School Committee: February 7, 2024

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

0:02 logical issue so that you guys can see us as well as I can see you on my screen right now um but we I also encourage if anybody’s having trouble for you to tune in to mhtv because they have full coverage as well great so I just um want to welcome all of the applicants that are here tonight it’s really great to see so much interest in and um and we to go over the process for the applicant each applicant will be asked a question from um one the school committee members um with and then the same questions will be

0:49 asked for all applicants have question and any followup questions by number should just of clarification and existing question interest um so we are

1:24 and uh too the position May one two or three um so um so um the

1:48 alab so if you would mind coming up to the table here and then ask any of candidates as we go [Music] through okay so everybody has

2:31 don’t don’t thank you what if any prec Notions have currit functioning that may

5:25 we have we have a.3 million and we have multiple colle that August 31st just on the downside very successful stri so where are we going those each one of those would but you have all and you have not fully constituted may or may not have the full

5:53 focus and so I think what we have to do is figure out put all that stuff table we have to figure out you know where we move in order to be successful what does the school committee have to do have to look like have to sound like have to represent in order to attract the most successful professionals we can get into these positions because without those successful positions with a budget that’s C by million we’re not to have educ we’re not have people who want to come here who want to teach our kids I said in my years ago a junior I’ll tell you story

6:39 [Music] [Music] so his Latin teacher kids in this Latin class are also shared physics class and one day during the Latin class she realized she’s like K are all talking about physics nobody’s talking about she stopped talking stopach and that is the kind of educator here high school and was like oh my God this is the best teacher ever she taught physics

7:30 you someone who a freshman t there

7:36 are good evening my question is what is the best way way negotiation I think suful negotiation

8:36 like but what happens is that the things

10:44 appear my vision to be lacking what I’d like

11:39 OB now labor is is going to be an issue because be colletive bargain so the budget and the collective bargaining have go hand in hand to really have to because unless that budget is something you can sell to people colletive with and to the people you want to hire do matter something I think you know in terms of specific it’s hard to answer that question because as I start all to believe it certain the opportunity to read a budget work through a budget but I’m sorry that’s not that’s great thank you

12:25 awesome becom awesome becom involv the nomation do

12:41 matters like I said I think my skills are useful Poss only you may is an expert in education which I am not you may looking on for somebody to sit on this committee La who an expert on budget and finance which I not what I have are a combination of that might be able to at if I can do that I sit on I good contri and that the chemistry is there because this kind of governance is part art part science governance is and it’s not working then it doesn’t matter it’s for to for the school if so

13:30 itions about wait to see how I fit and how we all fit together and how we work together get the job done that’s really really collaborate

13:57 super I’ll go back to saying um part about part of governance is chemistry we have to be able to work together and to understand what we’re coming from so my role in in any any committee any Bo your goal is to sort of figure out when you inistry and then use you have to best how that together

14:23 someone and I think um my my job would be primarily to Cate say how um it’s kind of a tough question to answer because if you have that as your Prim goal with collaboration and compromise negotiation work together then you do it you find a way to make it work it’s going to work and the whole point of again is to figure out how to make it work group together is be what thees knowes in hands out District but at this point that’s not necessarily possible because there’s too much too

16:05 [Music] [Music] first it was

22:28 do not do not and sometimes the communication I’m

22:49 decision Alexa um thank you for also staying with us through all these Tech difficulties in the background noise and all of this we’re working really hard and um I’ve actually been throwing off the zoom meeting four times so we’ll keep going with this um I just want to take a minute to encourage people to go to mhtv if you can to see um so we are entering collective bargaining with all of our unions while these discussions will be challenging giving the town’s extreme Financial shortfall it will be very important to maintain a respectful relationship with all parties throughout the process uh please tell us what specifically about you will help the process to avoid being

23:52 contentious contentious is and I’m good at it and I like doing it

24:02 what I like most about HTV and what keeps me here I think is helping people get their word out because we’re the local

24:48 [Music] [Music] is thank you so much Alexa I really I really appreciate you throwing your hat in the ring and and taking the time to answer our questions so thoughtfully no I think Frank just got the town audience

25:25 live so this laptop is going to get this piece and that laptop

25:44 only we should leave that audio on to pick up the applicants yeah

25:54 okay okay we have next so hopefully that will Pi up the

26:39 umini um thank you so much for your letter of interest your resume um so uh each one of us is going to ask a question as I said earlier so keep in mind that maybe um there’s nine of us and that if I should have said this at the outside but I’m now going to say it every time um so maybe if there’s not an opportunity to say what you want to say there will be other opportunities on Ro there so um so with that said um we’ll start with Jim welcome Lisa thank you thank you for volunteering uh what if any preconceived notions do you have about the current School committee’s functioning that may have contributed to your desire to be a pirate board um I don’t think I don’t I have any preconceived notions about the

27:25 school committee itself it’s more that um purely that I have three children that are in the schools in the public schools I feel like I have you know the experience that could lend itself uh to add any value to the committee so in terms of preconceived notions I really don’t have any it’s just you know that I’d like to serve and um with school committee in any way that I can thank you is Lisa sorry we had a withdrawal soorry I had email yes um we had um two withdrawals I know yep um Wendy and

28:15 problem yes hi Louisa hi thank you thank you for joining us how would you show up on day one to help the school commit with its governance looking both short terms and long term and to prepare the ground to attract the best possible for professional District team which

28:37 incles um I think that it’s important to show up with really um an open mind um and you know sort of looking at something from a higher level um a higher perspective I think that um in terms of selecting a the right staff the right leadership um I think it’s important to look at get obviously their past experience obviously um what they can bring to the district um I think it would be good to um look far and wide um for leadership and for staff so thank you thank you good evening uh what is the best way to address the differences of opinion on

29:22 the school committee and between the SCH committee and the school administration um it’s interesting because I think that these kind of things board you know sort of board versus staff exist in so many

29:48 um and I it’s very important to really listen to the other side it’s really important to um to listen to the to the concerns really closely so it’s almost like putting yourself in someone else’s shoes um you know where you don’t have the experience um and I think that you that would be what I would try to do that I would you know and I think that you know to not have any we’re all on the same level you know we’re not in silos um and you know to really work collaboratively and

30:24 together hi hi thank you for being here appreciate your time you’re welcome uh so uh for the past two years the school committee has voted to bring forth a general override requests to the town you know in response to their unmet budget needs H so this year the school committee is going to put through the work you preparing a budget and they’re looking at Pro deficit

30:51 please just the financial challenges of the district and you know what they’re facing um I mean I think that there are a lot of um you know different populations different groups of people in the town so I know that that has been a challenge um in terms of the override passing and know that it didn’t you know it wasn’t even that close to passing last time um and I think that part of the the problem with with why the override maybe why didn’t pass or you know was because that a lot of the the people that voted didn’t really didn’t have a lot of information about what the override you know why the override why was the override necessary

31:36 um you know what are the you know really break it down what are the positions that would be cut if the override didn’t pass and I don’t think that was put out until the very end to the public so I thought that that was really kind of um something that could have been done a little bit differently even for me as a you know as someone who’s you know considers themselves involved I wasn’t aware of really the details of what that override you know would mean and so I think that better communication definitely overall to the public would have been you know whether or not it would have passed I don’t know but I think it would have been better okay um uh are you committed to becoming more um becoming involved long term the

32:21 June election nomination papers would be due in a matter of two to three months understanding that circumstances can always change but is it your thought or expectation today that you would seek election to a regular term absolutely one of the things that I did do um at the suggestion of Sarah was um to call the ethics Commission because I do work to Spur um I work at a part-time capacity and I do enrichment for the various STS in Marblehead and Beyond Marblehead um so I did consult with the ethics um department and they’re going to get back to me on that so that’s the one um glitch uh potential glitch but I haven’t got got a you know a y or nay on yet okay but I am

33:07 committed and would really really um you know love to run thank you I just when I um had asked her to reach out it’s something that’s come up in the past right away she was like yep I’ll make a phone call so if there’s a delay in I can attach to that but thank you um all right that brings us

33:36 J how do you plan to collaborate with the other school committee members and superintendent district staff um you know I don’t know everyone or I know Mr Oda just because I’m a mom and um my kids went to Glover um I look forward really to learning more about the backgrounds and the interests of the school committee um I feel like I do work collaboratively pretty well with with people so um would definitely look forward to that um in my current job I work with um you know parents teachers administrators um and you know can feel it like I could I could probably be pretty effective um at you know getting along with everyone and communicating with

34:23 everyone welcome Louisa thank you during the first half of the school year it’s been difficult the school committee who accomplish its goals due to a large number of unusual and unexpected events within the district one major issue is the district is requested to reduce our upcoming budget by a significant amount that will lead to a major reduction of staff and student operates do you have any thoughts on how you can help address this budget

34:51 reduction um you know I think that working collaboratively with the with the town administrators with the select board um in a way that’s um you know both um transparent is is essential to really communicate the needs of the district like I said along you know with the override and with that process I felt like there was a lack of communication really detailed communication as to what positions would be cut um and I think that that’s something that um you know would mean a lot in terms of um to really you know to really drill down what positions would be cut how how that would impact student learning and you know student achievement I think is essential thank

35:38 you Alis thanks so much for coming so a letter to the editor was written today from the contingent of constituents um noting a real or perceived lack of transparency on the committee with your knowledge and understanding of where the schools are today right being here um but also any understanding may have of confidentiality agreements ndas that were required to stick to um if appointed to the school committee what concrete specific examples could you think of as an opportunity to begin immediately rebuilding

36:15 um like I said I think communication with the public through um you know various local media is is important um I think people a lot of people do read you know the current the you know the other newspapers in town um you know I think that by making the right decisions as a school committee down the road um that trust will you know gradually be rebuilt I mean I think that people um don’t quite know um you know how these meetings will run and partially it’s because they’re not participating in them um but also um I think that you know there’ve been some unfortunate you know kind of occurrences

37:01 that have have caused people to wonder what what happens in these meetings um but I do think that uh By You Know by for by collaborating by communicating um it’s it could get better I I’m hope I would be hopeful Youk um we are entering collective bargaining with all of our unions while these discussions will be challenging given the town’s extreme Financial shortfall it will be very important to maintain a respectful relationship with all parties throughout the process please tell me what specifically about you will help the process to avoid becoming contentious um I think that you know if you talk to some of the people that I’ve

37:46 worked with um in my previous employment and my current employment I think I am you know I have I have the ability I believe that I have the ability to talk to a wide um Vari iety of people um you know I have experience in a lot of different sort of facets of of this of Education um both higher ed both you know fundraising um you know that kind of thing teaching of course so I definitely have walked in in a few of those different shoes so I definitely think that you know I could you know be a a good value added person in that way so thank you so much for to for volunteering and for spending

38:32 time answering our questions so thorough thank you so much thank you thank

38:54 reming and I’m the host should be able to read

39:17 can so can I mention that one is the microphone right so everybody these microphones aren’t doing anything so everybody has to project MV is still picking okay picking up but still doing something you need to reach that laptop we got I do this running sorry it’s me it’s me me okay welcome Ruth um I just um each one of us has a question so there’ll be nine questions in total um so just asking folks to be mindful of time and if you’re you wanted to expound on something maybe there’s an opportunity

40:02 to do it at at a following question there’ll be lots of opportunity day to so um uh with that said um start with Jim again welcome and thank you for volunteering appreciate that uh what if any preconceived notions do you have about the current School committee’s functioning that may have contributed to your desire to be part of the

40:27 board board um I think that like as a president Marblehead head I’m aware that um like Marblehead I’m aware that um like things have been happening in the school board in terms of like the impact on me to um volunteer to fill this position I’m not sure that that is the most important thing that contributed to my decision um I’m interested like I’ve worked in education for like my whole professional career uh I’m really kind of passionate about public educ education and I recently became a citizen and I recently became a parent and so being involved in Marblehead high schools is something that is important to me rather than like what I’ve rather

41:13 than my decision being based on um other things that think thank you hello hi thank you for for stepping forward we appreciate it so how would you show up on day one to help the school committee with its governance you know with an ey the short term and long term and to prepare the groundwork to attract the best possible po profession team uh for the uh the school district including the superintendent the assistant superintendent the business manager how would I show yes um I think that like I’d be um interested to hear from like the you know what has happened already and coming in mid year then

41:59 you’re coming in and you need to know like what has happened already what are the current gaps um like really um like some of the positions in Mar had a lot of turnover um and i’ want to know like you know what is what has contributed to that and and what from all the kind of different stakeholders what is like what people looking for going forward and you know what would best would I feel like well it’s perceived to be missing thank you good evening what is the best way to address the differences of opinion on the school committee and between the school committee and the school

42:44 administration I think first and foremost um especially when you’re dealing with Educators the most important thing is students um and so bringing everything back to what is the student experience what is the impact on students um like teacher wellbeing like is obious significantly important and that it’s that’s its impact on how you know how does that play out with students um when there’s disagreement I think if you’re always looking to be um you know how do we best move forward with the interests of the students in the schools and that brings everybody to back to what is important thank you thank you thanks here tonight um so

43:31 my question is for the past few years the school committee has voted to bring forth a general override request to the town in response to um the unmet budget needs this year the school committee is uh preparing a budget with a projective deficit can you share your thoughts on what areas you know you would REM you would personally after you know what after knowled you have it this recommend cutting or addressing and just um your thoughts on the financial challenges of the district in general I think that like Financial challenges um are something that ex hitting a lot of schools in a lot of areas and like it’s you know as I’ve kind of said the the impact on students is the thing to most look at i s to look at where um

44:16 there are perhaps savings that can be made that don’t compromise student experience um like often like a review of software and what you know what expens are actually necessary in software it can be a really big expense to districts and there can be other options um there’s obviously Staffing tends to be the most significant expense and so reviews of Staffing while it’s like never going to be popular it’s obviously going to be really important thank you

44:56 J right um thanks again for being here are you committed to becoming involved long term for the June election nomination papers um will be due in a matter of two to three months understanding that circumstances may change um is it your expectation or um that you would seek election to a regular term I think that’s something that I would be um like I want to discuss with the committee um was it to be elected to their committee or like what they expect is of somebody coming in mid year um I don’t think that I’m against it but I also like would

45:38 not I wouldn’t want to say a definite yes or a definite no this point okay thank

45:47 you um how do you plan to collaborate members dist

45:57 sta sta well just me to talk about your collaboration skills and how you work with other folks that you work with um different stakeholders um yeah as um I I’m the um director of Compu science and my school is a um PR 12 school and so I work with um administrators and teachers and um students um other St those parents in the wder community um in a variety of ways um whether that’s like in it’s in

46:48 the welcome R during the first half of the school year it’s been difficult for the school committee to accomplish its goals do the large number of unusual events within the district one major issue is the district is requested to reduce our upcoming budget by a significant amount that will lead to Major reduction of staff and student offerings do you have any thoughts on how you can help address this major budget def reduction right you know a budget reduction is a very significant thing for a school it’s a big one it’s like two million something yeah and so you know savings need to happen in pretty much everywhere um but there’s also like

47:34 opportunities to look at um you create more like what is offered to students and creative Pathways to students um so although um like you’re looking at reductions like you can also I think it is how do we um improve the school experience in the basis of these reductions and so what are the classes that they offer for what are the electives that we offer um what is happening in like the world of Education that is changing and that it could take advantage of to restructure where we are thank you thank you so much for coming and congratulations oning well not easy um so a letter to the editor was written

48:21 today in one of our new sources from a contingent of constituents noting a real or perceived lack of transparency on Comm with your knowledge and understanding of our schools today obviously your experience where you are um and also understanding you know confidentiality that we’re required to stick to ndas that are placed upon us Etc if appointed to the school committee what concrete specific examples would you begin to take immediately or suggest for us to take immediately to start rebuilding that

48:57 Fest Fest I think you know one of the things that has come out is more transparency and so um like using the Press is one way of um communicating with a wider audience um like clearly there you know there are things you can’t talk about but um I think that issue of like transparency and communication in the community is something that comes up like on a regular basis in different places and so you know publishing some thing that people can read or can watch can access in different ways is you know important to make the community be involved and it’s it’s also like it can be seen as a good thing like if you like we have a

49:42 community that cares absolutely absolutely thank you thank you um we are entering Collective bargain with all of our unions while these discussions will be challenging given the town’s extreme Financial shortfalls um it will be very important to maintain respectful relationships with all the parties throughout the process please tell me what specifically about you will help the process to avoid becoming

50:11 contentious um I think I like I always try and approach um you know speaking and discussing people in the same world um you know I always try and maintain a respectful tone um I think 18 years of working with teenagers as aot of experience in dealing with you know what can be challenged in communicated like conversations [Music] um thank you we are so grateful that you volunteered and that you took the time tonight to answer all of the questions thank you thank you so much and you’re welcome to stay and if you like um you’re welcome to stay in the room we have um Sarah magazine is next order

51:31 so we’re not super I’m Sor we’re not hiring an assistant superintendent oh you’re not okay thank you for yeah oh she wasn’t our assistant superintendent Miss you’ll scare our ass super she’s on the line

51:58 I Sarah hi thank you for being here of course um so each one of us is going to ask a question so that’s nine questions so just kind of keep that in mind our responses if you will um we been um we are gonna start again the gim welcome Sarah and thank you for volunteering uh what if any preconceived notions do you have about the current School committee’s functioning that they uh that may have contributed to your desire to be part of that of the school committee board I don’t think I have any preconceived notions I think um quite candidly I have a lot of skin in the game I have a first grader and I have a fourth grader and we have a long way to go in Marblehead and I spent the last

52:43 couple of years volunteering very actively so I’m in my second year as the PTO president at Glover my third year on the board um and this is just a Herculean task before us and and I thought really hard about doing this I never thought I would be sitting here but at the end of the day if we’re not willing to sort of roll up our sleeves and work together the only way to get past this in my opinion is to get through it and so that’s what’s motivating me to come here and do all of this thank you jarah thank you thank you for being here tonight um how would you show up on day one to help the school committee with its governance with towards a short term and the long term

53:29 and to prepare to prepare the groundwork to attract the best possible more professional histri team you know including the superintendent business manager so I’m GNA assume by the fact that you’re asking about governance that maybe you’re thinking there’s a governance challenge I actually think there’s a communication challenge I think that so many of the challenges that we have had over the last couple of years um really come down to clear communication from all the parties and so my focus would be working with the school committee to try to communicate more and better than they are to all of our stakeholders you know the parents I talk to they want more information they want to understand more about what’s happening I see it right I’m in the

54:15 schools as a volunteer I’m a parent um we have to find a way not just to communicate sort of for those of us that are watching this really closely but to the whole Community I think that was part of the challenge we had um in raising revenue and in terms of attracting Talent so you reference the superintendent obviously that’s a critical higher we’re all focused on I’m very worried about that I’m worried about the director of uh Michelle’s job the business um I’m worried about all of those administrative jobs I’m more worried about our faculty and our staff because I think that we have gotten very comfortable saying it’s okay the chaos is okay and I don’t say chaos to point

55:01 at this school committee a past school committee anyone it’s just it’s chaos that’s where we are and my deepest fear is that 12 or 18 or 24 months from now our teacher core is going to be decimated and we have some really wonderful um deeply experienced deeply educated Educators who you can understand why they would go enough I’ve had enough and we are not going to be the employer of choice and so I think we have a reputation management and a communication Challenge and I think we have to Shore that up in order to attract the talent that we need and to and to retain thank you good evening uh what is the best way to address the

55:48 differences of opinion on the school committee and between the school committee and the school administration I’m going to start to sound like a broken record Comm communication um I

56:01 think I think one of the challenges that I perceive right now um is perhaps a misalignment on communication expectations so I don’t think there’s a misunderstanding of the party’s roles I think we have a misalignment on how we can work collaboratively and the level of Engagement and participation and communication that we need um from the administration to the school committee and vice versa and for parents quite honestly right um you know there are a lot of things parents are asking that they’re not getting clear answers to and that’s because we don’t have great answers in some cases but we need to fix the communication Challenge and I think we’ve got to sit at the table and all say we want to be very clear and very collaborative because at the end of the day this is about our kids about our

56:48 day this is about our kids and making sure we’ve got the faculty in the buildings we two of the questions I think have been about sort of administration keep going back to the rubber hits the road in the buildings and so making sure they’re getting the support and the clear communication and what can the school committee do to support the administration to clearly communicate with our teachers thank you I thanks for being here so my question is you know obviously for the past two years you know the school committee voted to bring forth the general override request to the town in response to the unmet budget needs this year the school committee is preparing a budget with the projected deficit uh can you please share your thoughts on the areas you would recommend addressing

57:35 cutting and the financial challenges of the district

57:40 generally I don’t know how we can cut I really really don’t um I have a a daughter at the Village School she’s a classroom teacher and two inclusion teachers in that room which inclusion teacher are we going to cut we don’t have a librarian at the middle school I think the town has forgotten that we don’t have a librarian at the middle school we need to be talking about that these Investments are statements of our values um and so I would not pretend to have all the answers I just think we have to talk to people and help them understand what these buildings look like what the profile of our kids is um and then talk about the funding I the 2.2 or 2.4 or 2.5 depending who

58:27 you’re talking about number is unimaginable so you know do I think an override is likely do I think we’re going to see things get worse before they get better quite possibly I’m not naive um but I don’t think that’s where we can start we have to find a way to Resource our schools I don’t think there’s a

58:51 choice um I have the next question um are you committed to becoming involved longer term did you an election nomination papers would be due in a matter of two to three months understanding circumstances can change and um but is it your expectation today that you would see election to a regular ter the answer is I don’t know yet that’s the honest answer I didn’t think over the weekend I’d even be sitting here um I had to think very long and very hard about this um and I’m not going to say no but I’m not going to say yes okay thank you Jen’s [Music] next how do you plan to collaborate with the other members the superintendent

59:36 superintendent superintendent staff sure so um as I said a little while ago you know I’ve been really involved at blover um on the PTO um we took I think a PTO that was really strong and then atrophied during covid because it was Co and tried to rebuild it and I think we’ve been fairly successful at doing that and you know to me it’s all about relationships and working with everyone um get in there and roll up my sleeves and talk and work with anyone I will work with anyone and everyone who is working from a spirit of collaboration and good intention to support our kids and our

1:00:21 teachers hello Sarah welcome um during the first half of the school year it’s been difficult for the school committee to accomplish its goals due to the large number of very unusual events that happen within the district one major issue is the district is requested to reduce our upcoming budget by a very significant amount that will lead to a major reduction of staff and student offerings do you have any thoughts on how you can help address this major budget reduction so a lot of what I’m GNA a lot of what I’m going to say is similar to what I said to Alexa that we have to find a way not to get there we simply do um it’s not acceptable to me as a parent that we don’t have a librarian at our Middle School it would not be acceptable to me as a parent if

1:01:07 we didn’t have Librarians at all of our schools um I think we have to help people understand that the needs of our district are what they are and what do I mean by that I completely understand when people say 500 plus kids were enrolled in our schools a number of years ago and they’re not there now and we’re still spending 19,000 plus a year on each child and so how can the math not work out you have plenty of money you need to look at the individual students and build from there so when we were working on the override last year one of the things that we asked for was could you create profiles or avatars right not violating anybody’s privacy or confidentiality but basically if you’ve got a kindergarten who’s getting zero

1:01:53 supports just go on kindergarten right and you’ve got to second grader who’s getting tier 2 reading support intervention and you’ve got a sixth grader who’s getting you know oneon-one whatever it may be give us the number of those and start to really humanize what’s happening in the buildings and so being it is a Herculean test but I think we have to figure out what more we can say and how we can explain the numbers in a way that people realize there really is no choice we need more revenue for our students and that’s what I would try thank you Al thank you com good see I like the H C I may steal that from you give you

1:02:40 credit though so letter to the editor was written today from a contingent of constituents noting a real or perceived lack of transparency from the committee uh with your knowledge and understanding of our schools today as parent PTO a volunteer and also understanding confiden as well as ndas that we are under if appointed to the school committee what concrete specific examples and steps do you think we could begin to take to immediately start to rectify and

1:03:12 Goan yeah yeah say that we have a lot of work to do right there’s a lot of work to do in a lot of directions um working with private and confidential information and trying to translate it to the public is something that I have had a lot of experience with in my career um I am never suggesting we should violate anyone’s privacy do anything outside the bounds of the law I do

1:03:39 think sometimes organizations and I would include the school department in this are Guided by the most narrow interpretation of what they can and cannot say and that is to the detriment of public understanding and so I would encourage um um us to sort of push on that a little bit make sure that we really can’t share more than we’re sharing because we all live in this town there’s a lot of information out there a lot of it’s wrong um a lot of it misses the context and it’s only by being able to try to correct the record to a degree that we’re going to be able to do that um beyond that and this is maybe a

1:04:25 little Pana is we just have to come together people have to just realize we are in a critical situation here and um it’s time to move through it and move forward um and that’s what we have to focus on because I think there’s an awful lot of wasted energy um among adults I will say and the people that are getting hurt by that wasted energy are the kids so let’s roll up our sleeves and let’s get to work and it’s not all going to get fixed overnight we’re talking years um but I I’m almost afraid to say it we can only go up from here at this

1:05:14 point um thank you we are entering collective bargaining with all of our unions which you may know while these discussions will be challenging giving the towns extreme Financial shortfall it will be very important to maintain respectful relationships with all parties throughout the process please tell me what specifically about you will help U will help the process to avoid becoming

1:05:41 contentious so I’ll start with so to answer sort of part of your questions there me personally again I’m going to come from a place of collaboration and Goodwill and that doesn’t mean that we’re always going to agree we’re always going to vote the same way um but we have to be able to agree to disagree and then move forward and just keep moving forward so that would be part of it um you know one of the things that I think we’ve done really well at Glover over the last couple of years is we have a really good relationship with our teachers and our team and gosh if um if we could do any more than we have done for them over the past couple of months I wish someone would tell me what

1:06:26 it is cu we want to do that and more and so I start from a place of deep appreciation and deep respect for our Educators and and I think we’re not going to be able to give them everything they want we know what the fysical realities are I think they know what the fisical realities are um we’re all going to need to try to stretch and meet in the middle um but I think at the end of the day I don’t know why it should be contentious we’re all there for our kids I mean we keep saying our kids are okay despite all of this this in our community because of our teachers so it doesn’t hang through to me hang true that we could then become so adversarial that um we would lose that I think that we’re not going to get where

1:07:13 everybody needs to get but we need to maintain that strong relationship with our Educators that is that’s the best thing we’ve got going for us thank you very much for um volunteering and for answering all of our questions than Sarah thank you thank you um Tom M’s up next she can stay oh yeah Sarah you’re welcome to stay if You’

1:08:04 so um okay so I just I was reminding everybody that we’ll all get a chance to ask a question so there’s nine of us so kind of keep that in mind if you don’t mind give your responses and you know there’ll probably be an opportunity to say what you want to say along the nine ways along the nine questions I’ll be brief no yeah welcome to oh and thank you again for volun yes sir what if any preconceived notions do you have about the current School committee’s functioning that may that may have contributed to your desire to be part of that board so I’ve worked with two of our school committee members previously so uh I have a very uh good idea of how things worked in the last uh term

1:08:52 that I served which was six months so if I’m being completely honest I have not not tuned in to a lot of the school committee meetings this year until more recently when the budget discussions uh began to percolate so um I don’t know uh uh Mr Oda I know he’s a Marine and I have met Miss schmer just a few times so I don’t have a lot of preconceived notions other than my working experience with uh both Sarah and

1:09:22 Allison Tom thanks for coming tonight uh how would you show up on day one to help school committee with its governance with the it of shortterm long term and to prepare the groundwork uh to attract the best possible for professional leadership team which includes the superintendence of this so I think um I had the benefit of serving um a term of the mass economic Regional School uh uh District committee uh as well as having served uh as a trustee at Butler University for for four years I also have had a pleasure of serving here for some period of time as you know last year uh so I have a lot of experience in um school committee governance and the roles limited to uh to the school committee and policy

1:10:10 formation obviously uh hiring and supervision the uh superintendent and of course uh formulating a budget uh and instituting that budget and those are the core core mandates for any school committee and I think it’s important that we focus our energies as a committee on addressing those core responsibilities as a committee to the town I think um with regards to the budget I went through the budget process last year so have uh some experience working with the uh the committee as well as the the administrative team on understanding sort of the push and pull in any given budget cycle I have a good understanding of the Town finances and unfortunately where we are as a town and

1:10:55 sort of the limitations that provides and understand some of the tradeoffs that have to be discussed day one as we think about formulating a budget to present to the town so from that perspective I have um confidence I could hit the ground running I think the second piece is we clearly have had significant leadership turnover in the administrative side of the schools for whatever reasons I mean at this point doesn’t even matter but I think what matters is putting together the right team to go out and recruit hire and retain the best people we have for the district it’s not easy I mean having um you know hired a lot of Executives over over the years and you don’t always make winning choices sometimes you make mistakes it happens so I think you know

1:11:42 some of that scar tissue that I’ve had could be useful as we think about replacing some key positions in a very short amount of time right thanks yes sir good evening uh what is the best way to address it differen of opinion on the school committee and between the school committee and the school administration so I think within the committee I only can speak to last year so um we had five committee members I can tell you not everyone agreed um um but I think deliberation and respect is incredibly important I’m proud to say that when I was a school Committee Member there were only two votes that were not 5 those were the vote on a supersized

1:12:28 override which Miss Fox was you know promoting in her role as a chairperson really advocating for all the needs of all the students and teachers which I respect but um you know that vote did not that vote went 4-1 um the other vote was on the superintendent’s review where it was three and two but I felt in both instances it was a healthy dialogue deliberation everyone gave the respect to one another even on the superintendent review which was three too I think we all walked out of that room feeling like all right well everyone was heard we came to a decision shared governments U amongst the five of us and we we moved on so I think it can be done even in the face of a difference of opinions and I make a lot of jokes

1:13:15 with as you know for the past few years scholte voted to bring forth the general override request to the town this year’s schol committee is now preparing a budget with a projected deficit please share your thoughts on areas that you would recommend addressing cutting and just the financial challenge of the district in general well I think I think and I said this bless you you okay back there I I think I said this last year during the override discussions and I thought an override last year was really important because you know an override last year sets us up for a less brutal situation this year that we’re facing but unfortunately we weren’t able to get that done and so it is what it is I

1:14:00 think this year uh for my estimation an override is not in the cards and we’re facing the most important opportunity for the town in front of us in the school committee which is negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement I think we we can’t ignore the fact of what’s happening in the towns around us and this is going to be a significant significant event for the entire you know School District in as the biggest expense in the town we have to be aware of that so I think that’s hugely important so knowing that we’re going to have a really big increase on the expense Side Of The Ledger a fixed pool of capital to draw down from that’s the town the money you raise as a town you have to look at anywhere there’s unfunded liabilities so what are those all right well we own property as a school district that is an unfunded

1:14:47 liability that I don’t know what the plan is for our property are we going to keep it how do we turn that into a cash flow positive asset versus an unfunded Li ability we have to look at any sort of nonfinancial terms in our agreements with our employees that cost us money not just in salaries and that has to be looked at very closely as we go through new collective bargaining we have to look at any savings from reductions in headcount that’s going to happen let’s just fix it I mean the reality is the budget was proposed with a 2% increase in wages and earnings for the professional staff of the school and IT projects a deficit of X but if that increase is greater than 2% you’re going to have a deficit of Y and so the

1:15:33 only way in a fixed pool of capital again without an override with a fixed pool of capitals you have to cut expenses so where is that it’s headcount programs and services so I don’t have specifics that I can point to but I think the reality is we have to talk about as a town and as a committee is balancing sort of the financial constraints that we’re dealt with versus is the real needs of our district and how do we do that effectively as a committee I think that’s where the challenge will be working with the administration thank you yes ma’am um are you committed to becoming involved long term for the June election nominate nomination papers would be due in a matter of two to three months um understanding cir no ma’am I can’t fill

1:16:18 Beyond this this period of time okay thank you

1:16:33 next how do you plan to collaborate with the other school members to staff any define collaborate is that a new dance or is

1:16:46 it I think I’ll stand on my ability previously to work with both members of the administration and other members of the committee I think I pride myself and being very direct even when I don’t agree with somebody I can do it in a way that I’m hopefully not um insulting or condescending or in in my mind I’m trying to empower people I can tell you I had many a conversation with Miss Fox our chairperson last year about trying to give her advice on how to evolve and you know really transcend some of the differences of opinions and I think you know she worked hard on that it wasn’t always popular to have I think she kind of SN it at me and said like why are you doing that this giving me the stink gu because at the end of the day my role is

1:17:31 to come in day one hopefully provide some stability and strength as we move forward some very important issues over the next couple of months we don’t have a lot of time we got a lot of stuff to get done so for me if I can be helpful to any of the committee members in that um I’m all for it I’m also all about accountability it much like the teams I’m part of and Mr O was a Marine you you’re in the fox old people you got to hold each other accountable and that goes two ways so it doesn’t bother me if somebody says Tom you’re full of crap it doesn’t bother me I hope you do it in a respectful way but again I would expect that level of transparency and accountability from one another so is that collaboration welcome Tom theing the

1:18:17 first half of the school year it’s been difficult for the school committee to accomplish its goals due to the large number of very unusual events nice I saw that movie one time one major issue is the district is requested to reduce our upcoming budget by significant amount that will lead to a major reduction of staff and student offerings do you have any thoughts on how you can address this major budget reduction well I think I uh address some of that question with Miss singer’s question which is looking for anything and unfunded liabilities that could be reduced or monetized in a way that contributes back to the uh the the pending deficit within the district but again let’s be crystal clear for everyone we are operating from a fixed

1:19:05 pool of capital our costs are going up and so you know the only way you can control that unfortunately is going to be to Tinker with program services and and Personnel it’s the only way it gets accomplished I think that the budget that I saw and correct me if I’m wrong there’s a new budget that’s been been circulated public was a estimated 2% increase in salaries and wages is that correct that was one the number we had originally okay so I think from seeing where contracts have settled in local communities Andover Newton I mean are these aspirational communities for us maybe they are but I think that those numbers are greater than 2% can we all agree on that okay so if that’s a

1:19:50 reality we have to start thinking about I think this committee if I were on it I would want to help you roll up your sleeves and figure out how we get that done because one assumption is there’s not going to be an override that can be passed in this town because we haven’t passed one in 19 years so I that’s just the brutal truth I don’t like it any more than anyone else does thanks yes sir hi good to see you again hello M Taylor and again thank you for your service so a letter to the editor was written today from a contingent of constituents noting a real or received lack of transparency on the committee with your knowledge of our schools today your experience with confidentiality and the g all those things uh if appointed to the school committee what concrete

1:20:36 specific examples or steps do you think you would take to begin immediately rebuilding in the community well I think it’s a hard thing and you know and on this sort of topic it’s tough to be sort of in the seat of governance versus the seat of the public you’re a parent with a kid you feel AG grieved what have you and just the way the world Works whether we like it or not in Personnel matters these are rightfully and respectfully kept confidential and so that leads to speculation Etc and I’ve been on a record saying that I didn’t agree with the termination of Dr Bucky but it was the right of the school commit it was there’s no question that was you know your right to do it I didn’t agree with

1:21:22 it but it was the terms of that were all kept confidential that’s just the way it is and unfortunately we’ll never know as a general public I don’t know so um you know it doesn’t change the outcome it doesn’t change where we’re going and then there’s been other issues that have emerged in the school where things have to be kept confidential and so I think we just have to continue to explain that I think one of the things that’s Troublesome is that we lost our law firm and I don’t know the reasons why but I do think that that you know some law firms don’t fire clients and I think that um they they typically do it and I’ve had this happen where I couldn’t pay a legal bill for patents in business before and the patent ters just like you know what we’re gonna go to a more

1:22:07 stable customer what have you but it could be other issues too and we as the public just don’t know and probably will’ll never find out but the Optics of it in all of this just when you marry it all together just doesn’t look good let’s just be frank it stinks it stinks for you and it stinks for the public and so that breath a sort of Gulf of dis trust and discontent I don’t know how you you can’t flip a magic SW switch and make that happen but I do think engaging with the public in your school committee meetings having conversations in in public and I think speaking truthfully is the best you can at any given time is important thank you Ma I’ve been waiting for this all day Miss Fox first of all how are your 22 children they

1:22:54 well all right so we are entering collective bargaining with all of our un well these discussions will be challenging given the town’s extreme Financial shortfall it’s very important to maintain respectful relationships with all parties throughout the process please tell me what specifically about you will help the process to avoid becoming contemptuous okay all right so hands up whoever’s been on negotiating team for a collective bargaining agreement with the public school Union please hands up okay so I’ve been on one p you’ve been on so I can tell you it’s it’s a little bit like sharing a toothbrush it’s necessary but not pleasant because at the end of the day these are our friends or colleagues who with whom you’re negotiating right and we all sort of want the best thing which is the

1:23:40 highest quality education for our children because it impacts all across the town and the value of properties to uh the citizens we raise in our in our district so we can all agree we want the same thing the problem we all have this a share problem it’s a fixed pool of capital coming back to that that word and we all know at the end of the day the role of the collective bargaining unit is to secure the best deal they can for their constituents that’s just what it is and in a time where that results in reductions in personnel and headcount Etc unfortunately that’s the Union’s issue to resolve and they have their own ways to do that but I do think that what I worry about is with whom we’ll be

1:24:27 negotiating in this session and who from our side will be in that negotiating room having been there before in many instances it’s somebody from outside the district that will come in to negotiate on behalf of the collective bargaining unit and we need to be prepared for that these are people who are professional they don’t care about Marblehead head they they don’t care about Marblehead they don’t care about our extreme financial position and as such you just have to understand that’s with whom you’re negotiating I’ve also been through a situation in a Regional School District where there was um employee action and we had teachers out in front of the schools picketing and I can tell you it was very uncomfortable as a school Committee Member having to deal with that and so we’ve seen employee actions now in multiple towns that we

1:25:14 would call aspirational towns so I think how I’ve dealt with it in the past it was tough like again sharing that toothbrush sh we’ll share that toothbrush but we’ll try to get there thank you thank you for hear and answering our question okay good luck thank you John thank you so much rental feed is our next candidate

1:25:58 hi um thank you for um for your um interest and we are each gonna ask a question so there’s nine opportunities to answer a question and um just uh if you could kind of keep that in mind try to keep things between like responses to couple of minutes sure welcome BR thank and thank you unteer we appreciate it what if any preconceived notions do you have about the current School committee’s functioning that may have contributed to your desire to be part of the board so thanks for the question and the opportunity um so I think as I um laid out in the kind of cover letter when I submitted my

1:26:44 application um yeah I think it’s important um given the situation in town with fiscal situation the current open superintendent position um and

1:27:00 um the various issues that I identified in the letter uh that the committee have a focus on um strong corporate strong governance um and that it make decisions based on a um robust um an intentional process so I think um that it would be helpful for the committee to have someone with a ground uh in governance matters in processes and practices to making um robust and sound and purposeful and intentional decisions and so I I have just been as an outside Observer who’s kind of relatively new to towns concerned by some of the

1:27:45 um some of the uh activities and um controversies I guess I would say um that have Arisen over the past year or two years um and and so I just felt that um I could offer some different perspective um and experience that um could be beneficial to the committee thank you thank you br uh thank you for coming um how would you show up on day one to help the school committee with its governance so that I the short terms and longer terms and to prepare the ground work to attract the best possible for professional District leadership which includes you superintendent for this right well thanks for the question so I think it’s important um in a process um

1:28:32 you know my experience is a little bit different um from a um but I think it’s transferable so in the corporate or private company setting in terms of like succession planning whether that be for an executive role or board of directors uh I think a lot of those same processes and uh are applicable to to a to a situation where you’re hiring senior leadership in a town for um the school district so um I think from you know day one uh it’s important to have a clear set of um I think candidate specifications that’s derived from input from various stakeholders across the

1:29:17 community um and um and in the school system and I think it’s important to use uh experts like an outside um recruiting firm and Consultants to help guide the process so I think that’s really important um I know people are um in Marblehead all these positions are volunteer and people have all sorts of other responsibilities in addition to their work that they perform for the town and the service that they provide and so I think having that perspective and that resource is extremely helpful and then I think it’s important that um the best decisions I think are typically you know reached not necessarily by consensus but an overwhelming support amongst the various uh members of the committee and stakeholders and so I think

1:30:05 identifying candidates who um satisfy the identified criteria and who have the confidence of um people across the spectrum is important and so I think that’s kind of the approach that I would recommend kind of kind of taking thank you good evening um what is the best way to address the differences of opinion on the school committee and between the school committee and the school administration so thanks for the question um so obviously there’s going to be uh like in any aspect of life or business um differences of opinion about that it can be legitimate differences of opinion in good faith disagreements um and so I think it’s

1:30:52 important that um people be open-minded that they take the views of others into account um I think second guesss their own preconceived notions and opinions um and um that people openly um you know communicate explicitly about uh their their perspectives and that they feel open and welcome to having a dialogue back and forth um and I think also being um uh obviously willing to be um open and honest but also receptive to um feedback I don’t want toar use the

1:31:38 word criticism but criticism or feedback about um processes or views or assumptions and I think if um people can act collaborative collaboratively in that respect um that that’s kind of how people you know you can achieve achieve the best possible um outcome so I think it’s it’s you know clear communication openness um and um collaborativeness those are all critical critical aspects thank you thank you hi thank you so much thanks for being here tonight for the past two years the school committee has voted to bring forth a general override request uh to the town in response to their unmet budget needs this year the school

1:32:24 committee is preparing a budget with a projected deficit please share your thoughts on areas you would recommend cutting addressing and the financial challenges of the district in general yes so that’s a that’s a good question um so to be totally totally um open and transparent like my background and expertise has not been in school committee budgets um and so as I alluded to earlier right my kind of my interest um in applying for the position was largely driven by I think um governance and process um considerations and concerns I I would say more directly in response to the

1:33:11 question uh that I would carefully evaluate um each aspect of the budget I think if there’s um obviously we’re in a very difficult fiscal financial situation as a town and the school has budget has um been subject to level funding for as I understand it 15 plus years and so I think we need to focus on the areas that are core functions of a school district and that’s providing ensuring resources to provide uh a strong sound education in the in the fundamental areas that are critical to the students to succeed later on in life um and so I think I

1:33:56 would take a critical eye um to all aspects of the budget uh to determine if there are um areas that are I guess I would describe as um discretionary and focus on those um and and try to maintain um the resources um that are necessary to perform the the school’s core fun um but as I said I that would that would require a deeper dive into the the details um at the appropriate time thank you um I have the next question and um I um are you uh are you interested in becoming involved long term for the June

1:34:42 election nomination papers would be due in a matter of two to three months understanding circumstances can always change and are you expected is your is your expectation today that you would seek an election of a regular chair yeah so I would say that that I have not definitively made a decision but um uh but if appointed I seriously would consider um seeking three-year

1:35:10 terms thank you Jen just question some of the things you talked about few questions ago um you talked about collaboration and so my question is how how you plan to collab with the other the superintend staff some details yeah I mean so um thank you for the question um so I think in terms of collaboration um I think it’s uh important

1:35:44 to share specific uh views and perspectives I know obviously the official work of a committee occurs in committee meetings I think it’s important in terms of developing um sound views and opinions to uh be well versed and prepared so I think in terms of to the extent that there can be informal background uh work done between committee meetings and um kind of collaboration um between individual members to share views and perspectives to the extent that that um would be valuable is something that um I think could be um a useful Avenue to share ideas I think

1:36:30 um you know I believe you know something that I found effective is when folks

1:36:40 um share their views um with each other in a way that is um I guess preliminary right rather than coming into a conversation or a meeting or a discussion with a uh an opinion or a view set in stone I think it’s important for folks to come to the table with an open mind um I think it’s important to consider counter arguments to what might be your initial View and perspective um and so I think an open dialogue and um is really important I also think it’s important people be respectful to um each other right when communicating um as I said I think that there are um

1:37:26 obviously legitimate reasons for people to have different views and there can be reasonable bases to to have um a disagreement and so I think it’s important to be respectful and civil and be open-minded um and a constructive dialogue so I think that’s really when I think about collaboration I think that’s important and then I guess I would add to that um compromise right it’s no one in real life as far as my experience with then at least gets what they want all the time in every respect and so um I think it’s important to realize that um sometimes right um You don’t want the perfect to be the enemy of the good and sometimes good is the best that you can get especially when we try to bring along equ with

1:38:13 diverse I ask a clarifying question on his so I just want to make sure I understood this correctly so are you would in the spirit of collaboration would you advocate for membership sharing their opinions with each other prior to

1:38:30 meetings I don’t think I think that

1:38:39 if I mean subject to ensuring that there’s not a violation of right record laws right I think having members individually communicate um to the the extent permissible under the open uh under the applicable rules and regulations um I I do think again from a private P company right out kind of a non-government view it’s often helpful I think to have kind of um initial discussions and have people share views and know where people are coming from so that when you’re in a meeting and you have a limited amount of time and you’re trying to make a decision that at least you have some context and background from where people might be coming from and then obviously

1:39:27 there needs to be open public discussion and debate and dialogue in a meeting um with the member all members of the committee with public discussion and votes and subject to the public um comment from the public so I guess that’s what I’m trying to communicate right welcome thanks coming tonight thank you during the first half of the school year it’s been difficult for the school committee to accomplish it schals due to a large number of very unusual events within the district one major issue in the district is the request reduce our budget by significant amount that will lead to the major reduction of staff and student offerings if you have any thoughts on how you can help us address this major budget

1:40:14 reduction reduction so um it’s a great question I mean I think we’re as a town subject to the realities of the Revenue base in the budget um so I think that longer term uh given that there were Cuts this past year and as I understand it there’s likely to potentially be potential for further Cuts in the this year and coming years um that additional funding for the for the schools for the school district is something that um that should be pursued I think we have to deal with the political realities that for two years in a row an override failed for raising

1:41:01 um taxes to provide more funding for the schools and so I think that um it’s important that the voters of the town have um trust and confidence in the vision and direction that the school committee um sets forth in terms if in the event that there is a request for additional um funding in an override vote and so I think that that requires um both a

1:41:35 um strong communication and transparency about um why to the extent additional fund there is an override ask requested I think it’s going to require a detailed um explanation of what those funds would be used for and what the vision would be over time to deploy those extra excess um funds and I would also um say that the I think the committee would be need to be very P purposeful and intentional about um what types of programs and activities it seeks funding for uh in the event um that it seeks um an override vote so um you know I

1:42:23 think subject to to um further investigation and inquiry my initial views would be you know I think the most critical aspects of our school are at at the heart of the school are the are the teachers and the staff that teach our children every day um and our role models for them um and so I think um making sure that we have um sufficient resources to fund um Staffing of the schools to ensure adequate um Staffing in our classrooms is um vital and important um and so I think the focus on that I I also think that the resources available to students what that includes physical resources I

1:43:09 remember reading in the paper last year so um of course uh assuming that the report is accurate right that there are there are history textbooks in the high school that are from before 911 and so um I think it says a lot about a community in terms of what we um prioritize and how we invest resources and what resources we spend in investing in the children in the town and so I would also I think emphasize um like you know investing in in those not only the Staffing but also resources that are used day to day for the education of of the students

1:43:55 thank you so a letter to the editor was written today from the contingent of constituents uh noting a real as you mentioned

1:44:06 procees on the committee with your knowledge and understanding of our school today uh along with understanding confidentiality she’s a lawyer right um required in da Etc um if appointed to the school committee what concrete specific examples and step to immedately to take to try to build the TR back the community so it’s a it’s a good question uh I think trust is something that takes time to build I think it’s something that’s easy to lose and part of to to build back up or to or to build generally

1:44:58 there’s frustration around I think people expect transparency I know that’s been a common theme in Campa in campaign so I think that there’s a general consensus that transparency in for the subject obviously to Legal restrictions um is necessary and appropriate um but I think that when found foundational and critical decisions are made I think to the maximum extent possible uh and this would include I guess the search right obviously for the super permanent super superintendent uh that those decisions and the rationale for those

1:45:43 decisions um to the maximum extent possible be made public um to the maximum extent possible that um uh I think committee members um rationals and reasons for the views that they have be communicated to the members of the town I think that um it’s important given the I think current environment that um there be an extra effort made for receiving input from residents of the town and stakeholders um because I think there needs to be an understanding

1:46:31 that people are taking steps that they believe are in the best interest of the students and of the town and of the school system and other stakeholders and that requires I think as we were talking about before I think not only collaboration I think within the school committee but I think there needs to be collaboration of the school committee and and member residents the town and other stakeholders and so I think it’s really hard to point I think to a silver bullet or one specific um item or thing that can be done um but that the I think there’s been a there’s a there’s a some loss of confidence especially around

1:47:19 transparency given some of the decisions that have been made that have been opaque and whether there may be legitimate reasons um in certain circumstances for information being um not widely shared um but but I think it’s critically important that to the extent possible um decisions be made in a process that is uh Fair it’s open sub subject to public feedback and Comon and that’s and the decision itself is

1:47:52 transparent of being a lawyer you know obviously when um we are required under a nonpar non-disclosure you know I think it’s the clarification important we’re not allowed to do any of that so um that is I think that was that was that thank you thanks um you’re entering into collective bargaining with all of our unions while those discussions will be challenging given the town’s extreme Financial shortfall it will be very important to maintain a respectful relationship with all parties throughout the process please tell me what specifically about you will help the process to avoid becoming compen yes so thanks it’s a very it’s a

1:48:37 great question so in my experience um in the private sector I’ve been involved in se you know numerous complex and contentious issues um negotiations transactions uh whether that be um amongst management and workers or different parties to a negotiation and so um you know I have experience uh one of the companies that I work for that was a French company uh you know had a Works Council which is similar to a union slightly different um but um management needed to consult with that works Council on um any significant or material decision that would imp the

1:49:23 workers um that were covered by that Council and so um so I had had experience uh communicating making presentations through answering questions from members of The Works Council in in meetings um in that form um and I think what that taught me and the experience that that gave me was that um and I think it kind of Echoes some of the points that that have been reled in response to some earlier questions is that I think it’s important to stress and emphasize even in the times where it doesn’t seem like the parties can break through and reach an agreement or find common ground that at the end of the day I

1:50:09 day I day I think there are interests that different stakeholders all have in common and I think it’s important to keep coming back to overlapping interests and interests that people have in common so I think people that I know that have gone into education and teaching right they they don’t do it for the money uh they do it because they love what they do and they love teaching children and the promise of what that brings for the Next Generation obviously the residents of this town on a successful um school district and school system the members of school committee are um seing to fill their duties to ensure that the um School District

1:50:56 operates in the best interest of the students and so I think it’s it’s important to continually I think focus on what ultimately the overlapping interests of the parties are and keep that in mind and I think that there in the collective bargaining agreement I we see this happening in all sorts of other towns around the Commonwealth um I think there are going to be points that are going to be contentious I don’t think there’s a way to avoid that I think it’s more I think um the way that those discussions are approached in kind of the tone and the tenor and being clear and transparent I think about what the limitations are that the town faces from a fiscal

1:51:42 perspective and what the consequences what that would potentially mean for um the union they’ll have to be tradeoffs and I think just being transparent and open about that um and but acknowledging that both sides have have um legitimate interests is going to go a long way and then ultimately I think obviously we have to an agreement will be reached at the end of the day thank you very much for coming forward as a volunteer and for answering all of our questions thank you

1:52:26 we have been at it for two hours I know one of our member needs to use so maybe we take like a few minute reset um

1:53:05 it’s it like a brief reset for the thank you so much hanging on for answer

2:06:16 thank you and so my question is um for the past few years the school committee has Ed to bring forth a general override uh to the town in response to their unmet budget needs um this year the school committee is preparing a budget with a projected deficit can you please share your thoughts on areas you would recommend addressing cutting and the financial just challenge of the um schools in town and yes so I understand you know the school is working with the town and putting together three different budgets um you know I don’t I’m not privy to all that information but I think that’s it’s important right to have that that level of detail to help understand what each of those budgets means you know and and specifically the implications um so I know a lot of people are talking about

2:07:03 the two and a half uh override I still think it’s it I don’t have a position on that I think it’s premature I need to understand the data a little bit better had what I would consider a reasonable um you know solution or recommendation around that um so you know to me it’s important to understand what the implications are so I know some of the budgets may have some very significant more than $2 million implications right to to the the school committee and the the school’s budget um again I need to know what those Mone details are is actually how you add up to that it does sound like staff would be involved um you know I don’t understand what all the staff are I didn’t dive that deeply into all the

2:07:49 data that that’s available um I’m a firm belever you know I have some background in education the public school system of Philadelphia firm believer that Victory happens in the classroom so I’d like to think that that’s you know kind of the last place that you really want to impact the least amount as possible right it’s around um you know the mission of this organization the school committee is to you know Foster learning in students and so that’s where you have to have a priority mechanism when you’re budgeting right if you don’t have all the funds that are available to you to do what you’d like to do there has to be some prioritization me mechanism in place and hopefully it’s one that’s taking those kind of things into account those principles into account all the cuts are go you know some you know none of them will be good right but some hopefully will have less

2:08:35 impact than others and I think that’s the framework that you have to think about as you’re discussing a budget thank you s you’re welcome um sorry I’m next H are you committed to becoming involved on a longer term for the June election nomination papers would be due in a matter of two to three months understanding circumstances Chang and involved is your expectation today that you um would seek election to regular CH yes yeah definitely um you know if appointed I would definitely seek election you not withstanding something you know very unexpected um I’m retiring in five weeks uh so I’m looking forward to kind of taking that time energy and passion and applying it to the school the school committee and the students in this town

2:09:21 thank you congratulations on your heal en thank you than you our next question is from here um how do you plan to collaborate with other members

2:09:38 superintend collaborations yeah I think my natural style is you know trying to be collaborative uh trying to uh you know understand the perspective where people are coming from you know I I’ve been around long enough to you know understand that there’s never just one side sometimes even two sides to a story or an issue so I think it’s important to understand that and to uh seek out what those other perspectives might be and trying to be open to understanding what those what those might be um and then I you know I’ve said this a couple times but I you know anecdotal information can be helpful but if you know I don’t think that’s you don’t want to be making significant decisions based on just anecdotal information if there is you know information that might be you know

2:10:23 more appropriate right um so I think it’s important to

2:10:40 why um I think the why is a very big component this way I think one of the ways you make a decision on which one you do if you can’t do the model understanding what’s the value that this particular one brings what’s versus the value of this one and that’s you know how you uh you want to work on relationships so that you can have those kind of conversations in an open manner welcome thank you during the first half of the school year it’s been difficult for the school committee to accomplish its goals due to a large number of unusual events within a district one major issue the district has requested to reduce our upcoming budget by a significant amount that will lead to a major reduction of Staff staff offerings and student offerings if you have any thoughts on how you can help address this major budget

2:11:26 reduction I think uh a big part of that will be communicating what what you know is appropriate and I understand like I think a lot of town members sometimes don’t understand that everything cannot be commun uh communicated right privacy concerns there might you know things go into executive session for good reason and those things just can’t be that information can’t be shared but I think with the town I think it’s important to help people understand um what the implications are around the different budgets that are being put together in a very straightforward and easy to understand manner um and then it you know then it will be up to the town to help us decide how they would like to proceed with that uh but again I think it has to be on um these are the core things that we need to do right as Educators and

2:12:12 there’s a certain amount of money that that’s involved with that um and then there may be some things that if you ask us to stay than a certain budget that we cannot do and just understand the implications to our students uh if we go that route so I think it’s really helping the town because it’s a town decision right so I think it’s it’s helping the town as best as possible understand um what can and can’t be done and the implications associated with those decisions thank you thanks for coming so a letter to the editor was written today from a contingent of constituents noting a real s black of transparency on the commit with your knowledge and understanding of our schools today um you mentioned

2:12:57 executive section so understanding confidentiality NBA you might be held to and the legalities there if appointed to the school committee what concrete specific examples or steps would you take to begin to rebuild trust in the community now that’s the 64,000 I’m dating myself I’m sorry that’s a difficult question um but I was watching the in prepping for for today was watching I believe it was the January 18th school committee meeting and I believe it was the chair who mentioned like potential towns and I hope I’m paraphrasing properly here

2:13:35 but think that’s a potential thing right um you know I think they they’re a very valuable asset um but um know as you kind of whisper down the lane you know or maybe there’s not an understanding of all the the information that’s available and so I like the idea of potentially of this the school committee perhaps taking advantage of a forum that to kind of directly communicate with folks in the town whether it’s a town meeting or it’s a section in the papers right that you know comes from the school committee around you know here’s what’s happening from our perspective right um and I you know I think you know transparency is key but there’s times when you have to say this is all that we can be said you know I know this may frustrate you but there’s there’s good reasons why we can’t share more information around that

2:14:21 perhaps in the future if it’s appropriate but right now this is what we have this is what we can communicate and I think as there’s trust built and continues to be built up with any committee that that becomes an easier sell right um you know right if you lack if there’s a lack of trust it becomes much difficult to I think to do those things but you know from what I’ve seen I think you know again just trying to direct more direct communication uh I think between the Committees and and or the committee and the town’s folks might be a you know one viable option or perhaps a dedicated section it’s not know curated by anybody else that’s written by the school committee presented to the the readers of the M of the uh newspapers might be a good idea too but I’m anxious I wish I

2:15:07 had better answers but that’s I think would be a very key thing for me to help with the committee and I’m sure the committee wants you know they’re they want to do these things and what I can do to help I’d love to participate thank enjoy your last second thank you thank you for basing your answer by the way on fact that you heard from one of our meetings where we actually just I penciled in the date with the superintendent today for the next forum we’ll be announcing so thank you for paying attention to that um we are entering collective bargaining with all of our unions while these discussions will be challenging giving the town’s extreme Financial shortfalls it is very important to maintain a respectful relationship with all parties around the pro process please tell me how you specifically will help the process to avoid

2:15:53 avoid avoid becoming yeah so uh I I work for the Commonwealth uh right now I’m in the executive office of technology and Security Services uh probably 90% of our organization is our union members um so uh what I’m trying to say is I just have a lot of exper I worked for the state for 10 years I have a lot of experience working with folks uh who are in a collective bargaining agreement um I know there’s a lot of stere unfortunate stereotypes I don’t Pain any of that uh you know it’s you know there’s a contract right that’s what a collective bargaining agreement is uh I know it can be contentious especially at times and I understand this this year expires I believe in June

2:16:39 um but I I think it’s uh I’ve not I’ve not been involved in specific U negotiations with any of the the collective barain units right now in the state I did a little bit when I was working in the town of Bedford with the finance committee um but I think it’s just coming to the table understanding each uh sides um key points um and then hopefully um you know working on you know coming to a a good position that both parties are comfortable with and then managing to that contract through its life term through its contract thank you very much for volunteering and being here tonight to answer all of our questions we appreciate it thank you thanks thank you very

2:17:32 much okay much okay so um that concludes our interviews and um why don’t I that if you w mind giving us an overview we’ve been through this experience a year ago but let’s just refresh our mem how we did it last year okay so so the way we do it is um and I’m sure you want to have some deliberations first uh but when it comes to the vote it’s it’s um I guess you call a roll call vote each person uh will be called by name and then you’ll give the name of the candidate that you wish to choose um a candidate has to receive at least five votes a majority

2:18:18 in order to obtain the seat if we do a round of voting if no one achieves the five votes uh what happens is the lowest vote getter if or more than one uh is stucken from the list and then we do another round of voting right and if there’s still not five who’s ever the lowest vote getter get scratched off the list and we do another round until we reach five essentially ran chice what’s that essentially ran Choice yeah um eron if we can just follow the same pattern so as people take notes we’re good to go in their order oh right um I’m sorry I not

2:19:03 understand the same pattern we went in for the last nine rounds of questioning if we can just go if we can just vote in the same order typically in the past we’ve always our vote like the appointing or the the um the the board with the vacancy votes first that’s so the order on the sheet sheet is in order of seniority with the chair of each committee being the last of their group so that’s that’s how this is set up so it would be the most Union member I think that’s you first and this group and you and this group and we go through chair of each group

2:19:53 both last in that group so I I have Mr OD yeah you already helped me no I’m ask pronounce your name right OT we had that conversation Miss shner Miss Taylor Miss Fox then Mr Murray Miss singer Mr grater Mr nine Miss newon that’s the protocol that we’ve follow that’s pretty much we

2:20:25 last last cons I think the consideration too was to have the scho committee vot you know vote first so that the you’re closer to the m closer to the decision and it gives us a chance to hear hear the like a couple years

2:20:44 ago ago first first on the list well first um I need a motion to place all the names into um nomination second okay all in favor our vot words vot I’ll ask for a motion um to present all Nam into

2:21:08 nomination all in favor motion G’s for

2:21:22 is there a will to have discussion or would people the Can Talk Amongst ourselves for a few minutes well you’re in an open meeting so right no it’s amongst ourselves all yes but I have some questions that I’d like to ask CH because I’m CAU between two people

2:21:54 so I guess I’ll just vote that it’s sometimes it’s a you can make

2:22:09 comments ask whatever you want no I’m good okay I choose s wait now question I’ll call your name and then we then you get to say right yeah

2:22:31 um uh I I’m really impressed with the the depth of the candidates that we have before us and um I found that that was um it was really great to see so many people come out um my thinking on it around this is particularly where we are um as a district and in the in the calendar year um I’m kind of looking for people that from their professional background that’s relevant around education and collective margeting experience and um and uh you know experience working

2:23:18 with public districts um uh and Advising around um Administration education that’s just kind of where generally my thoughts are around what I think would be at this time helpful I agree with that um I think experience given where we are and some of our questions I think almost all of our questions kind of pointed towards right which is great I think it’s fair to be honest when we’re interviewing candidates about state of State um I think having that experience first of all I I want to say I agree also the depth of candidates that we had um I’m always impressed with the people that are willing to put their name uh in the Hat knowing what that’s like and the

2:24:03 stress around that and I would strongly suggest um that you guys you know invest in potentially you know moving forward in in June I know not everybody’s interested um because I think you’ll find that experience um is even more opening and more eye opening welcoming um but I do feel that experience is critical given where we are and given the importance of the things that we happen this year whether it’s but of marketing or budgeting experience um that to me

2:24:34 is mam chair what I’d also add is just add to that is that we’re we’ve got very short kind of critical Runway right now you know and uh you know given the urgency of the the agenda items on on the school comm’s plate you know that’s that heavily influence my

2:24:58 decision so when we make our vote do we say why we selected that person or just you absolutely can do that you can do that yeah okay but you don’t have to year we know we don’t know if we’re all placing everything on past experiences they not but we do some do some don’t so um okay so it sounds like um we’re ready to proceed to a vote can facilitate through our Town Administrator so I will call your name give the name of the candidate so choose Mr Oda I selected the SAR magazine one point that I liked was the fact that she really didn’t come in here like I can do a lot of things she came

2:25:45 in here because she said I have to there a lot of things going on she invested in the community she’s PTO president I’ve worked with her when I was a club so I know her personally and she is very dedicated to students and the staff and that’s something I greatly appreciate and the fact that she came in to this request with her eyes open it’s not like she doesn’t think this is going to be easy it’s it’s going to be challenging and I got that feeling she stands out she even said when you asked the question are you looking to continue said I know I don’t she’s gonna have to see how those the next few months go and I think that’s a wise choice shman um so I am very conflicted

2:26:30 um I agree with a lot of what you said ran um I also was very impressed with Mr Williams um he had a very um confident but relaxed way about him in his answering to the questions um and committed to running for election which to me um is very important because it does show a commitment to the position and wanting to grow as the position um he was one of two candidates the other Nam Sarah magazine who talked about students and student achievement and those two candidates I talk about that and for me that is the most important thing is our students um so for that

2:27:17 reason M Taylor uh my vote is for Tom matters uh again going off of Just experience and what we need what I feel we need on our board obviously worked with him before uh and understanding what he bring to to miss Fox hi um my vote was for is for Sarah magazine um I feel she has a skill set that could be very helpful communic ation is something we continually have heard for years and years from the community um I think it I think that that is vital for people being aware of what is going on in our district how

2:28:02 it’s going on and also for being able to work together in a way that doesn’t feel confrontational um I think that skill you know we have a lot of hard decisions that are ahead of us and I think that skill would be invaluable on top of that you know she really has shown over a several year period to be deeply committed and involved in our schools and to really understand what we’re funding what the impact is on our students not just on a ledger but what that shows up in our buildings and the delivery of education so for that

2:28:38 reason Mr Mari as everybody said it’s a great slate and I was Tor between two uh but my vote is for Mr

2:28:47 Williams Miss Williams Miss singer yes thank you so uh I’m gonna say that I came in you know just one of everyone was very qualified had a lot of different things one of the things that U you know I was considering was you know how do you look at all the qualifications on a board and bring in people that all have you know different backgrounds different things that help to balance that board and add to that expertise and so H you know for me with everyone interview doing with Mr Williams I Saw and obviously looking through the resume as well you know there’s experience as a finance committee so understanding the financial aspect of it so the The Ledger side and then also you know uh working as a high

2:29:33 school teacher working at the college level working on higher education you know experience with the msba and working in building projects and you know the things some of the things that jumped out to me was um you know someone who for myself you know worked in the building facilities committee with the schools many years ago is you know his work and focus on um you know doing work specifically on doe buildings conditions you know how do they impact students and that definitely stood out to me and just the ability obviously to know the finances and having the teacher background as well to add that balance so that was where I landed for tonight to try to provide the best support

2:30:20 Williams correct yes thank you you Mr grer uh given his current relationship sorry given his current knowledge his realtime engagement and relationships that he has uh and also his past negotiating experience um you know make I think Tom Mathers uh the most timely person to help the the school committee at this point I think his focus on students is and Devotion to students is get so I vote for Tom okay Mr n Tom mats did a great job last year thanks okay Miss

2:31:01 Newton um I want to say that I’m super grateful to Tom Mathers for his stepping forward last year um and helping us through that time period and also willingness to come back and do it again for us and um also Sarah magazine for all the hours that she’s put in and I know volunteered for campaigning for overrides and very involved in our schools the pto’s and um that’s I mean that’s what makes our district special and we run on people stepping up when they’re called and um I really appreciate that I’m very torn um so as I look though however at the subject

2:31:47 matter experience professionally that um I thought the two candidates stood out with me for in terms of like their professional expertise around um higher education and um and negotiating within in longterm experience negotiating collective bargaining um uh never two stood out to me but for the reasons that um Alexa articulated well um I I to will um vote for um Al Williams can I ask a question because that me change my vote in the next round actually I don’t I made step behind we don’t have a

2:32:33 no okay so um Mr Williams’s first or current job this was a question for me as we went through um at the Commonwealth and his position at the Commonwealth is there an Ethics stipulation about him holding a seat at this level that that that’s my concern is there’s some levels of state government that you’re employed in that you can’t hold so as long as that’s not an issue then I okay most usually and I’m not the ethics commission deals with financial matters Financial interests so if there was a situation before the board that that involved a transaction or even a decision that affected that organization he would have to recuse okay okay I’m not the ethics commission

2:33:19 okay for the next five weeks yeah no that’s why like you know if this was five weeks in now this wouldn’t even be thought in my mind yeah um is Mr William here if you oh sorry sorry I couldn’t see you there um if if you don’t mind answering um the the ethics and or potential conflicts and if you any guidance on so I’ve done some other things uh like teaching um so I’m familiar with the you know the ethics form that I would need to fill out right assuming this position um I I don’t foresee any problem but I would have that cleared you know formally with the ethics Commission in the Comm okay and you previously served at volunteer

2:34:07 roles right on the see yeah on on the finance committee in another town during a so where are we your Poe vinal is your vote final or we’ve already voted s round yes we she was she was asking for the next round as we so so okay so we have we have one two three candidates that receive zero one candidate that receive two one with three and one with four if I were just to eliminate the candidates with zero we’re just kind of the same spot so unless there objection what I would suggest is um we would also I hate doing this I

2:34:54 like but we the the next lowest candidate would be Sarah magazine right and we would go to Tom Ms and Al Williams on the next round no so if so if I did here we would do another vote and the only only names that would be absent are the the ones who received no vote right we could do it way that was kind of the advertised way so then we would have Sarah Tom and Al as three candidates which are the three vo you want to stay consistent to that was the ground rule we’ll stay there because okay so on this round we’re down to three candidates and

2:35:39 everybody’s clear on the three candidates right so Mr Oda I go with Mr Williams okay Miss shapan Mr Williams Miss Taylor Mr

2:36:00 Ms Miss Fox Mr Williams okay Mr Mari Mr Williams Miss singer M Williams okay Mr grer Mr mat Mr NY Mr mats Miss Newton M Williams I mean sorry Mr Williams Mr Williams okay two three four five six Mr Williams received six Mr Ms receives three Mr Williams is the

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