School Committee: October 19, 2023

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

0:00 Okay.

0:04 All right. I’m gonna admit everybody, Frank,

0:10 you have controls, right? Okay.

0:16 What’s the one with the umbrella? I don’t know.

0:22 We’re just gonna give Allison one minute to get to her seat.

0:29 Ellie,

0:36 no rush. I, sorry. That happens.

0:49 Teresa’s on.

0:53 I’m gonna call us to order at 7:00 PM

0:58 I’m gonna do my best to project my voice while not having the people on Zoom. Just hear us shouting. So it’s kind of,

1:08 Oh, We all have to shut our sound off. There we go. All right. I have a state. Is everybody’s sound off? Mm-hmm. We good now, Frank? No, there’s still something. It sounds like it’s there. Sounds like it’s that computer over there. Just bear with us for one minute.

1:35 Okay. It’s not that one. Nope. Do any of your laptops have sound on them? And are you zoomed in?

1:44 Could it be from that microphone? Oh, that’s the speaker. Mine’s not connected to audio.

1:57 Everybody can just bear with us while we figure out a tech thing here.

2:12 Okay. We good? All right. I’m gonna do my best to project my voice so that everyone in here can hear at the same time balancing, not shouting, um, through people’s microphones and zoom. So I’m very happy to see so many people here tonight, as well as on Zoom, which I’m assuming is in support of the letter Michelle Crestor wrote, the school committee has not met, met since the war between Israel and Hamas started. Therefore, we have no mechanism to comment as a full committee on the events. So please consider the following statements as mine. I will open up for additional comments by the rest of the committee after

2:58 I stand with Michelle Cresta. In her statement, I denounce all violence and acts of terrorism against Israeli and Palestinian civilians. I grieve for the lives lost and forever shattered by these events. I reiterate, I stand with the statement made by Michelle Cresta. That being said, when a formal written complaint is made, we have a policy that must be followed as the only supervising body over the superintendent. The school committee must collectively discuss complaints brought against said superintendent. We may only do this via a public meeting and are required to do so in executive session under mass general law. Unless the superintendent waives that right? As Michelle Cresta has to be clear,

3:48 the filing of a complaint does not guarantee the outcome of the complaint be validated. The process must be followed. It is not the place of the official who receives the complaint to say they will not follow district policy or mass general law simply because they do not agree with it. This brings me to the second part of my statement.

4:13 Policies and laws are in place to protect our staff and students from bullying and other acts of impropriety. Unfortunately, since July with the publication in its entirety of a bullying complaint filed by a student, we have seen the weaponization of this process in an increase in the volume of complaints against members of our school community. It appears individuals are using the published report as a roadmap to punish others whom they disagree with. Disagreeing with someone’s words

4:48 Is not the same as being bullied or threatened. The weaponization of these safeguards harm our staff, our students, and our community, while simultaneously diminishing the validity of the effects bullying has on its victims. It is a time for our community to stop intentionally harming each other. It is a time for us to come together with open minds and open hearts for the sake of our students and our community. I am begging everyone to let go of the anger and hate and commit to building a productive and supportive community. I will open it up to any committee member who also has anything they would like

5:35 to add or say.

5:40 Who wants to go first? Thank you, Sarah. I appreciate that. I, I’m not gonna take up a lot of time. I appreciate the statement. Um, some very good words, um, and message there. I too will be talking about this later. I, too support our superintendent in her, uh, in her communication to the community. It is clear from emails and phone calls, certainly social media, that this has been a very difficult time in our community, obviously in our world, but particularly with this, um, incident. And I am confident that we’re going to be able to resolve this and that we’re all going to be able to unite together how we feel about this, how we feel as a community and how we support each other and the people in our community that are suffering with what’s going on in this world.

6:29 You else have anything to add? Uh, I think One thing I just wanna say, which is something I’ve echoed from the beginning, is that It is intent. And I think we need to start, you know, everything everybody else said, but also ensuring that we are looking at things from a place of good. Ensuring that when we read an email, we start from a place of good. We’re not starting from a place of hate. We’re not starting from, oh gosh, what is this person gonna say now? What is this person going to do now that we open our hearts and open our minds and believe that other people that we’re speaking to are coming from a place of good, whether they agree with you or not. Um, I think that that has to be a big shift, um, for us to be able to move forward else.

7:20 All right. I’ll move us on to commendations. Uh, just for the record, I would like to commend superintendent Michelle Cresta for her communication this week for her statement to the community, standing by, um, what her words were standing by Israel and the people, um, and innocent civilians throughout the area that are suffering. And I appreciate her, her brave, her courage, and her bravery for going forward with that. Anybody else? All right. I am going to take the next item out of order. Um, I wanna get to our student representative before public comment. I anticipate there being quite a bit of public comment and, um, our student who has joined us does have school tomorrow and other activities. So I do wanna let her go or let her speak so that if she needs to

8:07 move on to committing to getting her homework and everything else done, you can, you can do that. So I will follow right up with public comment after our report from Kat Piper. Thank You. The fun. The field homecoming took place in the high school gym this past Saturday, October 14th, there was catering by Maria’s many fun games, dancing in a photo booth. It was very fun for most students. The Marvel Head High School Boosters fundraiser also took place this weekend on Sunday, October 15th, all students were encouraged to participate, and those who are part of two fundraising events will be eligible for athletic scholarships in the spring. Yesterday, October 18th was a day zero for the high school freshmen participated in a day of service completing activities such as beach cleanups and cooking for the community. Sophomores and juniors took the P S A T and seniors opted to either go on

8:56 college visits or get help with college essays at the high school. The eighth grade open house will be held on November 8th, which will showcase the school and current clubs. Marblehead FOFA is hosting a Rock the Arts Gala on November 2nd at Hooper Mansion. All proceeds go to concert theater and competition support. The junior class of 2025 is selling class clothes for their fundraiser, and there will be an annual tip off night on December 8th to commence the basketball season. The Friends of Marblehead basketball organization is collecting funds to support the girls and boys basketball teams of all levels in the athletics world. The girls soccer team faced Peabody today, sorry, puberty today in a game, and they will enter playoff season in two weeks. The football team celebrated a win over Beverly this past Saturday.

9:44 The boys and girls cross country teams ran against Peabody last night for their last dual meet with the boys staying undefeated. Volleyball had their senior night last night, and other teams have been holding their senior nights due to their last regular season home games. Thank you very much. Thank you, Kat. And I did see some pictures that were posted online, and you all looked fabulous. Thank you. Thank you. I’m glad you guys had a good time. Um, that does bring us to public comment. There’s a signup sheet. Um, it should be on the table, Michelle. It’s on the back. Oh, it’s on the back counter. Um, if you guys wanna start writing your names on that. If anybody, um, online wants to raise their hand, if there’s public comment, I will try as much as possible to go in order. Um, if the first person on the list doesn’t mind grab the list, um,

10:30 coming up to for a public comment. Brenda, are you the first person? Sure. Um, I am. Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t know that was there. No, no, no. It’s okay. It’s okay. Sorry about that. Um, and then just, you probably know the drill by now, but when you come up to the computer, and if you can just state your name and address for the record. Um, and then just come on up. And Frank has it all set and ready to, ready to roll. I appreciate it. Thank you. Um, My name is Brenda Kelly Kim, I’m at 86 Clifton Avenue here in Marblehead. Thank you for taking the time to listen to public comment, and thank you for taking the time for doing this job. Glasses. Um, I’ll make it quick. This complaint and the process that flows from it is, in my opinion,

11:20 a complete waste of time and effort. As Chairman Fox said, it harms the community to weaponize this process.

11:28 Israelis were attacked by a vicious terrorist group. Ms. Cresa Cresta issued a statement in support of students, families, and staff who were impacted by this horrible attack. It was a message of compassion and support for the victims of terror. Now is not the time for what about me? Now is the time to stand with Israel and with Jews around the world. Full stop. Thank you. Thank you, Brenda. Thanks, Brenda.

12:02 Um, I, whoever, um, if someone can get the, do you want me to get the Yeah. Do you mind grabbing the list? Thanks.

12:14 Miriam Kerrison 46 Pine Cliff Drive. Well, I’ve heard week after week that we have to get better. We have to have an open heart mind. It’s a coincidence because that was the name of my company. It was an adoption company. You’re talking about bullying.

12:30 Okay. So you, you’re talking about bullying. I don’t think some of you realize how many kids are being bullied in this town. I’ve experienced it. I’ve had counselors try to help me. I had a teacher bullying my child at kindergarten, and then up at the village school. She ended up retiring, but I took care of it myself. You want the hate to be going away. You have created all of this. Don’t blame the stakeholders. We are not to blame. We want transparency. We want accountability. And we are not getting that. And you’re right, I’m not Jewish, but in my village, you name it, I have it. I have Muslim,

13:16 I have Jewish, I have gay, I have trans, I have it all. Black, brown, Asian, you name it. And we all have to get, we all have to get along, but we have to also consider other people’s feelings in the way the kids are being teased. Now, if you, what was it, A year or so ago, Ukraine. There was a little girl that was Russian in my granddaughter’s class, and people were threatening her saying, you know, it’s them that are killing everybody in Ukraine. What it is, there’s innocent people on both sides. Okay? They’re getting killed for no reason. We should be all getting along. But you have to start first because you have not had transparency and you have

14:03 not had accountability. I’m so glad that Mr. Otis suggested that you need a communication consultant. But I think it came from Bucky first because really you have created the town being at each other’s throat, and there is a lot of teasing and a lot of bullying. And I could sit here and tell you some of the horrible things that were sent to my granddaughter just because she was adopted. Alright, thank you. Thank you. Ms. McCarrison. Nicole Cohen,

14:35 you can just state your name and address for the record.

14:40 Uh, Nicole Cohen, 40 Clifton Avenue. I just wanted to say I liked your speech at the beginning, Sarah, where I think you spoke, um, About the process, um, and that even though this process might be being abused by others, um, that if we do use the system and we do use the process, we will find that things were done correctly. Um, so I’m just gonna speak to that nonpartisan part that I, I think that was well said. Um, we’ll trust the process. Even maybe it might be abused, maybe it’s not. We’ll trust it. Go forward from there. Um, I do stand behind Michelle’s, uh, statement. I’m sorry that people have a lot

15:29 on their plate that maybe they need to take outside of what’s going on in the school committee, and focus on what’s going on in their own lives and just move on from there. But you do have a lot of support from the community, and I’m sorry that you are going through this. And I hope that once the superintendent comes in place, you can go back to the job that you love doing. Thank you very much. Thank You.

16:02 Yeah. Yeah.

16:10 Hi. Um, thank you. Um, before that, I just want to, if you don’t mind, just give even 10 seconds of silence just for the remembrance of the people that we lost.

16:31 Thank you. I am Jewish. I am American. I am Israeli. I am human in. I have kids living in this beautiful town, and a son who’s a freshman in this high school.

16:53 On Saturday night at 2:00 AM my husband woke me up telling me a war broke out in Israel. I said, what are you talking about? And then the statements started coming. And the videos, it was a massacre. Butchering entire families, beheading babies, kidnapping children, elderly Holocaust survivors, putting people on fire while they were alive, torture, torturing, torturing people while they were raping them and killing them.

17:30 The Jewish people have not lost so many civilians in one day, in seven hours since the Holocaust.

17:39 My grandmother was in Auschwitz. The Holocaust is a dinner table conversation in our home. And I’m looking at my children in 2023, sitting here in Marblehead and saying to them, we have just experienced the worst day since your great-grandmother was in those camps. I Tirelessly I was working on since Saturday morning. Not just meet everybody, all the Israeli community, Jews and non-Jews, tirelessly to help, help what needed to get done, whether to get soldiers back to Israel, who got called for duty, whether to get equipment, securing people, kids

18:26 advocat, advocacy. Throughout these days, I watched many schools, committees, universities sending out statements. And I was waiting, I was waiting for Marblehead. And finally it came on Thursday. And I was so happy, and thank you, because it made us feel safe. It made us feel seen. And it made us feel that our lives are literally lives matter. My daughter, 12 years old, is making now bracelets ‘cause she’s a swifty. And I’m thinking to myself, am I safe wearing these bracelets?

19:14 Is my son, which his name is Magen David, which is the star of David. Is he safe wearing his, his magendo? You talk here about bullying. Bullying is horrific. But on Friday morning after there was a call to kill all Jews in the world, us Jews, the parents, we were on texting all the time. Are you sending your kids to school? Some said, no, I’m not sending my kids to school. And some did not. Some sent their kids to school like I did, and went home and cried, wondering, is this the last time I’ll see them? I even told my son, I told my son, who comes to this school if you hear anything you run,

20:00 and if you can’t, you fight.

20:05 And then there was those who actually dropped their kids at preschool and waited three hours to make sure that they were safe. You’re talking about our lives. Literally our lives. People in Israel are now, every single family in Israel. Every single person in Israel knows somebody who died, who was kidnapped, who was missing. My in-laws went to three Shivas yesterday, and they have five more to go. Our friend, my husband’s best friend, lost 150 people. He has 50 funerals to go to in the next few days, and then other hundred either missing or abducted.

20:48 This has been a genocide on our nation, on our people, and also on western society. Because this is not just gonna finish with the Israelis or the Jews. This is a full blown war on us.

21:08 And we will support and stand behind anybody who stands behind Israel, because you’re not just standing behind Israel. You’re standing be behind truth and peace, and freedom and democracy, and human rights, and women’s rights, and children’s rights and education, and anything that we uphold in this country. And we must, we must denounce anybody who tries to take that away, who tries to terrorize us, who tries to literally kill us.

21:43 We are sitting here today, and I’m actually wondering, will somebody come and attack me? Will somebody come into my house and slaughter my family? Because we are Jewish? Because we are Israeli? And the sad thing is, is that we can’t say no for sure. And so the only thing, the only tool we have is we must stand up. We cannot be silent, because in 1933, when Bergs laws started to happen, 34, 38, 39, we saw the, the ghettos. We saw the concentration camps, and the world was silent. We did nothing for years, years 6 million people. Jews died because we were silent. And we will not be silent again.

22:32 And we will applaud anybody who stands with us. And we all, we all must stand for freedom, for human rights, for Jews, and for everybody to have the right to live, to practice their religion, and to have their belief. And we will not tolerate people trying to threaten people’s jobs or reputation or social status because they support humanity and denounce terrorism. And so, again, I just wanna thank you because you made me feel safe. And it was because of that statement that I sent my son to school that day. Because if that statement would not have been, I would’ve not sent my kids to school on Friday. Thank you.

23:19 Thank you.

23:28 Thank you very much. Um, I see one is a gentleman here. Um, yeah. Yes. I’m just gonna go to the hand online, if you don’t mind. And then I ha I do have a sheet for you as well. Um, Avery. Oh, um, no, have something in the back. Avery Calovich.

23:46 Hi. My name is Gray, um, at the vet time, terrorist Marblehead. Um, I graduated from Marblehead High School in 2018. As some of you may remember, during my time at Marblehead High School, there was an extreme act of hate and antisemitism. My friend and I brought in the Anti-Defamation League to stop this hate in the Marblehead community and educate the teachers, the students, the faculty, the parents on some of these issues that we are currently dealing with today. I was hopeful that bringing this into the community would stop the issues that we are seeing. And the last couple days, I was proven wrong. I am extremely disappointed that this is even something that has had to be brought up and brought to our attention. Um,

24:32 it is a really, really difficult time, um, in our lives. We are scared we, I can’t leave my apartment in New York City because when I do, I’m asked if I’m Jewish and screamed in my face. I’ve been told that I should be killed or I should be gassed because I’m Jewish. My brother, who is a junior at Marblehead High School, is scared to wear his Jewish star. The Star of David Marblehead is a community who is supposed to bring people together. And you guys have lost the trust of the Jewish community and no longer feel supported. I personally would like to know what you guys are going to do to fix this. It, it’s not fully gonna be fixed, but maybe you can make it a little bit better. I’m extremely disappointed. And more stress and anxiety has been added to the Jewish community. I was up all night last night thinking about this and thinking about the fact

25:21 that this was even something that has to be brought to anyone’s attention. Finally, to Ms. Cresta, it is like pe It is, it is people like you that we think because the Jewish community is not feeling supported by non-Jews, even though there has been a great support from the Marble Eye community, your email went a very, very long way. And I wanna thank you for that. Thank you. Avery.

25:54 If you can just state, state your name and address. Yes. My name is Asaf Magen. I live on, uh, 1 65 5 West Shore Drive. Drive. Can’t hear you. Can you hear me now? Yes. Yes, please. Okay. My name is Asaf Magen. I live on 1 65 West Shore Drive in, uh, Marblehead. Um,

26:14 I had a a a whole thing that, that I wrote, but, uh,

26:20 uh, I, I would just like to, to react to what I heard. ‘cause I was listening on the zoom on, on the way here. Um, the first statement that was made, it said that, uh, uh, the Marblehead School Committee con condemns terror being done on both sides. I’m sorry, guys. There is no terror coming from Israel. There just isn’t. Um, I’m Israeli. Um,

26:48 I have not slept almost in 12 days. I get phone calls every night. People, you know, really scared asking me what to do, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to tell them.

27:06 I don’t really care if people here get pictures of beheaded babies. I really don’t care if you see pictures of burnt babies, women being raped while their body part’s being taken off, the whole family’s being destroyed, and you don’t get the babies and you’re upset. That’s not on me. I don’t know what she wrote to you in that letter. I read, I read what she wrote in the Marblehead Courier. Um, almost everything she writes there is, is is a product of, of, of misunderstanding, of, of the whole situation. I, I, I don’t want to go further and further. I’m, I’m very happy you guys brought this statement. I, I, I hope you continue with it. I just want you to know, because people don’t know that. And let me take, uh, you know, advantage of this stage to, to explain something that people don’t understand. Six and a half million people lived in Europe before the Holocaust.

27:52 There were only 325,000 that survived. Half of them went to America. How do I know all of you know somebody that their grandfather was in the Holocaust. So only 150,000 went to Israel. What kinda colonizing European country is that more than 50% of the people in Israel are from Arab descent. Because with the 750,000 Palestinian refugees, there were 850,000 refugees that came from Arab countries that were kicked out Jewish people as refugees into Israel. At the same time, the Turks and the Greeks were fighting over Cyprus as refugees. They separated them exactly what we did in Israel. You know, what happened to those people? They got a Nobel Prize. You know, what happened to the Muslims in, in Bulgaria where they had to move into Turkey as refugees? Have you ever heard of that? No. You never heard of that? Why? A lot more people? Why? ‘cause it’s not advertised. Have you heard of Pakistan?

28:41 You know what Pakistan is? You teach at this school? It was founded in 1948 after seven and a half million refugees were forced to go somewhere. I understand that, that Arabs were kept in refugee camps as ponds by Arab countries. That’s great. I sympathize with the Palestinian suffering. That person that wrote to your paper, I’ll bet you I know a hundred times more Palestinians from Gaza than Cheetahs personally. And my heart breaks for them as well. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, two days ago, they blew their own hospital. And every news channel in the world blamed me. My family, they blew up their own hospital. We get blamed.

29:28 There is no moral equivalent equivalency. Israel does not cut off baby’s heads, even if you don’t get pictures of that. And I want you to know that I feel threatened as well. I was in the Army. I’m not, I’m not afraid of a lot of things, but I feel, I feel really stressed. But I’m not gonna, you know, write to, to the paper or to the school committee saying that I feel my son has been bullied. And, and trust me, we’ve had conversations about what’s gonna happen to my son when, when he gets. So what part of life? Thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. McGill.

30:10 We don’t see any more hands up. Do we take a quick break?

30:16 Okay. Um, hi, my name is, uh, Karen Tom mcl. I live on Trigger Road, Marblehead. Speak Up. Uh, my name is Karen Tom mcl. I live on Trigger Road and Marblehead. Um, I wanna say that as someone who has family in Israel, um,

30:36 I can’t tell you how much it meant to me as I was seeing all the other, um, correspondence going out from the other schools in the area that when I saw your email, it, it made me feel good. Like there was hope. Like the world wasn’t as evil as it was looking like. And I just wanna sincerely thank you for doing that because it took courage and it took bravery. Um, and I want to say that there was a petition that was created and in support of your message. And as of right now, it has, it has 1,296 signatures in support of your

31:25 statement. So I wanna thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I wanna say shame on the Marblehead current for giving a platform to her hateful message and for allowing her to amplify that message and hurting so many people in the community. So, thank you very much.

31:56 Any other public comments? Okay. Can we take a quick recess? Yes. Is anyone interested in like a five minute recess? I will. I will call a five minute recess. Yeah.

34:39 Call us back into session at 7 34.

34:44 I’m gonna take, um, another agenda item out of order, and I’m going to move to the review of the complaint against Michelle Cresta. I wanna note that Ms. Cresta, um, exercise her, her, or waived her. Waived her, right? I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Um, Michelle Cresta waived her right to executive session tonight. Um, so I’m grateful for that actually. So we can do this here. Um, on October 12th, we all received a complaint. Um, I’m sure many of you have have seen it at this point, or at least heard about it. Um,

35:26 due to the nature of how exact the language was, um, stating, please consider this a formal written complaint. Um, Michelle and I spoke immediately, and both of us agreed. Um, there’s actually never a discussion that otherwise from either of us, um, that because of the exact nature of the way they stated that it seemed pretty intentional and that we were required to follow our policy, um, to look at that. We confirmed this with our legal counsel who immediately confirmed, yes, this is exactly what you should be doing. This is how you should go about doing it. Um, We are here. We,

36:12 I do just wanna take a moment to say how grateful I am that so much of the community, not just in Marblehead, but our greater community, has reached out. Um, in fact, I had the opportunity to have a really great conversation with the associate director today of, um, the regional, um, A D L A D L office. And what I did say to her is, you know, if, if there’s, if there is one benefit, um, it, it was hearing from so much of our community that they too feel supportive of this message. Um, quite frankly, I,

37:00 I was, um, qu it was quite f it was wonderful to know so many people feel supportive of the message that was put out. Um, so I’m gonna open it up to the committee for, um, if, if there’s anything that anyone feels they need to say. Oh, I’m, I’m sorry, Michelle. I, and I apologize. I’m a little disjointed today. I’m usually much better at being organized about this. My mind is, um, I wanna get go to Michelle and give you the opportunity to make a statement. Yes, Thank you. And thank you for all your comments. Um, please, as you know, I did waive my right to discuss this in executive session. I feel that this is a matter that we should not be hiding behind closed doors.

37:49 Um, so that’s why I waive that right today. Um, I do have a statement as the acting superintendent and as a mother of two, I stand behind my statement of Thursday, October 12th.

38:06 The statement made was to publicly share support for Israel and to condemn the horrific actions of Hamas. The intent of the statement was to plainly condemn terrorism and to affirm the support for all individuals to live free from fear of terrorism and violence. I do not believe it is the place of a school administrator to further opine on such a complex geopolitical situation. But rather, it is our job to support our staff, our children, and our school community.

38:46 I would like to reiterate a portion of my October 12th message. Our time is better spent trying to create an environment that fosters love and acceptance in our community. We are committed to promote a world of tolerance and peace, where all may feel respect, love, and belonging. Thank you.

39:19 Um, I, I have a motion prepared if, um, someone would like to entertain it and then we can open it for discussion. Mm-hmm.

39:29 Um, I have a motion to find no wrongdoing by acting superintendent Michelle Cresta in the complaint brought forward by Kristy War on 10, 12, 23. So moved. Um, second. Okay. Moved by Allison Taylor, seconded by Jen Schaffner. I will open it for discussion. I just wanna say I’m really proud of you, Michelle. That’s all. And thank you to everybody that came and shared their stories. I know the courage and bravery it takes to do that as well. Um, it certainly takes courage and bravery for Michelle to also stand up here, um, and have to go through this. It’s, uh, disgraceful that we have to do this. I understand it’s policy. Um, so I just wanna let Michelle know that I’m very proud of you

40:17 and I’m ready to vote. Like I want this close the book. Anybody? Yeah, I do have something to say. Um, first of all, thank you to everyone who came tonight, both online and in person. And for those of you that spoke during public comment and who sent us emails, um, sharing both your perspective and your stories. Michelle, I also wanna thank you for your bravery. I can’t see you. Oh, sorry. But, um, you know, just having to go through this is really challenging, especially in an acting superintendent role. So I appreciate your bravery and courage in that. And I appreciate the message that you sent. And I hope that you feel the support of both this committee and the community. Um, because I personally think you did the right thing.

41:06 I do stand with Israel and I stand against terrorism in any form. And I thank you for always keeping the safety of our students and our staff at the front of mind. ‘cause that’s really what we’re here for. So thank you. Thank You. Michelle. I want to thank you for that letter that you wrote. I think you did a great job. I know that when I was in the district, we spent a lot of time with the kids teaching ‘em how to respect differences. You don’t have to accept the difference, but you have to respect it and treat them honorably. And I hope that message still goes out, that we want to have peace through working out our differences with words. Okay. Yeah. I’ll just be quick ‘cause I think we all, you know, we all have been feeling,

41:52 I think very similar and in our support for Michelle. I think especially hearing from, um, Mr. And Ms. McGinn, uh, today, that this is also an opportunity for us to be modeling behavior for our students and our children. That there are times in I think the, our lives, all of us, where there is moral clarity on what is right and what is wrong in a world that is often gray and there’s a lot of moral relativism. This is not that time. It is clear where we stand and what we need to stand for, for the people that have suffered in Israel. So, um, thank you. Thank you.

42:39 So I’m gonna call for a vote and I’m just gonna reiterate the motion to find no wrongdoing by acting superintendent Michelle Cresta in the complaint brought forward by Kristy War up on 10, 12, 23. I’m gonna do a roll call. Vote Megan. Yes. Allison? Yes. Brian? Yes. Jen in favor? Yes. And I probably vote yes as well. The motion carries five to zero. I will email MS and let her know we have settled this now. Thank you.

43:14 Back to That brings us back to our district update. Michelle, to you.

43:21 Back to your routine stuff here. Okay. So for our district updates, um, October 25th is a half day for pre-kindergarten through Grade A students. On November 2nd and 16th, we will be having presentations of our school improvement plans to school committee. And last but not least, um, our Marblehead Veterans Middle School has been nationally recognized as one of America’s healthiest schools. Our assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. Julia Ferrera has more on this topic. Yes, Julia, Thank you Michelle. And just thank you for your leadership and all that you do. I truly appreciate you. Um, we have a planned, uh, we have very special guests in the audience that we’ve had planned. So I just, um, wanna shift to something that we get to celebrate as a community. Um,

44:10 I’m really grateful for Ma Maura Darley Rocco and Megan Calvin. Um, we are here to celebrate that they won a national award. Um, so Marblehead Veterans Middle School is among, uh, one of 781 schools nationwide to be named as America’s Healthiest Schools for the 2223 school year. The recognition awarded by Alliance for a Healthier Generation is a leading children’s health organization that honors school’s dedication to supporting the health and wellbeing of students, staff, and families. Maura was the recipient of the enriching health education and Strengthening Social Emotional Health and Learning Award. So congratulations to more about tomorrow.

44:53 And we have some slides going up too, I think that, um, we shared. Um, and then also, um, our school nurse at, at vets, Megan Kain was the recipient of supporting school health services,

45:06 Megan’s Kain. So, can I ask a quick question? Was this, um, in correlation to, I know there’s an award ceremony. Was it last week or the week before this? This is a national award, correct? There was an award ceremony in DC that educators could attend. Is this, did any, is this the same thing or didn’t any of ours attend? There? Was We 10?

45:32 I I saw, I just saw some pictures from the ceremony. I, I happened to, um, have looked that over, so I didn’t know if you guys had attended. So, um, so again, just for Mora and, um, the awards that she earned. And then on the next slide is for Megan and I put a QR code. If you’re viewing at home, you can learn more about, um, Alliance for, uh, healthier Generation. But I just have one final thing. Um, America’s Healthiest Schools remains one of the country’s longest running nationwide recognition programs, honoring schools for achievements and supporting whole child health equity for students, teachers, and staff. Um, so I just wanna say thank you to Matt Fox, the principal at Vets for supporting, uh, the work. And I was so excited that I had the privilege to work with them to, uh, vets last year. And, um, to just be now sitting here and to say thank you for all that you’re doing for

46:19 our students, um, and staff. It’s really amazing. So, um, we will be sending out a press release and we’re really excited to have this amazing achievement. Great. Thank you. It’s wonderful. It is quite an honor. Congrats. So congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. That’s great.

46:36 Thank you. Um, Michelle, I have a quick question for this. Well, more of statement for the school improvement plans. ‘cause those are a little bit more volumous in their reading. Mm-hmm. Um, can we just have those in the Dropbox test by the Friday before the meeting if possible, so that everyone has, um, a chance to read those over? Yes, absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Um, all right. So that brings us to consent action and agenda items. We have a schedule of bills everyone should have had in their Dropbox. I will ask for a motion to approve the identified schedule of bills totaling $863,449 and 14 cents. So moved, moved by Jen Schaffner, seconded. Second by Allison Taylor. All in favor Opposed?

47:21 Motion carries five to zero. I did forget to ask for discussion if there typically is not in this item. Okay. So approval of the minutes also in your Dropbox. I’ll ask for an approval of the minutes from 9 21 23 and ten five twenty three as presented. So moved, Moved from by Jen Schaffner second. So anybody else can tell her discussion? Um, I didn’t notice it’s a new format. I’m sure everyone picked up on that. Um, we have someone new writing our minutes. I’m very grateful for Allison, um, for doing that. I do wanna just double check with her. Um, one thing that I noticed is it doesn’t say who’s making a specific point. So it, it somewhat reads like it, they’re unanimous points where I don’t think they are. Um, so I would just like to have her go back in and just know who was making the

48:10 points. If no one has a, has a, an issue with that, um, amendment, we can approve pending that. Alright, so all in favor Opposed? Motion carries five to zero. Um, we, that brings us to school committee communication and discussion items. We’ve had our review, um, that goes to the approval of interim superintendent contract. That’s also something everybody had in their Dropbox. It was a late addition today. I do apologize. The, the attorneys, um, we’re working back and forth in that right up until, um, when I got it in for you guys. So again, I I hope everyone had a chance to review that. Um, I’ll ask for a motion then we can open for discussion. So, moved

48:58 Or to a motion to approve the interim superintendent contract As proposed? Yes. As proposed. Yes. Second. Second. Okay. So that was Jen Schaffner. Brian Nota, any discussion? I Have some questions about it. Yes. Um, paragraph four. The work here here is defined as 12 months, is that correct? Um, let me open paragraph four. Look at it. If you actually, can I steal your piece of paper? Um, yes, because it’s the length of a full term, but it, it, it, it is con it is noted up here where it’s an effective date. So the work year, her compensation is based on a full year work year and therefore will be prorated with, with her state start date. Okay. Does that make sense? Okay.

49:44 Um, yes, on the holidays we need fix Columbus. They should be Indigenous People Day. Yes. Is people day Good note. We can we, um, the edit or the approval will be pending That edit, you know, the Other thing I noticed was it did say Good Friday that might haveve been negotiated. ‘cause we do have school on Good Friday night, Half day. We have a half day. Um, this contract to let you know where we, we took Bill Aldo’s contract and we inputted her personal information and then we, we started making some edits. Bill had actually had that in his contract. Um, that’s fine. So it it Teresa of right now? Yeah. Sorry. I should have caught that one. What’s an extra day? I think when Bill was here, we didn’t have school that day. We didn’t. Yeah. Um, any other questions? Okay.

50:31 So I will then ask for approval. All in favor? All opposed. Motion carries five to zero welcome board, be in Hutch, um, about signing, and we will, we will make that edit. Just ma re calling it Indigenous People’s Day. Um, as, as is appropriate. All right. Looking Forward to it. Dr. McGinnis, The m a s I think Michelle’s very much so looking forward to it. We’ll just see her tires. It’s like a screeching outta the parking lot. Um, so the M A SS C conference, um, people have registered Megan, I just wanted to double check. You are not, uh, able to attend this year. Okay, so, um,

51:18 Michelle sent out the brochure every afterwards to everybody about what workshops you want to attend. Um, it’s, you, you don’t have to pre-register for individual workshops. You just kind of have a mental track of where you wanna go and what you wanna do and you responsible for that. Um, so it’s a great conference. It’s been wonderful in the past. I had a lot of really good takeaways. So I’m, I’m happy to see so many of us able to attend, um, communication workshop up update. I will hand that to Jen Schaffner. So we Had spoken about this at our last meeting. Um, we had, um, agreed on a or two meetings ago or, um, we agreed on a date. I was able to secure Dorothy Presser for that date, who’s our M A S C representative.

52:04 We were gonna speak about a little bit more in the details, but we do have a member has a conflict on that day. So we’re sort of back to the beginning. I don’t know if we want to try to open calendars now. Do we? I mean, I can, I can send another email out. I mean another tech group text, um, you know, as is allowed, uh, for scheduling purposes. I would like, ‘cause there’s a provision in the contract with Dr. McGinnis that we will engage M A S C in a workshop to talk about roles and responsibilities and get that communication going right from the get go. So I think where we are now pushed up a week before her start date, I would like to right from the get go, set the message that we want her to be part of our team. And I would like to, um, do that when we can talk to her schedule and, and have her on board.

52:51 If no one’s opposed to that, I’m okay. That’s Fine. Um, all right. So that brings us to sub subcommittee and liaison updates and discussions on the finance committee, or the finance subcommittee will be meeting next Wednesday the 25th at 3:00 PM Um, I am very happy to see that the outline, um, the timeline that the chair of Finka Al Gouldsby had put forth to Pretty, to all parties we’re on track so far. On the 11th of October, the select board met and had a presentation that gave the fiscal outlook and projections of revenue, um, that then went out to Michelle.

53:36 Michelle has shared that with all of us. We now will have, I’m sure you all got your email to use your sign I name to create your clear gov account. I’m hoping everybody is, is going through those steps. Um, because we will be building the budget there, you’ll be able to, if I’m correct, Michelle, you’ll be able to go on there and make notes and questions as we go. It’s like a living, it’s a living document. It is. Um, I’m not sure of the functionality, full functionality of it yet. Okay. I haven’t played around With it enough. All right. Um, I, in Alicia’s last email, she did note if, if my reading of this is correct, that the board will have not editing capabilities. Um, ‘cause we could really, we could really that the technology on that one. Um, but we will have the ability, um, to add a comment section to,

54:24 to add any comments, questions, or concerns, which I think will be good. Um, I do wanna note as we start using that document, since it is a living document, you have to be very careful about your, I would save a copy for yourself and, um, practice doing that. Because if we are all using that to comment on it, then that becomes deliberations. So we have to be very careful. Like I will u keep a copy for myself that I’m tracking my thoughts. So at the next meeting I can bring up each of those thoughts and I can share that with Michelle with questions. So she’ll be able to answer them ahead of time and Dr. McGinnis. But we have to be very, very careful that that does not become deliberation. If I’m saying I question this amount for this and someone else is like, I,

55:12 we have to be very careful. So just be aware. Sir. Sir, did you say we should have an email about a clear dove? We, yeah, we all received an email from Alicia. You check your spam, Alicia. Yeah, I don’t have it in the last, last week. No speak. Check your spam. I’ve had a terrible time, um, with emails. There were two ending up in spam. I’ve, I’ve tried now to check it weekly because if not, I we can, Michelle can certainly have her resend that to you. Yeah, I have Alicia try to. Yeah, Can you send that? ‘cause I don’t, it’s not Instagram. I don’t Have one from Alicia, but I had one too from clear Gov. It’s, it’s clear from clear gov. Yeah, I just search clear gov. I don’t have anything. Okay. We’ll make sure, um, Michelle will be in touch and make sure that set up, um, because we’ll be able to track track all that. I’m sorry, Sarah, did you say there’s a timeline from the town on the budgeting on the budget

55:58 Process? It’s more, it’s, it’s not to us yet. It’s, it’s, um, Alec laid it out and said, you know, he wanted Alicia to have that revenue forecast, um, out to all departments heads by a certain date and then to have, um, information the next piece of information like their set of directives to us by a certain date. So we, we have gotten, and that was part of that email too, the revenue. Michelle, you shared the revenue forecast with the whole school committee? I thought so. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You didn’t get any of this. Okay. Can do you mind, can you just like Michelle, you and I can just touch base after And I’ll Yeah. But can you also follow up with Steven and find out, ‘cause these are really, I wanna make sure you’re getting all this information. It’s been going to school committee at Marblehead schools. Yeah,

56:43 Yeah. I’ve been getting other school committee stuff. Just none of them. Okay. Um, yeah, so we’ll definitely follow up. And then Michelle, if you just want to give a little blurb if you can on, on what the, the message was. Yeah, so basically, um, the town released their preliminary revenue forecast for f y 25. Um, it has a slight increase over the current year. It’s not substantial and certainly it would not be, um, what we would call adequate to support what we call our roll forward or fixed cost. Um, so we need to figure that out. So the town has asked us to submit two budgets, a level services budget, and a level funding budget. Um, so I actually met with Alicia today to further clarify that. Um,

57:30 we also have a department heads meeting with all town departments on Tuesday where we’re supposed to get a little more information. So, um, I’m waiting till Tuesday, but, um, things will be challenging for the next few years. Yeah. And just for clarification, the level services we, we’ve used that term a lot. We all are very well versed in what that means. The level funding is zero growth. Last year’s budget number is the number that we’re being asked to target. Mm-hmm. Okay. So,

58:03 alright, more to come. Um,

58:08 any policy updates? Mm-hmm. Nope. Megan, do you have any updates since you back or Meco? Okay. Alright. Um, new school committee, a new business school committee announcements and requests. All right. We received quite a bit of correspondence, um, and we will, um,

58:34 attach those at as is appropriate. Um, the, there was one from the regional a d l, um, that I most certainly will, will make sure that’s attached. There was a petition for that. I think 1200 people have signed at this point. Um, and I, I do wanna know, one of the things that I think is important to remember is some members when they emailed in said, please consider this confidential. I as much as I would like to do that, it, it is not, it is not a legal thing we can actually do if you are emailing the school committee and then some people say, please consider this part of the public record. I just wanna make sure people are clarify, are clear. Everything you email us is part of the public record. Um,

59:22 I say that because we’ve heard some really personal, um, painful stories for people to share this week. And I feel for them, I do, when they ask us to keep that private, it’s not an opportunity I have. So, um, I just want people to be aware of that. Always feel free to call if you wanna call. Um, but I I I, we just don’t have an opportunity. Every single email you send the school committee, um, quite frankly, any email you send any employer of a public institution is a public record period. Um, so for people who requested that it be part of the public record, it it is by nature. Um, can I make a

1:00:07 Quick Yeah, just make a quick comment. We did have an email that came in, um, from, uh, Mr. Eric, we webe, I dunno if I’m pronouncing his name right, uh, y best. Um, I actually had, um, some, uh, con conversation back and forth with him on email. He, um, it was in regards to the, the, the topic we discussed earlier around, um, the superintendent’s statement. And he had some, some very strong feelings about it, which I think were very much in line with, um, folks today. He had asked for that to be en read into the record, uh, which is not typically a policy of ours to read into the record. People can come to public comment, they can speak a public comment. They could also su um, provide a written copy of their statement or thoughts to the school committee. But we don’t, as a policy read into the record.

1:00:54 So I did communicate that back to this, um, to, to Mr. Webe. And, um, did say that it will be available on, in our, I guess in our, um, on our website or its correspondence. We can make it, um, as part of our minutes. Yeah. As Into, into the minutes. Can add that into the minutes. Um, and so I will let him know. I just wanted to just make, make that statement for the record. Okay. Alright. Um, so that brings us to adjournment at 8 0 1.