School Committee: May 27, 2020

Transcript captured from YouTube auto-captioning. No speaker labels; proper names and dollar figures occasionally misheard. Click any timecode to jump to that moment in the source video.

1:30 [Music] [Music] uh

2:37 oh i was on i had my sound off apparently yes when i went to full screen it put me back on mute and took the video away oh how are you doing over there we’re doing well counting the day oh good um have you found a place yet over this way no and not from lack of trying i know it’s an odd market right now it is a hot market yeah well you’ll find some both rejected well i’m just hoping none of my children find me during this

3:23 hey sarah hi megan hey hey guys hey john john good to see you

3:29 it’s good to be here exciting to be here absolutely very exciting yeah i’m happy about this

3:42 sarah fox where are you it’s a different uh different background is that a virtual background no i would paint the molding in the virtual background it’s grace’s bedroom um there’s people all over the house right now so i didn’t have i literally said to matt at one point i i thought about going on the front lawn and sitting in the adirondack chair i didn’t even know where to go today i did a meeting out in my yard today i really thought about it other than my streets so busy with walkers and runners i thought it would get distracting with the noise yeah i have a house full of giggles right now hopefully you guys can’t hear them no that’s better than a house full of tears your kids are doing better than mine tonight

4:28 tonight tonight only because we grabbed him with ice cream well i think these zoo meetings are going to get harder now that it’s light later at least in my family because i used to be able to trick them into going to bed earlier but now it’s yeah they’re there

4:49 i know cecilia joined us for part of the budget meeting yesterday she’s so big i know but she’s two she just turned two i can’t believe it yeah that’s why all right i just have to find a pen i’ll be back mine just stopped john i have five kids so there’s always someone somewhere laughter and tears both i’m sure yeah yeah we announced her we announced our graduation plan and i’m not sure why it has gone so sideways because it’s what ninety percent of schools are doing but the island families are just devastated oh there’s a lot of what are your feelings here

5:38 we’re bringing them in uh and having them walk across the stage and film it and then uh go outside and get their yearbooks and their keymotive files and get a professional photograph done in their cap and gown with their families um very similar to what bill was telling me you’re going to marblehead yeah i know hudson what i’ve heard they’re doing in other districts but it just wasn’t well received yeah there’s so many feelings it’s such it’s so loaded and so difficult are you froze i didn’t hear most of that

6:24 oh sorry i just said um it’s it’s there’s so many feelings around it and it’s just all so loaded that it’s just really tough right than even some of the college kids just because you know there there might not get a freshman year of college either i can you imagine getting through to this point and finding out you’re going to spend your freshman year with your parents again that would that would be a hard pill to swallow those poor parents

7:08 this needs to be over way before my kids it’s time for them to leave i’m already fearful i just got back about an hour ago from getting my propane tank from yesterday

7:49 i’m gonna go quickly kick my kid off the xbox and maybe bag less i’ll be right back good luck thanks i’ll need it

8:07 so man this is an entirely new way to interview

8:17 especially especially without like haircuts or oh my goodness the good news is we’re all in the same boat yeah that’s right that’s right i’m i’m almost looking like my high school graduation photo in another couple weeks

8:45 that’s what everybody says i need to need to find one of those before and after i actually started giving my son and husband haircuts it’s all good if they don’t turn around and you don’t see the back

9:16 yeah i mean we’ve come full circle nan i remember applying for a job uh 20 years ago by mail with an envelope and a stamp and it wasn’t um an email submittal and you needed to wait for somebody to call you back oh my gosh then all the interviews were in person and then it was of course you can submit your applications electronically and here we are today with uh zoo with zoom meetings it’s uh it’s a big change yeah it is it is there’s some pros but they’re you know it’s they’re all getting old now everybody wants their life back yes you know so

10:03 so so hi john

10:12 and john’s with us john bucky yes both johns are with us i was confused momentarily when the hi john started i thought well i’ve been here why are they saying hello again

10:26 hi i’m ready i wouldn’t have passed me today to say hello a second time and forget that i had done it first it’s one of those days i thought it was thursday until about two hours ago when someone corrected me

10:42 it’s the same sarah it is every day yeah yeah exactly well i thought it was tuesday because we had monday off so i don’t know i’ve made a lot of mistakes in my schedule today

11:04 yep i frantically facetimed the client this afternoon only to find out that she was supposed to be tomorrow at i thought i was 15 minutes late but uh turns out i was really ahead of time

11:26 should we start are there a lot of people in the world no i think we should start i think it’s a couple minutes after seven and um i haven’t had anybody come in in the last minute or two so we can uh officially call to order at 702. and and bill i will turn it over to you to um make an introduction

11:57 you sarah good evening everyone well this certainly is a special uh meeting and uh i’m very pleased that uh we’re able to be here tonight uh for the school committee to uh meet neah murphy uh a number of you have already engaged in conversation so i say let’s just get to you know item number three on the agenda

12:26 um i just want to quickly review with you

12:31 uh the process uh for this search uh first outlined to the committee um a few months ago prior to school closure a search advisory committee was established and uh i really want to recognize the members of the search advisory committee the members included uh from the school committee jim schaffner megan taylor members of the administrative team michelle cresta matt fox and brian ota uh staff members robin fines eric fargo and jonathan heller um and uh two parents melissa kaplich and paul baker

13:16 paul baker paul baker and our incoming superintendent john bucky the members of of that committee uh spent many many hours uh reviewing in over 40 application packets met a couple of times to talk about uh the candidates and who met our qualifications for interviews um a number of candidates were interviewed over a course of approximately a week’s time the search advisory committee per the charge a per their charge then recommending a slate of candidates to move further on in the

14:01 process and that’s where dr bucky and i uh became involved in getting down so to speak to the nitty-gritty we work closely together in completing the vetting process of those individuals that were identified for further consideration this vetting process consisted of a deep dive into their credentials and experience it includes speaking with a wide range of references individually reinterviewing uh two of those at that group that eventually became finalists and finally having the opportunity to observe the finalists interact with our staff

14:47 uh and then uh had an opportunity to review the feedback from our staff so we have with us tonight the uh um um to coin a television a show the lone survivor and uh and we’re very pleased i’m very pleased to introduce to you nian murphy uh tonight his is going to turn out to be uh perhaps a little more for informal than previously thought and i think that’s a very very good thing so we would our plan tonight or my plan tonight is to have nan uh start by introducing herself she’s going to tell you a little bit about herself her

15:34 experience her background and why she would like to come to marblehead it will then uh i’ll then turn it back to you sarah uh for uh some interaction perhaps some questions that you have of nan and then uh our plan hopefully is that we will wrap the meeting up uh with a formal recommendation uh for appointment so nan again welcome you’ve done a great job through our process uh both john and i are very pleased that you’re here at this point and uh i’ll let you start it off all right well thank you so much i am thrilled to be here and meeting everybody i have thoroughly enjoyed the process it’s been um

16:21 i feel like i’ve been completely vetted by your team so um although it’s hard on a candidate uh i value and understand the process and appreciate how deep um all the thinking and questioning went because you certainly want to try to get the best fit for your community so i’m thrilled to be here i am a lifelong educator i spent 16 years in the classroom i loved teaching i taught elementary school first third and fourth grade i never really intended to become a school leader it wasn’t until around my 10th year of teaching that i really started

17:08 to understand the impact that district leaders curriculum leaders school leaders had on my teaching and the overall feel of a school community so i was inspired to try to create that went on was very lucky to land in lowell massachusetts i was an assistant principal and of an elementary school and then i assumed the principalship after a year and a half the uh at that time the state came back with some accountability data it was in a new format and um much to our surprise the school that i was newly assuming responsibility for was in fact

17:54 the lowest performing elementary school out of all 14 elementary schools in lowell so we had our work cut out for us we were designated a high needs level three and at that time the state was assuming responsibility for level four schools so we were very close to that point but by developing a strong shared leadership model a strong team approach the teachers and the administrative staff worked together hands joined we concentrated on a couple of really important instructional shifts in teaching and also really tightly aligned some curricular practices

18:40 and happy to say that after four years that the time our kindergarteners left us as fourth graders their mcas data designated us a level one school and the commissioner of education came out with a team interviewed the faculty and my administrative group and to try to understand how to help other districts build this kind of capacity at that point the superintendent of schools created a position for me at the district level i became the director of accountability and school improvement working with primarily uh the underperforming schools about seven of them in lowell as well as professionally developing

19:25 professionally developing professionally developing a hundred leaders so i did all the professional development for principals assistant principals directors and assistant superintendents after um two years in that role i became very um close and colleagues with my colleagues at the state level who were in lowell supporting five particular schools and they afforded me the opportunity to come to work for them at the department of education which is where i am now and my role at this point is i go into districts that are underperforming and i work with the leadership team assistant superintendents principals and teachers

20:12 and help them devise plans for sustainable improvement loved that job continue to enjoy the people i work with but miss being part of a district i had a feeling that would happen to me and it did i miss being a part of the overall professional development in the district building relationships with teachers and principals and working with a team at the just at the district level so i knew i wanted to get back into that work and when i saw the marblehead position everything about it seemed to me like the stars were aligned um what i could learn about the superintendent-elect was fantastic seemed like great

20:57 great great collaborator certainly proved that to me as throughout the interview process an opportunity to continue some great work that’s been happening around curriculum and instruction uh working alongside the administrative team developing a strategic plan which is expiring this year so so and and working with a demographic that um the challenge is really about how do you move high achievement how do you continue to move kids forward when they when they’re when there’s good data because um you know we always want kids moving beyond what they’re currently doing um regardless of where they fall so just different kind of challenge so i’m

21:44 i’m honored i feel like it’s a privilege to be here um and to be um considered at this level and that in your community is just been a real thrill for me so thank you for that maybe some y’all have some questions or something i could further go into for you

22:05 thank you so much nan um it was as you know as someone who wasn’t part of the of the previous process um it was really great to hear you speak and put a lot of the things in your resume into your own words so um nice to start to get to know you so i will open it up to the committee um i’ve i’ve got a question but i will let others start if anybody wants to do that i’ll start with no one else’s i mean i had the privilege obviously of being part of the initial interview um team so you know i’ve already spoken to nan a few times but man i thought i’d ask you the same question i asked you in the interview um i think

22:50 i think it’s one that would be useful to the committee um i am going to switch it up a little bit though so um when i ask it if you could apply what you’ve learned about our district through this interview process that would be great okay anymore uh the question is if you could please explain your philosophy of education and how you will apply that to your day-to-day work here in marblehead okay great so um i i believe i answered it i’ll answer it similarly than that i did in the interview i i really truly at the heart and soul of my philosophy around education in particular teaching and learning is that all students can and with the correct amount of time and support

23:36 support support students can meet and exceed expectations so their students come with all different kinds of backgrounds and experiences they have some some are literate and ready to go in kindergarten other need more foundational skills to get off um to a strong start my belief is that if we as adults can do a good thorough job of determining what our students in front of us need and then adjust and shift the curriculum and scaffold for students that they will get there so

24:23 that doesn’t it doesn’t matter if you’re talking about a kindergarten student or a junior in high school it’s all about understanding their instructional level trying to find materials that will engage them so not necessarily the traditional materials as we look into the vast supports and variety of teaching tools that we have if we are aggressively pursuing ways to engage kids and providing them the support and the instructional leveled material they will they will get there and i saw it i lived it at the mcauliffe school when students who were not speaking english

25:09 were able to exceed our expectations when we provided the right supports so i’m i’m confident that is a belief that i will take regardless of the district that i serve in um that that i really want for each child to meet their own individual level of success thank you yeah great thank you nan um anybody else want to ask a question otherwise i can ask mine

25:43 i’m happy to go next okay go ahead sarah nian my question was how do you see the role uh if you see it any differently now um but do you how do you see the role of assistant superintendent different now given the situation we’re in and what we’ll be bringing kids back to school with um and would you say your priorities in this new role would be different i think the priorities will most certainly be different than a typical beginning of a school year for all administrators and principals and teachers inc as well the pr the primary focus will be around re-entry whatever that looks like whether it’s um a

26:29 variation of a school day whether it continues as remote learning it’s really i would see my role as the assistant superintendent um listening and talking to what’s going well with remote learning what are some concerns staff are having do they have the materials they need and really seeking the guidance of the superintendent and the vision that he brings to the work and then once i get an understanding kind of operationalizing what his vision is and helping to communicate with the community the parents the teachers the staff the kids help get the message out um

27:16 once that’s been determined so really the the re-entry piece is around the social emotional health and well-being of kids getting them back into a structured setting supporting the adults in what they’re feeling they need professionally looking at curriculum we’re going to have to take steps back from our traditional fall curriculum where there are going most likely going to be some achievement pieces missing that we might need to backfill in the fall so kind of looking at different assessment sources what will give us that information and how do we um help kind of bring all of that together for a smooth fall and hopefully um winter

28:02 great thank you and that actually is a perfect setup for the question that i had wanted to ask um given everything we know going on for kids and adults and you know particularly our teachers of course um can you talk about how you see social emotional issues interface with curriculum or with children’s ability to access the curriculum

28:30 so i i think some of our um our students that we typically talk about being disengaged or we have attendance issues around or defiancy around um sometimes when you talk to the kids they’re very open and transparent around instruction and what is missing in their classroom settings to engage them so i i think there’s also vocal data that is currently available to marble administrative leaders that that is data taken from the eighth grade the fifth grade and i believe the tenth grade students after their science mcas are asked about

29:16 how do they feel about school and how do they feel about the curriculum and are they challenged and do they feel like their teachers care about them are they can feel like they have good friends do they feel um vulnerable to bullying so i think looking at that vocal data and trying to determine how students feel and how what’s their perception around teaching and school safety and resources to support them they ask about do you know where you need to go if you need help with an emotional issue so looking at that data can be very helpful too on a on an overarching level but also i think

30:02 advisories are a great opportunity for for teachers to make connections in the middle school and high school and have those kind of conversations with kids about their needs and you know what’s working in the classroom setting and what can we do better as teachers great thank you i especially appreciate sort of how it comes through that you have your start in the lower grades um and i think that to me is is unique um and a real asset because it really puts you at that starting level um and understanding the little kids and then you know being able to broaden that as they are actually then able to discuss things and talk about what they how they’re feeling and what they think

30:49 about school and how they’re able to function within a school day so that’s great thanks

31:01 i had a question sarah but i actually was going to go last just because i’ve had a chance to talk to nan a couple times i don’t know if david has a question

31:13 david you’re still muted about that uh nan welcome to marblehead this is really exciting and um as you probably know we’ve gone through a transition period of uh bringing in interim superintendent bill mclaughliff and john moretti and you used the words the stars were aligned when you saw this position and i think um if you could talk just a little bit more about that i mean we brought michelle cresta in as our business manager and now we have uh dr bucky as our superintendent and the missing link is to have an assistant superintendent so it’s a little bit different i mean

31:58 you’re coming into a hype of what i think is a high-performing district and we’ve carried that forward you have a awesome supporting staff at the high school level and um all the principals and the administrative staff and but the administrative level is is going to essentially be all new so just just talk about that a little bit and what you might bring to the team so to be able to bring to the administrator the school leaders i i think my two years in providing professional development in lowell uh has certainly been an asset so i think i understand and also my my 11 years as a school

32:45 leader myself i understand the demands around teacher evaluation and uh and and really trying to get teacher feedback right and to try to do it in a way that you’re growing your professional community and not um not harming it through comments that you make and through the culture that you build in a school so i i think i i have um some of those experiences both personally and as a professional development provider i also know instruction i know that’s what i do right now i’m in chelsea high school i’m in uh other high schools and we do

33:32 instructional rounds and we’ll go in we’ll look at instruction i’ll look at instruction with a principal or a small team of um chairs uh and we’ll step out into the hall and we’ll debrief the instruction and we talk about you know what are what was missing what were some great things to make sure you come full circle back with the teacher so i i think i have a really strong lens for instruction and and i i also believe that good instruction looks the same in the elementary school that it does in the high school that you are engaging kids that kids are with you know there’s a balance between uh

34:17 paper and pencil and exploratory curriculum so um i i have some of that kind of background to support principles with um i also have from from lowell a vast um experience with crisis and and what you know when a school leader is struggling with you know what to do next with a particular student um sometimes i would get that call and we would talk it through together and we would be able to really always try to stay focused on what’s best for the kids um the child involved the family involved so i i think i can kind of balance that out as well with with staff

35:06 great thanks well i think you know you’re coming in um brad who was the previous um assistant superintendent he used to really like to do launch duty for instance at the village and he talked about that about um how that was really good for him to be engaged with the students outside of all of the curriculum uh work that he did and and you’re right i think that’s that’s what it’s all about you know when it comes down to it so i would i would schedule instructional rounds with the high school department heads on loaded baked potato day so we would we would do it and then we’d go down into the cafeteria and talk with

35:51 kids and um so that’s yeah that’s a big part of um of my love of being back in a district is that i can make some of those connections and you know come back to certain classrooms and follow up with teachers on a more consistent um basis yeah that’s great thanks thanks nan jen did you want to ask your question yeah yeah thanks sarah appreciate it um man welcome back um i’m gonna switch gears just a little bit um and you talked about in your initial interview um what you also have on your resume which is culturally proficient leading and teaching and you’ve given some um some great um

36:36 examples i guess um i was gonna say anecdotes but examples of how you’ve done that i wonder if you could share that tonight with the rest of the committee so the overall culture across education right now particularly in massachusetts is around the focus of really making sure that our staff uh and and all in all staff in in education not just teachers but anybody who really has direct interaction with parents and families and students have some sort of an understanding of culturally proficient language and approaches so um there’s a lot of the schools that i’m working with is using the text by zoretta hammond um cultural cultural

37:22 proficiency in the brain and it talks about how our own personal experiences inform a lot of our decisions so really trying to be aware of your implicit and explicit biases and it just doesn’t mean race it can mean around the way you talk about the special education programs it can be around how you talk about students that are second language learners it can be tough it’s the way you talk about um students who have behavioral needs and um need something different and different types of interventions so um it’s it’s a broad awareness of how our

38:11 how our own personal experiences inform some of our decisions and how sometimes we need to shake that up because they don’t always guide us in the right direction and the more aware we are of our biases uh the better informed our decisions can be um for for kids so um that that’s been a great experience teachers have really responded well there’s also a big big part of that learning is around building relationships with with students and getting to know them beyond uh you know the middle schools teachers get them for such a minimal amount of time there’s so much curriculum to get through

38:56 so how do we build time for that community piece and for getting to know each other and understanding and building a relationship so when kids are struggling um they have an opportunity to share that with a trusted adult so there’s a lot to that i’m kind of summarizing and breezing over it i’m sure people would be saying i’m missing a lot of important components which are missing but that’s the overall approach um that we’re that we’re trying to extend out into the community i’ve done some work around white fragility and how our how our experiences of as white middle class educators can sometimes um inhibit us when we’re working with with families

39:43 that don’t necessarily understand some of the acronyms we’re using um we’re speaking too fast for families that speak second language um second languages so just trying to be more aware of our overall approach um in in different settings and with all different all the different community members that make up our our school families

40:11 thank you thank you thanks nan um committee any other questions

40:19 i’m good for now all right great thank you so much nan um fantastic just it’s really great to hear you speak on those levels right bill um did you have any anything else to say

40:41 so yes uh nan thank you very much for being here tonight and uh sarah and the committee do you uh we’re moving on i hope to agenda three a vote on the appointment do you like jan uh would you like nan to to stick around or shall we i don’t have a problem with that at all i don’t think that’s great yeah right yeah absolutely nanny you sure you wanna keep going does nan want to stick around for that

41:24 uh so i’d like to uh say a few more words before you have a motion sarah that’s okay please you know me i like to jump right in it’s all right sarah we’ll get to you uh so the first thing is i i did want to say that uh you know i haven’t you haven’t heard me brag about this at all during the year but it finally came out yes there was a school named after me in lowell

41:56 [Laughter] [Laughter] just okay no it’s not very seriously uh i do want to uh a place one more shout out one more thanks again to the search advisory committee uh for their uh for providing excellent uh guidance and direction in uh ultimately getting us to where we are tonight so again thank you for your dedication your hard work uh it’s it’s not an easy task to be on one of those committees and this committee worked really well together so thank you and uh i also want to thank dr bucky for his involvement

42:41 all the way through this process this is a rare opportunity for an incoming superintendent to be closely involved in a process where a brand new assistant superintendent will be coming in and working directly uh with him and so uh you know that was something from the very beginning we were committed to and i think it worked out very well and uh so thanks john um for uh being for you make taking the time and the effort to to be involved in the process uh we wouldn’t be where we are if if that was not the case well my pleasure i was very happy to be part of the process but even happier

43:29 that nan is emerging as the assistant superintendent mark we’re very excited thank you awesome why don’t we uh make it official uh i do want to uh i’m actually going to if you don’t mind read just a little bit from the memo that i had forwarded to school community members earlier today i’m pleased to recommend miss nan murphy to be the next assistant superintendent of the mobile head public schools uh as you know john and i did work closely together once the search advisory committee uh furthered uh uh provided us with the slave of candidates to move further uh

44:15 as we progressed through this process we learned about nan’s leadership leadership style as a collaborative team player who is an excellent communicator she’s personable approachable and a leader who models openness fairness and dedication to students staff and parents she has the track record of building strong positive relationships and developing a culture of accountability while being a highly respected leader she is described by both colleagues and supervisors that’s clear focused and strategic she’s further described as being dedicated and tireless

45:00 tireless tireless of being a dedicated and tireless advocate of all students demonstrates exceptional leadership skills and is able to analyze and synthesize data while sharing it in meaningful ways now that is a very excellent skill set to have both dr bucky and i believe that neil murphy is the best choice to fill this vitally important role for the marblehead public schools so thank you for your consideration

45:33 great thank you bill um so i would like to ask for a motion that the marblehead school committee appoint miss nan murphy as assistant superintendent of schools subject to successful contract negotiation sarah fox moves and megan

45:59 all right um any further discussion on that are you breaking up a little bit sarah but i i’d like to echo the comments of the superintendent and say thanks to the people that worked on the committee and also to uh you know john bucky and uh bill for working together collaboratively it is a unique situation to uh have this opportunity and uh i’m real excited um that everybody’s been involved and everybody’s been engaged and um it’s going to be a great year next year so um i’m excited to move forward with the vote

46:48 thanks david thanks david can i just say something sarah absolutely yeah um it’s been a pleasure getting to know you you know it’s the third time now i think that we’ve had some interactions so it’s really been great getting to know you a little bit virtually even and hearing about your experience um i’m really really excited to have you fill this position i think you’re going to compliment the rest of the team and dr uh and dr bucky specifically with your experience so i’m excited thank you for being here thank you for sharing you know your background and your resume with us and uh let’s make it happen yay great let’s move the vote all right anybody else because i agree with what’s been said and i’m just i’m thrilled that that we’ve got such an

47:34 amazing candidate um and just really excited

47:41 anybody have anything else to add let’s vote let’s do it so we’ll roll call sarah gold yes uh

48:06 i’m sorry i did you call me yes that’s me yes all right uh megan taylor sorry i’m out there

48:19 megan taylor megan taylor yes sarah fox

48:26 i said yes if you didn’t hear me thanks uh sarah fox yeah yeah all right and david harris yes right that motion carries five to zero congratulations nan welcome to marblehead thank you welcome aboard man thank you so much everyone i’m very very excited so are we man i know you can’t see me but i just wanted to welcome you as well i’m just uh over here doing minutes welcome to glory thank you you’re welcome man i want to take the opportunity to applaud you on how well you you handle i mean this i was nervous this has been my first zoom interview

49:13 and this has felt very very natural explode wonderfully if working with you in person is as much of a joy as this has been i am very excited to meet you in particular thank you thank you i’m i’m really excited i’m at the more i got to know john and the team i i just i knew this was going to be a good place for me so thank you for for all of your warm um thoughts and i i’m excited for july 1st i usually don’t wish away may and june but i’m very excited for july 1st i don’t believe you you’re welcome i think a lot of us are wishing away in june this year it’s true

49:57 and bill i have it julie noted that you’d like to be entered into the finalist category for the school name process

50:07 absolutely not absolutely not i vote for that thank you very much thank you congratulations and we will be in touch very shortly all right great thanks everyone thank you congratulations thanks dan congratulations hi thanks well with that that brings us thank you very much to the school committee thank you bill and thank you john um i’m really glad that that we’ve got one more of our boxes checked off and it’s exciting to see john start to move into his role and and take part in this

50:56 if there is not anything else then i will adjourn us at 7 42. thank you everyone thanks sarah good night everyone thank you