School Committee: June 16, 2022

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.

0:59 thank you thank you all right um we’ve got the committee is all here so I will call us to order at 7 10 or 1 p.m welcome everyone um first up accommodations does anybody have any combinations

1:18 accommodation all right so David last meeting with us um I’m gonna make this short and sweet because um but first of all I want to thank you for the service on the committee for the past seven years um past four um so I’ve been lucky enough to serve with you it’s definitely been an interesting ride

1:53 some loads that go along with it but you and I don’t necessarily always agree on the topics but I feel like I always appreciate your perspective and you just bring a different lens um to every school Community issue that we have to celebrate here um and I think at the end of the day we end up with a better solution and result that’s you know because of that um obviously your biggest Legacy is the Lucretia Joseph Brown Elementary School um I think your leadership on that project delivered a state-of-the-art learning facility that this community is going to be able to enjoy for decades decades to come um so I hope you are immensely proud of

2:39 that accomplishment and everything else that you’ve contributed to Marblehead over the past about seven years on the school committee was a decade or so on the finance committee so um I’m proud to have served with you and I think personally you and I probably would have never met could have not served in the school committee um together and although your time on the committee is coming to an end you know I consider you a good friend and I’m sure that will continue so okay very much well I’ve got some words too um somewhat similar um so we’ve come a long way um our first year on the committee together was a bit Rocky at times um that we did not usually agree

3:25 um but I too am very grateful that we can hold the different viewpoints outside of the meetings and then work together with the District administration to understand what is best student achievement and even when we don’t end up quite on the same page we’re usually in the same chapter um which is great and so um you know each year has had its craziness but I so appreciate the work that we have accomplished together um my fondest memory will always be working with you and Bill on the finance director search um finding Michelle Augusta for finding us um it was just such it was so clutch to moving the district forward um and I learned many things from you and Bill in that search and it made me a better committee number um obviously like Megan said your

4:11 crowning achievement was overseeing the building committee and getting a new Ground School open last fall um and so I just want to thank you for all your hard work over the last seven years and all of the tasks that you undertook and accomplished um I hope that you enjoy all the free time that you’re about to get um jealous um and I look forward as well to just simply being a friend going forward thank you so much

4:48 a lot of time together not necessarily here in school committee but on the building complete first now and that was an amazing experience to work under who’s the chair um but thank you for serving the Marblehead Community the way that you have being a volunteer is a hard physician and you’ve done it with Grace so thank you well I appreciate I appreciate that uh thank you very much and I think Sarah me too absolutely good evening Sarah hi David I think anybody that is willing to throw their hat in and and to do all the

5:34 work that is required for this should be commended it’s you know a lot of time in in the amount of time that you have put into the building is um huge I think it’s fitting today that I bumped into Gene photographing the building today for his portfolio so I hope you get one of those photographs and you can Mata and frame it great thank you thank you Sarah thank you to uh as Dr Bucky would say the good people of Marblehead I had for having this opportunity to serve for the last seven years and and represent uh the townspeople the students the families and um

6:20 most importantly the the great team of Administrators and Educators that we have here in Marblehead that I I knew a little bit about it with Ryan uh having my one son gone through uh 12 years at Marblehead but certainly being on the school committee I learned a lot of different perspectives about different areas that maybe Ryan wasn’t involved in or I wasn’t directly aware of and um uh so that was certainly enlightening and it was all about just trying to move Marblehead schools forward in some small way and and support that effort and so I want to thank the you know the just the effort that gets put forth every day and we certainly saw that during the pandemic where I think our teachers and administrators were

7:07 leaders during a very challenging time and the students as well you know had to adapt to the challenges and I think it just speaks volumes to you know the commitment dedication and I’m glad to have played some small part or small role during that process certainly I appreciate comments about the building committee but as we know we had a committee of times that was 20 people uh comprised of over 20 people uh great subcommittees lots of discussions debates um and then when we got into this construction people just put their heads down and uh you know did what needed to be done so I want to thank all of the you know the good people on on that committee from you know the vice chair

7:54 Ralph Wallace to uh Cindy schiefer Ben Berman you know Cindy I how I met Sarah you know you came onto the building committee before the school committee so um that’s how I met Sarah and uh you know RDA left field just really good yeah friendships and memories memories abound there and then you know to the left of me um last but not least uh I agree I think for me um bill mccauldiff was sort of a changing moment I’ve been on the committee for three years bill came in as our intern I learned so much from Bill he was uh a mentor to me even though he was our superintendent I really valued his

8:39 experience and we did as I think as the committee learned so much from him in that short period of time over a year and so I want to thank bill mccalde for all that he did to um you know help me as a school Committee Member and as you say finding Michelle of course hired Dr Bucky that was the last step in the process of the last two years I want to thank Dr Bucky for uh the relationship that we we’ve developed in the openness that you’ve given me and always been there you know when there’s been questions uh discussing issues and and getting the brown school you know the last two years when you came on board you know finalizing the brown school project so

9:25 it’s been a great ride so thank you everyone and um I’ll be around I’m gonna find something to keep interesting hopefully if uh the townspeople are good enough to pass article one and you need to put a new roof on the high school and I have some spare time I’d be happy to you know help out where I can in that area so thanks thank you everybody and I do I was going to start out when I sort of got caught up in all the accommodations but

9:59 you know I need to thank my son out my son Ryan and uh my wife Alan for allowing me the time I mean everybody knows we all have families and uh Thursday nights and phone calls in the car phone calls on Saturdays whatever it is I mean I you know uh but and and you know Ryan saying oh another meeting tonight but you know I will say you know there was a lot of flexibility there and didn’t miss out on you know important events but you know thanks to Ryan thanks to Ellen for being there and supporting me and help you know allowing me to have all the time that I needed to commit to the committee because without them it you know it wouldn’t have been that’s on a ride as it’s been the last

10:46 seven years so thank you thank you David

10:53 all right awesome it’s a hard act to follow sorry but we will turn it over to you for our final uh student representative update of the school year yeah um things have winded down a bit in the past couple weeks but I still have a couple things left for the end of the year um on June 3rd was graduation for all our seniors it was a great event but see everybody happy and congrats to all the seniors uh June 6th uh was the senior sunrise for the incoming senior class May for the morning

11:28 um June 7th was the underclassmen awards ceremony it’s a great event lots of awards I want to congratulate everyone one award uh June 8th the Freshman had bio MCAS and everyone is now done with webcasts so that’s awesome uh the Juneteenth flag racing ceremony was on June 9th and featured quite a few MHS students and we will have no school on Monday in honorable foreign on June 13th was the national green School Society induction uh today Latin club took a field trip to middle school to do some activities with the Latin students uh all classes all selected new class

12:15 officers over the past couple weeks I want to congratulate all the new officers as well and the 23rd will be the last day for us and the 24th will be the last date thank you thank you well thank you very much and we appreciate all of the updates that you’ve given us this year and we look forward to having you back next year um and it’s your senior year next year right all right so we’re we’re thrilled to get you back for one more year thanks I think um we got caught up with Steve and I I really wanted to commend Yas and he had some pretty big shoes to fill um I think we it’s safe to say we were all so impressed with everything Dan had

13:00 had always brought to the table but um you have not disappointed Yasin and you have filled those shoes and you you bring a lot of information to the table and I am uh eternally grateful for all your updates thank you um and Sarah through the chair if you if I could um read a quick prepared statement just um about yeah or going back no going back to the next agenda I just wanted to say yes and I I’m trying to remember when I saw you in town if this was related to spring break but were you going to Bulgaria this summer or was that spring break this is summer you’re headed to Bulgaria exactly and how long will that be two weeks well

13:45 safe travels yeah great trip up to Bulgaria enjoy good luck finishing up the end of your school year all right we will see you in the fall awesome thank you thank you tiny um so that Sarah did she want to speak before public comment if you’re okay with that um yeah can we ask about what um it’s about um uh I would like to make a comment in regards to a letter that was submitted to be read during public comment um but a letter was submitted by an email was submitted by one of the school committees um members husbands which claimed I had been verbally abusive to his wife and

14:31 attacked his children I just wanted to note that this is not an accurate depiction of the conversation I initiated as a professional courtesy to convey my feelings that my review was not accurately depicted and including the summative summative superintendent review in past years it was requested I addressed my concerns to these matters prior to the meeting and I felt that that was what I was doing I find this to be politically motivated and inappropriate and I would like to move on with the agenda as scheduled and welcome anyone with questions or concerns to reach out to me at any time outside of the meeting thank you so I do have that uh piece under uh the correspondence aspect so um we’ll just kind of leave it there until the end of the meeting um so that does move us on to public comment

15:17 um and so anyone who would like to make public comments please use the raise hand function um anybody in our audience would like to make public comment um just can actually raise your hand um and then I would ask you to come to the front uh and state your name and address for the record

15:46 hello yes we can sorry uh thank you David Harris for your work I regardless of how anybody feels about um one’s position in the school committee it is a time consuming and thankless job so thank you um I had uh I’m not sure this might kind of follow along with what Sarah Fox was saying um I did have a couple of questions one when discussing the budget and other heated discussions if the school committee endorses an F politeness policy as sometimes happens in private schools and if what happens in school committees should stay in the school

16:32 committee meetings or if the school committee does not believe in an F politeness policy um second when talking about the superintendent’s review um I don’t see anywhere that the school committee is addressing declining enrollment and teacher staff leaving in abundance if you it seems to me that if you have students and staff leaving they are very unhappy with the situation and I have yet to see this matter discussed by schools committee we had a population in 2017 of 3000 and 100 students and in

17:21 2022 we had 2 600 students never have I heard or seen the school committee reach out to understand why we are losing teachers and staff so again my questions are if an F politeness policy is in place so we know how to proceed in the meetings tonight um and if you run to interest declining enrollment and teachers leading thank you thank you Nicole great I don’t have any other hands raised um so I will move us along to the consent action items uh first up we have the approval to declare Vision equipment as Surplus Michelle I will just kind of dish to you we had a lengthy memo

18:07 outlining that any highlights that you wanted did um yes just recently we have become aware that the state the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has recommended the

18:22 it basically discontinued use of vision testing machines in our schools for all age groups and we currently have six Vision machines on hand they range in value from roughly we’ve found them from 120 up to 250 maybe it’s depending on the model not quite sure but due to having some value we need to get rid of surplus and then offer them to the highest fitter basically well whether that be through a website eBay something like that we will we will see how we can dispose of them but first we need school committee to declare those as Surplus and I did attach the mass Massachusetts Department of Public Health guidelines which basically outlines what the new

19:08 protocol will be going forward I will just ask the motion and then um suggestions so ask for a motion to declare six top Tech 2000 Vision tester machines as Surplus Goods so the most Megan moved seconded thank you Sarah all right any questions okay I know you have some um the memo was very long and there was a lot a lot of information in there which um you know I’m sure is very useful to the nurses but just trying to understand and I just more clarify my understanding that we don’t need to purchase that new machines correct they’re going to a protocol which involves charts and graphs and

19:55 graphs and graphs and um you know part material printed materials and not machines necessarily for Vision screen for all age groups that Jesse will provide what do we need to purchase I do not know that but they will be provided but it would not be a machine so it would be not a substantial cost okay and they are going to provide the training to our staff I believe so yes at a yes

20:32 I’m not yet I just I’m trying to make sure that I understand too like are we gonna have additional costs as a result of that and what would it look like

20:40 so the way I’m understanding it is that basically it’s these machines are not like machines that you go to in the in the eye doctor’s office they’re more like the DMV we’re moving away from that and more too almost like the eye doctor’s office the declining sets letters

21:01 yeah and if the nurses are saying that they don’t utilize these and don’t need these they know far better I think than we do just trying to make sure we all understand it yeah and I think it just is good for the public to know too that they’re not taking the less the eye assesses away it’s just changing how they’re assessing exactly is that normal kind of went into detail about how important those are yes and actually they it sounds like they feel like it will identify more problems where they’re missing problems right now yes that is the reasons any other questions all right then I will call vote Sarah gold yes Sarah Fox yes David Harris yes Maggie Taylor and Emily Berry

21:46 to zero thank you Michelle thank you Deanna

21:52 great uh next up is minutes but it has been a crazy week so we actually did not have any minutes in our packet this week um we do we’ll have one last meeting next week to clear up a few last minute business items um and so if we can get those done they’ll be on there otherwise they will go off as drafts until we uh meet for the summer treat right um John that moves us to the superintendent’s Report with uh District updates sure in your packet was a list of retirees uh that we will be recognizing we have 10 uh staff across the district and that includes cafeteria workers custodians administrative assistants teachers tutors and so I thought it would be uh nice for the committee to

22:39 have a brief bio on each of the people that are retiring and thanks to Lisa in my office that I don’t know if our tech people can pick this up but we’ll be sharing with people these glass apples as the recognition of their service so it’s that memo and we want to thank them for their service uh to Marblehead some for an extended period of time and so uh again it includes everything from director from service to custodians and some have retired in the middle of the year or during the year this year there’s one on there that will be retiring in October of next year

23:22 dedication to the district and all the hard work that we’ve put in um yeah it’s a great list it’s a lovely to read through and then an update on the Met go uh director search um I think Julia Ferreira uh who has stepped in in the interim to support the Met go program as kind of the interim director working with Lindsey page of the high school for the secondary piece in uh Carla Rose at the elementary school we had a screening uh meeting this afternoon and Julia summed it up best she said we need to go slow to go fast and so we posted this position in on April 27th we then went into the

24:08 mecco Inc office on May 5th and we solicited some input from families at that time and they talked about the historical structure that had changed that they thought would be contributing to uh some of the issues that we’ve been facing in finding a more permanent director so we’ve worked with metco on the job description that has again been posted since April 27th um we attended the new student meet and greet on May 17 to meet new families and to talk to them about the Metro search we held another parent meeting via zoom on June 7th um Desi sponsored a job fair and

24:55 recruiting candidates of color so we have been participating in that we established the search committee which has representation from networking is uh Emily Baron as a representative Dan Bauer is the administrator rep did that screening meeting today we’re going to do more focused Outreach in Boston uh Monique who is the PCO rep for the parents uh he’s going to connect us with like the books and Girls Club in Boston so we’re having another meeting next week to talk about next steps in that search any questions regarding that one okay thank you for the update

25:47 yes I did ask you to remind me um we do have two hires we have hired a food service director for the district and that is John Constantino and we’ll have him on an agenda either at The Retreat this summer or the first meeting in September and then Mr Bauer has announced that he made final selection for the assistant principal high school and that is an internal candidate Lindsay Johnson so she will take Lindsay page

26:17 High School High School congratulations it’s great Lindsay has been on the sac when I’ve been there for the high school and she’s she’s a really uh valued asset there and she was very instrumental in developing she’s one of the staff who works developed the magic block took that on so sure she’s gonna make a great step up for her value stuff I’m real ready okay wonderful great great updates um all set with you good okay uh so that will lead us on to the finance and organizational support aspect of our meeting uh first up we have the FY 23

27:03 stipends proposal uh there was a slide presentation that we put into the folder for everyone um I’ll kind of dish to Michelle do you want to take that or it’s contacting I’ll just jump in the uh mea approve this unanimously at their meeting on uh June 14th on Tuesday and so this was a tremendous amount of effort and a long road uh to get to the final product and I really appreciate how they put uh the presentation for you together in Red so that you can see where the changes were and how we were able to come up with the new fee structure it was only for coaches but for regular advisors and team leaders so yes so basically it was a very long process

27:50 um we had allocated a total cost of 65 000 for all the adjustments for fy23 we came in just below that and so it’s very successful and we we dealt with a lot of inconsistencies for example some of the clubs and advisory positions it started out very small as for example the AP testing very small program it is now a very large program so we made some adjustments program program segments for those um and basically everyone is getting at least a cost of living increase and going forward the cost of living increase will apply to these statements as well to be getting an fy24

28:36 by the mea and this evening and we can move forward start with a great new stipend proposal for women here right through the chair yes I just I think that’s an important piece of this because often uh club and activity advisors go long periods of time before an adjustment and so working with mea to put the cost of living or the negotiated agreement that’s applying to those I think is a really nice outcome of this process

29:07 um let me ask for a motion quickly um and then we’ll go to questions um so can I have a motion to approve the stipend adjustments for FY 23.

29:22 thanks Sarah there a second all right Sarah I know you had a question um no I was just gonna say that I I think that this is a really important step I mean I know anybody that’s that’s been keeping up with local news sees that what Lynn just did for all of their staff getting them up to a higher level um to not only compensate their staff appropriately but one of the reasons was to attract talent to in a teacher shortage in a staff shortage to to come work there so I think that’s a good good this is a good step um into you know evaluating where art we are in the in the Regional pay scale and I I just hope that we can continue to kind of explore and make sure that that we’re doing um

30:07 um um that we’re in line with what other districts in the area are doing

30:19 can you just so how does a coach go through the steps is it just years as a coach yes exactly so the steps represent years of experience as a coach um so let’s start at one if they have no coaching experience if they do replace them higher okay until they reach the maximum step but they then we’ll still get the cost of living increase that will not be yeah okay thank you for all your work on this yeah John and yeah I know you guys have all been working on it for quite some time so I’m happy to be voting for almost an impossible in November December so I’m glad we came to a great resolution yeah wonderful okay all right I will call for a vote uh Sarah gold yes Sarah Fox

31:06 yes David Harris yes Megan Taylor and Emily Barron

31:13 um I am going to table the fy23 user and lunch fees today um user-free sounds like there are not going to be post changes in the lunch fees we’re going to bring back next week um in hopes that we’ll get a little more clarification from the federal government on federal funding before we actually have to discuss with us you know hours our uh wait we may actually even want to hold that till our Retreat okay okay depending if we learn anything new all right sounds good just let me know correct me if I’m wrong Michelle but didn’t they last year kind of wait to announce they were extending the program they didn’t give us a ton of notice on that did they that’s correct they did not and they’re stating that they’re not going to continue the program but there’s an

31:59 opportunity that they might possibly so I would hate to set them set them incorrectly and then find out we have free meals again so I think the summer might be a better time you just let us know when you would like us to look at it and if all right uh next up is the schedule of bills um so that was in the packet um can I get a motion to approve the identified scheduled Bill totaling 769 000 68.88 Megan moved second it is there a second any questions on any of those all right we’ll call vote Sarah gold guest Sarah Fox yes Steven Harris yes Megan Taylor yes and Emily Barron yes

32:47 great step 965-20 as well you know this is just under finance and organizational support it’s not specifically itemized but it was the email Michelle that recently came from Jessie that provided a link to be able for the different towns to see you know the answer funds and different grants and we’ve received the updates from you and we’re pretty we’re done with one we’re done with two and we have the answer three funds that go through 2024. correct so um I think that was good to see and I just you know I think it’s for this for this committee and and what how those you know if maybe they’re going to change the guidelines of those funds to how they’re going to be spent or if

33:34 they’ll remain the same but do we do we have any immediate plans right now or are we just sitting tight to uh you know see what might come up as we go into the summer and next year for the majority of it we’re sitting tight we are spending a little bit of funding on addressing some learning loss some summer programming small amounts of money we’re not not um spending you know a significant amount of that Grant just yet so I think that is worth noting right the last extra three a portion of it did need to be retained for learning loss yes right so that can be applied to say some summer programming as you mentioned get the face like that yes other questions for mental health support yeah yeah

34:19 yeah yeah I think it’s been really a good use of funds I think all the way through uh you know as we went through the pandemic and identified the immediate needs and um I think it’s really been good that we’ve not jumped to go ahead and spend the money and now there will be these I don’t want to I guess residual needs that might come up in the next couple of years and there’s there’s still a good amount of money there for us to um use and get advice from on the best way to spend those within the district so great thank you for that thank you Sarah um Can can we at a future meeting get some type of data from the assessments that might speak to the learning loss or

35:05 any possible regression because that will really help us to guide where we might want to earmark some of those funds more to address that stuff I think we can see the data of what did and did not happen I know we all have big picture ideas or big ideas of of what we think happened but if we can just see that data in a future presentation that would be great foreign

35:36 summative evaluation summative evaluation um so I’m going to Dish to Emily because she and Lisa were the ones that we test with taking that on and so I will let you open that open this conversation

35:54 so I just wanted to explain how the process went for creating the summer summative document um so the process was extensive and comprehensive we tabulated each goal and then we each standard then decided on what the rating would be based on a majority of the committee as stated in the mascs evaluating the superintendent document although we took it a step further and gave middle ratings in some areas because we wanted to make sure it was fair to all members uh then we reviewed each individual evaluation and compiled comments that represented the strengths and Improvement

36:40 recommendations for each of the selected indicators under each standard we looked for themes based on each indicator and used individual comments to support the themes of strengths and recommendations the comments were Blended together to create a comprehensive paragraph um each standard section read it we did it each the same way so it was consistent where we started with evidence from Dr Bucky’s evaluation for each for his reading and then we put the school committee comments of strengths and improvements underneath and the introduction was a summary of the report so

37:25 um as stated in msac evaluating the superintendent document should a member feel an important comment was left out they have the opportunity to persuade their fellow committee members to include the comment during the public discussion of the evaluation so um I feel that we can go around and everyone can comment on the evaluation and we can discuss how we want to proceed or not proceed that’s how people feel well I appreciate all the work that you and Lisa did um obviously I did this last year and it is a gigantic on the teaching um that has hours of my life yes and I know despite our best efforts this year that formatting continued to be

38:11 um a pain so I appreciate you know all of the work that went in um and yeah it’s it’s no no easy feat to take five people’s thoughts and and nailed them into one document um that that’s fair to everybody um so I very much liked the the bulleted part of of what you and Lisa decided to do this year um based on that from last year um I liked that it sort of pointed out strengths and then that it was a very definitive growth areas um so it was easy to see um and I think that the areas of growth were um you know pretty pretty good in my eyes um I didn’t agree with all of them exactly but obviously it’s you know it’s not my individual

38:56 summation it’s the Committees so um you know I thought I thought my own thoughts were represented at points um so I really appreciate all the work that she might said

39:08 foreign foreign thank you for doing this because I think it’s a huge amount of of work um I also you know I don’t have too much to add to what to Sarah said I’d like to format I’d appreciate um the fairness in kind of figuring out the ratings um reading through it I think it’s very balanced in terms of you know what doc theme wise what Dr Bucky has achieved this year he and his team and you know areas for um growth and opportunity for for next year so um in addition to say anything inserted just thank you dear Sarah go ahead yes so I

39:56 I had concerns that um my particular voice seemed not expressed or heard um I can’t speak to anybody else’s voice I think it it’s a hard line to walk with knowing you know if this is was an appropriate um portrayal of everybody without knowing what everybody said um I only know what I said and I know that I don’t feel that this was um that this expressed my thoughts um so one concern for instance is um in the areas that he that Dr Bucky was given exemplary performance

40:41 um in my mind you know it’s exemplary is something you see with a very seasoned superintendent it is the level to which all others should strive to accomplish and I think that it would be very hard for any second I would I would venture to say impossible for anyone in a second year position in a job to rate an exemplary rating so I have concerns that that should only be seen when when it’s unanimous that everybody rated that area um exemplary so just because you know the definition of exemplary so I had some concerns with an exemplary rating unless it was given unanimously across all five um and then there was a couple comments that I had felt strongly enough that I had reiterated at several points in my

41:28 review I think the most um the one I feel the strongest about was how I wanted it noted in there that I had requested a staff survey to be able to um very effectively evaluate the goals of professional leadership in that request was denied and I would just ask that that be added if it’s to the will of the committee and if it’s not that’s that’s to the will of the committee um I think the staff survey is something that as a committee we need to speak about I don’t think it has any relevance to Dr Bucky’s the evaluation of Dr Bucky’s performance that’s a conversation we need to have and it does

42:13 not belong in his evaluation um it’s one we can absolutely have we should talk about it in our summer Retreat um as you know in terms of how this process lays out going for next year in terms of the exemplary you know for all the ratings what we agreed on was that it would be calculated based on the majority so if again if we want to change that we can but we never discussed or agreed on if it’s being exemplary it’s unanimous So Lisa and Emily follow the process that we laid out last year the masc Lays out and that we agreed to follow this year so I don’t think Dr Bucky should be penalized or that we should change his evaluation based on things as a committee we have not discussed or agreed good and I I

43:00 want to be clear that I’m I’m not trying to penalize Dr Bucky nor do I feel that not getting an exemplary um Mark is is a penalization in in any proficient is proficient is proficient it is not meant to be a penalization at at all and I and I apologize if I stated that incorrectly um I just I I don’t feel my voice was heard in the review or or reflected um one one concern I do have is you know and I don’t know what everyone’s feeling is as far as after my understanding is after the meeting commenced tonight or after

43:48 at some point tonight or tomorrow the individual reviews will be made public I have not been able to see anybody else’s review just as the public has and it’s just I’m sure you guys have not seen each other’s so it is hard for me to vote to approve something that is summative without seeing the parts of the sum if you know if you will um so I would ask that we we be able to be given the opportunity now that we have deliberated on this and it would not be broken breaking any open meeting laws to have a chance to review the individual um individual statements to to look so that when we vote on approving the summative we all can be voting saying yes this is

44:34 in our my opinion a true summary of everybody’s statement so I don’t find that it’s not a true summary of everybody’s statement no no I’m not I’m just I don’t know I can’t I can’t say because I I don’t I haven’t seen everybody’s I’ve only seen my part and I don’t feel it’s reflective on my part but I haven’t seen anybody else’s okay

44:59 um this is the process that is laid out by Jesse and we have followed it and it’s the same process that we followed last year and that we all agreed that we were going to follow this year as you know Sarah we are not allowed to see everybody’s individual summary or evaluation prior to meeting because it is a it would be a violation of open meeting law which is why nobody’s seen it and why we assigned Lisa and Emily to take the responsibility and the enormous amount of work that it takes to compile this and as committee members we all have to show a certain amount of trust and respect to each other that if we assign someone or someone volunteers to take that time and do the role that we trust them to do it to their best and most Fair ability and I’ve the one 100

45:47 trust and support Emily and Lisa they have done this in the most fair and comprehensive way possible for that reason I’m sorry but I’m just going to emotionally approve Dr Bucky’s evaluation as a stance it’s a negative made a motion to approve the evaluation I get a second second further discussion yes yes

46:10 that’s right no no thank you I for the for the work that goes into you know it started with Dr Bucky somewhat of uh with with all of the examples that he’s put forward and it was as I said to a uh someone it was an eye-opener I think that might have been my wife uh you know talking to her when I was like wow it was just like all these things that I’m aware of but yet there’s so much else because it’s Dr Bucky’s full-time job and you know we do this as a part-time job to to have this refresher and included of the videos to see um the little slideshow of all the different events Dr Bucky attended throughout the year and were you know examples of you know just all the things that go on in the district when you have

46:58 you know over 2 600 students and so I thought you know the process clearly is a good opportunity to um you know look back over the year and and review the progress of the superintendent and we’ve come to um how should I say it deal with the the format that it’s in and it works and so I mean I think in in ways Sarah there were some things you’re right I for for me I had some areas that were rated a little bit differently but um as a as an average um the committee average is is less than what I put in an area as an example so I

47:46 can see that my mind was represented in some ways because uh clearly there are some quotes and comments that were from directly from my statement so I appreciate that because I I know I know what I wrote and um you know I could see that and then I’m sure there were a lot of comments that you and that you had to go through that probably we were all saying the same thing and so you had to find a common theme and so thank you um thank you for for pulling that together um

48:22 you know as far as accepting the document I don’t know what direction we’re going in with the vote but I’ll stop in case other people have comments but I just wanted either one of the comment to actually focus on the content of of a brief summary while the public might be able to get a copy of it I just wanted to make a few comments of what’s contained in the summary for of my own comments after everybody else gets a chance to speak so I think you know the way that I viewed the ratings wasn’t sort of that exemplary as the end-all be-all I mean these were these were very specific goals that were set forth and I guess in the way I always see evaluations is

49:09 for for much of many of the goals and things that anyone said to themselves you can you can kind of reach those goals but they’re usually an ongoing thing I think I don’t know I think maybe even within within education and sort of Human Service type situation that I don’t know I don’t think of exemplary as like a Panacea that’s been reached um so that’s how I’ve kind of processed that um and and so I think you know I I think I did give Dr Bucky an exemplary or two um I didn’t give them lightly for sure um and and as far as you know I don’t I actually have zero desire to see anybody else’s individual about um particularly before the summative

49:55 sort of before we discussed that some of them geared um I think it would I don’t know it just I I don’t I don’t think it would be good for my process um in in how I approach this um so you know I think again like I said at the beginning I think I’m represented I don’t think that my voice is overwhelming in any way and I think that’s the goal of it um so yeah I mean it’s very clear that we’re supposed to be evaluating Dr Bucky on the goals that we set for him at the beginning of the year and that is what you know I use to deter you know determine his ratings did he meet the goals that we set out for him and we had very clear goals with very clear um actions that needed to be completed

50:42 in order to meet those goals and how did he measure up against those um and I think that’s represented here uh I don’t know if it’s worthwhile I know David you mentioned kind of calling out some themes or Emily there were themes that are worthwhile I’m sure you just put you right on the spot but I mean they’re worth you know reading through it there were themes like I said a great work that’s been done this year because there has been a lot of great work especially in curriculum and instruction um communication we’ve done a lot in diversity um the budget the budget obviously was a um it’s probably one where he got the highest marks just kind of um not only getting up to speed on the process this year but really taking it to the next step and being very collaborative with the community and the

51:27 leadership team and consistent in you know what was what the district needs and how to um you know communicate that out to to the community and obviously um you know that will lead to to next Tuesday um so there were probably beans on the opportunities yeah so there was themes for both so um some people’s comment maybe was the direction that that theme went in but there was also themes and a lot of people said the same things about um recommendations and improvements for next year so if it wasn’t exactly stated the way that an individual stated it the theme goes right back to it and I do want to say that I offered to edit anything that Sarah wanted to hear

52:13 her voice because I know it’s hard when you are one and a lot of that one out that’s different than everybody else um that it was very difficult for us to make sure everyone was hurt and we made such a point about that we even stated that one person on the committee felt that a lot of progress was necessary so I just I just want to say that Sarah declined my offer of making edits she wanted to bring them here tonight so I’m happy to talk about it um I don’t know if the committee will approve of them but I was open to doing it and making sure that everyone felt that it was a fair process yeah and I think my my declining it was really about that the conversation needed to happen in an open meeting that I I

52:59 shouldn’t you and I shouldn’t work out an edit you like just like you would I wouldn’t expect you to do it with you and Sarah and that wouldn’t you know she wouldn’t have done that and I I didn’t so that’s why I brought you know that request that we asked to put in that I I had I had noted that a few times and had asked that that be put in there um because I I did think it was it was important because we were evaluating on leadership leadership goal that it’s really hard to give an effective in my mind um review of a leadership goal without without hearing the people that um are are getting the leadership but um you know that I I this forum works

53:46 well in that I brought that concern we had a discussion about it um I heard what everyone else had to say and as in response to that and I and I think that that’s an example of how the committee you know a committee should happen you bring a you bring your you I brought my concern to the committee we discussed it and we everyone was heard and we’ll move on now

54:09 David did you wanna I did just want to offer a couple of highlights from from my comments if I could and so as part of the you know as we go through all the individual uh ratings there’s the um you know the last step is we all get this opportunity to do a summary comments so I’m just going to read a couple of quick paragraphs of mine if I could so in Dr Bucky’s summary comments he started by saying um while we’ve lived the majority of the last two years in a global pandemic with significant amounts of time spent navigating in its impact and damage I have purposely and intentionally tried to limit including it in my Reflections

54:56 and Analysis I wanted to focus on the determination of our team and the Marblehead Community to achieve our goals and move our district from good to great so I added with that however throughout the last two years of the pandemic Dr Bucky’s leadership has been the anchor that’s kept our ship from running aground as we opened our schools last fall there was optimism that we would be returning to normal our students and teachers returned to the classrooms while the administration focused on meeting the individual School needs in a variety of ways resources provide provided a safe efficient and effective learning environment across Marblehead Public Schools as we move through the school Year John and staff continue to

55:41 make recommendations as needed that eventually led to our current mask optional policies Dr Bucky’s guidance and efforts throughout the pandemic created stability focused Direction during an extremely uh challenging time uh we did there were mentions about the uh the budget and certainly the one I had a full paragraph here but the one sentence I’d like to read that I’d also wanted to recognize Dr Bucky’s support for in collaboration with assistant superintendent of Finance Michelle Cresta that created Clarity balanced budgets spending accountability that has been lacking for years in the district and in summary uh Dr Bucky’s overall performance this year has been proficient and highlighted by many

56:27 exemplary achievements his weekly good people of Marblehead superintendent updates are informative transparent witty and a true example of his commitment to improving the communications with our Marblehead Public School parents in his very thorough self-assessment he identified strengths and he also identified weaknesses and he provided a thoughtful this year as a video and I encourage people to see that it expands on the foundation from last year for leading the district out of the pandemic and back to building a culture of high standards I remain confident that we will continue to be communicate communicative open in his work with the school committee be highly visible in Marblehead and

57:12 accessible to students staff parents in the community it’s been a pleasure to have worked with them over the past two years and I wish him and the district continued success in the years ahead thank you

57:26 anybody else we have a motion can I can I request um I just pulled mine up here um I I did note that there has been a significant amount of community feedback received concerning two-way communication and transparency and I had asked that a goal be that next year um there would be public forums with a specific topic um and that would be beneficial to Dr Bucky’s ability to communicate with the community or connect with the community yeah so I think that that was in there um about increasing copies and forums um I think there was a substantial increase to it this year

58:11 um especially you know the way that masc has guided Us in in placing topics on forums um let’s finish reading them okay and then um this is one that I feel is really a big priority clear long-term strategies to combat learning loss and regression from the pandemic have not been communicated to the community and are needed um I believe this to be an excellent goal for Dr Bucky in the coming year

58:43 um so I can speak to that we um so under standard instructional leadership we talk about um the implementation of data collection tools for tracking student achievement is necessary for creating an effective learning path for individual students so we’ve done that and then we are asking that we want to see um we want Dr Bucky to provide a summarized output in corresponding action plans for the instructional rounds and assessment tools as a focus for the coming year as well as a performance goal linked to Student Learning

59:30 okay how that is any different capture ship yeah um I just I think that learning loss in particular in regression is a very important concern in our community and I’m not sure that it’s been addressed per se this year directly

59:53 all right um I will call roll call vote cerebral yes Sarah Fox no David Harris yes Megan Taylor yes and Emily Barron can I just ask why you voted note for it because everything we just talked about we have has been addressed so I’m just curious why it’s really the ratings um and there were several times in there that it said that um ratings were given unanimously and I can tell you emphatically that was not my rating and it wasn’t unanimous um it could have been a typo and it could have been something else but um I I did have the conversation with Emily and what she would lead was that um

1:00:38 you know they went with what the majority if the majority gave someone an exemplary that that’s what the choice was to go with um and not do an average um which is it’s it I’m not here to get into a debate about um about the procedures I think that this summer whether I’m part of the committee or not I think to do some more professional development for the committee and to really outline our strategies your idea might be really helpful um but but um MATC says to go beyond just doing an average and to pick the majority it’s literally stated in there so we did I know that you’re supposed to

1:01:25 get rid of any outliers but again if it Hey Dad I can’t speak I I can’t it what’s very hard for me is it’s hard for me to say that I know that this is reflective of the summary of a part that I have no idea what the parts are and and that’s just from a data collection point I don’t know what the parts are so I can’t say that this summarizes it because I don’t know what the parts are if that makes sense well so what I would say is you’re voting no so let me think about this so my thought would be I know that my parts were represented so I can vote Yes Sarah knows that her parts were represented so she can vote Yes Megan

1:02:13 so you are feeling that you your comments were not represented so that’s why you won’t even know yes and it’s in its okay and if I only see one piece and don’t see the rest it is hard to say of the if this is from a data collection perspective if I only see one piece and I don’t see that it’s reflected in this and without seeing the other pieces I just in in any Fidelity cannot vote that this is reflective and I think that we’re getting in the weeds we’ve cast our vote we’ve moved on the boat is carried it’s okay I will I will say one more thing um that you know again thank you Emily um I can remember how remember how this felt last year

1:03:00 um when it felt so the the work to that I was taxed with doing with Lisa um was made to seeing that it didn’t represent the entire committee um and I think that is a reflection on a lack of trust um and and I think that’s just unfortunate um so so let’s just note that wherever it says unanimous it’s actually the majority of the committee and that’s how a committee works okay that’s how many people can just add that note and that’s and that’s completely okay it is it is okay for there to be a descending voice it doesn’t mean it’s oppositional it just means I have a different I’m looking at it from a different point of view and don’t feel I have the data I need right now to cast my vote in a different direction and if I had if

1:03:48 I review and I apologize if anybody thinks it’s an attack or an affront and I and I I can just say that I didn’t have the data to as David just pointed out I don’t have the data that that he he’s amazed it very well thank you

1:04:06 I just I hear that as the only way you’re gonna the only way you’ll ever approve it is that you do it so yeah sure next year

1:04:31 sorry sorry um David what were you saying so is the is the last item to uh have a motion to improve the contractual increase for Dr Bucky’s yesterday in 2023 yes well I would like to make a motion that we approve a two and a half percent race for Dr Parky’s contract in FY 23. we’ve made a motion for two and a half percent increase is there a second second no I don’t second that that’s wow do not unmute yourself what what’d you say

1:06:16 all right Sarah I just meet you closed captioning not available

1:07:04 rather than rather than I guess I would amend the motion to postpone the vote until um the school committee proceeding the the ballot vote so we have the full scope of our budget so the motion is that the superintendent be the only employee in the district not to get a raise nope the motion is to know the full scope of our budget before we allocate any further funding beyond what we passed a town meeting we’ll let the record show that we passed a town meaning a budget that does have funding to give the superintendent a raise and he would be the only one without a raise if that motion were to be seconded and approved so that would be my comment

1:07:52 she’s made a motion to amend I guess sir back to the chair sorry um yeah is there a second to the amendment okay no second to that Amendment um so I will I will promote um uh Sarah gold yes Sarah Fox no David Harris yes Megan Taylor and Emily Baron yes four to one thank you Dr Buckley for all of your hard work this year and everything that you’ve done to move this District forward absolutely foreign

1:08:36 next up is review of policy FFA memorials um you’ll all remember from our previous meeting um that Matthew cat came and presented with principal Bauer uh a plan for a forever fans area um outside or kind of right around the entrance to Piper field uh pepperfield area I guess um so Emily and Dr Bucky and I looked at the FFA memorials uh policy because we knew that that you know this has come up a few times that we kind of needed to look at this this really wasn’t represented representing and reflective of the direction that our district looked like is is looking at so um we reviewed a few different uh

1:09:23 uh school districts FFA memorials policies and we settled upon a portion of one of them that we think um reflects where the collective heads are at at this point um so that is presented to you in the folder this evening Emily do you have anything to add before I talk about process um no but we did have a pretty extensive conversation about it um ours was well not very elaborate so we looked over this the process that you were talking about oh no no okay so we looked at multiple different um school districts and we came up with Stilton is what we used um and we took a section of theirs and

1:10:10 art we thought it was a good um solution for Marblehead for what has happened in the past and what we hope to happen in the future

1:10:22 um so we’ve got a couple of decisions so I do have this marked from both this evening which would be about only after a secondary because um the the policy subcommittee is the first read then when it comes to the school committee twice usually which is obviously best practice so I put a vote on it this evening knowing that this is the final school committee meeting with this school committee um you know this is not a make or break thing um I would I’ll I will put it on at our at our meeting for next week uh when we vote leadership which we will have you know obviously after the election and have it at least one new member um so you know that’s the only kind of drawback to pushing it for for a week um I do think we should get it done uh so

1:11:08 that this monthly talked about the work that’s going to go on over the summer um and so I do I do want us to to keep moving this forward um but again it’s it’s truly the will of the committee here um if it if it goes till next week I don’t think that that’s the end of the year Megan you know what I’m gonna say I do um I feel like I I personally have been a real stickler with Dr Bucky about being consistent in the process we take um and we talked about that at the retreat especially when it comes to policy which is one of our biggest responsibilities so um this is not one that has you know a make or break immediate need at this point and I would like us to really kind of

1:11:54 have our process and consistently follow our process um it’s not to say that I disagree or agree with the policy I just want to make sure

1:12:06 so so that we’re doing that across the board with all our processes

1:12:13 anything else that’s there Sarah um in the past any Memorial needed to be approved by the school committee but the verbiage here does not require the school committee to approve a memorial but only to approve the removal of a memorial I think that it might be appropriate to also have school committee approve more memorials as well if there’s no objection to that yeah no it’s interesting as I was writing it up and making these changes the other day I noticed that same thing and and I look back at our current memorials and it doesn’t it doesn’t say it explicitly either so I’m not opposed at all if we want to add um you know that approval any permanent so let’s see any

1:12:59 permanent memorials in existence and then approval of any memorials be made by a vote of the school committee does that sound good or how do you want to work

1:13:17 any addition or removal of any permanent memorials requires a school committee vote

1:13:25 or removal or removal of a permanent Memorial shall require a vote of the school committee

1:13:45 and we might want to remove CD-ROMs I laughed when I saw that I would I would take that out too again things that we didn’t discuss in the subcommitting meetings since I looked at I was like okay guess that’s saying it all right okay so we will wait the week I will make these additional changes sorry David I need to vote on this one um yeah we’ll put it back on for next week so that everything is in place for that work to proceed disappointed that shrubs and trees are being discouraged but um I thought I mean my in the time you know I think this is a good change seriously I mean to address this and once again thanks to puppy and everything that’s

1:14:31 being presented to to move that effort forward and you’re right being able to do this next week it’s the will of the committee but also where it says the request should be adjusted the administrator of the building doing consultation with the superintendent will determine the appropriateness now I guess down below if you’re going to say that we’re going to vote on it we’re either going to agree or disagree with the appropriateness I suppose in consultation with the superintendent I don’t know a representative of the school committee to determine the appropriateness and then it gets brought forward but I’m fine leaving it that way and then when it comes to the committee for approval like what was presented to us as consulted with Dan and Dr Bucky you know we have the committee that has the

1:15:18 ability to yeah it works yeah I think I think that process is that’s in place where it’s the yeah it’s the building uh yeah that word administrator who could bring us to the superintendent I think you know again this isn’t the first time that exactly what we did right and it’s come up with benches you know and it’s always sort of it’s always felt organic and supportive as it’s moved through that chain of command and eventually come to us so all right all right you guys will see it next week all right um any subcommittee on liaison updates

1:15:56 and that that time of year yep all right um so that one move us along to new business um I don’t have any new business this evening Sarah

1:16:07 um I would ask that the school committee but I actually think it’s probably appropriate for the policy subcommittee to look at it first um review it’s Mass General Law chapter 71 section 80 and I’m just going to read it’s brief I swear um and it it states every I came across as well you know searching different school committee things um every teacher employed in any public school whose duties commenced prior to 12 o’clock noon shall be allowed a 30-minute lunch period between the hours of 10 o’clock in the four noon in one o’clock in the afternoon and shall not be required to perform any juries duties during their lunch period provided however that the provision in this section shall apply only in the city or

1:16:53 town which accepts this section if I vote of the school committee I think it’s just a formality that we have never voted to accept this um so I would just like us to to follow through on that formality to um to give our teachers that um that 30 minute lunch it’s just a it’s not a policy we have because it it’s requires it seems silly but it requires a vote of ours and I just came across it and I thought it’s something I’d like the policy subcommittee to look at adopting okay that can that can definitely be done with next I think that that would probably be done in conjunction with looking at language um within the contract as well so but I know that there’s you know kind of multiple things

1:17:41 that have been kind of discussed about that moving forward so sounds good sounds good um all right uh correspondence so we have three pieces of Correspondence um one was noted in public comment um first up I wanted to give everybody a heads up that uh we won’t make any decisions on this this week again we’ll have a new committee next week but the masc and Mas uh joint conference in the fall there’s a sign up where you get it where you are able to um get a reduced speed um if we sign up I think before July something um and so I want us to look at that next week um

1:18:27 and have people think about whether or not they do um wanting to go to that and so that we can purchase things before the rate goes up um so I just wanted to highlight it this evening step everybody was aware um the other two are a concern um they they came to me and John um and so you know I didn’t I struggle with what to do with them um but I also am not I think it’s my job to not put things forward to the full committee um thank you and I wanted them to to be entered into correspondence because they do deal with protocols and operating rules um and I want the committee to take note and all focus on our roles and their boundaries um so that’s what I have to say about that

1:19:18 um I have to be honest I was really disappointed in what I read um in both of those submissions uh as members of the school committee we have very specific and defined roles past school committee members um what we’re responsible for as we all know those are determined by the state and we also have operating protocols as a committee we create we vote and we sign them and therefore we are responsible to hold ourselves accountable to live up those protocols and to adhere by our roles and the behavior that we expect from each other our rules are defined so that situations

1:20:04 like this do not happen we have boundaries in which we need to operate and I personally support our staff and I want our staff to know that I support them and that I believe in them and you can’t put our staff in this type of situation in addition we have to treat each other with respect and we have to have trust for each other and those are all outlined in our operating protocols as are how we treat Dr Bucky and how we communicate with staff and we need to follow those we need to hold ourselves accountable and we need to hold each other accountable and I expect that going forward we all do that

1:20:56 all right all right um that moves us to adjournment uh so I will adjourn us at 8 21 pm thank you everyone