we we we're going to we're going to write an RFP that's going to be a little bit tougher that yeah it has service level agreements and and it has teeth in that says what happens if this doesn't happen right what what's the what's the you know consequence yeah right member Willette thank you Mr chairman and I think you hit the home run tonight with your assessment in reference to that meeting as well and a concern I had reading a report I'll defer it to member shabil and yourself in terms of crunching the numbers um but the thing that jumped out at me was in the report it highlighted that the methan manager was let go and the first time I heard about that was reading this report yeah so I don't know if the superintendent was clued in the director of security and transportation was clued in I wasn't informed and I think that's a very important Point yep um and I don't like to you know point fingers y but what was the The Catalyst for that that the methan manager was let go by this company right and it was something I would think in terms of PR to uh alleviate the concerns of parents or the legislators of an elected body y um that you would tell us in detail why that person was let go was it because of that incident were there other incidents is it internally you have problems is it training um that was something to me was a red flag a simple courtesy of a letter notification to this committee that your methan manager was let go yeah so we we I I want to we received notice that there was a change and that it wasn't let go it was moved positions that was what we got in few weeks ago I've had lateral you know you know we did hear from them so because we we but we were informed I don't know a couple weeks a few weeks ago sometime in July but so that happened just recently yeah okay and we were't informed so we knew who our contacted so so Ian actually knows who our do we know the reasoning for that and they just decided they're not going to give me a reason it's their personnel matter it was the person was moved to a new position yeah that's the Quasi public private thing that I I one answers is a we fund a budget and we're accountable to the voters and you telling me I mean we just had a secret service director not giving the answers on a major crisis we're going to tell us you're going to a person the reason why it was just a lateral transfer I don't buy that at all and this is the problem that goes back to the beginning of we're going to try to improve internally we might have a handbook we might have training we might not we might make references to regulations like we're going to the regist motor vehicles and it goes just back to the same thing so the rfp's got to be the strongest vehicle on the planet and I I have concerns too about um the FBI database is that the first time we hire the drivers they go through the FBI database but then quent to that they go to Corey and I don't think Corey is a comprehensive uh system and we have to show that but let's say we get a replacement driver and we say okay we're going to do an RFP and we're going to have FBI database on our drivers that and then but then you have a backup from outside the system are they going to be under the FBI uh database in subsequent years I mean these again questions that we have and the vehicle of the subcommittee again I commend the people involved in it I'm not questioning the report I think it was a again it may be overly positive report there was things that we can decipher from it uh in terms of the numbers of like year toe of allocation of funds to Transportation versus the average of other districts that number two I had a little bit of concerns about I don't know if anybody else had that concern too about what we do year to year versus what they said was the average of other communities and somehow we were in that same frame I'm I you know I didn't understand that but again we again we're moving to train lot of concerns this is healthy so yeah I appreciate it I think what might make the most sense and uh he was certainly open to coming to the subcommittee meeting or whatever we needed him to do if we and I look at the three of you cuz you're on it but if we schedule a subcommittee meeting with him talk about the report talk about the RFP because that's the next step we have to get that started with him that that's what we are we are contracted with him to do that work for us right so we want to be involved so for me does that sound like the next best step is to try to coordinate that next meeting with the three subcommittee folks and Rich okay that RFP would that would we be able to review that as a subcommittee before posting yeah this is what I'm saying I think that that that the sub committee the whole point of that would be to work directly with him on what the RFP says like what his practice has been this is this is his his Niche right so what is what is we want it we want to make sure that whatever uh these pieces that we want in it are in it and strong and read the way we want them to read when people are actually applying right and and responding to the bid that we put out so yes I would say that we'd all be actively involved in that in the subcommittee yes okay all right I will do that thank you okay superintendent would you please start the discussions on the building facilities subcommittee discussion SL nominations with the recommended three standing agenda items for the sub this is the fact that I'm going to try to explain this uh and convey this message as as it is so so I I think what and I know I'm not a member of the school committee but what I'm proposing just having some conversations and I know there is best interest in the building so we're not talking about you like facilities use basketball games we're not talking about that but we have buildings right now right we have 10 dits in place we have a lease and I shared that with you unfortunately we just didn't get it back in time from the group to actually make revisions and have it in front of you tonight so I anticipate that for the 27th is my hope um but we have that happening that will entail potential Renovations and movement and conversations that'll be large scale um we also want to have ongoing and very succinct conversations about the Pleasant Valley building and The Courier building right now which member Donovan brought up um and then the third one what was the third one oh managing the shared space I'm sorry so 10 in place has like a twofold it's how do we manage that shared space right what what are the procedures we're putting in place is it aou is it an agreement I have something in writing for delted what happens when there's multiple people in there how do we manage that I think that's a big one um and then the what is happening at tendance in place is going to be a big one over the course of the next year as a standing item if indeed the lease comes back we do approve it uh that will be an ongoing conversation to make sure the committee is up to date with how is everything working and what big projects are we doing and right so that there's a line of communication um and then the the Pleasant Valley School and The Courier School right we want to have again succinct conversations to have with the school committee to have with the mayor because those are going to be larger conversations at the city council level so I I was trying to think wrap my mind around like we're having all these sort of oneoff issues and it's a lot in my my brain right now as I'm opening school I'm trying to focus on our K12 operations but there's these things that are important to the committee and the process to keep us going forward in these areas and we can't just uh not talk about them so that was what I was trying to propose and trying to capture here is having a subcommittee that is just talking about these issues right and again it's probably not going to last forever and these issues these standing issues at some point we'll we'll cheuck them off and not have to talk about them as standing issues also is my hope right we'll come to an agreement we know what we're presenting to the whole body we know what we're presenting to the city council is these issues are getting resolved that is always going to be my goal so um that that is what I was thinking about and was able to talk to a few of you about when you brought the different issues to me so that's what I'm proposing tonight to the committee in hopes that we can create the subcommittee and work together and I guess on a common cause the way you said that all that the only caution i' give is to us so we have to if we're going to do this and I'm all for it um we have to be careful that we don't slip into the execution space our job is not to tell you what to do our job is to govern if you will right legislate right you said it perfectly earlier okay this is you know this is how this has to be handled and you have to handle it or or I have to handle it or somebody has to handle it right so I I just don't want want to slide into the execution space right which I know it's a it's a slippery slope I think I think this is one way to manage that conversation in a subcommittee group of um it's definitely we all have a vested interest in this work these topics are we're all interested in them you know what is our level of um Authority as a body uh what is my job as the superintendent right those those have to be clear lines and what is we may as a body whole body decide on something that then we take it to the city council or the mayor and it doesn't come to fruition like we have to work with all parties and members to make sure that we're working in the best interest what we're presenting right so there's a Little's a little that being said I nominate member Donovan oh okay I'll second that you accept the nomination that was quick thank you listen where the clock is ticking and we got stuff to do yeah who else I would like to nominate member  I will accept that thank you there any other nominations goad two or three members the best and one wondering if the mayor should be on that committee I don't know I if I may Mr Mayor I would say probably not for the exact reason where he's execution where he's wearing two hats right now the Executioner sort of yeah but he he's execution whatever we come back with as a or you guys come back with as a body it's going to be between superintendent the mayor to deal with okay so and a subcommittee we went through this I think with with masc can be two or three we would prefer three just because two gets hard and it puts a lot on the two members but if there's a third person that would like to start with two we can no I'd like to nominate member shilia sure there we go great subcommittee king we have to vote on the nominations now or are we good yes anybody agree with the nominations anybody disagree with the nominations all those in favor signify by saying I I both say nay thank you very much much so we have a building subcommittee great and it consists of those three individuals that were nominated thank you all for stepping up that's great will let thank you again I think it's a it's a great idea and what I emphasize during prior meetings I want to Envision in some fashion a balanced Reserve account that comes out of these discussions I think we need to have a balance Reserve account in Prior years we declared at Surplus buildings and we gave it back to the city I think looking at the way the state is operating right now uh the way the economy is I think if you look at the vacancy rates in Boston for commercial property there's a lot of canaries in the coal mine I think going into future budgets um they're going to be constrained I think we really need to have as a school system a balance Reserve account to even out any inflationary I'm Excuse me any inflationary but also any recessionary periods um I think it's a disservice when we just go from budget to budget we don't have a Balan Reserve account and I think this is an opportunity to have those discussions finally after decades thank you okay uh member dunan would you please start the discussion on the audit audit update yeah I'm just wondering if if we could get an update on um you absolutely you can you can okay I said you can you can because it says audit audit um so um I just finished redrafting it oh um I've been a little tied up with cbas um and I'm slower than I should have been so I apologize but uh I talked to member shilly before I'm going to send it to him and to anybody else that wants to read it so I had to break it into two pieces that was the feedback from the the um the people who didn't so I I think I 18 people pulled the B right right none of them returned a bit mainly yeah mainly right so that's that's too high a number so we I sent procurement out to say well why right and the you know there were several knits and but the general thing was it's too broad so you need to break it into two pieces a financial operational piece and then a a secondary piece right so I've done that I'm happy to send it around to all of you and get your inputs before it goes back out I would like to get it back out on the street next week oh okay um but I can send it to you um at the latest Wednesday morning I'd send it tomorrow but I'm I'm taking a day off I apologize mayor what are the two pieces I'm sorry say it again the two pieces what are the two pieces uh it's I'm going to say it wrong Chris it's a financial piece so most of the people came back said separate the Financial out y bring the financial out so I beef that one up and it talks about you know our use of Grants our use of funding our use of all the things and it would include you know a topic like a a reserve fund you know is that something you look at right or or there laws that prohibit that so so that's all one piece and then the second piece is every bit is important to me it's the culture and the morale piece right um and and we have to be careful with that piece I understand that so I want you all to read it um but you know I will tell you that you know the the two previous large audits that we've done um for the um PD and the DPW they both had uh really great feedback when it came to culture and morale right uh really really eye openening things in some cases right as you know um so I think you know it beh use all of us to take a look at it to make sure it's represented of what we want to see so I I'll send it to you and you can you know you're welcome to edit and apply before it goes out I'm happy to have that um but I just would like to get it out uh by Tuesday of next week right and that's largely because I've been so delayed to get to it thank you yep yeah just thing in terms of GIC Health review study have we done that I know other communities have done a review of their Health Care System we have not okay so I would I would like to have that discussed y because I think if you look at other communities that are part of the GIC yeah they say hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars yeah and that if it's not part of the audit because you're look at health care costs are really are our control and then if you're looking at um special education it's based on the happen stance if you have a late arrival and that's an unfunded mandate so I know when we had the joint meeting with the city council I know I brought up about the unfunded mandates and that could be a drain on the system financially but also could be a drain of paperwork requirements both the federal and the state so I don't know if that second component of the morale because all the paperwork requirement and the secretaries are Deluge making sure all the requirements and if might be should be a paperwork reduction act at some point um but you know the GIC was always something for decades I was concerned about and then also the morale of complying with paperwork and unfunded mandates um and also that again when you have a few cases with the circuit breaker that EXs your entire system so hopefully those components are included as well I'll make sure they are okay thank you m m Keegan would you please start the discussion on the school committee group email um this has been an issue in my brain for a long time but I just haven't had a good chance to bring it up um the school committee group email the one that on our website that says email the whole school committee goes to more than just the elected officials and I feel like it surprised me to find out that there were other people on that group Alias other than the elected officials and so I feel like it's important to disclose that on the website as to who that group email actually gets sent to so it's not only elected officials and the mayor it's also the mayor's Chief of Staff Martha and the superintendent and so I feel like when somebody comes to the website and says oh I'm going to email the whole committee they don't know this they're emailing other people and if other people happened to email like respond or whatever it's a surprise that there was somebody else on that email and so I would like to just propose that we disclose who that email is going to is all sure I'm open to the discussion but for me I I just feel like people need to know that they're they're emailing more than just the school committee I'm willing to have that conversation so my question to member Keegan was are we looking to disclose or restrict because I can I can reasonably see an argument for both yeah I also can see an argument for both um I was trying to be less controversial and just use the disclosure yeah I I'll be the controversial person um yeah uh but yeah I feel like this when it says school committee email it should only be the school department in the mayor no offense when I heard about the chief of staff being on it um and no no offense to her I don't feel like that should happen I that's just my opinion it she's not part of the school committee um it should be going to your email I always thought it just went directly to you um but that's my opinion on it um I just yeah math is on it because she's here like she she's here at these meetings I I have no problem with her being on it now if the chief of staff wants to come to the meetings and sit in on it then yeah I would include her on it well the chief of staff is on because she sits in for me in many occasions you guys want to rock we'll take a rock right I mean that's what this is if this is all about the chief of staff you on that didn't you say it I mean I I'll say it yeah no no no but but take her off no but it it's just it's listen I'm not controversy I I I said it I said I don't think the chiefest staff should be on it that's just my opinion and I I I bowed to the will of the committee I respectfully disagree she is me she is me we are one and the same it's like saying to the superintendent you can't share it with your assistant superintendent right it's well it's the same thing yeah go ahead so do we need to take a vote on this where are we with this I'm all in for disclosure vot I don't just voting to eliminate the chief and it could be either way honestly it was something that has been done forever because the chief of staff often and this was this is how I understand it we didn't change anything when we rolled from mayor to Mayor superintendent to superintendent that often uh the mayor's chief of staff and the superintendent's executive assistant would read the emails and make sure that everybody was in compliant so if there were messages as the secretary to the committee that I didn't read in time and I the position not me but so if you want to remove me Martha and the chief of staff I totally get it I can have it done tomorrow if you want to disclose that we're on it you can do that too I am open for anything it's a system that has been just in place and we haven't changed it and I'm I'm not I have no feelings one way or the other see Mr chairman see and I'm trying to be diplomatic here when I came into the the school committee I've had not once but twice two people from the municipality tell me that I should not be replying to all on emails and 24 years at the State House in 13 years I've never replied to all on any email that I can recall yeah because that opens up to open meeting violations but not only one advisory but two advisories now was it condescending I'm gonna try to be diplomatic I did I did not like it because you better respect the demarcation checks and balances you have an elected school committee versus municipality we already have a an attorney that advises us I don't need the City attorney advising me all right and it's again open meeting I got the packet I read it the ethics I've been familiar with it I don't need someone telling me now again I know who the person is that replies it all at times we know who it is I'm not going to invoke that person's name but I don't need it a little birdie in my ear saying by the way don't reply to all I don't need that so that in that Spirit of that cooperation the the mayor is the chairman as elected official in the school committee and that's it if he wants to delegate and refer that to Chief of Staff or to the janitors at the sirs building by all means go and do that and we have a lot of confidential matters I think we really need to shore up the system I agree with the vice chair we are the elected school committee we have our own Council and that's it when we go into this we're going to have CC that opens up a big flood gate and I don't want that so that's it thank you I just point out to you that there were certain times right look at the youth center thing so I'm going to give you guys feedback this this committee meeting spiraled out of control and got into managing the nonprofit in my view when I watched the tapable right some of the discussion was about managing the nonprofit the nonprofit agreement the rental agreement has been with the city solicitor because he apps on City buildings you want them off say it we take them off I got no problem right but he's not on chief of staff is on she's there she he's not on our respect Mr when I ask questions whether it it's nit or a nonprofit and I had a follow-up conversation the very next day with the auditor and I express my concerns right then we take a final vote either as a city council or a school committee and that's it right but someone's interpretation of you're going too far right right who makes that judgment who puts up a a a bumper I've the city council again I I've had Mayors in my ear saying no whoa whoa wait a minute you're supposed to go everything through the mayor's office they said excuse me I was an elected City Counsel at large you don't show me the door it's checks and balances so like I'm trying to be you know that conversation I think was a healthy just like with nit if I had someone after say you know Mr Willet you're really laid into that company you know I don't know if you were out of bounds and say I don't give a care I'm elected by the people they'll make the final determination so I you know again I don't mind going through classes I don't mind doing online with the ethics I don't mind having a packet an open meeting law and again when I came into this school committee I know there was an open meeting law violation on the minutes I had to correct I didn't get an advisory from the city solicitor I didn't get a chief of staff email so like I can go right back to you on that front and I'm trying to be working with the parties and like I sat down regarding the audit and that was another thing even uh councelor Zan had concerns about it and she served prior on the school committee I had the Dual thing of serving on the city council and serving on the school committee I would never invoke my will appoint on the school committee that's a separate elected body I would any concerns that would go through the superintendent individual members or the mayor's chair and you know we got to be careful of what we're saying on stuff I you know that's just my two cents I agree with that last statement fully we got to be careful what we're saying yeah so I'm I'm ask do you do you want them off you want them off we take them off somebody needs to do a motion one way or the other disclose or take them off make a motion oh sorry I would like to make a motion to just do the disclosure second motion on the floor to do the disclosure and a second all those in discussion should be a roll call vote no oh yes you going call it a second want a roll call I heard him without Matha I have to handw write all this I don't think she's probably sleeping I know I hope she's member dolio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell yes M shabila yes member wette I'm going to say yes for now yeah mayor Perry yes unanimous thank you so I'm disclosing it on the website of who's in that email when we post the email okay I'll do that first thing in the morning all right okay last bit we do have an executive session we do so with no further business to discuss this time I have a motion and a second tojin the business portion of this meeting of August 12 2024 and go into executive session so moved moved by the Vice chair second to by member Donovan thank you no vote yet pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares Unit A Unit C custodians we will not reconvening to open session at the conclusion of this executive session now I need a roll call vote sorry member dolio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell yes member shilia yes member wette yes mayor Perry yes unanimous thank you the meeting is adjourned at 9:37 p.m. good night methun Myas [Music]