School Committee: February 15, 2024

Transcript machine-generated with Whisper speech recognition (the source video has no caption track). No speaker labels; proper names and dollar figures occasionally misheard. Click any timecode to jump to that moment in the source video.

0:00 I have seven o’clock, so Sarah, are you there? Sarah? I’m here. Yeah. Call the meeting to order? Yes, I will call the meeting to order at 7 p.m. and I just want to note that we are live streaming. So I’m going to hand the meeting over to Jen Shafter to run in person. There will be one point that I’ll just make a point of as it’s because I had the information from today, but otherwise, Jen Shafter will be chairing the meeting. Thank you. Great. So first on our agenda is accommodations. Does anyone have any accommodations? It is. Our hockey families are headed to Canada or are already there for this tournament out there. And I just want to wish them all luck. Safe travels. Fair and back. And that’s us in the game. Dr. McGinnis, you were going to talk about Joel Tones and Luminescence in your update. Oh, I had that in my newsletter. Do you want to… Either one. I know Joel Tones and Luminescence are two acapella groups from Marblehead High School. They competed in the International Acapella Competition in Boston last week. I know Joel Tones came in second and are moving on to the next level of competition.

1:35 And I believe Luminescence also had a great showing. So I just wanted to share that and wish Joel Tones the best of luck. Oh, he’s really good. The other thing… anybody else want me to… I’d like one to speak to you. Thank you. Welcome. And the only other thing I would like to state, which is really an extension of sympathy and condolences to the Brogna family, Tony and Tony O’Brogna, who’s the long time owner of Tony’s Pizza, passed away. I just saw that earlier this afternoon. So very sorry to hear that. He has been an amazing family. It’s a great restaurant and I know he has served our students well and I’m sure patiently over the years. So our D… or my name is Pizzo. Joel has been the committee as well. Thanks to Tony O’Brogna’s dad for our town. Okay. Anything else? Okay. Public comment. So we have opportunity for the public to speak. We have… I think we have a couple of folks signed up. So why don’t we start with the folks here in person and then I’ll go and see if there’s anyone on the screen. So, if you’ve ever signed up. Welcome. Here’s Nancy Powell. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Nancy Powell. Can you hear me? 72 Front Street. This evening I am here speaking on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Marblehead.

3:14 The League of Women Voters believes a quality public education is essential for strong democracy. We support government transparency and responsiveness to citizens. We are nonpartisan with respect to candidates and parties and we promote civil discourse. I am here to respectfully propose that the League host a public forum featuring the school committee to address issues that have recently been raised by the community. We feel a nonpartisan forum would be a productive next step by providing the school committee with the opportunity to explain your decision making and future plans. Written questions from the public would be welcome and they would be asked through a moderator. We think the forum should take place as soon as possible on the next open Thursday night when the school committee does not meet in your normal time slot. Looking at a calendar, this looks to be Thursday, March 14th at 7pm. To comply with open meeting law, the event would be posted as a school committee meeting so all members could participate. And it would be available on Zoom and YouTube as usual for your meetings. We believe that time is of the essence and therefore requests that you accept our proposal during the new business portion of your meeting tonight so details can be worked out.

4:48 Thank you.

5:06 Is this a mic that you want me to be speaking into? This is it. Good evening. My name is Amy Drinker, 30 Gregory Street in Marblehead. As a signer of the letter to the school committee printed last week in the Marblehead weekly news and the Marblehead current and the associated online petition circulating since then, I’d like to enter those documents, which I have a copy of here, into this meeting’s public record. The letter signed by 142 Marblehead residents was written as a failing report card expressing frustration with your actions and decisions since June 23. Sorry, 2023 election in the past week, more than 760 Marblehead residents over the age of 18 have signed the online petition. Proving that the community’s concerns about your school leadership are far too. The signers of the letter and the petition represent a wide range of townspeople, including many with histories of collaborative engagement in our schools, our town government and our community. It’s not about how or whether the signers voted in local elections. It’s about how you perform as the elected or appointed school committee members. The message is a call to action for you to demonstrate how you tackle issues to improve our schools. I hope that tonight’s meeting includes substantive discussion regarding the concerns voiced in the letter and petition. Thank you. And this is for the public record. Thank you.

6:40 I’m hoping this is the last week that I have to write a letter to the editor, and hopefully I don’t have to come to these meetings every week. And welcome. I have tremendous faith in you that you can corral this committee and get them into a well-oiled machine that we can all get along in this town because it is the kids. So welcome and good luck. Thank you.

7:24 Do you want to make a statement? Okay. Great. Thank you. I don’t see any of the folks here looking for public comment. Anyone else? Okay. And I don’t see any names. Oh, Sarah? Yes, I just I wanted to ask so that we can have a thoughtful conversation when we get to that item on the agenda as the league asked if they would consider February 29. We are booked for our first evening of collective bargaining on March 14th. And I agree that and I think we all do that we don’t want to put off any discussions any longer. So if the league can just confer well while we work up to that agenda item and see if February 29 could possibly work as that is actually the next Thursday that we don’t have a meeting. And then maybe just let Ms. Shaffner know before we get to that agenda item if that works for you. Which agenda item would that be? Would that be the… Well, they talked about under new business where it would be appropriate for us to talk about that. So it’s going to be kind of a long night. Do you want to… I was going to suggest maybe we converse offline tomorrow or tonight. Is February 29 today when you don’t have your formal school meeting? That’s correct. I think it’s probably November 28. That’s Becky’s retirement.

8:55 Oh, that’s Becky Curran’s retirement. I don’t know. I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know if that would affect anything that I would defer to the league on that. Although I don’t know what time that starts. The party starts at 7. Do you think maybe we could discuss this tomorrow offline or… You know, then it would be a week. Yeah. Otherwise we can wait until new business. But it’s at the end of the week. Probably kind of late tonight. I think we don’t have to decide the date tonight. I can work with the league tomorrow to work on dates.

9:43 Thank you. I guess we should check that we will…

9:54 Yeah. I think we have this… Yeah. Okay. As long as we can find a date. Yeah. We have this… We had an item later in the agenda forum. So I think that makes sense. All right. So Sarah, you’ll work offline with the league on a date. So we won’t have to cover that in the business. And then we’ll communicate it. You know, whatever. We’ll publicize it afterwards. Because that will be before our nurse meeting. Okay. Great. Okay. Anyone else? We don’t see anyone online. Do you see them? I don’t see any hands up. Let’s move on to our student representative. Welcome. So a few updates from the high school. Forty-two report cards were published and released last Tuesday, February 6. Tomorrow, twenty-three high school students from the Spanish department will be departing for the trip to Spain over February vacation. The Marblehead team Harmony has been visiting the local elementary and middle schools to spread messages on justice and equality. Informational meetings for the 2025 English department Greece trip will be held this week and after vacation to discuss itinerary and costs. The trip agenda includes reading a classic Greek play, visiting key landmarks and exploring Athens and neighboring islands. Magic Hat has been looking for student volunteers to keep donations flowing to the schools. Students will receive national honor society hours in return for their service. The school counselors have been holding junior class seminars about starting the college search. Students are advised on standardized tests, grades and deadlines that will be crucial for the college application process.

11:26 Auditions for the prom this year’s spring play were held today at the high school. The casting crew will be conducting rehearsals once auditions are completed. The junior class is looking for donors for their auction, which will run online through February. The class is aiming to raise $50,000 from this fundraiser, which is one of the most important events of the year. Families can auction items, become donor families and bid in early March. Sophomore semi-formal tickets will be on sale starting February 26 and students have been handing in permission slips all throughout this week. The freshman class of 2027 is hosting a Chipotle fundraiser night on February 27 from 5 to 9 pm. The indoor track teams had their regional NEC championships this past Saturday, with the boys taking third place and the girls winning the meet overall. Registration for spring athletics has opened and the seasons will start mid-March. Thank you. We’ve next up district updates. Did you want to take an item out of order, Sarah? Yes, I was hoping that we could take the item out of order for the superintendent search update. The reason being I’m dealing with a family medical situation right now and I want to make sure that I can give that my attention in case I need to step away. But I, so to give a little bit of backstory how we ended up to this situation as it’s been noted, there was a powerful letter that was written to the editor, which the entire committee has taken very seriously.

13:09 Immediately upon receiving it, all members took it seriously. I reached out to our legal counsel to see what we could do as far as addressing concerns within the confines of any agreement we may have. Our legal counsel said, do you mind if I talk to a gentleman, Glenn Kutcher, who is the president of MASC. She shortly called me back afterwards and said, Glenn and I think you should do. You guys would really benefit from a training. So we, as a group, really thought that that spoke to one of the themes that was being presented in the letter and we were all very happy to do so. So we attended a training, which is allowable, and the MASC put on the training, our attorney put on the training. It was called transitions. Training and transitions, and it really focused on districts in transition and practices that can be really helpful to that. One of the main pieces that came out of that is with a presentation from Glenn that really focused on a transitional year of a transitional superintendent or an interim superintendent. Specifically, someone who has been a superintendent for many years and is at the end of their career.

14:41 The reason why this was particular to our situation that is new in the last couple of months since Dr. McGinnis has joined us, and I just want to take the opportunity to thank Dr. McGinnis because she has worked tremendously hard. She came into a lot of unexpected challenges and has been working through those, and we’re very grateful for that. Now that we’re in a situation of meeting some central office positions that two months ago, we didn’t foresee ourselves being in. The recommendation from Glenn is really to if you bring in someone who has been a superintendent for many years, has been retired or at the very end of their career, they have people they can go to that have worked underneath them that will come work essentially in the next couple of months. That was really for them because they worked under them as a superintendent for years. That was really his recommendation, to bring someone on that has a team to bring with them, if you will. Glenn wrote a memo about that which I added to everyone’s Google Drive today. I received it around 3-3-30. I apologize for getting that in there that late in the day, but I got it in there as soon as I could. I think that given the letter from the community and given the training that we should maybe talk as a team about the benefits that would be seen in that.

16:28 This is really our opportunity to do that because of the open meeting laws and things like that. I don’t expect anybody to be prepared to necessarily say that’s what they want to do tonight, but I think it would be important for us to make that decision soon because that’s a little bit different than what we were originally planning to go through. Glenn also submitted a proposal for him to run that for us as part of MASC. It is a free, a transitional or an interim position to bring someone in like that would be a free cost. We also received an estimate from another gentleman who often does searches for the Collins Center. He’s a retired superintendent. He sent that to me today. I think his cost was 15,000 to run that same type of search. Like I said, he often does that for the Collins Center who did not submit a proposal, but he would do it as an individual, not through the Collins Center, just to make that clear. I’ll just open that up for the committee to discuss if they want to discuss now or if they want to, since we just got this information around 3.30, talk about that a little more. It’s important for people to know that we as a group of all of us, including Al, who had just joined us, were very eager to go to the training, very open to hearing all the information that was presented and really are looking to be responsive.

18:11 I completely agree. I think that the transitions part of the training last night, which was a large majority of the time we spent talking about that and Glenn provided us with a presentation. I think it made it abundantly clear that that is probably the smartest path and the wisest path. I think it’s a very specific individual who we need to be looking for and we want to be looking for to fill this position, particularly since last night. It was very fruitful and I would encourage everybody to go online and read that document that Glenn shared. I think that will help folks understand a little bit more and we can see how much of that presentation, maybe even a condensed version that we can share to give even more information again from the perspective of, I think, finally our whole committee is on board with Glenn.

19:41 I think that’s something that I would agree with being more communicative in general. I know it’s something I ran on and have wanted. I’m very excited for that and I’m excited for some of the other pieces, I think, as we look ahead and look forward and plan because we do have a lot on our place. I would agree fully that that is the smartest choice and if we can have Glenn’s assistance in searching for those particular types of individuals who need to be able to dig in and do the hard work. Dr. McGinnis has hired some wonderful interim folks that are really fantastic, that I think the community is really going to like from what I know from interviewing the interim student services director and from what I’ve been told about others. So I really look forward to that too and I think that’s really going to help set us up for, again, that transitional success that I think is where we need to focus now.

20:49 Yes, I agree. I think it was very fruitful training session last night and we did come up with a series of ideas that we’re looking at working on as the weeks go on. Want to read this now? We very carefully listened to the… Just to be clear, this is Brian’s statement from him, not the committee, right? Just wanted to make sure we’re clear on that. Okay. As we mentioned, we scheduled that training session last night and move forward. We have these three areas that are going to be our first priorities. Communication. We have to begin creating as many vehicles as possible to disperse to you the public what we are doing and more importantly, why. We may not always be able to speak about the why in certain kinds of things such as personnel issues. As we just said, the superintendent search as we just said, as we came very clear that it’s going to be a scant group of candidates to be looking at. So, as such, we decided it would be best to look at an interim at this point. The budget. We have not yet received our budget book from the assistant superintendent. They are overdue. As soon as we receive these books, we will get carefully analyzed. Interim superintendent, Dr. McGinnis, working with our staff, take the budget and to produce it by 2.3 million dollars. Dr. McGinnis will list the staff and services cuts that this massive reduction will result in.

22:20 We will provide this information as soon as we get it and we receive it and understand it. Thank you. So, I will make a couple of comments. I had a written statement which is long and Brian really spoke a lot of the points that I wanted to make first. I think it’s important to note that the document that we are looking at that was submitted by Glenn Kutcher, I believe, is up on our site. Yeah, it is. We asked Lisa Manning to do that. And so, folks can take a look at it. And part of his presentation, which there is no reason why that can’t go up. Yeah. One of the things that he talked about and he showed basically in a timeline is the calendar of the process for searching for superintendent and searching for permanent superintendent, which we know is usually, you know, a full, it’s not 12 months, it’s like a 9 or 10 month calendar process that usually starts in the early fall. So, obviously, we’re off with that. The search for an interim superintendent is far more condensed. It’s a very different type of search. So, we are within the typical timeline, if you will, for an interim search. So, that also, all of that makes a lot of sense, including, you know, his strong recommendation as executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committee. School Committee’s, you know, I have a tremendous amount of respect for him and for the organization, and he was felt very strongly in our training last night that that’s the way that we should go.

23:52 So, I do agree. And, you know, we have a lot of work, you know, as the sentiments that were in the call to action that was in our local press recently. And many of those concerns, I share too, frankly. I share them at 3 o’clock in the morning when I can’t, you know, when I can’t sleep and thinking about, you know, the work ahead of us and where we are right now, which includes obviously searching for superintendent. And when I voted to hire Dr. McGinnis for this position, it was our sincere hope that she would likely step into that role and hopefully be able to do that. She decided this isn’t the right role for her, and I wish her the best in her next pursuit. But this is now where we are, and I believe is the right thing to do to be looking at an inter-work, or what I’m really calling a transitional superintendent. We also, to my point, are looking to prepare and present a budget to the town that reflects the fiscal reality that our town is in, and to try to minimize the cuts to students that will affect their education and their ability to maximize their achievement. And I am positive that our staff and our administration are all working, and will be working hard to do that. Simultaneously, we’re working on a new, negotiating a new contract with our faculty and our staff, and that is, at the same time, is trying to manage this budget.

25:24 And so I know from the work I’ve done so far with the committee and with representatives from the union that we’re all committed to this, to doing everything we can to have successful negotiations and a successful budget presented at town meetings, which isn’t going to be easy. In regards to communication, again, to Brian’s much more succinct written prose that he had, we do have to commit to communicating in a more direct and clear and expected way, in a way that allows the community to hear directly from us, not through another voice or not through another lens, but directly from us. And I appreciate the league coming forward, because we actually have this as an agenda item, which we were going to try to formulate one ourselves. So this is an opportunity to have a new to a third party. In fact, one of the things I was thinking about is, you know, who could that be? You know, Jeff Shriepman came to mind. So, no, who knows who that may be with the league? So that’s much appreciated, and I think an opportunity for the community to be heard and for the community to be able to have natural dialogue outside of a typical business meeting. So I do look forward to working with Al and if all of my colleagues on the school committee, as we continue to work in a collaborative and creative way to achieve all of these challenges we have made for us successfully. I think we also wanted to note that if anybody ever wants to reach out, I know Jen and I said this last night, but to Jen or I directly, and I’m Brian and Al, if you want to put yourself out there too,

27:06 you always can. I think we are from a community perspective. I think we have been fairly responsive to anybody that has. Not a lot of people do. Sometimes that can be a little bit daunting as well, but we can certainly have those conversations. It’s important to note, and this is something that Glenn mentioned last night, having those conversations doesn’t mean that all suggestions or all requests can be done when we have those conversations with you, whether it’s in a coffee shop or if you call me on the phone and I’m working at home and take a few minutes. Either of those things, but we want to make sure that people are feeling heard, which I think from in my experience from the corporate world and even just as being a mother, making sure that people feel heard is very important. We can’t always give you the information that you want. That’s just a hard stop. That’s always going to be there, whether it’s an NDA that we unfortunately had to sign. You can look at all the minutes to see that I was 100% against that, or whether it’s confidential due to executive session, confidential due to being personnel matters or matters relating to a child, which I know everybody in this room would agree should 100% remain private, because certainly if it was one of our children, we would want that respect as well. I do want to reiterate that because that’s really important. I understand the frustration behind that. Certainly prior to joining the committee, there were a number of things that I could never get the answers I wanted to.

28:47 So I was that person too, and I remember that frustration. So I want to make sure you hear that we know that and that we will continue. I think there’s a couple of other things we talked about last night potentially doing in the future to make sure that those things happen. I’m glad that we finally have a committee that is willing to do that and wanting to do that. And I think that that’s exciting and hopefully can allow us to work more collaboratively, not only together, but I think with the community. Because I think that is something I know that’s something we want as much as I would agree on the chaos factor. I don’t think anybody in the room would disagree with that. I think we’ve had some, it’s been a wild couple of months. Certainly Dr. Mayes could tell you that better than ever. I’m not sure that’s what she expected to walk into. But I think we have to recognize that these are just crazy times and that you do have people who are sitting up here that were voted in through the large majority. That gives of their time, and I just want to recommend them all, and I want to recommend Al for stepping into this role, knowing all of that chaos. So, you know, we’ve all worked with him even. You have people here that really do care. That seems to be lost on a lot of people lately, and I think that’s unfortunate.

30:23 I will say that I lost a couple of friends over this letter, and it was heartbreaking. I don’t disagree with the chaos. I don’t disagree that we have a lot of work ahead of us. I don’t think that it is the people sitting at this table who are at fault for that chaos. Those are the two differences. You’re happy to disagree and humph and harangue about it, but I think it’s important to distinguish those two factors, and that’s just, I think that’s the one thing that I would add, and I’m looking forward to looking forward, really, not continuing to rehash a year ago, six months ago, all of that, because, again, like I said, with NEAs and with Personnel Matters and with Executive Sessions, that’s that. There’s no going past that, when Kutcher could sit here and tell you that himself. And, you know, I think we want you to feel heard, and hopefully you’ll see that change. Just one comment. So just for the record, folks know NDA, really what we’re referring to. Often that’s considered a non-disclosure agreement. In this case, it’s actually a non-disparagement clause, which is part of our agreement that we have signed. So I think that’s so that there’s some clarity there. Our emails are all on the website. Mine is chaffner.jenniferatmarblesonschools.org. My name is not easy to spell, so I suggest that you go to the website and contact me.

31:56 And all of our emails are on the website. My phone number is 617-835-0764. Anyone is welcome to call me. I can say anyone’s phone call or text. And yeah, so any other comments? Mine is 617-529-3373. Just don’t write it on any walls. Sorry, all set? Okay, great. So I’m going to, I thought I had seen a hand up earlier, but I don’t. So I just want to make sure I did this. Great. So we’re going to move on. I’m going to jump back up to district updates. So we now have district updates with Dr. McGinnis. First is Wit and Wisdom. Are you ready for the new update? No, your update first. Yeah, thank you. Nice to see everyone. In just a moment, I’m delighted to introduce some instructional coaches here to speak about the mid-year implementation updates for Wit and Wisdom literacy program that the teachers are hard at work implementing. But before that, I want to give a couple of updates, written reference to stuff that you have mentioned for your vote and approval this evening. The first one is, in general, as all of you are aware, we are significantly short of administrative staff, and we’re exponentially and very thoughtfully rebuilding the district administrative offices as we work through these changes, right? So we’ve been conducting searches for these leadership

33:31 positions in the district and that surfaced in the middle of the year, which have cascading effects that we commented on and you all are aware of in Marble Head Book School. But in the best of circumstances, staffing is difficult to do mid-year and it’s amplified certainly since COVID and pandemic times. And while sometimes it’s impossible to follow timelines that we have set for ourselves that we would ordinarily adhere to, I am very proud of the educators, teachers, the leadership team who are doing their best to ensure that our students have little impact to things that are happening with adults and that their safety and that their well-being and continued academic achievement and social, emotional, and behavioral needs are being met. So that is happening if you walk through schools. It’s a very different experience than sitting through a school community meeting. I just want to be clear on that. Our educators are doing a great job as always and protecting Tom’s students. So the good news is although you’ve mentioned there are more leadership positions that y’all are going to work towards this spring, they would include the permanent lover principal, right? Dan in there right now, but we need to do that one. A permanent director of finance and operations, a permanent director of student services and of course your search for the next interim superintendent. But tonight I am delighted to

35:05 introduce you to a couple of people. The first of the two candidates that we are bringing forward is here with us this evening and the interim director of student services. So she is starting per diem today. It’s her very first day and so I’m delighted to welcome the audience here to Ms. Patricia Bell to Marblehead Public Schools. She’s right there. Great to have her. She brings a lot of wealth of knowledge and experience in the field of special education and school district leadership both. Her student services leadership roles included working at several Massachusetts districts including South Deerfield, Shelburne Falls, Hadley, and most recently in Lexington. Ms. Bell has held various roles including interim superintendent, director of pupil personnel services, assistant superintendent, and a consultant. So I welcome her here and I’m not sure on your process on would you like me to do these separately or what would you prefer? We have it later on in the… Okay, so the introduction. Yeah, perfect. Do we have? Yes, we have both. Okay, great. So you’re welcome to.

36:37 Sarah, you had your hand up? Yes, no, I just wanted to know as Teresa is introducing these two individuals, these wonderful people that are coming on board, that I just wanted to point out too that she’s in addition to this, she’s made several key transitions in the district in the last couple months. You know, we found ourselves in a position very rapidly where we needed to put it a temporary principle over at Glover and you know, I remember what she first said, I’m going to bring Matt Fox over who we know does such a wonderful job at the middle school and you know, has received many awards and at first I only picture Matt through the lens of a middle school principal and I was really wondering what she was thinking but we heard a lot of positive feedback on how good he was with the little ones and parents and staff and then you know, she filled that position in a more long-term range with Dan. So there’s been a lot of additional positions Dr. McGinnis has needed to fill in the last few months that when we interviewed her and brought her on we didn’t see coming and she didn’t have any idea she was going to be coming into so I just wanted to point out there’s been a lot of these positions and I’m grateful that she’s been able to bring those people on. And the next one I just want to

38:08 introduce as well and first off I want to say it’s so nice to have such high quality administrators here to be able to select from who you know can do the job and it was done very well and it’s continued to be. The second one I’d like to talk to you about is the consultant that we are hiring for the finance and operations department. While we continue to search for the permanent director and leave it up to you all to decide how that will work with the interim search. Ms. Mary Delie will be working as a consultant to the business office on a part-time basis of up to 24 hours a week providing our district with interim finance and operation leadership and support and she’s going to overlap a bit which is wonderful with Assistant Superintendent Michelle Cresta before she departs for her new position at Manchester ESSEC in mid-March. So Ms. Delie will be providing leadership of the district’s financial and operational functions for a period of approximately four months similar to Ms. Bell and she served also in many leadership positions in Massachusetts school districts including Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations, Superintendent, Business Manager and now Consultant. Her finance acumen and her leadership skills and certainly her strong work ethic will serve the district well. We hope to name a permanent director by July 1st if not sooner. Due to Mary’s onboarding we are moving

39:46 the interviews that we were originally thinking would be sooner pushing them out later with discussion with the school committee. Mary’s down here with me. She’s starting next week with Michelle and I on Tuesday so that we can do some overlap and the finance acumen and leadership skills I know firsthand because I worked with her when our business leadership had changed in Watertown back in 2017 or so and she did a stellar job there and so I’m really pleased that she would like to join us here in front of us and Michelle knows her as well so it’s a wonderful board. So one more update here. Our student services steering committee that we started as the changeover that we had in the district is doing a fantastic job. We’re learning a lot and planning good professional development. We’re also writing a grant to DECI for it’s called support reduction or elimination of timeout rooms. So the Department of Education is offering a federally funded competitive grant to schools and districts that implement strategies interventions and supports to reduce or eliminate the use of timeout rooms and increase the amount of time that students spend along learning alongside their peers. Our focus is going to be collaborative problem solving which is a very research-based program that Dr. Stuart Ablon from Harvard and MGH runs and so we are

41:23 writing it to it’s about 33 to 35,000 and it will be if we’re successful in getting the grant it will be for this spring which is outstanding for our fiscal conditions that we’re into and also our need within the district and that’s that and so I’m going to turn it over at this time to the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning Julia and you can introduce witness and our focus on learning. We’re actually going to just make a quick comment. Yeah go ahead. This literacy update tonight which we’re really looking forward to is the first of I’m hoping you know an ongoing you know presentation at our school committee meetings to the community on what we are teaching our district and what our children are experiencing our students are experiencing in the classroom and there’s a lot of great stuff going on there’s also a lot of information out in the public around issues around literacy math etc that’s what I think it’s really important in this conversation with assistant superintendent Brere that it’s I think it’s very important to come in a public meeting in a business meeting and present this so folks can understand when they’re reading out there in the world about what you know what’s going on in curriculum thanks. Thank you appreciate that. So I’m Julia for assistant superintendent teaching learning. I am so honored to be here with amazing colleagues. We have Mary Ellen Hart, literacy coach Mary LeBlanc and Rebecca Brand, truly invaluable instructional leaders in the

42:58 district and I’m so grateful that I get to work with them. As Dr. Maguina said our teachers are hard at work implementing witness wisdom and we’re excited to share a little bit with you tonight. She’s going to help with the tech side of things here. Thank you Steve. As he’s setting up the slides as I mentioned Mary Ellen, Mary and Rebecca truly invaluable to getting us to this point working side by side with our teachers. Our curriculum implementation is well underway at this point. Teacher teams are collaborating to thoughtfully plan modules and lessons as well as examine student work and data. Students have been engaged in deep content knowledge building activities while experiencing a variety of classroom routines to support the reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. So tonight we’re going to share a little bit of going back to why we selected it and to move forward into how it’s actually living in our classrooms today. Thank you for welcoming us to tell this critically important story of learning in Marblehead Public Schools. I want to back up just a little bit and review a process for choosing this curriculum. It was a five-month process that involved a consultant, multiple teachers across the district, coaches, principals, site visits and service. I’m happy to say that Witten Wisdom was the result of that extensive search.

44:32 It’s important to understand that Witten Wisdom is also a component of a much larger literacy system. We have foundations for our foundational reading instruction and we’ve recently added foundations to grade three just this year. So what is Witten Wisdom? It’s a knowledge building curriculum. Students work within modules around a central theme or topic to build their knowledge and understanding. We used to teach in silence. I know my reading workshop was separate from my writing workshop. This diagram illustrates how we’re working integratively within a system around a topic like a hero’s journey, civil rights heroes, or even the five senses and integrating the learning experience for all the children. Through a deep investigation of a topic, students engage in reading, writing, and listening. They build skills around silent mention and vocabulary is integrated through life. The curriculum is aligned to the Massachusetts ELA fund and is evaluated and was evaluated by Curate, the curriculum rating by teachers, which is a panel affiliated with DESI that evaluates curriculum material to determine if they’re high quality and aligned to the most recent research.

46:02 Witten Wisdom also allows Marblehead to be horizontally and vertically aligned. Witten Wisdom has built in routines that students come to know and accept, thereby allowing them to put their cognitive energy to the learned ones. You will see one of the routines later on tonight in the presentation, a Socratic seminar. Students are participating in these routines at an appropriate level, beginning in kindergarten and right through sixth grade. Within the Witten Wisdom program, there are supports for all learners. It may take the form of graphic organizers or sentence frames, but supports are embedded without coding. For implementation, really an overview as you can see, but without a system, a structure, a process in place, this wouldn’t be as successful as it’s going. So this started, as Mary said, many months ago after selecting Witten Wisdom with launch. We began training with teachers. We had leadership training, and they began that at the end of the last school year and all through the summer as well. We just concluded one part I want to highlight. We just concluded the guided observation session for principals, and it was one of my top days as Assistant Superintendent of the school year. I mean, it’s with incredible learning opportunity we had

47:33 with a specialist from Great Minds that’s the owner of Witten Wisdom product, and it was a truly wonderful experience to see the teachers in action and see the students engage. We also have our amazing literacy coaches get to work with the coaching consultants, the Witten Wisdom experts in that, and they have coaching sessions with them as well. So then we bring that back to our literacy leads. We’re grateful that we were able to fund that. So through the ARPA funds paying for Witten Wisdom and through allocating stipends to support literacy leads, it’s been really great for our teachers to have that leadership opportunity to work with collaboratively with their teams, and we do that through our professional learning community. And that was something that was set up in the previous Assistant Superintendent, and we’ve been, that’s getting richer and richer each year. We’re really grateful that how far we’ve come with our PLC to the team here for leading that. So again, the instructional coach is working side by side with our teachers in the classrooms, collaborating not only around curriculum, but also teaching practices to ensure our students are meeting and exceeding our expectations. So earlier Mary mentioned that there’s this huge body of research that supports literacy instruction that builds on content knowledge, and this research shows that the earlier that you build knowledge, that’s a better student field, and Witten Wisdom’s approach to English language arts allows students to build both skills and knowledge within each lesson and module.

49:06 So to this end, just to give you a little bit of a flavor of what our students are doing, they’re learning about their five senses in senior gardens, the meaning of a literal and figurative part in fourth grade. In sixth grade right now, they’re studying the hero’s journey in the Monomyth. In second grade, they’re working on the American West, and at the beginning of this year, grade one was talking about the power of books and literacy, and that’s among many other topics. The students are also within these topics, extending their vocabulary and understanding of grammar and morphology, morphology being the study of words in their part, but prefixes, sepsis, Greek and Latin groups. Thank you. There’s quite a bit of a comfortable talk, so students are having discussions with each other and partners in small groups with the full class, and then more formally through periodic socratic seminar, and you know, we’re going to talk a little bit about that. They’re practicing habits of mind and sort of a system for processing text, and when I say text within wisdom, a text could be a book or an article. It can also be a piece of art, it could be a piece of music, it could even be a video or another multimedia presentation, and so those habits of mind include that when you think of your first task at a text, we teach students to notice and wonder, then they think about the text structure, how the text is organized, then they

50:39 zoom in to look at some small piece of the author’s craft, and then they zoom back out and sort of distill what the main idea or theme of the text is, and finally they sort of synthesize that new knowledge. And lastly, students are really focused on writing, a lot of writing, moving from the sentence of paragraph to the essay level, and the students are really using writing to demonstrate their learning. Okay, so what you’re going to see now is an example of some writing in second grade. So across all grades and across the modules, students have an opportunity to practice informative writing, narrative writing, as well as opinion writing, and when they get to sixth grade, the writing is more argument. This is an example of second grades doing a piece of informative writing as they work towards understanding the essential question, so every module has one big essential question that students work towards through each one of their lessons. And in every classroom, you’ll see a written wisdom focus wall, and on the focus wall, you can

52:12 notice that there are questions listed on the side, and they will have the essential question, which again is that bigger question that students are working towards through their reading and their writing and their discussion, and then there are focus questions and content framing questions. So the content framing questions are ones that guide a particular lesson. The focus question is within an arc, so each module has about three to four arcs, and the full content framing questions and the focus questions are scaffolding the students to be able to answer that essential question. You’ll also notice you can see that they’re starting to note some vocabulary words right near the focus wall, and when you go into classrooms, for example, when you’re in a fifth grade classroom now, you’ll see there may be like eight or nine lessons into module two. You’ll see a vocabulary wall that right now contains probably about 12 to 14 words that are going to support them through their understanding. You’ll also notice the texts that are particular to that particular module there, and this is where also you might see a piece of art that students will be working with. This beautiful smart work. So we wanted to share a little mid-year data from our

53:42 iReady assessment system, and we want to be clear that this data doesn’t just reflect Whit and Wisdom, although that’s a huge part of it. It also reflects overall curriculum, including robust instruction and foundational skills at K-3 with our Foundation’s comics program. It also reflects our early literacy screening process, and most importantly, that our professional learning communities, K through six, are having regular data meetings to determine student needs and to implement tiered supports for individual students. So the big picture here is that by the end of the year, we want as many students as possible to be on or above grade level. That’s coded ingredients, and as an example, both of our K through three schools, we have in the fall about 45 percent of our students who are at or above grade level, and mid-year we have more than 75 percent of our students are at or above grade level. So that’s some really positive needs for mid-year. So I think it’s important to note that when students come in and take their first diagnostic in the fall, the expectation is that they are one grade level below their current grade level, because of course they have not experienced the learning for that

55:13 particular year. So the intent of these slides is to show you how, as a result of skill teaching and curriculum, students are growing. We have a saying at school, shrink the paint. And you can see here at Village, we’ve reduced the percentage of students below grade level from 47 percent to 35 percent, and that number will continue to shrink as we move students into the on or above grade. Okay, so now we get to some students. Oh, sorry, I have to talk for one minute, and then we get to the fun part. Okay, so this slide’s a little bit different. We did receive it updated from the school committee package. I’ll let you know that actually pinpoints where the different schools are. So this is just a graph to show you how our students are doing across the schools from that fall to winter diagnostic. So the collective data, as you see here, indicates that we are at that high performance, high growth quadrant. That’s that top right quadrant, and that’s exactly where we want to be. That positive growth, meeting expectations, and we’re very proud to show this is where our students are. And again, credit to not only our amazing instructional coaches, but the teachers who day in and day out are working so hard with our students to make sure that they are meeting and exceeding expectations. So really grateful for that to be able to share that data point with the team tonight. Okay, now the great stuff. Now the good stuff.

56:49 Okay, so we’re going to share a short clip with you of some fifth grade students engaging in a Socratic seminar. So a Socratic seminar, and I think Mary picked this out before, occurs from kindergarten all the way through grade six. And these are student-led collaborative discussions that enables the students to ask questions, to elaborate on their thinking, and to debate around the topic or a question. And the end result is they build their capacity to express their ideas clearly. So before you see this particular clip, I want to frame it up for you. So this is a fifth grade classroom, and in module one, which they have finished, they were working on the essential question, the big idea, about how do cultural beliefs and values guide people. And so they spent 36 lessons studying about the Native curse, Indian-Nathan, and as part of that, they explored some stories that are part of that Native American culture. They read about coyote and the monster and how the beaver stole fire from the pines. And so in this Socratic seminar, their job was to discuss what roles do stories play in the Nesperish culture and what are the connections between those two stories. And you will notice,

58:23 if you can see the picture of the students, you will notice that they’re coming to this discussion prepared. They’ve got notes that enable them to elaborate. They have some questions they’re going to share. And before we see it, I want to say a big shout out to the BERF Volpe-Diana team in spring. These are their students that are sharing this. So I want to thank them very much for their willingness to share with us. So, you got it ready. We practiced. That might be how the neighbor wants to change all their children, like to help each other out.

59:32 Yeah, I’m going to say that I’m going to share. I feel like maybe the stories were made up, maybe they were, but I feel like the point of the stories was to teach the children how to be. All these leads don’t go to like a hundred trees and try and steal something from them. But they also…

1:00:30 The person who tells this story, he threw some, what’s their language called? I didn’t know that. Their language is like, yeah, in there? It’s the, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, in there. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like they said it. They said it, but then they repeat it in English. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like kind of like a special. I have like an eye on like just, like what all I should just say, like it was to educate children, like to be kinder, like, to be like, to be like, yeah, yeah. I don’t know. It’s not the point of it. It’s not the point of it. It’s not real or it was actually real. It’s like to show them, to look. Obviously, it’s one thing, but wait, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I can give, like, be a good leader, like, coyote. Yeah, in Kiyo-me and the Monster, it sort of shows to be helpful to other people, but not in that kind of way, but it still shows the lesson to be helpful. It’s like the one-off. Thank you so much. Really appreciate Marielle and Mary and Rebecca, and we’re here. Any questions? Thanks for the help. I just have a quick question. So we’re implementing it for K-6. Did I see that? So when I look at the Wisdom site, it says it goes through 8th. Is there is that our intent to eventually do through 8th, or why did we do K-8?

1:02:10 That’s a great question. So there’s a lot, as I mentioned, one of the slides about systems instructors. So right now we have our instructional coaches. Besides math, we do have a part-time coach at the middle school. We have our literacy coaches K-6, and that’s just the system structure that we have. And the funding that we’re able to secure at this time. So we can look at other opportunities, but we don’t have the systems set up yet. So it sounds like, perhaps ideally, that might be a good next step, especially as we kind of understand the way for implement K-6. So I noticed, like, Wisdom is part of a bigger concern, right, great minds. I’m just curious how typically the school districts once they say, hey, this seems to be a pretty good product. Do they try to expand, staying within kind of this ecosystem, or it’s now we just pick the best curriculum based upon what’s offered at the time from different, I’m just wondering, you know, sometimes, especially technology, you can fall into the travel thinking if you get everything from one place, it’s all integrated and baked in and it’ll all work well together. Is that a similar thing with curriculums or it’s not applicable at all? You go and get what you think is the best at the time? That’s the path we’ve been doing. What’s the best at the time? We finally do have a curriculum review cycle in place that did not exist for a while here in Marblehead. So we do have every five years in a signed subject or area that we’re looking at each year. I think that you’ll see I ready as our diagnostic rate that we use in K to six. But we also that is our math curriculum and ready math is seven and eight three.

1:03:46 So there’s some cases of that, but we haven’t had the board. The only thing I would add to that is that we have noticed since implementing that there are nice correlations between the ELA curriculum and our math curriculum student discourse, for example, is one of them. So when we have those opportunities to have that aligned, that’s immense. Different brands, but similar skills. I think that’s a good set of comments. Yeah, I just thought this is a good opportunity because this is so authentic to point out, you know, we’ve been spending three weeks looking at the budget. We’re going to bring that to you right after vacation. When we look at it, we are looking at it in tears. And if you can visualize tier one, two, three, four, four D is a teacher standing in front of students in front of a classroom. So we are starting with one, two, three and seeing where we can make cuts to the sum of 2.3 million in a small district, which is a lot. But that is our quest. So when I’m seeing all of you and some of the things that you touched upon, this is a really good opportunity for everybody who’s seated here and for all of you folks to recognize these three instructional coaches are imperative to moving the district forward and individualized and targeting student learning.

1:05:17 However, they don’t teach a class of students, right? So they might not be 4D. We’re keeping you. I’m just giving you examples of how we go through these processes. And, you know, when I was in school, we didn’t have instructional coaches, but the need for them is dynamite because our teachers are in classes with kids all day long. They don’t have time to crunch data. They crunch the data from iReady, etc. And then we target the instruction in these wind cycles. The other thing they mentioned, which was an acronym that a lot of public might not know, is that we appeal to these professional learning communities that we have. We have teacher leaders that run those, right? Well, teacher leaders is a cost to the district, significant. It’s a win for students and for processes, but that’s further away from 4D in this thing. So when I’m hearing you say all these things in my head, all I’m doing is budget. Where is this? How much? But I just want this is a way to see authentically how do these things all piece together to surround the teacher who surrounds students in the classroom. So if you just have a teacher in the classroom and you’ve increased the size maybe because of needs and stuff, but you don’t have any of this, you’re really limited in where students are at. Last thing I’ll say, because I can go on and on about this, is iReady, the little bit of the slides they showed there, we’re going to do an assessment update at a March meeting here where we’ll look at AP results, where we’ll look at iReady, look at MPAS and how they triangulate and so forth and give you that information.

1:06:53 When we met with iReady, as the team here, they were so congratulatory to Marblehead Public Schools for what’s happening in the classroom and the growth. Because we looked at both achievement of students this year right now compared to mid-year last year and it was phenomenal. And I know because I did these same meetings in Watertown too. So it was like a lot to cheer, which we will bring on further. But from this hard work of this system that you guys have set up here even last year. So that’s it. I just wanted to give you that. Thank you. I just want to say thank you and thanks Dr. McGinnis for mentioning. We hope to bring more great news, as you said, and Shafir, we want to highlight a lot of the great things that are happening in our classroom. So we’re committed. While these presentations take a long time, a slide or two, we’d love to share just the pictures, more videos and things that are happening, not only for the committee, but for our public to see the great work that we do. And also the great work that’s happening in the classroom. So we think that’s really important to highlight during this time. So thanks again to our maybe labels. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. I have a couple more items. Calendar update, do we have that? We don’t have that. We do. I didn’t see that in the drive. Great. So sorry. Shafir, we’re up in the air. We’re moving. So as we sent after our last committee meeting, we shared with the school committee our proposed calendar. Nothing has changed on that.

1:08:24 We still believe that we’re putting forth a really great calendar that meets our contractual obligations and professional development, as well as our 180 days in the time on learning that we have to meet for DESSET requirements. So nothing has changed with our calendar update. We did hear from the NEA that they’ve not voted on moving parts of the professional development date. But it is to the school committee if you would like to vote on that and then we can come back after. Yes. I just wanted to say it is still the same calendar that was used for our thoughts. Nothing has changed on that. Okay. So we’re prepared to take this as a vote. The only thing I will say is it’s not anywhere in the public. So we do need to get it out there. Yeah, it wasn’t in the packages from the last meeting that we booked at the DASF. So as long as we can get it up there. Can I call for a motion to approve the school calendar for 24-25 school year as was presented at our last school meeting February 1st? So moved. Second? Second. Brian and can I do a roll call vote? I will start with Brian Oda. Alison Taylor? I don’t think so. So I wasn’t at the meeting. Okay. Thanks. Okay. Sarah Fox. Yes. And Jen Chapman in favor. So we are four two zero. Okay. Great. Thank you.

1:09:54 Budget update? Yes. Yeah, I’ll start briefly and then I will pass it past the gavel here. As we mentioned next Wednesday after break on the 28th, I’ll present the FY25 superintendents recommended budget to the budget workshop that we’re having. And under the directive of the town, we’ll present two budgets, a level services budget and a reduced services budget. The goal is to present useful information to the public and to the committee from each school and each department as it relates to our staffing and our student enrollment that will provide all of the Marblehead educational stakeholders a clear understanding of how their funding is appropriated to meet the needs of instructional learning and social emotional well-being students. So that is on the 28th. And to present, Krista? Yeah, so we didn’t present, we didn’t prepare a presentation this time because nothing substantial has changed. I do want to mention that our level services budget has been completed and in our hands for a number of weeks now. So normally in January, the school committee does receive the level services budget. We have had that completed. However, our directive this year was to produce two budgets, completely like last year. We did have a reduced services budget, but we had just produced the bottom line item. We didn’t talk cuts until February, probably the end of February, so we released those.

1:11:27 Right now, our leadership team is actively working on those cuts. We were still working on them this afternoon up until about 5-5-30. So we’re actively working on trying to come up with that cut of roughly 2.3 million and how it impacts our school district. As Dr. Magina stated, our cuts are in levels, or tiers. We start with tier 1, 2, 3, and 4. 4 is really the classroom-facing staff that we’re trying to protect as much as possible. So while we had cuts last year of roughly 1.5 million, this year the 2.3 million is in addition to that 1.5 million that we cut. So they’re even deeper and even more significant. So that’s why it’s taking a considerable amount of time. This budget book that we’ll be ready for next week, you’ll all have it in your hands by the end of next week, does include both our level services requests and a detailed line item breakout of the reduced services request. So you will know exactly where we are proposing these cuts occur. This is different from last year, so that’s why it’s a little bit delayed because we’re going to encompass that in the initial release of the budget book. So it’s not something that can affect. Does that include any moving kids from Brown to Weber, to Low, to New York? It does not at this time. We may start doing that with the incoming students, but right now we would have to take on a complete redistricting or reassignment project, which our leadership team just does

1:13:00 not have the capacity to take on. So our thought was maybe we start with just the incoming students and we do a different breakdown. Yes, that way. I mean, that can be affected if they’re siblings, but obviously that’s an operational issue. Right. That’s mental. So certainly we can handle that in the case by these faces. So ideally in the perfect world, yes, we have a reassignment project, but capacity is not there this year. So you will have your budget books. They are a little bit behind the typical schedule we have, but we’re putting some additional work to it this year. So you have a complete budget book. You’re also taking on an additional piece of the staffing, giving you a little more of the general ed and special education staffing. Our new student services, the term started today. So she’s also working on that as well with us. So we’re trying to give you the best product we can in the first run of the budget, because really that’s the document that goes public. So we want to make sure that you have it as much as possible. And it does. It adds an additional level of transparency that we haven’t produced before. I like to say that every budget we’ve produced over the past few years since I’ve been here has been more and more transparent. And I think this year will be even more so. So I look forward to releasing that next week. Certainly I am not looking forward to the cuts whatsoever, but it is a grim factor that we are facing too. So if there are any questions. But no, I just also note that you’ve been working, I know, hard, you and your team,

1:14:32 on producing the level of detail that this committee has asked for and had tasked to superintendent with them. It’s just been great working together. But also the finance committee has also had some requests as well. And they have a little bit different versions of what they’re looking for. And so there’s just, there’s a lot on you and your team, I know, to produce all this data and information for the folks on, obviously on this committee and our partners on the finance committee to help us get through this and present it. And really it’s going to be, it’s up to the town to decide in terms of how we’re going to go forward with the budget. So thank you. Thank you. Okay, I’m going to move on to consent and agenda items. I think that said everything on the update. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Williams. Okay, before we, oh sorry, through the chair, just before we move on to that, I was alerted to the fact something’s stuck in my throat. I’m not. I don’t know what’s happening. But the, I was alerted to the fact that our email, our individual email addresses are not on the website. So we will get that rectified as soon as possible. I know we noted that they were there and to use that for names, my name has one L and Jen’s last name. So we’ll work that out. Our group collective email address is on there, but it’s understandable. Someone may not want to reach out to everybody at the same time.

1:16:02 That could be a little, a little too much sometimes. So we’ll make sure those get up there. Yeah, I’ll talk to Lisa tomorrow. We’ll get it right up. First thing. Great. I’m going to move on to schedule fills. Gosh, I know it’s not. I forgot to put this one. Hang on. I got to hear something. No, it was cheaper. Okay. Okay. So I have a request to approve schedule fills dated January 31st, 2024, totaling $762,430 in the 73 cents. Do I have a motion? Motion by Brian. Do I have a second? Second. Second. Okay. So I have a motion by Lisa Taylor. I’m going to go in the same direction. So Brian Oda. Approved. Allyson? Approved. Approved. Approved. Approved. Okay. Sarah Fox. She may have dropped off. Just bear with me a minute before. Yeah. I think she dropped off. I think she dropped off. So Jen Shaffner in favor. So four to zero from schedule fills. I also have the minutes for approval. Is that it? Was that it? Yeah, that was it. Now the kindergarten is further down. So I have, we also have in our packet the minutes for 12, 12, 7, 23, approval of minutes.

1:17:41 Can I have a motion to approve those minutes? Can you move? Brian Oda. Second. Second. Lisa Taylor. In favor of Brian Oda. Sorry. Vote. I’m sorry, Brian Oda. In favor. Allyson? In favor. I’m staying. And Sarah’s gone. Jen Shaffner in favor. So four to zero. I’m sorry, three to zero. Okay. Moving on. Ms. Tweedy. We’re moving on to school committee, communication, and discussion items. We have a number of things we’re voting on tonight. Very exciting. First, we welcome Megan Tweedy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And welcome, Megan. And Megan. And Megan. And Megan. And Megan. And Megan. And Megan. And Megan. And Megan. Megan’s meeting. Megan’s meeting. Who’s here to talk to us. She’s from a. From. Representative from Mass now. She’ll share with us. And she’s here to present the I am bill. She’s been talking about. In front of the state legislature. And change to schools. And. She had said it. Talked to me about this. And I thought it would be great to have her. Here. And ask us to support this. Sorry. Thank you very much. Hello. So very nice to be here. Again, like Jen said, I’m Megan. Thank you. Here tonight as a Mass Now representative and to talk to you about, as Jen said, the

1:19:11 bill that’s called I Am Bill. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Sorry. We don’t have an amplifier. Microphone is for the TV. I’ll try and talk louder. But also, I think it will also be on. I’m happy to share this presentation. Okay. Well, I’ll be talking. Okay. Megan Sweeney. I’m here as a TAC Board member for the Massachusetts chapter of the National Organization for Women. Shorter is Mass Now because I do not want to have to keep saying that. I am honored to offer the testimony tonight on behalf of an organization which has led the pursuit of equity and justice for over 50 years. We are really proud to be in front of such a strong women-led committee tonight and staff to be here. Each legislative session, Mass Now gathers testimony and other lobbying actions on bills related to our six purpose areas. Reproductive justice, racial justice, LGBT rights, economic justice, gender-based violence, and constitutional equity. Tonight we are talking about the I Am Bill and act to increase access to menstrual products in prisons, homeless shelters, and public schools. Economic, educational,

1:20:49 and health inequality are priority issues for Mass Now and National Now. The I Am Bill addresses each. I Am addresses inequality in schools. Menstrual products are essential. Half of the world menstruates. We need to remove the stigmas attached to menstruating. Lack of access to menstrual products is evident across demographic groups, which increase the risk of infection, causes emotional anxiety, affects students productivity and attendance, and deepens the stigma associated with being demonstrated. Approximately one out of seven children in Massachusetts lives in poverty, which means it is a struggle to pay for menstrual products. Some are forced to use toilet paper and other unsanitary unsafe options. That is unacceptable. Over half of Massachusetts school nurses are able to send students to get products. It is just simply in 2024 ridiculous. We shouldn’t have to have to go through all this. This sort of interruption in the school day had short and long term repercussions, which I am sure I will say the same. The I Am Bill addresses inequality and the common law. Menstruating is a basic function, basic fact of human existence. But

1:22:24 our stigmas are codified into the systems that are designed to support us. Food stamps and other federal subsidies do not cover menstrual products. More than 20,000 people are unhoused in Massachusetts and the least donated items to shelters are menstrual products. Women, this one is a little upsetting, women have become the fastest rolling segment of the incarcerated population. The systems and policies have simply not powered up, furthering the stigma of menstruation and providing more obstacles that our young women and menstruators simply do not need. We can be better, which is why it hurts enough. Periods do not stop for pandemics or mass tests, playoff games, if you are unhoused, unemployed, in a school committee meeting or incarcerated. The I Am Bill passed unanimously in the Senate in October. It was really exciting. Our Senator, Biden-Pregnant, was one of the original petitioners and Jenny Armini is a sponsor. It’s now in the House and Raised and Raised Committee, waiting to be voted upon. Last week, the Marblehead Board of Health unanimously voted to endorse it. As I said, Brendan and Jenny are already sponsors. Tonight, I’m hoping that the Marblehead School Committee will join our efforts to honor the safety and dignity of our community members. I’m asking tonight to vote to endorse the I Am Bill and then write to our elected officials with your endorsement and your support.

1:23:59 There’s one change that I wanted to ask. Since I had on your handout and presentation, I asked you to write to Brendan and Jenny. I actually met with them last week. They’re all on board. They’re all excited. I think that’s not necessary. If you’re willing, I would love for me to consider writing to the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, the chair and vice chair. I can give their information because they’re who you need to get them to bring us to a vote. Thank you. Just so folks know, I have put the brochure in our drive as well. Basically, just to make it clear, the I Am Bill stands for an act to increase access to menstrual products in prisons, homeless shelters, and public schools. With past, public schools would be required to have menstrual products available for free for no cost to the student in our bathrooms. Thank you for coming. I appreciate this. Yes, please, please. I know Matt Fox, Principal Fox, is on Zoom with us. They have this at the middle school and they have a very interesting way that they came about. Matt, are you listening? Yes, I’m here. I’m you, Matt. Hey, Matt. This is fine. Is that him in the garden?

1:25:31 There we go. Someone had to unmute me. Can you hear me? Yeah, Matt, share your story. It’s a good one. Well, I think the best thing is, even as a 28-year professional, I’m still learning from students. So last year, the Salem News did an outstanding article about three young women. They were at the Horace Mann School over in Salem and they were challenged by teachers to do a project. And their project was bringing in free menstrual products for their school. And so I read the article and I just sort of sat there sort of stunned, thinking why wasn’t this something that we were already doing? So we jumped right at it. We got some funding. We purchased 10 dispensers. We have them in all our girls’ rooms and in our ungendered rooms, bathrooms. And we now provide free menstrual products to anybody who needs them. That’s wonderful. Thank you. It’s one of those things I don’t think you think about. I know that sounds silly, just especially in our age groups who don’t think about it. But it would be so, if you think of all the times I know when I was in high school and when my daughter had gone to school, it was just there and just easy. It would be really, make it a lot simpler just to be here for the school then. Yes, I also really like what you said about de-stigmatizing the whole process as a woman raising a little boy, who obviously will not be going through that process, but certainly

1:27:04 will be around it a lot, is around it now with me. I think that that’s so important. I really like, obviously it’s all amazing, but I like that particular part that resonated with me a lot, because I work a lot with you too, to make sure that I am raising the young man that will not feel any stigma talking about it will be a full part of life. I love that. Thank you. And we have an Advocacy Day a couple weeks ago where we went to the state house and we had an amazing lineup of speakers that just all the various sponsors for four different bills on that particular day all having to do with equity and trying to remove obstacles so that everybody can sit at the table. And one of the most amazing parts was all the young people that were there. And it wasn’t just, you know, it was such a nice age range, but it’s those young women. I sat with two 15-year-olds, which I would have never guessed, they were 15, and they had already, to Matt’s point, they had already organized three or four schools in their area, and they were doing letter writing, and they were contacting the representatives, and they were all about talking about menstrual products and periods, and just talking about it. And a lot of the representatives said it’s all about all of us just sort of making whatever spaces that we are, we start normalizing. We have menstrual products in the bathrooms, we have a table and chairs for little kids in City Hall so that when they come to, when their parents come to a meeting,

1:28:38 there’s a table and I don’t know, crayons and a coloring book, just all these little bits that we tend to remove signals. So, yes, definitely. So, the sweeties in front of the Marble and the Water of Health earlier this month, who unanimously voted to support this bill and sent a letter to the representatives that I was working on as requested in this presentation. And so I came, in coming forward to the committee, to ask the committee to consider doing the same, the useful committee take a vote to support this bill and to also send the letters I can either write myself or Elsa can work with the superintendent and Lisa Manning to pen a letter to the folks that you asked us to, and also to ask if we can be added to the list today. On this brochure, there’s a lot of organizations, a lot of nonprofits that have also, their boards have voted to support this. I’d love to get anyone there if we pass this. No, I’d love that. Can I ask, I’d like to ask for a motion to approve the Marblehead School Committee supporting the I Am Bill and to write to our elected representatives who sold. I was just going to read the slides. A second? Second. I know that. Okay. Bynoda. In favor. Elsa, thank you. Always. Jen Schauf, her name is Jen Schauf, her name is Jen Schauf, her name is Jen Schauf, her name is Jen Schauf, her name is Jen Schauf, her name is Sarah, are you there? Sarah Schauf, are you there? Yes.

1:30:09 Yes, we are. We have to tell them to write. Did you hear? I’m sorry. I apologize. Did you hear that motion? Yes. Yes, in favor. Thank you. Five to zero. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We’ll copy you on the letter to suit. Okay, and I did want to interrupt, but we do have a template if you want me to send it. Oh, that’s great. That’s a mistake. Thank you. We appreciate that. Thank you, Madam. Have a good night. Thank you, Madam. Okay, we have now, moving on, we met earlier the interim student services director who was here that was presented to us by Superintendent McInnes, so we do have a request to go to approve that contract. So can I have a motion to approve the contract for interim student services director Val? Second. Second, but I just have a question about it. The letter says February 26th. Does it start date? Yeah, she’s per diem right now. Oh, so that’s so the per diem part doesn’t have to be covered by a vote by us or… Correct. Okay. Second. Second. Okay, great. Brian Oda. In favor. Alison Taylor. In favor. Al Williams. In favor. Star Fox. In favor. Two, three. Three. In favor. Kansas 5-0. Okay, same thing for a vote for the school business and operations position. This is Mary Delie and this is a contract. Correct. Correct. Contract to approve her contractual position, school business and operations director.

1:31:44 Do I have a motion to approve that? Second. Brian? Yeah. Motion second? Second. Second. Second. L. Okay. Brian Oda? In favor. Alison Taylor. Al Williams. In favor. Star Fox? In favor. Joanna, in favor. Thank you. Thank you all for being here today. Overnight field trip approval for Borne Dale. Do you have a presentation or are we… Yes, thank you. No. Pre-impressive. Yes. It was a pretty impressive present. Yeah. Yeah, but I know. I could barely get the presentation. I know I could really get the position. I thought we were just going to vote, but we’re going to get the whole show here. Yay. Well, you have to. We’re not sure. I’m not sure. I’m sorry. I just, I ran off on that, but I did not know that. So I went to more day, just kind of sort of. Wow. That looks so good. Hi, Denny. When we did the job and how I’m grade six teacher, it’s nice to be here in my role as my grade six physician. So what you just said about going to born yourself. I kid you not, when we had the meeting back in January, we asked the parents in the gardens, in the auditorium, how many of them actually went to born when they were coming through the head and half that auditorium raises the hands. It’s amazing. It’s a legacy program here in Myrtlehead.

1:33:15 And we talk a little hiatus with COVID. We had a whole group of village school that didn’t go through, which breaks my heart. My daughter was one of them. And I didn’t get a chance to share that with her as a student. But we’re back. We went back last year and it was extremely successful. It was nice to be back. It was like riding a bike again. The village, we call it the village experience now. And we did that on purpose because it is experience. It’s culminating experience for the first half of Marlboro public schools. And it is a village experience because we just don’t have great success going down with us. We have some staff that’s because of families go down full time and we trade. We have six-year teachers that go into a fifth-grade classroom or fourth-year classroom or into the art room or PE. It is amazing to share that across the entire school. It is a multidisciplinary program. We incorporate math, science, literacy, social studies, social-emotional. When they go down, they go down to five teams and they come back, they’re one class. And I know when we move them on to Vets, they come back and they’re ready. They are ready to step up to go to Vets. It is a tremendous undertaking. I think it’s the largest trip we do in Marlboro public schools. We’ll have, I think there’s 190-something sixth-graders.

1:34:46 We’ll probably have 95% of them attend just to give you perspective in terms of the number of chaperones we have coming. We had 94 parents and guardian chaperones come down last year over the course of three, 19, 40s. It’s like one in every two or three students. We have chaperones in every single cabin. So they have chaperones. Every cabin, so they vary in size. Some will be eight to 12, some will be 12 to 15 students in there. Each one has their own individual beds. And their day is pretty full. They are allowed out of their cabins at seven in the morning and they’ll be up. The kids always ask, how am I going to get up? They don’t have electronics down there. It’s nice to see them take their breaks in electronics. And they wake up. They wake up. The kids are up. Light comes through the cabin. They wake up. They go out and they play. We have breakfast. They have two classes. So six core classes. We go down. We leave village school shortly after dismissal. Go down for lunch in our first class. Each class has about two and a half hours. And there are six core classes. Every student experiences all six classes. They range from project adventure. So there’s your team building. Two fun studies where we talk about freshwater ecosystems. We have a engineer design class where they build a rocket,

1:36:19 two different types of rockets. One is based on a combustible engine. And they put together and they talk about the function of the rocket. The other one is they do it with compressed air. So they build using paper towel holders and other types of materials. And they launch it through compressed air. So they build out of PVC piping. And they actually launch it, try to get it to go as far as they can and get height and distance. And then they go back and they’re redesigned. And they go through that design process. They try to see what can they change to get it to go higher or go further. And they have some friendly competitions with that too. They have rec time down there. So they get a lot of recess to interact with their peer group. And we, Mr. Volpe has come down. He’s a grade five teacher. He’s our fish whisperer. So we have kids that have never caught a fish. Somehow they’re on that dock with Mr. Volpe. Every single one of them catches a fish. It’s amazing. We, we have a nice home to the Boyneville connection because we will post through social media. We get all the permissions for policy and we will share out. So we have, we’re on Instagram and Facebook. And it’s almost like Marvellous Stocks because they’re looking for us to post and share out videos from the trip. We do cover on entertainment when we’re down there. So we do a village program called Science Idol. And they can choose, it was science that we’ve done it, it incorporates social studies into it now.

1:37:50 So they have a choice, science or social studies. And they can take something that they’ve learned through grade four, or six, and they tell that piece of the curriculum through a song. We do competitions back at school. So we go from say eight to 10 teams, five to the five teams down to one. And we’ll have a night when we have a DJ down there. They sing the songs, they do their choreography. We have our guest judges. If we can get Mrs. Murphy to come down, she will be a guest judge. You’ve had our superintendent sound. I think when Theresa was down, she was a guest judge. So it’s very playful. And we share it live when we’re down there. So we have parents that come that are voting as well. It’s a great way to really engage the community. It is a fantastic experience. We also have a comparable program here back at Village. We have some things that just are not ready to go down to one. So we want them to have an experience that is very similar to what we have at Orange Village. The only thing they don’t do is sleep over at Village School. We will have teachers that were, six-year teachers that will be back at Village School. We will work in with our allied arts at Village School as well. We will do some on-site programs. We have in the past brought in the, oh my gosh, it’s a taste like kitchen, thank you, in Beverly. And they’ve come in and they prepare their own food, food scratch, and that’s their lunch. We’ve worked with the Northeastern Marine Science

1:39:23 Center, Coastal Sound and Salem. We’re a coastal community. Some of the stuff that we do at Boyne that we can do right here in Marblehead and give them that comfortable experience. Trips in Museum of Science to Jim Jowarria we’ve gone to before to do some team building that way as well. So we really try to make sure that we give them that comfortable experience. So everything we do at Boyne, we try to make sure that they have that same experience here in Marblehead. So it is a great program. We’re glad that we can continue to provide that experience to all of our Marblehead students when we integrate six. And it’s amazing just to see them come together as one class and really enter their second phase of Marblehead schools as one class. You’ll see in the prezi that we give Jonathan the timer it’s the parent information night, maybe Millie. And you’ll see it, but it’s very thorough. And I just want to give a shout out to the teachers. Any questions that have come our way are already answered because the sixth grade staff works tirelessly to make sure that this trip, whether it’s at school or at Bournemouth, is successful for every student. So I just I need to give them a shout out for all the hard work. The counselors, the teachers, they communicate with parents. Just everything that you would worry about you don’t even need to worry about because they have thought 10 steps ahead of that. So it’s really just a credit to the commitment of all of them. Registration is due tomorrow.

1:40:53 And when they do the registration, we’ve worked. We’ve gone back to when Mrs. Murphy was a guidance counselor at school. And she was going on this trip with us too. We wanted to make sure that we collected as much information as we possibly can. We see the students during the day. We don’t see them after school or at night. And there are things that we need to know to help make sure they have that successful experience. That’s the goal for every student to be successful. And sometimes we do have that one child, and they do miss home. But we bring a guidance counselor down with us. And myself and the guidance counselor will stay up all night long if we have to. Help them get through that night. And when they do and they wake up the next morning, it’s such a sense of self accomplishment. And they’re so proud. And then the rest of the trip is just fantastic. My brother will throttle me for sharing this. But when he went, the second day he was there, he had to go to the hospital again. It’s a perfect sound. Ouch. He’ll kill me later. Yes, of course. I should say, to what Principal Murphy said, it’s really just incredible what the staff do. And I just want to also do a special thank you to John from Heller for all his leadership of this. And it’s really, really, truly appreciated. So thank you very much. It’s a tremendous amount of effort. It doesn’t go unnoticed. I think our spreadsheet’s kind of give Michelle a run for her money when she does all the spreadsheets. It’s just everything is really organized in the data we have that go into it. But we share with Bornville and their staff down there as well. Again, it’s all about making sure that they’re successful and have a really positive experience.

1:42:25 I can attest to not only that I went for it, but I had a student that was on that, my now 27 year old, today, but had some sort of a challenge. There was some issues and challenges and was on an IP. And I wasn’t ready for that to happen to Bornville. And I was strongly encouraged by the principal to make sure that happened. And he had an amazing, amazing, I think, life changing and school career changing experience being down there. And primarily from the social and social side. Not necessarily the academics, of course, when they learn. Just to be able to do that was really, really a mountain that was fine. And so I appreciate that. And any parent that may be concerned about that, it was handled just unbelievably.

1:43:23 We have some students who are that fit wider in school. And sometimes when they’re in that different setting, the season engaged in a very different way. It’s just amazing. You see some kids and it’s like they just come alive. And it’s really catalyst for the next phase of their career in our public schools. It’s culminating an experience of three years at Village School that were really meaningful. And you still speak of it. So the teachers that also volunteer at their time in energy, making sure every child, including your son, has an exceptional time. In Harris. Yeah, only educators. We actually gave the chaperones last year. We got them t-shirts. And it said, they have the Village School logo on the front and the back. What’s the Village School logo? They keep each other well. And we have a duck in there now too. Crackers is in there. And then the back, it said, I survived the night. So it’s a chaperone of 2023 and I survived the night, which is nice. A little place we’ll go back into the county. Thank you so much. So we have to approve this. This is a vote, right? OK, so we are here to approve the Village School overnight field trip to Fort Dale. I don’t have the date, but it’s usually May, right? May 21, April 1st. It’s a Tuesday.

1:44:55 Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. And a second. Brian, second. Brian Oda. Alice, in favor. Alan? Sarah Fox. In favor. Jim Chapman, in favor. Mrs. Fife, thank you. You have time. Thank you. Absolutely. OK. Marblehead High School Program of Study. Changes. So in our drive, we had what looked to me to be a summary, basically, from Dr. Carlson on the changes to the program of studies. And then we actually have the 63-page program of studies. So I am thinking you’re here maybe to talk to us on the changes. And if you could go ahead and approve. Yeah, not the whole program. You just heard it. But we’re approving the whole program of studies inclusive of the changes. Yeah, so I- Welcome. Thank you, Dr. Carlson, for the patience. I summarized in the memo that I sent out to you what the changes were. So it just broke it down a little bit from that 60 pages. So basically, we make modifications every year to the program of studies. And this is the beginning part of our scheduling process. The scheduling process takes months to get that whole high school scheduled, and you can imagine. This is the first part of it. And also, right now, teachers are just starting this week to put their recommendations in for students

1:46:25 to their core subjects. They have about two weeks to do that. And then in March, students will start keeping their records. And we’ll start crunching numbers. And all of this just raised for the 24-25. For the 24-25 school year, yes. So basically, we’ve centered changes around some focus barriers. So first is increasing access to upper-level courses and reducing barriers. The second is expanding advanced placement force offerings. And then the third is continuing to increase And then the third is continuing to support the middle to high school transition. And so the changes, I’ve broken down my department. The first is the English department. We will be offering an AP research course this year. And this is sort of a sister course to a course we put in last year, which was AP seminar. And the reason that we’re doing this is to expand AP course offerings. It provides another upper-level elective option for students. And it will expand their skills from the AP seminar. AP seminar is a prerequisite to AP research. And it’s going to be open to grade 12 and it’s going to be elective. The other, I can talk to you about it in the background more. English that we are removing would be the dystopian literature course. And that’s open to CP1 and the honors level.

1:47:56 And the rationale behind that was we introduced it about three years ago and we have never had an absolute science to take it. So that will not run anymore. You can watch me. And then social studies. This course right here, we have gotten requests for years to run. And I’m really thrilled to be able to say that we’re putting this forward and into our program studies. It’s the AP Psychology course. It’s in the opening to grade 11 and 12. It’s a full year. It’s another elective coming out of the social studies department. And social studies has a four-year requirement. And one of those will just hand you elective as well. So this will help satisfy that. And this is the most sought after we requested AP course so far. Do we have a non-AP or this should be the first psychology? We have a semester non-AP course. Yes. Math and science. So this is part of a multi-year roll-up that we’ve done. And this started probably six, five, six years ago. We removed all the CP2 from English. When I started here 10 years ago, we did not have CP2 classes in social studies. And then we started with math and science. Last year was the ninth grade removal of the CP2 and this year it will be the 10th grade removal. So it rolls up. We have built in RTI courses that we have run

1:49:29 to help support students that need some extra instruction in English, math, or science. And it’s been very successful as we’ve sought from our end task force this year. It went way up. We’re right up where we were through pandemic now. And I know that this has been in part due to some of that. The other thing that we’ve done is we’ve run co-talk classes also in English, in science, and in math. And math has also been successful. And we’ll continue to do that just to support these learners. Performing arts, there’s not really changes here. Well, I should say that music and film is going to be a new course offered to expand elective choices in the music department and they’re also going to offer theater arts too. As another elective, previously we had offered musical theater along with theater arts one. So they’re kind of shifting over to this theater arts too. We’re gonna eliminate world drumming because again, it hasn’t run in the past few years. It just hasn’t been students that have signed up to take it. And then visual arts will reduce a prerequisite for this art studio three. So this will increase access and we need some barriers to the upper level courses for students to visit art studio three. And then these two additional special ed courses, we’ve had that program with studies, but we’re doing some name changes to better show what these courses are. Formerly, we call this course 21st Century Skills.

1:51:03 It’s now going to be called Studies, Skills, and Strategies. It’s geared towards ninth and tenth grade and it really does help with that transition from middle to high school. And then middle and real world skills was called Life After High School and people were saying, what the heck is that? So this is going to be for the 11th and the 12th graders as well. What is that consistent? It is kind of a little bit of everything that you need. So it’s still talk about the real path. They will talk about adulting. So nutrition, travel, home bills, car insurance, all the things you need to. And that’s an elective, not a requirement. That is an election, yes. And these two are pass fails. So they’re not A through F grades. Yeah, I love that. And that’s it for the changes. Anyone have any questions? I’m going to call for a motion to approve the Marvel High School Public enough studies changes for the 24-25 school year. By an ode, second. Second. I’m going to give Allison a second. I’m going to call for a vote by an ode. Allison Taylor. Always. In favor. Sarah Fox.

1:52:33 In favor. The governor in favor. And I’ve to zero. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. DeCarlo. Thank you. Jason Stiller. Did you tell me to say I’m here? Do you feel like you’re still here? Yes, thank you. I skipped over the field. I’m sorry about that. So we had approved the overnight field trip at our last school committee meeting for the DECA trip and it’s been a change and we need to re-vote that. Yes, so we received word from the DECA people that they will be saying at the colony hotel, which is across the street from where the venue is. They’re like just across the street and you can think right inside the floor. So that necessitated the meeting to re-vote. And I have a motion to approve the DECA overnight field trip with the change in hotel. So will Allison in second? Brian. She said go to second. Okay, Brian Oda. Allison Taylor. In favor. In favor. Allison Taylor, in favor. Always. In favor. Sarah Fox. In favor. Jasner in favor. Five to zero for the DECA trip. Thank you. I appreciate that. Sorry I said that. Next on we have preschool and kindergarten tuition rates. And just for the note, I have athletic and activity fees for the next one, but I didn’t have that in the live. No, we are able to discuss it, but we’re not prepared to. Okay, good. Thank you. Sorry, I’m going to jump in. Okay, preschool and kindergarten tuition rates. This also was in your drive-ins drive. Yes, so as we are looking forward to the 24-25 school

1:54:05 year, it is time to set tuition rates for full day kindergarten and our preschool program. As you may know, our full day kindergarten program, we are one of the very few districts across the state that charge for such a program. The only one close to us that I am aware of is Reading Public Schools. And they’re a handful that I believe are west of the state. So we had actually held this rate of $3,500, the tuition for the past three years in hopes to reduce our reliance on that revenue stream to eventually stop charging for that program. However, the budget situation we’re in, we find ourselves needing to continue charging and actually looking to increase that rate. They have not increased that particular rate three years. We currently have 163 students in our tuition in full day kindergarten program. Approximately 15% of those students do receive some sort of financial aid. So whether it be a complete waiver of the tuition or a reduction of the tuition, it is 15% of that. And that program does bring in $470,000 a year, which is used to offset the cost of the teachers in that program. Preschool program also has not seen an increase in two years in that particular program. We have a half day program which runs five days a week.

1:55:35 And we have a full day program which runs four and a half days a week. Wednesday still remains a half day. So we have two different structures there. Our preschool currently, the half day program, we charge 4,500 and our full day we charge 6,500. We are looking for an increase of $500 in each of its programs. Our proposed rates, so kindergarten would bring that up to $4,000 a year and our preschool half day would be $5,000 a year and our preschool full day would be $7,000 a year. In terms of comparisons for our preschool program, our preschool program really is a special education program. So we’re mandated to have that program and each of our classes does include a set number of special education students that are 10 free of charge. So the rest of the class is filled with what we call peer model students and we are able to charge for those students. Right now we have 55 peer model students across the district and roughly we bring in this year we’re expected to bring in about $250,000 in revenue. So if we raise these rates, the proposed rates for what I’m anticipating or requesting $500 across the board, we will bring in additional revenue of $27,000 for the preschool program and $70,000 for kindergarten.

1:57:08 What does the kindergarten population look like for forecasting when this could lead us to still continue to stay steady or decrease? Pretty steady, there are no notable changes. I’m sorry, Sarah, go ahead. I just wanted to note and review that any revenue streams coming into those go into a revolving fund and can only be used to fund that item. So for instance, kindergarten, switching can only be used in expended on the paras and or the teachers and well, correct me if I’m wrong, which it’s just in that, for the teachers, it’s only in that afternoon portion of their salary that it can be used to offset, correct? Correct, roughly half of the salary, yes. Would be the maximum we could charge. Okay, so will this cover the entirety of that afternoon portion or will we still be putting some of that into the operating essentially? It will cover the salaries, it may not cover all of the benefits, half of the benefits for those staff associated. The benefits cost fluctuates each year, but yes, it would roughly cover half of the salaries for that afternoon portion. Okay, and just, I know that one of the main for Five Arms of our plan for success right now

1:58:40 is diversity, equity and inclusion. And one of the main things that, you know, one of the main, and Dr. McInnes might be able to speak to this a little bit, one of the main things you can do to really create equity is to give pre-access to full day kindergarten by removing the financial barrier. So I don’t see a way around this given the financial situation that we’re in, but it’s really unfortunate that instead of moving forward to where the vast, vast amount of the state is in and trying to give the access to that full day kindergarten, we’re going backwards right now. What these kids are asked to do in kindergarten right now is really not optional. I know that we, in the state of Massachusetts, still deemed optional. It’s just, these kids are coming out of kindergarten reading, knowing math facts, and there’s, I see Julia’s head shaking. There’s just, it’s a barrier. It is an unfortunate barrier that I think we have no choice what to do, but we really, as we move forward as a town, have to, again, think about what we value really is what we fund. And if we value equal access to education, Then we really need to start funding full-day kindergarten. If there are electives, so when my son did kindergarten, he did full day, there were opportunities though for students that did half day.

2:00:19 If there was an elective in the afternoon for them to stay anyways, even if they weren’t paying for full-time, does that still happen? Or have the schedules changed so that electives aren’t? I know there was some talk about that too. I’m not specifically sure. I know there’s been a lot of juggling of the schedule to make sure that we’re accommodating everything we need to with the first half of the program. Right. Because that was something that was offered. It was a letter brought back to Evelyn. I think one more thing to note is we figured out at the beginning of the school year that our half-day program actually wasn’t even covering all the curriculum. The previous scheduling hadn’t covered that. I’m really grateful to the current leadership team that they picked up on that right away and rectified that because we were dismissing… It had been scheduled to dismiss these kids at 12 and math was happening after 12. They weren’t really completing their curriculum, their mandatory curriculum, still after that. So it was that the new administration that you see sitting up at that table right now that in conjunction with some of the principals that really raised the flag and said, wait a second, we’re not covering what we have to in this schedule. So I’m really grateful for that catch. It’s been one of many, but also too. So we’re raising it by 500 and we’re shortening the portion of time you’re getting for that money.

2:01:51 So it just doesn’t feel equitable. Again, we have to do this, but we really as a town have to start funding what we say we value. So we’re actually extending that time though, Sarah, right? No, because you get shorter, Pete. The kids that get the free day get a longer portion. So it used to be your amount of money paid for 2.5 hours. Now your amount of money, you’re paying $500 more and it’s going to pay for, I think, an hour or two hours and five minutes. So that’s proportionately shrunk significantly. The other thing I find interesting is both on the federal level and the state level leaders have been talking for quite some time about mandatory pre-K. I’d like us to have mandatory K, which we don’t. Full day K, sorry. And then talk about having mandatory pre-K, which would be funded by the public school system. So in any event, any other questions? Quick question. This is more for the future. I agree with it. It would be nice if it was mandatory. It was not full day and not extra tuition for that. But is there a reason why we kept it the same for two years and then raised it somewhat significantly in third year? Is there any thought around just raising it on an annual basis according to our costs? We had been doing that all along and then three years ago, we made a decision to try to actually decrease it each year.

2:03:23 So that’s why we were holding it consistently. Right. And our overalls have not passed in the years. I’m not anticipating that we’re going to be looking at a favor below this year if we would go forward with that. Okay. It wasn’t. And then yes, thank you. Okay. So I have suggested any other questions? Okay. Suggested motion is asking for a motion that the school committee approve the tuition rates for the 2024-2025 school year as follows. Full day kindergarten, $4,000. Preschool half day, $5,000. Sorry. And preschool full day, $7,000. L. L. Second. Second. Second. Second. Alison Taylor. Roll call. Ryan Oda. In favor. Alison Taylor. In favor. Al Williams. In favor. Sarah Fox. In favor. She’s Gaffner. In favor. Thank you. Moving on. Athletic and Activity User Fee rates. Yes. So we have been in discussions. We are still in discussions late this afternoon about our activity and user fees. These directly impact our budget as these fees are used to pay for half of the stipends. So our coaching stipends and our club and activity stipends. So we have been going around and around looking at various proposals. Do we eliminate a family cap? Do we double our fees? Do we have them responsible for all of the stipends?

2:04:59 There is also a considerable amount of our budget that is earmarked for our athletic program. So should the user fees encompass all of those costs? So there are a number of variables that we have been tossing about. So we want a little more time to come forward with some proposals for the committee. It’s not as clear cut as just slight increase. This directly impacts what we can do with our budget for FY25. Given the financial position that we’re in. So hopefully our next meeting we will have a proposal. Two things to add to that. Thank you. We’re comparing districts in the area and we’re not getting rid of any athletics. Just to make that very clear. It’s just determining some possible changes. It was a directive actually from the town for all departments to look at our fees. So that’s what we’re doing. Thank you. So we’ll have that at a future meeting. Anyone have any questions or comments about that? Sarah, anything? Great. Thank you. Superintendent’s search process discussion. Obviously we took that out of order. This did call for a vote. Do we want to move with that, Sarah? That was your proposal. Do you want to? If the committee is ready to vote on that proposal, I’ve seen a reason not to as long as everyone feels that they had ample time. Which proposal? Sorry. The one that was put in from Glenn?

2:06:32 Okay. Great. So we had a recommendation from Executive Director Kutcher to move forward in the search for an interim superintendent. So do we want to vote that? Is that what we’re asking for, Sarah?

2:06:51 It’s to the will of the committee if there’s a motion, yeah. Do we want to vote it or just sit it with them? I guess I’m a little torn because I prefer a little bit of time for people to weigh in. Okay. So I should propose here. But we are under the gun in terms of time frame. So that’s a little torn as to which way to go here. Well, if I may, I think we would do the focus groups no matter what. So I think we can, and there’s no cost. So there’s actually legally no vote needed because there’s no cost incurred. So we can start Glenn working on the focus groups because we would do those, whether it’s a three-year or a interim. Because it’s more about what, the focus groups are really two questions. The two questions they ask are, what are your main concerns in the Marblehead Public Schools right now? Would be the same for both? Or, and what are you looking for in a leader? So those are the two standard questions that get asked. I think that we can move ahead with that piece and not lose time and allow the committee to have some thought around this and reconvene right after the February break. We can even add an extra meeting for that to get us moving on that if that feels comfortable to everybody. Yeah, that actually, that makes sense also because really, the sort of deadline is a posting of the position. And we would likely have these focus groups before we would post a position. So that is the deadline. Yeah, the way it would go is you have the focus groups. We would write the candidate

2:08:23 profile from the data from the focus groups, and then that gets posted. So that will not impede that at all. We can get Glenn to start working on those. I don’t think we necessarily need to. Does that mean we need to increase the history? Okay, so we’re going to move forward with that and take that under advisement, the recommendation from Glenn. Great. Okay, upcoming meetings and forum. This is not a vote. Sarah, I know this was something we talked about in terms of doing a community forum. And we kicked around some dates. Given the earlier proposal by the League of League Voters, do we, I don’t, I mean, do we want to discuss this or do we want to go forward? Have you worked with the League and try and work on a date? It sounded like the committee really embraced the offer from the League and was grateful for it. It really aligned with what we were going to do anyway. And when we talked about that, I think it was Jen that had said, you know, having someone moderate it. So that really works hand in hand. So I’ll just, I will be in touch with the League to get some dates on board. If that February 29th works for them, I think that would be, give us enough time to get out to the public. If that date doesn’t work on our side, if you guys can all just let me know in the next 24 hours, that would maybe, that would be great. And then once I hear from you guys, I’ll work with the League. Thank you. February 29th.

2:09:54 Great. So I’m going to respond to subcommittee and liaison updates. Anyone have any updates? No, the policy committee hasn’t met. I did mean to send it, you know, Ms. Johnson, Casey Johnson, which I didn’t find out when the next Medco parent council meeting is. I will find that out and get that information up to the League to determine who may want to attend that. There is the Medco and I believe Keisha shared this with everybody. I apologize if I’m paraphrasing it wrong. It was the Medco day of action. And I, yeah, so I encourage any and all committee members that want to be involved with that to be involved with that. It is not a meeting for us per se. So we wouldn’t require posting and we wouldn’t be limited to forum. So that’s, you know, something everyone can do. We do have a finance liaison’s meeting tomorrow morning at 830. It’s a joint meeting with the finance committee’s liaison’s for the schools. That’s a tongue twister to post every time. So that will be happening tomorrow morning. The Medco advocacy day brochure also in your drive, which is Tuesday, March 19th at the state house. Any other updates? Yes, great. New business. Any new business? Yes, I’d like to know what the RFP is.

2:11:27 You’ll be getting that out too. I’m trying to, you should have it no later than the end of next week. It should be released. What I’m struggling with is no other district has ever put this out or no one is willing to admit to it. They’re saying they just contracted and not put it out to bid, trying to figure out how legally they did that. And I’m trying to set minimum qualifications for the firms because if we open it to anybody, you’re going to get a variety of proposals and then you’re stuck with the lowest bid. So I’m trying to set minimum qualifications. They need to have a certain number of years experience and whatnot because we want to make sure you have a very thoughtful chair. Is this something you want to maybe ask Ms. Val? Just you know, get some input from her. Absolutely. She has, I was thinking from interviewing her that she has a ton of experience. That’s what you’re doing. In the absence of not having a director, I did not have anyone doing. And I was trying to put it together myself because normally I would rely on the director of student services. So yes, I was thinking that and I actually came in this morning and said, when does she start? And they’re like, she’s in her office right now. So yes, that is on my list. So what’s the usual turnaround for an RFP? 30 days? Probably a little less. It has to be posted for two weeks. So yes, you know, within 30 days you should have responses. Okay. Yes.

2:13:01 Any update on the roof? The roof. We are also putting out, I did talk to Thatcher. The town will not be going out with to bid with us for an OPM because their projects do not require it. Any project over $300,000 requires an OPM. So we are, you know, we need one for our high school roof. So I’ll be putting out that bit as well next week. And originally they said we were doing it with them, but yes, they don’t need to secure it. So they contracted with the consultant, but it’s not a project manager. So we are going out and yes, that will be the same time frame. We should have it out next week. Okay. Anything else? Any members? That’s agreed. Oh, any correspondence?

2:14:08 I would just know, we all know about the letter that was in the paper. That was correspondence, but it actually wasn’t ever sent to us. It was in the public domain. Yeah, which is, was, you know, it was never sent to us. It just looked like, sorry, you guys have selection, superintendent selection committee. Is that what you were referring to? Yeah. Yeah. So we didn’t, we had this for a vote, which we did Sarah on the, on the discussion items that we would move forward with selection committee. Do we want to do that? I mean, I’m just going down for a little bit. So it was unclear in Glenn’s presentation if, if we go the other way, if the whole committee would be involved in that or not, if we went with his recommendation. I, I somewhat interpreted it that way, but that wasn’t clear to me.

2:15:14 You want to vote? I’m fine for wait. Yeah, I think it’s kind of hard to get it. Yeah, because it may be that we don’t have the same type of selection committee and it’s the entire committee. It may very well be. Okay. My understanding is the selection committee you really use when you have people that may have a sitting position and they want anonymity. If we’re going with, if we choose to go the path that Glenn is recommending that you’re, you’re looking at a different pool. They’re not, they’re not, they’re often retired. They’re not currently employed. It’s known that they do these type of things. It’s just a different process. So the only thing I would say under new business, because it wasn’t under specifically under the category was you would, you would include it in the drive, an email proposal from a consultant, or you did mention it before earlier, I guess, Sarah from Mr. Lupini. Yeah. He had offered a proposal to do the same. He was, he was, he was, he was the name Liz had recommended to me as someone to reach out to. He, I think is, is very well versed. A lot of the, pretty much on point with everything Glenn said. His was 15,000 and Glenn’s had no cost. So There’s two different scopes that’s all, but I think I’m going to Glenn and we can always

2:16:46 entertain this. Okay. Yeah. All right. Great. Anything else? Great. I need a motion to adjourn. Brian Oda. Second. Now we have safe words to adjourn. Brian Oda. In favor.