e e e for the Tuesday March 19 2024 meeting of the school committee it is now 6m we all rise and salute the flag thank you Dr guchi would you call the role sure Mrs Bronson Rizzo here Mr kiano here Mr Kingston here Mr Mata here Mrs milb Ellis present M monteroso present mayor Keef here first order of business we have some serious recognition in front of us I know that Dr kuchi has a bunch of certificates but I uh some of the members here may want to speak but we had an unbelievable amounts of accomplishments this uh this fall season so congratulations to everyone in attendance I know that this going to be some special recognition and I'd give offer some uh latitude to our members to make some individual speeches if they'd like or some conversation Miss Rizzo I just want to say it's been a phenomenal season um I am on the MIAA board of directors and I was so happy to go to my mean last week and brag about what you students have um done um what the joy that you have given us along with your Educators your families and to the coaches that put in so much time that have um oh and I'm looking at you over there since you were a baby playing basketball no not you no her she's looking and I was like oh my gosh she's all grown up I'm like oh um but your coaches are amazing they give they care about you they build relationships with you and that's all we can ask for for you to do your best and your families to support you and have the relationships with your coaches so you have someone to go through and talk about whatever you need to talk about thank you all each and every one of you I'm so proud of you thank you Mr kiano first I'd like to say congratulations Sol and uh the other thing IID like to say is I know the commitment it is between AC mics and sports for you guys to do what you've done and the accomplishment you made your parents your family the administration for all pro thank you Mr gston I'll just say the same thing congratulations to all of you I used to work the basketball games uh boys and girls and I did the hockey clock and I miss it very much unfortunately I had to give that up to sit here but I wanted to give that up so that I could support Athletics by sitting here um Mr Shay knows I have his back back and anytime he ask for anything I'm happy to help and that's very important um I really think the athletes should should say thank you to their coaches they put in an awful lot of time for a little amount of money and they don't coach because they want the money it's just to give to their spouse a significant other for all the time that they spend away from their famili so I want to thank the coaches for putting in the time and caring about our kids because without them we wouldn't have these programs so thank you thank you Anthony I just like to say that Sports is such an important part of of of of your high school uh just your high school being there's nothing better than going out on the court going out on the field representing your school it builds friendship it builds collaboration and the main thing is you develop so many friends as you know I don't have to tell you you develop so many friends on the field and it's just a wonderful thing when you can combine both education and Sport so it's something I just totally commend all of you on thank you very much thank you just following up on what my colleague just said about um the friendships that you develop I was also a former baller back in my younger days in in Rivier middle school and high school and um it's a wonderful thing right you you've me met these these other girls and you guys competed and you did very well you've made your families proud you've made your coaches proud and you've certainly represented your city well and I just want to thank you for that and congratulate you and I hope you you know take in all of this wonderful feelings that you get from from the success and let it motivate you to keep moving on and and you know kind of meld into other aspects of your life so I wish you all the best congratulations again and um look forward to seeing you guys play in high school I think you've all set it up but congratulations to all the teams thank you to all our coaches for all you do and to our parents because I know it's probably driving to a lot of games buying uniforms buying extra things for them giving up Saturday mornings to probably go to games so thank you to our parents as well for encouraging your children to pursue their Athletics thank you and uh if if I can just add couple things on the coaches that are in the room not just the coaches but parents um this is a huge obligation that you all commit to uh taking your kids and your your students or your athletes uh to games and encourage ing them and pushing them and we all know that good coaches are have an obligation or understand that they are able to take a player to another level and you know because good players are going to play good you know great Runners are going to run great good basketball players going to play good whatever it may be but a coach can take them to another level and that's the difference between a good coach and just someone that shows up so thank you to all the coaches that brought these plays up to another level and thank you to the parents that put in the sacrifices to the athletes in the room uh this hard work is going to pay off no matter what what you do in life you may never play the sport again after this year some of you may graduate some you might move on to college and you may never pick up a glove or a bat or uh or basketball uh and this might be the last time you run run the track meet um but whatever you do in life if you you work hard it's going to pay off no matter what job you do in your in in the rest of your life or the responsibilities you has have as a parent or just a general citizen so um special kudos to the people that made unbelievable special um Awards tonight I know that this just like Miss Rizzo mentioned is one that I I've seen since she was a baby I happen to know her family very well Haley uh thank you uh our GBL MVP and I know there's a coach of the year in the room and I know there's a couple other Allstar and MVPs in the room that I happen to know a lot of the parents and family members uh and I'm very proud of you uh as as as your uh as your mayor but also as your friend so thank you for being here tonight all right uh before I turn it over Mr Shay I'd like to say as a former um rev High Patriot athlete and Coach uh it's awesome to see um some coaches that I coached um one is smiling in the back of the room right now um but honestly families student athletes and uh coaches thank you for all that you do and um a real special thanks to all of the youth coaches in the city because we know that's where it starts and um congratulations to you all you should be very proud of all that you do and I want to give one final thank you to our athletic director who leads the way and prepares all of the courts Fields you name it uh Mr Shay and I'm going to turn it over to him right now so thank you Frank thank you Dr beluchi I'm just going to give a brief overview of what these awards are and then we'll get into the individual certificates I'd ask that everybody just hold your applause Until the End um tonight we're going to recognize the team and individual accomplishments from the recently completed winter sports season among those receiving accolades tonight are the following our girls middle school basketball team was undefeated in the regular season and undefeated in the tournament with head coach Melissa Randall our girls varsity basketball team with GBL Champions they had the league MVP in Haley Boo and a coach of the year in Ariana Rivera our boys indoor track team was the GBL League meet Champions with head coach of the Year Dave Fleming our girls indoor track were undefeated GBL Champions and GBL League meet Champions they had the GBL MVP and Liv young and GBL coach of the year in Raquel McDonald our swim team had GBL MVP LM cesk and our boys varsity basketball team won the gbl's team sportsmanship award so it was obviously a highly successful winter season and with that I'd like to get into the individual certificates but girls middle school basketball Andrea Basta Valentina Cruz Sharon fuler Isabella Guerrero Valerie pado Yasmine cus Mariana Lopez Marin Rebecca Marcado Sophia Korea Muriel Allison oliviera Alana Trinidad Addison alwick soan zeron and Coach Melissa Randall who I'd be remiss without mentioning that she is 29 and one in the last three seasons 20 no like one two three five six seven n con in boy basketball I don't see him in the room but we'll recognize him anyway Ethan day was great of Boston League Allstar for our boys basketball in girls swimming Janette syy was Greater Boston League Allstar moving on to boy swimming vilson Lipa Nathaniel Hill congratulations Matthew Terell Juan Kano Harrison ruer and our greater Boston League MVP LM cesk yeah we bring the the swim allst star up for a quick picture you can't see my phone I can't see you thank you moving on to girls basketball captain in Greater Boston League MVP Haley boo Rosio Gonzalez not an attendance Captain Alicia Jean captain in League Allstar belma velic in first season great accomplishment GBL Coach of the Year Ariana Rivera and ladies if you can come up for a picture in boys indoor track Edwin alakan Kenan IC captain medy bmy usev chahid captain and greater Boston League Allstar JV Kuna captain in Greater Boston League Allstar Isaiah DEA Oliver Escobar Mohammed FS captain in Greater Boston League Allstar Allan how Captain and greater B League Allstar Kevin peral Richard vilme Jeremy X and GBL Coach of the Year David Fleming and boys come up with coach for a quick photo [Music] two and our last team but certainly not least our girls indoor track team Greater Boston League MVP Liv young Ashley Cabrera Rodriguez Ashley Chandler hea El bazai ra hamdani franois Cojo Jia manigo Danny Hope Randall Olivia rup gazelle Salvador Gemma stamatopoulos and our GBL Coach of the Year Raquel McDonald Chelli ladies quick photo up go again congratulations to our winter teams and individual athletes thank you to the school committee and upper Administration for this opportunity for our kids thank you thank you Mr thank you okay we have the consent calendar sure you want to take a two-minute recess let the room if you if You' if you'd like to stick around you're welcome to stay all meeting I know that it's intriguing but uh you're welcome to leave if you'd like take off two minute recess all in favor e e e e e e e e turn to a regular order so we have the consent calendar mot motion to accept the consent calendar second roll call Mrs Bronson Rizzo yes Mr kiano yes Mr Kingston yes Mr Mata M mil Mrs Milbury Ellis yes Miss monteroso mayor Keef yes and then we have the student representative report do we have oh no student representative today okay Miss montoso I know there isn't uh a report but I just wanted to give an upate to anyone watching so last month the student rep shared with us how they want to make the meeting more inclusive and have more ways that people can watch and so was actually brought to our attention that the subtitles were not available when people were watching the YouTube live so big thank you to our RPS it and to rev TV who helped work with us and now anyone watching live the subtitles is a close captioning should be available it's not available in another language outside of English when it's live but it is when it after you watch it recorded so just wanted to give that update to the public as we work to make things more inclusive and accessible thank you Miss mono okay we have any further place that on file any any U public speak this evening have an opportunity this is if you're going to speak on any matters in front of us tonight outside of the agenda please come up anyone online any wish to speak online raise your hand no we'll close public speak and then we have the superintendent report thank you the first up and the superintendent report is the Garfield Middle School than thank you all for having us tonight my name is Thad King I'm the interim principal of the Garfield Middle School and we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the connection between restorative justice practices and positive academic outcomes many think of the restorative practices as disciplinary and we wanted to dispel that notion and show that they are about becoming a more productive member of our school community so we felt the best way to hear about what is going on with restorative practices at the Garfield is to hear from some of the students themselves so we've asked them to Circle up this evening we have changed our format a little bit this evening due to the understandable time constraints and what you will see this evening is somewhat of a hybrid between a restorative Circle where students take turns responding personally to a situation and a Socratic seminar where students respond to a question in no particular order and are able to build off of one another's responses I know a few of the students are a little bit concerned that I will take up way too much of their time a lotted this evening so I will now turn this over to our fantastic students and one of our many amazing teachers from The Garfield Middle School Mrs Erica man I did it in a minute thank you um so we were going to do our sort of circle but we're going to jump into Socratic style um is it possible to get the slides back up or no it's fine it's it's okay because they have the but just so you guys have a reference um can we go back on there we go okay thank you um we're going to start with talking about restorative circles our first question for the group is how have Circle discussion groups helped you feel more involved and accountable to the school Community we're going to open that up and go ahead um from an experience it made me feel more involved and more comfortable telling my problems in these circles and it helped me feel much better it creates a much more positive environment after and in most cases the problem is solved after the group discussion this is a better way to talk problems out respectfully and it creates a much more safer environment add we'll go to the second question then so how has your access to the circles and so how frequently are you engaging in circles and um can you speak to your experience to that sure you can go back to all right so um the circle discussions um the restorative circles help me feel more involved in community because I feel that my like voice is heard and I can like feel how others are feeling and their perspective let's jump right into the experience then and your access to a want to do to that last on I think at the start of the year we be able to meet him anytime but because he's really busy I think now that we're in mid year that everybody wants to see him everybody has their problems but I think also circles they really help other I want to so like in these group discussions in these group discussions I like I can express myself like freely and it's like a safe environment and like you can just like tell him like your issues and stuff like things like your personal life I want to add on cirle like n said Circle needed to be veryable and even though it may seem like a bad thing that the access is held back it's pretty it shows that the students are ling the circles and that they feel like somebody hears them and listens even have better views right Circle should be Place into than um let's switch to the academic s so how we feel that the circles have been impacted our experiences in the classroom um you guys have all clipped yeah so we have the first question there reflecting on how that's impacted um discussions in the classroom specifically who would like to speak to them and implementing these practices have helped me in the classroom setting because personally although I'm a pretty social person but in regards to academics I more reserved than a quiet person liking to keep to myself with these circles implementing a social aspect to these academic thoughts within the classroom it gives me an outlet to share my thoughts and work in a positive and fun manner thank you this one for the next one you yeah you can talk about the next one so the next one um is asking about the impact it has on you right in classro go ahead oh these circles have helped me bring my attention towards myself and reduce the amount of stress I've experienced due to personal relationships with that out of the way I'm allowed to focus more on my academic performance and improve my gr without any obstacle in way and also express myself freely in participating in class activi there are certain of practices it has allowed me to have a better Insight on other people's views and think more critically in situations with those practices I can understand more about my own thoughts and organize them to make speaking in discussion in discussions much easier than I'm gonna open this up now so we've covered all four questions so if you want to jump in on any thoughts that if maybe you haven't spoken up yet or if there was something else to add based on what someone else said let's open it up who wants to through these circles it helped change my perspective on things and it helped me learn how to communicate with people better and it helped me solve problems in a more positive way and um yeah agree disagree hi let me add on to that I'm not the best iate my feelings or thoughts but these past weeks with Mr Mitchell he has guided me and taught me how to he has also taught me other people's opinion matters to know once you hear leers you can also build on yours this this has helped me academically and socially in school can you ask a question question two question two like was saying kind like was saying kind of how like ever since like throughout the school year that like we haven't got to see like interventionist like as often as like we wish we could but I feel like that could have like I feel like that could be changed if like we get like more in like different spools and all that I'm interested in what he was just saying could you repeat that I just could oh kind of just like how like what L was saying how like like throughout the years how like not throughout the year but like throughout the school year how like like as he has like gotten popular with like helping people with their problems and stuff that like he has like been more busy I feel like PR like if like we have like more interventionist in the school that it'll probably help with like the rest of this thank you we want to open up to questions questions from at this time Miss montoso uh so this was great thank you for modeling I think one question I have for you all is in your opinion do you think a majority of students engage authentically when they're in the circles or do you know do you think maybe there's been a a transition from starting the circles to now people feel like they can talk more in it like it's a safe space like can you talk a little bit about how you've seen that change for you and your peers I feel like a lot of people are very um engaged in these circles since a lot of people now want to meet with Mr Mitchell he's been very busy um a lot of people have in like really liked the experience and now they go to him a lot because they feel hurt and their problems feel valued and half of the time in most cases the problems were solved in these circles can I add on to that also I've seen circles where many of The Quiet kids they feel more comfortable to speak up on their opinion because most of the time quiet kids they're known as quiet they put their emotions to the side with Mr Mitchell I've seen they open up and they tell their problem and they feel like somebody's hearing them Mr mat okay when would the students engage in these circles and who organizes the circles um that second question so like oh kind of like for like scheding like that it's kind of just like kind of just like in find of the hallway like just go to his classroom just ask like you know just have some time to speak with him you know just like discuss what's been going on um or sometimes like even like cover for like class like teachers and like go through like little cires there so for the most part the kids themselves get together yeah that what what I he restor of Justice I always thought that that dealt with Excuse me uh someone that got into trouble and the administrators wanted to resolve the problem whether it's throwing something at a teacher or swearing at a teacher or what have you that's the I always thought of restoring Justice uh am I way off base no off base but in the school all problems are valued like imagine you're having friend problems maybe the problem conflict with the student it's all heard raise your hand if you had a conflict with the student and you use Mr Mitchell raise your hand if a teacher and administrator told you you had to meet with Mr Mitchell in circle okay now what what would happen if a if a student commits all lowsy act again swearing uh throwing a book what what have you and you go through this circle process and nothing much comes out of it there's no punishments the kid goes back back to class saying okay I just got away with murder to me that seems like I mean ideally this sounds great don't get me wrong it sounds wonderful and you kids uh the cream of the crop and you can make it work but to me it seems like some punks just uh don't don't give a darn and will'll and will and will use it as a way of getting out of the trouble that they got into Mr chair can we please not call students this Rizzo so thank you very much I'm gonna say when it first came into a district my younger son was in elementary 100 years ago and I think Mr maera was still there when restorative practice came in um and I as a parent was afraid because my son had MTH like me and would just say what they wanted if it bothered you he would just say you're bothering me um and it did happen he ended up going into a locker by the student that they were supposed to be helping and having a discussion but what I'm going to say in a positive manner is how all this mindfulness and social emotional um learning has come around you students can handle it much better having the discussion instead of the fight outside um it doesn't have to be anything major um and the first time I saw it really change is um a former teacher of us Michael banana was doing it up at the high school and to see the positive that was coming out of it with some of the students that I personally knew and love but needed to have this circle for people to talk to I was on board now do I want to take some kids home for a week when they giving me trouble yeah I do but this is the perfect place to start and everything else can be worked out after if it's not worked here and then to see you students six eight years later I mean you probably should be doing it for the adults you should be helping us and I thank you so much for even sharing all this with us my only problem is I couldn't say Su for questions back in the day and I still can't say it properly so I mean that's my hottest part in this whole scheme of things is pronouncing it correctly but I love your questions I love how you go about it and I'm really proud to see how much you students have grown and keep it up thank you Miss Milbury Ellis um I I have a question for you guys do you find yourselves using the skills that you're learning in the circles like in your own personal lives outside of the circles and could you talk about that well I think the skills that we use in the circle like to talk to people face to face is super important now especially because we're so used because we're so used to like talking through phones so this is so important especially now to be able to talk face to face to other people and like it helps us to be more confrontational but in a his I would like to add on um have probably realized that like my actions really have like been more like mature like since I'm like already going like into high school I'm starting to realize that like my situations should not be like about like down sights about that like I should like think about how my situations and I communicate instead of just like ignoring them and never talking to them I'm FAS excellent this is not about your question but can I go back to you can I explain something to you Mr Mitchell the admin are the ones that take care of the consequences so yes when a student gets in trouble they are all held accountable for it Mr Mitchell is the one that asked them why did you do this he's trying to get the conflict heated down they're the ones that deal with the consequences so it may and also like bad kids are seen as bad kids but why do they act out like this maybe they have problems maybe you never know I AG with it because I think Miss MIT is very important because he's also very unbiased and he provides a safe place for everyone like no matter what they think W Mr Kingston do you have something yeah I just the young lady I think she had on a good point I think with the rise of cell phones today people just don't know how to communicate face to face and I think um well I I have to be honest I when I first heard about the circles I wasn't a I just wasn't sure if it would work but I'm very happy that you're here I'm happy you made the presentation I think it's awesome that you came and took the time out to come I think that says a lot about the people that you're working with and the teachers and the staff at the school so I think that's great but I think it is important because we're so used to texting people now we don't want to you know I I text my kids um and you know I'll say call me and they don't call me they text me back and I'll say please call me I you know I I get tired of texting but I think I think we're losing a skill there um to communicate with other people using words and our faces and actions because everything's on a text today so I think it's great what she said and I totally agree and I think I think this is uh this is something that you know could help so thank you you said L what you explain this to me when we went down pandemic we were so used to the phones the Chromebooks and everything so it pushed back our Communications and it's EV like explained it to me in dep so the cires like help us communicate we better get our points across I agree can can we meet Mr Mitchell can I take him home yeah so Mr Mitchell's on a personal day today I apologize he wanted to be here but I just wanted to take a second as well to address Mr mata's Question and thank you phah excellent answer um this does not replace discipline this is to support you know any of those actions so there are certainly instances where there's something egregious but we still like to sit and think through what those thing what those things happened and how those things happened um it's really had great outcomes in some of the examples you provided between a teacher and a student we've actually had situations we've had them sit down and had Mr Mitchell facilitate it didn't mean that the student didn't receive you know a consequence of some sort this just helps everybody understand one another and hopefully move past it and move forward so I just wanted to take a second to address it and I think Farah did a fantastic job better than I did thank you Mr King and um to the students your maturity and your confidence in front of us tonight is is um gives me great hope and very very proud of your presentation I couldn't believe that you're all in only eth grade so good luck next year I hope you can continue to share your knowledge with the with the rest of your groups and peers and thanks for this presentation thank you for having us you guys want to get a picture come back that wasn't part of the agreement all right one two three I'm gonna miss you I'm gonna miss you we're gonna be talking about thank you I'm gonna be talk nothing like a confidence booster with a bunch of uh middle school students huh make us feel really important okay um right so the I'll sign your autograph too Miss Rizzo okay um we have the finat presentation yes I just want to introduce uh go fine arts director Kelly Williams um so for th those of you who don't know me I'm Kelly Williams I've been an art teacher and reviewer for 16 well 16 years but this is my second um year as Fine Arts director um so last year I took probably 45 minutes of my 10 minutes so this year I'm cutting that down to maybe five minutes um I just wanted to speak a little bit about the growth that we've seen at the high school in terms of um Fine Arts you can go to the next um this is just a quick graph of the past five years um and if you can see from 2021 to 2023 this year um for 2023 2024 uh we have had a 25% growth of students that um have access and are enrolled in arts courses at rhs and go to the next slide um and how we've done we did that is uh we did survey students before um last year and get student voice on what they wanted and what types of classes they were looking for and out of that we added um dance and fashion design those were two top classes that students had asked for we also um increased our access for nth graders so we added a Basics to Art nine and a music foundations nine uh we also added an advanced music class and AP Art and Design as well as unified um art and we had we did that like because of student voice but we were also able to do that because we at the high school last year um you supported we hired three art teachers and one music teacher next slide um this is just a a py graph of where these students are um interests are and what classes they're taken broken down by um the dark blue is the largest we do have seven Visual Arts teachers so we are able to offer more Visual Arts courses but we have a very um large population of students who are taking Ceramics um and then Digital Arts which is photography graphic design um hopefully I would like to see like offering an animation or a digital um illustration course um with and by adding so we added 54 more sections this year of Arts courses um to meet our numbers so all students that had last year requested to take an art course most likely was able to get an art course by adding the more sections which are offered more periods um next slide please uh after first semester we did survey students to see how they were doing um these are just some quotes from students I don't need to read them all you have a copy of the presentation but um just things that they like everything about it uh they like working in groups they feel that the classes are increasing their creativity that they're fun um they're reporting feeling safe and that their stress is reduced and they 89% of them reported that they feel um the semester or the quarter class is enough time for them to get what they want done um and then 72% of them reported that they had adequate materials to access to materials next slide um because of that we were able to bring back a showcase at Rivier high school we did partner with um the rest of the academic team and it was a Showcase of all academics and art and music and um it was a really great success and we were able to host that in January and then we're going to be able to host another one come May it's on May 29th um theater is still very much thriving and growing um this year we our after school theater clubs are able to offer six Productions so next slide um we had Wiz of Oz at the Garfield Middle School Finding Nemo at SBA Middle School and then still to come we have um Once on This Island at the high school susal at the Hill Elementary School Charlie Chocolate Factory um is rma's production but will be hosted here at the high school and then Shrek is um a second production this year for Garfield Middle School um and something we're doing this year to build community is we um are inviting the fourth graders to attend the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory play at the high school and that's because they also read across the district in fourth grade they reach Charli and cheler Factory so we thought that was a nice connection um to be able to bring them to to see the middle school kids perform and then we're having the sixth graders come to attend and see want on this island for an IND district field trip and um just other brief highlights we added a kiln at the RMA this year so now all three middle schools have access to a Kil to really help um increase our Middle School access to Ceramics we've seen the kids at the high school are just really loving Ceramics we added a teacher that teaches full Ceramics we have two teachers that teach only Ceramics all day long at the high school so it's going to be nice to be able to to start to build that Foundation at the middle school level um our rev youth singers which was a district Chorus for elementary students that started so at each building we started this last year at each building students um participate in an after school chorus third and fourth and fifth grade uh and then they learn the songs at all of the elementary schools and they come together and perform so this will be their second concert this year that's going to be held on May 1st at the Hill School um we have our district art showcase which is this week um 4 to 6 at the SBA whan on Thursday night um we'll have the rock Ensemble with a new pop Ensemble which was another um emble that we added here at the high school this year to give more access to music for those students who are interested and then um Garfield will also have another concert they had a really huge like so out Winter concert um so they're moving it to the high school because there was a lack of parking and seats available for all the families that came it was it was really really good time um so they're having that here on May 9th and then SBA has a concert on May 2nd and that's it does anybody have any questions for me good job Miss Milbury Ellis quick question how many um art programs are there at the high school I I saw the additions but I'm just curious as to how many for the 1500 students um like how many classes classes yeah um so I don't know that off the top of my head but we do it's good number I think so we have paint painting and drawing we have the ninth grade class we have piano we have I I'll send it to you it's in it's on the website the program stories but I would say we have a really great offering and we did a lot of work to um combine like we used to be drawing and painting but we realized a lot of students because of um the lack of access coming in in ninth grade that they were by 11th grade when they were taking painting they weren't confident in drawing so we decided to combine that so it's a draw paint it's a semester long um so we made a lot of changes like and then we added the fashion we added um things they were saying and took out some things that students weren't signing up for um so everything that runs is based off what the students are signing up for and so we look at those numbers but there's a good like everything is offered when they go to sign up and then when usually we get you know we had I think 500 students sign up to want to take Ceramics excellent thank you there's no doubt that you do a fabulous job and I'm looking forward to the next you know few plays I think there's like three or four of them that remain so thank you yeah thanks thank you Miss Rizzo Kelly thank you for everything that you do and how happy um all our extracurricular staff loves working with you and they feel like that you are open um to talking to and bringing their ideas to you and they're seeing them come to fruition um I'm looking forward to Thursday um I'm going to say I love the idea of buying tickets online because I would have kept forgetting um so that part was absolutely great um it's just I'm so excited for everything and I'm just wondering how the um I know the fashion design um was part of your your fall um showcase was it yeah so students um it's a new course so the teachers are still you know ironing out the curriculum and and we we realized a lot of students actually really want to make clothing and really like we it was more like we were thinking it was going to be more like an introduction to fashion and more of like an illustration and design and clothing and things like that and um students really want to make the cloth so we're working on we did have a set of um sewing machines and we're working on getting some them repaired and um but for now they did they they made plushies and created their own pattern um some students made hand and um yeah so we're and they love talking about it I mean I got to speak to two young ladies and one male and they were really excited about the program so I'm glad there's so many students that want to participate in extrac curriculum things and I think with we added the dance class and students have really taken to it and and um the numbers have been a little low in the in the class be the word has to spread for more students to start signing up but they really are enjoying it and I've got I've gone in a lot to see like how they grow and work in groups and and perform together and um learn about all the different styles of dance and it's it's actually been a really great a great course too great thank you thank you thanks great job the next piece is the Middle School Lottery update do we have anything yes luch okay I am going to share some information so uh the first thing is that the lottery for uh middle school placement will be Thursday April 11th uh at 5:00 pm here in the school committee room it will be broadcast live on uh cable TB and YouTube this year we have more lotteries than we have had in the past um and I will go through sort of what how we get to a lottery um one thing that is important is that this data that I'm going to show you is preliminary so we've I've taken a first scan after I received all of the data from the schools but there may be some number changes we're verifying um siblings and things like that um so there could be some tweaks to this but um overall there will be 11 lotteries so I'll just focus on describing the whan so what we do each fifth grade is divided into thirds so um you'll see that whan has 136 students in grade five um we there are 10 students that are going to be placed in special programs based on their uh IEP needs so they are removed from the lottery um and that leaves us with 126 students so we then divide that over uh the three middle schools so they get the same number of spots in each middle school so for this there are 42 seats at Garfield 42 seats at rumney and 42 seats at Susan B Anthony um as you can see the requests for um Garfield were 12 students the requests for rney were 49 so that exceeds the available 42 seats and the request for Susan Anthony was 65 so that exceeds um the 42 seat allotment so for whan we're going to have a lottery for rumney and Susan banthony uh Garfield Middle School so along those same lines uh you will see that the requests to uh for students to stay at Garfield so 64 students requested Garfield Middle School uh 44 requested rumney and seven requested Ed Susan banthony so for the Garfield Elementary there will be a lottery for Garfield Middle School in Romney Marsh Academy and those students who don't get their first choice will all attend Susan B Anthony for the hill um a similar situation so 11 students requested um Garfield Middle School uh there are 36 seats available there rumney 41 students um with 37 seats and Susan B uh 58 students requested uh Susan B Anthony so we're going to have a lottery uh at the hill for rney and Susan B Anthony Lincoln um we we're GNA have a lottery for both rney and Susan banthony 34 students requested the rney and there are only 30 seats available um and 38 students requested Susan B Anthony so uh we're going to have a lottery for where 12 students won get their first choice um but they will attend uh Garfield Middle School Paul Rivier this year we have two lotteries um and you'll see we have one for Garfield Middle School for one student one student's knock going to get their first choice um we have a lottery for rumney marsh academy uh 11 more students requested than we have seats available um so the students that don't get their first choice at Paul Rivier will attend Susan B Anthony and at Beachmont um we have a lottery just for Susan B Anthony uh there are three more requests then we have seats so um those students uh someone will they will be able to get their first if they don't get their first choice they'll be able to get their second choice until their second choice is filled so we've got one spot available at Garfield and two at Remy Marsh any questions so I have three questions my first question is for the students who will be in a special placement how is how what how is their school location chosen um so that is determined by based on their uh IEP needs so um I it in the past uh it was students who are either attending the Susan B Anthony life skills program or the Remy Marsh Academy they required a sub separate um small learning group type settings so they were placed where we had the programs given our special ed design redesign there's uh okay differences and then so do we prioritize sibling so there's already a sibling at one school yes so there is a sibling um if a child if a family has a sibling that is going into seventh or going into eth they are able to attend with their sibling okay and then is there any reason I saw that there was much less request to go to uh GMS is there like a specific reason for that location maybe it historically that has been the case uh typically Garfield elementary students want to stay it's their neighborhood school they're familiar they we typically always have a lottery for Garfield Middle um this year actually we had having a lottery for Garfield's middle for Paul Rivier was something that we haven't had so overall the trends um are going up for the number of students who are requesting Garfield but they don't match um Romy Marian who me Anthony and then my last question is how common is it that a student may live across Susan banthony but they actually end up being sent to another school because I know that's a lot of the feedback I get so could you like give a little more like stats if there's any on that um typically it's uh it it varies it the there's a larger percentage where there is a larger lottery so at Hill at the whan um where there's larger uh populations of students that are selecting those schools um that's typically where we have uh a greater population of students that don't get what they want you saw at some of the smaller schools it's three or it's 12 um but in the larger schools it's uh more of the population and it varies from year to year we last year we did not have TW 11 lotteries um I think we had like nine last year so it depends what will you say to a par comes into your office and says I just spent $800,000 this house on S Street right across the street from the Susan be Anthony Bobby whing school what are you going to do for him I it it and and please know that it is the worst day of my uh my job um and as the former Garfield Middle School principal it is also difficult to hear and you know I I apologize profusely and it is horrible not to be able to meet somebody's individual circumstances but it is the best we can do to be fair and I tell parents that you know I I I have to apologize profusely and to hear their stories I tell them that I you know I I can't change your one because I know that your I couldn't sleep at night if I was picking and choosing unfortunately we just don't change anybody and after September and I you know the Garfield uh admin could attest to that the kids are fine their family challenges the transportation challenges those still stay but the kids are fine and we sort of stop hearing that those complaints but it is a tough adjustment it's a tough thought to send your little one on a bus for the first time across the city and that's one of the biggest concerns for parents is that you know I'm putting my fifth grader now sixth grader on a bus for the first time um so you know I am as empathetic as I can be and it's a t difficult thing but our social workers are there to talk to their kids they're there to the admin is there to talk to the parents in the middle schools welcome anybody that wants to come and look at the school and talk to them and meet with them yeah thank you any other questions okay and then the last item on the superintendent report is the student Opportunity Act plan okay e while I'm trying to get that up I can begin to talk about our plan there we go all right um so I am going to uh take us back a little bit to uh Dr Kelly's presentation at the last committee meeting where she talked about the required elements of Thea plan so this is uh these are the five elements that have to be in your SOA plan a summary uh of our district plan we have to analyze our data and select student groups for uh focused support we have to set ambitious three-year targets for improving student achievement we are required to engage families and caregivers and other stakeholders and then we have to select from the uh given evidence-based programs and strategies to address these disparities so uh Dr Kelly identified previously that our uh student groups that were identified based on our data analysis um are our El students our students with disabilities in our Hispanic Latino uh subgroup um our ambitious three-year targets we accepted the desie targets that were given to us for our lowest performing students in the subgroup so that was given to us um and new information that I'm going to share today is what our uh engagement with the stakeholders the data that we gathered from them and uh the evidence-based programs um that we have selected so if you look at this PowerPoint um what we did was we had focus groups with our uh School based Council so our school Improvement teams our lpac and our CPAC um met and and provided us feedback in person um additionally all community members were given the opportunity to respond to our survey we had 1,00 um responses on the survey which is a great uh response for us and you can see um generally speaking in this breakdown um our largest uh group of individuals that responded were our parents and our caregivers um followed by staff members uh we had over 130 plus students who responded um we had I believe it was about 40 or so um community members um and other uh other members of the community um so this just gives you a general idea of who responded in addition we also considered the survey data that we have at our disposal which is the mcia survey um the vocal survey and a recent survey that we um were able to get data from from Mass Insight it was round two of our um Equity survey um and one thing that is important to note uh is that all of the survey all of the op um focus groups the surveys the external surveys all provided us with similar feedback it was all aligned which was good to hear that our areas that we should be focusing on are sort of obvious and um clearly apparent so um we looked at our top five um evidence-based uh programs that were selected we have to focus on three so these are the three that were selected um most frequently um by all of our stakeholders so positive School environment which is creating an environment that includes high quality facilities healthy meals physical activity and positive Youth Development for all students um the second most popular was integrated Ser services for student well-being this includes the system of integrating services that align initiatives that promote student behavioral mental health and wellness so some of the subcategories uh bullying prevention trauma sensitivity Dropout prevention treny reduction Foster uh care and homeless youth education and inclusion of students with disabilities um and then the third category was enhanced support for seal and mental health so expanding our capacity to uh support student social emotional and mental health needs um and support that of families and to build the Knowledge and Skills of Staff um adding specialized support staff as some examples partnering with community-based providers strengthening plans for responding to Behavior Health Medical emergencies those are all examples of this uh evidence-based uh program the other two these were uh Choice sort of four and five in popularity but these are important we want wanted to include them in this presentation because they are something that we are going to continue to focus on and in line with our district goals so effective supports to students so implementing and building effective approaches to mtss um which using data to support student strengths and needs matching student with the appropriate supports and monitoring student progress this all aligns with the work that we are doing um academically in our classrooms and then the second is high quality secondary Pathways and programs um so pursuing Early College designations um chapter 74 tech ed programs after dark programs Innova Innovative career pathway programs similar to what um City lab has and Career Connection programs these are uh evidence-based programs that we are uh going to continue to support but um we it was worth uh including here as well and so I did provide you with what is um a written out uh plan for the student Opportunity Act we do have to enter it into des's new system called gems so it's sort of like an open response drop-down type of um platform um but this is to uh the best of our ability the a written out version of the plan I can give you these bullets sort of summarize at a high level um what we identified in that plan so we are going to continue to invest in staff positions programs and highquality professional development for our Educators and our staff um we're going to provide opportunities for students um to support their seal their mental health um and their overall well-being we feel uh these actions will help contribute to an overall positive welcoming School environment um we are going to recruit um additional support Personnel to fill those unfilled positions that remain from last year um including the school psychologist positions in bcbas as well as continue our efforts to recruit and retain educators of color um that reflect the diversity of our students we are going to invest in programs that support welcoming School environments such as restorative practices which you saw tonight advisory our Unified sports and expanded Fine Arts programming our uh examples at the high school level we're going to continue to support all students but with increased empasis on our high priority subgroups through the work of the student support Specialists the student engagement coordinators and the newly restructured um student support teams um we look to expand our Alternative Program um by increasing capacity at City lab Innovation School Coast collaborative and looking at our uh our trade programs and we plan to Monitor and evaluate programming and implementation for students with disabilities through our special education redesign team and so this is if I had to take a a high level summary of the plan that you have in front of you um this is a a bullet point of that thank you I know um Dr kuch did you have something to add okay does anybody have any questions no nice job Miss Rizzo thank you mayor um I know in the survey there was um an area if you wanted to add things and of course I always have my own two cents um so I look at in the summary provide opportunities for students that will support their well-being and seal development and I also look at um investing in our staff positions and giving them high quality professional development um so my major comment was we need to help our staff with seal and their well-being because if it's not working for them they can't help our students so I really hope that would be taken into consideration somehow maybe not under the SOA plan um which every time I hear it I'm so proud that I was one of two school committee members that was there when um the governor signed it and it was like one of the most important days of my life I was so excited so I get every time it comes up I love it but if we could start like I said if it's not within the SOA plan I would love to see some kind of development and help for our Educators with um seal thank you Miss mil mil Alis um I'm I'm just digesting all of this and I'm trying to understand what the difference is between everything that we've been doing thus far and and this plan here because it seems like this has been the focus for as long as I've been on the committee and probably years prior to um to me getting elected so if you could just explain what's different about all the emphasis that's we're putting in these areas um in this plane and and this plan excuse me and and I also am part of me is is wondering about the budget it just seems like we are pretty topheavy and there's a lot of people that are um in the building and and doing things but the focus really needs to be on these students so I haven't had a chance to completely digest this I'm grasp I'm getting it um but I'm not 100% sold either so if you could elaborate and educate me that'd be great sure so one of the things that is uh I I would like to say that we have been we've been ahead of the curve of investing in things like social emotional learning and uh student mental health you approve the investment in the Comprehensive Health director last year um and she's worked to bring a lot to that that program um it is f the the primary objective is to support it low decrease the disparities in the achievement of our identified subgroups um so we have heard loud and clear from families that what supports their um their uh engagement with the community is when we have a welcoming environment so it it does sort of sound like well we have always been doing this what are we doing more but um we have made great strides in our engaging our families with our family liaison and having parent activities and things like that so that's one piece of it is supporting that making families feel like they can be part of this community because we need them on our team um and the second piece is it basically what Miss Rizzo just said is we need to intentionally invest money in um professional development opportunities and in trainings and in academic trainings and in our programs like our uh special ed redesign to increase student uh engagement increase students sense of well-being increase students mental health uh feelings of self-efficacy and that's a way to do it um so so I think what this plan is going to sort of remind us and direct us to do is to intentionally look at meeting the social emotional needs of our staff providing them the supports that they need understanding where our families are coming to us supporting our parent information center and our heart Department as they're working with the um migrant and homeless families that are coming to us so it is being intentional in driving the the train with um looking at what this what the students need and we're also continuing to focus on academic achievement and early literacy and all of the things that we have been doing but this sort of allows us and holds us accountable to um what are we doing to support our students mental health and well-being because they can't access the curriculum and be perform in the classroom if they don't feel like they belong or they're not they don't have their needs met whether it's um Family inside of school or outside of school I I appreciate that I I just um I understand now we're going to be more direct in what in what we're doing but it would be nice to get a a plan and to be able to look to the Future and see that there's an emphasis on academics that there's an emphasis on um behavioral issues slash um you know addressing uh those types of issues that we're facing in the classrooms and um I just look forward to the day when that becomes the focus focus again and I think it is and you'll see sort of um nuggets of it in the plan so things like mstv came up in several of our um uh feedback from our Educators as a a course that they took that is intended to uh sh intended to um provide students with the opportunity to think critically out loud so forcing them to speak forcing them to interact forcing them to share their thoughts and that course serves so many purposes it increases the rigor of a classroom it engages students students and it providing teachers that training which they have loved and asked for every year um is an investment for us and it's something that we prioritized last year and they're telling us that we need to prioritize again thank you yep thank you Mr Kingston um I don't know if the members are all aware of it maybe they didn't see the email we do get an awful lot of emails last year in the budget we put a employee assistance program in the budget and miss Ma was able to um secure a vendor and currently there is um an employee assistance program out there for all staff the city side has had it for many years um and now we are we also offer a program as well um and I just wanted to make that if for folks that weren't aware that may be on staff um that is available to them and I think it's important that it gets utilized because we are paying for it thank you Mr Mayor to go back to the SOA plan um I agree with what Miss milber Alis said as far as discipline and um our academics and that can be all in our district Improvement plan but where the SOA plan comes in it's um to identify um disparities um and learn an opportunities and the outcomes also um how we utilize the evidence that we're get so I I truly agree but when they came up with this plan it was um for a little bit different reason um but both are just as important thank you good point Thank you m mon Roo yeah I think Miss Bron reso just gave the recap I did and then also so the last slide was just like a a summary of the big buckets because of the way it's put into the gem portal for desie it's the so once it's put in they will download a copy of it and give it to us and it'll really like specify more details of how it can tie into the academics I looked at it today aw thank you so motion to approve the SOA plan that's due by April 1st 2020 24 to desie we have a second all in favor is there any discussion discussion no okay all in favor yes do we do we roll call on this you don't need a roll call well that's why I said all in favor all in favor I all right abstain object okay thank you the hearings none okay subcommittee reports no none we're not done oh that's that's it the special education under superintendent report no that's under motions oh did you ask these are the reports you asked for today yes oh sorry um uh similar to the SOA uh motion that's 9A uh there is a special ed redesign motion of 9B if you'd like to me to give I only need two to three minutes if you'd like me to do that now I could do that now or we could do it right before we take the motion wherever you feel is best Miss montoso um I just I wanted to add one thing other the subcommittees that's why I was asking if I could speak before we jumped to that I just wanted to refer to the policies and procedures subcommittee if we could uh get a meeting to revise the public speak policy because it currently doesn't have instructions for how people can sign up for public comment so I'd love if we could give it a look and revise it to include more specific instructions for the public that was all thank you Mr guchi all right hi everyone thank you um so I just want to thank the committee for all of the feedback that you gave Miss faen Miss Hannah Finn myself and Miss humus on the special education redesign plan um I know I speak for all of us when I say I really appreciate all of the support that was expressed and um there really is a lot of excitement around this plan and before I get into any of the intricacies which won't take long I promise um I want to say that the overall vision of the plan is to move our special education students away from um towards a least restrictive environment um we want to uphold our expectations academically behaviorally socially you name it that is the vision of our redesign um so we appreciate all the support um one piece of constructive feedback that we got was the Middle School move of the life skills program now known as Ascend um from the susen B Anthony to the Garfield and I know the team dove in and really did some work around that to to um look into that and I think what the team found um and they did some work with Kristen Murphy Kier who's amazing and she's our transition coordinator is that the life skills um class is a very active class um on a lot of fronts um look no further than our high school our life skills students do recycling for the whole building they go up down and around the whole building um they help maintain our library um they work on these life skills um within the walls of rhs many of those students then go on to our postgrad program which um is really grade 13 if you will um when they enter that program they do a lot of works with Rivier Parks and Recreation um Chelsea courthous uh we have three students this semester two days a week that audit classes at ums Boston and so the vision of the program is really this active kind of robust um program uh Susan B Anthony has done a fabulous job and as the committee has expressed has welcomed this program with open arms and really it's become a pillar of the school um but I think we are pretty confident that the Garfield can do the very same thing and what we really look at in terms of proximity and location um the fact that there is one less transition for these students with many of them attending Garfield Elementary and being in that complex for K through five and building that confidence with the physical space to be able to attend in the very same building but different School uh grades 6 through eight would really be um one of the main factors that we consider and if you think about the lottery information that Dr maaba just presented you'll notice that a lot of the whan students want SBA and a lot of the Garfield elementary students want Garfield midle um so proximity and K through five does matter to students and families and then we considered things like um Garfield's proximity to River Beach and all of the businesses and potential Partnerships along the beach um the fact that Garfield has a pool and for the students to be able to engage in some type of future Aquatics program um and the fact that it's located so closely to our public transit um and the ability to get into Boston by simply walking up to the Rivera Beach um T Station um so we definitely appreciate appreciated all the feedback that we received um within the plan that's presented this evening we did maintain moving life skills to Garfield um but I just I I wanted to just thank you all for the support and the feedback that we got um it really drove our work since the last meeting thank you anyone wish to speak on this Mr Kingson Dr Gucci I can't support moving that life skills from the SBA um I think putting kids that have accessible medical devices on a third or fourth floor of of a building I think in case of a an issue there whether it be fire drill fire or any kind of emergency um I just don't think it's a good idea I'm strongly opposed to it um the rest of the plan I think is excellent I think leaving the I think the beach m students being able to stay at Beachmont and finish their Elementary career is awesome I know the staff there um hates to see those kids leave at as it is now so I'm I'm for that I'm also for the I'm going to use the old terms because I haven't learned the new ones for the small learning groups to go to rumney I don't have a problem with that either um but I can't support and I won't support the um small learning group I know as send or what I'm not sorry Ascend or the life skills class leaving the SBA I think they have a nice home there and not to say that they couldn't have the same at Garfield but they're home there they're part of the community um the parents don't want them moved um I think they are transitioning once I I don't think that's a bad thing they go from the they go from the go field um Elementary to um to uh the SBA I don't agree with putting them on the third and fourth floor I think you're putting students at risk I don't I don't I mean someone said we'll make accommodations I don't know what accommodations you can make to get a kid down three flights of stairs um and I'll be honest if that ends up happening I'll be the one filing the Ada uh grievance because I don't think I think we're putting kids in harm and I'm I'm not going to support that ever so I I really have a strong problem with that um I did talk to some special ed teachers that I do know um and they felt that being on the third or fourth floor was a problem um and that's just how I feel and I'm sorry but I agree with the other parts I have I think Beach bont's awesome I've been saying that for years uh privately because I hated to see those kids leave I just thought it was terrible I knew it was just you know the logistic thing and what what had to be so I'm you know I'm not supportive of I'm not against all the plan just that one part I just don't agree with moving those kids I don't think putting kids on a third or fourth floor um and you can't put them on the first floor because they need to be with their peers so that's out and I just don't agree um with the logic of putting those students on the third and fourth floor with the challenges that they have and I it I I just don't get it I just from a logical basis I asked a couple of people who nothing about anything I said would you put someone that you know needed that kind of support on a third or fourth floor in when an elevator could possibly not be accessible how do we get those students down so I I apologize but I can't well I won't apologize for that um I I can't support that at all and I won't thank you m Rizzo my question is do we have a first and a second motion we that we having discussion we didn't but he asked a discussion so I continue okay can we have it first in a second because I'd like to add make a motion to accept the special education redesign program I'll second it second do have discussion so M Rizo do you have more to discuss yes please I you know what we have qualified educational people that are making these decisions would I want my kid on the third floor probably not because it's my kid but these are qualified if we're going to question every time they want to do something and we're not the experienced people we don't have the education behind us to be making some of these decisions we can ask for their input but we have to go by the guidance that they're given us also that's their jobs Miss Miss Milbury Ellis sure um well to Stacy's point I I would say that our job is to ask questions and for me I am not an expert on special needs and I know that it's much more complicated and involved than what's been presented I will say that this plan um for me raised much more questions um than it provided answers John had raised some um some issues during the last meeting and I don't feel like we've received or um were provided with any information to specifically address those those concerns and we still haven't been um such as what such as where are the kids where the where's where are the kids going to be located at the Garfield School where are they being placed uh the third or fourth floor two locations and and they were once on the third floor at the sus Anthony I'm sorry they were on third floor Anthony at one time yes they're not now though right they were right exactly so that's irrelevant the fact that they were in the past we're we're moving forward I guess these are my I I'll express my concerns and maybe you can maybe maybe you can give us some insight on sure um so one I would have been interested in and hearing more about the multiple stakeholders that were surveyed and interviewed and how this plan came to be um it does read very generically as far as providing us with information um again those concerns that John raised about the third and fourth floors and the safety concerns of moving those students downstairs or out the building in the event of an emergency um I to Shar in those concerns and I would like to have some information available explaining how what the plan is to address or to alleviate those concerns um as far as the transition I address that oh yeah sure well I I can't violate student confidentiality I mean I can say out loud that a physical disability you have no greater chance of finding a phys physical disability in a life skills class than any other class in the building but I'm not going to get into individual needs okay so you're not going to address those concerns okay well I can't okay that's fine you couldn't give a hypothetical as to like okay that's fine that's fine um as far as the issue of trans transitioning um the one-time transition the transitions from Garfield to SBA um I would think that this transition um to the SBA would probably be more beneficial than a direct transition into high school where the at least as far as my experience and what I've observed personally at the SBA is that school has created such and I'm not saying Garfield can't do this but what I am saying is that they have created such an environment um and cultivated and fostered uh a really special place of inclusivity in that school where the life um skills students are so well integrated and respected and cheered on and um it's just it's it's something that's wonderful to see and I just I don't know why we're trying to fix something that's not broken it feels like we're shuffling things around but I don't see any plan in here for how we're going to address what's going on at the high school the the issues the special needs issues this is a redesign program yet we don't even mention the high school um I'm just not I don't like feeling not prepared I don't like feeling as if I'm not being provided with enough in information to make an educated decision I still don't understand why it is that we're actually moving the SBA kids to the Garfield School except to essentially house all of the kids in in one um building and it seems like that benefit is outweighed by what is happening now at at the SBA like I said I'm not an expert on special needs s but I do have questions I I do have concerns and unfortunately I just don't feel like I I have all the information available to me um the train and the pool I mean when would these kids be taking the train when would my where where do they take the train to well middle schoolers where do they take the train to they have training programs some are at triangle in Malden some are in these B and what do they do right now they get driven to the train station and they get on the train oh I have no idea I'm just responding what they do after well now they're not doing anything right it's possibil sorry not a I understand um just give me one moment please um the other question I had was um with respect to the ASD and the two tracks which which seems like a really good um plan I'm wondering what's the determining Factor um for the you know for deciding which schools the kids go to like is it based off um need is it based off address uh which schools this is the for the ASD I think that's the correct um acronym forgive me are you talking middle I'm just learning all of this no that's okay um are you talking middle for the for the elementary I'm sorry so the elementary is um by neighborhood school so we grouped it into three and three so if you're on the porier Garfield Beachmont side of the city you would attend Beachmont k25 if you're on the hill whalan um oh my gosh I'm D to blank Hill wh l so it's based on the neighborhood schools correct so I guess my question then would be should we be making a determination based on the students need as opposed to their address uh well they're parallel programs okay so we're offering identical programs okay thank you that's helpful no problem thank you no problem Miss monosa uh I have my long list too so I think it's uh it was good to hear that students were out on the third floor at the susen be Anthony at one point and I find that's relevant because it sounds like it's a a one question that's like leaving a lot of people wondering how it's going to work so students have been on the third floor at a school that earned life skills classes at one point so I'm just wondering it didn't work and that's why they moved it is that is that why they were moved yeah no I that is not my understanding but uh could you explain a little bit more your understanding I I don't know why misset the location of the classroom in fact I think they've been on all three floors I'm not sure about that but I think they've been on all three floors um I don't know what I can say about life skills is it is a very active class okay and then uh you may have already answered this last time but I I just might add sorry I'm Sorry Miss mono um it's very active at the high school level right now um and I am not critiquing what's going going on at the middle school all I'm saying is when we're looking to kind of plant the seeds of what kids are going to experience at Rivier high school and then in the postgrad program where they're really going off campus um that that was that was the redesign team's thought let's start planting those seeds at Middle School oh my gosh look at the Garfield location it also matches where they go k25 there's these opportunities not that in said in s like we don't have plan to take the mdta right now this moment but in the coming years to be able to have those resources close by that was the The Vision okay and then you may have answered this before but did you engage families of students who would be in these live skills classes to ask them their thoughts on like the move um that I don't know I'd have to ask Miss humis okay so that's one question and then if you could get us that answer that'd be great I'd love to know what stakeholder engagement absolutely look like and then I do know that Miss wh is presented at CPAC but not specifically what you're saying like specific families yeah because I I'm hearing that some constituents have reached out to some members so I'd love to just for all who don't know to reach out to his committee School Committee Member to just hear their thoughts and so that'll lead to my last point but my next question is is there are there any changes to are high schools with this redesign or is it just elementary and middle I don't think sorry Katie you want to come up oh go ahead yeah Sarah would say we're not done with the redesign this is just the first phase and we focused on elementary and middle because high school's already doing redesign work in other areas so okay you're working closely with that yeah and then do you w to add you added an additional teacher for last year to the program for the life skins oh the PO yeah our okay um but that's not part of this plan okay so I think my my opinion to move forward would be if there's I know there's other people enter into the discussion if we're not ready about this specific part of the redesign if maybe people are willing to vote on all the other parts that we are and we could refer this to the subcommittee just to talk a little bit more and wait for some stakeholder engagement I don't want to stop us but I also want to create opportunity for everyone to engage and continue developing the out so I'll I'll keep it going thank you g a couple things first of all my mother was a special needs secretary my father was a special needs director and we've had plenty of dinners and talks about about special needs and two of the factors always came up is that the students feel that they're safe physically and so on the other part is to to have consistency and build rapport and if we take the kids on a Susan B Anthony they're going to be out of their comfort zone they're not going to have the same teachers and I just think it could hurt the kids set them back more than help them and we really need to take a look at this thank you Mr Kingson I'd like to offer a substitute motion that we that we pass the um special education redesign except for the move to the moving the SBA life skills Ascend group um to the bfield middle thank you can we see if there was any discuss yeah Oh I thought we were done I'm sorry um was the last comment you madey cons I the same teachers will those teachers not be moving with the students I mean they're going to be did they would be yes they' be thank you I was confused I was ask question I assume they were but yeah can I just ask a question I think that can I just a little bit of a synopsis from what I'm hearing um and I and I appreciate everyone's concern this is what we're here for we're here to ask questions like I think I used to mentioned earlier but this is is you know correct me is this just change for Chain's sake or is this change because we're trying to make the plan better I mean I I know it sounds like a silly question but please Dr bluni it's certainly to make our special ed programming better okay um Mr it has been subpar can we ask um either the ladies or Dr kuchi just to give us a a brief summary of what we've been talking about the redesign and the people that have participated in how long just to kind of remind us what they have been doing it's not an overnight decision do you mind Dr guchi or ladies I don't care yeah I mean I know um Miss humis she couldn't be here tonight and she wants to be so I apologize um but she certainly met with um uh CPAC um for over a year this specialed redesign was driven by special education teachers with some of the most heavily attended meetings I've ever been a part of and I'm talking 30 to 40 teachers at every single meeting um it was um all ideas were considered we did not take every single idea that was presented um but administrators par professional CPAC uh a Year's worth of work from our special education leaders teachers that's where this plan came from I did not create this plan no administrator created this plan it was ideas from special education teachers that's it that that's where it came from I don't know if there's any further discussion I know there's a few motions as well um so any other discussion M Mr Kingson you had a motion I'd like I'd like to make a substitute motion to approve the um special education redesign except for moving the SBA uh life skills as send students to the go field and would that be tabling that matter or would that be I just I wanted to die so whatever you folks want to do but I I I don't have a problem with all the plan just this one part I realize people have put a lot of time and energy into it and I have no problem with it pots of it are great the beach want thing is the best thing I've heard in a very long time but the rest but the moving the life skills life skill as Sun kids nope can't can't support it so that's my subtitute motion that's what I'd like to see us vote on so they could move ahead with the other parts of their plan second thank you I have an alternate can we move this to um the subcommittee health and special education please move the the entire design py you're asking to move the entire R design plan to that and not vote on any parts or just the they need to get started I mean like everything else they can't wait around for us to that's what I'm asking when you say move it when you're saying move it to subcommittee are you asking right that's portion I would like to move to subcommittee please we had a second on the substitute so can we roll call that yep roll call on the uh Mr Kingston substitute motion uh Mrs Bronson Rizo so to recap the upset to motion is to vote on the redesign plan except for the life skills change and then after we vote on that someone can refer that part to the health and special needs sub special education subcommittee for further discussion yes yes yes oh sorry uh Mr kiano yes Mr Kingston yes Mr Mata yes Mrs Milbury Ellis Miss monteroso yes mayor ke yes so I would like to um take that um alternate motion and take that piece and send it to what are you laughing for you don't health and special education subcommittee please and we don't need a motion for that anyone can refer something to sub committee so you can just say you're referring it great and you're the chair of that so we'll look forward to meeting referred to miss rizz point of personal privilege please um because we're working on um special education my plan was to come up with some dates for um the committee members and that would be a Isa Milbury Ellis and I believe it's Mr Mata that's on it um and I was inviting CPAC um and some other people to it but they also want to remind for anyone that's really not sure about special education masc is holding a zoom Workshop tomorrow night at 6 o'cl you can sign up on mc.org and we will be discussing um the new IEP um plans um I'm hoping that some parents might want to jump on it that's why I'm going to ask CPAC it's a last minute item but um if not I'm going to have them come here to the explain to the parents and you know try to work something out with CPAC because we need to really work with CPAC support those parents um they just don't have enough help so miss I just have a question how is CPAC doing last the last meeting I went I think I was one of the only pan I ask you for the name of the person running so I'm oh okay I'll give you right after the meeting sure I have no clue I don't either I know of a new person to you yeah okay president vice president and a secretary wow that's awesome can I ask you to write that down for me so I can get in touch with them when you have a chance thank you okay um also tomorrow night um the acting commissioner um for Riley um Russell Johnson he's excellent he was in the sped Department um he's going to be speaking on some of the changes for the special education um leadership at desie so if you do have a chance you want to learn a little bit more about IEP in case parents ask you question you have an idea of what they're talking about thank you good so we're going to move that piece into your subcommittee unfinished business no sorry see I don't have this on my agenda okay so this is the motion to nominate and elect a school committee Treasurer cor yes so just context uh we approved the treasurer posision last month so uh the floor is now open if anyone would like to nominate someone for Treasure Mr chair Miss Milbury else I nominate Anthony cajano to serve as the committee's first treasurer second second roll call any discussion are there any other nominations any discussion no roll call Mrs Bronson Rizo not voting uh Mr kajo yes Mr Kingston yes Mr Mata yes Mrs BB Ellis yes Miss monteroso yes mayor Keith yes motion passes okay finished businessone new business new business so under new business I'd like to speak about the superintendent evaluation just because we didn't get to it in the C so uh let's see so a little bit of a recap we are a year behind kind in her evaluation process for those who are new including the mayor and myself the superintendent was moved to a 2-year valuation cycle which required her to have a midpoint valuation usually by May or June of last year she actually has not been evaluated since September of 2022 so we are behind and with that her let's see I have this so so and then this year we're also set to enter into discussions of a contract negotiation for the superintendent she uh the contract requires that we give her a 9month notice and so it we need to do the midyear evaluation and it needs to be voted on by June and it doesn't make sense in my expert opinion to then do another full year evaluation again this year and so I wanted to bring this to you all and see if we could have a motion to amend her cycle so we can do the midy Year this year start on it through the Personnel subcommittee so that we can you know vote on it by May or June and then we can enter into the contract negotiation conversations as needed and so with my last Point here also is that Desi does not have a midyear valuation rubric for superintendent because this cycle is actually not something that's very common in the Commonwealth so that's also another reason why we shouldn't have two valuations this year because we're going to have to either either adapt the admin midpoint rubric or create our own so it's going to be a lot of work that we need to do and so that's kind of just the context on why like for us to vote to amend the evaluation cycle so we can start on the midpoint as soon as possible thoughts Miss milber Ellis I'm I'm curious as to why we if anybody can Enlighten us as to why we would switch to a two-year as opposed to do annual reviews there's got to be some benefit to it so I just want to understand that before we vote Miss Rizzo yes it was suggested by desie um MC and mass for the experienced ones all the newer ones coming into the program would be one-year cycles and when we the year that we voted for a two-year cycle is the year that they had suggested because of how many years she's already and it's easier for the school committee to keep up with it but then you know what you lose if it's not every year you get behind so but two years thank you for the information any other questions no okay so also just to recap um I already you know Dr Kelly isn't here but I recap this with her so she knows kind of what the plan is and so our timeline would be we vote right now to amend the cycle I'll refer this to the Personnel subcommittee we'll start to discuss what the rubric is in the process so then hopefully by May or June we vote on this and then uh come August September we start the conversation about contract negotiations based after the evaluation so with that I'd like to make a motion to amend the superintendent's evaluation cycle to conduct a midpoint evaluation uh this spring do I have a second second Mr C seconds any discussion me I just need a more understanding of what it is I mean I came November 27th special person came in and spoke on it and then we were supposed to do a midyear evaluation in February I asked about any paperwork I never got any paperwork and then I thought we're on assumption we're doing it on February now we have another DeLay So umana what paperwork do you need I'm more than no just any any paperwork we had on the original evaluation I mean I mean you already set up a standards right last year right but did I not send you her contract in last evaluation no I got the contract I got the budget but I never got the evaluation okay then it was my fault I got that I will be more than happy to do that tonight oh no problem but I'm saying is is but then I thought we were gonna have that even though I didn't get that from you I just figured in January and February we going to take it up because we had the mid years in February and now we're being delayed again and it's just like we have a delay on this the delay on the honors and it's just like if we need to do it we need to get it done instead of keeping delaying all the time yeah so so it was supposed to be done we mentioned doing it in February of this year because it was already a year behind it was supposed to happen last Fe August it was supposed to happen in August and we decided to wait for the new committee to be part of that because they would be coming in November and it wasn't fair to exclude them okay um it should have been done earlier it should was due last year uh but it's our job to do it so that's why the discussion is now it didn't happen in February because there's so much that I feel like I'm I'm caring here for our committee so I discussed it I tried to make a plan and now I'm bringing it to you all now so as soon as we can all approve it we'll get the ball rolling so it's not pushing it down it's a matter of it was already behind as a new Vice CH trying to figure out all the places that we had G and we need to really tighten those so definitely hear you and we'll get to work on it as soon as we can get this voted on so we can amend and move forward with it want say my question is is when we're in negotiations with teaches custodians and everything we don't have a contract they work without a contract until we get it done and whether it be superintendents teachers or anything when a vote go without a contract what what's the problem I mean I I don't understand I mean we expect that from our teachers to work without a contract but none of our administrations and so on and then another thing too is is I I'm not sure if we're talking about a three or fiveyear contract just like I talked about before I have concerns about long-term contracts as far as uh cost I mean two years down the line we are going to be under the gun our budget because the sh Falls with the state cities states and towns and I don't agree with long-term contracts either whether it be teachers administrators or so on so I'm saying what is it to work without a contract to get it done I feel when we don't work we don't have a contract then we're going to work harder to get it done instead of saying kicking it down the road kicking it down the road and I feel what I've seen with the schools like when we have meetings about the schools it's just like they come ahead of us we need a vote and I just feel everything's at the last minute everything is the last minute let's extend it let's extend it and that's what I have app problem with thank you um I'm just I'm a little confused I'm just asking us to do the evaluation That was supposed to be done over a year ago not I I yeah I I don't I don't really know saying is is if I can clarify this isn't about I mean this obviously relates to a future probably contract but this is just the evalu a I mean this is like but but the contract States is basically if we don't do anything in June then it's automatically renewed yeah that that's the contract that was signed for whatever years ago okay so the point is is we don't renew it and then we work to get this done that's all I'm trying to say is if we don't do anything now we're on the thing for a long-term cont I mean it has nothing to do with uh Dr Kelly I think Dr Kelly's been wonderful I says I'm not saying anything negative it just seems like everything's in the last minute we draging on and the point I'm trying to make is you know what we work without a contract we don't renew it and then we get it done maybe we'll get it done faster instead of just saying it's a year from now it's a year from now that's all I'm trying to good point uh if I you know but just just to remind like as far as the we're talking about the evaluations as far as the contract it's a separate conversation and I'm just I I don't have it in front of me but just so so everyone knows and I don't think anyone's even talking about a contract right now but if there isn't a re if there isn't a letter stating that we will not renew your contract in by a certain timeline to the 9 to 12 months depends on who it is if I I have to look then they automatically get reup for another year which is fine great like I don't think anyone's suggesting that wouldn't be would be a problem but they so if you don't give them a letter of intent to either dismiss or to extend they automatically extend so it's more about acting on the contracted language that's in there but I'm not necessarily concerned with the contract now it's more about the evaluation that I think that she's bringing up we don't act if we don't act on it correct then it's an automatic renewal that's how I read it correct anybody else see the contract yeah it we took that out I believe as far as I know it's in it it's a renewal for an additional year I believe no I thought thought it ought A Renewed no it doesn't say that turn okay can I just ask so we can get yeah wein a real Livin I don't even know the words anymore um and I'm glad Anthony said this because this is what I was going to say originally this has nothing to do with Dr Kelly not doing the job that she's supposed to do I blame the last school committee that I sat on and I blame this school committee because if we're not going to act and do our jobs we have no one to blame but ourselves so yes I think we should work on what Jackin said and um and then after the evaluation move on think we all agree with that agree yeah but it doesn't answer the question the question is is the contract says it's automatically renewed so what are we planning to do so okay I so okay I'll answer that question and then um we can continue that conversation but i' like to vote on just the contract so the contract does say that if she's not given word within nine months of expiration which is next June of 2025 she gets the the onee extension like you're saying doesn't say that it says 12 it says you have to notify by June oh it's an automatic renew extend for another five shall be effective not extend for five years yes okay so can we just vote on the evaluation then we'll have that discussion because these are two separate matters and I just want us to do our job because we're over a year behind on evaluating the superintendent she hasn't been evaluated since 2022 so that's my matter at hand we had a second is it still second that the second was me second whatever she brought that we can take up the contract the second we already had 500 discussions and not even a second all right we have a second yes do we have any discussion on the evaluation can I miss Milbury Ellis just for clarification these are two separate issues Dr Kelly has a contract as a superintendent and she's also to be evaluated by us so these things can happen simultaneously or separately they're not connected if that makes if that makes any sense that's my understanding at least exactly so we could do the midterm evaluation in June and still um discuss Dr Kelly's contract but that's an issue that needs to be it's a separate issue it just needs to be put on an agenda and needs to be discussed at least that's my understanding correct me if I'm wrong I don't disagree with you but and like what what monos Miss montoso is bringing up is I would never want to go over a contract without having an evaluation first right you would want to have like the metrics to talk about and then then that's the discussion of the contract after so that's exactly what Mr try she's trying to get to the evaluation so we can get to that point otherwise we can sit there and do nothing yeah ex right I think that she's trying to get to that right so we have any other discussion no roll call please Mrs Bronson Rizo yes Mr kiano yes Mr Kingston yes Mr Matera yes Mrs melis yes Miss monteroso yes mayor Keith yes okay new business Mr Kingston I I honestly feel sometimes and I don't mean to to um disparage anyone or say anything I honestly feel we could use a little work on how to run the meeting so to speak so I reached out to the mass Association of school committees um and asked if someone could come out um I suggested and it was only a suggestion and I obviously I just wanted to discuss it um I thought maybe four o'clock before a meeting um the woman offered to come out either at our April meeting or at a May meeting and basically she thought within an she thought within she thought within an hour she could kind of go over the ropes of running a meeting so we'd be a little more um um I think there's some questions sometimes and procedure I don't think we've done anything primly wrong and I'm not too worried about too much but I think just to make a smoother more little better flow for the meeting some education would be helpful it's free um and I just thought like four o'clock before either the April or May meeting might be helpful um again we can work out another time I just thought we're already scheduled for those meetings so people are already coming if it's too early you know we can make another date it's just something times hard to get another date um you know with everyone's busy schedule so I think it's something really should think about um I appreciate it you know obviously we can discuss it but I I think we could use the help I don't think anyone in this room is confident in how to run a meeting I'm certainly not John could you please tell me who you spoke to was I I apologize um I had a lengthy conversation with her and she did introduce herself she did hits to the phone she you probably know who she is she's a new Regional director Alicia M she will be coming to help out with special education um workshop and um meeting so um perhaps if I can come up with the date with our subcommittee and with CPAC maybe we can um piggyback so that she does she's not in she doesn't live in this area so but maybe once is better I did ask her at four o'clock on I gave her those two dates just threw them out there and I said look this isn't set in stone I have to talk to my colleagues obviously but I'll bring it up I talked to it yesterday so it was before for the you know it was fresh and she said I could I could make those two days at 4:00 if that works for your committee and I'm not I'm not dictating please I'm just saying I just threw that out there but I think we could use the help and if anyone says we don't I'll gladly talk to you after because I think we could thank you Miss monteroso uh so I think thank you for bringing that up John so we actually the mayor and I uh have been working to plan a retreat for us and once we kind of figured out we were going to bring I think we I had mentioned it to you all and how we'll make the agenda together on topics people have so I think that's a great starting point but while we're on that topic to let you all know um once I kind of like solidify the outline I'll bring it to you all for feedback so to ensure that our Retreat actually includes content that you all want but I was uh I'm happy to share kind of that line of what I was thinking now with folks I was thinking of having three different sessions of two hours the first one would be on the difference between roles and responsibilities between a superintendent and school committee the second one would be on open meeting law and the third would be on this research document that's called eight characteristics of successful School committees and so um that that research was the foundation of professional development I receiv received to be a school Committee Member and so the breakdown would also include some culture building for us that would be led Maybe by some of our restorative justice student captains and then uh so I won't get into the nitty-gritty of it because I want everyone to be part of that conversation to design it so I think just saying John I think you kicked off a conversation that that I was ready to bring to all of us as well under your new business so love to see you collaborate with Miss bronze and ril so that we can start that and then uh the chair and myself as Vice chair will continue planning the bigger Retreat and loop you all in so that we can have feedback on that and just just to remind everyone we have money in the budget for us to be doing workshops we can't and I know everyone works but I mean right now we're talking March the conference is in November there's plenty of time to set aside a day or two also there's learnning lunch so that you can go on a zoom and there's different subject matters um like tomorrow is on well no tomorrow is tomorrow night but learn and lunches we'll talk about superintendent evaluations there's always different topics to help school committee so we need to you can't sit back and just wait for people to tell you what you're supposed to be doing you need need to reach out and get your information it's hard but we need to do it if we're not going to B ourselves if we keep saying and blaming and that's what it seems like we do thank you good information okay any other new business great motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all in favor --------- e e the Tuesday March 19th 2024 meeting of the school committee it is now 6m we all rise and salute the flag flag thank you Dr guchi would you call the role sure Mrs Bronson Rizzo here Mr kiano here Mr Kingston here Mr Mata here Mrs Milbury Ellis present M monteroso present mayor Keef here first order of business we have some serious recognition in front of us and I know that Dr guchi has a bunch of certificates but I uh some of the members here may want to speak but we had an unbelievable amount of uh accomplishments this uh this fall season so congratulations to everyone in attendance I know that there's going to be some special uh Rec Rec nition and I'd give offer some uh latitude to our members to make some individual speeches if they'd like or some conversation Miss Rizzo I just want to say it's been a phenomenal season um I am on the MIAA board of directors and I was so happy to go to my meean last week and break about what you students have um done um what the joy that you have given us along with your Educators your families and to the coaches that put in so much time that have um oh and I'm looking at you over there since you were a baby playing basketball no not you no her she's looking I was like oh my gosh she's all grown up I'm like oh um but your coaches are amazing they give they care about you they build relationships with you and that's all we can ask for for you to do your best and your fames to support you and have the relationships with your coaches so you have someone to go through and talk about whatever you need to talk about thank you all each and every one of you I'm so proud of you thank you Mr kiano I'd like to say congratulations to all of you and uh the only thing I'd like to say is I know the commitment it is between academics and sports if you guys to do what you've done and the accomplishment you made your parents your family the administration will part thank you Mr gson I'll just say the same thing congratulations to all of you I used to work the basketball games uh boys and girls and I did the hockey clock and I miss it very much unfortunately I had to give that up to sit here but I wanted to give that up so that I could support Athletics by sitting here um Mr Shay knows I have his back and anytime he asks for anything I'm happy to help and that's very important um I really think the athletes should should say thank you to their coaches they put in an awful lot of time for a little amount of money and they don't coach because they want the money it's just to give to their spouse or significant other for all the time that they spend away from their families so I want to thank the coaches for putting in the time and caring about our kids because without them we wouldn't have these programs so thank you thank you Anthony I just like to say that Sports is such an important part of of of of your high school uh uh just your high school being there's nothing better than going out on the court or going out on the field representing your school it builds friendship it builds collaboration and the main thing is you develop so many friends as you know I don't have to tell you you developed so many friends on the field and it's just a wonderful thing when you can combine both education and sports so it's something I just totally commend all of you on thank you very much thank you just following up on what my colleague just said about um the friendships that you develop I was also a former baller back in my younger days in in Rivier middle school and high school and um it's a wonderful thing right you you've me met these these other girls and you guys competed and you did very well you've made your families proud you've made your coaches proud and you've certainly represented your city well and I just want to thank you for that and congratulate you and I hope you you know Tak in all of this wonderful feelings that you get from from the success and let it motivate you to keep moving on and and you know kind of meld into other aspects of your life so I wish you all the best congratulations again and um look forward to seeing you guys play in high school I think you've all set it up but congratulations to all the teams thank you to all our coaches for all you do and to our parents cuz I know it's probably driving to a lot of games buying uniforms buying extra things for for them giving up Saturday mornings to probably go to games so thank you to our parents as well for encouraging your children to pursue their Athletics thank you and uh if if I can just add couple things on the coaches that are in the room not just the coaches but parents um this is a huge obligation that you all commit to uh taking your kids and your your students or your athletes uh to games and encouraging them and pushing them and we all know that good coaches are have an obligation or understand that they're able to take a player to another level and you know cuz good players are going to play good you know great Runners are going to run great good basketball players going to play good whatever it may be but a coach can take them to another level and that's the difference between a good coach and just someone that shows up so thank you to all the coaches that brought these plays up to another level and thank you to the parents to put in the sacrifices to the athletes in the room uh this hard work is going to pay off no matter what you do in life you may never play the sport again after this year some of you may graduate some you might move on to college and you may never pick up a glove or a bath or uh or basketball uh and this might be the last time you run run the track meet um but whatever you do in life if you if you work hard it's going to pay off no matter what job you do in your in the in the rest of your life or the responsibilities you have have as a parent or just a general citizen so um special kudos to the people that made unbelievable special um Awards tonight I know that this just like Miss Rizzo mentioned there's one that I I've seen since she was a baby I happen to know her family very well Haley uh thank you uh our GBL MVP and I know there's a coach of the year in the room and I know there's a couple other Allstars and MVPs in the room that I happen to know a lot of the parents and family members uh and I'm very proud of you uh as as as your uh as your mayor but also as your friend so thank you for being here tonight all right uh before I turn it over Mr Shay I'd like to say as a former um R High Patriot athlete and Coach uh it's awesome to see um some coaches that I coached um one is smiling in the back of room right now um but honestly families student athletes and uh coaches thank you for all that you do and um a real special thanks to all of the youth coaches in the city because we know that's where it starts and um congratulations to you all you should be very proud of all that you do and I want to give one final thank you to our athletic director who leads the way and prepares all of the courts Fields you name it uh Mr Shay and I'm going to turn it over to him right now so thank you Frank thank you Dr Puchi I'm just going to give a brief overview of what these awards are and then we'll get into the individual certificates I'd ask that everybody just hold your applause Until the End um tonight we're going to recognize the team and individual accomplishments from the recently completed winter sports season among those receiving accolades tonight are the following our girls middle school basketball team was undefeated in the regular season and undefeated in the tournament with head coach Melissa Randall our girls Varity basketball team were GBL Champions they had the league MVP in Haley Boo and a coach of the year in Ariana Rivera our boys indoor track team was the GBL League meet Champions with head coach of the Year Dave Fleming our girls indoor track were undefeated GBL Champions and GBL League meet Champions they had the GBL MVP and live and GBL coach of the year in Raquel McDonald our swim team had GBL MVP LM cesk and our boys varsity basketball team won the gbl's team sportsmanship award so it was obviously a highly successful winter season and with that I'd like to get into the individual certificates that's fine for girls middle school basketball Andrea Basta Valentina Cruz congratulations Sharon foger Isabella Guerrero Valerie Prado has mean cus Mariana Lopez Marin Rebecca Marcado Sophia Korea Muriel Allison oliviera Alana Trinidad Addison elwick conratulations soan zeron and Coach Melissa Randall who I'd be remiss without mentioning that she is 29 and one in the last three seasons maybe you guys KNE no like all of you KNE we can 1 2 3 5 6 78 9 10 [Music] congratulations in boy basketball I don't see him in the room but we'll recognize him anyway Ethan day was great a Boston League Allstar for our boys basketball in girls swimming Janette syy was Greater Boston League Allstar she's not he moving on to boy swimming vilson Lipa Nathaniel Hill congratulations Matthew Terell Juan Kano Harrison Rua and our greater Boston League MVP [Music] cess y we bring the the swim All Star up for a quick picture I bepp if you can't see my phone I can't see you 1 two three all right job thank you moving on to girls basketball captain in Greater Boston League MVP Haley boo Rosio Gonzalez not in attendance Captain Alicia Jean captain in League Alla belma velic in her first season great accomplishment GBL Coach of the Year Ariana Rivera and ladies if you can come up for a picture one 2 3 thank you good [Music] job in boys indoor track Edwin alakan Keenan badic captain medy [Applause] bmy yev chahid captain and greater Boston League Allstar JV kuna captain and great of Boston League Allstar Isaiah DEA Oliva [Music] Escobar Muhammad FS captain in Greater Boston League Allstar Allan how Captain and greater Boston League allar Kevin persful Richard vilme Jeremy X and GBL Coach of the Year David Fleming and boys come up with coach for a quick photo all right one two took my and our last team but certainly not least our girls indoor team Greater Boston League MVP Liv young Ashley Cabrera Rodriguez Ashley Chandler hia El bazai ra hamdani Francois Cojo Jalia [Applause] manigo Danny Hope Randall Olivia rup Jazelle Salvador Gemma stamatopoulos and our GBL Coach of the Year Raquel McDonald Chelli ladies quick photo [Music] up okay congratulations to our winter teams and individual athletes thank you to the school committee and upper Administration for this opportunity for our kids thank you thank you Mr thank you okay we have the consent calendar sure you want to take a two-minute recess let the room if you if you if you'd like to stick around you're welcome to stay all meeting I know that it's intriguing but uh you're welcome to leave if you'd like take off thank you two-minute recess all in favor Miss e e e e e e e e turn to a regular order too so we have the consent calendar mot motion to accept the consent calendar second roll call no one Mrs Bronson Rizzo yes Mr ciano yes yes Mr Kingston yes Mr Mata yes M mil Mrs Milbury Ellis yes Miss monteroso yes mayor keth yes and then we have the student representative report do we have oh no student representative today okay Miss monteroso I know there isn't uh a report but I just wanted to give an update to anyone watching so last month the student rep shared with us how they want to make the meeting more inclusive and have more ways that people can watch and so it was actually brought to our attention that the subtitles were not available when people were watching the YouTube live so big thank you to our RPS it and to rev TV who helped work with us and now anyone watching live the subtitles the close captioning should be available it's not available in another language outside of English when it's live but it is when it after you watch it recorded so just wanted to give that update to the public as we work to make things more inclusive and accessible thank you Miss monteroso okay we have anything further we place that on file any any um public speak this evening have an opportunity this if you're going to speak on any matters in front of us tonight outside of the agenda please come up anyone online anyone wish to speak online raise your hand no we'll close public speak and then we have the superintendent report thank you the first up and the superintendent report is the Garfield Middle School thank you all for having us tonight my name is that King I'm the interim principal of the Garfield Middle School and we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the connection between restorative justice practices and positive academic outcomes many think of the restorative practices as disciplinary and we wanted to dispel that notion and show that they are about becoming a more productive member of our school community so we felt the best way to hear about what is going on with restorative practices at the Garfield is to hear from some of the students themselves so we've asked them to Circle up this evening we have changed our format a little bit this evening due to the understandable time constraints and what you will see this evening is somewhat of a hybrid between a restorative Circle where students take turns responding personally to a situation and a Socratic seminar where students respond to a question in no particular order and are able to build off of one another's responses I know a few of the students are a little bit concerned that I will take up way too much of their time allotted this evening so I will now turn this over to our fantastic students and one of our many amazing teachers from The Garfield Middle School Mrs Erica man I did it in a minute thank you um so we were going to do our sort of circle but we're going to jump into Socratic style um is it possible to get the slides back up or no it's fine it's it's okay CU they have the paper too but just so you guys have a reference um can we go back on side is that excuse me there we go okay thank you um we're going to start with talking about restorative circles our first question for the group is how have Circle discussion groups helped you feel more involved and accountable to the school Community we're going to open that up and go ahead Sam um from experience it made me feel more involved and more comfortable telling my problems in these circles and it helped me feel much better it creates a much more positive environment after and most cases the problem is solved after the group discussion this is a better way to talk problems out respectfully and it creates a much more safer environment anyone to add we'll go to the second question then so how has your access been to the circles and so how frequently are you engaging in circles and um can you speak to your experience sure you can go back to all so um the circle discussions um the restorative circles helped me feel more involved in the school Community because I feel that my like voice is heard and I can like feel how others are feeling and like their perspective let's jump right into the experience then and your access to it do you want to speak to that L um I think at the start of the year we were able to me with time but because he's really busy I think now that we're in mid year that everybody wants to see him everybody has the progress but I think also circles they really help seeing other people's perspectives I want to add on so like in these group discussions in these group discussions I like I can express myself like freely and it's like a safe environment and like you can just like tell him like your issues and stuff like things like your personal life I want to add on cir used to like n said Circle used to be very available and even though it may seem like a bad thing that the access is so H back it's truly not it shows that the students are looking the circles and that it they feel like somebody hears them and this is even a better reason why restorative circles should be placed into school thank you for that um let's switch to the academic side so how we feel that the circles have impacted our experiences in the classroom um you guys have all clipped yeah so we have the first question there reflecting on how that's impacted um discussions in the classroom specifically who would like to speak to them first do you want to start implementing these practices have poked me in the classroom setting because personally although I'm a pretty social person but in regards to academics I'm am more reserved than a quiet person liking to keep to myself with these circles implementing a social aspect to these academic talks within the classroom it gives me an outlet to share my thoughts and work in a positive and fun manner thank you this one for the next one you can yeah you can talk about the next one so the next one um is asking about the impact it has on you right in the classroom go ahead um these circles have helped me bring my attention towards myself and reduce the amount of stress I've experienced due to personal relationships with that out of the way I'm allowed to focus dra my academic performance and improve my grades without any obstacles in my way and also express myself freely and participating in class activities through restorative practices it has allowed me to have a better Insight on other people's views and think more critically in situations with those practices I can understand more about my own thoughts and organize them to make speaking and discussion in discussions much easier I'm going to open this up now so we've covered all four questions so if you want to jump in on any thoughts that if maybe you haven't spoken up yet or if there was something else to add based on what someone else said let's open it up who wants to get back on through these circles it helped change my perspective on things and it helped me learn how to communicate with people better and it helped me solve problems in a more positive way and um yeah agree disagree everyone let me add on to that I'm not the best I communicate my feelings or thoughts but these past weeks with Mr MIT he has guided me and taught me how to he has also taught me other people's opinions too and once you hear theirs you can also build on yours this this has helped me academically and socially in school can you ask a question question two question two kind of like agree like La was saying kind like what like L was saying kind of how like ever since like throughout the school year that like we haven't gotten to see like interventionist like as often as like we wish we could but I feel like that could have like I feel like that could be changed if like we get like more in like different squares and all that I'm interested in what he was just saying could you repeat that I just couldn't back well um kind of just like how like L was saying how like like throughout the years how like like not throughout the year but like throughout the school year how like like as he has like gotten popular with like helping people with their problems and stuff that like he has like been more busy I feel like pra see like if like we have like more interventionist in the school that it'll probably help with like the rest of thank you we want to open up to questions questions from school this time Mr Miss montoso uh so this was great thank you modeling I think one question I have for you all is in your opinion do you think a majority of students engage authentically when they're in the circles or do you know do you think maybe there's been a a transition from starting the circles to now people feel like they can talk more in it like it's a safe space like can you talk a little bit about how you've seen that change for you and your peers um I feel like a lot of people are very um engaged in these circles since a lot of people now want to meet with Mr Mitchell he's been very busy um a lot of people have in like really liked the experience and now they go to him a lot because they feel Hur and their problems feel valued and half of the time in most cases the problems were solved in these circles can I add on to that also I've seen circles where many of The Quiet kids they feel more comfortable to speak up on their opinion cuz most of the time quiet kids they're known as quiet they put their emotions to the side with Mr Mitchell I've seen it they open up and they tell their problems and they feel like somebody's hearing them Mr mat uh kids when would the students engage in these circles and who organizes these circles um I mean I can answer that second question so like oh kind of like for like scheduling or like all that like planning it it's kind of just like like kind of just like find him in the hallways and like just go to his classroom and just ask like you know just have some time to speak with him you know just like discuss what's been going on um or sometimes like he'll even like cover for like class like teachers and like go do like little cires there just so for the most part the kids themselves get together yeah now what I hear restora of Justice I always thought that that dealt with Excuse me uh someone that got into trouble and the administrators wanted to resolve the problem whether it's throwing something at a teacher or swearing at a teacher or what have you that's the impression I always thought of restoring Justice uh am my way off base no that's that's about on base but in the school all problems are valued like imagine you're having friend group problems maybe like problem conflict with a student it's all H raise your hand if you had a conflict with the student and you use Mr Mitchell raise your hand if a teacher and administrator told you you had to meet with Mr Mitchell in the circle okay Happ now what what would happen if a if a student commits all lousy act again swearing uh throwing a book what what have you and you go through this circle process and nothing much comes out of it there's no punishments the kid goes back to class saying okay I just got away with murder I to me that seems like I mean ideally this sounds great don't get me wrong it sounds wonderful and and you kids uh the cream of the crop and you can make it work but to me it seems like some punks just uh don't don't give a darn and we'll and we'll and we'll use it as a way of getting out of the trouble that they got into Mr chair can we please not call students PS M Rizzo so thank you very much I'm going to say when it first came into a district my younger son was in elementary 100 years ago and I think Mr maera was still there when restura of practice came in um and I as a parent was afraid because my son had a mouth like me and would just say what they wanted if it bothered you he would just say you're bothering me um and it did happen and he ended up going into a locker by the student that they were supposed to be helping and having a discussion but what I'm going to say in a positive manner is how all this mindfulness and social emotional um learning has come around you students can handle it much better having the discussion instead of the fight outside um it doesn't have to be anything major um and the first time I saw it really change is um a former teacher of us Michael banano was doing it up at the high school and to see the positive that was coming out of it with some of the students that I personally knew and love but needed to have this circle for people to talk to I was on board now do I want to take some kids home for a week when they giving me trouble yeah I do but this is a perfect place to stop and everything else can be worked out after if it's not worked here and then to see you students 68 years later I mean you probably should be doing it for the adults you should be helping us and I thank you so much for even sharing all this with us my only problem is I couldn't say suive questions back in the day and I still can't say it properly so I mean that's my hottest pot this whole scheme of things is pronouncing it correctly but I love your questions I love how you go about it and I'm really proud to see how much you students have grown and keep it up thank you Miss Milbury Ellis um I I have a question for you guys do you find yourselves using the skills that you're learning in the circles like in your own personal lives outside of the circles and could you talk about that question um I think the skills that we use in the circle like to talk to people face to face is super important now especially because we're so used because we're so used to like talking through phones so this is so important especially now to be able to talk face to face to other people and like it helps us to be more confrontational but in a peaceful way yeah I would like to add on um they have helped me realize that like my actions really haven't like been more like mature like since I'm like already going like into high school I'm starting to realize that like my situations should not be like about like dumb fights about that like I should like think about how my situations and like communicate instead of just like ignoring them and never talking to them and let them F excellent this is not about your question but can I go back to you can I explain something to you Mr the admin are the ones that take care of the consequences so yes when a student gets in trouble they are all held accountable for it Mr Mitchell is the one that asked them why did you do this he's trying to get the conflict heated down they're the ones that deal with the consequences so it may and also like bad kids are seen as bad kids but why do they act out like this maybe they have problems at home maybe you never know thank you look I have do because I think Mr um Mitchell is very important cuz he's also very unbiased and he provides a safe place for everyone like no matter what they did w Mr Kingston did you have something yeah I just the young lady I think she had on a good point I think with the rise of cell phones today people just don't know how to communicate face to face and I think um while I I have to be honest I when I first heard about the circles I wasn't a I just wasn't sure if it would work but I'm very happy that you're here I'm happy you made the presentation I think it's awesome that you came and took the time out to come I think that says a lot about the people that you're working with and the teachers and the staff at the school so I I think that's great but I think it is important because we're so used to texting people now we don't want to you know I I text my kids um and you know I'll say call me and they don't call me they text me back and I'll say please call me I you know I I get tired of texting but I think I think we'll losing a skill there um to communicate with other people using words and our faces and actions because everything's on a text today so I think it's great what she said and I totally agree and I think I think this is uh this is something that you know could help so thank on to what you said Mr Mitch explained this to me when we went down pandemic we were so used to the phones the Chromebook the everything so it pushed back our Communications and Mr Mitchell like explained it to me in B so the circles like help us communicate better get our points across I agree can we meet Mr Mitchell can I take him home yeah so Mr Mr Mitchell's on a personal day today I apologize uh he wanted to be here but I just wanted to take a second as well to address Mr mata's Question and thank you phah excellent answer um this does not replace discipline this is to support you know any of those actions so there are certainly instances where there's something egregious but we still like to sit and think through what those thing what those things happened and how those things happened um it's really had great outcomes actually in some of the examples you provided between a teacher and a student we've actually had situations we've had them sit down and had Mr Mitchell facilitate it did mean that the student didn't receive you know a consequence of some sort this just helps everybody understand one another and hopefully move past it and move forward so I just wanted to take a second to address it and I think Farah did a fantastic job better than I did thank you Mr King and um the students your maturity and your confidence in front of us tonight is is um gives me great hope and very very proud of your presentation I couldn't believe that you're all in only eth grade so I know good luck next year I hope you can continue to share your knowledge with the with the rest of your groups and peers and thanks for this presentation thank you for having [Music] us I got a picture KS turn Mr that wasn't part of the agreement all right one two three thank you thank you for coming very thank number I'm gonna miss you I'm gonna miss you we're going to be talking about this all week thank you I'm going to be talking about thank you nothing like a confidence booster with a bunch of uh middle school students huh make us feel really important okay um I should record that right so we'll get it all I'll sign your autograph too Miss Rizzo okay um we have the fine outs presentation yes I just want to introduce uh go fine arts director Kelly Williams I'm so for th those of you who don't know me I'm Kelly Williams I've been an art teacher and revier for 16 well 16 years but this is my second um year as fine art director um so last year I took probably 45 minutes of my 10 minutes so this year I'm cutting that down to maybe five minutes um I just wanted to speak a little bit about the growth that we've seen at the high school in terms of um Fine Arts you can go to my the next slide um this is just a quick graph of the past five years um and if you can see from 2021 to 20 23 this year um for 2023 2024 uh we have had a 25% growth of students that um have access and are enrolled in arts courses at rhs you go to the next slide um and how we've done we did that is uh we did survey students before um last year and get student voice on what they wanted and what types of classes they were looking for and out of that we added um dance and fashion design those were two top classes that students had asked for we also um increased our access for ninth graders so we added a Basics to Art nine and a music foundations nine uh we also added an advanced music class and a Art and Design as well as unified um art and we had we did that like because of student voice but we were also able to do that because we at the high school last year um you supported we hired three art teachers and one music teacher next slide um this is just a a py graph of where these students are um interests are in what classes they're taken broken down by um the dark blue is the largest we do have seven Visual Arts teachers so we are able to offer more Visual Arts courses but we have a very um large population of students who are taking Ceramics um and then Digital Arts which is photography graphic design um hopefully I would like to see like offering an animation or a digital um illustration course um with and by adding so we added 54 more sections this year of Arts courses um to meet our numbers so all students that had last year requested to take an art course most likely was able to get an art course by adding the more sections which are offered more periods um next slide please uh after first semester we did survey students to see how they were doing um these are just some quotes from students I don't need to read them all you have a copy of the presentation but um just things that they like everything about it uh they like working in groups they feel that the classes are increasing their creativity that they're fun um they're reporting feeling safe and that their stress is reduced and they 89% of them reported that they feel um the semester or the quarter class is enough time for them to get what they want done um and then 72% of them reported that they had adequate materials to access to materials next slide um because of that we were able to bring back a showcase at Rivier high school we did partner with um the rest of the academic team and it was a Showcase of all academics and art and music and um it was a really great success and we were able to host that in January and then we're going to be able to host another one come May it's on May 29th um theater is still very much thriving and growing um this year we our after school theater clubs are able to offer six Productions so next slide um we had Wizard of Oz at the garville middle school Finding Nemo at SBA middle school and then still to come we have um Once on This Island at the high school susal at the Hill Elementary School Charlie the Chate Factory um is rma's production but will be hosted here at the high school and then Shrek is um a second production this year for Garfield Middle School um and something we're doing this year to build community is we um are inviting the fourth graders to attend the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory play at the high school and that's because they also read across the district in fourth grade they read Charlie and Chalker Factory so we thought that was a nice connection um to be able to bring them to to see the middle school kids perform and then we're having the sixth graders come to attend and see Once on This Island for an indust field trip and um just other brief highlights we added a kiln at the RMA this year so now all three middle schools have access to a Kil to really help um increase our Middle School access to Ceramics we've seen the kids at the high school are just really loving Ceramics we added a teacher that teaches full Ceramics we have two teachers that teach only ceramics all day long at the high school so it's going to be nice to be able to to start to build that Foundation at the middle school level um our rev youth singers which was a district Chorus for elementary students that started so at each building we started this last year at each building students um participate in an after school chorus that are in fourth and fifth grade uh and then they learn the songs at all of the elementary schools and they come together and perform so this will be their second concert this year that's going to be held on May 1st at the Hill School um we have our district art showcase which is is this week um 4 to 6 at the SBA whan on Thursday night um we'll have the rock Ensemble with a new pop Ensemble which was another um emble that we added here at the high school this year to give more access to music for those students who are interested and then um Garfield will also have another concert they had a really huge like sold out Winter concert um so they're moving it to the high school because there was a lack of parking and seats available for all the families that came it was it was really really good time um so they're having that here on May 9th and then SBA has a concert on May 2nd and that's it does anybody have any questions for me good job this Milbury Ellis quick question how many um art programs are there at the high school I I saw the auditions but I'm just curious as to how many for the 1500 students um like how many classes different classes yeah um so I don't that off the top of my head but we do it's it's good number I think so we have paint painting and drawing we have the ninth grade class we have piano we have I'll send it to you it's in it's on the website the program studies but I would say we have a really great offering and we did a lot of work to um combine like we it used to be drawing and painting but we realized a lot of students because of um the lack of access coming in in nth grade that they were by 11th grade when they were taking painting they weren't confident in drawing so we de decied to combine that so it's a draw paint it's a semester long um so we made a lot of changes like and then we added the fashion we added um things they were saying and took out some things that students weren't signing up for um so everything that runs is based off what the students are signing up for and so we look at those numbers but there's a good like everything is offered when they go to sign up and then when usually we get you know we had I think 500 students sign up to want to take Ceramics excellent thank you there's no doubt that you do a fabulous job and I'm looking forward to the next you know few plays I think there's like three or four of them that remain so thank you yeah thanks thank you Miss Rizzo Kelly thank you for everything that you do and how happy um all our extracurricular staff loves working with you and they feel like that you are open um to talking to and bringing their ideas to you and they're seeing them come to fruition um I'm looking forward to Thursday um I'm going to say I love the idea of buying tickets online because I would have kept forgetting um so that part was absolutely great um it's just I'm so excited for everything and I'm just wondering how the um I know the fashion design um was part of your your fall um showcase was it yeah so students um it's a new course so the teachers are still you know ironing out the curriculum and and we we realized a lot of students actually really want to make clothing and really like we it was more like we were thinking it was going to be more like an introduction to fashion and more of like an illustration and design and clothing and things like that and um students really want to make the clothes so we're working on we did have a set of um sewing machines and we're working on getting some them repaired and um but for now they did they they made plushies and created their own pattern um some students made Handbags and um yeah so we're and they love talking about it I mean I got to speak to two young ladies and one male and they were really excited about the program so I'm glad there's so many students that want to participate in extra curriculum thanks and same with we added the dance class and students have really taken to it and and um the numbers have been a little low in the in the class be the word has to spread for more students to start signing up but they really are enjoying it and I've got I've gone in a lot to see like how they grow in work in groups and and perform together and um learn about all the different styles of dance and it's it's actually been a really great a great course too great thank you thank you thanks great job okay the next piece is the Middle School Lottery update yes do we have anything yes Dr gluch I have the updates there's a lottery there aot everyone y okay I am going to share some information so uh the first thing is that the lottery for uh middle school placement will be Thursday April 11th uh at 5:00 p.m. here in the school committee room it will be broadcast live on uh cable TV and YouTube this year we have uh more lotteries than we have had in the past um and I will go through sort of what how we get to a lottery um one thing that is important is that this data that I'm going to show you is preliminary so we've I've taken a first scan after I received all of the data from the schools but there may be some number changes we're verifying um siblings and things like that um so there could be some tweaks to this but um overall there will be 11 lotteries so I'll just focus on describing the whan so what we do each fifth grade is divided into two3 so um you'll see that whan has 136 students in grade five um we there are 10 students that are going to be placed in special programs based on their uh IEP needs so they are removed from the lottery um and that leaves us with 126 students so we then divide that over uh the three middle school so they get the same number of spots in each middle school so for this there are 42 seats at Garfield 42 seats at rumney and 42 seats at Susan B Anthony um as you can see the requests for um Garfield were 12 students the requests for rney were 49 so that exceeds the available 42 seats and the request for Susan banthony was 65 so that exceeds um the 42 seat allotment so for whan we're going to have a lottery for rney and Susan B Anthony uh Garfield Middle School so along those same lines uh you will see that the requests to uh for students to stay at Garfield so 64 students requested Garfield Middle School uh 44 requested rney and seven requested Susan banthony so for the Garfield Elementary there will be a lottery for Garfield Middle School in Romney Marsh Academy those students who don't get their first choice will all attend Susan B Anthony for the hill um a similar situation so 11 students requested um Garfield Middle School uh there are 36 seats available there rumney 41 students um with 37 seats and at susen be uh 58 students requested uh Susan B Anthony so we're going to have a lottery uh at the hill for r and Susan B Anthony Lincoln um we we're going to have a lottery for both rney and Susan banthony 34 students requested the rney and there are only 30 seats available um and 38 students requested Susan B Anthony so uh we're going to have a lottery for where 12 students won't get their first choice um but they will attend uh Garfield Middle School Paul Rivier this year we have two lotteries um and you'll see we have one for Garfield Middle School for one student one student's not going to get their first choice um we have a lottery for rney marsh academy uh 11 more students requested than we have seats available um so the students that don't get their first choice at Paul Rivier will attend Susan B Anthony and at Beachmont um we have a lottery just for Susan B Anthony uh there are three more requests than we have seats so um those students uh someone will they will be able to get their first if they don't get their first choice they'll be able to get their second choice until their second choice is filled so we've got one spot available at Garfield and two at Remy Marsh any questions so I have three questions my first question is for the students who will be in a special placement how is how what how is their school location chosen um so that is determined by based on their uh IEP needs so um I it in the past uh it was students who were either attending the Susan B Anthony life skills program or the Remy Marsh Academy they required a sub separate um small learning group type setting so they were placed where we had the programs given our special ed design redesign there's uh okay differences and then where was I so do we prioritize a sibling so if there's already a sibling at one school yes so there is a sibling um if a child if a family has a sibling that is going into seventh or going into eth they are able to attend with their sibling okay and then is there any reason I saw that there was much less request to go to uh GMS is there like a specific reason for that the location maybe it historically that has been the case uh typically Garfield elementary students want to stay it's their neighborhood school they're familiar they we typically always have a lottery for Garfield Middle um this year actually we had having a lottery for Garfield Middle for Paul Rivier was something that we haven't had so overall the trends um are going up for the number of students who are requesting Garfield but they don't match um Romney Marsh and sus be Anthony and then my last question is how how common is it that a student may live across Susan banthony but they actually end up being sent to another school cuz I know that's a lot of the feedback I get so could you like give a little more like stats if there's any on that um typically it's uh it it varies it the there's a larger percentage where there is a larger lottery so at the hill at the whalan um where there's larger uh populations of students that are selecting those schools um that typically where we have uh a greater population of students that don't get what they want you saw at some of the smaller schools it's three or it's 12 um but in the larger schools it's uh more of the population and it varies from year to year we last year we did not have TW 11 lotteries um I think we had like nine last year so it depends what would you say to a parrot that comes into your office and says I just spent $800,000 this house on Sergeant street right across the street from the Susan be Anthony or the uh whing school it Happ mm what are you going to do for me I it it and and please know that it is the worst day of my uh my job um and as the former Garfield Middle School principal it is also difficult to hear and you know I I apologize profusely and it is horrible not to be able to meet somebody's individual circumstances but it is the best we can do to be fair and I tell parents that you know I I I have to apologize profusely and to hear their stories I tell them that I you know I I can't change your one because I know that you I couldn't sleep at night if I was picking and choosing un Ely we just don't change anybody and after September and I you know the Garfield uh admin could attest to that the kids are fine their family challenges the transportation challenges those still stay but the kids are fine and we sort of stop hearing that those complaints but it is a tough adjustment it's a tough thought to send your little one on a bus for the first time across the city and that's one of the biggest concerns for parents is that you know I'm putting my fifth grader now sixth grader on a bus for the first time um so you know I am as empathetic as I can be and it's a t difficult thing but our social workers are there to talk to their kids they're there to the admin is there to talk to the parents in the middle schools welcome anybody that wants to come and look at the school and talk to them and meet with them thank you yeah thank you any other questions okay and then the last item on the superintendent report is the student Opportunity Act plan I just have to plug in my [Applause] okay while I'm trying to get that up I can begin to talk about our plan okay there we go all right there we go all right um so I am going to uh take us back a little bit to uh Dr Kelly's presentation at the last committee meeting where she talked about the required elements of the SOA plan so this is uh these are the five elements that have to be in your SOA plan a summary uh of our district plan we have to analyze our data and select student groups for uh focused support we have to set ambitious three-year targets for improving student achievement we are required to engage families and caregivers and other stakeholders and then we have to select from the uh given evidence-based programs and strategies to address these disparities so uh Dr Kelly identified previously that our uh student groups that were identified based on our data analysis um our our El students our students with disabilities and our Hispanic Latino uh subgroup um our ambitious three-year targets we accepted the desie targets that were given to us for our lowest performing students in the subgroup so that was given to us um and new information that I'm going to share today is what our uh engagement with the stakeholders the data that we gathered from them and uh the evidence-based programs um that we have selected so if you look at this PowerPoint um what we did was we had focus groups with our uh School based Council so our school Improvement teams our lpac and our CPAC um met and provided us feedback in person um additionally all community members were given the opportunity to respond to our survey we had 1,00 um responses on the survey which is a great uh response for us and you can see um generally speaking in this breakdown um our largest uh group of individuals that responded were our parents and our caregivers um followed by staff members uh we had over 130 plus students who responded um we had I believe it was about 40 or so um community members um and other uh other members of the community um so this just gives you a general idea of who responded in addition we also considered the survey data that we have at our disposal which is the mcia survey um the vocal survey and a recent survey that we um were able to get data from from Mass Insight it was round two of our um Equity survey um and one thing that is important to note uh is that all of the survey all of the op um focus groups the surveys the external surveys all provided us with similar feedback it was all aligned which was good to hear that our areas that we should be focusing on are sort of obvious and um clearly apparent so um we looked at our top five um evidence-based uh programs that were selected we have to focus on three so these are the three that were selected um most frequently um by all of our stakeholders so positive School environment which is creating an environment that includes high quality facilities healthy meals physical activity and positive Youth Development for all students um the second most popular was integrated Ser services for student well-being this includes the system of integrating services that align initiatives that promote student behavioral mental health and wellness so some of the subcategories uh bullying prevention trauma sensitivity Dropout prevention treny reduction Foster uh care and homeless youth education and inclusion of students with disabilities um and then the third category was enhanced support for seal and mental health so expanding our capacity to uh support student social emotional and mental health needs um and support that of families and to build the Knowledge and Skills of State staff um adding specialized support staff as some examples partnering with community- based providers strengthening plans for responding to Behavior Health Medical emergencies those are all examples of this uh evidence-based uh program the other two these were uh Choice sort of four and five in popularity but these are important we wanted to include them in this presentation because they are something that we are going to continue to focus on and in line with our district goals so effective supports to students so implementing and building effective approaches to mtss um which using data to support student strengths and needs matching student with the appropriate supports and monitoring student progress this all aligns with the work that we are doing um academically in our classrooms and then the second is high quality secondary Pathways and programs um so pursuing Early College designations um chapter 74 tech ed programs after dark program programs Innova Innovative career pathway programs similar to what um City lab has and Career Connection programs these are uh evidence-based programs that we are uh going to continue to support but um we it was worth uh including here as well and so I did provide you with what is um a written out uh plan for the student Opportunity Act we do have to enter it into Desi's new system called gems so it's sort of like an open response drop-down type of um platform um but this is to uh the best of our ability the a written out version of the plan I can give you these bullets sort of summarize at a high level um what we identified in that plan so we are going to continue to invest in staff PHS programs and highquality professional development for our Educators and our staff um we're going to provide opportunities for students um to support their seal their mental health um and their overall well-being we feel uh these actions will help contribute to an overall positive welcoming School environment um we are going to recruit um additional support Personnel to fill those unfilled positions that remain from last year um including the school psychologist positions in bcbas as well as continue our efforts to recruit and retain educators of color um that reflect the diversity of our students we are going to invest in programs that support welcoming School environments such as restorative practices which you saw tonight advisory our Unified sports and expanded Fine Arts programming our uh examples at the high school level we're going to continue to support all students but with increased emphasis on our high priority subgroups through the work of the student support Specialists the student engagement coordinators and the newly restructured um student support teams um we look to expand our Alternative Program um by increasing capacity at City lab Innovation School Coast collaborative and looking at our uh our trade programs and we plan to Monitor and evaluate programming and implementation for students with disabilities through our special education redesign team and so this is if I had to take a a highle summary of the plan that you have in front of you um this is a a bullet point of that thank you than you I know um Dr kuch did you have something to add not to this okay does anybody have any questions no nice job Stacy has a question Miss Rizo thank you mayor um I know in the survey there was um in the area if you wanted to add things and of course I always have my own two cents um so I look at in the summary provide opportunities for students that will support their well-being and seal development and I also look at um investing in our staff positions and giving them high quality professional development um so my major comment was we need to help our staff with and their well-being because if it's not working for them they can't help our students so I really hope that would be taken into consideration somehow maybe not under the SOA plan um which every time I hear it I'm so proud that I was one of two school committee members that was there when um the governor signed it and it was like one of the most important days of my life I was so excited so I get every time it comes up I love it but we could start like I said if it's not within the SOA plan I would love to see some kind of development and help for our Educators with um seal thank you m mblair m Alis um I'm I'm just digesting all of this and I'm trying to understand what the differen is between everything that we've been doing thus far and and this plan here because it seems like this has been the focus for as long as I've been on the committee and probably years prior to um to me getting elected so if you could just explain what's different about all the emphasis that's we're putting in these areas um in this plane and in this plan excuse me and and I also am part of me is is wondering about the budget it just seems like we are pretty topheavy and there's a lot of people that are um in the building and and doing things but the focus really needs to be on these students so I haven't had a chance to completely digest this I'm Gras I'm getting it um but I'm not 100% sold either so if you could elaborate and educate me that'd be great sure so one of the things that is uh I I would like to say that we have been we've been ahead of the curve investing in things like social emotional learning and uh student mental health you approve investment in the Comprehensive Health director last year um and she's worked to bring a lot to that that program um it is f the the primary objective is to support it low decrease the disparities in the achievement of our identified subgroups um so we have heard loud and clear from families that what supports their um their uh engagement with the community is when we have a welcoming environment so it it does sort of sound like well we have always been doing this what are we doing more but um we have made great strides in our engaging our families with our family liaison and having parent activities and things like that so that's one piece of it is supporting that making families feel like they can be part of this community because we need them on our team um and the second piece is it basically what Miss Rizzo just said is we need to intentionally invest money in um professional development opportunities and in trainings and in academic trainings and in our programs like our uh special ed redesign to increase student uh engagement increase student sense of well-being increase students mental health uh feelings of self-efficacy and that's a way to do it um so I think what this plan is going to sort of remind us and direct us to do is to intentionally look at meeting the social emotional needs of our staff providing them the support that they need understanding where our families are coming to us supporting our parent information center and our heart Department as they're working with the um migrant and homeless families that are coming to us so it is being intentional and driving the TR the train with um looking at what the what the students need and we're also continuing to focus on academic achievement and early literacy and all of the things that we have been doing but this sort of allows us and holds us accountable to um what are we doing to support our students mental health and well-being because they can't access the curriculum and be perform in the classroom if they don't feel like they belong or they're not they don't have their needs met whether it's um Family inside of school or outside of school I I appreciate that I I just um I understand now we're going to be more direct in in what we're doing but it would be nice to get a plan and to be able to look to the Future and see that there's an emphasis on academics that there's an emphasis on um behavioral issues slash um you know addressing uh those types of issues that we're facing in the classrooms and um I just look forward to the day when that becomes the focus focus again and I think it is and you'll see sort of um nuggets of it in the plan so things like mstv came up in several of our um uh feedback from our Educators as a a course that they took that is intended to uh sh intended to um provide students with the opportunity to think critically out loud so forcing them to speak forcing them to interact forcing them to share their thoughts and that course serves so many purposes it increases the rigor of a classroom it engages students students in it providing teachers that training which they have loved and asked for every year um is an investment for us and it's something that we prioritized last year and they're telling us that we need to prioritize again thank you yep Mr chair thank you uh Mr Kingston um I don't know if the members are all aware of it maybe they didn't see the email we do get a awful lot of emails last year in the budget we put a employee assistance program in the budget and miss Ma was able to um secure a vendor and and currently there is um an employee assistance program out there for all staff the city side has had it for many years um and now we are we also offer a program as well um and I just wanted to make that for folks that weren't aware that may be on staff um that is available to them and I think it's important that it gets utilized because we are paying for it thank you Mr Mayor to go back to the SOA plan um I agree with what Miss mbella said as far as discipline and um our academics and that can be all in not District Improvement plan but where the S SOA plan comes in it's um to identify um disparities um and learning opportunities and the outcomes also um how we utilize the evidence that we're getting so I I truly agree but when they came up with this plan it was um for a little bit different reason um but both are just as important thank you good point Thank you m mon Roo yeah I think Miss Brown rzo just gave the recap I did and then also so the last slide was just like a a summary of the big buckets because of the way it's put into the gem portal for desie it's they so once it's put in they will download a copy of it and give it to us and it'll really like specify more details of how I can tie into the academics I looked at it today I I'm aware of how great thank you so motion to approve Thea plan that's due by April 1st 2020 24 to desie do we have a second second all in favor is there any discussion discussion [Music] no okay all in favor yes do we do we a roll call on this yeah you don't need a roll call well that's why I said all in favor all in favor I all right abstain object okay thank you the hearings none okay subcommittee reports no none we're not done oh I think I'm done that's that's it the special education under superintendent report no that's under motions oh did you ask for these are the reports you asked for today yes oh sorry um uh similar to the S SOA uh motion that's 9A uh there is a special ed redesign motion of 9B if you'd like to me to give I only need two to three minutes if you'd like to do that now I could do that now or we could do it right before we take the motion wherever you feel is best Miss monteroso um I just I wanted to add one thing other the subcommittees that's why I was asking if I could speak before we jumped to that I just wanted to refer to the policies and procedure subcommittee if we could uh get a meeting to revise the public speak policy because it currently doesn't have instructions for how people can sign up for public comment so I'd love if we could give it a look and revise it to include more specific instructions for the public that was all thank you Mr guchi all right hi everyone thank you um so I just want to thank the committee for all of the feedback that you gave Miss failen Miss hannahan myself and Miss humis on the special education redesign plan um I know I speak for all of us when I say I really appreciate all of the support that was expressed and um there really is a lot of excitement around this plan and before I get into any of the intricacies which won't take long I promise um I want to say that the overall vision of the plan is to move our special education students away from um towards a least restrictive environment um we want to uphold our expectations academically behaviorally socially you name it that is the vision of our redesign um so we appreciate all the support um one piece of constructive feedback that we got was the Middle School move of the life skills program now known as Ascend um from the Susan B Anthony to the Garfield and I know the team dove in and really did some work around that to um look into that and I think what the team found um and they did some work with Kristen Murphy Kier who's amazing and she's our transition coordinator is that the life skills um class is a very active class um on a lot of fronts um look no further than our high school our life skills students do recycling for the whole building they go up down and around the whole building um they help maintain our library um they work on these life skills um within the walls of rhs many of those students then go on to our post SC program which um is really grade 13 if you will um when they entered that program they do a lot of works with Rivier Parks and Recreation um Chelsea courthous uh we have three students this semester two days a week that audit classes at ums Boston and so the vision of the Ascend program is really this active kind of robust um program uh Susan B Anthony has done a fabulous job and as the committee has expressed has welcomed this program with open arms and really it's become a pillar of the school um but I think we are pretty confident that the Garfield can do the very same thing and what we really look at in terms of proximity and location um the fact that there is one less transition for these students with many of them attending Garfield Elementary and being in that complex for K through five and building that confidence with the physical space to be able to attend in the very same building but different School uh grades 6 through 8 would really be um one of the main factors that we consider and if you think about the lottery information that Dr maaba just presented you'll notice that a lot of the whan students want SBA and a lot of the Garfield elementary students want Garfield Middle um so proximity and K through five does matter to students and Families and then we considered things like um Garfield's proximity to River Beach and all of the businesses and potential Partnerships along the beach um the fact that Garfield has a pool and for the students to be able to engage in some type of future Aquatics program um and the fact that it's located so closely to our public transit um and the ability to get into Boston by simply walking up to the River Beach um T Station um so we definitely appreciate appreciated all the feedback that we received um within the plan that's presented this evening we did maintain moving life skills to Garfield um but I just I I wanted to just thank you all for the support and the feedback that we got um it really drove our work since the last meeting thank you anyone wish to speak on this Mr Kingson Dr Gucci I can't support moving the life skills from the SBA um I think putting kids that have accessible medical devices on a third or fourth floor of of a building I think in case of a an issue there whether it be fire drill fire or any kind of emergency um I just don't think it's a good idea I'm strongly opposed to it um the rest of the plan I think is excellent I think leaving the I think the Beachmont students being able to stay at Beachmont and finish their Elementary career is awesome I know the staff there um hates to see those kids leave as it is now so I'm I'm for that I'm also for the I'm going to use the old terms because I haven't learned the new ones for the small learning groups to go to rumney I don't have a problem with that either um but I can't support and I won't support the um small learning group I know Ascend or what I'm not sorry Ascend or the life skills class leaving the SBA I think they have a nice home there and not to say that they couldn't have the same at Garfield but they're home there they're part of the community um the parents don't want them moved um um I think they are transitioning once I I don't think that's a bad thing they go from the they go from the gothfield um Elementary to um to uh the SBA I don't agree with putting them on the third and fourth floor I think you're putting students at risk I don't I don't I mean someone said we'll make accommodations I don't know what accommodations you can make to get a kid down three flights of stairs um and I'll be honest if that ends up happening I'll be the one filing the Ada uh grievance because I don't think I think we're putting kids in harm and I'm I'm not going to support that ever so I I really have a strong problem with that um I did talk to some special ed teachers that I do know um and they felt that being on the third or fourth floor was a problem um and that's just how I feel and I'm sorry but I agree with the other parts I have I think Beach M's awesome I've been saying that for years uh privately because I hated to see those kids leave I just thought it was terrible I knew it was just you know the logistic thing and what what had to be so I'm you know I'm not supportive of I'm not against all the plan just that one part I just don't agree with moving those kids I don't think putting kids on a third or fourth floor um and you can't put them on the first floor because they need to be with their peers so that's out and I just don't agree um with the logic of putting those students on the third and fourth floor with the challenges that they have and I it I I just don't get it I just from a logical basis I asked a couple of people who nothing about anything I said would you put someone that you know needed that kind of support on a third or fourth floor in when an elevator could possibly not be accessible how do we get those students down so I I apologize but I can't well I won't apologize for that um I I can't support that at all and I won't thank you Mr Rizo I my question is do we have a first and a second motion we didn't that we're having discussion we didn't but he asked for discussion so I continue okay can we have a first and a second because I'd like to add I make a motion to accept the special education redesign program I'll second it second do we have discussion so M Rizo do you have more to discuss yes please I you know what we have qualified educational people that are making these decisions would I want my kid on the third floor probably not because it's my kid but these are qualified if we're going to question every time they want to do something and we're not the experienced people we don't have the education behind us to be making some of these decisions we can ask for their input but we have to go by the guidance that they're given us also that's their jobs Miss Miss Milbury Ellis sure um well to Stacy's point I I would say that our job is to ask questions and for me I am not an expert on special needs and I know that it's much more complicated and involved than what's been presented I will say that this plan um for me raised much more questions um than it provided answers John had raised some um some issues during the last meeting and I don't feel like we've received or um were provided with any information to specifically address those those concerns and we still haven't been um such as what such as where are the kids where the where's where are the kids going to be located at the Garfield School where are they being placed uh the third or fourth floor two locations and and they were once on the third floor at the Susan B Anthony I'm sorry they were on the third floor Anthony at one time but they yes they they're not now though right they were right exactly so that's irrelevant the fact that they were in the past we're we're moving forward I guess these are my I I'll express my concerns and maybe you can maybe maybe you can give us some insight on them sure um so one I would have been interested in and hearing more about the multiple stakeholders that were surveyed and interviewed and the how this plan came to be um it does read very generically as far as providing us with information um again those concerns that John raised about the third and fourth floors and the safety concerns of moving those students downstairs or out the building in the event of an emergency um I too Shar in those concerns and I would like to have some information available explaining how what the plan is to address or to alleviate those concerns um as far as the transition could I address that oh yeah sure well I I can't violate student confidentiality I mean I can say out loud that a physical disability you have no greater chance of finding a phys physical disability in a life skills class than any other class in the building but I'm not going to get into individual needs okay so you're not going to address those concerns okay well I can okay that's fine that's you couldn't give a hypothetical as to like okay okay that's fine that's fine um as far as the issue of trans transitioning um the one-time transition mhm the transitions from Garfield to SBA um I would think that this transition um to the SBA would probably be more beneficial than a direct transition into high school where the at least as far as my experience and what I've observed personally at the SBA is that school has created such and I'm not saying Garfield can't do this but what I am saying is that they have created such an environment um and cultivated and fostered uh a really special place of inclusivity in that school where the life um skills students are so well integrated and respected and cheered on and um it's just it's it's something that's wonderful to see and I just I don't know why we're trying to fix something that's not broken it feels like we're shuffling things around but I don't see any plan in here for how we're going to address what's going on at the high school the the issues the special needs issues this is a redesign program yet we don't even mention the high school um I'm just not I don't like feeling not prepared I don't like feeling as if I'm not being provided with enough in information to make an educated decision I still don't understand why it is that we're actually moving the SBA kids to the Garfield School except to essentially house all of the kids in in one um building and it seems like that benefit is outweighed by what is happening now at at the SBA like I said I'm not an expert on special needs but I do have questions I I do have concerns and unfortunately I just don't feel like I I have all the information available to me um the train and the pool I mean when would these kids be taking the train when would my where do they take the train to where do middle schoolers where do they take the train to they have training programs some are at triangle in Malden some are in East Boston and what do they do right now they get driven to the train station and they get on the train oh I have no idea I'm just responding what they do after well now they're not doing anything right I it's possibility it's not ad I understand um just give me one moment please um the other question I had was um with respect to the ASD and the two tracks which which seems like a really good um plan I'm wondering what's the determining Factor um for you know for deciding which schools the kids go to like is it based off um need is it based off address uh which schools this is the for the ASD mm I think that's the correct um acronym forgive me are you talking middle I'm just learning all of this no that's okay um are you talking midd for the for the elementary I'm sorry so the elementary is um by neighborhood school so we grouped it into three and three so if you're on the parier Garfield Beachmont side of the city you would attend Beachmont K through 5 if you're on the hill whaling um oh my gosh I'm Dar a blank Hill wh l so it's based on the neighborhood schools correct so I guess my question then would be should we be making a determination based on the students need as opposed to their address uh well they're parallel programs okay so we're offering identical programs okay thank you that's helpful no problem thank you no problem Miss montoso uh I have my long list too so I think it's uh it was good to hear that students were at on the third floor at the susen be Anthony at one point and I find that's relevant because it sounds like it's a uh one question that's like leaving a lot of people wondering how it's going to work so students have been on the third floor at a school that earned life skills classes at one point so I'm just wondering it didn't work and that's why they were moved it is that is that why they were moved yeah no I that is not my understanding but uh could you explain a little bit more your understanding I I don't know why Miss wette move the location of the classroom in fact I think they've been on all three floors I'm not sure about that but I think they been on all three floors um I don't know what I can say about life skills is it is a very active class okay and then uh you may have already answered this last time but I I just might add sorry I'm Sorry Miss monteroso um it's very active at the high school level right now um and I am not critiquing what's going on at the middle school all I'm saying is when we're looking to kind of plant the seeds of what kids are going to experience at Rivier high school and then in the postgrad program where they're really going off campus um that that was that was the redesigned team's thought let's start planting those seeds at Middle School oh my gosh look at the Garfield location it also matches where they go K through five there's these opportunities not that is set in Sone like we don't have plans to take the MBTA right now this moment but in the coming years to be able to have those resources close by that was the division okay and then you may have answered this before but did you engage families of students who would be in these live skills classes to ask them their thoughts on like the move um that I don't know I'd have to ask Miss humis okay so that's one question and then if you could get us that answer that'd be great I'd love to know what a stakeholder engagements looked like and then I do know that Miss humus presented at CPAC but not specifically what your saying like specific families yeah cuz I I'm hearing that some constituents have reached out to some members so I'd love to just for all who don't know to reach out to a committee School Committee Member to just hear their thoughts and so that'll lead to my last point but my next question is is there are there any changes to our high schools with this redesign or is it just elementary and middle I don't think sorry Katie you want to come up oh go ahead i s would say we're not done with the redesign this is just the first phase and we focused on elementary and middle because high school's already doing redesign work in other areas so okay you're working closely with that yeah and then do you want to add you added an additional um teacher for last year to the program for the life skills oh the post the post to expand our programing yeah okay um but that's not part of this plan okay so I think my my opinion to move forward would be if there's I know there's other people enter into the discussion if we're not ready about this specific part of the redesign if maybe people are willing to vote on all the other parts that we are and we could refer this to the subcommittee just to talk a little bit more and wait for some stakeholder engagement I don't want to stop us but I also want to create opportunity for everyone to engage and continue developing this out so I'll I'll keep it going Mr thank you a couple things first of all my mother was a special needs secretary my father was a special needs director and we've had plenty of dinners and talks about about special needs and two of the factors always came up is that the students feel that they're safe physically and so on the other part is to have consistency and build with poort and if we take the kids onor Susan B Anthony they're going to be out of their comfort zone they're not going to have the same teachers and I just think it could hurt the kids set them back more than help them and we really need to take a look at this thank [Music] you Mr Kingson I'd like to offer a substitute motion that we that we pass the um special education redesign except for the move to the at moving the SBA life skills Ascend group um to the gothfield midddle thank you can we see if there was any discuss I thought we were done I'm sorry um what was the last comment you made taking the kids Anthony teaches you said I think that's it the same teachers will those teachers not be moving with the students I mean they're going to be needed they would be yes they thank you and I was confused I was going to ask the same question I assume they or yeah absolutely can I just ask a question professional I think that can I just a little bit of a synopsis from what I'm hearing um and I and I appreciate everyone's concern this is what we're here for we're here to ask questions like I think I used to mentioned earlier but this is is you know correct me is this just change for Chain's sake or is this change because we're trying to make the plan better I mean I I know it sounds like a silly question but please Dr guchi it's certainly to make our special ed programming better okay um Mr it has been subpar can we ask um either the ladies or Dr guchi just to give us a a brief summary of what we've been talking about the redesign and the people that have participated in how long just to kind of remind us what they have been doing it's not an overnight decision do you mind Dr guchi or ladies I don't care yeah I mean I know um Miss humus she couldn't be here tonight and she wanted to be so I apologize um but she certainly met with um uh CPAC um for over a year this specialed redesign was driven by special education teachers with some of the most heavily attended meetings I've ever been a part of and I'm talking 30 to 40 teachers at every single meeting um it was um all ideas were considered we did not take every single idea that was presented um but administrators power professionals CPAC uh a Year's worth of work from our special education leaders teachers that's where this plan came from I did not create this plan no administrator created this plan it was ideas from special education teachers that's it that that's where it came from I don't know if there's any further discussion I know there's a few motions as well um so any other discussion M Mr Kingston you had a motion I'd like to I'd like to make a substitute motion to approve the um special education redesign except for moving the SBA uh life skills as send students to the gothfield and would that be tabling that matter or would that be referring it to the subit I just I want it to die so whatever you folks want to do but I I I don't have a problem with all the plan just this one part I realize people have put a lot of time and energy into it and I have no problem with it pots of it are great the beach want thing is the best thing I've heard in a very long time but the rest but the moving the life skills life skill as send kids nope can't can't support it so that's my substitute motion that's what I'd like to see us vote on so they could move ahead with the other parts of their plan second thank you I have an it can we move this to um the subcommittee health and special education please you want to move the full the entire redesign P me you're asking to move the entire redesign plan to that and not vote on any parts or just the they need to get started I mean like everything else they can't wait around for us to that's what I'm asking when you say move it when you're saying move it to subcommittee are you asking us portion I would like to move to sub committee please so we had a second on the substitute so can we roll call that yep roll call on the uh Mr Kingston substitute motion uh Mrs Bronson Rizzo so to recap The Substitute motion is to vote on the redesign plan except for the life skills change and then after we vote on that that someone can refer that part to the health and special needs sub special education subcommittee for further discussion yes yes yes oh sorry uh Mr cajano yes Mr Kingston yes Mr Mata yes Mrs Milbury Ellis yes M monteroso yes mayor Keith yes so I would would like to um take that um alternate motion and take that piece and send it to what are you laughing for you health and special education subcommittee please and we don't need a motion for that anyone can refer something to sub committee so you can just say you're referring it great and you're the chair of that so we'll look forward to the meeting refer to point of personal privilege please um because we're working on um special education my plan was to come up with some dates for um the committee members and that would be a Isa Milbury Ellis and I believe it's Mr Mata that's on it um and I was inviting CAC um and some other people to it but they also want to remind for anyone that's really not sure about special education masc is holding a zoom Workshop tomorrow night at 6:00 you can sign up up on mc.org and we will be discussing um the new IEP um plans um I'm hoping that some parents might want to jump on it that's why I'm going to ask CPAC it's a last minute I item but um if not I'm going to have them come here too to explain to the parents and you know try to work something out with CPAC because we need to really work with CPAC support those parents um they just don't have enough help so miss I just have a question how CPAC doing last the last meeting I went I think I was one of the only pan I ask you for the name of the person running so I'm oh okay I'll give it you right after the meeting sure yeah please I have no clue I don't either I know of a new person do you yeah okay we have a vice uh we have a president a vice president and a secretary wow that's awesome the president Julie Brown Julie can I ask you to write that down for me so I can get in touch with them when you have a chance thank you okay um also tomorrow night um the acting commissioner um for Riley um Russell Johnson he's excellent he was in the sped Department um he's going to be speaking on some of the changes for the special education um um leadership at desie so if you do have a chance you want to learn a little bit more about IEP in case parents ask you questions you have an idea of what they're talking about thank you good so we're going to move that um piece into your subcommittee unfinished business no sorry see I don't have this on my agenda okay so this is the motion to nominate and elect a school committee Treasurer correct yes so just context uh we approved the treasurer posision last month so uh the floor is now open if anyone would like to nominate someone for Treasure Mr chairman Miss Milbury I nominate Anthony cajano to serve as the committee's first treasurer second second roll call any discussion are there any other nominations okay any discussion no roll call Mrs Bronson Rizzo not voting uh Mr cajano yes Mr Kingston yes Mr Mata yes Mrs bilbur Ellis yes M monteroso yes mayor Keef yes motion passes okay finished business new business new business so under new business I'd like to speak about the superintendent evaluation just because we didn't get to it in the C so uh let's see so a little bit of a recap we are a year behind in her evaluation process for those who are new including the mayor and myself the superintendent was moved to a 2year valuation cycle which required her to have a midpoint valuation usually by May or June of last year she actually has not been evaluated since September of 2022 so we are behind and with that her let's see I had this so so and then this year we're also set to enter into discussions of a contract negotiation for the superintendent she uh the contract requires that we give her a 9month notice and so it we need to do the midyear evaluation and it needs to be voted on by June and it doesn't make sense in my expert opinion to then do another full year evaluation again this year and so I wanted to bring this to you all and see if we could have a motion to amend her cycle so we can do the midy Year this year start on it through the Personnel subcommittee so that we can you know vote on it by May or June and then we can enter into the contract negotiation conversations as needed and so with my last Point here also is that does not have a midyear valuation rubric for superintendent because this cycle is actually not something that's very common in the Commonwealth so that's also another reason why we shouldn't have two valuations this year because we're going to have to either either adapt the admin midpoint rubric or create our own so it's going to be a lot of work that we need to do and so that's kind of just the context on why I'd like for us to vote to amend the evaluation cycle so we can start on the midpoint as soon as possible thoughts Miss milber Ellis I'm I'm curious as to why we if anybody can Enlighten us as to why we would switch to a two-year as opposed to do annual reviews there's got to be some benefit to it so I just want to understand that before we vote Miss Rizzo yes it was suggested by desie um masc and mass for the experienced ones all the newer ones coming into the program would be one-year cycles and when we the year that we voted for a 2-year cycle is the year that they had suggested because of how many years she's already and it's easier for the school committee to keep up with it thank you but then you know what you lose if it's not every year you get behind so but two years thank you thank you for the information any other questions no okay so also just to recap um I already you know Dr Kelly isn't here but I recap this with her so she knows kind of what the plan is and so our timeline would be we vote right now to amend the cycle I'll refer this to the Personnel subcommittee we'll start to discuss what the rubric is in the process so then hopefully by May or June we vote on this and then uh come August September we start the conversation about contract negotiations based after the evaluation so with that I'd like to make a motion to amend the superintendent's evaluation cycle to conduct a midpoint evaluation uh this spring do I have a second second Mr C seconds any discussion pardon me I just need a more understanding of what it is I mean I came on November 27th special person came in and spoke on it and then we were supposed to do a mid-year evaluation in February I asked about any paperwork I never got any paperwork and then I thought we're on assumption we're doing it on February now we have another DeLay So umana what paperwork do you need I'm more than no just any any paperwork we had on the original evaluation I mean you I mean you already set up for certain standards right last year right but did I not send you her contract in last evaluation no I got the contract I got the budget but I never got the evaluation okay then it was my fault I guess I will be more than happy to do that tonight oh no problem but I'm saying is is but then I thought we were going to have that even though I didn't get that from you I just figured in January and February we're going to take it up because we had the mid years in February and now we're being delayed again and it's just like we have a delay on this the delay on the honors and it's just like if we need to do it we need to get it done instead of keeping delaying all the time yeah so so it was supposed to be done we mentioned doing it in February of this year because it was already a year behind it was supposed to happen last febrary August it was supposed to happen in August and we decided to wait for the new committee to be part of that because they would be coming in November and it wasn't feir to exclude them okay um it should have been done earlier it she was due last year um but it's our job to do it so that's why the discussion is now it didn't happen in February because there's so much that I feel like I'm I'm carrying here for our committee so I discussed it I tried to make a plan and now I'm bringing it to you all now so as soon as we can all approve it we'll get the ball rolling so it's not pushing it down it's a matter of it was already behind as a new Vice CH trying to figure out all the places that we had gaps and we need to really tighten those so definitely hear you and we'll get to work on it as soon as we can get this voted on so we can amend and move forward with it say my question is is when we're in negotiations with teachers custodians and everything if we don't have a contract they work without a contract until we get it done and whether it be superintendent teachers or anything when a vote go without a contract what what's the problem I mean I I don't understand I mean me we expect that from our teachers to work without a contract but none of our administrations and so on and then another thing too is is I I'm not sure if we're talking about a three or fiveyear contract just like I talked about before I have concerns about long-term contracts as far as uh cost I mean two years down the line we are going to be under the gun our budget because the shortfalls with the state cities states and towns and I don't agree with long-term contracts either whether it be teachers administrators or so on so I'm saying what is it to work without a contract to get it done I feel when we don't work we don't have a contract then we're going to work harder to get it done instead of saying kicking it down the road kicking up down the road and I feel what I've seen with the schools like when we have meetings about the schools it's just like they come ahead of us we need a vote and I just feel everything's at the last minute everything that's last minute let's extend it let's extend it and that's what I have a problem with thank you um I'm I'm a little confused I'm just asking us to do the evaluation That was supposed to be done over a year ago not I I yeah I I don't I don't really know saying is is if I can clarify this isn't about I mean this obviously relates to a future probably contract but this is just the evaluation I mean this is like but but the contract States is basically if we don't do anything in June then it's automatically renewed yeah that that's the contract that was signed for whatever years ago okay so the point is is we don't renew it and then we work to get this done that's all I'm trying to say is if we don't do anything now we're on the thing for a long-term cont I mean it has nothing to do with uh Dr Kelly I think Dr Kelly's been wonderful I says I'm not saying anything negative it just seems like everything's in the last minute we're dragging on and the point I'm trying to make is you know what we work without a contract we don't renew it and then we get it done maybe we'll get it done faster instead of just saying it's a year from now it's a year from now that's all I'm trying to say good point uh if I you know but just just to remind like as far as the we're talking about the evaluations as far as the contract it's a separate conversation and I'm just I I don't have it in front of me but just so so everyone knows and I don't think anyone's even talking about a contract right now but if there isn't a re if there isn't a letter stating that we will not renew your contract in by a certain timeline to the 9 to 12 months depends on who it is if it's I I have to look then they automatically get re-up for another year which is fine great like I don't think anyone's suggesting that wouldn't be would be a problem but they so if you don't give them a letter of intent to either dismiss or to extend they automatically extend so it's more about acting on the contracted language that's in there but I'm not necessarily concerned with the contract now it's more about the evaluation that I think that she's bringing up if we don't act if we don't act on it correct then it's an automatic renewal that's how I read it correct anybody else see the contract yeah it we took that out I believe as far as I know it's in it it's a renewal for the additional year I believe no I thought it renew no it doesn't say that turn okay can I just ask so we can get yeah wheel it in re it in I don't even know the words anymore um and I'm glad Anthony said this because this is what I was going to say originally this has nothing to do with Dr Kelly not doing the job that she's supposed to do I blame the last school committee that I sat on and I blame this school committee because if we're not going to act and do our jobs we have no one to blame but ourselves so yeah yes I think we should work on what Jack wiin said and um and then after the evaluation move on I think we all agree with that agreed yeah but it doesn't answer the question the question is is the contract says it's automatically renewed so what are we planning to do so okay I so okay I'll answer that question and then um we can that conversation but I'd like to votee on just the contract so the contract does say that if she's not given word within 9 months of expiration which is next June of 2025 she gets the the onee extension like you're saying doesn't say that it says 12 it says you have to notify by June oh it's an automatic renew it will extend for another five shall be effective not extend for 5 years yes cont okay John so can we just vote on the evaluation then we'll have that discussion because these are two separate matters and I just want us to do our job because we're over a year behind on evaluating the superintendent she hasn't been evaluated since 2022 so that's my matter at hand we had a second is it still second that or yeah the second was me second whatever she brought out we can take up the contract and the second we already had 500 discussions and not even a second all right we have a second yes do we have any discussion discuss on the evaluation can I miss Milbury Ellis just for clarification these are two separate issues Dr Kelly has a contract as a superintendent and she's also to be evaluated by us so these things can happen simultaneously or separately they're not connected if that makes if that makes any sense that's my understanding at least exactly so we could do the midterm evaluation in June and still um discuss Dr Kelly's contract but that's an issue that needs to be it's a separate issue it just needs to be put on an agenda and needs to be discussed at least that's my understanding correct me if I'm wrong I don't disagree with you but and like what what mon Miss monteroso is bringing up is I would never want to go over a contract without having an evaluation first right you would want to have like the metrics to talk about and then then that's the discussion of the com contract after so that's exactly what Mr she tring she's trying to get to this evaluation so we can get to that point otherwise we can sit there and do nothing yeah ex right I think that she's trying to get to that have aoll so we have any other discussion no roll call please Mrs Bronson Rizzo yes Mr kiano yes Mr Kingston yes Mr Mata yes Mrs milb Alis yes M monteroso yes mayor Keith yes okay new business Mr Kingston I I honestly feel sometimes and I don't mean to to um disparage anyone or say anything I honestly feel we could use a little work on how to run the meeting so to speak so I reached out to the mass Association of school committees um and asked if someone could come out um I suggested and it was only a suggestion and I obviously I just wanted to discuss it um I thought maybe 4:00 before a meeting um the woman offered to come out either at our April meeting or at a May meeting and basically she thought within an she thought within she thought within an hour she could kind of go over the ropes of running a meeting so we'd be a little more um um I think there's some question sometimes in procedure I don't think we've done anything criminally wrong and I'm not too worried about too much but I think just to make a smoother more little better flow for the meeting some education would be helpful it's free um and I just thought like four o'clock before either the April or May meeting might be helpful um again we can work out another time I just thought we're already scheduled for those meetings so people are already coming if it's too early you know we can make another date It's just sometimes hard to get another date um you know uh with everyone's busy schedule so I think it's something really should think about um I appreciate it you know and obviously we can discuss it but I I I think we could use the help I don't think anyone in this room is confident on how to run a meeting I'm certainly not John could you please tell me who you spoke to was I I apologize um I had a lengthy conversation with her and she did introduce herself she did H the phone she you'll probably know who she is she's our new Regional director Alicia M she will be coming to help out with the special education um workshop and um meet them so um perhaps if I can come up with the date with our subcommittee and with CPAC maybe we can um piggy back so that she does she's not in she doesn't live in this area so but maybe once is better I did ask her at 4:00 on I gave her those two dates just threw them out there and I said look this isn't set in stone I have to talk to my colleagues obviously but I'll bring it up I talked to it yesterday so it was before the you know it was fresh and she said I could I could make those two days at 4:00 if that works for your committee so and I'm not I'm not dictating please I'm just saying I just threw that out there but I think we could use the help and if anyone says we don't I'll gladly talk to you after because I think we could thank you Miss monteroso uh so I think thank you for bringing that up John so we actually the mayor and I uh have been working to plan a retreat for us and once we kind of figured out we were going to bring I think we I had mentioned it to you all and how we'll make the agenda together on topics people have so I think that's a great starting point but while we're on that top topic to let you all know um once I kind of like solidify the outline I'll bring it to you all for feedback so to ensure that our Retreat actually includes content that you all want but I was uh I'm happy to share kind of that line of what I was thinking now with folks I was thinking of having three different sessions of two hours the first one would be on the difference between roles and responsibilities between a superintendent and school committee the second one would be on open meeting law and the third would be on this research document that's called eight characteristics of success School committees and so um that that research was the foundation of professional development I received to be a school Committee Member and so the breakdown would also include some culture building for us that would be led Maybe by some of our restorative justice student captains and then uh so I won't get into the nitty-gritty of it because I want everyone to be part of that conversation to design it so I think just saying John I think you kicked off a conversation that I was ready to bring to all of us as well and your new business so love to see you collaborate with Miss bronze and ril so that we can start and then uh the chair and myself as Vice chair will continue planning the bigger Retreat and loop you all in so that we can have feedback on that and just just to remind everyone we have money in the budget for us to be doing workshops we can't and I know everyone works but I mean right now we're talking March the conference is in November there's plenty of time to set aside a day or two also there's learnning lunch so that you can go on on a zoom and there's different subject matters um like tomorrow is on well no tomorrow is tomorrow night but learning lunches we'll talk about superintendent evaluations there's always different topics to help school committee so we need to you can't sit back and just wait for people to tell you what you're supposed to be doing you need to reach out and get your information it's hard but we need to do it if we're not going to ourselves if we keep saying and blaming and that's what it seems like we do thank you good information okay any other new business great motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all in favor all in favor I