School Committee
School Committee: June 15, 2023
The Marblehead School Committee approved Superintendent Dr. Bucky's 2022–23 annual review unanimously (5-0), using a new collaborative process in which all members worked through ratings together rather than submitting individual written evaluations. The superintendent opened the meeting by stating publicly that he would not accept a pay increase in the coming fiscal year given stretched town finances, framing the override vote scheduled for June 20 as the community's most pressing concern. The committee also voted 4-0 to approve FY24 user fee rates for school programs, and deferred pickleball court operating-hours scheduling to Parks & Recreation.
Superintendent says he will not accept a pay raise, citing town financial pressures and override vote
Dr. Bucky stated publicly that a superintendent salary freeze is appropriate given stretched town finances and urged focus on the June 20 override vote.
Superintendent Dr. Bucky addressed what he described as an unnecessary political controversy over his contract. He stated unequivocally that he had never requested his contract be placed on the agenda, that his contract structure allows the committee to choose annually whether to update compensation, and that he had previously said he would defer to the committee on such matters.
He then stated: “I believe a salary freeze for the superintendent is appropriate and I will not accept a pay increase in the coming fiscal year.” He said the override vote on June 20 is a far more pressing matter and that speculation about his contract should have no bearing on that critical town-wide vote.
Superintendent (Dr. Bucky)
Also on the agenda
Superintendent honors retiring staff and notes state recognition for school program
Over a dozen educators across all Marblehead school buildings were recognized for retirements ranging from 7 to 50 years of service.
The superintendent reported that the district received recognition from SEAFRETS (state organization) for an exemplary program, with a state representative present at the State House for the presentation.
Retirees acknowledged included staff from the High School (school counselors Alan Gaither, 24 years; Anita Lamby, 21 years; special education teacher Ken Rosinski, 23 years; paraprofessional Brenda, 10 years), Little School (Steve Tenney, paraprofessional, 7 years), the Vets (Elizabeth Fogerty, special education, 12 years; Bob Torelli, music, 24 years; librarian, 14 years), Village School (PE teacher Gigi Breed, 19 years; Sue Stybell, nearly 50 years in education), Glover School (Barbara Thomas, kindergarten/first grade, 30 years; Tammy Nolte, art, 14 years), and Brown School (Carol Newman, tutor, 22 years).
Superintendent (Dr. Bucky)
Residents address busing safety gaps, CPAC unsung hero nominees, and superintendent's leadership
Multiple residents commented on school busing deficiencies, the Marblehead CPAC's 52 unsung-hero nominations, and the importance of the upcoming override vote.
Jessica Benedetto (Bradley Road) raised a long-standing concern about the lack of safe transportation for students living two or more miles from school, a service she said most surrounding towns provide. She stated the superintendent had described busing for distant students as “a luxury and simply not a budgetary priority” in an email, and noted the district had found funds for a communications consultant. She asked how much a second afternoon bus route for grades 6–12 would cost, given an existing elementary bus she observed sitting unused at the Vets by 3 p.m.
Marblehead CPAC co-chair reported 52 unsung-hero nominations received across all five public schools, the charter school, and community organizations. Named nominees included staff from Glover, Brown, Village, Vets, and the High School, as well as central administrator Dr. Paula Donnelly, Eric Roberts at the charter school, cub scout leader Christy Hebert, Kevin Evans from Island Roots Camp, and minister Lindsay Papperson at Old North Church.
Scott Solberg praised outgoing high school administrator Dan Bauer and expressed support for superintendent stability, noting improved transparency between the district and the Finance Committee over the past two years.
Cam Staples (via Zoom, audio difficulties) expressed concern about a “proficient” rating in the superintendent’s review and emphasized the importance of leadership continuity for a high-performing district.
Catherine Martin (29 West Shore Drive) thanked retiring educators including Tammy Nolte and Elizabeth Fogerty, and noted that school committee meeting agendas have always been publicly posted as required by state law.
Jessica Benedetto (resident) · CPAC co-chair (resident) · Scott Solberg (resident) · Cam Staples (Zoom, Finance Committee liaison) · Catherine Martin (resident)
Committee approves FY24 user fee rates 4-0; universal free lunch program expected to end
The committee voted 4-0 to approve school user fee rates for 2023–24, and noted that the state universal free lunch program appears unlikely to be renewed.
The committee voted 4-0 to approve user fee rates for the 2023–24 school year as proposed. A committee member noted appreciation for the incremental approach to fee increases, referencing a past instance of a large one-time jump that had been hard on families.
The committee also discussed the state’s universal free lunch program for all students, which the Senate did not include in its budget (the House did approve it). Staff noted that families who qualify for free or reduced lunch would have fees automatically waived in the online system without having to request a waiver, preserving their privacy. It was noted the state program does not look likely to continue but that the situation remains uncertain.
School committee chair (Sarah Fox)
Committee approves superintendent's FY23 annual review 5-0 using new collaborative process
The committee adopted a revised review process in which all members evaluated the superintendent collaboratively at the table rather than submitting individual written reviews.
Committee chair Sarah Fox described the revised superintendent evaluation process: rather than having members submit individual written evaluations that one person compiles, the committee worked as a whole, reviewing each other’s ratings and reasoning before reaching consensus. She credited the process as highly collaborative and noted the resulting summative review had been publicly posted and widely reported.
A committee member (identified as Tom) provided context on the DESE/MASC evaluation framework, explaining that a “proficient” rating under state DESE standards is the expected standard of strong performance—not a middling grade—and that “exemplary” requires substantial documented justification. He acknowledged the FY23 goals could have been better framed using the SMART framework and encouraged the incoming committee to conduct a mid-year formative assessment.
The committee voted 5-0 to approve the superintendent’s 2022–23 annual review as presented. Tom used his final meeting remarks to commend the superintendent’s leadership growth, praise chair Sarah Fox for her development, and urge all members to keep governance separate from politics.
Sarah Fox (chair) · Tom (committee member, departing)
Superintendent reports sick-leave bank agreement with union and interim Village School AP appointment
An agreement on a new sick-leave bank was reached with the union, and ELL teacher Carla Rose was recommended as interim assistant principal at Village School pending contract negotiations.
The superintendent reported several district updates: the wellness committee finalized a wellness policy, which will be brought forward along with a new life-threatening food allergies policy. Village School principal Mandy recommended ELL teacher Carla Rose as interim assistant principal for FY24, pending contract negotiations. The superintendent and chair Sarah Fox reached agreement with the union on a sick-leave bank, described as a notable accomplishment as the district had not previously had one.
Superintendent (Dr. Bucky) · Sarah Fox (chair)
Pickleball court operating hours referred back to Parks & Recreation; governance questions raised
The committee agreed to return scheduling authority for pickleball courts at the Vets to Parks & Recreation, while a departing member raised unresolved questions about how the courts were originally converted from tennis use.
The pickleball court operating-hours item had come before the committee after the pickleball community met with Parks & Recreation and abutters. The committee’s recommendation was to refer scheduling back to Parks & Recreation, consistent with how other school athletic fields are scheduled.
A departing committee member noted that the conversion of the Vets tennis courts to pickleball courts—funded by a pickleball community organization—had occurred without coming before the committee for a vote, and that school-owned property had been effectively repurposed without the committee formally receiving the gift or approving the change. She raised concerns about deferred maintenance costs and unresolved legal questions, and suggested the incoming committee address the full history of the arrangement at a summer retreat. No formal vote was taken on the pickleball item.
Sarah Fox (chair) · Committee member (departing)
Tonight's record
3 decisions ▾
- Approved FY24 school user fee rates as proposed (4-0)
- Approved superintendent's 2022–23 annual review as presented (5-0)
- Referred pickleball court operating-hours scheduling to Parks & Recreation
2 votes ▾
- in favor (4 to 0) Approve FY24 user fee rates
- in favor (unanimous) Approve superintendent's 2022–23 annual review
51 min full transcript ▾
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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.
3:36 being recognized by seafrets to school for their exemplary program um we’re fortunate to have uh representative of Armenia attending many of our events and she was at the state house to help present that
3:53 all right all right and then this time of year I like to honor our retirees and so each of the principals submitted some information on the retirees from each of their buildings we’ll start with the high school you have Alan Gaither who is a school counselor who will be retiring after 24 years you have Anita lamby who is also a school counselor who is retiring after 21 years Ken rosinski has been a special education for 23 years and Brenda
4:29 and it’s been a para and a paraprofessional and a tutor for 10 years at the high school um retirement is Steve Tenney who’s been a paraprofessional for seven years it uh that’s little school two retirements Elizabeth Fogerty who has been the special education for 12 years and Bob torelli who has been in music for 24 years I also have the librarian at vets retiring after 14 years The Village School has some retirements Gigi breed who has been a PE teacher for 19 years and Sue stybell she’s only been
5:15 with the district for two years but has been an education for nearly 50. so we’re very fortunate to have had two years we also have Mara forward who has been a tutor and a teacher in the district for 23 years Barbara Thomas teacher at the Glover school has been kindergarten in first grade for the last 30 years Tammy Nolte has been an art teacher for the last 14 years Brown School has one retirement Carol Newman who has been a tutor in District for 22 years there’s another retirement in the ground yes okay with the district or I forgot several decades so she’ll be her last day will be next week awesome
6:08 so that when this is posted online they will have access
6:18 no these are only retirements not people leaving the district please take it away Dr Buck thank you Marblehead High School graduation just spectacular uh last Friday such a great celebration of a Marblehead education of our staff of our families and our students um I thought the picture of the awesome Victory address uh is appropriate and our Petco students who kicked off the opening it was just from beginning to end a really nice uh celebration I am told that um the microphone was not on for my opening statement if you’d like for me to make it again I think it’s appropriate
7:04 it seems honestly I’d like to begin I’d like to return tonight by addressing what has unnecessarily become a political controversy over the last week and that is the subject of my contract I want to be clear with the committee and the community I have never asked that my contract be an agenda item for a school committee meeting the structure of my contract suggests that each year following the evaluation process the committee may choose or not choose to discuss and update by compensation benefits for the term of my contract I have said publicly on those matters that I will defer to the committee at the same time I want to State unequivocally that all of us the school committee superintendent the people of Marblehead have a far more pressing matter
7:51 ahead of us than my contract that is the override vote that will be held next Tuesday June 20th this critical vote on the budget for the schools and other Town departments has profound implications I for one am focused solely on that vote to that end while I appreciate any efforts on my behalf for a contract extension and or a pay increase I say now is not the time the town finances as stretched as they are I believe a salary freeze for the superintendent is appropriate and I will not accept a pay increase in the coming fiscal year the very last thing I want is for any speculation about my contract to have any bearing whatsoever on the critical
8:36 10 wide mode on Tuesday my goal here tonight is to render the question of my contract moved and to keep the focus on the Urgent needs of our students
8:48 that moves us along to commendations I just want to take the opportunity to make two accommodations first to our teachers our staff our students and our parents who have gotten us through a year successfully we’re almost there another four or five days and we’re there and it’s and all those people have a lot to be proud of so they should be connected three four someone’s talking um and also I wanted to commend Dan Bauer who will be leaving us at the end of this year um there are no words to explain the role that Dan has played in our district it is so many staff lives and so many of our students lives um the last few years have been really
9:36 hard for many communities and ours was no exception to that um in Dan’s warmth and genuine attitude really is what got us through here at the high school um and I just wanted to commend you and thank you for the time you’ve spent here and I at graduation every year you make a speech and you talk about true success is measured when someone leaves something better than they found it and there’s no doubt in my mind that that’s true success is immeasurable for what Dan has done so thank you good job Dan
10:25 they clarified that the pep rally today that Dan has bad allergies he is not crying in there they have a wonderful I will say I haven’t seen the cartwheel yet so I expected tonight at some point uh hope not allergic to losing Amber that’s all I’m telling you um so does anybody else have any kind of of um Sarah sentiments to Dan um Dan you know you you are the only administrator that I’ve come in contact with who everyone loves um and that says a lot and so I think you know thinking back to listening to the Denver school committee and knowing
11:11 quite quickly where their heads were at as we had gone through a similar process and um knowing that that they were gonna stealing from us um you know I just sat on my couch crying um but and now of course um but I wish you nothing but the best stand you’ll be very missed also um um if no one else that brings us to public comment if anybody in the room has public comment um you make a chair or if anybody on Zoom has Michigan I see cam Staples okay if you want to unmute yourself Camp I did thank you thank you so much uh Sarah and um
11:56 um um I fully respect what Dr Bucky just said about his contract and so I will not address that but I do feel from my uh role on the finance committee I do realize that on the agenda today uh is the review and I feel compelled to make a few comments about his review and what I understand uh to be the uh current status of that review if and I know I’m just a member of the public I speak as a parent of a recent graduate parent of a graduate from two years ago uh also a member of the liaison subcommittee of the finance committee that has spent two years observing and watching uh Dr Bucky did I see a hand get raised am I able to keep talking can you hear me
12:53 we can hear you oh all right I couldn’t hear you say you hear me all right um so I just want to say that I I think that the school committee I forget when you extended Dr Bucky’s uh contract but uh again I’m not gonna talk about the contract I’m going to say stability and Leadership for a district is a critical thing I think Marblehead took some great strides toward that um my concern is that as a member of the finance committee I observed an incredible amount of transparency uh and uh support between the time I’m not sure if you can hear me but our internet is being a little wonky here if you can we we weren’t able to hear too much oh all right between the team I’m not sure if you can hear me but our internet is
13:43 okay okay so can you hear me now really huh really huh can you hear me at this point
14:07 um we’re still working on our all right can you hear me
14:14 why don’t we come back we’ll come we’ll loop back to public comment um [Music]
15:36 you need to unmute foreign
16:52 is not large enough that it will change our Revenue okay all right um so I will ask our motion to approve the user feed rates for the 23-24 school year as proposed in a second it’s not Mattis any questions Michelle anybody well I just appreciate what you’re doing you know I think years back there’s been a massive jump inside the committee at that point said let’s not get like that because it’s a harder hit to families so I appreciate you know unfortunately there’s everything gets more expensive but I appreciate that we’re we’re being mindful of that I actually did find that analysis you guys went through that so it was interesting yeah um one other thing I did actually
17:38 just want to mention that if anyone is free or reduced lunch approved eligible you have a family this online system will automatically pay their fees they don’t have to ask for a waiver they don’t have to you know say gee um family um this will automatically do it behind the scenes and the staff on the other end won’t know about it they’ll just know the students registered basically you know I am one of the very few people who will know that status and that’s great because we don’t want that yeah
18:11 so the state program for the free lunch for all ends this year correct currently it ends right now it’s in um the state budget well it’s the Senate did not approve it the house approved it um it may be added back to the state budget we don’t know okay it doesn’t look likely right now okay but we don’t know okay perfect um so if I can get a call for a vote on that all in favor opposed motion carries 4-0 superintendent report District updates
18:49 what are we doing on sale we’re good [Music]
19:04 all right was there anybody else for public comment Jessica benedetto if you can unmute yourself Jess
19:15 yes hi good evening Jessica benedetto Bradley Road I’ve noted that the superintendent’s annual review approval is on the agenda before this is done I and I’d like to note that I have spoken up to Dr Bucky and the school committee members several times since July of 2020 now about busing there is a lack of any Safe Transportation option offered to public school students living two miles or more from school Marblehead fails to offer its students in all grades a busing option to ensure a safe route to and from school which is a service offered in most other local towns three members of our current school committee have responded to my concerns
20:02 verbally acknowledging this problem and agreeing we should be offering this option in Marblehead however in the past three years no meaningful change has taken place and I’m told that we don’t have the money Dr Bucky responded via email that offering busing to those who live too far to walk is a luxury and simply not a budgetary priority for him my concerns have been dismissed without further explanation yet we have found money in our budget for a communications consultant I’ve observed that the Elementary bus serving my neighborhood is then parked at coffin on some days unused by three o’clock how much would it really cost for it to do a second route for grades 6 through 12. Dr Bucky I’m just a physician serving
20:48 the community and a working mother trying to support my kids in obtaining a public school education I need to keep working to pay for our Rising taxes these safety concerns still exist please start to listen to the good people of Marblehead
21:17 um I wanna I’m speaking on public comment tonight as the co-chair of the Marblehead CPAC board I wanted to report that we had our annual unsung hero nominations unfortunately we weren’t able to get the in-person event to come together as we were still working on getting our non-profit status in order to receive donations but we fully expect to be able to do that next year and we’re looking forward to that but I did want a report we had 52 nominations um all five Marblehead Public Schools were represented in those nominations as well as one Central administrator the Marblehead Community Charter Public School
22:03 had a nomination a cub scout leader a minister and someone from the island Roots Camp group so I I do want to just share the names if I can quickly because I want to honor these these folks for everything that they’ve done for our special education community so at the Glover school we had Alyssa Daggett Jennifer Steiner Kerry Bergeron Patricia Frawley and Tammy Nolte at the brown school we had Allison vanetti Allison Eaton Ashley Hoffman Beth Hecht Holly Landry Janet Bach Judy o’flynn Caitlin buswell Carrie krushank Marianne Levine Meg Burns Rachel Levitt Rachel markrel and Tracy dePaola
22:51 then at Village we had Alex Rosenstein Courtney Cummings Jenny Wilkins Catherine Homan Kristen Grohe and Laura and Lauren core at the Vets Middle School we had Dr Denise moretto Dylan Laramie and Sarah matuza and then at the high school we had Emily Lyons Kate Kelly Alison Carey and Corey David um the central administrator that was nominated was Dr Paula Donnelly and then the folks in our community um that were nominated we had Eric Roberts at the charter school uh Christy Hebert who’s a cub scout leader um Kevin Evans from the island Roots Camp group
23:38 and Lindsay papperson who’s a minister at Old North Church I think I got everyone that is all wonderful to hear and all those people are such assets I just want to point out I think one at least one of those was a student as well which is so wonderful to hear that our students are getting nominated as well um that’s just wonderful thank you October yeah hi there Scott Solberg so I just wanted another shout out to um Dan Bauer and what an amazing and remarkable work he’s done on behalf of Marblehead in our high school um just amazing and it’s going to be it’s a loss but it’s also he’s put his signature as a former chair of the CPAC
24:24 co-share of the CPAC when he came in and the work he did for our our children with disabilities was just groundbreaking so really want to thank that and then I also do want to say as well that um we’ve had a hard time we’ve had a really tough time through Kobe and everything else and I I just want to say that we have a superintendent who has been building his his ability to do this with mentoring and support um the door is open he’s always we may not get the answers we want all the time but he’s willing to engage with us and the the I think that we can’t ask for much more than that especially as we’re moving forward and the transparency I mean to have an agenda before this meeting I don’t know if you all remember until he came on we didn’t have agendas before our meetings for school committee it was it took forever to get that kind of transparency so we’ve got a lot of
25:10 positives and I want to build on it and the stability is really critical I think for our community um to keep growing so just wanted to give that those words thank you
25:34 no come on up and finish your public comments online thank you um so I have no idea what you heard saw the system you heard nothing pretty much okay um so I understand we’re not Dr Bucky I respect that we’re not talking about the contract but um I think the concern I had so I’ve spent a couple of years as some of you know on the liaison committee with the finance committee in the school committee and I know prior to a few years ago there was a lot of mistrust there was a lot of concern about whether the financials that were shared were were actual and I think during the last two years has been a real change in that
26:20 relationship and I think that to give Dr Bucky credit for that is extremely important and I only read what I read about the reviews so I don’t know all the areas that were covered that weren’t uh in the papers but I’m just concerned that consistency of leadership matters a lot for high performing districts a town like this with a lot of stress between the town budget and the slow committee budget I think really needs to take into account how important that is my observation is that the relationship is fundamentally changed between the town and school committee and that’s positive hopefully it’ll be reflected next week in the town vote so uh just as a member of finance committee it’s watched closely it is a parent who sees the
27:05 communications on a regular basis and as aware of how competent the students are in your leadership uh I just want to say that I thought a proficient rating was a bit shocking and I hope you consider that so that’s what I want to say so thank you very much see another hand Catherine Martin good evening Catherine Martin 29 West Shore Drive um I I guess I’m not understanding the other public comment that said that we didn’t have agendas in the past we’ve always had um agendas um despite even you know different committees there’s always been a posted agenda state law um I’d also like to just um thank some of the retirees that we’ve seen leaving
27:50 seen leaving seen leaving um some of them have been extraordinary uh Educators in our town Tammy Nolte just a phenomenal art teacher Janet Bach a phenomenal special ed teacher and Elizabeth Fogerty another phenomenal special education teacher these are big I mean obviously combined with Dan big losses in our community and and I have also observed that the chatter um about the contract negotiations and the thing with a contract negotiation or a review the reality is if you’re doing a good job it doesn’t matter who’s on the committee if you’re a high performing CEO of a company or of a school department
28:37 the politics shouldn’t play into this you should have you know the professional confidence to do exactly what Dr Bucky did tonight and put the students first in the override first and as a town I think we all need to collectively do that we need to put the everything down and focus on next Tuesday and focus on question one because it really is going to be detrimental to our kids if that doesn’t pass um I know I am solely focused on that um yes there’s an election coming up but you know having the committee that doesn’t matter who you are and who ends up on the committee if we don’t pass that whatever the committee is made of it’s a really going to struggle our
29:22 superintendent is going to struggle our teachers are going to struggle our students are going to struggle that really needs to just be first and foremost um in everyone’s thought if you have students in Marblehead public school because I you know I just mentioned a couple of teachers who retired and they teachers new teachers need to come forward who have the same passion desire drive that those teachers had but they need the resources to be able to deliver that to our kids um so question one so vitally important really hope everyone you know gets out there and votes very very important thank you
30:04 so that brings us back to Super boards lots of good stuff on the policy front uh the wellness committee uh met this week and they finalized the wellness policy so that will be coming forward we had a liaison from the Department actually lives in Marblehead interestingly enough as a result of the wellness policy we’ll be bringing another uh policy forward that is referenced in it that we don’t currently have and that’s a life-threatening food allergies policy so that’s a good um it’s nice to bring that to fruition because Wellness was something that was I think on the agenda before I got here and so to bring that information feels good uh Village assistant principal Mandy has made a recommendation uh to me for an interim
30:51 assistant principal for next year and uh that will be the promotion of a staff member and Mandy you’re going to have to phone a friend and help me out with the staff member’s name
31:03 Carla Rose an English language uh Learners teacher will step up and be the internal assistant principal at Village for next year pending contract negotiations um and uh Sarah Fox and I had a great meeting with the union and got to an agreement uh on the sick leave bank which is something that we don’t have and so that will be uh put in play for next year and that’s really quite an accomplishment so I think Sarah for you superintendent stuff um that brings us to school Community Communications and discussion items um the superintendent review process this year we handled it differently than we have in the past we instead of putting in our individual and having one
31:50 person compile it um what we did was we worked as a whole committee and I just want to say I was so impressed at the collaborative approach that was um it was a little apprehensive going in but it was really great because we got to not just see each other’s ratings that we really got to hear the the information behind it in the thought process behind it and I think the process as a whole served us very well and I thank all my fellow committee members for you know giving up a large chunk of time to kind of go through making the sausage if you will um and and I think that it was it was a good learning experience at this this process works that way
32:35 um Sarah if I may yeah it’s getting there yeah um Tom had asked to speak on this so I just wanted to make a note about you know how collaborative that process was and um you know Tom had asked if they were a few words on it yeah I just want to uh just remind the public about what a evaluation process for superintendent entails and didn’t play pay close attention so um you know we get guidance from the state the mass Association of school committees as well as our own internal policies and so the superintendents are CEO we guides the district to achieve our mission and vision and our goals and it’s really incumbent upon the school committee to to set those goals in
33:22 collaboration with the superintendent these goals are super important in the standards which are upheld by those goals and we do that at the beginning of our school committee term so at the beginning of FY 23 starting for FY 24 the new school committee seated will set the goals for FY 24. and setting goals the the state guides us ing an acronym called smart so goals need to be specific and strategic they need to be measurable they need to be action oriented rigorous realistic and results oriented and timed and trapped so it’s really important to get the goals right from the get-go to really reflect what we’re trying to achieve in a holistic level this is a
34:09 big operation hundreds of employees led by our superintendent and CEO and just like we do in the private sector all of us have probably worked there at the beginning of your your evaluation term usually the beginning of the year you sit down with your manager and you set your goals for the year you have a check-in mid-year what we call a formative assessment here in public education and mid-year we go through sort of an update with the superintendent as to where they’re tracking against the goals we set as a school committee fortunately that didn’t happen this year but I’m hopeful the new school committee will take that challenge to follow the rubric from the state and then at the end of the year at the end of the term which is now not earlier but really at the end of the term we have to get the fullest uh look
34:54 at the school year you do what’s called a summative evaluation and I’ll just highlight what um Sarah said so we introduced a process this year instead of sending in written evaluations and having somebody sort of deconstruct those and put together a consensus we had a chance to come around the table and really work through some of the differences and opinions and really I think achieve a consensus and so what I’m saying about that is it’s great everyone got to see each of our individual evaluations that’s where the ingredients but the sausage didn’t get made until that night and the the actual product is what we’re going to see tonight is posted online it’s been widely reported and I think I’m very proud and proud of the job you
35:41 did Sarah in leading that process I know it was different and different’s not always easy but you guys did a great job so I think that at the end of any review cycle whether you’re in the private sector or public sector you kind of want to know what’s next how did I do okay so do I get a promotion do I get a new opportunity do I get a raise are you going to change conditions of the workplace for me or my con that is natural so all this discussion about what’s happening Etc is unfortunate and unnecessary and so we are guided through guidance from the state to review the con uh review the the superintendent’s performance in the in the term that we set and so going forward what happened to challenge this school committee is to set better goals
36:26 I think some of the school committee members and Allison even reflected I wish we had done a better job setting these goals and it’s true takes take your time in setting goals use that smart analogy acronym to set good goals so at the end and in the formative assessment mid-year you have the ability to give good feedback because this is about uh Performance Management for Dr Bucky making him the best leader we can for the school district and if we need to course correct providing him actionable advice that he can course correct so um that’s all I’m saying this I’m really happy with the process it’s unfortunate that the uh politics of this uh became public I did send the nasty guidance to
37:13 the local Outlets to inform them of what a process looks like unfortunately it wasn’t recorded but just to clarify with the public so thank you and good job Sarah thank you
37:38 we were past the public comment um section I I apologize and I’m happy to come back to you at the end but I just want to make sure our business meeting continues
37:50 um so next agenda item is pickleball courts operate uh operating hours so this had come up because the pickleball Community had met with parking that sounds like such a odd phrase by the way had met um with park and rec and I had an opportunity to attend that meeting um as well as the butters were there and I as a spectator thought it was a pretty collaborative meeting and they really I thought were able to work together to get to a mutual understanding um that being said I I believe the recommendation right now um would be that um we go back to park and rec and give them the purview to set the times on this
38:39 um does that say everything um
38:46 again the reason why we had included yes yes yeah so the rationale would be um for instance park and rec schedules all of our Fields um a village the soccer and all of that they take care of the scheduling so the concern was if we start to pull back scheduling on this that we might then wind up with a huge scheduling um burden that we’re not really capable of handling so we’re going to let you guys take care of the scheduling if that works for you okay so um yes we’ll need to take it back so if you could refer it back to our we would like to refer this back to park and rec um but if there’s any any discussion um on on pickleball yeah yeah I I thank
39:33 you Sarah um because I I did have I talked to Dr Bucky earlier today when I pulled my meeting packet up uh and was looking at this so when so I think I I don’t know how to best move this forward for either us or wrecking park or the pickleball Community because I think it isn’t I think it wasn’t handled correctly from the get-go um when Bill became the um interim I remember Megan asking him about how the courts of the Vets had become pickleball courts because it hadn’t crossed our our desk during the year before and it had occurred that summer that bill came in
40:18 um and at that point Megan was told you know it was a record Park piece I believe it was wrecking Park and the pickleball Community organization that raised funds to turn the courts into pickleball courts from the from the tennis courts but no nothing so we still own this property but without receiving any of the gifts or anything we’ve allowed the property to change what it’s what it’s being used for and how it can be used and now we find ourselves sort of within this whole aspect of operating hours and and I remember this would come up during covet as well and so and obviously there’s a Butters that that have a lot of concerns
41:06 um and I do think there’s legal pieces that float out there as well and so I would I would love to see and we’ve done a lot of great work with Ruffin Park particularly this year and kind of making sure that all of our eyes are dotted and keys are crossed and so I would really love to see the next committee maybe at the summer Retreat just really dig into the history of this and make sure that every all the moving parts are well oiled and that everyone has is on the same page so that so that when stuff like this comes up it’s kind of pretty clear as to the way that we need to who needs to be handling it and how the best way to handle it is um because obviously there was a lot going on at that point um I think there’s concern right now
41:51 that there still are courts but we don’t have the money to fix them and Rockland Park doesn’t have the money to fix them so how does that go so there’s just a lot of questions out there um and I and I do think this has become a heated issue at points over this past year so I would love to see it really ironed out so that everybody knows who to go to with questions and concerns and hours and maintenance so um to me this all speaks to operations so I would say from an operational standpoint it would be appropriate for Peter and or Jamie I think that’s Peter I keep looking to Rosanna to say yes it is or isn’t and Dr Bucky to handle all the operations pieces I
42:37 hear what you’re saying about would be typically when we change any course of our land it does come before us we vote on it you can’t kind of rip you can’t turn the clock back on that one um but I I would say moving forward any operations should sit with the two superintendents that’s perfectly fine with me I just I just want it cleared up wherever it needs to be cleaned up so that everybody again because it does Bubble Up and there are a lot of passionate opinions and you know a Butters involved and everything and so I would like to see it just wrapped up okay are we voting on this or no um no because we’ve disabled it that it’s not about it and so if we agree to do this do I get to use my leaf blower or is that too soon too soon sorry
43:35 I don’t see her on here okay all right so I do just want to note that we took a boat of support for this document pending an edit review of grammar and spelling I do not think anything substantively changed whatsoever and I perfectly we need to reofficially vote it but um normally we would like off I never see here but I am confident in saying Megan approved everything in this just pending um grammar and so I’m sure she’s not going to object so I’d like to make a motion to review the superintendents 2223 annual review as presented in the school Community okay
44:26 um all in favor hi motion carries congratulations thank you did a great job and then can we just let the minutes reflect that it was a 5-0 we’ll pop back and make one one comment just sort of process wise sure on that um just to speak to Cam’s concern over the proficient rating proficient actually is by Desi standards an incredibly High a standard of achievement and so exemplary within the within the way it’s laid out really needs a lot of support and definition and reasoning by the committee and when someone has achieved an exemplary status so the proficient is really kind of the the standard
45:12 the standard the standard um and and sort of what is indicative of a of a really good performance by a superintendent just to sort of clear that up it just isn’t a word that like any of us grew up feeling great about I guess my mother was like well that’s proficient you know but it according to Jesse Sanders that’s explains a lot it’s what they’re looking for just about them we should think this is going to be your legacy it’s this format I think going into the process there was a lot of preservation about how the sausage would be made and how that would work and I can say to a Committee Member everyone has come to me I’m talking to you Mr Mathers thank you everyone has come to me to say I really appreciated the process um all right so we’ve done pickleballs jumping all over
46:02 today send updates I’m not sure that we have any at the end of the year um I think just the wellness policy from the policy perspective and from the wellness perspective um that we’ll move forward into the next meeting okay um and then be any new business I actually have a just one more comment to make this is my last if I make it yes
46:34 in all sincerity I do want to commend um Tom for he doesn’t he doesn’t have skin in this game per se with children but he saw an opportunity to see a skill set he had and to help our town in our district and I am very grateful that he decided to throw his hat in the ring um I think that all although some some of the um sarcasm makes me a little worried at times in the meeting I will say it really it you you it was a service to our town and to our district and I greatly appreciate as I think we all do thank you through your hat in the ring here thank you I appreciate that so I just want to offer a few comments so
47:21 uh as many uh if you may have read some of my bio I’ve been in various leadership roles and governance roles for a long time and so I’d like to leave sort of a few parting words of advice for my fellow committee members in the district first of all I think it’s really important that our role as a school committee is focused on governance and that means you take the views of all stakeholders as your own and consider your actions your behavior your decisions it’s incredibly important you put your own personal and political views to the side in that role it’s very very seriously it’s very hard guys it is hard my personal politics are sometimes dramatically different on how I behave on this board so what I what I mean by this is our
48:06 role of school committee members and it was a great example this week the drama around Dr Bucky’s review you know this is governance this is an agenda which was formulated on Monday at 12. almost afternoon on Monday this is Politics the newspaper this is not really the place for the school committee so all I’ll say about this is our role this is the very best job we can for all stakeholders including our children the second thing I’ll say in the final thing I’ll say is I remember 23 years ago I was flying the first combat Mission I ever flew into Iraq leading a group of six Apache helicopters you always fly the second shot when you’re
48:53 the platoon leader the guy had flying in the front guy named Gus Johnson he was a little bit of a nervous Nelly and as we passed over the line of departure into a rocky airspace to go attack her an early morning Radar Site we were flying at 15 feet above ground level blacked out with four looking infrared ripping at about 170 knots everyone’s scared big Parker Factor and we are total radio silence
49:23 30 seconds across the line of departure Gus comes on breaks radio silencer says is my tail light on I’m like I’m gonna kill Gus because we’re breaking all discipline going across the land departure and risking the mission anyway I can tell you that when I first got to this District I would say that Dr Bucky you didn’t know what to think of me and maybe I made you a little nervous you have no tail light issues I can tell you that much I’m really impressed with how you stepped up you’ve taken the coaching we don’t always agree I think you’ve worked incredibly well at Harvard in the school committee I’m proud of the job that you’ve done in the four or five months that I’ve been here and I just want to commend you regardless of the proficient and all the stuff that’s said in this
50:09 superintendent’s report I can tell you as somebody who’s led a lot of people and a lot of organizations it takes a certain amount of toughness to sit in your seat take the public criticism and still lead from the front I think you’re doing a great job so I just want to affirm my support for you today going forward and I look forward to seeing you soar in this District the second thing I like to say is this one right here Sarah Fox said she’s a challenge let me tell you Sarah and I do not agree on a lot of things but I can tell you Sarah has worked hard and I give her a lot of feedback non-public feedback and she has worked hard to I think improve your skills as a chair I just want to recognize and thank you for doing the work this is a hard job we’re all volunteers and so I just
50:54 want to recognize the effort you’ve put in to become a better chair so thank you and to Allison and to Sarah thank you very much it’s been a pleasure to serve with you you guys will be amazing and I hope Sarah you return to the school committee uh and for those of you who are running I wish you the best of luck as I said when I talk to you guys initially you know I want to let you guys run your own campaigns I may or may not agree with you know different positions and different things that people say but let’s stay focused on the real Mission that’s governance and leading this District so thank you very much
51:33 so um I I think that without further Ado it’s a great note to end on very positive motion to adjourn I will adjourn us that clock um