School Committee: September 4, 2025

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

0:20 All right. [Music]

0:40 All right. All right. Sounds like we can go. All right. We’ll call the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. is September 4th, 2025. We’ll start with the Pledge of Allegiance.

1:03 I pledge algiance to the flag the United States of America to the republic which

1:19 are any commendations. Um, I’d like to make a commendation to all the administrators and staff members who worked to get school open last week. Um, make very clear to me that the work of opening schools starts the day that school ends in June. Um, and there are a lot of people that go into having those classrooms ready and teachers there to greet our students on the first day. So, good work to everyone to that. Any others?

1:56 » Okay, we’ll move on to excuse me, public comment. Uh, just before we begin, I’d like to remind that our policy allows individuals up to three minutes to present their materials and that the segment should not exceed 15 minutes overall. Public comment is not a discussion, debate, or dialogue between individuals and the school committee. It is an individual’s opportunity to express an opinion on issues within the school committee’s authority. For example, budget, superintendent performance, and school policy. I will give individuals a 15-second promp prompt to let them know their time is expiring.

2:55 Um Sarah Fox 46 Street. Um speaking on two topics, the first one being the surveys that you included last week. Um last week you you included a blanket approval in the handbooks. um despite the recent Supreme Court case that states clearly that parents are given the right to opt in rather than opt out. Um this is concerning because this week once school opened at least three of the schools have sent home requirements for students to sign for parents to sign the handbook. It’s graded as an assignment and so essentially your child will be penalized in their grades if they do not if the parent does not agree. That is a forced mandate. It is in direct

3:41 violation of the clear decision from the Supreme Court and I’m very troubled that one of the first actions the school committee took was to violate clear law. Um so that’s the first thing. Second thing is I noticed as of about 4:20 today the finance update on the meeting. This is » the bus is here. Beco bus is here.

4:11 Um the issue with the finance piece is this year we know we need an override if we’re going to keep our all of our staff whole. Um this has not been a mystery. It was talked about clearly during bargaining. We’re looking down down the barrel of a $3 million deficit right now which accounts for about 60 jobs. That’s not at the par level. That’s like at the full-time teacher level. So we need to be you guys need to be fully transparent and upfront about your finances every meeting talking about this. You have a finance subcommittee where you have only appointed one member. So they cannot actually meet. It seems to the public that you’re gaslighting as far as finances go in a year where transparency is needed more than anything if you want public support. Our kids will pay the price for this if you’re not if you don’t start

4:59 being transparent with this. So I I don’t know why it was pulled less than two hours prior, but it certainly isn’t for good governance. So I’d like I’d like you to use your agenda items, which you have to explain why this is happening to finance and also how you plan to combat the fact that you took away rights that were given. These are surveys I I’m almost guaranteed I would have agreed to. I have no problem. This is information that helps our kids. But the right way to do it is not by circumventing the law. » Thank you. » Thank you, Sarah. If anyone online would like to raise their hand, they’d like to make a public comment. Okay. Not seeing any hands raised. Not

5:45 seeing any more interest in the room. We will move on to our student representatives. So, Will, welcome to your first meeting. » All right. Thank you all so much for having me. Very excited to be here. Um, I’ll get right into it. It’s been a good start to the school year. New students are adjusting well to MHS and 5 days in, classes have begun to ramp up in workload. There are many new teachers this year. My band teacher, for example, as well as my sister’s English and Spanish teachers, but I’m loving band and I’ve heard great things about the other classes and the other teachers. So, I’m sure it’s been a smooth start to the year regardless. The new bell schedule has brought some confusion to students and staff alike. Classes don’t start in the hour and for some after school activities are harder to get to on time. But we are adjusting and I’m sure that soon things will feel routine.

6:31 Sports have begun and games are starting up for all teams. Yesterday the cross country, volleyball, field hockey, and soccer teams played their first games while golf started about a week ago. Tomorrow’s the first home football games and I can tell you that the MHS students are very excited to cheer on Marblehead. It’s all I have. Thank you. All right. » Thank you. Okay, the next item is a superintendent update. » Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I just want to say thank you to Will for his first uh update. I think that’s really well done. Thanks, Will. Appreciate it. Um, so good evening. Uh, definitely made a busy start to the school year. However, I’ve firsthand seen all the schools um at all of our schools, the students and staff engaged in teaching and learning and excited about being back in school, which is just awesome. It’s just great

7:17 to see. Now, the beginning of the school year is sometimes tricky with staffing and vacancies. So, just um to update the committee, excuse me, as to where we stand with our teachers, there have been 22 teachers hired uh to start the school year, six of which were already employed with us some capacity or IAS, uh TS’s, etc. that um applied and and were moved into full-time teaching positions, which I love to see that um that growth and that willingness to remain as part of Marblehead community. That’s that’s awesome to see. Um, you know, as a side note, when I did my welcome back, uh, you know, I always welcome back to all the staff. I I’ve done like, hey, if you’ve worked here for 5 years, can you stand up? If you’ve worked here for 10 years, can you stand up? And, uh, it’s good way to kind of see the longevity. And, you know, I was really been really impressed the two years I’ve been here

8:03 doing that, seeing how many um, staff been here for for many, many years. And, uh, and one staff member that, you know, I got to 30 years and she stood up and, you know, was really great. I think she I think she’s been 34. I think that’s what she hollered out. I think it’s 34 years. So anyway, I just share that. I think that’s that’s awesome. Um, we do still have a few long-term subs um covering leaves of absences. We have a a decent amount of leaves of absences that started the school year, whether it’s parental leave or other leaves. So, we do have some um long-term subs in there, but you know, those folks are all planning on coming back um at the end of their respective leaves. Um and at present, we have three special education teacher vacancies. Um, and we’ve hired a French teacher to replace We had hired a French teacher um who then uh I think it was the day before school uh changed their mind. So, we had a slight vacancy

8:49 of the French teacher, but I’ve hired a French teacher. She should be on uh next week, I believe. So, overall, we’re in really good shape. We’re in much better shape than we were last year at this time. Still had many openings last year. Um there’s still some openings in IAS, but uh some of that’s IEP related. Some of it’s just uh shifting of uh kids from different schools. So um like I said, we’re in really good shape. We have three specialized teacher vacancies being sought um to be filled. Um and then just moving on, sometimes uh when tragedy strikes, it gives us pause and causes to reflect on our practice, supports, and resources um that we have in place. And I thought it approved to share some of the ways uh we address situations through counseling and systems of support. All of our schools

9:35 have appropriately staffed counsel talk credential counselors. They’re available to address situations as they arise and work to ensure students have trusted adults with whom they can connect when needed. A local organization, Marblehead Counseling Center, provides uh support and resources to our schools and has been instrumental in their outreach, especially during the recent tragedy. Um, and I want to specifically thank uh Terry Mcdana um for the recent communication collaboration. They have also begun to revitalize multiple health task force. I think it was under a different name, but um I think that’s a new name. Um and the collaborative schools community. So uh Lisa Marie is actually going to jump on that committee for us as a school representative. So I’m really excited about that work. Um and then we also uh we we met and we’re going to start getting ready to

10:22 administer the MGH substance use and risk related factors, the surf survey to our high school students. Um that’s that’s the survey that uh we report back out in the spring. And the reason there’s a like someone had asked we do it in October, why don’t we not report to the string, it’s MGH is the primary person who um uh factors all the data together and gives us the the results and then we have to kind of then add in results of the questions that we add to the survey. So we don’t get that back to like Februaryish. Um so that’s why there’s a lag time. Uh and that’s that’s definitely one of the surveys that it falls into the eight areas that we have to ensure that folks have the ability to opt out of. Um so we will we will send out notification. We’ll send out um a link to the survey. We’ll send out how

11:08 they get done with the survey. Um so that that’s all taken care of in alignment with our policy. Um let’s see. We’re also meeting to discuss having speakers come in to meet um with our students annually as a way to address you know substance abuse in an ongoing and planful manner. This is one of the things I think is really important you know not to just talk about this after you know after a tragedy of sorts. We need to kind of get into the habit of having speakers come in the department that are that the students can relate to so they can just hear the message and and really start to ingrain some of the things that we that we need to ingrain um so for uh for safe behaviors. Um and then at the last school committee there was a discussion regarding having community leaders uh form a group to address substance abuse. Hopefully hopefully that will transpire and add

11:53 another layer into the mix. So, these are just some of the ways that Marblehead High School supports our educational community through, you know, counseling and supports like that. Just there’s a there’s a plethora of other things, but those are the main ones that have kind of surfaced recently. Um, our anti-discrimination committee is meeting next week. I know there was conversation at the last committee about where we’re working. So, I just want to share uh we will begin planning for the school year. There are plethora of resources, webinars, events and speakers that have been shared that we will discuss in the committee to see what they sense to maybe bring on board or makes sense for speakers to come in when, how, at what levels, uh, students, staff, parents, that kind of thing. There’s a there’s a lot that goes into that. So, um, you know, we have to make sure any kind of speakers are uh people we have coming in the schools are vetted and making sure that they’re, you know, um, it’s

12:39 meaningful to to what we’re going to do. So, those will be some of the initial conversations with the discrimination anti-discrimination committee and then I’ll certainly, like I said, I will update the committee after every time we meet and and let you know where we are, what the plan for it is moving forward. So, we’re excited about that be on the 11th on that. Um, I will be doing outreach next week to rejuvenate the wellness committee that was also brought up. Um, so I started that. I met with our head nurse, Megan Kalpin. I met with her today. We had email back and for a little bit, but I met with her today, started having the discussions. Um, and I started hearing from some folks around from the community that thought may may have interest on us being part of that committee. And just so folks are aware, the previous iteration of the committee consisted of the head nurse, food service director, director of finance operations, a principal, healthcare

13:25 chair, school committee member, and then three or four parents or community members. So, you know, I envision that’ll be a similar makeup. Um, I think and likely meeting quarterly. Uh the first order of business for that um committee is to review the wellness policy. It’s supposed to be done every three years. Um and I believe we’re on the third year. So I don’t know if that’s one of the policies the subcommittee looked at yet, but that’s something will definitely be on on the beginning part of that uh that committee when I get that together which will hopefully be in the next couple weeks. Uh a few more things. Belge me. Um our schools have been doing their mandated fire drills and we’re also doing our alist drills. Uh the principles have been directed to do full Alice drill evacuations, Alice evacuation drills at the beginning of the year and in the spring with at least one lockdown drill

14:11 in the middle. It’s not one but at least one. Uh I that place last year I you know came to my attention and we weren’t doing like full evacuation to like the rally points. Um and I think it’s really important that students and staff and first responders everyone knows what the process is. Um, that’s not something obviously we share with parents because, you know, if people have ill intent, we try not to, you know, let the community at large know like exactly where we’re going. Although it’s a small community, so it’s probably pretty evident. But at any rate, having those at the beginning of the school year, end of the school year, and we get some really good feedback from the spring ones, um, saying, “Wow, we haven’t done this in a long time, if at all.” A lot of times we do an evacuation, say, “Oh, if we were really evacuating, you would go here and just kind of walk kids through it.” But my thought is is there’s new staff, new students in every single building every

14:58 single year, and we need to do that as close to the beginning of the school year as possible. Um, in addition to that, we’ve done our fire drills, but then we also had fire drill of the day here, and fire alarm. It wasn’t a drill here at the high school, so we got an extra um practice in uh and it went really well by all accounts. Um, so I appreciate uh Miss Ferrer’s help there. She was she happened to be here um when that happened uh and and the staff. I think everyone did a really nice job and then we also had a uh no was uh smell like gas at village school so we had to have a evacuation there and again by all accounts that went really smoothly really well staff did a really nice job students did a nice job um there was a period of time I had to wait till which is which is good and uh we’re able to get back in so I just share all that because it’s important when we talk about you there’s a lot of discussion

15:44 about safety there’s a lot of discussion about how we how we operationalize you know things like that and I I feel really com comfortable that those things are in place and going well. Um, so anyway, I will end on a more positive note than that kind of conversation and share that the Glover playground upgrade is complete. Students seem pretty excited about the new equipment and we’re pleased that the rubberized area is updated and safe. I have to say when we talked about putting a putting a new structure, I was creating a new structure. But then when I looked I really looked at it because I’ I’ve been out there with the kids running. I don’t really notice it. When the kids aren’t there, the rise part was just a disaster. Um, so I’m glad that’s that’s all done. Um, we’re uh we’re continuing to explore ways to make that playground even safer. If anyone’s hasn’t been there, I liken it to like a a lion cage

16:29 at the zoo. Like you look, there’s like, you know, rocks and there’s hills and it’s it’s really pretty looking, but not hugely conducive to some of some of the smaller kids. So, we’re going to look at different ways to continue to look at safety. You know, there’s some wash out that happens when it rains and we need to look at how to mitigate that. there’s giant boulders there that some aesthetically pleasing, but we’re going to look at potentially moving those around. So, just for safety issues. So, I just want to share that. Um, so I would celebrate um those updates and profusely thank the Glover PTO for the generous donation and input into making this a great place for students to play and explore. Thank you. That’s my update for this year. » All right. Thank you, Superintendent. » Sure. Our next item is consent, action,

17:15 and agenda items. And excuse me, under the consent agenda, I’m looking for a motion to approve draft meeting minutes from the August 21st, 2025 school committee meeting and the identified schedules of the bills totaling $990,473

17:39 » I’ll make the motion, but can you restate the number? » Yes. uh 990,473.31. » Second. » Second. » Okay. Any discussion? Okay. Uh Jen » in favor. » Henry » in favor. » In favor. » Al in favor. Motion passes. 4 Z. Our next item is the high school roof project members. And we’ll turn this over to you, Henry. » Sure. Um, Al, did we approve the meeting minutes in that consent?

18:27 » We did. August 21st meeting. » I thought I had said both in motion. » Thanks, Al. Um, first of all, thank you for bearing with me. I’m dealing with a a sore throat and that’s why I’m not there. And uh so please let me know if you’re having trouble hearing me. I may be talking quietly so uh feel free to interrupt. Um so first of all, I’d really love to thank all of the community members who reached out. We had eight community members reach out and offer to help us and volunteer their time to join this committee to help move the project along. So, I’d really like to thank um Sam Altro um Altruder, Pete Kessle, Mark Leeman, Kareeimma Maloney,

19:13 Devin McGlin, Brian Sarapin, Michael Smith, and Ralph Wallace for submitting their names to join this committee. Um I I do have some recommendations among those names for the people who I’d like to see join this committee. Um, but I don’t know if anybody else here wants to have any discussion before I make my recommendations. Please speak up. » Well, I don’t understand this whole process that didn’t discuss this. Um, so that’s why I was I was confused in terms of how this was going to work because normally if you’re going to have recommendations, you’d have a subcommittee that would have more than one person who would be making recommendations. Um,

19:58 did you So, you did you interview every person? » I reviewed their resumes. » Okay. Well, you can do that, too. Um, if you did, I just I don’t understand this process. Not anything I’ve ever seen before, and it doesn’t seem like it was necessarily robust enough to really be deciding. There’s a lot of good quality people here. We didn’t talk about how many people we want on this committee um or the, you know, or the process for it. So » J going to discuss now J is around how do we feel about the resumes? How do we feel about the amount of people that should be on the committee? » Yeah. And and I can I can um I can talk about that because I think the number of people on this committee. So John made his

20:44 recommendations and and he suggested u Mike Todd Bloodgood uh Eileen Long from left field and Gene Raymond from RDA. And I think those are great recommendations. And then » comment about that they those folks should not be on the they won’t be voting members on the committee or they shouldn’t be. They’re consultants to us. They would normally be » I just I recommended them because they need to be part of the discussion. So however however they manage the part being a part of that committee or I mean Mike and Mike and Todd for us but Gina Nina I think it made sense to have them on there because they need to be part of the discussion rather » have the conversation and find them. That was my that was my reason » and votes and decisions are going to be made by the the school committee not by this

21:31 » but I would expect an advisory committee would vote to make a a recommendation to us right so it is a subcommittee they will vote » and we’ll have the community members be voting members as well as myself » okay I just didn’t seem to me that you would have a consultant be a voting member » and it sounds like said that they will have be voting members Well, I mean that’s what we need to decide. That’s what this whole thing is about. So, um I I just I don’t know. Just doesn’t this is » So, do you have an objection to the community members being voting members? » Community members would have to be voting members. Like that’s the whole point of this. » I agree. So, let’s do it.

22:16 » Would be they’re advisory to us. So at some point they’re going to be making some kind of recommendation to us or multiple recommendations to us for what we need to vote on. So they would that committee would need to vote. I would typically how that works. » I believe that’s what we’re proposing. » Have a paid consultant as a voting member on a committee. » They’re uh more advisory members of the committee um because they’re going to be the people who are doing the work. Okay. » I think I think um again I you know I I recommend then because we talked a lot about having some of those you know things about ropes and instruction just that was just my recommendation is that makes sense to me. I mean they could be

23:01 listeners advisory. I mean I would think that when the committee my my humble opinion when the committee gets together to talk about stuff they’re folks that hey you know this is what present as a viable this may not be about species that that’s how I was I was thinking head but again I you know I don’t know what you guys would think about I was just ask however however it makes sense I mean if they know what to talk I’ll talk to you. » So just so I have a math right. So Henry there’s as stated right now people who have expressed interest from the community there’s eight people » eight people correct and I have again I

23:48 have recommendations but for for people who I would suggest choice. So » sort of fluid that person one person lives in Florida. I don’t know how technical it is in subcommittee whether you need to be a registered voter or not, but maybe not, but to be have somebody who lives in the town. So, I agree with that, Jen. I did want to include his name because he did reach out and offer. He says he’s in town eight times a year. Um, he’s not, although his resume is strong, he’s not one of the names that I’m going to be recommending that I would personally recommend for this committee. So, I think we’re in agreement on that.

24:34 And did we have a number that we were interested in for this committee? That probably would have been a good place to start. » I do. » Okay. » Uh, if you’d like me to continue, just let me know. if you have any more comments on the on the uh applicants just go ahead. I was going to suggest four community members. Um and that’s that’s a number that’s based on spreading around the expertise that we’ve been offered uh from these community members. And I think with with four people, we have a very broad range of of expertise and capabilities that I think is really going to help move this project along.

25:21 » But you didn’t speak to everybody. I reviewed their resumes and and I most of them uh sort of gave me well yeah I reviewed their resumes which are on the drive as you know. » Yeah. So the only thing I would suggest is depending on who else was on that committee again I don’t think it should be contacted but whether it’s a voting member if you like or not he should not have an even number of people on committee. Will it be four community members and » all right so five all would be necessarily Mike or Todd it could be » um so there are four member if there’s two members from the administration two uh left field and RDA makes four four

26:07 community members and myself so that would be » voting members I do not think the the contractor should be voting members » that’s correct that’s what we agreed on Yeah. » Financial » Yeah. So if you take those two out, you’re saying » it’s still an odd number. » Two administrators and committee member. » Yeah. So it’s odd. Okay. » Yes. » They wouldn’t want possible typos. » Do you provide the four names? Yes. So, the four names that I’m going to recommend are um Sam Altruder, uh who has a lot of experience with commercial property management, project management. Uh another reason why I’m recommending him is because he was one

26:53 of the people who spoke at the town meeting regarding the roof project. So, I think he’s been very invested in this for a long time. I he you know I think he’s very interested in in joining and I think he’ll have a good perspective as someone who has been paying attention to this for a long time. Um the other the the second name is Mark Leeman. So Mark Leeman has experience with project management HVAC roofing commercial property management. Um he’s a member of the or an he’s a member of the planning board Marblehead Hood planning board and an board Marblehead planning board and an alternate on the zoning board. and uh he has but he has extensive experience in his resume. Uh the third name is Brian Sarafin who owns a commercial HVAC

27:40 company in Boston. So I think having his specific expertise in the HVAC area that’s that’s sort of an area where a lot of the people who submitted their names don’t have as much experience. um and he’s got a lot of contacts and and um and I think he’ll he’ll be able to provide really good feedback on that knowing that that’s a huge part of the project. And then the last name I would recommend is Ralph Wallace who has 45 over 45 years experience in planning, design, finance, and construction. He’s was on the Brown School committee. He’s worked with M MSBA. And so I think he’s a he’s a really strong candidate to help us move this through. Um, the other candidates were were all very qualified, but I think some of their experience sort of over overlapped with with some of the names

28:25 that I was going to that I would recommend that I did recommend. » The only thing I would suggest is Karema Maloney also has experience um also getting on the committee is not a bad thing. Um, so we could always have might be the voting member and we could have five committee members, right? Thanks, Robert. you’re you’re right. She she has fantastic experience. I would welcome her to the committee. » So, I’ll make a motion for those five community members um and to the NHS advisory group advisory committees. I’ll second that motion. » Any further discussion?

29:13 Okay. I will vote our agenda. » In favor, » Henry » in favor » in favor. » In favor, the motion passes. 4 Z. » So, it’s those five committee members and my as the voting members

29:33 » and and myself. So, » yeah. » And that’s Aubrey.

29:42 and then whoever else you have is » advice. Okay. » Okay. Thank you. » Also wanted us to talk about instant recap email which you put a sample in our Dropbox. » I did. If you take a look um if if I forget what it’s called uh but it is in there. It is a draft of an email that I would like to start sending out either the Friday after or the Monday after, but but essentially very quickly as soon as we can after we have a full uh school committee meeting. Um, and it’s really meant to be to specifically summarize the meeting. the the draft that I included in the in the materials

30:29 is a little more has a little more introductory text because of the situation in in town and and the opportunities to join the school committee and to join the MHS roof committee, but typically it’s not going to be a general newsletter informative update. It’s much more focused on providing a link to the meeting and a highle overview. It’s not meant to be the minutes, but it’s it’s more of a summary um just so that people can quickly get some uh summarized information about what we just met about and and have links to learn more. Um so I’m asking for approval to start sending those out.

31:15 » Oh, so okay. Is it my experience in the past is that school committees haven’t typically sent emails out. I don’t know. that I have not. » Yeah, I haven’t really ever seen that. Um, and we’ve always been encouraged not to do that. Um, so I guess I mean it’s fine with me other as long as John supports it. Um, » I I was waiting to hear the discussion. I didn’t I didn’t really understand. » So I I think the Go ahead. » the role of the communication subcommittee because I think we don’t have two people on that committee. » We have So is that like to me that would be something that the media did as a recommendation and so to understand where they are with the newsletter.

32:01 » Yeah. I I would think and we wanted to have to see very well the committee was too David and that’s why we’re discussing it tonight. Um » well it’s a vote. So » thanks. So I I think that this should be placed in to be quite honest and whether we email it or put it on our website. I think that that is we’re open to the the will of committee around that. But um I think it’s a great way it’s using some technology that really creates I think a very good summary of of our meetings. It’s very quick. Um we can add to it. uh you know if there’s something we feel is more proactive that we want to put on there and we can do that. So I look at this as a vehicle to place the newsletter.

32:47 » So then if we’re not doing subcommittee updates those be that what’s basically what the newsletter was. » So the subcommittee updates would be provided because they are part of our meetings now. So that would be in the summary. Um, and and I could make a specific section to call that out. I think that makes a lot of sense because they are a little separate. Um, so if that’s if that’s an addition you’d like to see, I will I will build it into the template. I think that we can take this as sort of the launching place for this idea, particularly given that Ryan seems to have been the driving force behind the

33:35 newsletter. Um, and so instead of letting that effort languish, I think this is a way to try, you know, to keep that kind of communication happening. And, you know, whether it goes by email or, you know, is communicated in some other way. I don’t think it’s a way to get immediate information into people’s hands about what the school does instead of, you know, a monthly update that isn’t always going to be

34:04 Why Why was confused » and that wasn’t evident. So » yeah, also excuse just for a second was we were having a hard time getting content. » So um I think it was a good attempt. I think what was put out made some sense, but it was very labor intensive. So what I like about this, it’s it’s much quicker. It’s um you know there’s still human involvement. Um, and it’s not big labor drain on that on a school meeting instead of paying me soon. » Well, it would it should come from the chair. That’s » Yes. So, if I may, I just um I think the

34:49 first question was whether I would my opinion was whether an email. I would I would suggest just posting it like we would the newsletter instead sending out as an email just this a lot of design issues that may be arise from my suggestion would be if we had a book to do this post like so that way we just have to operationalize it from from you so after the meeting’s done generated as soon as it goes to you say yeah looks good or we need to add a couple things when it goes to I don’t know probably submitting and then she could she can kind of kick it out from there um so that way we know it’s kind of gone through the steps so that way don’t normally then blast nobody else. » Right. That’s what I’m saying. So I think so I think send it to Lisa Manning

35:35 say this is all set and you have it posted and she ste post it then that would be good. And I think similarly just want saying in the pop when we do like you know when there’s updated votes on stuff you want to do the same thing to submitted hey this was born out last update on the website. I think there was a few that missed um fairly recently last year whatever um just because just things happened. I think other people were supposed to follow me. He was not that. I just think that’s just that communication.

36:10 So, John, I had a little trouble hearing you there, but I I think I got the the gist of your message and and yes, I I love your recommendations. Um and and I agree. » Okay. So, I I look for a motion to support what has been said here. So move » second. » Okay. So the motion was simply use this as a communication vehicle. It will be posted to a website not use email. It’s a distribution mechanism » and it goes twice a month after » and it will go after. Thanks. Okay. That’s so moved. » Henry moved. » I’m sorry.

36:56 » Yep. And I second » Henry moved it. They second it. Okay. Any further discussion? » Okay, we’ll vote. Jen » favor. » Henry » in favor. » A » in favor. The motion passes four to zero.

37:18 Okay. Our next agenda item was around our student submission to educational surveys and research policy. Superintendent. Superintendent. » Oh, sorry. I thought it was something that um comment about this. Um I have some issues about this um for a number of reasons because I’ve had a chance to go through it in more detail and I couldn’t communicate that for me. So, uh because first of all, we didn’t vote this in our subcommittee first of all. um which we we normally do that um but secondly I do think there’s a inherent contradiction in this policy versus our handbook now

38:04 the policy itself and then the handbook but even if you just look at the policy this is where I think we could do some help else with either MASC or council because the policy says without prior written consent of students parent or guardian um um no student shall be required as it part of any program holding or partially funded to submit by any survey and sub surveys. And then at the bottom says the district will notify parents and guardians annually at the beginning of the school year which are I guess we do in the handbook and during the year when surveys are scheduled or anticipated parents shall have the opportunity to opt their child out. So the policy’s calling for writ prior written consent we’re doing in the form of in the

38:50 handbook blank consent and then saying the ability to opt out. So it seems that seems contradictory to me in some ways and secondly his functionally it’s in the handbook and parents are required to sign the handbook and students are being held to that at least in high school. Um the that require that their parents sign the handbook. So then unless there’s a box opt out in the handbook

39:23 um so um so so I it was my understanding that you guys talked about this in subcommittee and we’re going to bring it forward again but we all set with this the MASC one. So that aside, the handbook basically says that um you’re agreeing to what’s in the handbook. You’re agreeing to to be in to surveys, etc. With the exception of these eight these eight areas, you have the ability to opt out and then for these eight areas that are listed in this policy and in the handbook um provide notice to parents. We say here’s how you opt out. Here’s here’s your opportunity to look at the survey before you decide. And quite frankly, um, you know, we, you know, if a student’s getting ready to do the survey and they say they don’t want to do it, we don’t force them to do it, right? So, but those eight areas, that’s what’s in the, uh, IL

40:10 from MAC. That’s what’s in the handbook. Um I feel it does drive to what I asked the lawyer. Lawyer said as I understand it by signing off in the handbook parents are not giving blanking consent for the student participating in the district survey and consenting to the students participating in surveys or activities but do not concern the eight points. So PPR district will provide notification allow opt outs in accordance with PPR whenever survey or activity concerns those eight points. Um yeah, so it’s just and the district just needs to be diligent in ensuring the districts provide the talent notification. So I I mean I you know after last meeting I did go and I spoke to the lawyer and I showed the whole thing and I said this is a it’s my understanding they got to put forward the MC version of the policy that was confusion before I thought we were going to the other

40:56 version um and he felt that it double tail f is with it. for your identification. » Okay, I’m going to pull up. So, at the last meeting we had unless would they already be on this? Do you think they’re already on the app?

41:29 Because what you’re saying, what you just said, John, is that the the handbook consent is not for these surveys. So, it must be somehow stated in there. So, it’s consensing everything any but these they have an we have to provide notification and give them an opportunity to opt out of the building. So, look at the surveys to help decide whether dial. So, in essence, yes.

42:03 in a simple by our attorney to get the room. » Well, it just doesn’t like All right. I’m just I’m voting. No, » I don’t I not comfortable with it. It doesn’t feel like there’s this inherent discrepancy. I said it last time. I’m saying again, the policy feels like there’s a discrepancy and it feels like it’s discrepancy in how we’re applying the thing. And this is quite pertinent to what’s going on now. » I mean, I understand the point you’re making. The policy, you know, is the MASC policy. » Well, I mean, they’re always » well, and it tracks the the statute that it is implementing, which requires both written consent and an opportunity to opt out. And I if you read some of the

42:50 Department of Ed materials around the statute, I think that the idea really is to enable districts to get consent upfront and then provide these optout opportunities when surveys involving those eight subjects come up. Um, so I can understand why you see contradiction there, but it also is what the statute, » but I also see the cases that are going on are about walking in versus opting out. So that’s I’m just going to » But those cases are about curriculum. » Yeah.

43:32 » For motion or not? » I’ll make a motion to approve. I’ll second. » Okay. Is there any further discussion on the motion? » If not, we’ll vote. Uh Janet, » no. » Henry » in favor. » Okay. » In favor. The motion passes 3 to one. Okay. The next item is an update on academic integrity. Julia, » thank you very much for this opportunity. I’m Julia Ferrer, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. Um I hope this is many uh first of many presentations about the work we’re doing

44:18 in our public schools. So um I have the privilege of working with an incredible um artificial intelligence steering committee. So I’m going to share out the work that we’ve done and give you a little insight into how we launched the school year with our staff. So Frank has some slides for us. are going to um put up. So, um going to walk you through kind of the uh some gratitude because there’s a lot of people contributing to this. Um a little bit of a background about the work we’ve done. Um no, not that one, Frank. Sorry. Thankfully, we got that one through and the materials are here. So, that’s great news. Um I’m going to share it one more time for you. » Um

45:00 it says AI has a two. It’s right at the top of your inbox, I think. Now, so you want to

45:45 » So, I’m going to start on the next slide with um just a lot of thank yous. Um the AI steering committee is comprised of host of administrators and educators. Um and we spent a lot of time together this past year. Um and I want to really uh mention the members who created and contributed to the presentation that I’m sharing with you today. Um that’s Anthony Castello. He’s a high school social studies teacher. Michael Fu is a high school math teacher. Jang Gadaro is the middle school Spanish teacher. Kathy Cotch is our assistant principal at the middle school. Liz Puit is um with our librarian and now instructional um coach at Village School, David Rainey who is a history and social studies AP teacher at Marland High School and Susan Shaffer who’s the librarian school. Um we worked

46:31 throughout the summer uh last year and into the summer on this presentation. So really excited to um give them a lot of credit for the work. And the next slide is um kind of a background. So we started the AI steering committee um in the fall of 2024. uh we came together um to develop a vision and define our goals and action steps for responsible integration of AI within Marblehead public schools. Um together collectively we some of the objectives that we uh worked through as a team as a committee were to form a community of learners and determine AI steering committee goals. So this is kind of like from the first meeting kind of walking it through um establishing our goals and action steps u for future meet future meetings. Um then our

47:17 conversation really turned um to how can we take the work that we’re doing to support both students and staff. So through conversations at the committee, it really became clear that this is kind of a two-prong approach of of helping our students and families, right, and our staff. Um so we spent some time reviewing those academic integrity expectations in the handbooks. Um then we did our due diligence to collect and analyze data from staff and students specifically at the middle and high school. That’s when we found a lot of uh the usage and a lot of the exploration was at the middle and high school. So, we spent some time um and our teammates um Tony and Dave and um and Katrina Donovan at the middle school spent a lot of time um collecting that data for us. So, in our last few meetings as a team in the 2425 school year, we reviewed um the data they collected at the middle

48:02 school and high school. Um I send an annual uh survey to all staff. So I included some AI questions on that and we looked at that survey data. Um and then we began our planning for the all staff professional development session which we launched on August 25th. So it was the support of the superintendent. Um it’s been really great to um work with this committee. Um and then it was really nice on the 25th, the first day of after um the superintendent’s convocation and welcome that we had educators leading educators in a professional development um session. So I was really proud of that. » Yeah, it was really cool. I witnessed, you know, I was trying to, you know, watch the audience and watch pres presenters and they all all the folks that Julia’s list listened presented in front of everybody. It was it was really cool. I think it was really wellreceived. A lot of information that Jules’s going to share.

48:47 But yeah, I thought it was great. » I was up on the stage route so I would have put a picture in so everybody could see. It was really great. » Um, so on the next slide we have really um a lot of our conversation as a committee was about culture and the culture of learning in Marblehead public schools, right? So um so just kind of walk you through in just a few short years AI and when I’m talking about AI referencing artificial intelligence in this situation um it’s really transformed a lot of classrooms it’s transformed the way students are engaging um with technology um we do see that also in the same last few years colleges have become very selective um we have very high percentage of our graduates attending college so we know that there’s you know these kind of implications of of performance um that will you help determine next steps after Marblehead

49:34 High School. Um, a lot of students taking a lot of AP classes and and really challenging themselves. Um, so but at the same time that he’s a use of of technology to support that. Um, so in the end, we really do believe there’s a lot of challenges and there’s a lot of opportunities with AI. Um, but what we really want to focus on is this culture of learning. So our vision is really to revitalize a culture of students having intrinsic value of education. So that they are producing their work. They might be generating ideas um but really at the end of the day they have this real value of education and producing their own work. Um that slide and these other slides these literally are what we shared with the staff as well. I’ I’ve tailored just a little bit just to for our presentation tonight but this is really what we’re sharing with the staff as

50:19 well. Um so how can we support this vision and this culture? We really want to celebrate um when they are when our students are producing that that effort and original thought as true measures of success. um not this kind of instilling fear, but really emphasizing um that we trust them to do to create their own work. And we’re proud when you know they get the opportunity to share that original work and and have um success with that. How thinking about AI as a tool, how they can use it to help them study, generate ideas, not replace their normal work, but how we can, you know, teach them responsible use of it. um ultimately with the goal of students taking pride in authentic learning, right? Because it’s really meaningful and they know that they’re going to get that value of that, not just because

51:07 someone’s watching and monitoring often. So, we talked a lot um again another slide on culture um studentled orientation. So, how can students support students with this? How can teachers support teachers with this? And how can we as a community so parents, teachers, administration align around uh a common message and really that shared culture um is going to become that norm and not the exception. We support one another as we’re navigating using it responsibly. Um but we do feel feel that um we want students work if that’s what the expectation is from that from that teacher. Um, part of this I talked about when we were looking at the handbooks, um, our elementary schools did not have academic integrity expectations and we do feel like with the use of technology, um, and how the world is evolving so

51:53 quickly, um, over the last few years, we thought that it would be really important to update um, make recommendations to update our academic integrity expectations, which the school committee approved via the handbooks. Um, so we did the updates and we also included it um with your approval in the elementary handbook. So that was a first for us. So we do not have an AI policy. Um, we do not have AI rules. Um, but plagiarism has been around for a long time. Um, and so what we decided is this really does follow um the use of academic um the use of artificial intelligence really falls under academic integrity. And this first um first line on that on this slide really is, you know, captures the essence of what we’ve been talking about in terms of culture within Marblehead public schools. A student should be able to say the work presented

52:40 is my own unless otherwise indicated. And so we’ve made posters. We’re putting that up with our educators. We’ve emphasized that at the professional development and they’re emphasizing that with the students as well. Again, plagiarism isn’t new, but we did make updates that were approved um basically highlighting all other types of unsighted work that are not one’s own. So, you know, that could be AI, it could be many other things um where a student might be taking that to use as their own. So, um in the next couple slides, we just it’s the full academic integrity expectations. Um we felt that it was really important day one for all of our educators to understand what was updated and how that affects um our students and them as the teacher um because they’re the ones on the front lines that are receiving their work um from our

53:26 students and they are the ones that um you know are going to really help our students um foster this uh and revitalize this culture. Um the only thing just I want to mention also academic integrity if it’s happening at the middle school and high school um we do have in the handbooks that it does those violations stay with them. So if something happens seventh grade it will carry into eighth grade. Something happens in nth grade it carries through. So we do we do take it very seriously. Um and whether it’s AI or anything else you know copying cheating from someone else’s homework or whatnot we do the expectation as a student is again that slide right the work presented is that unless otherwise indicated um and then just we thought okay so we have these expectations how do we communicate them right we we really need

54:11 to have clear communications with our students staff um and our families so um I’m working on a communication to families and um that will be forthcoming really soon. Um, we need to launch the school year. So, this slide was really the conversation behind this slide was we need to be really clear um as educators and what does that mean in your classroom as well as as a district what our expectations are. Um, and on the next slide, I really love this one. Our our our teammates put this one together and I think this just is super helpful. You know, we got to just be clear with students. If we want them to use AI, then we need to say yes, you can use AI to generate ideas or you can do XYZ with AI on this just like as um and as a former English teacher myself, right? I always with the assignments you say, you know, if you want 200 words or

54:57 you want it in Times New Roman font and 12 points, all of that. Now, we’re just going to include what are our AI parameters. No AI, you saw this one, we want your original thought or feel free to use AI and then you can cite that as part of u the book that you produce. Um, we have some really great tools. So, um, Susan and Liz also presented how, um, students can really easily site using a tool called Noodle tools, which they’re already taught how to do because we do citations in our in our classes, um, in our their classwork. So, just emphasizing, we already do this. Students already know how to say, okay, so setting the parameters. Um, and again, AI can help. Um, on the next slide, we’re just going to circle back. um you know the focus as we launch the

55:42 school year is really about those meaningful connections with our students um and and impactful learning experiences. So if you need to use a couple tools and AI could be one of them um that could help with some differentiation or planning um uh we supported that we do support that um we’ve actually had some educators can I use it can I not and I think that’s the conversation as well we want to support our educators with this the next slide is just you know again some things that we talked about and the educators led the educators in this conversation of you know some ideas of how they could meaningfully and proactively inter integrate AI and um you know we’re multi-tered system use the multi-tered systems of support framework. So if they needed something maybe they want to differentiate some materials um maybe

56:29 they want to use some uh create some ideas for an intervention or enrichment blog they could do that. So we just had a you know conversation about how they could do set integrated. Oh you’re going so fast for me um moving right along. Next slide just real quick but I I think you guys have it. Um uh Liz created a list of tools. Um it’s going to probably change. It’s probably different today, I mean, than it was like last week, right? But the idea of just to get some get started, get some exposure to it um as part of our professional learning as educators. All right, last but not least, uh bringing it all together really kind of the whole presentation with um and really the work is, you know, our culture, right? Focusing on supporting this um culture of learning and producing original work at all levels. um supporting our students in um

57:15 you know understanding that um intrinsic learning is where the value is going to be especially in our amazing Marblehead Head Public Schools classrooms Marblehead Public Schools classrooms with our amazing educators um administration supports will be there to partner um and support our educators as they have questions and um and continue ongoing learning. So we have a lot of PD forthcoming. We’re going to have some support meetings and we are going to continue our AI steering committee and um we included a work sited because we did use some outside sources. So we had to live true to our word and we included a work site page um as we do expect our students to. So, thank you for the opportunity to share. Um, I know this is um just an ongoing conversation and I’m just so proud to uh be part of it with these amazing educators and um seeing it

58:01 come to to life in our classrooms. » I think it was important to have this have this presentation at Loyana School here because it is there are a lot of questions about what what’s what are we able to what are we not able to do and this is really clear and I think I think the steering committee did a great job. I think the communication help with staff around this has been great. Uh I happened to be here at the high school and Dan Richards was meeting with the students auditorium and very clear expectations talk like all these talking points was there was it was great kids were engaged paying attention um so I it’s in practice it was not just on these slides it’s in practice I’ve seen it eyes and it’s it needs to happen right people people need to understand it’s a tool and this is a tool that can be helpful and not used properly to be harmful and

58:47 we have to help the students navigate that differentiation. So I I thank Julie and the team for for really doing the work. It’s so important. » Thank you, John. I couldn’t agree more. I think that was a great presentation. Very well researched. » Thank you. Um I’m glad to hear that a communication is going to be going out to parents of the students understand the technology far better than I do. And so being able to be on the same page about what the expectations are around that is beneficial. Absolutely. Yeah, » I suspect we need to be a little bleeding edge with this which is kind of cool. But the reason I’m asking is just are there resources school resources that companies right

59:37 involve in some capacity going forward as we get more mature with this. my wheels are always turning with all these ideas. Thanks for bringing that up. So, um, Desessie, yes, there’s Desessie sent out, I think it was December of 24, um, some guidance and we are there and beyond like we’re right, you know, we’re right on track with everything from from Desi’s standpoint. Um, I’ve been doing a lot of exploring. I actually want to partner with some higher education um so some professors or some people that are doing this work too because I I know we’re the feedback we’re getting what we’re seeing it is more of this kind of middle school high school level that’s exploring more with AI so I want to bring in a little some outside resources community resources we had some local press on this so that was nice I had a parent community member reach out because I’m doing a lot with AI so you know I think the conversation is is

1:00:22 going to continue and I do look forward to bringing some more resources um and we have AI I in Boston coming up. So I will be attending some sessions um that are specific for educators in um that coming up. So looking forward to my professional learning and um along with our teammates. » And I just have a silly followup question. So back in the dark ages, you know, teachers had tools where they that would help them understand if there was plagiarism perhaps, right? Are there any like if you hadn’t thought that they used AI, are there AI tools that teachers can use to help or at least point out where this may have been AI generated? » So, we there are some tools and we’re learning about them. We actually did a really cool webinar with a founder of a company um that talked to us a little

1:01:09 bit about um actually the the focus is on and helps students provide better feedback for their writing. Um and then it also will tell us some if they’re writing too quickly or they’re you know just gave us some insight into that. So we’ve been partnering um and and Tony Castella helped connect us with that. So he did some great work. Um nothing’s you know we’re exploring. I think that’s the best thing we can say right now. We’re definitely exploring and um I think at the end of the day and you know this as educators there’s been plagiarism for a long time. So we do our very best to learn our students and learn our voice um and um have those conversations about our expectations and what the parameters are. » And one of the things that Dan Richard shared in this in this students was that like when you’re taking the AP exams and when they go through they do have like

1:01:55 you know software whatever that throws them through the algorithm and if you know if they determine it’s a you know generator you know whatever it’ll it’ll kick it back. So there are there definitely resources out there. I mean, we’re not there yet like Julia said, but um you know, things are evolving so quickly that I I foresee like very near future. » So, I guess the question I would have so what I read in there is that teachers are able to use AI to provide feedback to students, right? So, if you’re correcting a paper or giving feedback, I don’t know how that works for a math teacher, but they use AI. So, is there any consistency across? So in other words, if a student is tasked with producing work without using AI, is there consistency even though the teacher would not either or was that

1:02:41 sort of forced? » Well, see it as a resource. So if it helps them provide feedback in a timely manner to our students because that’s we know it’s really great to get that feedback to students. Um that was a recommendation, a suggestion. We don’t have like how many teachers have done that or not. Um we also have tools that we’ve used for a long time like turnitin.com that you can type in feedback. you can actually now record a note in and send it to a student. So, we have other tools. This is just an idea if you want to create some, you know, generate some ideas. Um, yeah, because I just wonder how, you know, I guess in the teaching probably just read it before they send it to the guest person’s just, you know, not knowing what that feedback is. That came up when we were doing our webinar. Um, and just how there’s

1:03:27 different levels of feedback, right? Are you looking for grammar and stuff like that? Because there’s a lot of AI sources like Grammarly, you know, you could there’s a lot out there already. So, what is the feedback and what’s going to help them the most? So, » more content based I feel like is to generate some ideas, but » you have to convert hallucinations, right? Can you tell I I watched like an AI video, like a 15 minute video, but » we had a slide in Yeah, I did I did take it out, but we had a great slide about some kind of deeper level learning and and one of them talked about the AI hallucinations and stuff like that and it was interesting. » Yeah, it was very interesting. It was good to hear about it’s a little heavy for this conversation, but it was it was good. It was deep dive into getting into deep dive. It was was pretty cool. » So, is this sort of ongoing? Absolutely.

1:04:15 You’ll have ongoing Yeah. Um I guess meetings and feedback. Absolutely. So, we’re going to continue the AI steering committee this year. um everyone coming back and we’re going to hopefully get some new members as well. Um and then we’ve been talking about how to do more of like a support group at the school level and the professional learning at the school level. So that’s forthcoming. Um we’ve already been some ideas are integrated into our professional development calendar, but we did we did collect feedback from the presentation. We had great feedback, but we do see this as more of kind of the maybe 6 through 12 grade as, you know, going to continue this a little more. » Thank you. » Thank you so much. » Okay. Um, good segue into textbook disposition. » So, this is my first time doing this.

1:05:02 So, I please I I welcome the committee’s feedback if you have any feedback on how you want me to. Sure. Um we’ve just been really fortunate to have um a very comprehensive curriculum moving process that and um the funding that has allowed to bring in some really exceptionally high quality um evidence-based curriculum. Um with that said, now we do have some very old curriculum to dispose of. So um there some of this we we don’t feel has a strong value at all because we’re not sure if it would even be in use in other classrooms. Um, but I did want to note, um, last year the committee did approve our new English learner curriculum and our science curriculum. So, you’ll see a lot of that here. Um, and then we just

1:05:50 had some old reading kits um, um, and some units of study that after we adopted Witten Wisdom, for some reason, we still have them. And I just wanted to be transparent that we don’t use them. We don’t want to dispose of them. So, asking for this um, committee’s approval. that we could » Well, how are you discussing them? » Um, well, that I’m gonna I’m going to research. It’s my first time doing it. Um, I know the um Hol science textbooks so old I I they’re not um » Yeah. So, what I said want » Yeah. So, what I said I would do is I would reach out to um other superintendents because, you know, a lot of it’s recyclable stuff. So, a lot of times you find this this is what happened previously in my my life. Um,

1:06:36 we had a bunch of textbooks off and you stuck at school dumpster, right? So, and anything that’s not viable to like, you know, say, “Hey, do you want to come and grab these books?” And and these aren’t like this wouldn’t be helpful to any of the school district really. I mean, they’re all too antiquated. So, it would likely be um his textile textile um companies and I don’t I’m not familiar enough here in Mo. That’s why I’ve reached out to so lately. For instance, we had one in in SW in my previous district where I said, “Hey, I have these 20, you know, books to come pick them up for the textile they make money. I guess it’s almost like so um something similar to that.” So, I I’ll research that a little bit, but it’s just more we have to, you know, anything else we have to get rid of or sometimes we have to

1:07:22 get a vote to make sure we’re disposing of it properly. » Yeah. Just want to make sure we’re not helping them. » It won’t be in the dumpster. I my daughter would come down my do anything. Um » and we’re not doing so K3 science we have all new curriculum for K3. I thought it was four. » Yeah. The K3 is the mystery science. So it’s mostly um online and um kits. So the kids are actually doing the experiments. So, um I think within this there are some, you know, workbooks and stuff like that. We would we would probably recycle those workbooks if they had any kind of student use on them. Um and then I Lisa Marie and between John and Lisa Marie, I feel like we’ll we’ll find resources on board or dispos.

1:08:11 » Okay. » Okay. I think we’re looking motion to dispose of these textbooks. » So move.

1:08:26 » Okay. Any further discussion? » Okay, we want to vote. Jen » favor. » Henry » in favor. » In favor, » in favor. The motion passes four to zero. The next item on the agenda is the lake class hockey trip. » Thank you. I have Ken Wheeler, our AD will speak to the trip. Um, as as the committee knows, anytime there’s an overnight trip and bring it to the committee for approval, and I think um it’s was in your packet, but they can walk through it and answer questions you might have. draw this. » Yeah.

1:09:08 » This is an opportunity that um we got with U Winthrop hockey and uh I just read this to it’s a brief summary. It’s the 12th and the 13th of of December. It’s the first two games of the season, right? And it would be against Winthrop. So, be like a twoame series up in Lake Placid. The boys vice uh varsity ice hockey team has been invited to play a two-game series against Winthre uh at the Herb Brooks 1980 Arena in Lake Placid, New York on Friday evening 1212 and 1213. Herb Brooks 1980 Arena was the site of the 1980 Winter Olympics, the year the underdog US men’s hockey team upset the highly favored USSR team and went on to win the gold medal. The upset is known as one of the greatest upsets in sports

1:09:54 and was chronicled in the movie Miracle. So, you may all know it in 1980. It was it was unbelievable. I mean, I’m not a hockey guy and I have that Sports Illustrated framed in my basement, but um Disney redid it as the movie The Miracle, as you probably know, so the kids understand the significance of it as well. Um we we talk about it in US history because it’s it’s a turning point in our economy and a variety of things. So it it has a lot of significance. The two games versus v versup would count as the Northeast Conference League games. These games are within the MA guidelines and were approved by the MIA’s Keith Bullard. Uh should we decide to move forward. So they’re looking at it more or less. It’s just like when we went to uh Fenway Park last year and played the game down

1:10:40 there. And other other than this is obviously in New York. Uh the education focus of the trip would be the teams will be able to play in the same arena that hosted the 1980 Winter Olympics. The 1980 US hockey team captain Mike Yuzionone, a Winthrop High School alum, will speak to the team about the 1980 gold medal experience and provide a behind-the-scenes tour of the Olympic facility that it’s going to be really cool. Um, you know, Mike Rousion has basically gone around the world and spoken about this and so our our kids are going to get to get to listen to him and they’re on the site, which makes it even even cooler. Fun day. So, it’s a one night and we’re going to try to make this um just like a it’s a very business-like trip. It’s going to be

1:11:27 just like a away game in a college. So, they’re going to go out on Friday morning. Uh they’re going to and you the uh itinerary here is on the back. They’re going to go out Friday morning. They’ll eat on the bus. Uh they’ll get to the High Peaks Resort in Lake Placid. Uh they’ll have a team meeting, have a light meal. Um they can walk from the hotel to the arena, which is really nice. And they’re going to play their first game then that evening at Winthrop or against Winthrop. And then they’d have postgame dinner. And then they have lights out. And then in the morning they’d get back up, get a little workout in early, get some breakfast, check out, meet with Yuzioni at the go through the facility, listen to him, and then have lunch and then the game would be about 1:30,

1:12:14 1:30, 1:30, have a dinner after the game, and then head back. So, it would be coach bus the whole way. And I think it’s really important that that it is a very business-like uh trip because it’s the first two games of the of the series or of the series but of the season. So I think we need to make sure that uh you know it’s uh it’s important to set the precedent if you will for the season. As far as the accommodations, we said there’s six meals. There’s a roundtrip bus to be have to be coach bus and then there’s 12 nights or 12 rooms and 12 18 players. We take 16 and two goalies and we’ll have four coaches and

1:13:00 we have two additional spots. We might need those for a trainer or depending on where we get our train trainer comes or if trainer was applied or the bus driver possibly. And we have put some money down. We put $2,000 down on the the hotel and the rough numbers that the hotel room is about $249 a room. So it’ll be double occupancy. There’s two queen beds. Uh so uh 12 rooms, that’s $3,000. Six meals, 24 people, 12 bucks, 1728. So my calculations about $4,700 there. The bus is probably about 4,000. So we’re looking about between8 and

1:13:47 $10,000 of which we’ve already paid two to hold the hotel rooms. And uh I know the boys are talking about all kinds of ways to fund raise for the rest of it. Uh but we wanted to come here and obviously get your approval before we got too far along on anything like that. We’ll have future meetings. Um Mark TMY’s done a lot of the work on this as far as the the coordination with Winthrop and uh obviously our our new coach Brendan Lock is going to get involved as well and we’ll be talking with Lynthre to coordinate. Uh but we’re definitely going to set the uh as far as the itinerary goes, we’re going to set that precedent because that’s really important. So like to have your approval for it. I think it’ll be a great trip.

1:14:33 » I guess the only question I have then is what about the girls team? » Well, that would come next year. » Okay. I mean, I think matter of equity. » Yep. And we’ve done that and we’ve done that in basketball, too, where we had we had the boys go to the garden and then we next year we followed up and tried to get the girls to go to garden. » So that’s the plan for » Yeah. Well, we’ve talked about that. We don’t have a plan in place. It’s a little different there because our girls program is a co-op and uh also includes we we also have a waiver for so that we can bring seventh and eighth grade girls up. Uh so it makes it a little bit different but yeah that was that has come to mind about that. » Yet issues. issues. » Yeah.

1:15:20 I’m big on equity issues. I think that’s that’s also an idea. » And I I mentioned that to to John Strepppik the girls coach actually this afternoon when I saw him thought » y

1:15:33 anything else anything else » for a motion.

1:15:39 » I’ll make a motion to approve building class for the voice of the team. » Second.

1:15:51 Any further discussion? » Okay, we’ll vote. » Jent favor. » Henry » in favor. » In favor. » Al in favor. The motion passes four to zero. » Okay. The next item is around Piperfield light proposals. John. » Yes. So, thank you. Um so the lighting um proposal just to recap I went before the planning board and on the 12th of August uh it was you know questions that came about around you know the numbers uh you know uh butters were kind of you know asking some questions so we decided to continue it. Um so we continued it

1:16:37 and uh I spoke with I told the neighbors the butters that I would meet with a couple um community members as a representative. So I did that back I met with representatives of the use of sports with Kent um community members um and had a further conversation. So what was born out of those conversations are you know one I met with the butters I I share with them that you know what the current usage is if we look at increasing lights on those current nights 56 nights and increase it you know um roughly 84 hours with that of course thing I went back to the uh you sports and Kent and kind of really get down and dirty with um with the number of nights that would be required. So, when I went to the planning board the first time, I said that I was looking for roughly 180 nights. Um, and um after all the conversations and talk to

1:17:24 everybody again, we’re still at about 180 nights. So, the difference is what I did with this updated proposal was I broke it out. What I was asked to uh do is give numbers and time frames. So what I’ll share with this so the difference between the first proposal and this proposal is that um instead of asking for the 9:00 nights that we currently have to go to 10 that was part of the first proposal they said let’s keep it all at 9:00 let’s do the all the nights at 9:00 so it aligns with the other fields in town so that um sports all the sports and new sports can um benefit from all of the fields and not just the other ones other than Piper. So the updated proposal is to utilize the lights until 9:00 p.m. from mid August through November which is approximately

1:18:10 105 nights and then again from mid-March through May which is approximately 75 nights. Uh this usage will encompass fall and spring athletics as there’s no need for lights to be used during the winter or in the summer. Um the lights will only be turned on when needed and will be turned off at the end of the athletic contest thereby minimizing the impact to the greatest extent possible. Um and as I said it should be noted 9:00 p.m. time frame along with the usage of the other town fields. Um so that’s that’s the basic update. So the other piece is that uh when I spoke to um news sports and stuff they felt or folks felt that we should do a visual visual presentation along with just the proposal. So um Pat Nan and folks have been working on a on a slideshow that really kind of encapsulates this in a

1:18:55 visual form and I think that’s very helpful. So you can kind of see like the number nights, the um the seasons, uh the lumens. I had shared that in the last meeting. It wasn’t on the screen, but I shared like the array of the lights and kind of where they shine, how far off they shine. Um so that I think that’ll be, you know, a better part of the presentation be supposed to be before the board on Tuesday. Uh so the plan would be to go before the board, share this updated proposal and the slideshow that would really give a a visual representation. And then the only the piece about the PA is still kind of a little wishy-washy. Um I I had talked about in this my tweet is um using it for all the MIA sanctioned events thinking that I wanted to make sure that the waters knew that we weren’t using it

1:19:41 for you sports or anything other than the MIA when I spoke with Ken. Um that’s a significant amount of night. So we still have to kind of manage that a little bit. But what I will say is the usage of the PA system currently is for the football games. So it’s either four or five games depending on the season home games. It’s utilized for the playbyplay um etc. It has to be a little bit loud because the size of the crowds. That’s generally why it’s sold out loud. Um there was discussions about playing music through the PA. I didn’t I didn’t that at the at the board meeting because I didn’t know the answer. But the answer is the only music we play through the PA system is the national anthem. The other music that folks were referring to was uh student generated, you know, little boxes that Angelum

1:20:27 and play the music to get them pumped up and stuff. So, » so that’s that’s the piece. So, the PA would only be used for for the national for music wise, the national them play by play for the football and then I’m going to work with Kent in the athletic department to see um how many nights we can actually use it for. So there’s equity between male and female or athletic sporting events. But what I want to say is modulate the volume of the PA. Um you know a soccer game with you know maybe a hundred fans is much different than a football game with a couple hundred fans. And the volume doesn’t need to be as loud. It’s not playbyplay like in football. You know soccer’s you know Johnny scored Sam scored Susie scored. You know it’s not a lot of that. And then the other piece is the uh senior nights we usually announce

1:21:14 the kids names. So it’s minimal. Um I I feel it’s minimal overall. Uh so that’s that’s so we’re gonna we’re going to have further conversations between today and Tuesday just to kind of go a little bit more sense the larger conversation. And then I just will say that this this part of the conversation has nothing to do with the lights. However, at the planning board meeting, there was a v vocal vocalization of the other issues of the field, namely uh trash after games, um students urinating over fences. There was a lot of things that were brought up that had nothing to do with lights and nothing to do with the PA system, which is what I was there for. Um, so you know the conversation developed a little bit but what I when I met with the the

1:22:00 met with the when I met with the the butters those are things I can address in different form. So like I can speak with Kent and the and the coaches and and the parents and the kids and and uh the police and how how we police how we take care of our own trash in trash out. um you know all there’s a lot of things we can do as a school district as a superintendent to work with the teams of folks to mitigate some of the concerns that have nothing to do tonight. So I’m committed to doing that and I’ll share that on Tuesday as well. Um so I think overall we’re really looking for roughly 180 nights at night till 9:00 the PA system really only when we need it and we can modulate the volume um easily. no music through the PA other than the

1:22:47 national anthem. And uh that’s that’s really that’s really it. And that will allow a lot more youth sports to be um utilized to field. So allow our some varsity teams to get on to Piper Field and allow um some more in Houston because of that. And realistically, I mean, we have a we have the best field in town here at the high school that’s underutilized. And that’s crazy to me. There’s a lot of money that’s raised by private donations that that put that field in place. and it’s the nicest field. It’s the most underly utilized field. I think we have an opportunity to change that and open the planning board sees that as we move forward. So, that’s my plan. Go to the planning board on Tuesday. Um, I put it, you know, I was it was under my impression that we have to do as a vote. I don’t know if it’s if it’s considered consideration that we actually have to vote may

1:23:33 actually have to vote on the update, but I’ll leave that up to you guys. Um but 7 o’clock on Tuesday is when » John can you just on the 180 days it’s not is it that the lights can be on 180 nights or that potentially » potentially potentially use for those so at the seasons the fall season and the spring season between the two is roughly 180s. doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s always going to be on because there might be contests that end and we only we might have to turn the lights off the last half hour game, you know, part of the game. Um, so it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re always going to be on until 9:00 9:00 everyone those games, but we want the ability to if we need to. Um, because we don’t want to go back and say, “Oh, well now we asked for

1:24:20 8:00 and then 7 o’clock or you know uh do away with full daylight savings across the United States now so we have different times all all those things. Um, and then the other thing is too is, you know, weather impacts things. So you might have a night that’s, you know, really, really cloudy and leave the lights on and only when we wouldn’t need to yet. So there has to be a little flexibility. So like they were really trying to nail me down to dates and times, numbers. Um, so I mean that’s the best I can really do without feeling move. Um, stop and fiddle as a lightning storm goes by. We have to be schedules set extra, you know, all those things. There’s some factors there. So I don’t answer your question. So, I don’t see why we need to vote this because this is a continuation of a

1:25:07 former um that was my first thought. Um but I do think um I mean I attended that. Um I do think it’s important that there should be a school committee member there. This is our application board. John’s speaking for us. He’s the it’s our application. So I will leave it at that. Um it’s the same night as the Lap Foundation event. So I don’t want to be attending that. Um but at the very least probably the share things. » Yeah. I agree for there fortunately I’m anticipating the attending commission. So I will be meeting the state » somebody should be there planning to attend the event but will you board of planning board with John » and I think um

1:25:54 » my understanding my takeaway is that um there may also be zone um a separate » so um yeah thank you for bringing that up for that. So after the last meeting, I was told, “Oh, we might there was a concern about something.” So I I sounds to me like I have to go planning board and then I have to go to the zoning board. It sounds like it’s very it would be a very similar conversation just the other board and I’m still unclear as to why, but I’ll do whatever we need to. I mean, » well, I can tell you why. Because originally when this school was built they went before the zoning board and there were orders that they had to do and they they also so that is for the purp

1:26:37 well no they’re not um similar to the conditions that they put on they they survived the life of » which I I appreciate that because I was unfair to me honest why but whatever I mean we’ll do whatever we need to and I think I just want to say I appreciate the assistance from, you know, you know, this is this very difficult time of the year to to be dealing with lights and everything else. So, I appreciate, you know, folks, you know, Kate Kates jumped in a little bit, J before. Um, you know, uh, Pat Nan, Buffy, Pette, Pat, there’s been a lot of conversation, a lot of people involved. I’m starting to appreciate that because it’s important for the for the kids. So, I appreciate all the efforts. I mean the only thing is do you how do you I guess we won’t know you’ve spoken to you spoke to the about you met

1:27:25 with amended the application and then things you have others are expecting that » so no so tomorrow um again I was bringing before the committee tonight so I don’t want to send anything out prematurely in case there was a discussion that look that I have to do something differently so I feel comfortable where we are now so I’ll send out the information in the quarter so they’re not surprised by it on Tuesday. Um, I don’t know the song going to be happy because the way the conversation, you know, kind of evolve, but you know, I again I have I’m super in charge of making sure the kids get what they need. That’s my priority. So, » I mean, the only thing I would say is that the directive was to meet the letters and come up with a mutual agreement. So I just you know I think if you know just I think should be prepared

1:28:13 if that’s not the case but hopefully you know you can have a conversation and um explaining the reasoning behind this. » Yeah I mean I’ll do my best. I think you know some of it I think I think having a conversation with the virus was the right thing to do with with as many people that came up. I don’t I don’t take it wrong. was the planning board, you know, you know, he’s in charge of me like coming up with mutual messages. We talked about that. But, um, » you know, I think at the end of the day, » we’re going to try to do the best we can and and make it as minimal as possible and, you know, when I went back and folks are really um having the number of nights that really need to happen so that we can get the feel. We’re also seeing that that some of

1:28:59 these other tangential issues seem to also really be concerning to a lot of neighbors. Understandable. » Oh, 100%. » You know, so I think if there’s a hopefully there’s a trust that that those issues are going to be um mitigated or at least, you know, we’re going to get proactive about trying to you know that that would show. » Yeah. And I think there » Yeah. And I think I think to be honest with the way the way way the conversation kind of were devol devolved and then my conversation subsequent to real not that the lights aren’t issue lights are a big issue but all the other stuff seemed to be way more issue and that’s why I was kind of like whoa what’s happening. So yeah caught me off guard a little bit. Sure. Um but I I think I I’m I’m um I know having the

1:29:45 conversations with the right folks is going to mitigate some of that. I have some thoughts about how to mitigate some of the other concerns that folks have about what’s happening inside the football games especially. Um so we’re going to have those conversations as well and and move forward. I think that we’ll be in a good place. » Yes. Thanks John. Okay. Our next item, excuse me, subcommittee and ladies on updates. And I know we’re still a little bit waiting for our fifth member to fully extend all these subcommittees. Uh the good news being we hopefully we’ll have our fifth member uh in the next week or so. So any any updates? I I’ll start with just communication and I are trying to set up meetings and converted about defining dates. I

1:30:33 need to follow up with that. So um that’s that’s a report from that committee. Anybody else? » We had a policy subcommittee meeting last week. um set a meeting schedule for the year. So we have dates um for a fairly ambitious workload um and at next we’ll be starting to bring policies to the committee um at our next meeting.

1:31:01 » Thank you. » Um I so I don’t have an update for budget. I don’t have another budget person which is actually a bit of a problem. So I because if I can’t um so I’m going to actually start having some conversations with John and I’m going to Mike and I’m going to reach out to um the chair of the finance committee because we at this point should have probably had at least one if not more meetings um particularly you know um looking at what we’re um you know going into this budget season um and there’s a lot of you know there’s a lot of moving parts. I don’t know if anyone’s read the enrollment reports, but we’re down 170 on semi students um this year and but

1:31:46 we’re also looking at um a um you know contractual obligation that increase. So um I’m going to begin to start having those conversations and then hopefully we can get someone else and we can start those meetings. Yeah, I think at the previous meeting we talked about perhaps we moving from communications to budget, but I think as you said that perhaps the new member might have a very good financial background. So let’s wait until that process. » Yeah. No, it’s not. I’m just I’m going to start having a conversation. » Yeah. So hopefully soon we’ll be able to have that second person on the committee. » Okay. And then I did have a conversation with Jolly with my two in terms of the um I guess falls under also smoothly in terms of the financial updates

1:32:31 having those and which does sort of also lead into which is not subconven issue but was getting ours to us. I mean I’ll make a motion if I have to but I need I need speak for myself to see materials well before the meeting. I’d like to see them on the Friday board. » Yeah. Our policy is 48 hours and so we need to make sure that we’re adherent to that. » But even the 48 hours sometimes to me is not it’s a lot of material. 48 hours is necessarily is a lot of » Yeah. I think we need to put them in as soon as we can. You know, we don’t you know should be no later or no longer than but we I I agree especially when there’s a big presentation a lot of data the more days we have to review the better.

1:33:17 » Yeah. So, I’m just like I don’t think it’s not in there 48 hours ahead of time. It shouldn’t it shouldn’t be covering it because just it’s not enough time to release these things. So, » that’s fair. » And that’s the answer to our public comment, right? It was not gaslighting. It was the material was not available, did not adhere to policy, so it was taken off the agenda at the last minute. My fault. you know, » that doesn’t necessarily mean like again talked about like taking something off the agenda is not doesn’t necessarily amend the agenda because you can table anything for any reason and amending an agenda » right before meeting it just » I I think if something’s going to get tabled it can get tabled that’s not that doesn’t necessitate an amended agenda.

1:34:02 » Yeah. And it could be tabled because we didn’t have the material » and that’s that’s a legitimate reason. I think we ought to try to do everything we can in I’m suggesting um that you do everything you can you set an agenda that let folks know who whoever that is this material

1:34:22 » warning or whatever. » Um I did also want to let Katie know I did reach out as we discussed at our last meeting. I sent an email which I got from the members of the committee um to all the members of health. I directed it to the chairs of the select board health and the restart did copy all members um reaching out about trying coming together to collaborate on issues around um youth substance abuse and um in light of the tragedy that happened earlier this um summer um last month and I have not heard back but um a couple days ago. So I will follow up and hopefully uh we’ll have something I I asked for meeting so hopefully by next time meeting

1:35:09 » chair of the board of health receive anything » I sent it to where I was told to send it bo emails at gmail I spoke to and well I I spoke to Andrew and then um was told that was the way to communicate so I did what I was told so I don’t know what to say I can follow up with Andrew tomorrow. I know what happened. » Jen, I’m happy to forward that email to Tom if that would speed things up. I do have it in my » I don’t have individual emails that there that would be great. I wanted » the email I’m a Tom I’m assuming Tomara I’m assuming you’re speaking. Um I’ll » that’s why I because you can’t click on the emails. You you can call and the names are there but there’s no there’s

1:35:54 no link between emails. That’s why I called. That’s why I was told to send I made myself very annoyed. » Okay. Well, I’ll we’ll I’ll get it to you and I copied the other we’ll copy the other members too or try to um just so they can see it um and see what the um so that was that and um I that was it. » Thank you, Jen. Okay, I we’re on to uh ready to do new business. Um the only thing I had is well a couple things. Um I don’t I was looking back at my notes. I am unclear on where we left the school committee goals. » We need to set goals. » Yeah. Didn’t think did that. So um not

1:36:42 sure when that’s going to happen. Um uh and I also don’t know how many if anybody is planning to go to the MC conference in November. The cut off is tomorrow for a um less early which obviously we want to be car conscious. Um I don’t know if anyone’s planning to go or not other members plan to go. I am um it’s a very valuable conference um particularly around professional development as school committee member. I think that was part of our goals. It might not be part of our goals this year but it is part of our operating protocol. So I would strongly encourage folks to take a look at it. Um it’s a very very robust um schedule. It’s an opportunity to develop professionally. needs an opportunity to meet other committee members, make

1:37:29 connections and um tomorrow’s a cut out for saving us some money to do. So my recollection is that members were supposed to contact me if they intended to attend and I she registered me as well. » Yeah, I’m not planning on » from the team be our representative um and then event going. So um just when you let at least another knowledge um um but

1:38:08 » all right is there any correspondence? The only question I had um goes back to the issue of the delay board is we did receive a letter or email which I’m not going to respond to about the temporary license to vary schools. I’m not sure if they’re sorry sorry to let attending the conference. Um, you received correspondence regarding the temporary lights at village the village of Y.

1:38:45 » All right. I I’ll I’ll respond accordingly. Thank you.

1:38:53 » Okay. Um, I’m looking for a motion and vote to meet in executive session for the following reasons. Executive session pursuant to chapter 38 section 2183 purpose 3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining with unit A of the model that teachers association is an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares without intent to return to open session. Also executive session pursuant to chapter 3A section 21A3 purpose three to discuss litigation Marblehead Student Committee and Marblehead Teachers Association MEP-25-115555 is an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on position of school committee and the chairs of the class

1:39:38 also executive session pursuant to chapter 38 section 21 A3 purpose three to discuss litigation for Kelly at Alf versus Marblehead have public schools at docket number 2577 CV0000904 as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the school committee and the chair so » moved » seconded okay new roll call Jen » favor » Henry » in favor the motion passes 4 to zero. The committee will now be meeting in executive session pursuant to chapter 38 section 2183 purpose 3 to discuss

1:40:24 strategy with respect to collective bargaining with today teachers association as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares without intent to return to open session. We’ll also be meeting uh around executive session pursuant to chapter 38 section 213 purpose 3 to discuss the litigation Marblehead head discuss the litigation Marblehead school committee and Marblehead teachers association MUP-25-11555 is an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the school committee and the chair so declares we will also be meeting in executive session pursuant to chapter 38 section 2183 purpose 3 to discuss litigation writing at AL versus Marblehead public

1:41:12 schools at AL doc number 2577 CV 00904 as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of a school committee and the chair of the clerks. Okay. So, we’ll take out a few minutes and then we’ll just bring in the email right here.

1:41:37 » Al, I have the link. I will see you in there. » Okay. Awesome. We got a