School Committee: December 4, 2025

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

0:30 Fourth to,

0:41 um, this meeting is being recorded. We start with the Pledge of Allegiance

0:51 by Pledge of Allegiance, flag, the United States of America Meeting to the Republic, which stands dismissible.

1:10 Do we have any accommodations? I have one. Uh, now that we got the roof contract approved, while the select board and, and everybody, um, I would like to commend Ralph Wallace, mark Leman, Brian Kin, Emina Maloney, Sam Alter, and our own Mike for their help getting that contract, um, signed and, and agreed to, and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with them to complete this project.

1:48 Okay. Thank you, Henry. Any others?

1:52 Okay, we’ll move on to public comment. Someone missed their oath, I’m assuming that’s public comment, but, okay. Um, I just wanna remind, uh, everyone that we have a policy that allows individuals up to three minutes to present their materials and the overall segment should not exceed 15 minutes. If you would like to submit a comment that, that does not fit, fit within those guidelines or time limit, you could submit them via email to us. Public comment is not a discussion, the date 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.

2:34 Um, I will give individuals a 15 second prompt to let them know that their time is expired.

2:42 Has everyone signed in? Who wants to make a comment?

2:56 Reese? Yeah, that’s, Hi everybody. Um, my name is Reese Dalberg. I live on Field Brick Road. I’m a parent co-president of the M-V-M-S-P-C-O, and I’m also a member of the Marblehead Task Force Against Discrimination. I wanted to come here tonight to publicly thank the MVMS English teachers, the Vets Principal Math Vanji, the Umm Marblehead Public School Administration with the support of a wonderful event that happened in the days before Thanksgiving. First little backstory. As you may be aware, we recently welcomed Arthur Alice Kaufman to speak about her young adult novel when we flew away. This is a fictional account of Anne Frank from the time before her family was forced into hiding and Nazi occupied Netherlands. In the weeks prior to the Author visit, I was able to collaborate with different groups from the Marblehead

3:43 community to plan an intergenerational book discussion. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, MVMS staff, 33 MVMS students, community members made up. Both folks from the Council on Aging Task Force Against Discrimination and Beyond. Came together at the Abbott Public Library. The incredible vets, English teachers, Caroline, Todd Kars, Jim Schnick, Ryan Judkins, David Barker, and the Vets Librarian Katrina Donovan led small groups consisting of both students and community members. They discussed when we flew away and enjoyed lunch provided by the MVMS pcos. It was incredible to see such engaged discussion between students and community members. Thank you to all involved. It was a great way to move into the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanks everybody.

4:28 Thank you, Sarah.

4:33 No,

4:39 No. Um, Sarah Cox, 46 C Street. Thank you, um, Henry for your update on the roof and your work you’ve been doing on that committee. That’s been great. Thank you. Um, I wanted to talk about the announcement to change the start times. That’s something that was bargained. Part of the, um, compensation package was everything’s a give and take, as you know, in, in bargaining or it seems you don’t know. Um, and that was part of that and why we were able to make the leverage. We were getting extra learning time on learning for our students. ‘cause we’ve heard how important that is. Now to mention, the end time of 2 37 is something that’s been embedded in our contract for many, many, many iterations at the top contract going back 10, 20 years.

5:25 So there was no public vote to reopen bargaining. So what you did by doing that was a breach of Nash general law. You have to open bargaining. You have to take a boat to open bargaining in public session. By doing what you did, you basically put a huge dark cloak over the public business of this town. Also, by cutting 12 hours of learning at the high school, or 12 minutes a day, over 180 days, that’s 36 hours of learning you took away from our students. Your job is to provide time on learning to our students. That’s over five days. When you have a student sitting for an AP exam who’s starting later in the year than the southern schools, but are being graded against those schools as well. You just robbed another five plus days from those students. Not to mention each day is roughly worth

6:13 0.55% of compensation. You gave the entire staff over a 3% increase in one fell swoop by making that decision all without doing it in public or notifying anyone who had reopened bargaining. Considering some of you are sitting here after having been supported either in like kind donations or actual donations by the union, to then make such a large increase is a massive ethics violation as well. So now, not only have you breached Mass General law, you’ve reached mass ethics law, and on top of that, you have put Our Town, who’s in a very precarious financial situation into a situation where the public is now gonna ask, do we trust these people? These schools need to stay solvable.

6:58 We need people to trust you more than ever. And by doing this under the dark and night, you now have spent over $500,000 in taxpayer money alone on that one decision without ever letting the taxpayers know what you’re doing. If I hadn’t sat in and known exactly what went into that and how much the calculations are per day, per minute and such, I might not notice it here and do that. Those calculations, that it’s egregious, that you did not let the community know that you were bargaining again. You were put here by the union largely, and you have reopened bargaining without ever telling people you did. So the only way to start change, start and end times is to change the contract. So there is no way that you have changed the start

7:44 and end time without reopening bargaining. There is also no vote ever to assign anybody to be able to bargain. So either you were meeting unposted as a quorum of five, or some of you elected yourselves to speak for an entire town without ever a vote assigning you to do such a task. Talk about bad governance. That’s no governance.

8:09 Thank, thank you Sarah.

8:14 Uh, Karen, can you hear me? Hear me? I believe you have your, your hand raised to speak. A public comment. Yep. Can you hear me? Yep, we can hear you. Okay. Good evening School committee members. I understand that you’ll be meeting later today in executive session to discuss a grievance filed by a teacher. This teacher who served as the lead teacher for over 10 years was removed from that position approximately one month after speaking out about antisemitism in our schools. Karen, I’m sorry to interrupt. Could you just state your full name and address please? Uh, my name is Karen MCL 11 Trager Road. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt. Please, please continue. Our district encourages students to be upstanders and to speak out against injustice and bullying.

9:00 Yet what happened to this teacher represents a clear injustice. She appears to have been retaliated against for exposing Jew hatred in marblehead public schools. Removing her from the lead teacher position seems intended as punitive measure and as an intimidation tactic. Now, other teachers, administrators, and students are aware of the consequences faced by those who speak out against antisemitism. They risk being punished. This teacher has correctly filed a grievance with the district. I strongly urge the school committee to review her grievance thoroughly and fairly. Reinstatement is warranted as what occurred, was unacceptable and sets a dangerous precedent. The resolution you reach will signal to all staff whether our schools truly support those

9:45 who courageously speak out against hatred. Thank you.

9:50 Alright, thank you Karen.

9:54 I am not seeing any other hands. Um, so we will close public comment and move on to our student representative. Will, what do you have for us tonight? Will, Um, thank you everyone. Uh, I hope Thanksgiving break went well. Uh, here at the high school, um, Thanksgiving Day, uh, Thanksgiving Day game football team beat Swamp Scott in epic fashion. They won the game on the final drive after being down by one point in instant. Classic, uh, congrats to all players. Um, this week also marked the beginning of winter sports. Good luck to all athletes. In the first week of practice games, uh, will begin, uh, for most next week. Last week we had our acapella, uh, acapella groups had their sing free concert, um, featuring all of our acapella groups as well as the middle school, eighth grade Lum tones, luminescence sang Man Eater Pretty Hurts wannabe.

10:40 And may I suggest their alumni song. Grizzly sang Candy and Goodbye their alumni song. Uh, the Jewel Tone sang First Light, where have you been? And Cecilia, an alumni song and the Lum tones the eighth grade combined with the high school NCE Group, um, sang Mercy and Shut Up and Dance. Um, it was a really cool concert. Uh, my sister was in it for the eighth grade thing, and it was pretty cool to see them bring up their alumni on the stage. So that was, uh, really cool. Um, also other news, MHS switched back to our old schedule, beginning at 7 55 and ending at two 30. This change has, uh, been pretty fluid and much appreciated by both students and staff alike. That’s all I have. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you all. We’ll move on to the superintendent update.

11:28 Thanks, chairman. Um, good evening. It’s Todd. December already. It’s a short but busy month leading up to the winter break. Uh, for starters, I wanted to briefly talk about the information from Governor Healy’s office regarding the graduation framework. Uh, this framework is a culmination of ongoing discussion and work across the commonwealth. Subsequent to the 10th grade MCs no longer being a part of student’s competency determination for attainment of a high school diploma. At this juncture, there is no action, um, to be taken by superintendents or school committees that needs, um, work yet. Um, because it’s a preliminary, um, proposed course of action. And the highlights of, uh, what is likely to be finalized in June are as follows. Uh, they’re looking to do end of, uh, course assessments and course subject areas and design and scored by the state.

12:13 Uh, they wanna make sure that we have implementation of my cap, which is career and academic plan. By having either a capstone project or a portfolio in place, having students complete the fast first slash ma flow, uh, developing financial literacy skills and the option to earn seals of distinction like the seal of Biliteracy, and they’re looking at other seals that might make sense. Uh, all these will dovetail with our rigorous programs of study. Um, the good news is that we have most of these components in place already in high school. Um, so that’s good. Let’s just be a little bit of pivoting once they come up with some, um, finalized, uh, you know, uh, course of action superintendents met with the Commissioner and the Secretary of Education yesterday to share thoughts and ideas about what the final framework would look like. There’ll be many more discussions, but I don’t want to at least touch on that topic. Um, tonight, um, let’s see.

13:00 Assistant superintendent Fi Ling had a kickoff meeting with the roof con, um, contractors this morning. And I just wanted to share that. Um, just some of the conversation Mike had. Uh, this, you know, obviously this is being discussed further than subcommittee meetings, but I just wanted to share ‘cause I thought this was great information. This is the high school group. The high school, yes. Sorry. Um, they’re exploring the idea of beginning to work on a library and adjoining a roof portion, portion of the roof over April vacation. Um, these portions are shingled and they feel as though as though they can get that done over the April break as long as the, uh, weather is cooperating with us. Um, so I thought that was, you know, good information. And that’ll get us a little leg up on the, I think we’re all with project if that comes from ation, but obviously they’re gonna look, they gotta see is the weather gonna be cooperative? If so, they’re gonna get, they’re not gonna do it or work on it start if, if it,

13:45 when it doesn’t look like it’s gonna call me. So that was just some information. But again, that’s, that’s gonna be a bigger, bigger discussions when we have more, uh, roof discussions. But I thought I’d share that. Um, Casey Johnson, our METCO director, uh, coordinated a district visit with the new METCO president, Dr. Candace Sumner yesterday. Uh, they met with students and Principal Carson here at the high school. And Dr. Sum Sumner was very impressed by the student’s insights, advocacy, and passion. I wanna thank Kaia for, um, getting folks together, um, after the school visit to discuss the program in ways that it can be supported. We invited, um, assistant Superintendent Ferrera, Mr. Williams, and Ms. Mc Pepper, representative of our meeting along with, uh, LUME and Cindy Lowen, um, members of the Marvel Head Racial Justice team for our meet and greet over at Central Office. It was such a refreshing and collaborative discussion of

14:32 where different perspectives were shared. And I thought it was a great way for Dr. Sumner to learn about Marblehead. She was wholly impressed by our time here and was very thankful, uh, to Katie for ordering lunch from Maria’s. And she requested a repeat when she goes back to district. She was very loved the empanadas said. Anyways, um, she was very excited about that. Um, and I’m really excited about, um, Dr. Sumner. She seems in tune. She’s vibrant. She’s, she’s doing a 33 district, uh, tour. She’s touring all the METCO districts and just getting a beat. And she’s like, so far Marvel heads are her favorite spots. I said sars too. So I thought that was amazing. Um, the tree lighting and holiday walk this weekend, and the Marblehead Children’s course featuring our second and third graders for Reverend Brown would be showcased in the National Grand Bank parking lot on a Friday night at six

15:18 30 before the illuminating, um, tree. And I believe again on Saturday at the community center too. That’s what I saw. So that’s exciting stuff. Um, we had our anti-discrimination committee meeting today, uh, where we discussed Holocaust remembrance and things we’re gonna kind of look to do. And in January for that, uh, we discussed the commission on combating anti-Semitism report. And, you know, we have talked about this a little bit, but some of the report indicates, you know, DESI should do this, DESI should do that. And also things around what school districts should do. And a lot of the discussion we’re already kind of having in place around, you know, counseling, making sure that we’re talking about anti-discrimination, they’re outside the lens for the antisemitism, and we’re looking at curriculum, making sure that we have a lens of not just discrimination anti-bias, but in regard to anti-Semitism.

16:04 So all those things are kind of in, you know, already, you know, culminating. Um, we also talked about, I talked about my meeting with the Marblehead Mini Ministerial Association, which very enlightening. I met with all the faith leaders in town, and I shared that with that committee. ‘cause I thought was a great way to kind get different perspectives from the different, um, faith leaders in town. I thought that was awesome. We also talked about reporting mechanisms for reporting discrimination, and I shared the discussion we had with high school students and their thoughts on discrimination. Overall, it was a positive meeting and we continue to explore ways to address discrimination in all those forms. We, we talked a little bit more about, you know, uh, for that Holocaust remembrance, you know, power partnering with Lapin Foundation around this, um, some film that they think would be good for us to show the students. Um, there was a, a PD opportunity that came out today

16:51 that I shared with the principals around, I think it’s entitled, um, what happens when Swastika shows up at your school. So it’s, it’s really speaking to that. So some really, um, solid things going on. So I just wanted to share that brief update. Um, I just mentioned, uh, my meeting with students and I wanna share how impressed I am with the conversations that I’ve, uh, recently had with our high school students, Dr. Carlson and I met with students who have formed the Magic Coalition, and we talked a little bit about this, but MAGIC stands for Marblehead, Alliance for Growth, inclusion and Connection. I think it’s awesome. Uh, students have some great ideas and are leveraging, um, student groups within the high school to start doing some student led work around discrimination. And I, I met with them and, uh, Dr. Carlson already, already met with them once. And then, uh, the members that kind of started the coalition, um, there was other, other

17:37 students who wanted to say, Hey, what, how can we learn more? So they were invited in and that was the communicate, that was the conversation I was in. So I think it was a 10 or 11 students and did a really nice job explaining like, here’s what we’re thinking about doing. Uh, we wanna do student led discussions, we wanna talk to our peers. We wanna, uh, eventually go down and talk to the younger students about discrimination, why it’s, well, I think, you know, X, Y and Z is not a good thing. So all good positive stuff. And I was really impressed with the way they were passionate and articulate and, which is really cool stuff. Um, so I, we did that. And then, um, uh, uh, we talked about, um, ways that this is, you know, a civic mindedness and, you know, provision for a sense of belonging. And I’m really excited to continue those conversations and really, um, hear from the students. So this is, you know,

18:23 we’ve been talking about student voice. We’ve been talking about how do we get students to tell us what they need, what they want, what they, what will work for them. And this was just, you know, prime example of that. So, very excited about that. The other group of students I met with, uh, with, with Katie Johnson, and we met just before Thanksgiving, and then we met again, um, on Tuesday. And Dr. Carlson joined that conversation as well. Uh, again, the students were in the initial meeting. There was, I think 16 or 17 students of color. And then the second one was, uh, I think eight or nine. So it was a little bit less. But really the conversation was around, um, how they felt like they, you know, they wanted be heard and seen and, um, respected and felt like they, that was lacking, you know, um, component of the culture here at the high school, which I, you know, I would concur with that. And they really talked about, um, you know, uh,

19:11 in a respectful, polite way, um, um, the work on with me on creating a message of positivity to kind of really, um, replace the Black Lives Matter politicized ban that was taken down. And, um, so they had some really good ideas around that. We had some conversations. So I’m really excited about the advocacy and I’ll share the rendering with the committee that, um, you know, it’s a message of positivity. So, um, we can move forward that, but I’ll share with the committee, just so you know, before we go hanging it up. You guys have a, not not for message as well. Yeah. So when, when we read the, when we read the flag policy, it’s around message of positivities, um, you know, on that, uh, if it’s not politicized or, you know, activist standard, stuff like that. So, um, but I, I’m gonna share rendering pages, so I don’t want any surprise. I don’t want, you know, I think it’s a good way to have a communication and, and a really, um,

19:56 the students are really, you know, they, they’re really passionate and they were really polite and they were just advocated and just, I’m just, I’m totally impressed with how, how the, uh, how the conversation went. So I just wanted to share that with you as well. And finally, here’s, uh, this week’s shout out. So from all, I’m gonna do some shout outs from the pr uh, the administrative team. Matt Lavan, principal of Veterans Middle School, shouts out to Shannon Abel and Jen. Um, the counselors at the Middle school, Shannon, Jen, do a truly fabulous job supporting our students across a wide range of needs. They consistently go above and beyond for both students and staff, always willing to step in, lend a hand, and provide guidance whenever it’s needed. That calm, caring demeanor helps make the middle school a a place where every student feels welcome, supported, and heard. We are incredibly grateful for all they do for our school community.

20:42 He also shout out to Tracy Mag and Phil Witt, um, the permanent substitutes at, at the Middle School. Tracy and Phil are an incredible asset to this middle school community. Consistently stepping in for teachers when they are out and ensuring continuity for our students. Their presence helps maintain the stable and supportive learning environment, and a willingness to assist wherever needed is truly appreciated, time, caring, and deeply committed. Tracy and Phil demonstrate every day how much they value and support our, all of our students, ed the Middle School. We are grateful for all that they do. Uh, from Scott Williams, principal of Village Elementary School, I would like to recognize our incredible nurses, Deb, Len, and best Deb. I practiced it. I did, I practice it best. Um, they keep us healthy at village every day, and a very, uh, with a very busy office at all times.

21:29 And I witnessed that. And, you know, it’s, it’s fun to watch the, uh, kids going now. It’s just, it’s always busy at the nurse’s office in all schools. So, uh, whether it’s medications we need bandaids or caring for injuries sustain on the playground, they’re always there supporting us all. They work well with village students, parents and staff, always approachable and helping keep our children at the center of the day. We are lucky to have these dedicated medical professionals at our schools, keeping all the village ducks healthy. Um, I’m gonna share Michelle Carlson, sorry, she texted me hers second. Bear with me, please. Uh, let’s see. Michelle Carlson, principal at High School says she would like to recognize four incredible people who keep Marblehead High School running smoothly every day, every single day. Carrie Wright, Gil Gil, Jim, um, Linda Meyer, Loretta, uh, Bren, and Peg Slattery.

22:17 These four amazing secretaries are the, are the heart of MHS. They’re friendly voices who greet families to steady hands that solve problems before anyone else even knows they exist. And trust Tru in, in the trusted support systems for students, teachers, and administrators. Like whether it’s organizing, guiding, troubleshooting, or simply offering a kind word at the right moment. They do it all with patience, professionalism, and a smile. And I can attest to that’ve been at the high school a lot lately, and it’s been a, been a really pleasant place to be in the front office. Um, almost there. Frank Kowalski, principal of, uh, Glover Elementary. Um, he likes to shout out to his support staff, Liz Kauflin, Janet Rowe and Barbara Rosenberg. Uh, Liz is, is such an asset to Glover. Not only is she fabulous literacy instructor, but Liz also began the year filling in as his second grade.

23:04 As one of the second grade teachers. She takes initiative and helps our lunch coverage, recess. And does anything ask, always with a smile. Jen is such a great addition of Glover. She’s a fantastic literacy instructor. She’s always asking to help and is such a kind and positive person. She helps at lunch and recess and is so student driven. She always goes above and beyond. And Barbara is such a joy to havoc. Love her. She’s friendly and such an amazing literacy instructor. Instructor. She continuously checks into the office looking for ways to support students in the school. So that is awesome. And then finally, from Julia Ferrera, our assistant Superintendent Teaching and Learning. Uh, Julia says, thank you to our third grade teachers and the Kimberly grad director of Abbott Public Library for collaborating to engage our students in this year’s Caldecott Book Award Selection Process. Ms. Ms grad, um, was appointed to this year’s National Caldecott Award Selection committee,

23:51 which will select the most distinguished American picture book for children in the year 20. In the early 2026, Ms. Grad is visiting all three third grade classes to read newly released picture books in lead discussions about each book’s illustrations. These visits are going exceptionally well and are a wonderful example of school community collaboration in action. Thank you all. Be well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Alright, since this’s the first meeting of the month, uh, we look to an update from our assistant superintendent, Michael. Well, thank you very much. Uh, there is very little to report this month. Um, the finance report is in your packet. Uh, I didn’t see one so Memo of the school committee. Uh, it was memo,

24:36 It was, there was a scheduled bill, so I didn’t, It’s called 11 30, 20 25 Budget memos to school committee. You did? Yeah. Um, I’ll, I’ll give you the highlights of it. Um, so the, the unended balance went down by $65,000 over the one month period. So we went from 3.34 million unended down to 3.27 million unended. So what that kind of tells me is that we’re, we’ve encumbered salaries very accurately, probably to a 99% accuracy level, um, when we’re working in two systems. And soft Right. Doesn’t encumber salaries automatically for you. And we’re not doing the payroll in the uni yet. Uh, we have to do the workaround. And to me, that, that just says that, that we were able to make some really good, um, using data, some good, uh,

25:23 encumbrances on the salary lines. Uh, I know at the last meeting they were, the last time we recorded, there was some question around the student services, uh, director, assistant director, uh, uh, assistant superintendent, I’m sorry, uh, assistant director. Uh, I have straightened that out. It’s reflected in the reports now. Um, and we will also reflect that with budget, with, um, expenditure transfers between munis and, uh, soft. Right. So we’ll get that straightened out. But in your reports, I did have it straightened out and I have notes of what needs to happen, uh, on the back end, so, uh, that that’s been taken care of. And then finally, I just wanna just bring it to your attention that there’s a budget line of negative $227,000 in the budget. And that is to, uh, when we build the budget last year, we put in a line as a negative because we know that, that

26:09 we’re gonna have staff who are gonna retire. And instead of trying to identify each individual staff, who’s member, who’s gonna retire, who has retired, or, you know, at least for other reasons, um, we put a negative in the budget. I, I know at some point, probably after we convert to Munis, need to distribute that negative just budget money. It’s not expended. It’s not encumbered, it’s just budgeted side, uh, over some other lines. And I, it’s my understanding that because they’re looking between salary lines and salary lines, it will not require a school committee approval for budget transfer. Is that accurate? Okay. Mm-hmm. Thank you very much. Uh, as I said, the reports are there. Uh, everything looks healthy and, and, and good from our standpoint right now for this year. And I think the second part we just, we just wanted to kind of bring up, uh, like where we’re on the budget process. So we’ve met just, just in high, high level stuff. So we’ve met as a budget subcommittee several times

26:56 and, uh, we set our schedule of events going through, um, and we talk, we’ve been talk more in general. I just think, uh, I think it was important just as part of budget, um, over, over our, so we’ve met with a budget subcommittee, uh, finance and budget subcommittee. Um, I met a couple times. We met just a budget subcommittee. We’re gonna come back. We, we are meeting with all the principals. Um, so it’s, um, Mike, Julia, myself, and each one of the principals we’re leading to go through their schools, the staffing, their resources, et cetera, et cetera, to get their input, um, as part of the budget process. So I just wanna share that we’re, we’re in the middle of doing that. We’re gonna come back to the budget subcommittee and we have a couple dates on the calendar, and then there’s a schedule of events that we’ve kind of, um, you know, we can talk about that budget subcommittee reports or whatever.

27:42 But we have, we have a plan to come to before the school committee, before the have a public hearing for income. Hopefully we get all dates squared away and we’ll share that, know if we share the, uh, document out yet. But there is, we, there’s one working pro progress. So I just thought it as important to kind of share at a high level, not, not really talking on the budget subcommittee, ‘cause that’s a subcommittee discussion, but, um, just in general that we’re moving forward. I think we’re in, in, we’re having some good conversations that, uh, principals have really, um, helpful and kind of set things through, uh, staffing in the buildings and things like that. And just kind of look, we have efficiencies. That’s really where we’re at this point. And then once we kind of get some, you know, uh, more, um, information collected together, we bring it, we will bring it to the budget. Yeah. Budget presentation on account.

28:28 So just thought I’d share that this point.

28:32 Sorry. Take care. Anything else? It wasn’t planning on mentioning it. Thank you. I appreciate it. I do think we have to, I feel like we’ve got so many meetings and we’ve had these conversations, but not with the full committee. So I apologize. I, I feel like we’ve, I’ll give the update for the, I don’t know if Melissa’s coming down not, but I’ll give not the update for the budget subcommittee. I do think we just need to make sure and we go back and look at that. The, there’s no question that we release the document at the time that we release it to the committee. We don’t delay releasing Documents. So Yeah. Yeah. That Was perfect. Yeah. The count, the, the, uh, tentative calendar indicated, I think it was a date in January, Sunday that for the, or February for the presentation to the school committee, and that the next day we would release that presentation document so we release it simultaneously.

29:17 Yeah. Yeah. Generally it’s, yeah, generally, you know, I think, I think that was just for making sure, just Being done at 10 o’clock at night on the top By the next morning. Just, you know, if you’d like it up as we’re presenting it Would be because it would just, like all of our documents go up when start our meeting, just, we need to make sure that’s mm-hmm. So in the spirit of transparency that everyone talks about the, we wouldn’t be presenting a document, talking about a document, particularly about the budget that the audience doesn’t. Right, right. Yeah. Okay. I see what you’re saying. Yep. So yeah, we’ll make sure that’s reflected on the how is being developed. So, uh, I think that’s all. Do you have anything else? No, That’s all. All. Alright, good. Very, very light. Been a bit busy month, the uni conversion and payroll uni

30:04 and budget meetings and, and whatnot. But from fiscal 26 budget, it’s been a very relatively quiet month, so it’s good based.

30:17 Okay. Under the consent agenda, I’m looking for a motion to approve the following, the identified schedules of bills totaling $403,727 and 82 cents, the meeting minutes from our November 20th, 2025 meeting and policy updates as submitted by the policy subcommittee team. And those are Eeb safety program, EBB First Aid, EBC emergency plans, EEA Student Transportation services, and EEAE school bus safety program. So moved Second. I just had a quick question. It, see the schedule bills might seem just low.

31:04 Like we usually are over, you know, a million dollars. This was 400. Um, Just curious. Yeah, the, uh, the town did not do a warrant oxygen last week, so we did not submit one and did not get signature. So yes, we did. So the next one might be, Yeah, it might be. Yes. Thank you. Um, I just wanted to make a note for the committee on policy. EEAE. These are all really minor changes to MASC policies. And that one, our policy tracks the MASC policy and it has a couple of paragraphs of marblehead specific language. And the changes that we’re proposing here are only to, they’re the MASC recommended changes

31:50 to the MASC portion of the policy. And then Marblehead specific language is stated. That was so, Okay. So we have a, a motion by Kate, seconded by Henry. Any further discussion? All in favor?

32:08 Okay. The motion passes four zero.

32:16 Um, we’ll move on to the school committee communication and discussion item section. Uh, John, we’ll start with, uh, a proposal. This is Susan, a Coffee? Yes. Um, so tonight we have, um, a proposal for a memorial bench for Savannah Gael, um, Vale Jennings, I think spearheaded the, um, discussion and she’s here today to come up and talk,

32:45 talk about the, the bench. So I think, um, Elle had brought it to our attention and I asked her to kind of just, uh, uh, send us some, you know, a, a basic idea of what the bench would look like, how much it would cost, where placed. And I think, uh, you, that was in your, was put packet available to what? Um, it won’t really, I mean, we could, but it’s really, it’s not the actual best, it’s just kind of like what it looks like. But I put it so that isn’t what’s bench. It’s kind of like an example. It’s just like the, the like closest sample I could find, uh, without ordering it and anymore. But it was the invoice. I got the invoice, I have all the information collected, everything, um, should be there Yeah. For the second social.

33:30 So, so do you want to kind of go through it or do you want me to? No, hi. Um, I’m Denning. Thank you for having me tonight. Um, I’ve been a Maribel head resident of this town for just about 47 years. Um, I’m also an IA at MVMS. I’ve been a dance teacher in this community for over 25 years. I’m also the choreographer of the MHS musicals. I am also your favorite person to see at your local watering hole. Okay. Um, and I’m also a soccer coach. Uh, what else? Elsa in the parade. Um, but I am here tonight to, um, talk about something that’s kind of, um, you know, close to my heart. Uh, since I started at, at MBMS, um,

34:18 I feel like I’ve always kind of been like this pied piper. Like I always have the kids kind of following me probably because I’m six two and, you know, the little kids look little no matter what. But, um, I’m a, I’m also a mom, an zy, a friend, a daughter, a sister, and a cousin, um, and like an advocate for these little kids. And I know that a lot of these little kids like look up to me, like figuratively and literally. And so, um, I kind of, you know, go into, I go into each school day as like an advocate for these kids. And they know that like Ms. Jennings or Ms J or whatever they call me Miss Ery, they know they can come for to me for a snack or a hug or, you know, a ride. Um, and so I feel really close to these kids.

35:04 And when this tragedy occurred, I felt like I needed to do something really fast. And I’ve been working on this since this happened. Um, I have a couple of things that her friends wrote. I hope that’s okay if I read them, you guys. Um, okay. Um, this is from one of Savannah’s really good friends and it’s, it’s beautiful. Um, when I first joined the METCO program in seventh grade, me and Savannah were in art class. I was at first scared to talk to her, but I got the courage. We started hanging out, talking late at night on the phone, and we were inseparable for months. One day in the summer, these old ladies came up to us saying if they could take a picture of them. And we were laughing at how cute that was. And we said, that’s definitely gonna be us in the future. And the last words that this 13-year-old girl heard from her

35:51 best friend was, we need to appreciate the people in our lives. So thank you for being there. And my, I still think about it till this day. She was a bright, funny, gorgeous girl. We will be miss savvy. I love you deeply. We’ll always be in my heart from another one of her very good friends and her neighbor. When I first moved to Marblehead, I met Savannah and Alyssa, who are my neighbors. Since then, me, Savannah, and Alyssa have been very close. Me and Savannah would walk to school together, hang out in our yard with the other kids that live by us too. We’d gossip and text all the time. And I never thought that our time together would end so soon. We hung out a week before she died. I would’ve never guessed that. I would never see her again. Savannah and Alyssa means so much to me.

36:38 She was a beautiful girl that got her life taken away unjustly. I love you so much Savannah, and no one will forget you. And I just think this is just like a beautiful testament to like, these are 13-year-old little girls losing their friend. And it is rocked this community big ton as we are seeing through the current, through all of our papers, through some people who are doing things that it’s about time. And um, I think this is a beautiful memorial. I think this will be a lovely spot for her. I think that the kids, um, gather in the morning and Alyssa had said something to me,

37:21 which was so beautiful. She said that like for years to come, like people can come and see name and she’ll always be remembered. And I think it would be a beautiful thing. And so I thank you guys. Thank you all for being here, And thank you. Thank you for giving the time. I just wanna share a little bit. No, it’s okay. I just wanna share a little bit more about, so the, the bench itself is gonna, um, to be placed off, you know, in the, in the original entrance by the, in entrance. The two trees are, there’s uh, two trees there between the two trees on the cement, right as you walk into that. Um, it just, like, if you park over by the pickleball cart, you comes through that way. I think that’d be beautiful. Great spot. Perfect spot. I was, you know, when I heard that, I said that’s, you couldn’t, couldn’t have found a better spot

38:06 for that. Think it’s just, it’s Great. Um, one other thing to say is that the mo the, the thing is that, um, at first I was gonna write like by the MVMS community, but everybody that has, um, so I’d like to tell you guys that it’s been fully funded. It’s already been paid for. We had an anonymous donor come in, like pretty much like that and paid for the remainder. So, um, Glover Brown Village, M-V-M-S-M-H-S and our, our angel donor have, have fully funded, funded this. So it’s, it’s pretty amazing. Like you ask for something and we can do hard things. It’s kind of being proved right now. I’ve never done anything like this before. You guys, so like this, so you’re writing the Marlin community donated by Yeah. Have, yes. I think that’s more appropriate.

38:57 Yeah. Well, with an outside donor that makes it, because I was thinking maybe the Marblehead school community, but Right. But whatever you got, you know, whatever. Yeah, I just had it just said. Donated by the Marble Marblehead community in memory and loving memory of Savannah gtl. Perfect. Perfect. Yeah. And approved By Alyssa. We’re good and approved by Alyssa. Yep.

39:20 So thank you. Um, do we have a motion? So moved. Second.

39:28 Okay. We have a motion made by Jen, seconded by Kate. All those in favor? Uh, the motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Four zero, Thanks.

39:45 Okay, we’ll move on to naming of the auditorium. Uh, the feedback we’ve received from community email has been overwhelmingly supportive of this initiative. And I’ve asked Ashley Uffington and Henry Christiansen and others for just additional detail as to the signage and the associated costs. And so when I have this detail, bring it back to, uh, this committee to be voted on there. Any discussion questions

40:14 At speed I happen to run today. We had a bit of a discussion. So done research. It sounded like things are starting to coalesce around what might make sense. So we’ll, we’ll bring that up at the next meeting. Ready? And, and that, Okay. We’ll move on to school start and end times update.

40:37 So in November of 2024, the school committee and the MEA signed a memorandum of agreement that among other things provided for a change in arrival times for students effective with the start of the 2025 2026 academic year. This change was intended to enable the district to add a second recess for the elementary school grades. After the district implemented the new start times in August of 2025, the MEA filed a charge of prohibited practice with the Massachusetts Department of Labor. Through the first months of the academic year, it became inherent to our administrators that further discussion regarding the impact of the time change at the secondary level needed to occur.

41:23 Towards that end, the school committee administrative team, and MEA leadership worked to resolve this matter leading to a settlement agreement that was approved by the school committee. In executive session on November 20th, 2025, town Administrator of Thatcher Keys will participate in that process. And the committee voted five one in favor of the settlement. The full settlement agreement is included in the patent for tonight’s meeting as part of the settlement, the MEA dismissed its prohibited practice charge and with, through a grievance related to the school start times. In addition, the parties agreed to return the start and end times at the middle and high schools to the times that were in effect for the 2024 2025 school year.

42:08 And to permit teachers at the elementary schools to self-direct one PLC day each month for December through June of this school year, a group of administrators and educators will continue to meet over the next few months to address the impact of the student start times on teacher prep time at the elementary schools. And I would just like to point out that our school legal counsel was involved in this endeavor and provided guidance to ensure we were following appropriate law and procedures at all time. So I’d just like to make a point of order. Uh, we have not voted to release the minutes of that executive session and you just announced the vote. So, um, he really should have that would’ve been done in executive session,

42:54 should release that information.

42:58 Uh, so I, I’ll Follow up our Counsel. I’m gonna make a motion that we release the full minutes of all of the meetings that we had in executive session in regards to this issue.

43:12 I’ll second that so we can discuss it. So a motion’s been made by Jen, seconded by Al. So we Typically do not release executive session results without a vote. Um, so since you gave the results, I guess we should probably talk about, I mean, we talked about this issue of transparency. This was done in executive session and now it’s being dis it’s being presented in open session, but without a ratification and without discussion of what. So the, so the, the public hasn’t been able to see the deliberation on this or have any understanding of the deliberation. What went, what went on here? Just the result, which I think is

43:59 a woeful lack of transparency.

44:05 We fundamentally changed the nature of our memo of understanding, which is our contract that we negotiated last year and went even further to make additional changes to the contract by reducing the seven minutes of the dismissal time for the high school, which did cost 36 hours of teaching time and learning time. And none of that deliberation is available to public.

44:33 And the 36 hours is approximately half a million dollars.

44:39 So I think it’s really important to be very clear that this is a topic that we have discussed and that our legal counsel advised us it was appropriate to do this settlement the way that we did it. And you know, I think that there is certainly conversation to be had about what the deliberations look like and, you know, when the time is proper to release those s and share that information with the public. I don’t think that there was any intention to do anything in an untransparent and opaque way. Well, it is not transparent. It is not transparent. We routinely meet in executive session

45:24 to talk about pending litigation. We routinely negotiate and vogue on settlement agreements in executive session. This was a contract change. Just, I mean, we’ve, I put a motion on the table. It’s been seconded, um, that we released the minutes so that the public can see what was discussed and held Well. I think we would, we’re required to do that anyway. No, the is closed. I will work to put those minutes together and I’ll make sure that there is plenty of time for review because you know, again, they don’t have the recording to allow. So I’m happy to put those minutes together related to this. I mean, I do think there should be somewhat of a sense of urgency. Ancy What?

46:13 Um, I just, I just wanna speak to the seven minutes again, because I know this is all of contention. So the contract said that end time was 2 37. High school absolutely said that in the contract absolutely was in place. It’s my understanding that at least for the last decade or so, that has not been operationalized. So I, I want to clear the air on the fact that it didn’t cost us $500,000. No time has been lost by the students because it was never there before. Well, it was Since September. Well, since September. Okay. So minimal time because it’s been there since September. So what I can say is that the seven minutes at the end of the day was never operational. I can’t tell you why I wasn’t here for that. I didn’t operationalize it last year either. I, whatever. It’s a part of the contract that yes,

46:59 but a hundred percent it’s in the contract, a hundred percent has been operationalized except for between September and November, whatever finished. So I just wanna make sure that that $500,000 number is not an accurate number and it should not be put out there as an accurate number. Right. Um, that’s just all I have to say.

47:21 So I think procedurally we need to have executive, the full set of executive sessions and next prepared. We, we, we need to lead an executive session to review The water. This entire conversation is agreed about anybody, Sarah. Sarah, please. Why Qualify Water? This entire discussion isn’t, if it happened in an executive session, we cannot go to move the conversation, The entire conversation. So we have, we have a motion on table. Can we restate the motion with the, with the second as well? I believe it was made By Jan. The motion was to, pursuant to AL’S announcement of results of executive session, the motion was to release the minutes of the executive session for the meetings of which this was still agreed.

48:08 And you made the motion and now second. Correct.

48:15 All right. Any further discussion?

48:21 All in favor. Okay. The motion passes for to zero.

48:33 Okay. Our next item, uh, Jen, you asked to talk about enrollment. Um, yes. So, um, I asked to have this on the agenda for a discussion item from the school committee tonight. Um, the issue of the declining enrollment has been of our student body has been discussed quite a bit over the last several years. But if you look at the numbers from the end of, or sort of middle of June before graduation, June 7th floor, um, to where we are this week, we get, just so everyone knows, we get enrollment points every week that show us broken down by, actually by class, by grade, and then total in total for

49:20 how many students we have in the district. So we’re down over 200 students since June 7th to when school opened in September. And then in last week’s Walmart report, we were down 25 students in a period of a week. Um, so we’ve gone from 27 54 students, I believe it was 27 54 on June 7th, 2000 511 students as of this past week. So this comes up clearly in our budget subcommittee because there’s, you know, there’s discussions around that, um, for sure. But it’s also, you know, sort of bubbling up in general, um, out there in the public. So I, I, and I’m only one member am very interested in what’s, what’s going on.

50:06 We, we are, you know, we can look at the numbers, but what’s happening? Where are students going? Are we doing any kind of analysis or, or are tracking where students are going? Mm-hmm. Because it’s students during the school year. How are we keeping track with that? So I thought that it’s worth, um, an item on the agenda to discuss if other school committee members are interested in, uh, trying to, you know, dive into that or have the administration do some work to give us some analysis on that. Or if it’s not something school is interested in, I put it on there for something that we could ask for further information, further we data because it does speak to, um, a whole bunch of issues. You know, um, certainly budget I think is probably the

50:52 biggest, um, issue. But it also speaks to, um, you know, what’s going on is, you know, this a demographic issue. Is this a, is are people, you know, leaving ‘cause they’re not happy with the school? I don’t know. And, and I would like to, so I would very much like to hear from our administrators both about what the data shows, but also about what data we should be looking at. Because, you know, I also follow these weekly enrollment reports and I think that there’s a lot in there that needs to be explained so that the committee can accurately understand what those mm-hmm. I mean, it isn’t lost on me either. That, you know, I was thinking about it. I haven’t talked, had a chance to talk to Mike about it.

51:37 I mean, this also affects our chapter 70. Now. We don’t get a ton of chapter 70 money to begin with from the state. And what we do get goes directly to the town, unlike most or many school districts where it goes directly to the schools. But it would seem to me that we’re getting to the point where it could certainly be something that the townside is going to take a look at when they start to see, um, this kind of drop. Because our chapter 70 money allocated from the state is formula. The formula is based on a moment, Right? So, um, so two things. One, I appreciate the conversation that needs to happen. Um, we did do some basic analysis, just, I mean, we can, I can share that. We can talk about it. Um, and I was prepared for the next meeting to kind of really get into the down and dirty stuff around, you know, where the kids are going.

52:24 We can do that, that one now, so that we have time between with the agenda today. But if, if you want to, I can share where we’ve so far itself, uh, I’ll share it. It’s, it’s pretty much straightforward. But what I think that, I think I’ll pass stuff, but what I think is that is is important is we get the enrollment reports every week. Yes. I think part of, um, part of This, this wasn’t in No, that’s why I just, I just, it is what it is right now. I just, it’s it’s down on dirty data, but we can talk more specifics. Um, no, I didn’t have time again, the prop box, this, um, if, yeah. Um, we’ll see what they wanna do. Um, we can put it up on the screen if you want to. Uh, I think it Would be helpful. Yeah. Okay. We can put it up there. That’d be great. So, um, what I think what I think is important is we have, we get the, we get the enrollment, um, reports

53:11 that Jim was just talking about Monday. Um, those numbers tell a story. They don’t tell a whole story. So what, when Julie and I were looking at this, we said, you know, it probably makes sense to do the DEI has enrollment. You know, we do October one reporting, which has probably the most accurate information. And I know I said before, like, you know, some of the DSI data is behind, behind. But what we can do is we decided here was to look at October one data from 2019 through present and what does that number look like? So it’s a point in time, it’s a point in time when we report to desi. Um, so it’s a little bit different than the weekly reports because the weekly reports are, are also a moment in time, but they, you know, they change based upon things. And those weekly reports have information in there that isn’t caption desi,

53:56 because we, we have preschool numbers in their preschools, not mandated. DESI only looks at K to 12. So that’s, that’s, that’s one piece. And then the other piece that’s in that, in that daily report is when we have to test students who are either in, like live in Marblehead or go to say like Devereux or another school, a private school, we’re responsible for testing ‘em. So a lot of times, um, that number that’s in there, uh, around testing, um, that category ebbs and flows based upon, we have to, we have to identify ‘em before we can test them. So that number changes too. So the preschool number changes, the testing students number changes, and that’s not really captured in our overall enrollment data. So we’ve thought for, for, I think if we’re all looking at the same data for discussion of enrollment, increased, decrease averages, et cetera.

54:44 The October one DESI data is, is, is probably the way to look. So I won’t go through it with a fine tooth comb at this point, but if you look at the enrollment, you can see, uh, grades K through 12, 2019 to present. You can see, uh, in where we are currently and what the average for each grade level is on the far right column. So like, for instance, I go through those numbers. K there’s an average 160 kids, first grade, 1 76, uh, second grade’s 1 91, uh, third grade is average of 1 93, 180 4 for fourth grade, 180 8 for fifth, 1 91 for 6, 1 90 for 7, 2, 17 for 8, 2 22 for 9, 2 29, 2 31, and 2 34 while the rest of the high school. That’s the, the average number of students we have over that period of time.

55:30 If you go into the next, uh, just wanna add Just straight from Desie. This is the, that take will send, it’s our data would just, Right. So Okay. Thank you. So that, so the, that, hang on just A second. So the average from 2019 to 2025, here, just pick one. Um, uh, seventh grade, the average, the average from 2019 to 2025 is 190 students. Mm-hmm. This year we have 170. Correct. Correct. So that, so that second to last column, 2026, what we just submitted to the state that we just submitted that October and what that second to last column. So yes. It’s, so in that, in that grade level, yes. We found 26 in every grade. So you can, you could see where that, where it ebbs and flows there we’re done In every single brick. Yes. So, yeah. And that points out awesome.

56:17 This, this is a way to look at the data in one point in time that’s measured year in year through death c or death reporting. Um, so it’s, it’s, it’s accurately captured. So then if you go into the next one, it is look at the head percent change to enrollment by grade. So we did a similar thing from eight to 12,019 through now. So you can look at the far end column, but the percent of changing. So yes, it’s minus one point of two minus 5.5. You know, you go all is, they all are minus numbers. So there is definitely a zip in enrollment. And then the last very last slide, I’m sorry, sorry to interrupt. That percent changed over time. What’s that compared to? Is that compared to the average the, or is that compared to the Angle on average? Yes. So for, from 2019 to 2025, the average drop for,

57:04 um, fourth grade, well that’s not, uh, four, um, seventh grade is 4.6% a year. So that’s the average over the last six years. We chose to present this way. ‘cause you can really track if you start in the top left, right, where our kindergartners were, right in 2019, and you can follow diagonal down, you can see the path, right? So we know some of our classes when they start at a certain size. So that’s really important to not only look at it horizontally, but also, um, going down. So for example, the K in 2019, the classes 1 76 and they grew to one 91st grade and so forth. So you can also check The and what and what that, looking at the data that way is it, it allows us to make the adjustments we may need to, so for instance, like second grade and maybe like a large, large group of students this year.

57:50 So we know that next year that third grade class is gonna be big. So we may need to say, okay, a second grade teacher needs to slide up to third grade and I just use that as an example. That could be pretty much at any of the, um, grade, the high school is a little bit different ‘cause high school. Um, so yeah, thinking for pointing that out Julia. And then the last slide, and for now, and I mean we’re gonna, we’ll get into the data. ‘cause what I think the question really is, is we, we have a dip at say fifth grade. Wow. Where are they going? So we can look at, and we’ll look at like where we are now, right? So if we started with, I know you said 57, 54, we’re at 25 11, we, we will be able to pull the data from Katie our day. And she can say, we can say, okay, in second grade we lost X amount of kids. Where did they go? Two of ‘em went to homeschool, ‘em three went to private school, four moved out of district.

58:37 And we could do that whole on. And I think that’s the data that we need to have and discuss as a committee and so the community can understand. ‘cause I think throwing out willy-nilly numbers, we’re comparing the numbers that aren’t capital staff is, I think is, is where we’re getting bogg down in some of the conversations. I think this will be a good starting point. And they really appreciate, Jen, you bringing this up so that we can have this discussion now before we get too far down the road with the budget process. So this last one is, it’s annual average, annual enrollment. Percent change over time is minus three point 80. When you look at all things For seven years Over from 18. Yeah. By year seven years, 24 or 5% like right? No, the average is Just no over time. Annual average seven. Yeah. Each year, like each year it’s going down

59:24 an average just under 4%.

59:30 So yes. So I mean that, that, that paints the picture, right? I mean that paints an initiative. So I, I, again, I think this is a good conversation to have. I think next meeting we’ll have the data that kind of supports the rest of this. And we can really look at parent, we can look at, you know, where we’re losing kids to. You know, we have sometime, you know, right after COVID we had a huge number of homeschool students and where those kids not come back to us and they go somewhere else, um, kids move out the district. And then the answer to why it’s always the big question. And I don’t, we can’t always know that, but we can, so we can look and say, you know, okay, we lost nine kids to St. John Prep or whatever. And then that gives us data points to look at, start having those discussions. Because I think when I’ve had these discussions over the course of me being a superintendent, I look at,

1:00:15 there’s always pinch points, right? There’s eighth grade, the ninth grade is, you know, um, one school to next school. You know, uh, we lost a lot of 12th graders this past year. We got not as many kindergartners coming. So, you know, there’s that. But I think you look at and say, okay, why are we losing eighth grader, you know, eighth grade to ninth grade? What else can we do at the high school level to help celebrate what we do here so that eighth graders, you know, want. So those are things we we’re already having conversations about. Like how do we raise that, um, against that, those transition years. And when we find out where everyone’s going as well, we’ve ask questions. Do we have an obligation to know where every child is in school? Mm-hmm. That, that I have, have Residents tomorrow. Yes. If the residents tomorrow have, we have

1:01:01 to know are they homeschool that they private school, did they drop off? Did they move, did they, So I have asked this question before and have been told, we don’t know, but we should know all school age, the number of school aged children in the town. Mm-hmm. We have that information. That would be good information to have. So I, I think I don’t, Yeah, I mean some of that, some of that’s census driven, but like, yeah. So when kid, when kids are registered, we know, like once they register in school, we track them. So I mean, preschoolers is, is a, is a weird thing. ‘cause then it is not mandated preschool. So it’s a number that ends and flows and yes, it’s part of the overall number. Oh my gosh, we lost all these kids, but we really, and and honestly, kindergarten don, we have to start tracking it. Um, it’s good to know how many preschools we have ‘cause that performs our kindergarten. Um, but it’s also, and it’s also good to know like, hey, we,

1:01:47 we had a hundred preschools, now we have 70. We go start based going. Um, so that, that’s all I information. And I think to your point, Jen, yes, if we have, you know, 3000, you know, school, eight students in the district, we only have 2,500 of ‘em here. That’s, that’s the, that’s the question right here. So that’s, that’s all information. Just to make sure I’m following this correctly, you, if there’s a family in town who their children have never been enrolled in a public school ‘cause they attended private pre-K private school from there, they are still, you’re aware of those children? Is that No, Not, no, not Always. Just if they were enrolled and then they move on Or, or, so we, there are situations where kids have never ever stepped foot in marble public schools. Maybe we’ve had to test them. Right.

1:02:32 Um, so we’ve never seen them. We test them. They end up somewhere. We, you know, sometimes we’re programmatically responsible through an IP for a child because they live here. They may go, you know, those things where we have to provide a service. So we have to get the services right. So that’s the, that’s the gray area. Yeah. But we have a pretty good hit on that. So once, but A child could have never registered. Right? Registered entire, they never contact Really no way of doing that. ‘cause that’s up to the parents. Uh, you know, it could be on a census, but my parents base have moved to Michigan with their grandparents and we never know. I mean that, but what we, when we do know, if we have to track, we have to report this stage. They were here now, we’re not here when they go. So there’s always categories. And I talked to Steven, tech director, um, of office,

1:03:19 and we were having a conversation a few days ago that when he got here, the, the categories weren’t all separated the way they need to be. So since he’s been here, they have been. Mm-hmm. So I feel good about that. I, and you know, how accurate back that is. But, um, moving forward, definitely that’s the right way. That’s all I have at this point. But I’m happy we’ll have much more robust to add next. Do you have anything to add? I’m sorry, you, the last I think just to circle back, Should say that Julie did all, Um, just to circle back to your point superintendent about the, um, making the adjustments yearly. I think that’s really important to reiterate how this is something we look at. We make the adjustments each year. It’s part of our process. And, um, I think that’s really important. So while we’re gonna provide and happily provide some more information to some notes on

1:04:04 what the committee’s looking for, um, this is something that we do on the regular, um, as we look at, you know, shifting classrooms, teachers and so forth each year. So, and, and I’m, and I’m hugely concerned that, you know, if, if we’re truly down 200 kids from, you know, that, that’s hugely concern. We need to at least try to hide out. May not have all answers, but that is concerning for all the reasons we brought up. Not not just the chapter 70, but like, why, like what are we doing? What could we be doing differently? Um, and it, and it informs practice and informs budget, informs, you know, instruction and informs it. So, Jen, can I just ask where, so I don’t have access to the enrollment reports from last year when I joined the committee, the 12th grade graduated. So the first one I see is not the number that you are citing.

1:04:50 Mm-hmm. So I’ve been comparing this year’s enrollment reports to the figure that John mentioned used in their presentation to us in early September, which shows about 2% declined. So I’m, could you share the enrollment report? I can do that, but so can Steve. I mean, it’s a weekly Aspen report, so yes, I will send what I have, but happy ‘cause I have a file for it. But you know, Steven could also send to the room members. I mean, if someone share the one that you’re, yeah, I think I used June 7th or June 2nd. I forget the date. You have to take the, I was looking at the last date before the seniors graduate. When they graduate, then they fall off and they don’t come back off. The whole summer is off. That’s why that October one is the, is the number we should, you’ve gotta get it, you capture. But it was a big class that graduated.

1:05:36 So that’s, you know, it all feeds into it. But you can, when you look at their asthma reports, you can see, I mean, I do the math, you know, the, you line them up and you can see which grade from, you know, last year’s first grade to this year. Second grade is, you know, 20 less students. Yep. And you can do it for each, you know, for each grade. And, um, so yes, I listen. Alright, Thank you. The next item is around policy updates. So we have two policies that are before the committee tonight for approval. Um, that beyond the ones that we did in the consent agenda, the first one, um, I’ll make a motion to approve the updates to policy EEAA, which is previously known as Transportation

1:06:24 of Regular Education students.

1:06:30 Okay. Um, so the changes to this policy are changing the title of the policy from Transportation of Regular Education students to Walkers and Riders. Um, and then there’s just some, I would say, refinement of the language around, you know, that we provide transportation for students when they’re IPP require it. Um, and these changes were recommended by MASC, specify policies of Committee and Supported Votes.

1:07:02 Uh, motion made by Kate, seconded by Henry. Any further discussion? All all those in favor.

1:07:12 All right. The motion passes. Four zero

1:07:16 Can, and then the other policy that we’re bringing forward is policy, EEAG. So I’ll make a motion to approve the changes to policy. EEAG, student transportation in private vehicles. Second, Seconded by Henry. Um, the only thing is, um, I had a question for John on this one. So, which I forgot to ask, or he wasn’t in our meeting. He had left the meeting. Yeah. When we got to this part, uh, can we table this until he gets back or, I don’t wanna, or wait, I just a question for him. I don’t have a problem. If we want Katie, move launch to the first can move to the next deal. We come back Policies, yeah. When John returns. Um, so we have

1:08:02 2, 3, 4, 5 policies, um, that are new policies that the policy subcommittee has voted. We held the first reading and we, we have voted to bring them forward for second readings. These are all policies in the e section of the policy handbook. It’s, um, ECAB, access to Buildings and grounds, EFBA school, food and Nutrition Meal Modifications, EFE, civil Rights Complaint Policy for Child Nutrition Programs, EHAA, district Security relating to technology and EHB Data and records retention. Um, these are all new policies that MASC has recommended the district adopt. Um, again, they’ve been reviewed by the superintendent.

1:08:49 He recommends that the Adopt Them has written. Uh, so as I said, these policies all had their first reading in the policy subcommittee on November 20th. They’re here tonight for a second reading. Um, so if there are questions or concerns about any of the policies, policy subcommittee can address those concerns. Um, otherwise we can bring them back to the fourth committee or a third reading and vote.

1:09:16 You left up Eliza. Yeah.

1:09:29 All right. Any, there’s no motion we this? No. Just because it’s a second reading. Right. And we’ll vote them the next, the next time they’re on any agenda. Okay. So the next policy is another one that we need John here for. So,

1:09:49 Um, Do we wanna ahead, I was gonna jump to what, what about, uh, g for, can we do that without Johnny? Are you comfortable with that one, Gabe? Okay. Let’s, let’s move on to that then please. Around next steps. Uh, strategic planning and Elevating Educator Voices goals. Um, so these two goals that we approved over the last couple of meetings each had a component of appointing, um, a member or a subcommittee to do work related to the goal and bring, you know, information back to the school committee. And when we voted the goals, we did not discuss how we wanted to go about doing that. Um, and I wanted to bring that back tonight to talk about

1:10:39 how the committee would like to handle that component of the goals. So that

1:10:55 I haven’t looked for them. They’re not,

1:11:06 so, I mean, I’ll just say that I, you know, I brought these goals forward. They’re both ones that I am interested in working on and happy, you know, to, to do and report back to the full committee. But I also didn’t wanna, just,

1:11:26 my computer is very working,

1:11:39 But just wonder, I just saw looking Find them. I, Oh, So on these, oh, wait. Oh, sorry. So, so first one is Elevate Educate Voices goal. Yes. So that one calls for a member or an ad hoc subcommittee to research how other school committees use non-voting members. Um, and so, so what are we voting on? We’re, we’re discussing and potentially voting on who is going to do that.

1:12:25 So whether we want a subcommittee doing it, whether we want one person to do the research and, you know, come back to the committee.

1:12:37 You volunteered to do it, I’m happy To do it. Yeah, I mean, I’m, I’m happy with you doing that. I sort of have enough. Yeah, I think a lot was Yes. A lot, but, well, yeah. Um, you know, I, I think if there are multiple people interested in working on something, then that’s great. Um, the only thing I’d say is typically we do, um, it allows for transparency. It allows for good governance. Um, it allows that the business to be done in public. Mm-hmm. That way. Um, so there is something to be said about having the sub to do this. Um, ‘cause it does allow the public to see, you know, what’s, what’s going into this. Um, and that it’s, uh, you know, typically our,

1:13:22 our work is done Subc.

1:13:27 So in that case, probably looking for a subcommittee around this, of which Pete has already volunteered to be one person. So I’ll make a motion that we have a subcommittee, an ad hoc subcommittee for the Elevate Educator. I’ll second that. Okay. So we have a, a motion made by Jen, seconded by Kate. Um, and specifically around a subcommittee goal to address what Kate has brought up around, uh, doing some of the work around the Elevate Educator Voices goal.

1:14:03 Any further discussion? All those in favor? Alright. So that, this is to approve the, The start of a subcommittee around this. Uh, yes. Uh, the motion passes four zero.

1:14:22 Um, and I guess now we can express if anyone wants to express interest around being on this, um, I, I have an interest.

1:14:34 I’m comfortable with that. Well, well, this is not here. Yeah. Um, so perhaps we should determine whether she has an interest.

1:14:45 Okay.

1:14:52 The wall of the committee that we’ve done, that’s kind of been what we’ve done in the past. If someone wasn’t here. Mm-hmm. Next, I think that happened with you, Henry. We waited for the next meeting. So I think that’s appropriate. Thank you, Jen. Lemme just put it in my next meeting bucket. I mean, you might as chair wanna give, have a conversation. I will. I’ll bring her up to speed. Was that just, is that the only one, or was it, so it’s the exact, yeah. Basically the same question for the strategic planning goal. Um, which had a component of looking at what sort of the long-term strategic planning structure would or should look like for the district and reporting act.

1:15:46 Okay. I Don’t see anything about it. We can just, so lemme just maybe for the interest of the public, we can read the goal. It’s the school committee goal is to refocus school committee efforts on high level district oversight and strategic planning in a way that supports the operational work and priorities of our administrators. To do this, the school committee will agree to a statement that articulates a clear division of responsibilities between the school committee and the administration. Post to the school committee website and reference against that being the division responsibilities. Evaluate some check-ins, superintendent and his team to support the superintendent in completing the district improvement plan by setting a near term deadline school committee review of the draft to ensure the plan sets priorities, establishing the timetables of superintendent to gather

1:16:33 and process stakeholder input and monitoring adherence to that timetable, reviewing and approving the finalized plan in spring 2026 for implementation on July 1, 26. And then consider strategic planning frameworks for the district moving forward with clearly articulated responsibilities to the school committee in that process. And then, oh, and then the second one, appoint a member or an ADOP subcommittee to develop a proposed plan for consideration by the full school committee in spring of 2026 to run currently with the district approval plan.

1:17:07 So, I guess committee this, this potentially, this subcommittee will be doing one section of this folder. Just be doing that sort of what this future looks like,

1:17:17 Kind of in the same spot without walls in here. Mm-hmm. Maybe we can, if we wanna do it through a subcommittee established, I mean, could there be one subcommittee to do both things?

1:17:29 I’ll make a motion that we create the, the ad hoc subcommittee is to work on both these two goals. Educating, elevate, elevating educator voices, and strategic, I just, you make a motion.

1:17:47 We the other, we voted. Oh, okay. We Vote. Yeah, we passed that. Wanna make sure I will second that motion. Okay. So there’s been a motion by Jen, seconded by Kate around having, um, one subcommittee, um, address both the educate, the Elevating Educator voices and the ad hoc, uh, plan for the strategic planning goal.

1:18:15 All right. Any further discussion? All those in favor? And the motion passes for zero. And we will hold off on putting members on that committee until all five of us in present.

1:18:33 Okay. Um, is that, is that it for G? Yeah. So We wanna go Back. Yeah, we go back to,

1:18:46 I, um, I had a question just before we voted. Um, these new policy, so EII think you were not in the meeting, the subcommittee meeting We talked about, And we talked about this and I not follow up with you, apologize, but EEAG is the student transportation pilot vehicles. I just wanted to make sure. ‘cause the, one of the change or the change, one of the updates says driver and any non-student adult passenger will be subject to a satisfactory report and or background check and affords that general license. We possibly, are we prepared to operationalize? No,

1:19:20 Because that, because it’s also why I understand on also should say something about have information a parent. Yeah. It says the parents of students to be transported in this Atlanta. Are, will we fully informed Yeah. As to the method or the means of transportation? We’ll sign a statement to this effect. Yeah. So I think, you know, typically this falls on like, hey kids, you know, have a coach, have a kid in the practice and they can handle home and lost. So we have to get in touch with parent Yeah. That, that’s have something happens. But, um, if it’s outside of that, then we wouldn’t, if, if it was a driver that we didn’t already have co and fingerprinted for whatever reason, they wouldn’t be able be a problem.

1:20:03 That this, this, this, uh, this is, It just seems to me that it, like in the, the sort of, in the real world, that could be challenging. Correct. It and it can be a challenge. I mean, you know, mean quite frankly could get be, we wouldn’t know about it, but Yeah, it didn’t know about them. You have to take action. So, I mean, but when the parent says yes, it’s okay to go with them. And then, so say it’s a coach or teacher or whatever person’s gonna go with this, kid’s gonna go with this person. Parent knows about it, person, volunteer staff members. So to the extent that we have that information,

1:20:40 Okay, so think, I don’t know. We made, We made the motion that you made the motion. Kate Henry second it, we did not hold on it. So is there any further discussion on this on EEAG? Well, it’s all, no, those are second meetings. We’re back up to sub e sub two. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so all in favor. Okay. The motion passes is floor zero.

1:21:12 And we wanted to go back to the, So we had Competency Determination. Yeah. We had had on the, um, agenda for tin tonight, a second reading of the on the competency determination. Um, this is a policy that Desi, it’s a new DESI requirement, uh, coming out of the elimination of mc CAS as a graduation requirement. Um, we’ve had two policy subcommittee meetings, um, with John and Julia to review the proposed policy. But the policy subcommittee is not in agreement on how to move forward with this policy. Um, so we have not been able to consider or vote on a motion to bring the policy to the full school committee for a second reading. Um, but given that we are subcommittee two, that means we’re deadlocked. So I would like to make a motion that the full school committee have a reading

1:21:58 of the policy this evening, um, so that John and Julia can inform all of us about what they’re proposing and we can have a discussion about the next steps committee would like taken with regard to this policy. I’ll second mayor.

1:22:18 Okay. Uh, we have a motion made by Kate, seconded by AL discussion.

1:22:26 Okay. All those in favor? Okay. The motion passes four zero.

1:22:36 Okay. Uh, I think we mo now move down to January. We doing That at another time? No, I think, oh, my motion was to do it tonight to have John and Julia fill us in. That’s Right. On the policy. So we probably should question. Yeah. So I can Do none of this unless we have it up on the screen then, just so folks can see it. Right. Again, for transparency, do want me, it’s, oh, it’s in the files for second. Think I Have to stop In The packet? It’s in the packet for today. Or do you want me to just put it up? I already have it. That’s fine. I’ll do it right now. I already have it. I have hard copies too. Just so, so what I did was, um, this, the draft, the draft policy, and I also attached the, um, we attached the legislation legis the, uh, regulations,

1:23:21 the regulations to 6 0 6 0 3 CMR, and the mass general law that speaks to this, just because I think that’s part of the conversation that we need to have. So I, I, that’s not in the box, but the les, but I, I’ll hand out, But definitely didn’t have that this morning. No, we, I referred to, It’s just hyperlinked. I actually went ahead and printed it. It’s been hyperlinked on the, the draft. Oh, right. Yeah. Just, uh, yeah. Oh, in the bottom. Yeah, the legal references. Yeah. I just wanted to just so we’re not, So, um, so as, as we’ve mentioned, the, you know, we have to create a, a policy around competency determination on after the, you know, the, uh, and cast no longer, um, the measurement.

1:24:07 So I’ll just go through the draft quickly. So this is in line with, with what the, uh, 6 0 3 CMR 30 dash oh three regulations, um, that basically says that we have to establish a competency determination. So one of the graduate run requirements for graduation Massachusetts is to determine competency. Um, in subjects previously covered by the MCA, in addition to other requirements for graduation, students must have been determined by the district to have achieved mastering the common core of skills, competency, and knowledge and set areas and satisfactory completed coursework that has been certified with students’ district as showing master degree skills, competencies, and knowledge contained in the state academic standards and curriculum frameworks. Um, the requirements are determination competencies shall include demonstrating master degree skills in ELA,

1:24:53 math science, and the satisfactory completion of relevant coursework aligned to the standards measured by the high school English language arts, math, science MA assessments administrator in 2023. So that, that, so the 10th grade MAS was in those areas. So what the state is saying is we have to look at the sophomore year and, um, read this policy that says they have to, um, you take it past the courses in that, in that grade level, uh, for the competency piece. Um, so it’s, it’s the, it’s the sophomore year and it, uh, an additional requirement for, uh, mastering US history will be following year 2027. To show mastery, a student must successfully complete in accordance with Marblehead public schools grading policy or by any other appropriate methodology as may be determined by the district administration IE final assessment

1:25:39 for a course, absent, absent a portfolio or an equivalent measured, identified in the district CD policy, a student enrolled in model head public schools will be determined to have satisfactory completed coursework and earn full credit in accordance with the district grading policy and the requirements outlined below. So then we go through ELA, um, coursework requires they have to pass English nine and 10, the passing grade. Um, and that’s to satisfy this course requirements English language arts course must be taken in grades. It’s 10th grade ELA that we’d be looking at. Is that the law you were just reading or the That’s what, that’s what, um, yeah, that’s what the, yeah. Says we have to, we have to, we have to focus on what the MA had focused on. Supposed that’s the a they, they help pass. So similar to mathematics, they, the state says we have to,

1:26:27 they have to receive a passing grade for both algebra one and geometry. Um, the middle school algebra one course certified by the district meets the course requirements for the mathematics courses with CD and geometry course must be taken grade study well, science, receiving math, math, passing grade in, in credits for biology and an in additional labs science course, chemistry, physics, or engineering. Um, and again, ated 92 12. And then beginning in 2027, as I mentioned, US history, um, received passing grade in, um, in credit for United States history. Um, uh, the aligned courses public schools office courses in alignment with state curriculum frameworks that meet the above requirements, students will demonstrate mastery in each of the content areas. Um, I already mentioned summer school program will be provided for students who fail a course requiring a passive

1:27:13 grade for college and determination. So we have a, you know, lot of backup to help em out. They don’t pass students who did not pass the course. Courses as outlined above, will be placed in our proficiency plan in which students will demonstrate evidence and meaning of the learning standard of the course from student work such as classroom assignments, projects and assessments. Applicable course for the proficiency plan will be in the categories as outlined. English, math, science, and US History. Student officially be assessed by principal and designee Additional consideration. So students with disabilities, um, you must provide a for appropriate public education, um, and determine that the student has met competency in local graduation requirements prior to graduating that students, students with disabilities have been placed in honor. District placements must meet the requirements of the competency determination policy of the placing school district.

1:27:58 Discussion of the competency determination must be part of it. IEP planning team transition planning IEP team will need professional judgment to determine if the student with significant cogniti disabilities eligible for alternative portfolio assessment. So if a kid’s in, in the out just replacement, um, we, we have to make sure that their curriculum is no alignment with ours. If, uh, that with or without the MAS, um, uh, the counseling determination that the, the state has said that MAS all will still be in place, um, regardless of volume of things they’re talking about with, uh, the, the new, uh, uh, graduation framework. So just one we mentioned there, uh, for ELL, uh, English Language learners, the Mar Private Public School shall, on a case by case basis, determine the appropriate courses necessary for English language learners

1:28:43 to both achieve language proficiency and need become a state determination requirements if they’re late in enrolling to our schools. Uh, this is an allowance, um, that we’re, we’re able to, to, um, to access. Uh, they come late, you know, after the ninth grade year, uh, we can do a transcript review by the principal. All this is one area that they can use the mc a score or at least meeting or exceeding achievement levels on a relevant high school MCAS assessment. Or by meeting the standard for substituted equivalent for district certifies. Um, that’s only for ELL appeals process, but that if for late enrolling email. Um, so we haven’t had, you know, we haven’t had a chance to kind of see what their, um, instruction’s been, et cetera. So, uh, there is an appeals process. Current students and parents may appeal in determination up

1:29:30 and see what the following procedures they student submitted. While high school principal not satisfied with the appeal, while high school principal and the current student and parents being killed as superintendent. The CD regulations also provisions the desk commissioner to waive a provision of regulations for the cause upon requesting discern. Um, so that’s, that’s the overall, um, competency determination. So we had, we had kind of talked about this in subcommittee. Um, there was some conversations. Uh, we have proposed this as, as the current competency determination policy. Um, and in light of the frameworks that are coming out, uh, you know, part part of my thought is that we put this into place pretty much already. We’re kind of, uh, solidifying it going forward.

1:30:15 And then when a state tells us how they’re gonna change things, again, there’s gonna be another change. So, you know, I think it’s important to not continue to make a change, another change, another change. Um, we don’t know how long it’s gonna take for the state. Um, but I supposed to have a finalized graduation framework by June. But possible communication the following year. Um, not holding my breath on that, but in the meantime, we have to submit something to the state in regard the policy determination. I think, you know, the, uh, we are, we are in alignment with what the regulation says. We’re in alignment with what most other school districts that we’ve looked into are doing. They’re doing passing grade and not, you know, um, um, making other adjustments to that. ‘cause it’s a aligned regulation. So, um, I miss anything.

1:31:00 So that’s basically what, what’s group stuff for you tonight of the first reading?

1:31:06 Have any discussion?

1:31:18 I know it’s a lot to take in. So I mean, you know, we obviously we’re gonna have to have a second and likely a third reading so we can, so, Uh, let me just put it out on the table as to what issue was. So Kate, Kate and I didn’t, um, we to go to a first reading. So here is my concern. Um, this is get gets, I get a little bit, um, confused on this, but we have a competency determination policy, which we’re required to, and we have a graduation requirement policy, uh, policy, which we’re required to have. Um, and so they are sort of intertwined, if you will. Um, so the graduation requirement, which is also a long kind of long policy, goes through all of the requirements that, uh, the courses that need to be taken and the number of credits that need to be taken, um,

1:32:03 in order to graduate from primary high school. And then the competency determination is sort of a subset of that, I guess, for lack of a better term. So, and within that it says, you know, these are the courses, um, that are primarily through 10th grade that you must pass in order to dis to, to display competency and in order to get a diploma. So you, I guess you have to do both, is the idea. Correct. So my concern was, um, first it seemed, uh, at first it, it seemed like to show ninth and 10th grade work when you don’t have MCM a, the MCA used to be a 10th grade test, and then that was when NCA ended. And so if a student wasn’t able to earn a, a proficient

1:32:52 or proficient right, it was, um, on mcm CA, they’d have two more years in order to be able to do that and then graduate on on time. But we don’t have that anymore. Um, so I wasn’t sure why we were stopping in 10th grade. Why would we not want to show mastery at a higher level? However, it does show that the reg says it’s, it’s equated to what was MCAS. So got that. But we talk about a passing grade in competency determination. So then I dug down, um, and tried to determine, you know, okay, what is a passing grade? So according to our graduation promotion requirements, in the program of studies Studies it says that credits, so you’re required

1:33:37 to earn the credits in order to the credits, you have to fully complete the course and you are rewarded a, a final course grade of A, B, C, or D or p if you’re doing a pass fail. So then you go to the handbook and you have the under academic affairs grades, and it starts from 94 to a hundred is an a 90, 93 is an A minus all that. So a d is a 64 to a 66. So does, so I guess a 64 is what you need to pass. It is. Okay. This is where I’m confused. What I was suggesting is that ought ought me to consider a passing grade in order for competency determination

1:34:23 to be something higher than a 60, which I’m told it’s 60. It seems conflicting in the, in the document. But the superintendent is saying that a 60, which is a D minus is a plus minus, okay. Is, is what we determined for a passing grade. And I am just suggesting that do we want to consider a higher bar for our students? And if we were to do that, and I’m not talking about something crazy, I’m talking like a 65, um, to consider for our students, it still gives them a student two options. One, you still have two years potentially if you have to, you know, bring, to get a higher grade. Also, it does appear, and if I’m, I may not be reading this correctly,

1:35:08 that the assessment a capstone or portfolio project or equivalent measure are the, are the options for showing master. So you could do a portfolio project, you could do a capstone and if there’s other ways in this draft policy to, to, to, just to show your competency. Correct. So I and the superintendent, I guess didn’t, I don’t know to agree with me, but I just, um, I would like to share with the committee ‘cause we weren’t able, we were sort of deadlocked on this that, um, do we wanna consider a higher model? I don’t think I’m crazy in terms of the level of the bar, but, um, something higher than a Six. I I may, I may have misspoke on a 60. I just, I I I may have made have something that,

1:35:54 that 60 is the bottom of what you’re saying is what, 64? Well, I, so a d plus is a 67 to a 69. A D is a 64 to a 66, and a D minus is a 60 to a 63. So, and then an F is a zero to 59. Okay. I get, So I don’t know what a D is. I guess it from a plus to the minus. It’s okay. So it’s 60. Correct. Okay. Oh yeah. So that is, I didn’t, so that’s, that was my feeling that, uh, we should we be looking at a high, a slightly higher bar. The other thing that also I wonder about is,

1:36:39 and it also wasn’t clear, is some of these courses later on in terms of the graduation requirement, have some have prerequisites. So I guess the prerequisite is also a 60. Okay. All right. That wasn’t, I wasn’t, that wasn’t, so is this based, I’m sorry, I just, my con I agree with you that we should be seeking to have diverse standards and that we should have how standards for our students. My concern is that the way that the regulation is drafted is that the competency policy is tied to what we would give credit for. So we are making this wholesale change in the service

1:37:26 of a competency policy as opposed to doing it through sort of a rigorous analysis of what’s going on a academically and whether a change of that nature to the entirety of how we avoid academic credit supported. So it’s, well, the draft policies talks about a passing grade and the de the definition of a passing grade is up to the local solution. So it could vary from district to district. Correct. I think that’s a accurate Sentence. Okay. So we could consider this policy describing the passing grade and simultaneously or contemporaneously review and consider a change in when we’re getting breadth

1:38:12 if we wanted to consider that. Because that would change the credit and then it would de facto, you know, I understand that, but that’s what I’m saying. My concern is, is that we are then considering making that change, not because our professional educators are telling us that we need to make that sort of a change and we need to move our direct, our district in that direction, but because we’re seeking to make our competency determination more rigorous than what the state regulations are requesting. But the state doesn’t require, the state doesn’t define a, as the state doesn’t define a passing rate. We define a passing rate. The state reg, unless I’m reading this loop correctly, the state regulation says you need to receive a passing grade in these courses

1:38:57 to demonstrate mastery for competency determination. Right. The school district defines what a passing grade Is. Right. Which we’ve, which we’ve defined. So that’s, that’s all. So I think, so the second part, I, and I don’t, we’ve had this conversation, it’s, it’s kind of, it’s kind of the chicken, chicken and egg I guess kind of thing where I agree that we should have higher standards. I think I agree that we wanna make sure, you know, we’re rigorous. But I guess my thought is that the rigor, the rigor associated with any of those grades is in the instruction in the teaching and learning in the classroom. It’s not in middle grades. And I know that doesn’t make sense, but from an educational standpoint, I say like what we ask our teachers to do in terms of instructing our students, I contend that it’s,

1:39:42 we provide rigorous instruction to our students. So therefore in my opinion, say let’s just pick a B, a B in marblehead, my opinion is, could be seen and likely is more rigorous than a b with the same number in a different district. So, well, how Do we know that? Well, Right. So that’s, that’s the part. But because I mean, is that around like some data around, you know, how many, how many students have, you know, fall below that threshold and it’s, it’s very few and it’s mostly students that have IEPs and have, have other, uh, disabilities and getting in their way. So learning. So I think, you know, I guess raising the, raising the, the number of the grade level

1:40:28 is doesn’t necessarily equate to increasing weight. So I just get nervous that we’re changing something so that we can say we have a higher standard than other, all these other districts around us. But is that really, what do We, I don’t know what other district standards do have a higher standard because of our graduation requirements. They are well above the My cap and the Yeah. The one that DSI recommended. So We are very rigorous in our coursework and, um, what we’re doing to support our students, um, with, we look at graduation rates, right? That tells us a lot about academic performance. Also look at college bound rate tells us a lot about academic performance as well. Um, and, and really at the end of the day, our students are challenging themselves. We’ve added AP courses, we’ve added dual enrollment courses,

1:41:15 and they’re consistently, um, enrolled in those classes. Um, and I look forward to bringing some of the AP data to the team soon. I would just, I mean, I haven’t done the, or maybe we do that you guys can just seeing what some other, and there are districts that we have model districts that we sort of, you know, aspire to be, um, considered. Yes. Well, or that, but there are, you know, there are districts that we get compared to, there’s dark districts, you know, what are, what are they doing? Um, I think it’s just worth understanding. Yes. Understanding what, what I can say is that the, the conversations we’ve had with, with like districts and districts that we, we, this, you know, we talked to, you talk to superintendent, assistant superintendent curriculum and all that stuff are doing this, this they go

1:42:02 with the regulation, say, has, How do they define the, that grade Similar to what we, it might be maybe like 16, five out 60, but it’s, it’s in that involved markets. No, I, I haven’t seen anyone. Right? Me if you have that’s higher or anything like that, it’s in. And that’s not what I’m Suggesting. No, no, I know, but I’m just saying that’s, that’s what I’m seeing. So that’s what we’re seeing. So, you know, when we, when we compare ourselves to our districts and this just it, and this is the first reading, so mean we can certainly, certainly have other discussions about it. I just, you know, I would personally like to see some that on some other districts that’s only so can, it’s interesting. I’d like to raise the question of whether, given that

1:42:51 this issue that we’re talking about really lives within the graduation requirements and not so much within the competency determination or, um, whether the time it’s going to take to look at that data is worth holding up the passage of a policy that our administrators are supposed to submit to essay by the end of the year. You know, could we do them simultaneously? Can we approve the competency determination policy that they’ve put before us and then continue to do the work? You’re asking to look at the data and to understand, you know, the standards around what we consider to data. Well we do have three reading credit, right? We do have three readings. Right. So typically the way this works is when you do first reading

1:43:36 second very, anything can change. So things change during the readings and it’s the third or additional, it could be 4, 5, 6, 7, even it’s the last third or greater reading is the final one they can change. So we don’t have to know. But my point is that what would be changing is not anything that’s in this draft. We would be changing something in a different document and so we could approve this policy and continue to do that other work, which would then effectively change. I’m not, but I also feel like in the interest of making sure it happens, that um, I don’t, I don’t think this is a lot to add. I was just looking at a handful of schools, you know, 7, 8, 9, 10 schools and find out what, I don’t think it’s a lot work.

1:44:22 And that between now and the third reading get that information. Because once we pass this, we’ve defined what passing means. So what you’re asking, the data you’re looking at both from other districts is what they consider a passing rate. But that doesn’t affect this as is written. This just says passing grade. Correct. But, so I’m wondering why, like, why we can’t progress with this now we Yeah, but it doesn’t go against what you’re suggesting. I think, Jen, is that we then also need to look at what it has grade is. And I don’t know where that, I don’t know what subcommittee that would happen. I mean it’s, you know, this is the, this is the vehicle to make sure that that handles. So, so I think the other piece is like if we’re, if we’re talking about change, so this is the vehicle. Yes. And now that piece we’re talking about is separate,

1:45:10 but you over here, but I guess the question that it helps, like say someone’s already met with the competency determination is that we’ve, you know, they passed ninth, 10th grade, whatever. Now they’re in the 11th grade and you say, well now it’s a 65 instead of 60 and they get a 64. Well, you have to operationalize it so that it’s for students going Forward. Right. So we’d have to, it have to be a future Yeah. Point in time. Yeah. I just wanna make sure talking about the same thing. ‘cause anything, it’s always good. Yeah. But I would need to say lot. So I think, you know, this, this, this is more discussion gonna have to, we’re not gonna solve it today. But I think, you know, some of the discussion is who, how many students like, haven’t gotten to the point where they’ve gotten, you know, they, they’ve had, they’ve met, met what this will be as far as the competency, what does that look like?

1:45:57 Why they, in terms of, um, what percentage of student population talk about, I look at if we have, you know, 10 or 12 kids that, that have gotten a lower grade and now we, we’ve changed that to a point where that 10 becomes 60. I mean, is that helping? Is that, is that really important? I would argue that, Well, I don’t know that that’s achieving achieving. So we we’re looking at ways to further To to, to ensure that they are able to get a higher grade. You know, they’re able to get the material, but they are Arkansas doing really well. We have The why we agree, As I saying, the vast majority of our students are seamless above. And to superintendent’s point, when there’s students that are not, there’s usually further story. So students,

1:46:45 Yes, but therefore there are other athletes. But that’s to tell you, and I think we just, I think we need to really look at like what do, what do we define rigor as and what what do we define, you know, I, I, again, I think the passing rate thing is is, is it, it’s not, there’s no, there’s nothing that says, hey, it has to be, it has to be this or has to be this and it’s to a local district. Yes. But like, who’s to say like, what you think is passive grade? It’s the same thing as what Al thinks is what I think. And, and you know, I mean, I don’t know how we, how we make that determination, um, in a way that makes sense. Well, somehow, some way we’re talking a line in the sand like this is, we just don’t matter. Yeah. We’ll have that conversation.

1:47:30 So, so I just need help and understanding. So we, we, we voted to have the school committee as a whole address this, what number reading is this considered first?

1:47:44 Okay, so it’s by the, It didn’t come out of the subject, so it’s the first. Okay. Just, alright, so we have a first reading for this. Sounds like we can make edits if needed for the second reading, which we’ll do a expect. I don’t, I Don’t have, I don’t have anything on the table that’s gonna possibly to make an edit for a second reading, but I think once we get to the second reading, if there’s edits I haven’t heard anything on, I should make an edit this point. And there’s a deadline around having this seven 31st it’s gonna get uploaded. Yes. We have a deadline on the seven first. Okay.

1:48:23 So I actually, I’m gonna make a motion that we define a passing grade as a 16th of what strike Just for this purpose or passing grade for all all Subjects. 64, which is a lead Again for competency. The graduation for the, Or for all. For what’s in the policy or in the Should. Okay. So so should we have separate passing grades based on what they, Okay, I’ll second it for discussion. Can I just, we allowed to make a motion vote and change the pass Rate. There wasn’t a motion for the, for the policy in the, so we Right. We Voted. But you made a motion to change the pass rate to 64.

1:49:10 Is that, so we, it was, uh, motion to change something like that without going for what I just did. It’s not as, it’s not as a agenda item. Doesn’t matter doesn’t. Right. Sarah? I made a motion. All right. Motion by Jen. Seconded by Kate. Yeah. Uh, discussion. I’m, I’m con I’m a little worried that yeah, we’re doing something very quickly around a passing grade that seems to be a pretty important thing in our educational system. Sure. And it seems like the motion, if I understand it correctly, Jen, is it’s just for the competency is 64. No, but you can get a six. So it’s a pa that’s how we’re defining passing grade in all,

1:49:56 all grades in our school district. Well, it doesn’t, that, that actual definition doesn’t exist anywhere. Um, that I can find other than, um, this one line that says, um,

1:50:12 Hang On, credits are awarded only if the final course grade is an A, B, C, D or P test. Now same time A D is a 64 to a 66. Now do you say that it’s all the way down to D minus, but it doesn’t actually say that. Just like, it doesn’t have B minus or b plus. It’s, it’s within the ca, the letter ca. Okay. But it says, so I, there might be some, um,

1:50:43 I don’t wanna say confusion, but it’s not cleared. That’s the case. That’s not, that’s, That’s why I’m a little concerned about a motion to do this. That there Is, that’s why I need it. There’s not because based on what I’m reading in the case, But okay. And we’re still in discussion, right? Yes. So if we make a, the committee makes a motion and we agree to change the passing grade 2 64 right here on the spot, that will affect, Well it’s defining a D guess. I know. I’m just saying it’s gonna affect eligibility life for sports. It’s gonna affect, um, Well, it can be going forward when this gets implemented. That was an emotional level. We talk so much about the importance of, I’m just trying to like, oh, I’m not, I’m just trying to say what, what are we saying here as a school district in terms of,

1:51:30 And I, and I get that. I think we need to, and I don’t dis I don’t, I just wanna hear a lot of, I don’t necessarily disagree that I think we should need be planful about it so that, ‘cause all, there’s a lot of trickle down stuff, just making a, a decision like that. I think the motion’s there, we can have the discussion, but I would just caution the committee to make sure when we’re making a decision like that, it’s a, it’s a much bigger decision. We’re just sitting on this table without having any input from educators. This is a really significant educational decision that shouldn’t be made. You know, when it was not something that we had input from our administrators on. Yes. But changing this for the full district beyond just the issue

1:52:15 of the competency policy is a much bigger discussion that should, if we’re going to have it, you know, really should be coming from our administrators should be driven by data. And we need to be really thoughtful about the ramifications for all of our students if we start making changes like that. I absolutely agree. We can’t just make the four of us Decision. I, and I didn’t want, I’ve made my concerns in the last two subcommittee meetings clear and, and honestly I made it clear at the first subcommittee meeting and then you guys came back with the same recommendation. So I felt like my, you know, and clearly it didn’t come outta committee. I felt like it wasn’t, and I’m only one person, so I certainly could be and likely will be voted, voted down. Um, I mean, maybe what we could do is we could go forward with the competency determination as a story,

1:53:02 because that is what it’s, and it’s just that the issue is around what is the passing grade. What I’m unsure of is how we go forward under what, uh, process to be looking at this. But because it’s not, it’s not a policy. Maybe we can put, I guess we can consider. So could I make a suggestion that we go forward down the path of proving the competency determination policy as written, and we ask for John and Julia to come back in January with some reporting to us on how other districts that we can compare ourselves to. What are their grade scales looking like? What do they award credit for? And if we were to make a change, how is

1:53:47 that gonna affect our students? How many students do we have? Or when now, right. But like, if you look at what a grade, what does grade distribution look like? Like right now, and as student, how many students do we have who are getting D minuses? Who wouldn’t be earning credit any longer if, you know, I understand, not that it wouldn’t operationalize for those students, but it’s a data point of, you know, this would impact X number of students. I’ve asked that in the past. It was very levels to do that. So is that something you can

1:54:19 Yeah, I mean, reluctant, Sorry to talk about, you know, students grades and you know, I’ve always been gotten pushed back and things like That. Yeah, I think, I think it’s more around, um, the numbers so low. The number of kids are so low. I just, I get nervous about how’s rather, but I don’t disagree that we should have a conversation. I think having a conversation, the plan point forward and coming up at a point in time where if, if the committee and if the educators and whatever feel that, uh, it, it needs to, you know, pass grade needs to be, say, let’s go with the 6 4 64, then great, we could do that. We need to do a plan plan and a point in time where it’s not gonna, you know, be a starting point. People understand before they just all of sudden, oh my gosh, now like now my, now the rules changing.

1:55:04 That’s, so we have, We have a motion. Hang on one second. Do you think that’s something that always accept, figure out, or have come back to? I think it should come back to the school. So I’m gonna amend my motion to say that we will approve policy IIKF for the first meeting. Uh, and we will have the su superintendent, assistant superintendent in that till meeting in January with an agenda item to discuss.

1:55:36 We want get that date. Oh. Or great, I don’t want, that’s, I don’t want to discuss the rating. No. Set. So you’re approving for a second. I’m just trying get clarity. So I amended my motion. Right. But, and Just basically what Kate just said. Okay. And, And so we’re approving this as a policy that it’s a fully approved policy, not just a meeting. No. Where do we have to go? Course. Okay. I’m concerned about what do we do by the end of this? We won’t have, we only have one more meeting before the end of December. So do we have to have three readings before it’s officially, Unless a policy, unless the committee votes to waive the three readings and to put the policy on for a vote at the second meeting in our next meeting

1:56:24 Address. The first let’s address, let’s, yeah. So Jen made in, um, wait a second. Second. Okay. Um, any further discussion?

1:56:42 All right. All those in favor? Yeah. The motion passes four zero.

1:56:49 So then, given that we only have one more meeting on the calendar, I would like to make a motion that we waive the third reading and put the competency determination policy on the agenda for the 18th. Correct? Correct. Second. Second. The only thing I will mention is we do have another policy.

1:57:14 So we do second, a second reading. So, okay. I think, I think you’re right, because now had the fourth reading here, seconding there. The third reading has to be, if, if you’re not going this, I mean either way we’ll have it on meeting, have it on. I guess we can list it on both agendas and then if something Happens, do you have a motion? Although what I like about this motion is it gets us to the same place quicker unless we think there’s continued edits. Right? So Yeah. What happens if we don’t have a poem on 18? You know? So to me it, I Form 18 won it, but no, So, well, you can read right? If something happens in the policy, subcommittee can’t. Right. The policy subcommittee can’t meet that morning.

1:58:00 So we do have a motion, uh, from Kate, seconded by you and Jen around approving the policy to, yeah. Um, any further discussion on that motion?

1:58:14 All in favor? Okay. The motion passes four zero, But we will, But we’ll have follow up. Yes. Lemme do. Yes. Yes. Thank you for your willingness Then. Okay. Um,

1:58:35 We able in age. Yeah. Also eight o’.

1:58:43 Okay. Um, so, uh, I believe, um, my notes real quickly, uh, John, it, is it the January oh eighth meeting that you’re not able? Oh, I Am unable to make the January three, uh, because of a personal issue. Uh, I know January 18th. January 8th. January 8th, I’m sorry, January 8th. And I know that I’m also not available at that meeting. So of course we can continue to have that meeting with designated folks or we could, or if the, the will of the committees to look at moving, uh, meetings to accommodate that. I would like to suggest that we, we were meeting on the second and fourth Thursdays of January because moved stay the Thursday.

1:59:30 So I would like to suggest that we meet on the 15th and the 29th instead. It seems to me not a great use of everyone’s time to hold a school committee meeting without the chair or the superintendent. Um, so that would be my suggestion that we look, that schedule change And then we just have a quick meeting. Then in February We’ll have like a back to back. Right. But you know, it’s a busy time of year. I’m sure we’ll have, And I think not to not the, the other, the other conversation could be, do we just skip the teeth, keep the current or whatever, the 22nd journey. But that’s, that needs we go, that’s off a month between, So, and we have, there’s a deadline, I believe the end of January to approve warrant articles.

2:00:16 I’m just concerned that there’s Yeah. Too many things that we need to be doing. No, that’s fine. I just, um, Was that, was that a suggestion or a motion? I’m sorry, I didn’t, I can turn it into, I don’t think, but Okay. Yeah. Alright, so we’re all in agreement. The 15th, that will change the January 8th meeting to the 15th and the 22nd meeting to the 29th. I do think we should probably determine whether the warrant are June. Do we know that? Get that from the 29th? Yep. 21st Or two. Was it on the calendar that we had? Yep. Uh, warrant article discussion is what can I generate? Yeah, But what due

2:01:01 Discussion don’t see,

2:01:07 I, there was a state, there was a statement from the moderat. I guess we can still remember. We can find that out. I just, it it’s possible Warrant hearing is April 6th. Uh, you look for the date that it needs to be put on the warrant? No, the, yeah, the select board gives a cutoff. It’s usually the end of, sometimes They need to print, they need to print the books in advance. Right. That’s, Um, yeah, We don’t have that. We just have the override. We want article discussion and then the town meeting the warrant. I just saying, let’s just double check. Let’s leave the 15th, 29th. But for some people in, it’s earlier than the 29th. Yeah, we just need to make

2:01:42 sure’s statement municipal. The deadline from municipal submissions is noon on Friday, January 30th. Okay, great. I do think we should have it on the, we should have it on should, I’m adding it to my calendar right now. Whatever one articles we made. Right. We, So again, okay. Then with the 15th and the 29th. Yeah. And that gives us the 29th if there’s any change or we need to add one and then it’s due the note itself, it’s due the next day. So I think actually chair submitted, so. Okay. Alright. Uh, we’ll move on to subcommittee and liaison updates. I just wanna add something quickly from a METCO perspective. Um, it was a fantastic meeting. Johnny rightfully stole all the thunder. Um, but I, I just wanna mention that METCO

2:02:28 as a whole does an annual gala meeting. Um, and this year it’s March 24th, I believe the op, it’s like the opportunity ball or something like that is the theme. But I’m just letting people know if they’re interested to let me know if I can get you more information, but I think early bird tickets are on sale right now. Is it A fundraiser? Is it It’s a fundraise from Echo. Yes. So I just wanna to let people know about that And, and board the METCO conference tomorrow, tomorrow at Norwood. Um, and if there’s anything comes out of that for signing, there is a bunch of speakers. The, the president, uh, Thell be president speaking and we just meet and the commissioner stuff, but, so bring that back to the committee, but if there’s something that’s time I’ll, I’ll email you guys just to Thank you. Yeah. Any other updates? I’ve got an update from the facilities subcommittee.

2:03:17 I, I don’t know if we want to add this to our next agenda just till we can have more discussion around it, but we did, we did get the results of a survey that Lisa Marie sent out about early education and demand for that. We got, um, the, the, actually the presentation that she gave us in the drive, so that has all the information if you wanna review it. Um, but we got 75 responses I think, and most of them were sort of positively interested in early education options. Um, I think it’s a little tough to make a decision with on such a small data rule, um, particularly because we didn’t really come out with a proposal. So what do you think of a broad range of

2:04:04 who are saying things but can’t put kids in there? There’s more. Um, so we were going to come up with more of a plan, um, and more of a concrete proposal and to get some more feedback. Uh, It’s probably also important to know that I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but a majority ofs, so majority of the people that responded were supportive of the early indications that are, there was a very small minority who were strongly against it. Yeah. That was small. Of the folks who were in support of early education center, it really did seem just based on, well, based on the survey and based on comments, um, but there’s really a demand for childcare, like a seven

2:04:51 to seven, you know, like an extended day, not just a typical Yes. Preschool. Absolutely. You know, morning, early afternoon. So that, that was clear. Yeah, that was definitely the strongest response. Um, so we’ll have more. Uh, the other thing that we talked about, it was the vet school roof, which is being looked at by the administration. We had Mark Leeman come was that I believe he got up on the roof or was planning on to getting on the roofs to get over his Well. Um, I update from the communication subcommittee really quickly. We are planning on sending out newsletters. We’re sort of shooting for the second Friday of every month. So sort of in between our two meetings. Um, Steven did set us set up an account on our,

2:05:40 on the school account so our, we don’t have to pay for that separately. Um, and we’ve added a section for sort of featured stories that the first one that we’re gonna do is the budget roadmap. That’s to timely and then it just been this meeting that when we get more information on the enrollment numbers, that may be a good topic. So if anybody has any topics that they think are worth communicating a little more in depth than just an overview of what we talked about in this meeting, including reach out to Melissa.

2:06:12 Okay. Thanks Henry. Anybody else? Well, budget subcommittee. Um, Mike kind of gave the highlights on that. I do think we need to make sure we share the calendar. We haven’t already. We did. So we’ll share the calendar. Um, just give the dates on, um, what we, I’ll Drop it. I’ll drop it right now. Thank you. In tonight’s folder. Thank you. Appreciate that. Yeah, so that way the public has to, so it shows that, um, there are bunch of those that are coming. The important ones will be the presentation of the Fed superintendent to the school committee. Mm-hmm. Then we will have a public hearing at a future meeting, and then we will vote at a few confus from that, um, on our budget. All of what has will take place before the finance committee votes on their recommended, um, budget for us, hopefully. But you know, those two numbers will be the same.

2:07:00 Um, so that’s it. Thank you. Any others? Okay. Um, So any of the policy? No, we related it covered the waterfront on policy tonight.

2:07:15 All right. Uh, is there any correspondence?

2:07:20 Okay. I am then looking for a motion and vote to meet in executive session for the following reasons. Uh, pursuant to chapter 38, section 21, A three, purpose three to discuss potential litigation by former administrator Jay Buckley and Bucky, excuse me, as an open meeting, may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the school committee and the chair. So declares without intent to return to open session. Also executive session pursuant to chapter 30 a, section 21, A two for pur pursuit to conduct collective bargaining session with marble. That education association specifically to hear step three grievance regarding the lead teacher stipend as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position in the school committee and the chair from the declare without intent

2:08:06 to regard open session. And, uh, pursuant to chapter 38, section 21, A three, purpose three to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining, specifically to the deliberate regarding your response to the step three grievance regarding the lead teacher stipend as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the school committee and the chair. So declares without intent to return to open session. So moved. Seconded. Okay. The motion is moved by Kate and seconded by Henry. Um, we’ll do a roll call on this. Ann in favor, Kate In favor, Henry in favor. All in favor. The motion passes board has zero.

2:08:54 So now we will go into executive session pursuant to chapter 38, section 21, A three, purpose three to discuss potential litigation by former administrator Jay Bucky as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the school committee and the chair. So declares without intent to return to a possession session. Executive session pursuant to chapter 38, section 21 A two, purpose two, to conduct a collective bargaining session with Marblehead Education Association. Specifically to hear a step agreements regarding the lead teacher stipend as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the school committee and the chair, so declares without intent to return to open session. Lastly, executive session pursuant to chapter 38, section 21, A three, purpose three to discuss strategy

2:09:39 with respect to collective bargaining, specifically to deliberate regarding a response to the step three grievance regarding the lead teacher stipend as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the school committee and the chair. So declares without intent to return to open session. Okay, we are now in executive session. We’ll meet in this meeting in this room right here.