School Committee: June 20, 2024

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

0:01 All right. So I did, I did call us to order at seven oh three. This is our first meeting after the annual

0:10 town elections. Where is that coming from? I have no sound whose sound on It Sounds like it’s, sounds like it’s coming from that. Oh, the bar is picking up the Laptop or the mic.

0:59 All right, we’re good. Yeah. Is it because the mic is over the speaker there? Hello? We’ll, go ahead, but I, no, we can’t. I don’t know how We go.

1:19 I got more people coming. Is that better? No.

1:36 Is that better? Yeah. Okay, perfect. So our, uh, this is our first meeting after the annual 10 elections. And per our policy, this is when we have our reorganization. Um, I will make a recommendation and I would make a motion that we

1:54 keep it as it is and revisit this, um, at our next meeting when we’re a full committee of five. Um, particularly where we’re, we have such pressing matters legally on multiple fronts right now. Um, and I’ve been working with the attorneys for the last couple weeks to kind of get things in motion. So I would ask, um, I’ll make a motion to postpone this to our next meeting when we’re a full committee of five.

2:23 No, no, no. Not, not your thing, our committee reorganization. No, no, no, no, no. Absolutely not that. What I’m saying is when I referenced the importance before us is, um, as chair, I’ve been working with the parties for the last two weeks, um, to facilitate getting all the pieces together. And, and so I just wanted to make sure this continued to move. Um, so that’s what what I had referenced in, in asking for the motion to, um, To postpone our committee reorganization until we’re a full committee at our next meeting.

2:59 But no one is seconding that. No, I don’t think so. No.

3:09 You wanna go ahead? Yeah. Yeah. Um, I would like to make a motion, uh, that Jen Schaffner be chair. I’ll second that. All right. Is there a discussion?

3:25 I just think after two years, it’s nice to have some rotation of, of people. Um, I have full confidence in what you have done with the lawyers, and I have full confidence that Jen will take that forward, um, and that the, the transition will be seamless. Okay. Um, my primary concern was if there was any potential conflicts arising from some of the comments that have been made in the last week or so, but, um, we’ll work through that.

3:53 All right. All in favor? Do we need a roll call? Vote? Oh yeah, because Brian’s not here. Brian’s Not. We’re not a full committee. Five. There’s no one on Zoom. All in favor? Opposed Abstention. Motion carries three to zero with one abstention And I’m going to nominate, um, Allison Taylor as vice chair for the Marwood School Committee. Second Discussion.

4:21 Thanks Allison. You’re on coming into year three of a three year term, I think, um, you know, you’ve had some experience here and ready to jump into a leadership role after doing secretary for I what, two years? Mm-Hmm. Yeah. So thank you for that. Um, we’ll call a roll call vote. I’ll do a roll call. Vote Allison In favor. Feels weird voting for myself. In favor? In favor? In favor. Jen in favor. Passes four to zero, right? Um, we probably do need a secretary. I don’t know if anyone wants to do that. That we could, I mean, al’s the newbie and I was told when it was mom, I was the newbie that that’s the newbie job. We do have some clerk that does it now

5:07 for our regular meetings. So it’s executive session only, so it’s a slightly less, uh, so I make, make a motion for Al Williams to be secretary. I will second that. Um, and I’ll do a roll call. Vote Allison. In favor? Um, Sarah. In favor? Jen In favor? Al Abstain. Ab Okay. Oh, You Zero. Congratulations Al. Thank you. You’re Welcome. And Allison, vice chair. Great. Okay, so I’m gonna go on with, um, the agenda. Um, next we have commendations. Does anyone have any commendations? I have one, but I’ll wait. Um, I wanna offer a commendation for Cat or Steve Student Representative.

5:52 This is her last meeting. You’ve been an absolute pleasure to hear your reports at our various meetings. Um, you’ve really brought Breath Life into, you know, what’s really going on in our schools when you give the reports each, each time. And, um, it’s always something I know I look forward to. So thank you so much for committing to this and we have a little heart for you, something in it. Thank you.

6:19 Thank you. Anyone else before we move on? I have one commendation. Um, to thank our interim superintendent, Dr. Teresa McGinnis, who has done an amazing job, came in, um, in a difficult situation. We’ve had, um, we’ve had an interesting year this year and she has really stepped up and risen to the occasion. And we wanna thank you for all your hard work. I have a gift for you. You don’t think you’d have such a big audience for you? Thank, but we just wanna present these to you. I’m not, my God, thank Put them on the table ‘cause they’re gonna block you. Well, thank you very much. I have, I have a statement to say after we let these folks talk. And so those are the two take home. Thank you kindly. Thank you. Um, okay, so we’re gonna move into public comment. Um, we have a couple of sheets up here. I’m sorry.

7:07 We’ll do cat first because public comment might be Okay, good point. Um, okay. So is it the will of the committee to move student representative to the next step before we do public comment? Yes. Great. I don’t want you to on I love you honey. You To keep admitting people.

7:24 Okay. Um, yes, this is my final meeting. Um, I’m very excited to hand the baton off to Ella Beto for next year. Um, and I have a few things to say. So, the 2023 to 2024 school year officially ended for students this past Monday at noon, and many kids celebrated by going to the beach or hanging out for the first night of true summer. Students completed their finals all throughout last week with grades closing on Monday morning, summer reading assignments for the upcoming freshman class. And others have been posted on a library website, which is also where students can find any AP AP classwork for the summer fall. Sport registration will start in early July, but sports have started captains practices all throughout town from strength training in the gym to early morning runs. I’d like to say thank you for

8:09 to everyone here on the school committee for being so welcoming. And also thank you so much for all that the public schools have done and taught me, um, for the past 12 years. Um, and yeah, I’m very lucky. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

8:28 Thank you. Okay, cool.

8:33 And good luck. Thank you, God. Um, okay, so we’ll move to public comment. Um, I have two pages of sheets here and I think there might be some names on the table over there. The, um, yes, thanks al. The policy of the Marblehead School Committee for public comment is we normally have about 15 minutes allocated for public comment and each person making comment, um, is asked to keep that to three minutes. So we certainly have more than that, I think lined up here depending on how long folks want

9:11 this.

9:16 Um, so I think we will have to defer to the will of the committee, um, as to how, if we want to extend the public comment. Mm-Hmm. And for how long? So I think maybe we could get started and then see how long it goes unless the committee would like to discuss that now and set some limits. I I’m fine to just let anybody who wants to speak speak I think we should. Okay, great.

9:47 Okay, so I’m gonna go in order of how these were si si signed up, um, from earlier this evening. So I have, first on the first name on list is Elmer Magana.

10:01 Welcome. Welcome. And we asked to you to keep it to three minutes or close to it. Thank you. Welcome. No, Frank, should You turn the microphone? Nope, just speak it. Okay. Thank you.

10:20 Student committee members, superintendent McGinnis, assistant superintendent for high school principal Dr. Carlson Middle School principal, Mr. Fox Marblehead, community, colleagues and students of the Marblehead Public School System. My name is Elra Magna and I have been a world language teacher at Marblehead High School for 18 years. I have been coaching boys soccer for 15 years and have been the advisor to the Animal Wellness Club and Pokemon Club. Now, in middle school and high school, we all learned how to write compositions, essays, or research papers. We also learned to include a worst cited or bibliography to prove that what we have done, our research, that the facts represent or say are actually true, not made up, not fake.

11:08 I’m a proud member of the Latino community, but I do not represent or speak for the entire Latino community. Therefore, just because I am a Latino, it doesn’t mean all my Latino brothers and sisters must believe everything I say. If I say that the Northmen or Vikings were here before Christopher Columbus, I expect people to check me on that, do the research before agreeing with what I say. My point of having a bibliography that demonstrates what you say or checking the facts of what someone of your community says, it’s to prove that the accusations of racism or antisemitism against our high school world Language Department, in particular towards my colleague Candace Liney, are not true at all. I have worked with Candace Slimy for 18 years.

11:54 I have chaperone Spain trips with her. I have attended conferences with her for those reasons than many more I can testify that Ms. Slimy will never ever say what they accuse her of saying. Ms. Slimy is a dedicated, hardworking teacher who always puts the students’ academic, emotional, and wellbeing first. She has and continues to advocate for people of all walks of life. Consequently, accusing her of discriminating against a particular group is unfair. So please do not believe the statements you hear, especially on social media, even if they belong to your community without proof. In conclusion, the antisemitism accusations against our

12:40 World Language Department and specifically against my colleague Candace Slimy, are not true at all. Just because someone in your community says it, it doesn’t mean they are true. Please check the facts. Also, I like pink. I like wearing pink. People say I look good in pink. I like the Barbie movie. I listen to Pink Floyd, but neither my colleagues nor myself were parked of a pink wall blocking the exit of the main office. People were coming and going with no blockade. Some of us were eating lunch on the counter, others were sitting, and only a few were standing. Check the cameras, ask the secretaries and they will testify. We did not block the exit door. We are dedicated hardworking Marblehead teachers. We are coaches, we are club advisors,

13:28 and we treat everybody equally and with respect. No matter the religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, disability, or political abuse, we are marble headstrong and we shall overcome. Thank you,

13:51 Mindy Greenberg. Jen, point of order, um, can, can the speakers, Um, get closer to the mic because the audio was cutting in and out? We will, we will try that. Cindy, thank you. Some of us online. Yep. We’ll try. It might be challenging. Yep. We’ll try to, we’ll try to do that. Thanks.

14:14 Hi, I’m Mindy. Welcome. Um, my name is Mindy Greenberg. I started working at the high school here in the fall of 2007 as a Spanish teacher. I recently informed the district that I will not be returning for the upcoming school year. This is because of the hostile work environment created by a group of my coworkers. Due to my religion and a lack of action taken by district administration, I am here tonight not to discuss any of the details of the harassment as this is not the time or the place for that conversation. Instead, I am here to support the proposed independent investigation by a vetted agency as well as to request an evaluation of the current policies and procedures to ensure that they will be carried out according to the law. The district has a civil rights grievance procedure,

15:00 which can be found on the district’s website, school handbooks, and resources page. Unfortunately, this procedure was not followed by the district administration. When I made complaints, I first reported concerns of antisemitism in April of 2022. This resulted in a conversation with a former assistant principal and nothing more. I again reported a separate incident on October 19th. This led to an investigation. Unfortunately, it seemed that none of the procedures were followed. After the investigation escalation intensified, and I was met with retaliatory acts. I raised these concerns with human resources, and I was told that my complaint and I quote, was taken seriously, thoroughly investigated and concluded with an appropriate outcome.

15:46 I was told by the district that they heard me and they handled it. However, the harassment continued. And let me tell you that, that outcome was not appropriate. The harassment that I endured after speaking up was by no means appropriate. And it’s insulting for human resources to tell me that it is. When I shared the district’s grievance procedure with human resources and the superintendent, the response I received was, and I quote again, there’s a lot to unpack. I’ve since asked for more clarification with no response. The story I have shared with you tonight is a clear example of the need both for an independent investigation and a review of the district policies. The district is responsible for perpetuating the hostile work environment that I have endured and cannot be charged with such an investigation.

16:32 In addition, the school committee must review the policies to make sure that future Widger Road employees cannot skirt around their duties. What I went through this year has been horrible, and unfortunately, I’m not the only one in this situation. The school committee needs to take over the investigation and make sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else. Thank you.

17:05 So before we go to the next one, it looks like we are well over capacity at this point. So, um, I’m going to ask that we, I think, take a recess while we have folks move down to the, um, auditorium so that nobody misses anything. So I think we’ll take a, I think we’ll take a a fire code, right? Just yeah. Just so folks understand, we have a limit, which are the seats that are set out here. Um, that’s our maximum capacity. And I know that there’ve been some seats added to the back that were now over capacity. So we’re gonna take a five minute recess, which I will ask for a vote. Um, and we will move, ask, uh, volunteers to move down to the, um, overflow realm. Can I have a, if there are Seats, you know, there’s a couple of one off seats. I know nobody likes To, to climb together, but up here there are some.

17:58 Yeah, I think especially the folks that are standing in the back with the flags, um, there’s, I think’s I see up here, I think.

18:25 Okay.

18:33 All right. So I think, I guess we’ll go on, but if any more folks come in, we’re gonna have to recess and, and go to the overthrow room, so just letting you folks know that. Okay. Um, uh, all right, so we’ve got more folks coming in, so we’re gonna take a recess. Can I get a, um, motion for recess? So Moved and second seconded. And all in favor of five minute recess. Thank you.

18:59 Right. Correct. Um, we do, do you want to do that?

23:54 Thanks everyone for your cooperation. Thanks, everyone down in the overflow room. Appreciate it. Um, the next one on the list is Jit Kas.

24:12 Welcome. Hi, JIT. All set? All set. Okay. So, hi, I’m Je Kanes. I’ve been a Marblehead employee, teacher for, um, 23 years, 22 years. I just finished. Um, being an upstander means standing up against injustice even when others choose to remain silent. Raul Wallenberg stated, neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never The tormented anti-Semitism today shares some disturbing similarities with the anti-Semitism of the 1930s antisemitism continues to persist in our schools and in our society, which demands our vigilance in action.

25:01 Normalization is an attempt to downplay what Jews Jewish people are experiencing.

25:08 Antisemitic language, anti-Israel bias and personal political ideologies have no place within our school community. Not adequately addressing complaints about them are troubling. How can a school ensure a safe and inclusive environment for all students and faculty when policy is not being followed? Improving math, reading, writing, and critical thinking skills should be our focus. In Marblehead schools. Respect and kindness are what we strive to uphold in Marblehead. By taking proactive steps to combat antisemitism,

25:56 we can create a school environment where all students and staff feel safe, valued and respected. Our response to these issues not only shapes the experiences, our, our, um, students, um, our current students also reinforces our commitment to fostering a community of tolerance and inclusion for all generations yet to come. Thank you.

26:30 So thank you. Um, thank you Ms. Je. I’d also like to mention for those that have prepared statements, if you want to submit those in writing, we, it can be submitted into the record. Um, we prefer that electronically, but if you wanna leave a hard copy, that would be be okay too. Um, next one is, uh, Candace Lein. Ms. Le,

26:55 Good evening. My name is Candace Slimy. I’m a resident of Marblehead and I have two daughters that graduated from Marblehead High in 2021 and 2023. In a recent public webinar, JIT Kanes, another Marblehead Public Schools employee, accused me of hateful words and actions that are complete fabrications.

27:24 Nonetheless, seeing that disturbing language repeated and reproduced over social media caused tremendous harm to our Jewish friends and neighbors. And I want to acknowledge the pain that they have been subjected to because of her choice to use such inflammatory language about a person she has never met. This fall will be my 20th year teaching at Marblehead High School, where I have established a reputation for being a kind and dedicated educator. I have always advocated for equality, justice, and diversity in this community. As the leader of Team Harmony, a global youth organization dedicated to fighting hate.

28:12 I’ve also volunteered for nearly 10 years on the Marblehead task force against discrimination, and I have been trained by the Anti-Defamation League.

28:23 The mere suggestion that I am an anti, that I am anti-Semitic in any way whatsoever, is an outrageous lie. The root of her allegations relied on secondhand accounts about a situation from over nine months ago, which has already been investigated by the school. The result of that investigation was clear. There was no misconduct on the part of anyone involved. To be clear, I never tore down an Israeli flag. I never crumpled it up, and I never threw it in a corner. My father is a Marine, and I watched him take down the flag at a park named

29:08 after him my entire life in the summer, I certainly didn’t swear, and I am horrified, horrified that anyone even, even imagine saying some of the vile things from Ms. Kane’s presentation. Here’s what did happen. I routinely took down all the flags in the cafeteria at the end of the school year, as I have done every year since 2020. I carefully fold them and stored them in the closet for the summer. This fall, I gave the folded flag to Principal Carlson. Every single accusation Ms. Carnes made in her presentation in that webinar was a lie. She’s attacked my character, endangered my family, disrespected my privacy, defamed marblehead public schools,

29:55 and put my career at risk with absolutely zero evidence. Three minutes. In my opinion, this situation got so out of control because it was mishandled. The most basic conflict resolution con protocols were not followed at times. It felt like HR seemed to escalate issues between us rather than help us deescalate and heal. For that reason, I urge the school committee to conduct a thorough investigation so these outrageous and horrid claims can be exposed for the lies that they are, and I can focus on educating the children of Marblehead as I always have. Thank you. Thank you.

30:46 Thank You, Ms. Um, Mary Francois.

30:56 Good evening. My name is Mary Francois. I’m a world language educator at Marblehead High School and have been for the last 12 years. I’m here tonight to shed light on a very serious discussion to support my colleague who has been the victim of defamation and to represent myself along with my department, which was a part of that defamation. This is emotional and devastating and concerning in so many ways. I’m also here in support of anyone who is here or who is listening and who is concerned about antisemitism in Marblehead. First and foremost, I categorically deny and refute the claims made against Candace and my department publicly. Though I know many heard incredibly disturbing accounts in the recent webinar, I know that as it pertains to my department and my colleagues, that those claims

31:42 and statements were completely unfounded, disturbing, and contrary to what we all as a department and individuals stand for. I find it abhorrent that anyone would make those quotes, let alone defend someone who said them. I’m here to also support the school committee in having an outside investigation because I want to finally see an unbiased source. Look at the proof and information that my department has already brought to Marble LA public schools. I know many people are rightfully moved to act and speak up to make sure that the school system and this town are doing what needs to be done to fight antisemitism and ensure a safe and welcoming environment. And so are we. I’m here as an educator in world Languages who believes and teaches that our differences are what makes us stronger.

32:29 Learning a language is learning how to communicate and see the varying lenses through which we see the world. Teaching students about diversity, respect, and tolerance is at the core of our discipline. I encourage students in my classroom to celebrate and value their identities, including their religion, and give them a place to describe how those beliefs and traditions are important to them. I teach explicitly about discrimination, religious tolerance, and how to fight against intolerance. I believe in the importance of my multilingualism, but what I truly think is important is learning to listen and to consider the weight of our words, our perspectives, and our identity as a community. And speaking of words, I know this is all just words. Many people listening do not know me and have no reason to believe what myself or my colleagues are saying.

33:15 The investigation will corroborate what we are saying here tonight. I truly believe that we are all for the same cause. It is so hard to see misinformation spread, especially in an age of social media, and it’s the hardest when that misinformation is attacking the things you believe in the most. I’ve seen no one be more of an advocate for Jewish students in marblehead public schools than Candace. Many who know her know me. Our department can speak to what we believe and what we teach, and I hope that an investigation can look at the current complaints and see the truth. I hope that Marblehead can face the difficult conversations that need to happen, and that public schools can take concrete actions to handle the discrimination and the hate. Thank you very much.

34:05 Goodness Francois. Uh, Laura Alvarez.

34:14 Hello, dear School Committee and Marblehead community. I am one of the teachers who is falsely accused of antisemitism. I have been working in Marblehead High School for eight years, and I have taught hundreds of Marblehead students. Antisemitism exists. Antisemitism is dangerous and antisemitism has to be fought. We are all gathered here today to fight against antisemitism because we want an independent investigation to shed light on these horrific accusations made about us. We live and or work here and want to make this town and this school district a place to be proud of a place where we can all coexist. Our district has failed us all that we’re not capable of conducting a property investigation when we were

35:00 unjustly, unjustly accused. This allegations are very serious and should never be taken lightly, but they’re also very dangerous when used so frivolously. This webinar is an example of the utilization of social media to spread misinformation. My colleagues and I have been working together for many years, and never in all these years have I witnessed any of them saying anything remotely close to those hateful statements that were shared on the webinar, not in rumors, not from students, not from staff. Our job is to teach about inclusivity and diversity. Our curriculum talks about appreciating how enriching it is to meet someone with a different perspective in life. We teach your children about empathy, respect, and tolerance.

35:47 All of my colleagues who sit next to me today met with Dr. McGinnis in February this year, and categorically denied that any of those comments were ever made by us or in our presence. Despite having shown that this is completely false, they allowed this to continue poisoning our relationship with colleagues, with administration, with you all the town and ultimately, and this one’s the one that hurts the most, the students. I don’t like anonymity. My colleagues are here today because we want you to put a face to all of the dreadful lies you heard about us. It is easier to hate the unknown, and that’s why we’re here. We are people like you all. We all have families who loves us and who we love, and they’re all suffering along with us during this nightmare of a year.

36:33 To conclude, I would like to applaud the work of Ms. Candice Lei to combat all forms of hate in Marblehead public schools, and specifically for working with the A DL to fight against antisemitism in our community. Thank you. Thank you.

36:53 Thank You, Ms. Alvarez. Andrea West.

37:02 Good evening. Um, I am part of the World Language Department at the high school, and as part of this team, I feel it’s important to share the following statement from Dr. Nicole Scher. And this may go over three minutes, in which case I will submit this. Um, you can certainly cut me off. I’ll submit this to the public record, um, to the Marblehead District School Committee, interim Superintendent, McGinnis Principals, Fox and Carlson and HR Manager for Ready. I have been hired, I have been a hired consultant for the Marble Head World Language Department for the past two years. In this capacity, I’ve worked closely with the department writing a needs assessment report, conducting a series of fall and spring non-evaluative, uh, observations,

37:49 and providing monthly three hour professional development workshops to meet their needs and to coordinate departmental efforts to teach for proficiency, a new national movement that spawned the seal of Biliteracy. I am a teacher trainer at Salem State University and one of the world, and one of the lead language advocates that got the language opportunity for our Kids Act passed in Massachusetts to offer districts the opportunity to reward students with a seal of Biliteracy as well as to offer bilingual programming. As of this year, marble Head is now offering the seal of Biliteracy to their seniors. The Seal of Biliteracy is a national movement to record reward program completers for high functional levels of biliteracy in a world heritage

38:37 or native language and English. I have found the World Language Department as a whole to be professional and engaged in the process of learning about and implementing the high leverage teaching practices that lead to proficiency development over time in programming. I would like to speak in particular to the high level of professionalism and professional engagement of Candace Liney. In the two years that I have worked with the department, I heard nothing from her or the other teachers and knew nothing about the issues that were reported in the Marble Head current this week about accusations of antisemitism. In our discussions in the professional developments about creating a mission statement and five year goals for the department, Candace Liney was passionately vocal about access

39:25 to all students to a strong program of language study, the need to create global citizens of Marblehead students, and examples of how she engaged her students in discussions about equity and understanding of the perspectives of the culture and history of the Spanish speaking people. She is a highly dedicated and well prepared teacher who works hard to engage all her students and to get to know them. I was welcomed by Candace Liney in my observations of her classes, and enjoyed witnessing the depth of the relationships that she’s created with all of her students, as well as the strength of the engagement in the topics she addressed. She’s Just, that’s three minutes. Sure. Okay. I don’t, do you have a, is it a lot more or is it, did she ask for permission?

40:10 Yeah. Yeah. I, not very much more. Thank you. Please, can you finish? Yeah. Um, uh, I’m sorry. Uh, she is passionate but also very hardworking. Uh, she is created units for the levels of program that explore minority populations, discrimination and civil unrest. I have to add to that. As a Jew and the wife of an Israeli born and now dual citizen, I never felt even a hint of antisemitism in my work and communications. We have to be wary these days and are hypervigilant with the tense political climate and hate that is both open and under the surface. I routinely attempt attend Temple services and every service has a policeman

40:57 and police car at the front. I frankly do not believe the accusations made against Candace Slimy, who is a dedicated professional, spending her career to promote acceptance and global understanding. Sincerely, Dr. Nicole Scher, professional professor and secondary educational coordinator at Salem State University.

41:19 Thank you.

41:24 Thank you. Uh, Darren Slimy.

41:40 Hi, I am Marade Kennedy and I’m going to speaking on be, I’m going to be speaking on behalf of Delena Ian, who, uh, could not be here tonight, but wanted to present this, uh, I just, I, Darren Slimy was the name on the list. So is that who you’re speaking for? I’m, he’s speaking for Delena Delena. Darren was here to put the name down. Do you want him to read it or do you Okay, That, can you just give me, okay. Just wants to put the right name down. I wanna put the Right, so your name Marade Kennedy. I can write it down for you. And then you’re speaking for Ena Nunan. N-G-U-I-E-N. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Let’s Start again. Okay. Go ahead. Thank you. In the words of delena to those present at today’s school committee’s meeting,

42:26 my name is Dena Nunan and I am the new Latin teacher at Marblehead High School. I am writing this letter to refute some of the accusations made against members of my department and share my own perspective on my experience with them. The first interaction I have had with my colleagues was the first day back at the high school for staff. I was surprised to hear that they were uninformed, that a Latin teacher was hired, and under the assumption that the language would no longer be offered. Despite this surprise, they have been as courteous and helpful in helping me navigate a system where I had little to no curriculum left behind. The department has made me feel welcomed by including me in their lunchroom discussions and plannings, whether it be related to the students

43:13 or the Marblehead community as a whole. One of the members who has made me feel welcomed is Candace slimy. Already in September, Candace discussed how the task force was already planning for a API month. I asked Candace if I could be involved in the planning, even though I was a new teacher, and she immediately put me in contact just by this interaction. I knew that Candace is someone who advocates for people from different backgrounds and tries her best to include them To compare. What I have told you about my colleagues to the portrayal of them on the webinar is an assassination of not only their character, but my own. I will only speak on my piece in the department wearing pink. At the beginning of the school year, the staff was treated to a luncheon that had themed tables.

43:59 The World Languages Department ended up with the Barbie table with cute pink regalia. For our yearbook photo, we decided to wear pink with sunglasses. We got at the event. When Candace had mentioned that she had a meeting with hr, no context was provided about the subject of the meeting. I had personally suggested that people wear pink. Why did I suggest that? I suggested that since earlier in the school year, many of us in the department did not have a positive experience with hr, where their interviews were interrogative, interrogative in nature, and we received emails from the union asking if it was true. We wanted to be removed from the union according to hr. Because of such an experience, I was concerned for how the HR meeting experience would end up for Candace. The pink was not meant as any sort of intimidation tactic,

44:47 and I apologize if it were viewed as such. When applying for the Latin teacher position at MHS, I was taking one of the hugest chances in my life. I’m someone who lives in Boston, grew up in a multicultural neighborhood, and greatly value my identity as a Vietnamese American. Yet I decided to teach in a district so far from where I grew up with a demographic different than what I’m used to because I sensed a learning community that cared for both its students and staff members. I am disappointed in how my first year here turned out with fumbles and miscommunications, a situation that could have reached a resolution has escalated so much that we are here today with my colleagues livelihoods at risk. I implore the community to evaluate the information you have heard and are hearing now, and ask yourselves,

45:35 who are the members in the World Languages Department? What do they value? Have they ever made the children that you care about feel unwelcomed or unsafe because of their identities? Thank you.

45:51 Thank You, Mr. Kennedy. Um, next we have, uh, rabbi Yossi Lipski Lipski. Welcome, rabbi.

46:05 Thank you. Um, and thank you for, um, taking the time to be here and facilitate this. Uh, it’s interesting that, uh, it seems to be that all the parties that are here, uh, that seem to be in at odds with each other, are all agreeing with each other that there should be an independent and outside, um, party, um, vetting this. So I think, uh, we’re already, uh, coming closer just by being here. There’s also a Jewish principle in the Talmud that says, in aid Nas, um, a witness cannot become, uh, a judge. And so I think it’s a wise, um, suggestion.

46:50 Uh, I also, um, am a little befuddled at the what seems to be, uh, staging that investigation here where, um, the, this is feeling like a little bit of a court case where people are, and I, I think it’s, it’s wonderful that people are here in support of one another, but, uh, the, the fact remains that this is why we need verification. Uh, I also wanna say that if people have come forward and they’re in distress and they, uh, feel

47:38 that they’ve been singled out and wronged, um, it is our obligation as a community to pursue clarification of that, uh, until there is no need for clarity anymore. Uh, this is not about, um, slandering anybody or defaming anyone. It’s simply pursuing a practice of validating distress. And, um, the process will, will take us, um, where it takes us and, um, hopefully we can get it resolved. Um, I do wanna say that, and this is in response to, um, hearing Mindy speak,

48:23 that I’m a little,

48:28 I’m a rabbi in the local North Shore community for over 32 years. Uh, but I moved here in 92, but a few years earlier in 1979, um,

48:43 when the Iranians took over the US Embassy in Tehran, they held 52 American hostages for over 440 days. I have congregants that are young students that go to this school system, and they come to me asking me why is it that the school that would very seriously and um, deeply, uh, discuss the 52 American hostages held in Tehran for 444 days, would not talk about the plight of the eight dual American Israeli hostages

49:33 that are American citizens, that are Hirsch Goldberg, Poland, Kohe, Aiden Alexander, Omer Nutra, and Keith Siegel, who are soon to be alive. And three, Judith Weinstein, Haga ga Haga, and who are dead according to the A JC. Um, these are American citizens, and our Jewish students are American citizens, and this is their school. And I would hope that in the coming year, uh, by then all the hostages would be returned. Um, but that’s legisl legisl. There’s space created, um, for students to feel like

50:18 the Marblehead School community would support their grief and their need to feel validated and, um, and respected for that loss and for that sadness. Thank you so much. Thank you, Rabbi.

50:45 Thank you. Thank you Rabbi. Uh, Yael McGinn. Welcome y’all.

50:56 Thank you. Good evening, Marblehead School Committee, Marblehead superintendent, and all of the Marblehead community. First, I just wanna express that today at the school committee, we’re going to decide whether we will have an independent investigation. This isn’t about who said what to whom, and I do implore people not to say anything that might put you in any kind of legally liable for defamation. Last time I came to speak in front of you was on October 19th, after the super, after the attendant superintendent. Um, after the interim superintendent, Michelle Cresta, um, sent an email supporting the Jewish people and condemning Hamas in a formal complaint was filed against

51:44 her, stating that supporting Israel basically put Muslim children under harassment and bullying. During that time, I, as a Jewish, Israeli and American, I was an extreme grief, sadness, and scared for my future, scared for my kids’ future. And it wasn’t for that letter. I would not have sent my child, David McGinn, who is here today to the school on October 13th, the global ada. I’m here again eight months later in a state where Jewish pain and Jewish suffering is either something that we do not believe, something that we think is not that extreme, something that often we do not have compassion

52:29 to, or we try to weaponize Jewish suffering. Jewish suffering equates to everybody else’s suffering. We must believe Jewish people, when they say that anti-Semitic incidences happen against them, people with reputation and profession do not just come out of the blue accusing people.

52:54 I’m here today and I’m afraid my child is in high school. He was a freshman in high school and he loved being in marble at high school. He was the only freshman on the varsity soccer team with Magia. And he excelled. He excelled academically. He excelled socially. Every day. He came home with a smile on his face and a story to tell me he’s looking forward to his new year in school. He also was able to change an anti-Semitic curriculum at our high school that wasn’t historically accurate. He went and he talked to the head of the historical, to the history department, world Culture Department.

53:39 He showed him what happened. He will tell you the story, and they agreed with them, and they, they changed the curriculum. In fact, he was so successful that in the past few months, he has been doing speaking engagements with various organizations. He has received grants to continue doing these speaking engagements in various high schools in the us and he is proud to say that he is at Marble at High, and he wants to continue saying that he is proud to be a student in Marble at High.

54:11 We must bring an independent investigation to investigate what is going on in the school. However, we vwe Crest three things. One, we request that you allow the Jewish community and Jewish organizations to vet this investigation organization. If we bring an organization that is biased or anti-Semitic or anti-Israel, the investigation will be a sha and will be for nothing. Two, we ask that this investigation will investigate all anti-Semitic incidences against teachers and students alike. We know that many students, Jewish students

54:56 and Jewish teachers have experienced items, Semitic incidences, and they either have left this district or considering to leave this district. There have been students, Jewish students that other students made, made them say the K word. We have had swastikas in our schools for years. We have had people say to other students, Hitler was right. I wish Hitler was here. And all these incidences were not dealt with properly. They were either swept under the rug saying it’s not that severe or claimed that the Jewish people were lying. Three, we know that there are anti-Semitic materials in our

55:43 curriculum right now. We must have an organization that will go through all the curriculum, the current curriculum in our schools to ensure that the curriculum is not anti-Semitic is not anti-ISIS Israel and historically accurate. We also must write up a policy to vet any future curriculum. There’s already a huge push from the MTA to push anti-Semitic, anti-Israel curriculum. We must ensure that that will not come into our district. And we must ensure that our district right now is clean from anti-Semitic curriculum and a historical and historically accurate.

56:30 That’s five and a half minutes. Yeah, I just urge the school committee to please not bring in an investigation organization that will just do lip service. Thank you so much.

57:04 Um, I have Ellan TT guy. Welcome. Sorry. Okay, so good, good evening, everyone. So you can hardly turn on a news channel today and not be bombarded with Israel v Gaza, Trump v Biden. It’s just a nonstop barrage. It’s an end stream of debates, complaints, et cetera, specifically to the Israel v Gaza. This is, this is something that’s been going on for 1400 years. It’s my land. No, it’s my land. No, it’s my land. No, it’s my land. God gave it to me. No, God gave it to me. You kill me first. No, you attack me first. It’s not gonna be solved here tonight.

57:51 And unfortunately, it’s not gonna be solved in the next millennia. Just it is what it is. Now, the question for me is not who’s right and who’s wrong. Again, we’re not gonna solve that tonight. My question is, what is, is it correct for a school to take a position? Is it correct for people in the school, particularly educators, to take an activist position against one side or the other? And now, I’m actually gonna disagree with Rabbi Yoi, which I re, which I respect. No, this should not be, uh, uh, you know, teaching about these hate hostages. You’re taking a position, leave this out of school, whether it’s Trump versus Biden,

58:37 whether it’s Israel versus Gaza legalized cannabis. Don’t legalize cannabis. Do not bring your activism to school. How hard is that? Is it not reasonable? Now, there’s something very unique about the Israel versus Gaza position. Now, Israel is the only Jewish state. That’s a fact. All Jews have a tie to Israel. You could be the most accepting, tolerant, uh, inclusive person in the world. And by the way, I am not accusing any of those Es of anything. I’ve never met them. They spoke very nicely. I have absolutely no reason to suspect that any one of them is anti-Semitic. There’s no accusation or anything. If you, for example, are a teacher here,

59:24 and you come to school with a kafi, that’s the Arab thing. Or if you somehow, whether via speech or via action, you tie Israel to apartheid, ethnic cleansing, colonialism, oc you are creating a hostile environment for Jewish kids. Because this is the Jewish state. It is what it is. We can have a debate. Is it genocide? Is it not genocide? Is it ethnic cleansing? Not ethnic clean. I mean, you could, again, you can open up the news and you can see pro and cons. I know what my opinion here. I’m not even going to express it. ‘cause it’s not the point. The point is, keep your activism out of school, period. And again, I’m not accusing anybody of political activism.

1:00:11 Now,

1:00:16 um, finally, I don’t actually know if the marble at high school or the Massachusetts educational system has some sort of a policy against activism in school. I don’t know if it does not. You guys are not responsible for the entire Massachusetts Association, but if it does not, I would really encourage you to think about instituting a policy whereby political activism is kept out of the classroom because we’re dealing with impressionable teams. Uh, you know, they like you as a teacher. They’ll buy whatever you say. If there is a policy, then do your job, enforce it, whatever it may be. That, that’s my ask. Finally, I’m an Israeli American, and I’m here to tell you that the Israeli flag does not belong in a marble high

1:01:05 school in the cafeteria. Neither is the Palestinian flag, not the Mexican flag. There’s only one flag, and that’s the American flag and a story. We’re all Americans. Now, unfortunately, some flags are very controversial and very specifically Black Lives Matter flag. The reason for that is Black Lives Matter is a political organization. And unfortunately, even though they claim to be all about black lives, they’re also very anti-Israel, very poor Palestinian. And this creates the hostility that a Jewish kid would fail if he sees Black Lives Matter. So we gotta be careful there. Okay, this is America only American flag.

1:01:54 Keep your political activism to yourself. You want to express support for Trump or Biden or Gaza or Iraq to your teacher friends, meet at Starbucks, meet at a bar. Do whatever you want. Please do not do it in the school. We talking about impressionable kids. That’s all I gotta say. Thank you. Thank You, Mr.

1:02:21 Thank you. Um, Judith Drachman.

1:02:28 I’m sorry. I wrote My name thinking that you just wanted to know who was coming. Oh, sorry. Welcome To me. But I do wanna say a few things. Um, I’m Judith TrackMan. I live in Marblehead. My kids graduated Marblehead High School many years ago. Um, and I agree with the last person that spoke. Activism is not in a high school. Kids don’t need to hear what it is that the teachers think. And when Mr. LA said, you know that he wears pink because he likes pink, you can wear pink, that’s fine. But you have to know where you’re wearing pink and how many people are wearing pink when pink signifies Palestine? You don’t wear pink to a school when that,

1:03:14 that has a different significance. What happened in Israel, 7th of October was a tragedy. And maybe what’s happening in Gaza is also a tragedy. But that doesn’t belong in school. School. They have to teach the reality of the world. They have to teach history as it is. I hear, I heard the webinar and I hear that in the Massachusetts Teacher Association. There is a person that’s creating the curriculum for, uh, a class in what’s going on in the Middle East. And this person in his Facebook page is all pro-Palestinian. I don’t wanna see that in my kids’ curriculum or in anybody’s curriculum.

1:04:01 We need to teach it. Teachers, we need to teach history. That’s all we need to teach. And they can have the discussions outside and whatever teachers think they can think, don’t bring it to school. And if people are complaining about antisemitism, there must be something about it. It’s not just, oh, I wanna say this. There must be a history behind why these people are saying what they’re saying. So definitely there should be an investigation. Thank you. Thank You

1:04:41 Achman. Uh, Deborah. Noah, welcome.

1:04:56 Good evening. My name is Deborah Noah. My child just completed eighth grade at Marblehead Veterans Middle School. And we’ll be entering ninth grade at Marblehead High School in the fall. I also teach Hebrew school in the community. So many of my students receive their education through the Marblehead school system. I am a proud Jew, which also means I am a proud Zionist Zionism. As defined by the Anti-Defamation League is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel. Throughout my child’s education in the Marblehead school

1:05:44 system, my child’s has experienced a learning environment where SWA stickers have been found on the walls at both Village Elementary and Marblehead Veterans Middle School in the us We have seen since October 7th, since Black Sabbath, when Hamas committed the worst massacre against the Jewish people. Since the Holocaust, we have seen 140% increase in antisemitism. This exceeds any other tally in the past 45 years. Therefore, we must stand together against antisemitism and make it clear that we will not tolerate it just

1:06:33 as we stand together against hatred directed at any other marginalized group. I am therefore asking the school committee to vote to conduct a thorough investigation of allegations made by several of our Jewish faculty regarding antisemitism and intimidation from colleagues and apathy from administrators. This investigation needs to be conducted by an agency that is experienced in this very specific form of hatred used in the definition of antisemitism as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. This investigation must also include outreach to

1:07:20 and input from the parents and students in this community. I am also asking that the school committee vote on creating a volunteer based antisemitism task force made up of Jewish faith and lay leaders, parents and students to advise on educational initiatives, and that this committee be formed an issue, initial recommendations over the summer, all of our children and our teachers have the right to feel safe and protected from hatred and to be free from discrimination as dictated in Title six of the Civil Rights Act. Can we count on you to ensure that a thorough

1:08:06 investigation will be completed to address allegations of antisemitism, and to also ensure that real efforts will be made to provide antisemitism education in our schools? Thank you.

1:08:31 Thank you, Ms. Noah. David McGinn. Welcome, David.

1:08:39 Hello, my name is David McGinn, and I’m proudly wearing my Magen David. Today I’m an upcoming sophomore at Marblehead High School, an advocate against antisemitism and a co-founder of a non-profit organization to combat antisemitism in schools. In my Honors World Cultures class, we began a unit on the Middle East in late October. In studying the Middle East in cultures within, I was given a handout with a homework assignment attached titled Origins of Judaism. The paper was filled with a historical facts and anti-Semitic trope. And when I was asked on the homework assignment to answer what is the relationship between Palestine and Judaism, I answered that the handout was historically inaccurate and anti-Semitic. Around two weeks later, I was called for a meeting

1:09:25 with the history department chair, where for over an hour, I explained why the paper was antisemitic and his story and historically inaccurate, and why it should never be given to another Marblehead student again. I am pleased to report that following this, the curriculum has changed since then. I’ve been featured on several speaking engagements and seminars, and at every engagement I’ve been, I have said that I’m proud to be a student at Marblehead, and I want to continue to say that I’m proud to be, to be a student at Marblehead High. Coming here and speaking today is scary, and it might, and I might have consequences. I was the only freshman on the varsity soccer team, and my coach was the first one to speak here today. And I will have three more years at this high school. And in those three years, I will have many more teachers

1:10:11 who will hold my future in their hands. But I cannot ignore the accusations made within my own community by fellow Jewish people. If one Jewish person hurts, then all Jewish people hurt. For all these reasons, I agree with my mother. And urge the school to one, have a vetting committee for the investigation organization. The school committee must allow a rep, a representative from the Marblehead Jewish community, or a Jewish organization to vet the investigation Organization of choice. Having a bias investigation will have no merit. Number two, all antisemitic incidents must be investigated. I personally know students who have experienced antisemitism and not one of them have been dealt with properly. Number three, I urge you to investigate the current antisemitic curriculum

1:10:58 and have a vetting process for future curriculum in the school. It’s unfortunate that I have to be here today to speak about these things as none of these things belong in any school. You, as the Marble Ed School Committee, have an obligation to keep the school’s curriculum unbiased and solely historical. I’m honored to be a student at Marblehead High School, and we as a school committee have an opportunity to be a model district to counter antisemitism. Thank you.

1:11:34 Thank you, David. Appreciate That. Um, Judy Louise.

1:12:02 Um, good evening. My name is Judy Louise and I have worked at Marblehead, um, high School for 25 years in a role as clinical social worker and founder and coordinator of the Student Peer Mentor Program. I’m here this evening to talk about Candace Liney and her character. I’m here to support Candace with whom I work for approximately 15 years. We, in fact, worked closely as she was coordin coordinator of the Team Harmony Group at the high school. But even before that, we often consulted about any anti-discrimination issues, and she worked tirelessly to help create a more inclusive setting for everyone.

1:12:49 In her role as Team Harmony Advisor, we also collaborated on ways to create programs that supported a safe environment for all students. She’s a person of utmost integrity, passionate about her work, and takes her role very seriously. She has engaged hundreds of students in positive activities and projects that reflect non-judgment

1:13:18 and continues to promote anti-discrimination and anti prejudice efforts to str to, um, to strengthen an inclusive school and community environment. Thank you.

1:13:39 But just so the committee knows, we have about 14 more names we’re going to Great. Um, just wanted to make sure. Next on the list we have is Janice Knight.

1:13:52 Janice Knight. Maybe Janice is in the overflow room, or

1:14:01 I don’t have anyone’s Julia’s in the, in the other room. She’s in the other room. Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you so much. Hi, Julia. It is. Hi, Julia. I can’t hear. Maybe we can’t hear you, Frank. We can’t hear her, but she does look unmuted. Oh, we got it now. Thank you so much. Is that Ms. Knight? Janice Knight. Great. It is. Thank you. Welcome.

1:14:31 I’ve lived in this community my entire life. I am a graduate of Marble Hill High School. It does not surprise me to hear when my students tell me that there are issues of antisemitism that they have experienced. It does not surprise me when I hear staff members tell me that they’ve experienced these things. I very, very much urge you to, to find the money and the will to hire an independent organization that will vet these claims, that will investigate not only on behalf of the students and the teachers who are, who are experiencing the antisemitism and claiming this, but also on behalf of the teachers who are named

1:15:18 and who would like the opportunity to defend themselves. Let’s find the truth and clear it up. Thank you very much. Thank You. Thank you, judge.

1:15:30 The next, um, the next Thank you. The next name is Tom Specac. He, Tom might be in the over the blow room as well. Same address as Ms. Knight. So Tom Specac. Hi. Hi. Um, unfortunately, I thought it was an attendant sheet, not a signup. Oh, to speak. Well, you’re welcome to speak or if you choose. Okay. You don’t take attendance. Thank you. She Said. Um, next I have, uh, Sarah Palladian, who I think is here. Yeah. Welcome. Thanks. Do I, oh, okay. I don’t need it over.

1:16:19 Okay. Hi, my name is Sarah Palladian and I am the mother of two kids in Marblehead, one of who attends Veteran school and one at Marblehead Charter. I am also a very proud Jew and a Holocaust survivor’s granddaughter, and have family living in Israel. My husband is a third generation marble header. Both my children have experienced antisemitism during the last year by two students in their classes. Imagine sending your child to school 13 and 11 only to be put in harm’s way where people are calling for the annihilation of the only Jewish nation and the Jewish people. Additionally, because a child is confused whether their teachers and classmates will actually support them in their time of need. For example, my son, 11 years old, came home

1:17:07 and said, Ooh, I’ve never talked to peers. Sorry. Um, I am not scared. But what concerns me is that there may be someone in my class that obviously wants me to die. What would you say to your 11 year olds? We collectively need to decide as a community that we will fight back against this hatred. I am therefore asking the school committee to vote to conduct a thorough investigation of recent allegations made by several of our Jewish faculty regarding experiencing anti-Semitism and intimidation from colleagues and indifference from administrators. Any investigation should be performed by an investigator or agency experienced in this specific form of bias using exec accepted international Holocaust. Remember, alliance guidelines

1:17:53 and must include a call for relevant testimony for parents and students. The working definition of this is antisemitism is a sorting perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. This includes rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism, which can be directed towards Jews or non-Jews, their property, Jewish community, institutions, and religious institutions. It goes on to give 11 specific examples of antisemitism and include the following. I’m not gonna say all 11. Um, making mendacious dehumanizing de de demonizing or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such, or the power of Jews as a collective denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination

1:18:40 example, by claiming that that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor, applying double standards by requiring it, by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation. Furthermore, beyond the scope of this particular set of circumstances, it is clear we must devote resources to educating our staff and students on what constitutes antisemitism as well as its impact to our community. We ask that the school committee vote on creating a volunteer based antisemitism task force drawn from Jewish faith and lay leaders, parents and students to advise on these educational initiatives, and that this committee be formed and issue initial recommendations during the upcoming school recess. All of our children and teachers, whether Jewish

1:19:27 or not, deserve to feel safe and welcomed in our school so that they learn and teach unimpeded in a safe and equitable environment. This is the promise and the contract of our public educational system. Can we count on you to initiate a thorough investigation on recent antisemitism allegations and to, and to take concrete steps to provide antisemitism education in our schools so that we can truly fulfill our commitment to sustaining an inclusive environment that fosters belonging and acceptance and fix the systemic problem. Thank you for your time and attention to this important issue.

1:20:12 No, no. And this, um, Karen Moff Karen, not saying, I’m just saying.

1:20:23 Good evening. My name is Karen Taal mcl, and I’m here to speak to you as a mother raising three Jewish children in Marblehead. It’s been incredibly upsetting to hear that there are allegations of antisemitism directed at Jewish teachers and students. It seems that an internal investigation was attempted, but the outcome is unknown. Marblehead public Schools does have a civil rights grievance procedure, and clearly the ball was dropped on it. So I would recommend that a proper investigation be done. Uh, find out how we can make sure moving forward that this does not happen again, and I can’t stress enough how important it’s for school leaders to take antisemitism seriously and enforce school policies. There are serious consequences for ignoring antisemitism.

1:21:10 And nowhere is this more evident than on college campuses today. The protests and behavior of those in the tent encampments over the last couple of months is shocking. The antisemitism on college campuses did not explode overnight. It has been growing for over 20 years and ignored by college administrators. In fact, back in 2003, a documentary called Columbia Unbecoming was made chronicling the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students by several Columbia professors. One of the anti-Semitic professors documented in the 2003 film used the following words to describe the October 7th massacre. Astonishing, astounding, and awesome leaders at Columbia have been ignoring anti-Semitism for years.

1:21:56 The danger at Columbia was so palpable that a rabbi urged Jewish students to stay home saying The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it clear that Columbia University’s public safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy protestors screamed at two Jewish Columbia students. Never forget the 7th of October. That will happen not one more time, not five more times, not 10, a hundred, a thousand, 10,000. The 7th of October is going to be every day for you. Another chance screamed during these protests was we say, justice, you say, how burn Tel Aviv to the ground.

1:22:41 One student from NYU told media that she might leave her university after she was called the dirty Jew. Another Columbia student described the press that he was chased off campus and told to go back to Poland. In a recent email from the a DL students on college campuses were described as having liquids flung at them, getting screamed at in broad daylight for simply wearing a Jewish star. The Jewish community watched an utter shock as presidents of elite colleges told the world during congressional hearing, the calling for the genocide of Jews did not necessarily break their school’s code of conduct context. They said it all depended on context. Is it any wonder why so many in the Jewish community are asking ourselves if this is what 1930s Germany must have felt like the Jewish community is rightfully anxious and distraught.

1:23:27 October 7th brought forth the overt antisemitism that has been bubbling under the surface for many years and ignored by administrators. It’s no longer only a major problem on college campuses. Unfortunately, there are numerous antisemitic initiatives being pursued in K through 12 schools and by the teachers unions, including the MTA Marblehead Public Schools need to understand that antisemitism spreads when it goes unchecked. I ask that you ensure that a proper professional development for teachers addresses antisemitism in all of its manifestations. Please run whatever organization you choose by respected members of the Jewish community. There are many false organizations out there that portray themselves to be supporters of the Jewish community when they are in fact very harmful. I also support the hiring of a third party investigator

1:24:12 to ensure that there is no conflict of interest. Please do what you can to ensure that Jewish teachers and students will feel safe and model at public schools. Thank you.

1:24:27 Um, Next is, uh, Lindsay Nek. I also thought it was a, like, Say that you’re here for You’re welcome to speak, but that

1:24:38 No pressure. Oh, oh. I’ll talk very, very quickly, I guess. Okay. Is the microphone just here? Yep. You just see, sit and speak. That’ll be Hi. Um, yeah. My name is Lindsay Ne Parsec. Um, I have three children in, uh, preschooler, starting in the Marblehead Public Schools in September, as well as a rising fourth grader at village and a rising first grader at Glover. Um, we’re extremely proud members of this community. I think by and large, we felt extremely supported. Um, some of my kids’, most amazing teachers I see in the back of the room, their Hebrew school teachers are here. Um, you know, we’re, we’re very, very proud. Jews. We’re also, you know, just feel very, for the most part, like included in Marblehead. And my kids, like they love school so much, they’re

1:25:23 so excited to be here and to be quite frank, um, when I started hearing about all of this happening in these specific instances, um, occurring to, to some teachers in our district and also to students, which thank goodness, you know, my kids are young, but they have not experienced any of that. And I’m really grateful. Um, it was, it was extremely terrifying. You know, I too am a grandchild of Holocaust survivors, um, on my mom’s side. And, you know, I would always think, and we would always talk like, you know, how did things get like that? And I’m saying, this is not like Nazi Germany, but like, how did things get like that? Like, how did these microaggressions and kind of putting things under the radar and we’re here and we’re members of society and we have jobs and families, and our friends aren’t Jewish, and we’re all fine. And, and how things can just get so out of hand and, you know, to, to those levels.

1:26:10 And, um, you know, You know, hearing to, to the point of, you know, someone who said, hearing both like that both sides want to explore this further. Like, I completely agree with that. Like, I wanna understand, I think everyone spoke so eloquently today, even, especially before coming in. Like, I was terrified about thinking my, about my kids at the high school, having teachers who, you know, could potentially have these views. And I hope and believe in my heart so, so deeply and hope that everything you’ve said was genuine today. Because, you know, you all said, you know, things that would be reassuring, but like, you know, when someone comes up and says something like, how would I not believe a fellow Jew when they felt intimidated? And so, you know, I thank you all for, you know, considering further processes to understand the nature of this and that we can all move forward in a positive and safe way for my kids.

1:26:56 I want them to keep loving Marblehead and to keep being successful students and members of our community. And that’s for my whole family.

1:27:12 Um, so the next one is one name. I can’t quite read it. FAA farra. F-A-I-R-R-A, or F-A-I-N-A. Faina. Faina. Thank you. Faina. Oh, Faina. Maybe in the overflow room.

1:27:32 Julia, is there anyone there? Hi, Julia. Hi. No one else signed up for co. Okay. We Have one more in the audience here in the auditorium for Public comment. Okay. Um, all right, well, I’m gonna keep going down the list if Faina Yes. I’m sorry. Is that this? Yeah. Yeah. Faina welcome. Oh, no, I don’t wanna give your address out, but, um, I see. Oh, I thought you, you saw my, no, I saw yours. You will be at the end. Oh, there’s a few more. So Faina, I may not be here. So next I have, um, Jeff Tur, tus Turk. Sorry, Jeff. He left. He left. Okay. Um, deacon Whipple. John Whipple. Welcome.

1:28:29 Thank you. Uh, and, uh, just for a bit of background, uh, I had been on the Board of Selectmen for 15 years. In 1989, when in response to, uh, uh, antisemitic graffiti at Temple Emanuel, uh, I moved that, uh, we create a task force against discrimination that that was voted. And, uh, Arnold Alexander, a Jewish member of the board, nominated me to be on the task force against discrimination. And I’ve been a member of it ever since, uh,

1:29:11 in those 35 years where our focus started out as being, uh, in response to antisemitism, but obviously expanded to, uh, racism and homophobia and all sorts of, uh, uh, discriminatory attitudes. Uh, it, it has become clear that antisemitism is an ongoing problem that, uh, incidents that have been referred to this evening, unfortunately, continue to, uh, uh, to happen. I am very pleased to hear that. With respect to the history curriculum, uh, the history department, and thereby by extension, the Marblehead school system

1:29:59 responded to a justified complaint. And I show, I think that shows that there is goodwill on the part of, uh, Marblehead schools, at least to some extent. Uh, years ago, uh, there was a program at Marblehead High Facing History and ourselves, uh, uh, which was headed up by, uh, another member of the task force. Uh, Harvey Michaels and I, I asked the committee to, uh, continue urgently to explore and the department, the administration, to explore as much as they can, what sorts of programs, uh, can be put in place throughout the system in order

1:30:47 to combat antisemitism. Having said that, uh, I became aware of the, uh, video on the webinar, and the first time I watched it, uh, not knowing who was being accused, I was frankly horrified, but then I became aware of who was being accused. And, uh, Candace slimy, having been on the task force with me and others for the past 10 years, I,

1:31:25 I said, how could this be true? And, uh, I, I must say, uh, I certainly believe all that Candace and the other members of the, uh, department have, have said this evening, uh, coincidentally just this week in church, uh, the, uh, story of, uh, uh, Ahab and Jezebel and Naboth Vineyard was read, uh, a a false accusation, uh, uh, for very improper motives.

1:32:10 And I’m not accusing anyone of being that badly motivated, but what I am urging everyone to understand is that, uh, an accusation is not necessarily true just because it’s been made, even just because it’s been made by somebody with whom you are in, uh, sympathy. Uh, it has to be considered carefully. I think the fact that, uh, Candace slimy is such a fine and upstanding, uh, member

1:32:59 of the task force against discrimination of team harmony of the school, faculty should give anyone pause in thinking that, uh, that, uh, the, uh, accusation is not somehow mistaken. Uh, therefore, I do think that, uh, uh, because it has gained such currency, the, uh, call for an, uh, outside investigation is, uh, is appropriate. I’m sorry that the department wasn’t able to handle it in a satisfactory way. Uh, in response to the suggestion that the, uh, investigator be vetted, I’ll just suggest that if you choose to go in that direction, uh,

1:33:48 the Anti-Defamation League comes to mind as, uh, an organization which should be able to do that sort of vetting. So I thank the, uh, committee for your time, and I look forward to a, uh, satisfactory, uh, resolution. And, uh, again, I, I find it, uh, incredible that, uh, Candace Slimy would’ve engaged in the behavior, which has been, uh, attributed to her. Thank you.

1:34:28 Ashley Wyman, am I pronouncing that correctly? Ashley? She left. Oh, she left. Okay. Um, Greg Colt or Cole Colts. Colt Apologies. C-O-L-S-C-O-L-E-S-E-S. Gotcha. Thank you. Welcome.

1:34:52 Uh, hello, folks. Uh, I got Candace upset Today because, uh, I asked her, did you do those things? And, you know, on a uncategorically no, was her response. And I said, it was obligated to ask you that. And why is that? Because, um, I play percussion at a, uh, Jewish synagogue. Candace invited me, invited me over 16 years ago to be part of the Marblehead School system, doing cultural enrichments. And, uh, I have long term relationships with people, and I take them seriously.

1:35:36 So let me get into it. I’m compelled to write about Candace Liney and her baby team Harmony as mother to Team Harmony. Candace sees it as her mission to ensure that all people connected to Team Harmony are treated fairly

1:35:56 and are meaningfully and fundamentally represented in society. She is the mother of racial and ethnic representation and unity. In her work, she guards against all forms of discrimination, misrepresentation, underrepresentation, and all forms of mistreatment to those connected to her child team harmony. Her work record clearly supports the efforts and causes of Jews.

1:36:31 There’s a claim against Candace that she cannot be the rightful mother of Team Harmony because Candace the complainant asserts, is an antisemite one who speaks against Israel, the Jews, their causes, their faith, their people, and their issues. By taking up this claim, the the accuser has made it clear that she was personally offended as a Jew by Candace’s position, that the Israeli flag as a nation state flag should not be the sole nation state flag in the high school cafeteria, but that either the American flag be the only one

1:37:16 or all nation state flags be presented. As was the case during a recent cultural event I attended,

1:37:27 furthermore, Candace asserts that only mounting the Israeli flag could be harmful to some students.

1:37:37 I would add that it could be harmful to some Israeli students or, or Jewish students.

1:37:44 That sounds like the mother of Team Harmony to me. But is that antisemitism,

1:37:53 or is it simply being the mother of team harmony and representing everyone? Is this at the expense of the state of Israel, or of Jews, or even of the accuser? Is this personal in any way? I was just at the school for a whole week, And, uh, it was in early April, and I didn’t sense any tension amongst the staff. I’ve, I’ve taught all of them to dance, not only at the school, but in other places. And I only learned of the issue after the engagement was done. And I was shocked to hear about it.

1:38:39 It’s not for me to say, uh, that Israel, Jews, or even the accuser need not the kind of affirmation to have its nation state flag as the only nation state flag in a high school cafeteria.

1:39:00 And I say this as a lover of the Jewish faith and the nation.

1:39:07 I, when I asked my friends, people with whom I work, Jews in particular, about the flag in a high school, uh, cafeteria, they are, they ask, why only the Israeli flag? Then they continued, that’s inappropriate

1:39:22 and added only the American flag should be there. Now, I’m diverting briefly because I heard about the incident where the black lives, uh, matters flag was taken down,

1:39:37 but I understood my Jewish sister’s pain in doing that because she was personally offended that members of the organization came out against Israel. Now, that’s just real emotion, and I think that everybody in this room can deal with real emotion, even if it’s anger and upset, but stay as a family team. Harmony exists for a reason. It’s a very good one. Mr. Co. That’s A little over five Minutes, just so thank you

1:40:11 for the mother of Team Harmony. This is not about the flag or any nation, but about adhering to typical school protocol where all students are represented by the American flag or all flags. I believe that as Canda, if Candace thought that she was an anti-Semitic person, she would concede that she’s not the rightful mother of the baby team harmony. And would perhaps five minutes recommend someone else for the job. But I would suggest that it’s not the time to thwart all of her good effort. Five Minutes. Five minutes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ltz. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

1:41:03 Um, rabbi Michael Ragin. Welcome Rabbi.

1:41:12 Uh, good evening everyone. I first want to thank the members of the Marblehead School Committee for your service to the community and to your schools. I serve as the Rabbi of Congregation Shi Hyam. I’m a resident of Swamp Scott. Many of my students, uh, attend Marblehead High School or attend Marblehead schools in general, and many of my congregants live in Marblehead. Um, later tonight, when you take a vote to, uh, regarding an independent investigation, I urge the Marblehead School Committee, um, to use the IHRA definition of antisemitism, along with, and this is the critical point, its examples. Uh, and so in that regard, I want to amplify the words of Sero Palladian. Uh, the new things that I have to add that’s different from the other speakers this evening is, is why that definition and why the examples are important.

1:42:02 The first, to my knowledge, federal department, to use the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, along with its examples, was Secretary of State Hillary Kitten’s State Department in 2010 under President Barack Obama. In December, 2019, president Trump signed the executive order on combating antisemitism, which writes all executive departments and agencies shall consider the non legally binding working definition of antisemitism adopted by the IHRA and the contemporary examples of antisemitism identified by the R-H-A-I-H-R-A to the extent

1:42:49 that any examples might be useful as evidence of discriminatory intent. And then in February of 2021, a Biden State Department official said, we must educate ourselves and our communities to recognize antisemitism in its many forms so that we can call hate by its proper name and take effective action. That is why the IRA’s working definition of antisemitism with its real world examples is such an invaluable tool. So, if it was good enough for the President Obama’s administration and it was good enough for President Trump’s administration, and it was good enough for President Biden’s administration,

1:43:36 I hope that it will be good enough for the Marblehead School Committee to employ as well.

1:43:48 I conclude by reiterating my ask that the Marblehead School Committee, when in appointing an in independent investigator to examine accusations of antisemitism, used the IHRA definition of antisemitism, along with its examples. Thank you. Thank You, Robert.

1:44:13 Few more names. Um, Mr. McGinn, is it Yoa? Sorry. McGinn. Yeah.

1:44:25 Oh, I’ll welcome. Thank you. I’m Nurse that you have to, uh, Good evening. Evening, everybody. Um, it’s the second time I’m in front of this committee. First time was, uh, um, after October 7th, once a letter was released by a superintendent supporting the suffering of the Jewish people. And we were invited here because apparently it offended some Muslim students. And this is the second time I’m here. I am very worried. I’ve been hearing my community being, uh, accused as being a liar. I mean, you would not tell a black person that says

1:45:11 that there’s anti, you know, black uh, behavior from three teachers and a few students and let it go. You would not let gay student or trans students here walk around saying they’re being discriminated and you will let it go. It seems that freedom of speech is at its freest when it comes to the Jewish people. You can pretty much say or do whatever you want. And then you have members of the faculty here coming here telling that the Jewish people said it were liars. Um, you cannot dictate a minority who they are and what they are. If a Jew tells you it’s anti-Semitic, it is anti-Semitic. Mm-Hmm. If a trans person tells you you’re anti trans,

1:45:58 you’re anti trans, it’s that simple. If you would have the KKK investigating slavery, it will come out that slavery was a necessity and nothing wrong happened to anybody. You must, must, must include in this investigation that I hope you would do a reputable organization, Jewish organization. Because on a personal note,

1:46:34 the sign in my house that says that I support Israel was removed in the middle of the night. It was broken. A neighbor of mine had their sign removed and they had to call the police. My son had to change the curriculum. At your school, you have teachers that, that considering, if not already left, this should light every red light on your dashboard, each and every one of them. You cannot ignore it. And anymore the time to say you’re overreacting, the type to say, will have a committee, will sit, will think we’ll talk is through action people. Action. Thank you very much.

1:47:22 Thank you Mr. Mcg. Begin. So I have Sarah plating again that Sarah already spoke, so I think that was a duplicate as well as I believe Karen was on here. Karen. Well, unless it’s Karen hoo, it’s gotta be. It’s the same, it’s the same address twice. Um, and then Nare Freelander, welcome.

1:47:47 Hi, my name is Nait Friedlander, and I am was I organized, um, combating antisemitism, uh, summit K to 12 in ne Massachusetts. So I heard all the testimony of the children and the teachers, and I was in shock, I must say. Um, the schools in Marble, uh, Marblehead are plugged by anti-Semitic teachers who attack Jewish colleague without consequences. These schools allow anti-Semitic behavior to go unchecked with Jewish teachers facing insults and harassment, the MTA sides with the attackers instead of protecting the victims. Would you believe that If you think your violence against

1:48:34 Jews will go unnoticed, you are mistaken. Just last week, a teacher exposed the truth about what is happening inside her school. Her testimony went viral, revealing the antisemitic environment that has taken root com comments like it’s a shame. Hitler lost the war thinks would, would have been better with him or being made, made openly. It’s not just the Jewish community that is standing up against this. Imagine of instead of a Jewish teacher, it was a Chinese teacher being targeted, remarks about Chinese dominance or questioning someone’s Chinese identity.

1:49:19 Such discrimination is unacceptable. You don’t have to be Jewish to understand and oppose what is happening here. The black hatred is appalling. We are crying out, out for justice. After the MTA conference in March, we realized we were dealing with an antisemitic political organization. Even though they claim to be only anti-Zionism,

1:49:50 denying Israel existence is an attack on Jews inciting violence against them. When the president of the MTA was asked to attend the summit to hear testimonies from students and teachers about antisemitism, he didn’t even bother to respond to us. Yet he claims to be Jewish antisemitic. Jews do exist, unfortunately. Mm-Hmm, Mr. President, your Jewish identity doesn’t excuse your actions. During the Holocaust, there were Jews who collaborated with their prosecutors perse. We recognize this phenomenon from history. It’s not new.

1:50:39 You’ll be remembered as a coward who could have made a difference, but, but chose, chose to do nothing. We are the voice of reason demanding an end to this political chard and the disgraceful behavior happening here. It’s time to start teaching with integrity and fighting against hatred. Do the right thing. We ask teachers, don’t just be observers. Stand up against this because this isn’t just about Jews and Israel. It is about American values. Our duty to our communities is to ensure that our children’s minds are shaped to respect

1:51:26 and love their friends, not to divide and hate. Be an example. Stop The hate. Antisemitism has no place into today’s world. Jews, Arabs, Chinese, or black. We are all equal. Never again is now. And nothing will stop us. And we need your help. Speak up when you see hate. Speak up when you see divisiveness. Speak up when you see Extre rhetoric. Thank you very much.

1:52:04 That’s the mca. Um, so that’s the last name on the list. I have Julia, did you say there was one person in the overflow room that would like to speak?

1:52:19 They came up to the library to make their comment, so Oh, okay. We’re all Done, done here. Okay, great. Okay. So that is all the names I have. Um, I dunno if there’s anyone else that didn’t write, uh, yeah, or anyone online. I don’t see any hands up. Okay. All right. Thank you. Somebody hear me? Oh, I’m sorry. Just rose their hand raised.

1:52:45 It’s almost nine o’clock, so this will be like the last one. Welcome, Ms. Rearden. Hello. So I’m Meredith Rearden and I’m a Marblehead resident, born and raised. And I graduated from Marblehead High School, and I also worked in the, in the system for 13 years. Um, so I’m writing this letter in sincere concern about allegations against a former coworker at Marblehead Public Schools, Candace Slimy.

1:53:13 I held the lead counselor position at Marblehead High School from September of 2008 through June of 2018. During the last three years of my tenure at MHSI was the co-chair of Team Harmony with Candace Melissa Capic, a parent council leader, requested that Candace and I consider incorporating the A DLA World of Difference Institute curriculum into our Team Harmony program. Candace and I reviewed the program and agreed that it would be be beneficial to our team Harmony group, as well as the MHS student Body. In July of 2016, Candace and I, along with two other MHS teachers, attended an inspirational in-depth four day training in Montpelier, Vermont. That fall, we brought Phil Fogelman from a DL into MHS on

1:54:01 two Sundays to train our team Harmony students. And Phil also presented the program to our teachers during a professional development day. The goal was for students to teach students to challenge prejudice and discrimination within the school. Our team Harmony leaders, presented engaging interactive programs for their peers during health classes that contributed to respectful behavior, such as understanding the negative effects of microaggressions and to recognize and acknowledge prejudice and discriminatory behavior in themselves and others. Candace and I were proud of the work our team Harmony Leaders accomplished. We also took our Team Harmony students to the annual A DL Youth Congress in Boston, the A DL Law and Education Day at the Kerrwood Country Club each spring.

1:54:47 And since my transfer to MBMS, I’m not there anymore, but I did go, um, transfer there in the fall of 2018, my retirement in June of 21. I believe that these beneficial programs continue to exist, and all I can say is I’m a really good judge of character and can, I can tell you right now that Candace Liney did not make those comments. Thank you. Thank you.

1:55:18 Thank you everyone. Um, I think that was it for folks that wanted to speak. So, um, this was a lot. Thanks everyone for your time and the preparation that you did. As I said earlier, anyone who would like to submit their statement to the record are welcome to do that. Um, you can drop, you can give us a hard copy or you can email it. The school, um, committee email is on our website. Um, so as far as our agenda is concerned, we did have this discussion, I’m sorry. Oh, sorry. No, we had this discussion, um, regarding this independent investigation and the request to approve before us is much further down on the agenda. So I’m going to suggest if it is the will of the committee to consider moving that portion of the agenda up to now

1:56:05 so we can discuss and deliberate. Um, and then if folks are welcome to stay, um, but may choose not to, and may take a recess for a few minutes and check on the air conditioning. Um, so a question, uh, about Your, Um, if I sent in an email to the school committee, is that on the record? So I’m, uh, so public comments closed, um, I will comment on that and then we’re gonna move to this. Um, emails are generally not part of the record, so people email us all the time. Usually the chair responds to an email, um, and they’re not generally part of the record of the meeting that we had tonight. So what I was suggesting is if folks wanted to submit their statement, their written statement as part

1:56:51 of the record of tonight’s minutes, that we would be able to accept that, um, committee members. How do you feel about moving this A hundred percent Topic up to now on the agenda? Yep. Okay. I don’t think we need to vote on that. Um, so we have before us, um, what we have before us is a letter, um, or a statement from our school committee council, um, Tom Dom Dominello suggesting that we, um, it’s Tom Costello to Tom Costello, thank you. Um, that we consider, um, three different investigative investigative firms. Um, and to pick one of them that was submitted to us tonight,

1:57:37 and that was the potential discussion and vote. Um, so that’s what’s before us now. And what was the date of that? The date of the letter. The date of the letter. Yeah. Um, Hang on one second. I I Much further down. I am Fully in court. Um, the, I don’t believe there is a date on this letter. I rec I was in the Dropbox yesterday, but the letter, it’s not on letterhead. Um, yeah, I know there’s no date. I just know it came, it was, it was put in the Dropbox within about a half an hour of receiving on Tuesday. Oh yeah, I know. I, I, I trust that. I just wanna make sure it, so we got it a little over 48 Hours ago. Um, I fully support having an independent investigation. I don’t think there’s any if ands or buts about it personally. I would also suggest that I should probably know it at the

1:58:23 sale, but I’ll speak for myself who doesn’t understand the power of social media and what it can or cannot contribute to the exacerbation of issues or the spreading of misinformation. Um, and I really think that we should take the lawyer’s recommendation, and clearly the public does as well. And I think in the interest of ensuring that we are listening to our public, our, our community, and making sure the public feels heard, I also feel that we should perhaps have something a little bit more formal from the perspective of these particular candidates. I know our lawyer provided three options. All we got on those were, you know, a resume and,

1:59:10 and a small blurb. Um, I would suggest that the, I wanna make sure that I say this properly. The severity of this is big, and so as a result, I want it done properly. Um, and I think in order to do that, we need to have these people, organizations come here and present to us. Um, and I think, I’m not looking for an hour long presentation. I’m looking for, you know, 15 minutes from each of them if more want to submit. Um, and looking for what their experience is. I think certainly taking into account do they have antisemitic experience is important. I think in addition, we wanna know what the readout is that they will provide us back. I think that that is very important. Um, so that would be my suggestion.

1:59:55 I don’t want to, I don’t want this to sound as if I’m delaying the vote. I fully support the independent investigation. I wanna make sure that’s clear for social media, but I think we should really do it right and take this as seriously as it clearly is because, um, I just, I think, I just think that that’s the right way, but I don’t want it to be misconstrued I say something. No, the public comment. Um, o over we’re, we’re deliberating this. Now. Our attorney, uh, Tom Costello is online to answer, um, if, If anybody has any questions, Um, regarding, you know, the pro this process So well, um, okay.

2:00:41 Any committee member before we move to Tom, do anyone want to share any other thoughts? I’d Like to hear from Tom what the evaluative process should be to maintain this, the validity of the independent investigation.

2:00:57 Okay. Uh, Tom, Oh, I just unmuted. Oh, Good. Okay. Welcome.

2:01:06 Hello. Um, so the, I did, I sent an email to Sarah on, um, July 18th. And, um, included three names that were recommended to us that June 18th, June 18th from June. They were recommended to, to the firm, um, through ver through a number of, uh, other parties that we, we reach out to. They’re all qualified to do this type of investigation. They all do, uh, discrim discrimination investigations. They all have public sector and invest investigative experience. And I included their rates as well as their, their resumes, um, in that correspondence to Sarah. So, uh, I, I, I think all three are qualified that, that, that all three have, have an abundance of experience in investigating, um, public sector

2:01:53 and private sector, um, claims of discrimination. I, I don’t doubt that for a second. Um, but I think with the level of importance of this, we have had, I don’t know how many people were here altogether online, both rooms tonight, we’ve had two hours of public comment in a not very cool room on the hottest day of the year so far. Um, and I applaud everybody that came to, to share their truth. And it takes a lot for that. I think one of the things that this committee wants to work on even more is being more transparent and listening to our community more. Um, I already felt this way before anybody spoke, just to be clear, me personally. Um, but it’s, it’s only been compounded by listening

2:02:39 to everybody’s, um, heartfelt stories. And I still feel I would like to have the different folks, whether it’s these three, I, I don’t, I, it almost doesn’t matter who it is, but I want the people to present to us. I wanna be able to ask them questions. I think it’s fair to do it in a public forum. Um, and I think seeing what their readout will be, post review, post investigation, what are they gonna provide us back? Because sometimes that can be very, very critical to the process as well. Um, and different companies, just from my corporate experience, different companies will provide you different outputs. And I think we need to know what those are so that we can be sure it’s going to give us what we need to, to make decisions, make changes, improvements, and, and, you know, really what we’re hoping to garner from this.

2:03:28 Yeah, I, I think we do need to do a little bit of further vetting. Um, again, we don’t want to have this go on longer than it needs to, but it’s important. So we wanna make sure we do it right. I have no problem starting with these three that Tom has recommended. Um, and then just asking a little bit more about, I’d like to hear more about specific discrimination examples that might be very relevant to what we’re, what’s going on right here. I’d like to know what their perspective is on, you know, IHRA definition and examples. Is that something they’re familiar with and have used? That sounds important. Um, so I, I do, I do like the idea of maybe setting something up if we can early next week, uh, yeah. To get them to, to give a presentation around those, those, and I do like the idea of having more specific deliverables that we’re looking for from any of these firms.

2:04:15 Um, when I look at them and they, they talk about the various, um, experience they have in, in doing independent investigations based on discriminatory practices, um, within the labor law environment. One jumped out to me as having vastly more experience. They talk about hundreds of, of these inquiries that they’ve done. The other, they were more in the single digits. One of them talked about a dozen. So I, I do think that that is a factor. Um, that firm was Kirker, I’m gonna butcher these names, I apologize. Kirker, Paget. Um, and I, the other thing I thought that was, I, I liked about them is they talked about what their investigative report would consist of the other ones. Well, they gave, um, the summary of their, their resume

2:05:05 or, or, um, credentials, if you will, did not give a clear outline of what the end product they produces. I was very impressed that with the investigative report, it would give a descrip description of the complaints summary of applicable policy, summary of interviews with the parties, relevant information shared with witnesses, summary of material information gathered, such as text, email, communication, other documents. Um, I think at one point they talk about, yep, they, they even take into account text message. I don’t know what slacks is. I’m not the most tech savvy person. Instant messenger social media posts and security reports, photos, videos. I, I think that this was by far the most vast and comprehensive, um, present, uh,

2:05:50 of the result they would give us. So I, I am perfectly happy to hear more, um, make sure that, you know, they understand our scope, which will be a very important matter as to define the scope. But the, from what I read in these packets, the, the level of experience was vastly different. Um, at least as they presented. So I do, for me, that was important, the level of experience someone had, and also the breadth and depth of the report that they would give back, because we do wanna make sure all of these pieces are taken into account. Um, I also feel that we, in order to preserve the validity of an independent investigation, need to, um,

2:06:39 make sure that once we hand this over, we truly hand it over.

2:06:45 Thanks. Um, so I’m gonna make a couple of comments, um, now that everyone has spoken. So first thing I wanna do is, um, let everyone know, including the committee, um, that I filed a disclosure form A, oh, don’t, 23 B three, I think it was called with the town clerk today. Um, I spoke with the State Ethics Commission earlier this week. I attended the zoom call the webinar on June 10th. Um, and that was a subject of a lot of the discussion tonight in the comment. So, um, I just wanted to speak to the state ethics board, which I did. Um, the attorney I spoke with, um, did not feel that based on what I described in my attendance, that it was per se a conflict. But if anything could be construed as an appearance of a conflict of interest, then the remedy for that is to file the disclosure, which I

2:07:31 did today with the town clerk. So I just wanna let everyone know that. Um, that being said, when I received that note in, um, and the recommendation in our packet this week, it did seem like a very quick turnaround to make a decision on, um, a firm that we hadn’t had a chance to actually meet. Um, I actually put calls into each of the, um, firms today. So, I mean, it was very quick. I only spoke to one, um, who was able to get back to me. And that’s no reflection on these very, very busy investigators. Um, the one person that I did speak with, um, we had a long conversation and this person did not have any experience in investigating antisemitism. Um, so, and so one of the things that I heard tonight is that, that seems to be very important to the community.

2:08:18 So I’m wondering whether it makes sense for us to get together. I don’t, I don’t think we want to. You know, I have this take forever, and the message I heard also tonight was, um, a desire for us to do this work over the summer. Um, but does it make sense for us to get together and talk about what this might look like? I mean, what I hear tonight is that members of the community would like to have input on the type of organization that we’re looking at. And it’s nine 15. We’ve been, you know, talking about this a lot. And I think we need kind of fresh minds to be thinking about this because we’re looking for an investigation firm to do personnel related issues in terms of this,

2:09:06 um, situation we’re in. And then there’s more of a global, um, demand, um, that I’m hearing from the community to look at, um, antisemitism and other forms of discrimination within our school district, whether it’s curriculum policy, um, you know, and some other things that I heard. So that’s where I’m getting a little wrapped around the axle, if you will. Um, so I’m wondering whether it makes sense to have a meeting next week. We could certainly have the, the folks come that are already on this list, but I also, but I also wanna hear I, and I’m just one person. Um, What, what this needs to look at. Who needs to help us get this so that we get the right organization?

2:09:53 Yep. So where does that leave us? I don’t think, correct me if I’m wrong. I think it don’t, it doesn’t sound like it’s the will of the committee tonight that we’re gonna vote on any of these organizations. Not for me. Yeah, I think we need just a little more information. But again, to be clear, that’s not because we don’t want to move forward with an independent investigation. I will say that on repeat, so it’s clear. So is it the will of the committee to move to a meeting next week to discuss this issue? Yeah. And delivery a full discussion, I think. Yes. Okay. I agree. Sarah, how do you feel? I absolutely will support whatever the will of the committee is. It sounds like everyone wants to postpone this, um, till next week.

2:10:39 Okay. Alright. I don’t think we need to do a vote on that. I think this is seems to be the will of the committee. This also, um, also gives an opportunity for Brian to be here. I believe, I believe he’s back this week. I, next week. I haven’t spoken to him. So, um, I, in the meantime, are going to, um, ask that anyone who spoke tonight who wants to reach out to me or any members of the committee, um, to please do so, and that we, I will work with the leadership, um, and in planning next week’s meeting on how we’re gonna talk about this and what that’s gonna consist of in the agenda. And there may be a few other agenda items. ‘cause we may not get through everything tonight. Okay. All right. So we’re not gonna take a vote on this at this point. We’re not voting, um, on the agenda item for the firm. Um, just so Tom, so you know that, um, and we will post for a meeting next week.

2:11:26 Should we amend just so that it’s like really abundantly clear, um, amend it to say that we want Yeah, we’re voting, make a vote to move forward with an independent investigator. Just that we are not yet sure who that investigator will be. I didn’t word that ply. I’m hot, cranky, and tired, so I apologize. I think everybody understands what I’m saying though. So essentially, I just want it to be clear to the public for whatever is published tomorrow, wherever it’s gonna be published and whatever social media outlets. I want it to be clear that this table, it sounds anyways, is supporting. I am personally moving forward with an independent investigator, and that we are going to have a meeting next week to identify how that process will play out in order

2:12:13 to make sure we’re taking this as seriously as it should be taken. So, um, Does that make sense? I Will call for a motion to, uh, postpone the vote for an independent investigator to a meeting next week, uh, during which we will deliberate on the process for the procuring of that investigation.

2:12:34 I’m just struggling with po we’re not postponing that we want to do this, just To make clear. Right. I wanna both, that we want to move, can we just have a, I’ll make a motion to approve an independent investigation pending further review of applicant’s. Yes. Much prettier. Do I have a second? Second, second. Yeah. Um, I’ll do a roll call. Allison, In favor? Al in favor, Sarah Fox In favor, Jen Schaffner in favor. So that’s what we will do and we will, um, get our calendars together and we’ll post for that meeting. So keep an eye open. Thank you everyone. Thanks for your patience. Thank you. Um, I’m gonna ask for a five minute recess so that the folks from downstairs can come up and, um, if anyone needs a break. So, um, so we have an awful lot of things on our agenda. Um, at this point we are moving to district updates.

2:13:22 We then have consent to action, school committee, communication, discussion items, closing business, and then executive session. Is there any part of this, um, agenda that committee members would like to table to a future meeting or Not? Or we can go through it. I just wanna see what the will of the committee is.

2:13:43 I mean, I, I don’t want anything to seem like it has more importance than another thing. I think it’s, that’s a hard, Personally, I’m okay to keep going. Okay. Power through. Let’s go. Um, okay. So district updates to Dr. McGinnis. Um, we have, uh, school nutrition program update. Okay. First I’m gonna do my updates. Okay. Retirees, if you don’t mind. So, um, tonight we’re saying farewell to our retiring friends and colleagues who one was here, um, who are all celebrated at their individual schools. But it’s always nice to keep the tradition going here with the school committee saying, thank you so much for your 160 years. Wow. I wanna wish them well in their next chapter of life. Um, and thank them for 160 years

2:14:32 of nurturing children, um, knowing that their work is legacy work, um, for thousands of students on those 160 years. Uh, so Mr. Fox and Ms. Murphy, you wanna sit up here for just a quick second? Um, we have a few, just a couple sentences about these great people and, uh, Dr. Carlson, Ms. Maxfield and Mr. Richards are on vacation right now, so I’m gonna read for their schools and Mr. Fox and, um, Ms. Murphy are gonna read a little bit about each of their retirees as well. First one is Robert Dillon, who was here, but he just left. Um, he served as an English teacher at Marblehead High School for 16 years. He shared his literary literary knowledge and love for English language with his students throughout his career.

2:15:18 And he’s mentored students in the fencing club as the advisor at Marblehead High School. So we wish Robert Dillon well and Ms. Murphy. So we have Mary Ellen Hart. Our craft, however, um, you’d like to refer to her on that day, um, has been a dedicated teacher at the village school and in district for 22 years. Um, we think it’s a little bit more her years of dedication to developing our young learners as proficient readers has made an indelible mark on our students. In addition to her role as a teacher, she assumed the role of coach to help support the other teachers at Village School as they worked to implement new curriculum and assessments over the years. Mary Ellen will be greatly missed. She also got the Peg Voss Howard Award this year as well. Oh, yes. So that doesn’t go unnoticed. Yes. Thank you. Mr. Fox. Henry Henry Ottinger is retiring

2:16:05 after four years with us as our engineering teacher, Dr. O as he is affectionately known. Uh, for those of you don’t know, he does have his doctorate in cellular and molecular biology from U Penn. Um, that’s a rare background for engineering teacher in a middle school. Uh, he also breathed, uh, back to life for our engineering club, uh, and it was great to have him here. We’re looking forward to building off his curriculum for next year. I don’t think I could be as quick with my other retiree, but I’ll try to be. Uh, Joan Miller is retiring after 21 years with the district, uh, and our school, um, she tried to retire last year as a teacher. She was a 20 year special education teacher in our building. Uh, she worked with every team and every teacher, um, and really every curriculum over her 20 years. Uh, she tried to retire last year

2:16:51 and I wouldn’t let her, uh, and convinced her to stay on as our interim assistant principal this year. Um, just to tell you her connection with the staff, uh, at the faculty meeting, uh, at which I announced this was spontaneous applause, standing applause from her colleagues last year when we, when we brought her on board. And every day this year, uh, she has done an outstanding job, not only just as an as as an assistant principal here, but truly as a, as a leader in our building. And, uh, we are going to, to, I personally. I know everybody’s gonna miss her, but personally I’m going to miss her quite a lot. Well, thank you Mr. Fox. Um, and at the high school, John Payne, uh, served as the Marine tech teacher at Marble Data High School for the past 16 years.

2:17:37 A hands-on COP course. Of course. He teaches students about how boat engines work and, uh, particularly handy skill for students in Marblehead. His class was even featured on WBZ News Radio report in February of 23. Sue Pillsbury has served as the speech and language pathologist at the Marblehead schools for 22 years. Most recently at the Glover School. She’s worked with helping students across the district and has been a strong advocate for her students. She’s always willing to step in and take on additional duties and will be missed by everyone. Another goodbye to Rachel Showerer. She served as the literacy tutor at the Glover School for 14 years. Rachel has inspired hundreds of students to love reading. She’s a dedicated ED educator and an excellent mentor to many new literacy tutors.

2:18:26 And then, uh, Janice Ban has served as a business teacher at Marblehead High School for 23 years. Additionally, she’s been the DECA Club advisor, um, for several years, and she led the Marblehead High School students in competing in the district, state and international competitions for the DECA Club with great success. And finally, Ms. Murphy. We Have Harrick Wales, who’s been a special education teacher in the Marblehead School district across the district for 23 years. Um, he’s worked in a variety of teaching roles across buildings. Most recently he’s been an inclusion teacher in fourth grade at Village School. Um, he’s probably one of the most flexible people as he’s moved from grade level to grade level throughout the years and made an impression on our students. He, he has a warm smile and a positive attitude

2:19:13 and we will wish him the best of luck as he joins his family in Arizona. So we thank them for their 160 years of love and caring and nurturing for, uh, thousands of students. And one more, uh, wishing well, and that’s to principal Mandy Murphy, who after a rewarding career of, uh, over 20 years, uh, from a guidance counselor to a president job as the Village School principal, um, we will miss you greatly. And we wish you the best In Danvers with Mr. Bauer, your new superintendent, um, Scott Williams will take over as the new principal at the Village School. And on July 1st, he’ll be joining Marblehead most dedicated and hardworking school leadership teams and principals, um, who are the best. And this year proves it beyond measure.

2:20:00 Um, Frank Klowski will be joining the Glover School as the interim principal in the fall as well. Um, a couple other thanks. You thank yous. Uh, Patty has been with us since February, late February, late February. And Patty is the, uh, interim director of student services and she’s done a fantastic job helping pull together where it was needed for our students. And, um, Mary Deli, the interim, uh, uh, director of finance and operations, um, has done a stellar job. I really appreciate working with you on the budget. Uh, and the good news for Mary is she is also gonna be working, going on in a contract next year with you all, um, as the Munis implementation advisor for both the town and the schools.

2:20:46 So it’s a terrific, she has experience already doing that and it’s nice to have both, um, both in place. So you guys have done a stellar job. Thank You so, so much for everything you did. It came in at a time when we really needed you and we appreciate It. Yes, we did. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, the wonderful news, um, today we met with, um, John Robo, your new interim, um, superintendent, who is a fabulous person. Um, he met with all of us individually then as a group, and he’s really a great guy. So on July 1st in district leadership roles, you’ll welcome John Robo as your interim. Lisa Maria Polito as your assistant superintendent of Student services. Mike, I always get this wrong. Pif Ling, it’s a lot of F’s in there. Three F’s in his name.

2:21:33 Um, he’s fabulous. He’s gonna be the assistant superintendent of finance and operation who will join Julia, our assistant superintendent of teaching learning, who’s fabulous. And Kelly Ferretti and, uh, as HR manager, making a strong, cohesive team with lots of team building this summer to hit the ground running. So it might feel like a night and day from this year to next. That’s the goal. So it’s a great team coming, um, for committee’s approval. My last thing on here is, um, in your packet there was information about the Marblehead High school nurse. Um, she was here earlier, but she had to leave at nine o’clock. Uh, Madison Eski, who comes highly recommended, and she has spent, um, the last, since February at Marblehead High School, being a long-term sub.

2:22:18 So they know her well, they’ve seen her work and we’re thrilled that she just got all of her licensure stuff. It’s in pending, but she al has it all in there, so it’s going to be good. Um, so it’s great to welcome someone who has already been here practicing. So, uh, she came highly recommended. So that becomes for you guys to approve And, um, that’s later on in our agenda. Oh, is it later? I went ahead. Yep. All that’s okay. Sorry, I was in all my notes. That’s okay. Um, and so thank you to, uh, you know, the absolutely fine students here, um, that are spectacular. And sometimes you might not even know that when you’ve lived here all your life. But, uh, it’s amazing. Um, your devoted parents, uh, unbelievable the amount of money and time and support that you get in this town. It’s been beautiful to see 12 years ago

2:23:04 and then again this time, um, dedicated school committee working hours upon hours. I know ‘cause Sarah calls all the time. Um, you know, and, um, to the staff who is phenomenal too. So it’s been a pleasure. It’s only been a few months, but I’ve witnessed some great stuff in Marblehead public schools, so I wish the team well going forward. Thank you for if you too, having Thank you. Thanks, You too. And your new endeavor. Thank you. Um, okay, so I have a Nutrition school nutrition program update under your update. Is that Mary gonna handle? Oh, Marriotts please, Mary. Which I think is actually a vote. Yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you very much. We had, uh, a 40 slide PowerPoint, but, we’ll, I, uh, thank you for our time.

2:23:52 I just really wanna introduce someone you all know very well. John Tito, who is our Director of Food Services. Uh, I’m glad he could be here. I really love when our operational department heads can come to the school committee and share all of their, um, successes and celebrate their efforts, of which there have been many for our school nutrition department. Uh, this group is amongst some of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen. They’ve been down staffed at every building this year, and yet they can, they broke records in terms of meal sales, which John’s gonna share some highlights with you. So, uh, without further ado, John is here to share that news and also, um, offer up a request, uh, for your support for a new position to help support the department. Great. Welcome. Thank you.

2:24:37 Um, yeah, as Mary just mentioned, we, we had a record year of, of meals served. Um, we served just shy of a hundred thousand breakfasts district wide, and we served over 228,000 lunches. Um, to put it into perspective, we served enough to fill Gillette Stadium five times with a staff of 14 people. Wow. So, um, it’s, it’s amazing what they do for, for work and, um, they’re very, very, very, very dedicated to not just me, but um, to the students of Marblehead. Um, a couple of other things I’d like to mention is, um, this year we implemented a lot of new menu, um, menu ideas.

2:25:24 And we’ve, by, um, increasing our rotation in the menus, it allows for us to have variety of choices daily for the students and ensuring students and staff remain engaged. ‘cause we want them to continue to eat in our kitchens and not get bored with the same thing every day. Um, since I’ve, since I’ve been, um, in Marble Hood for two years now, uh, I’ve focused on bringing local foods, um, into the mix. And I, we work with local companies. Um, one of them that we work with is a non-profit, um, called Jeff’s Granola. And they provide, um, an awesome allergen free product. But the best part about it is they, uh, at the end

2:26:12 of the year, any of you know, the profits from our sales goes directly to a charity of our choosing. And this year we chose Marblehead Food Pantry. It was very fitting. Um, it was in the amount of, of right around $145. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but, um, we’re looking, um, at next year being over a thousand dollars. So it’s, it’s great to give back to the community in that, in that way. Um, and I would like to read an EA very quick blurb from an email that I receive from a parent. I receive emails from parents,

2:26:51 you know, quite often. And so these are the best things that we get in our department, um, says. Good morning, John. I wanted to say thank you to, to your staff. My first grader at The Brown has enjoyed your lunches every single day this year. He comes home happy, well fed, and also with very positive interactions with your staff. He even joins for breakfast, uh, which has been pretty important to his social emotional adjustments and friendships. That’s, that’s the best news we can ever hear, that we’re creating a community within our kitchens. The kids are excited to come in daily to eat our food. Beautiful. Thank You. And we are going, um,

2:27:37 to continue the half day lunch service. Um, we, we piloted this year and we had great success and, um, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s very important, um, for our food to be available to our students even on those half days. Um, as far as capital improvements, we just finished, um, a big project over at the Village School this past year where we, um, spent a lot of money on upgrading the, the walk-in freezer and fridge over there to double our capacity. Um, and this is going to allow us to procure food at a better price. Um, and also by doing that, we are joining a buying group as of next year called, um, Metro North.

2:28:25 And by joining a buying group, uh, it allows us to have quality ingredients consistently support our commitment to local suppliers and improve overall meal quality. It also streamlines the procurement process, um, allowing us to focus resources on menu enhancements and providing nutrition nutritious meals that meet diverse dietary preferences. Um, like I mentioned, we have a staff of 14 right now. We have 11 vacancies. Yeah. Um, so that’s my number one big, big project this year is to get those positions filled and we’re making steps to make that happen. Um, but as part of that, I would like to propose a new position to be added.

2:29:11 Um, it would be the introduction of a nutrition operations specialists. Um, it’s a, it’s pivotal for advancing our department’s growth and effectiveness. Um, this involves training sessions on nutrition, culinary skills, customer service, team building activities, uh, to help ensure a cohesive and motivated staff that continues to deliver a high quality of service. So I’d just add, as I mentioned in, uh, the memo that I wrote, that there’s plenty of capacity within the school nutrition evolving fund to take on this position. I think it’s a real pivotal, as, as John mentioned, boots on the ground to provide that day-to-Day operational support. Um, we’re really excited about John, the opportunity

2:29:58 to get John out of the kitchen and, and allow him to really flourish as the director. Um, and I think this role would be important. Uh, also just to mention as well, that we received word that, uh, the School Nutrition Union has successfully deified by from, from AFS B. That was a, so that was a, the membership, the employees, um, engaged in that effort to decertify. So they are now unrepresented. Um, and the district can now, uh, have discussions about wage schedules and adjustments to wage schedules that we hope. And, and John’s already started to do the financial analysis analysis to see what can be afforded. Um, but we think we can make some significant progress in increasing, uh, salaries within the amount in a revolving fund to,

2:30:44 to both value our existing employees, but to also attract, uh, and fill those vacant positions. Awesome. So when you talk about the funds being available, hopefully there’s a long rate there. Like it’s not just one year, it’s years in the future that we’ll be able to get this position, maintain this position. Okay. Thank you. Um, Am I, yep. So first of all, thank you John so much. One of, um, the other kudos I wanna give you is the Breakfast program. Um, when you came in two years ago, it was right after we had opened the Brown School. And one of, um, a, a big part of discussions when we were opening that school was to have a working cooking kitchen that we could produce breakfast in because of what an impact that has on working families

2:31:31 of elementary school students. And I think that you’ve provided a wonderful opportunity for working fam. ‘cause it used to be when you dropped your child off at eight 15 and then had to start maybe your commute into Boston or whatever, it really did limit the ability for families with two working households when childcare and such like that. So you working as hard as you have with your staff to provide that breakfast program, which allows drop offs to be backed up, has really opened opportunities to working families and brought them equity. So thank you very much for that work. ‘cause I know it’s made a big difference. Yeah. Um, and then also thank you for all your work to help expand the Harvest in the month program. Um, Richard who, who was your predecessor, it was a program, um, he had embraced and really made a difference.

2:32:17 A lot of kids had not tried, you know, a carrot per se, or this or that in the form that it comes outta the ground. So when we first worked to start that program, um, some kids when they saw the green smoothie, you know, totally lost it. And I’m so happy that you have not only worked with that program, um, which is a volun for those of you that dunno it as a volunteer based program that we bring into the schools, but heavily relies on the food service director. But you’ve helped expand and encouraged it to be expanded. So thank you very much for that work. Very welcome. Okay. Thank you. So I am looking for a recommended motion. Um, so I’m looking for a motion to approve the creation of the position of school nutrition operations specialist as outlined by the job description

2:33:04 provided by the director of food services. So moved, So moved by Sarah. Second. And second. Second Allison. Um, uh, I’ll do a roll call. Allison Taylor. Uh, in favor. Sorry. Al Williams. I’m so hot In favor, Sarah Fox. In favor. Jen Schaffner in favor. That’s four to zero. Great. So that’s passed. Great. Thank you. Great class. Thank You. I just wrote commendation out for John. Sure. Yes. I had sick my time at, at gl you know, he brought up social, emotional, healthy, you know, the health and wellbeing of our students. I got to see it every day. You know, his connection with the students. The GL is real. Uh, you know, the communication he has with them, the special lunches, every once in a while, he makes

2:33:49 for a couple special students. It’s just mm-Hmm. It makes the cafeteria a really great place. So Thank you for saying, saying John. He doesn’t sit in an ivory tower. I don’t like, No, I don’t think he Sits. I saw him there. So I just want say thanks. Thank you, Jim. Thank you. And thank you for encouraging that with your staff too. ‘cause I know they do that in other buildings too. And that comes from the top down where they, they make sure every kid has what they need. I know if it’s French Toast Day and My dairy free kids need french toast, there’s someone there that’s cooking it. So, thank you. Thanks. Okay. Thank you. Um, so we’re moving to school improvement plans. Um, we have village Jen, should I still on? Should I, do you need me on or do you want me on There? So, thanks. You know what, um, I was actually just gonna ask that, um,

2:34:35 after you go this, so we are scheduled to go to Sorry for interrupting. I No, no, no, that’s fine. We’re scheduled to go into executive session. I don’t know if Tom was planning to be part of that. I don’t had that been your conversation with him? No, it was for the, no. So we’re, yeah, Tom, we’re all set. Thank you. Okay. Appreciate it. We’ll be in touch. Thank you. Thanks Tom. Um, take care. Thank you. Okay, great. Um, okay, so school improvement plans. We have Village Brown and Glover. So I guess Julia, you’re gonna be doing Yes. Brown and Glover debrief? Yes. Okay. Okay.

2:35:07 Since the principals are since away. Yes. Good evening. I’d like to start by saying thank you to, uh, therea, Patty and Mary for all of their help this year. It’s been fantastic. And you’re gonna be missed. So thank you so much. Um, I’ve got tears in my eyes. You saw me, right? It’s gonna be so hard to See. I know. Anyways, and then Matt shaking his Head over there. Anyways, thank you to Mandy. Matt Is not accepting it. No, he’s not. Matt says not, But I’m happy to be next to Manny to do this presentation. So, I’m here, um, as interim principal Dan Richards and, um, uh, principal Mary Maxfield are unavailable to be here this evening. I I would like to briefly share their school improvement plans with you. Um, so first Glover Elementary School, um,

2:35:53 you’re gonna see in both, um, village, excuse me, in, uh, village too, I guess. But in Glover and in Brown School, a a lot of moving forward are the same goals. There was a tremendous amount of phenomenal work that happened this year. But the leaders, along with their school advisory councils felt that they wanted to spend some more time working on these goals. Um, so you’re gonna see in, um, the, the goals that we’re sharing this evening are pretty identical to those that they were working on this year. Um, but I am pleased to share that there’s been tremendous progress and I’m very proud of the work of our educators and leaders.

2:36:29 So, is this the Glover? Yes. Perfect. Wonderful. Um, so for the, uh, T two learning school based school, It’s brown. Switching Gears. We’re switching gears to Brown school. Perfect. Great. We could do that. We could do that. Keeping you on your toes. What? Keeping you on your toes. That’s Right. I got it right here. Um, very similar actually. You know what, for the sake of time, may I present both at the same time? Actually, I think it would be helpful just for the sake of, okay. Wonderful. So both Glover and Brown as reflected in this, uh, goal here, teaching and learning are going to increase overall student achievement and further develop teacher capacity to strengthen and align tier one instruction as evidenced by observation and formal data included, but not limited to i-Ready in curriculum based measures. Um, I’m excited to share that we had a very successful implementation of Wit

2:37:16 and Wisdom, our literacy curriculum, uh, this school year for grades K through six. And, um, they want to continue to work on the tier one instruction. Um, they have, uh, been using iReady. We’re going to introduce M class. That’s the gold standard of, uh, DIBEL of the, for our early literacy screener and for, to assess our students. Um, and I’m also, since I’m specifically talking about Brown and Glover School, we’re ending the school year with 89% of our K through three students at, um, at or above grade reading level, 89%. And that’s a huge achievement for us, and we’re very proud of that. So, um, more work to be done. Um, and so that’s outlined in the strategies there. Moving to the professional culture goal, both schools have identified that they want to continue to engage in multiple opportunities throughout the year

2:38:03 to develop and strengthen a positive, engaging and unify professional culture where staff members feel safe, feel a sense of belonging and thrive as educators. One thing that they have outlined, they’re going to, um, continue to use, uh, faculty meetings to share the work that is happening. And we are continuing the use of our professional learning communities, which is really, um, doing really well. Mm-Hmm. So we’re very proud of that work, um, for our diversity, equity and inclusion goal, which aligns to, of course, our PFS, the Brown and Glover schools will, uh, staff members will work to ensure accessibility as it relates to all students, as measured of the implementation of the dcap and sharing of best practices during professional development time. DCAP is the district curriculum accommodation plan, and those are the, um, accommodations that all students,

2:38:49 regardless of status will receive in the classrooms. And so what they wanna do is spend some more time, uh, looking at which of those dcap, um, items are being used most often in the schools, um, and in the classrooms. That was very quick for the sake of time, I hope you understand that. Um, I, I’m not trying to rush through, but just wanna let you know that this was previously approved. We are just continuing the work. And again, there’s been a lot of great work and looking forward to that moving forward, um, under new leadership at Glover School. And then continuing with, um, principal Maxfield at, at Brown School. Thank you. Thank you. Great. Quick. Alright, there we go. And onto Village. Um, I’m hopeful that Scott will keep our message of keep each other well. So we’ve got that on our title page here. Um, we’re very similar to what Brown and Glover have done.

2:39:36 Um, continuing our process of go ahead to the first goal of teaching and learning. Um, we really kept things pretty consistent from this year to next year. So these are goals that I think are going to develop over time. Um, what we’re working on is, uh, fully aligning our MTSS systems. Um, and we also, as Julia mentioned, taking on wit and wisdom and refining our, um, math curriculum and really taking a deep dive at that. So a lot of the work that we’ve started this year is going to continue into next year. Um, it’s a couple of year process and I think taking on a new curriculum that really is important to focus on that for the next few years. So, um, teachers aligning, um, this year in meetings that Julia helped to set up across districts. So doing our vertical and horizontal alignment was really important this year.

2:40:22 And the teachers want that. And that’s something that when I asked them for feedback on how things were going with our school improvement plan, that was really important to them. They wanna keep those meetings going so that they can have those conversations across grade level and across, um, across the district. So I think that’s really helpful. Thank You. Um, our professional culture goal, um, when I asked them for their feedback on that, they liked to, um, they like to brag a little bit about, um, coming up with the, um, idea to, coming to you with the PD DP process and how, um, Julia created across, across the district a process for teachers to, um, help with their recertification. Um, our teachers actually, um, we set up a train the trainer, um, this year during our staff meetings and last year as well. And, um, we, we have some work to do in that area where they do, but I know that, that, um,

2:41:09 that system really helps our teachers, they started a newsletter each month that, um, really was important. So they researched PD opportunities outside that were free or low cost and sent them to each other as a faculty. So they really took these goals and ran with them and supported one another through that process, which I think is really important. I know that, um, Mr. Williams is really coming into a school that is, is continuing to improve and they’re setting the stage. So it’s really, it’s really nice to leave that behind. Um, as I talk about that, um, our goal for DEI as our last goal is also, um, to continue to strengthen our, um, sense of belonging for all students. And, um, I know we all have work to do in that area

2:41:54 and our teachers are really dedicated to that. Um, I think we’ve done this year, they’ve done a newsletter. They’ve done, um, they’ve sent lessons to each other. They share what they’re doing within their classrooms. For DEI, we’ve had whole school Spirit days. They make sure that as soon as you walk through the door that all students are, um,

2:42:16 you know, that everything, when you walk in, there’s a bulletin board that has everything displayed. So each month, whatever that team is, um, we’ve strengthened our PBIS with community meetings. And during those community meetings we’re able to talk about what the theme of the month is for DEI, which is really, really important. So I, I know these are things that we definitely need to continue to improve upon, but, um, our teachers, they’re doing a great job and they’re continue to do some great work. So That’s it. Yeah. Great. Thank you all. Alright. Thanks Mandy.

2:42:51 Thanks for coming. Yeah. Mandy, I just wanna, um, give you kudos for your wind block and the way you’re utilizing it in your building. Um, I know that we’ve heard concerns from members of the community and even members of the committee about what goes on during win in. Are all children truly getting what they need? Um, I, I printed out, um, it was actually one of my kids had asked for it to be printed out in newsprint. So I printed out the village newspaper. Um, ‘cause it’s just a shining example of how you guys are implementing win. Um, for, for those who don’t know, um, some students who have met, you know, the frameworks and where they need to be, um, are offered additional challenges. And once a week, got to meet

2:43:37 with our school librarian at the Village school who started up in, ran a a newspaper. They got to learn about formatting and writing, um, interviewing the whole process, soup to nuts. Were incredibly proud of themselves. And it just was an not no play on words intended, but it was a huge win for, um, the, the win model, if you will. So kudos to you and kudos, Julia, for your work on that. But Mandy, that was a huge, huge, I goes to our teachers taking it and running with it. Mm-Hmm. No, it’s been great. Want To do well. And they know, they looked at that and said, okay, how are we going to make this important for every student? Yeah. Um, and I bring that up here because it was in your school improvement plan for last year and it really shows how these school improvement plans when it work.

2:44:23 Um, so thank you. Awesome. Great. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks Maddy. Okay. Um, any other comments? Okay. So, uh, we’re moving on to the annual contracts. Hold on. We actually need a motion, motion to Approve this. Oh, sorry about that. Um, can I have a motion to approve all three? The Village school, brown School and Glover School School Improvement plan. So moved for 22nd, 24. Um, Sarah, was that Sarah? Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Seconded by Allison. We’ll call Allison In favor. Al Williams. In favor, Sarah Fox. In favor, Jen Schaffner in favor for to zero. Great, thanks. Um, sorry about that. Um, late, um, moving on

2:45:08 to the annual contract salary adjustments. Uh, this was a memo from Dr. McGinnis, um, assuming in conjunction with Mary Delay, delay on, um, asking for, uh, slight additional increase in our, um, total salary adjustments that we had voted on May 16th, um, to increase that by $8,162 for a total of $127,804. So I’m looking for a motion to approve the annual individual contract salary adjustments in the amount of $127,804. So moved. So moved by Sarah. Uh, second. Second L Williams. And, um, Allison Taylor In favor. L Williams In favor

2:45:53 Sarah Fox. Is there note of discussion on that?

2:45:59 Nope. Um, can you just, what was that additional, what was the Delta difference? The mi What was it reflective of? Which positions? Um, was it a cumulative of different positions? Yes. Or was it one Okay. One additional position. It’s cumul of different positions. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Yep. In favor, Jen Schaffner in favor. Great. Um, okay, we are moving on to, which is not gonna be a vote. Um, the special education review focused program review. You don’t need me up there, right? No ma’am. Come right ahead. Here’s fine. You could do it. So, um, you those slides, do we have this online or do we have the slides? Yep, yep. Thank you. It’s very short and sweet.

2:46:44 Um, they came through in, um, January 22nd. The process is to pull, um, files randomly. We’re given a list of students that are pulled randomly by their selection process. And those files are examined for completeness and accuracy. They also interview members of staff, families, all kinds of members in the community to get a fuller picture of how special ed is functioning here. And then they report back on 34 different standards. These are the rating scales. 28 of the 34, we met all required elements. And in six, they were partially, um, met. So in the next slide, you will see how that is distributed

2:47:33 on the lower tier. We do not have any violations at all, which is good. It’d be nice to get some up into commendable, but I feel really good that you had a general implementation plan in place. It was pretty accurate. The next slide is to describe a little bit what these are. ‘cause those numbers don’t mean anything to you. Um, the first one was that SLD, um, which is specific learning disability determination, was missing in some of the files. And that is a process by which there are several levels of documentation that are used to determine that there is actually a learning disability. So they were not consistently applied in all situations. Um, SE seven is a document that has two stages.

2:48:20 Before reaching your 18th birthday, you’re supposed to have received notice and signed off and your parents that when you turn 18, you have decision making authority of your own educational program. So that should be sent to every child in their 17th year who’s on an IEP to announce their rights as an adult in that world, um, SC 12 revals not always completed in time or did not have a waiver signed by the parent if they were going to be delayed. So I think DESI is pretty generous with process if you know how to use it. And so the fact that sometimes timelines aren’t met is not unusual, but it is allowed to be explained

2:49:06 to parents and get their waiver. So it’s, um, a condition that could be used more thoughtfully. But of course, it’s great if we could keep on the timelines as they stamp. But the world as it is, and you’re little understaffed, makes it hard. Um, 14 annual reviews, same thing not due all at the due date on their annual reviews, uh, in all cases that they pulled, um, SA 18 B, um, IE p’s not going out the door fast enough sometimes. And the last one, service delivery. And this has become a big one. Um, service delivery, sometimes delayed without written notice provided to families. It again, is a product of understaffed situations.

2:49:54 And so when you cannot meet the need with the existing staff, it’s hard to get done. And we have a really big problem employing people right now in special education in the district. And we’re having a great trouble staffing for next year. We don’t have all our positions filled yet, and we are also struggling to fill summer positions. And we’re in a compliance state already if we cannot provide all the recommended services. I do wanna say that we’ve been working really hard within the speech and language, um, department to be more astute about delivery of services that are appropriate to the school setting because there is a fine line between what’s clinically relevant and something delivered in a PT

2:50:41 or A SLP, those kind of related service clinical offices. There is a determination about educationally appropriate, um, services in those departments. And I think that it needs to be honed down to what is actually the letter of the law, which is to provide access to curriculum. That’s the standard. And I think people are very generous to wanna fix everything for kids, but the school isn’t responsible for all of that. And so we have to be more astute. And I think when you have your auditors come through with academic discoveries, I know Nadine TRO from years ago and she has a special ed I that’s gonna be able to help, um, define where there’s some inefficiencies in our practices and in the personnel gaps that I’m experiencing.

2:51:30 And, um, I know that, um, moving forward, uh, Lisa Marie will have a lot to do, which she’ll have some blueprints from Nadine to follow. And, um, I’m hopeful that we can attract more people to working back in Marblehead in the challenging positions that we do have. Um, I do, I do think I’d like to recommend in a further, further down the road that we offer summer teaching staff more than $33 an hour. I’m losing people left and right because they can go to a town nearby and do the same work for a lot more money. And so, you know, they’re, they’re, they’re gonna be looking for more economic advantage going forward to,

2:52:15 um, do that kind of work. So I would highly recommend that Lisa Marie advocate for a little more for those kind of positions in summer. And also our tutors and paraprofessional ranks, um, are not gonna stay if we can’t support their, their lives with decent pay. So going forward, I hope that’ll be something that they can look at. And I know that’s one of the things Nadine is asked to look at is compar comparable salaries for different positions and special education. It’s a hard job. You, you know, it’s a hard job and, um, they deserve the respect and the compensation that they get in other areas in the school community. So I just gonna be their advocate for one last time.

2:53:06 Um, That’s it. The, The area that we were outta compliance, one of the first areas or, or not fully implemented. Um, talk about did, did that reference missing Ed a, which is, is that the, um, is that the Yeah. Oh yeah. I’m sorry. There’s one more slide that has a little more. Okay. Um, yeah, there’s two forms that are not. Um, and it was typically a form that would fill out a secondary guidance department, but have an educational history in each of the elementary schools. It was handled by different people differently. Okay. So it was not, it’s something that should be standard across the district. So I think that they’ll, that will happen. Okay. Those are part of the IEP forms. One is, um, academic history

2:53:52 and the other one is current performance, the A and the B forms. So they weren’t always, um, completed, uh, by someone that was designated as a consistent person to do that across the elementary and middle schools. Okay. And we’ve rectified that or have a plan to rectify that. Yeah, we we’re, some of this has already been started. Um, the biggest ones, and I think the overall bubble on this is that, and I hate to use the word because it sounds a little unpleasant, but I think people got a little, um, sloppy with making sure everything was done before things were submitted. And so we’ve already talked about this in a training we had with all the chairs and they’ve been all through the, um, new training

2:54:40 for the i new IP form. So they all have refreshers on all the steps like that. We addressed certain of these standards explicitly through, um, complaints filed with a problem resolution system that came back to us and said, this was done improperly, you need to address it. And we did training and had to report back the dates and who participated in the, the training. So they had that as well. Could you pull that back up again? Thank you. Um,

2:55:14 Uh, let’s see. Uh, there is a handbook that Paula Donnelley did not Paula Don. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Mm-Hmm. That’s her last name. I never met her. Um, she had a service student services handbook that we started going through. Um, Lisa Marie joined us for one of those, um, trainings where we started working with the secretaries to the team chairs because they are a critical point in that chain of paperwork going out. And they are the final editor eyes on is everything here. So we have actually created cover sheets that will be used and Lisa Marie May adjust to them to her particular style, but there was not a uniform form

2:56:00 that all buildings would use to track an IEP process. And it was very clear when things were done, you could check it off. And then we go through that there is a workflow, similar thing in, um, Aspen doesn’t meet all the criteria that we need to mark on. So Mm-Hmm. We’ve developed our own forms for that. And you lost me one more time, Jack. Thanks. Um, okay. The, uh, there’s a DESI handbook that we didn’t get too deep into yet, but this is all gonna be continuing actually next week on the 25th, Lisa is meeting with the team chairs to address which things they’re going to do first for launching into next, next year.

2:56:46 So I think, you know, we have a roadmap for moving forward and, um, Lisa Maria has a lot to do.

2:56:56 I definitely, um, love that Lisa Marie and the team chairs will be reviewing that. I think that’s something, um, we have learned over the last year as needed here. Um, I I, you know, I,

2:57:09 I wish we had some in, in commendable because implemented only means substantially met doesn’t necessarily mean completely met in all cases. Um, but I think this in conjunction with our, um, full audit for special education, I think we’ll uncover, uh, a lot of additional ways that we can improve or modify as well. And I just wanna say thank you for all your efforts here. Yeah. It’s much appreciated. You know, I think they do a marvelous job with kids. Yeah. And this is a huge paper burden on people. Mm-Hmm. Um, you know, it’s just gotten bigger over the years. Yeah. And it has a purpose, but it requires enough staff and time to make it beautiful. Right. And, you know, attention to detail is not everybody’s forte.

2:57:55 No. But we’re trying to uniformly get people to pay attention to those details so they can, um, not make silly mistakes, you know? Sure. There’s no reason for those things to happen. Sure. And, and I think having more structure and process and forms around that is what’s going to help these people be able to do that. You know, setting, I, we call it setting it up for success. Right. We wanna set them all up for success. Um, and I think that’s one way to do it. So I’m, I’m excited for that. Thank you. Well, you know, I feel like this was my capstone project. Mm-Hmm. Everything I ever had to do before I’ve done here in four months, so. Exactly. You’re Welcome. You know, I do feel like this has gotta be the end. It’s like, I’ve done everything now. Oh Dear. Weve taken her out

2:58:40 of commission. Um, I really enjoyed the people I work with. They are really fabulous people. I just, you know, couldn’t have been luckier to land here. It just sort of fell together for me. I have a lovely little flat and the willows that I’ve rented and enjoy my environment here. So it’s been a pleasure. Well, thank you Kylie. We’ve really met, met some great people. Thank You. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good luck going forward. Thank, I hope it all works out. Thank you. Appreciate that. Any other comments? I don’t see this is a vote. So this was just a Nope. An update. Great. Um, okay, so moving on. I believe we have a financial update. Yes. I don’t have a, a report for you, but I did print out of, I, I think it was a major accomplishment that I got to the point that without Emma here, I could print a report out of our

2:59:26 soft right system all on my own. Um, so I’m gonna give myself a pat on the, um, as of, uh, 12 o’clock this afternoon, um, we showed an unended unencumbered balance in our FY 24 budget of $988,000. Let me just qualify. There are still two payrolls and three accounts payable warrants yet to be paid. So we won’t know our true final balance until the middle of July in all likelihood. ‘cause we can pay bills until at that time and not all of the bills have been encumbered. So we have example, you know, transportation and utility invoices for June that aren’t included in that number that will have to be paid. Um, I do think at the end of the day, probably in all likelihood there will

3:00:12 be a turnback of funds. I think it will be less than 1% of your total budget, which as business managers is what we strive for. I know that hasn’t always been the, the Process Here. However, in light of, um, you know, the budget process and the challenges that we had, um, I think that, um, certainly the town will appreciate, you know, us returning some amount of free cash that’s in addition to us paying prepaying $900,000 in special education tuition and pre-purchasing $300,000 worth of technology. And I’m assuming that would be a, oh, when the time comes to for the surplus or not, It just reverts back t back anything. Okay. So it’s not a vote. Right. Okay. Interesting. Okay. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that before.

3:00:58 So we go, um, okay. Uh, moving on to consent act or any questions on that?

3:01:06 Thank you Mary. Uh, moving on to Thank you Mary, uh, consent. Action. Oh, I just, I just wanna say thank you as well for everything you know, you have done here. I I think both of you obviously came in at a tumultuous time and you’ve, you’ve just done phenomenal work and I’m very grateful. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate that. I kind of feel like Patty too. Capstone project. Oh yeah. I did this before there and there. Mm-Hmm. Um, I think we both feel the same way. And, and, and Theresa as well, like happy to have been able to help. Mm-Hmm. I know it’s been a difficult time for this community. Mm-Hmm. Anything we can do to help, uh, ease that. Um, we were happy to do Well, you we’re instrumental Yeah. In us getting where we are today, which is amazing. Thank you. Um, okay. Consent, action and agenda items.

3:01:52 We have a schedule of bills, um, which should have been in your packet. Um, I am looking for a motion to approve the identified schedules of bills totaling $605,563 and 66 cents. So second. Uh, second. Okay. Any questions? Deliberation, discussion. Okay. Allison Taylor in favor. L Williams In favor, Sarah Fox. In favor, Jen Schaffner in favor. Four zero. Um, we had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 sets of minutes in our packet. Um, we’re being asked to vote, um, to approve. Um, so before I ask for a motion, I think I have

3:02:38 to do these individually. Um, so I will do that. Um, are there any before we go? You can do them ‘cause it’s consent action agenda. You can do the whole kit and caboodle if you want together. Okay. I wasn’t sure we could do that with approval minutes, but, um, okay. Uh, but I just wanted to make sure, since we only got them a day or two ago, I believe. Um, did it, does everybody feel comfortable moving forward? Have a chance to review them, Allison? Okay. Yeah, I’m there. All right. So I’m gonna ask for a motion to approve the minutes of February 15th, 2024 school committee meeting. Feb. Um, April 1st, 2024. April 25th, 2024. May 1st, 2024, May 10th, 2024, and May 16th, 2024.

3:03:25 Um, school committee meeting minutes. So I’ll move on. Okay. And a second. Second. Okay. Um, since we already had a chance to deliberate, I’m gonna call for the vote. Allison Taylor In favor? Al Williams in favor. Zero. Box in favor. Jen Schaffer in favor. So four zero. Great. Um, I do see we have the recommendation for school nurse hire. Oh. Which I believe, is that you, Theresa? Yep. I just read that earlier. Her here somewhere. Yes. Her name Madison. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you Madison. Thank you Mary. Thank you much. Thank you. Be in touch.

3:04:10 Okay. Here it’s I. Yep. Yep. That’s all her. Yep. So Madison ga. Yes. That’s how you pronounce it. I wrote it. Uh, um, she’s presently at the high school and they want to make her a permanent position versus just a long term sub, essentially. Okay. And she’s all certifications and all that. So going through fine. Okay, Great. You said some of them are pending? One is pending, but they, she gave, we gave the stuff so we know it’s coming. Okay. Do you know what I mean? We saw it. We gave it. That’s what I wanted to clarify. What Yeah, which version Sarah asked. She just said there was issues in the past. Yes. And I said Okay. Lemme make sure that’s right. So it is working. She’s not on right? No, she, she left a while ago. She was here. Okay. Earlier. She Left at nine from a comment. Yeah. Yep.

3:04:56 Um, so I’m gonna ask for a motion to approve the recommendation by Dr. McGinnis for the hiring of, Um, Madison. Madison Eski as, uh, uh, nurse, school nurse at Marblehead High School. So moved. Seconded. Allison Taylor. Sarah Fox. Okay. Um, I’m gonna ask for the roll call vote. Allison. Taylor in favor. L Williams. In favor. Sarah Fox. In favor? Jen Schaffner in favor. Four zero. Great. Um, and then Jen, can you have on our coming agenda, um, each year the lead nurse is a position that is assigned by the school committee. Okay. Let’s see.

3:05:47 It must be a recommendation from the superintendent. Theres, I’ll talk to you about that. About which one? I’m sorry. Um, I guess lead nurse, we have to approve every Year. Yes. It’s on the contract. Mm-Hmm. So we, But we haven’t done that, so we have to do that. Oh, lead nurse? Yeah. Oh, okay. I didn’t know lead nurse. I’ll follow Up with that after changes some Years. Yeah, I’ll follow up. Oh, okay. That’ll Probably be John, maybe what be John if the, if someone has to recommend it, would it be John or Theresa? Yeah, I’ll just have, yeah, I can, I can work with John after. I just dunno if it needs to be recommended before July 1st or not. I guess if it’s not changing, we have no idea whether it’s changing or not. I have no indication that it’s changing. Okay. But I can certainly inquire. Okay. We’ll follow up on that nurse. Um, okay. So we’re now moving to school committee communication and discussion items. Um, we are being asked

3:06:32 to approve the interim superintendent contract, um, between the Marblehead School committee and John Radu, um, which was also in your drop or in your packet. Um, everyone should have had a chance to review this. Um, let me call for the motion and then we can deliberate. Can I have a motion to approve the interim superintendent contract? So Moved. Second. And any discussion,

3:07:05 The, uh, since it, it’s kind of new for me, this, this contract, the $50,000 for a termination, I’m just, I think there’s some validity around that clause, but how was the number developed? Is that something that like MASA, this is kind of typical for a super contract? Just curious how the number was developed. Um, Liz suggested it based on three months. Okay. Oh, so it’s three months. So, so, okay. Yeah. That’s the rule typically is three Months. Well, um, no, this was a provision that Marvel had utilized. We were, um, it’s an unusual provision. It was first utilized, um, two or three contracts ago upon advice of counsel who was Liz at the time. Um, we had just, we’d gone through some, um,

3:07:57 financial difficulties in the district and, um, our then superintendent retired. Um, and when she wrote the new contract, she had implemented this, it was a different value, um, in different period of time. And um,

3:08:17 So do most superintendent contracts not have this type of provision in it? Correct. Right. Okay. So it’s termination without cause versus Paying out, um, in the past. So In, in that case, is this, you know, payment, um, in lieu of that, um, Versus paying out the, without it, you’d pay out the entire contract. You Pay out The contract Is that verbiage is in there. Yeah. In addition to this and this over, this overrides that because We have it, it overrides it. Okay. Okay. Also, I think it says the interim superintendent will accrue 1.25 days of sick leave per month commencing July 1st, 2025. I should probably say 2024. Oh, Okay. Um,

3:09:03 Section 4.3. Um, I think it’s because he starts with a Bank of 15 and then it’s at accrual. Right, right. Sick leave day 15, sick leave days. Yeah. So it, so he doesn’t, okay, so he’s just starting with sick leave. He starts ‘cause he would leave with the banks And doesn’t He starts and then after the first year, it’s an accrual. Oh, Okay. Which must add up to 15. It does. Yeah, it does. Well, 1.25 per month for 12 months. Yeah. There’s more than 15, but, okay. Um, all right. That makes sense. Okay. And it’s a two year contract, so that would bring him to the end of the second year. Um, so yeah, so this amount obviously was negotiated

3:09:51 by Sarah. Yeah. Terry Fox. Yeah. So this isn’t, this position is considered at will, I’m assuming. Um, so, um, from a legal standpoint, I, I don’t necessarily know that I can answer that. Um, but this is a contracted position, right? Right. Um, and so what it says is under termination, the superintendent can terminate. So the superintendent can leave any With 90 Days, right? Yeah. Um, correct. With uh, 98 There’s no penalty. They could, they could say I won’t be back here tomorrow. That’s how every contract is. Okay. Yeah. I’m just more concerned about, we have a provision in our contract that’s not typical from, you know, why are we varying from what most superintendents in this state, it’s to our benefit typically have, but for someone to leave or for us to, to terminate someone kind

3:10:38 of without cause Mm-Hmm. What’s the scenario where that happens? ‘cause typically if we’re documenting and doing a good job of evaluating employees, that wouldn’t happen and that’s probably why it’s not in a lot of Other contracts. There could be number of reasons why. Um Okay. Without it, you’d have to go to arbitration. Yeah. Or you would, um, have to pay out The rest of, or you can terminate with Cause is what I, is what I’m suggesting I’m not threshold For cause is exceptionally high. And even with, cause you go to arbitration Really Even with a, okay. So if without cause, um, if there’s a decision to, to, you know, to separate and it would probably be mutual. If we didn’t have this clause, we would owe the rest of the contract. Mm-Hmm. Which we Have had happened in the past, which Could be substantial, you know, if it happened

3:11:26 in a short period of time. Um, so this actually does protect us more protect and it gives us an option. Um, not saying that, you know, obviously that that’s, that’s gonna happen, but, um, that is what I’m just struggling a little bit because what we’ve all heard from town is that we, there seem to be nice, you know, why do we have these packages for people leaving and they, you know, and there’s reasons right. There might be some good reasons. I’m just still struggling with this terminating without, cause This, this protects us from that. Mm-Hmm. Those packages were when we didn’t utilize these clauses. Okay. Alright. Thank you. That helps. Um, this Is a cost savings, Right. One to you. Okay. Um, any other questions?

3:12:13 Um, so this is a two year contract and there is something in there, um, that we will, I don’t have it in front of me. Um, successor of agreement will be negotiated on or before March 15th, 2026. Um, so we would be informing mm-Hmm. Um, John, Rob to on or before Mar March 15th. Could 2026 could be much earlier than that if we decide, um, to extend a contractor offer permanent, but that’s when we would need to. So Year and a half and that timeline is standard. Yeah. Um, okay. So I have a first and a second. I’m gonna do a roll call Vote Allison In favor? Al Williams In favor? Sarah Fox In favor, Jen Schaffner in favor. Yay. Very exciting. Um, next item, independent investigation.

3:12:59 We had moved to the earlier part of the meeting, um, subcommittee liaison and updates. Any updates? Would Brian not need To reassign subcommittees? Um, we would normally do that in, um, probably in our retreat so we can talk about that under new business. Can we do at least wait till Brian’s here for that since he’ll probably want to be on some committee? I don’t know. Yeah. Um, I just wondered if there are any updates from the existing committees subcommittees that we had? Think so. Nobody met. Okay. Um, closing business. So new business. Um, anybody have any new business? What would be, I’d like to set a date for a retreat as soon as we can.

3:13:45 Just so that before everyone starts planning their, or you know, so we can get it on a calendar so I can plan around it if needed. Please. Can we, um, do that, can that be another agenda item for our meeting next week? ‘cause we’ll need Brian for that. Yeah. Um, when I know I said I wanted to have a focus discussion on that, but maybe we could have just add that quick little bullet point in there for planning. That’s fine. That’s fine. I, I totally agree. I just, You are allowed to do scheduling outside of an open meeting. That’s true. Yeah. Right. We’ll do it that way. Yeah, I could do it through Email. So we can certainly do an email in regards to scheduling, but I do believe we need to talk about what we want done, want to cover at the retreat, the goals. And that should be, I mean, I, I think we all need

3:14:33 to be providing input on what we want and then we will decide what our agenda will be. ‘cause there might, may, may not be able to fit everything in. Um, so I can put this on the agenda for the meeting that we’re gonna have next week and we can discuss it then As far as the, as far as the, uh, agenda for the retreat, um, if you wanna send me your, um, your availability in July and August, um, just in general, then we can start to whittle down the dates. We can finalize it on next week.

3:15:03 Um, so in regards to next week, does anyone have, um, do we wanna set a date now? Um, so we can get this posted for next week?

3:15:12 I, um, am out of town next week, but, um, can, can try to zoom in if it’s, um, I haven’t solidified the days of travel for next week yet. Okay. So, Um, if I’m not here I can zoom in as long as I’m not in the actual Car. Okay. Any preference next week for evening? I assume we do it in the evening. Um, I think Wednesday for me works best. Okay. That’s the 26th? Yep. Yes.

3:15:50 Does that work for you Al? Yep. Yes. Alright, I’ll check with, um, I’ll check with Brian. I’ll put out an email to everyone. Um, and Sarah, you’ll just get me, well you’ll you’ll just attend by Zoom either way. Yeah, I’ll make it work. Okay, Great. Um, okay, correspondence, anybody correspondence. Um, I also, I think that I neglected to just commend the varsity girls softball team who made it, um, all the way to the state semifinals, which is amazing. Um, I have no doubt that

3:16:25 PORs Norman is super proud of you and I just wanted to say congratulations on that. That is very far to go. I think you had 21 wins I read, which is some type of record for the program. Um, and just congratulations to all of you. Great. Congrats. Um, I would make the, um, suggestion that if we’re going to meet next week anyway and we won’t be meeting to bargain before then, that we wait to have our update so that Brian can be part of it as well and we’re not, um, leaving 20% of our committee out of it. Yeah, yeah. It’s late too. I was gonna actually ask that whether you wanted to postpone the executive session, um, since it was just gonna be us. Um, we weren’t having Liz on, or, or I don’t believe Thatcher was gonna join us.

3:17:12 No. ‘cause he was at the meeting. Okay. So, um, um, okay. So I don’t know if we need a motion, I mean a motion to take this off. The, um, Motion to postpone. Yeah, I’ll call for a motion to postpone the executive session to our next scheduled meeting. Second by Allison. Sorry, Second. No, no, no worries. Second. Second. Sorry. Um, I’ll do a roll call. Allison In favor? Al Williams? In favor, Sarah Fox. In favor? In favor. Okay. Um, motion to adjourn at 10 or do I need a motion to adjourn? No. Yes, no, I’ll ajour at 10, usually 10 34. I will adjourn us.