School Committee: June 11, 2026

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0:17 Okay, I think we are live streaming. Um, so I will call the June 10th meeting of the goals subcommittee to order at 1:03 p.m. Um, is there too much background noise? There mowing a lawn outside of my open window. » No, I was going to ask you the same. I can Can you hear my air conditioner? » Nope, not at all. » Okay. » Okay, good. » Um, so we have two of the goals on the agenda today. The two that we were sort of tasked with working on and I just thought it would be good to touch base on where things stand. Um, we kind of reached the end of the year. Um, the first one on the agenda is the strategic planning goal.

1:02 goal. goal. Um, so we had like three objectives here. One was a statement articulating a clear division of responsibilities between the school committee and the administration, supporting the superintendent in completing the district improvement plan, and then, um, considering strategic planning frameworks for the district moving forward. Um, so, you know, I think we accomplished like the main central objective there of supporting John in the district improvement plan, which we Sorry, there’s a very loud Um, which we approved. But, But,

1:48 and I think that I certainly at least have some ideas for like future committee discussions about how we can work on strategic planning going forward, sort of based on our conversation with Alicia and sort of for me it was helpful to watch the process of the district improvement plan and the school improvement plans sort of coming before the school committee and some of our discussion around those items gave me ideas on, you know, things we can think about doing next year to help the committee be more of a guiding force in that that process. » Mhm. » Mhm. » Um I do think it would be beneficial to work on

2:35 that first item, you know, a statement that clearly articulates those division of responsibilities, especially you know, we have some a fair a much newer committee, you know, a lot of us have not been on for very long, so I think that’s something that could be beneficial to continue to work on. » Yep, agreed. » Okay. All right. All right. » So should So this committee should be the ones to create that draft? » I think that was the idea that we had, that this committee would do that work. Um » Makes sense. » Yeah. So I mean, I wonder if some of this would be useful to we can kind of continue to

3:21 plug away at it, so that at the retreat you know, if that ends up having a goals component, we can we you know, we could discuss this as a committee at that point. » I’m into um brought it up but I didn’t I didn’t actually look at it, but I’m I’m curious if uh like some of this can be we could steal some of this from the operating protocols. » Yeah, we probably can. Yeah. Do you want to take a stab at a draft and then we could meet and look at it? » Sure. » Okay. » Sure.

4:07 And I actually think the last bullet point um of this item, sort of the strategic planning frameworks moving forward, might actually make sense to be a goal that we sort of continue with next year. Um I think sort of continuing to look at how we’re rolling out the district improvement plan and you know, where the school committee is sort of setting goals and intentions for the district could be a good thing for us to spend some more time on as a committee, Chair. » Hey, hey, where was I was trying to look for it on our site. Where is our the um the more comprehensive

4:53 calendar? I I forget the actual words we’re using to describe it. » The annual I think we called it the annual calendar. Um

5:03 If you go, trying to remember where it is. I think it’s if you go under school committee

5:19 and then you go to agendas, materials, and minutes. » Yeah, I’ll look there. » Um » Oh, there it is, the year-long agenda. » Yeah. » Okay, thank you, uh Chair. Probably the one tab I didn’t look at. » [laughter] » And the reason I bring it up is just cuz I do think like relative to the very last dot, and I know Tewksbury had on their one of their uh goals was like scheduling annual spring workshops to review progress towards goal. » Mhm. » And yeah, we do have some of this on here, but yeah. Already on here. But we set it up quarterly?

6:00 » I think we had talked about doing » School Committee goals. I see it in » I think » Oh, I see it [clears throat] in October. I’m sorry, go ahead. » No, I was going to say I think I think we were doing it every 6 months, so it was sort of October we’re going to evaluate in April. You know, which timing-wise ends up being sort of the height of budget stuff, you know, so there’s some merit I think to considering timing and, you know, if we can line some of the goal things up so they aren’t happening at a time of year when we know other things are going to consume a lot of the committee and the superintendent’s time and energy. » Yeah.

6:45 » And I would really like to find uh to sort of move towards using

6:53 updates to the School Committee on progress on the School Improvement Plans and the District Improvement Plans, you know, as another sort of benchmark, um instead of just approving these and then sort of approving the next version of it, um figuring out a reporting schedule that makes sense and having ongoing discussions about these I think is really important. » And it does look like I I do see Yeah, they they it’s interesting these are all in here, too, already around » [clears throat] » the Superintendent goals, the Where did I see it? School Committee goals. Just Oh, here it is, in May, the School Improvement Plans and the District Improvement Plan. » Yeah.

7:38 Exactly. Exactly. » Okay. » All right. So, maybe we can even make this year-long agenda part of what we’re working on at the retreat and sort of thinking about you know, what kind of reporting we want to see and where. Um Okay. All right. » And I think it also it’s a great way to like you just said to see there might be months that’s more appropriate to do less or more and you know, this vehicle I think helps understand that. » I agree. Helps us kind of look at all of that, so okay. Fantastic. Anything else on that particular goal that you wanted to discuss?

8:21 » Might be uh I guess it’s somewhat related, but um if you go back to the Marblehead School Committee website » Mhm. » there’s this the very last item is strategic plan. » Mhm. » Which is now it’s really our our district improvement plan. » Yep. And it is » Does it Does this belong Should our strategic plan or goals, which are already here. I’m just curious like we don’t have the SIPs here. Do this Should this be on the district page and not necessarily on our page? I know we manage it. We we manage on and and central administration administration towards it. I just curious if this is we’re getting a little confusing on the School Committee side as to what actually we should be doing.

9:09 » Yeah, I think that’s a good point that this probably belongs

9:16 if not fully lives elsewhere, at least should not only appear on the School Committee page cuz it really if it’s driving all of the work we’re doing in the district, then um we could maybe talk to Steven about if there’s a better » Yeah. » a better place for it to live. Um And it should you know, I don’t know if the new This is the old plan. I mean, I haven’t looked to see if the new one has been posted someplace. I know it was shared in the um school committee newsletter that went out, but I don’t know if it » It’s a good point. [clears throat] Yeah, I don’t see it. It’s not obvious, right? » Right, exactly. You have to look for it. So, okay. We can talk about

10:02 » And it gets back to me to the first objective around it helps with articulating a clear division of responsibilities. » Yeah. It’s definitely » think this is mostly more operational. » Absolutely. » As it should be, right? The SIP and the DIP. Where our strategic goals should not be. » Right, exactly.

10:32 Okay. Okay. All right, so you’ll be ready to talk about the next goal? » Okay. Let me find it.

10:45 Right, so the other one that was on our list was the um elevate educator voices goal. Um and I know we talked about sort of each going off and doing some research. So, I have sort of a bunch of thoughts to share. Um how about you? » Yeah, I reached out, I think one of my tasks was to reach out to Alicia, too, from MASC. This was a while ago, and she really didn’t answer the question. I asked specifically about representation on school committees. And what Oh, and what she And I was really referring to more like uh whether it’s teachers or whatever, but uh she did write back with just one example of Gordon Dustable » Okay.

11:31 » as a METCO and SEPAC rep. » Yep. Okay. » Um no vote Yeah, there were the There was the » if it’s ex officio or something like that you know no vote no executive session. So that’s so that’s all really I have to to offer. So yeah, if you can go ahead with what sounds like you’ve got some more input. » Yeah, um I actually interestingly plugged in like I asked Claude some questions. Um and that sort of led my research um and I came up with a list of it seems like METCO representatives are the most common of you know apart from the student reps that I think almost every district uses. Um you know I found a number a number of

12:16 districts that had non-voting METCO representatives on their committees. Um and then there’s actually pending legislation at the State House. I don’t know if it’ll go anywhere, but um that would provide non-voting CPAC representatives on school committees. So it could be that that’s something that sort of ends up you know happening through legislation anyway. Um obviously doesn’t prevent us from doing it on our own. Um what I found interesting as I was sort of poking around um is sort of the tension between how to find a way to you know

13:02 make sure that you’re hearing teacher perspectives or educator perspectives, but also not interfering with the collective bargaining relationship between the school committee um and the union. And so I found a couple different ideas. There’s some districts that have policies um which it does not look to me like we have um specifically about staff involvement in decision-making and they so the policies encourage like the creation of advisory committees and task forces which we sort of it’s stuff that we do. And then at least some districts have a specific

13:47 staff involvement in decision-making policy. Authorizing the superintendent to establish committees to recommend policies and rules. So I found that that was interesting. It seems like the most common approach is to go through the superintendent which is sort of part of what we discussed at the you know full committee as we were putting this goal together is how we could do this without interfering in the superintendent’s you know important role there. So that would be one idea would be to sort of think about some teacher advisory groups that the so for example New Bedford established two of them.

14:34 Really just distinguishing they had have one for elementary and middle school and then another for high school. And it sort of just provides regular opportunities for teachers to meet with the superintendent and discuss district decision-making and then the superintendent has the responsibility to bring that input you know to the committee when there’s decisions being made. Um And then another idea would be DESE has this model of teacher and principal advisory cabinets. So you could sort of take that what they do at the state level and recreate it at the school committee level. So you have a more structured body

15:21 that’s giving input to the committee um but doesn’t have voting authority. And then there are there are some districts not in Massachusetts, but there are some others sort of in other states um that have actually bargained for structures where, you know, teachers give view like sort of advisory board type things. So, I thought that was interesting because

15:54 it could be a way to address some of the collective bargaining issues around getting teacher input, but I actually think to me, the idea of a superintendent advisory group was the one that really resonated the most with me of, you know, I think that that’s a really important role that the superintendent has in the district and it’s a way to put a little more structure around making sure that we are getting educator input and feedback on things, but without the school committee intruding um in the superintendent’s role there. Um » Do you think there’s I make sense? Okay, I I guess I’m just trying to think

16:42 think about it is do we think having it having the super involved can somehow squelch or may you know, maybe certain educators aren’t going to be as open and honest » Mhm. » in a form like that. Again, I don’t know if that necessarily applies to us or or will, but I’m just curious if that’s that’s the only my immediate concern that comes to to light when I think about that. » I think sort of in any I sort of think that about the superintendent. I also think it about us, you know, it’s to me it’s it’s sort of about the way that whomever is setting this up goes about it and you know, fostering an environment where you know, people feel comfortable and it’s probably going to take some work to

17:28 you know, build to that point. Um and I don’t think that this is something we should just as a committee impose upon the superintendent. I’m thinking more that it’s sort of worth some further discussion with John and as a committee, you know, about whether this is you know, something that would be beneficial. I know he’s worked really hard to build a strong relationship with the MEA. » Mhm. » And I see this as like complimentary to that, not as you know, superseding that, but just as a way to get you know, it it could even be you know, somewhat driven by you know, maybe it’s not always the same set of teachers, right? You know, it could depend on what the the topic that’s being discussed or whatnot. Um

18:13 So, and then the other thought I had was just that it could be beneficial for the school committee to figure out a way to hold you know, we’ve said kind of like bounced this idea around, but just I think really informal listening sessions. Maybe we just like we put them on the calendar at the start of the year. We have one every quarter, you know, two committee members go so that it doesn’t have to be an open meeting and it’s just an opportunity to hear what you know, staff are thinking and concerned about and then you know, report back. Um » Yeah, I mean yeah. Yeah, I I like that. I was I was thinking about

18:58 you know, we’ve done some informal meetings with John and and you know, the MEA folks. And maybe it’s just formalizing that or that becomes this advisory group. » Mhm. » Um and we just write it more specifically, you what what the charter would be or whatever in that, but um it’s interesting. I I was just doing a quick search, too. It looks like there’s actually uh law around school districts are required to meet with a student advisory committee. And the elected chairperson of the student group serves ex officio. » Mhm. » Um but again, I guess a supervisory advisory would meet that requirement. » Right. » Yeah, but I think it’s it’s funny though, using advisory committee is

19:45 still a little cuz there are advisory councils, which are different than what we’re talking about, and they really do you know, we don’t want or not that we don’t want, but I don’t I don’t well, I don’t believe it makes sense to have school committee representation on those those councils. » I agree. » Okay. Yeah, so I think yeah, I think um a superintendent advisory group makes a lot of sense. » I think it could be a way to almost start, you know, we could try that, you know, assuming John’s amenable to it and » Yeah, John’s the conduit for us, you know, to the school committee. » Yeah, exactly. Um so I think it makes sense. You know, we we don’t have this on the agenda for

20:31 tomorrow night’s meeting, so I think it makes sense to sort of you know, kind of hold on » future » you know, whether it’s at the retreat or a future meeting, you know, to sort of discuss where this stands and see what the committee is in, you know, would be interested in doing moving forward. » Yeah, I think it’s a good retreat. It would be a good retreat item. » I agree. Okay.

20:58 All right, well, I don’t have anything else, so unless you did. » Nor I. Nor I. » In and out. All right. [laughter] Um so do you want to make a motion to a » Make a motion. I’ll make a motion to adjourn. » I will second that. Um

21:18 Sorry, I’m trying to write down. » Boris? » Yeah, you want to vote, Al? » In favor? » Eight in favor. The motion carries two to zero, and we are adjourned at 1:24. Thank you. » Have a good rest of the