School Committee: June 12, 2026

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

0:02 There was a lot. Mhm. The stream’s on. Sorry, Julia. I just got into it, so you should be okay.

0:33 9:00 p.m. on June 11th, 2026. I just need to let folks know that this meeting is being recorded. I’m starting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

1:06 All right, so our first item is school committee reorganization. But first, I’d like to acknowledge our two newly elected folks to this committee, um Melissa and Anne-Marie. So, it has been my honor to serve as the chair this past year. As my last act as the chair of this school year, I would like to hear interested nominations for the school committee chair for next year. » I nominate Kate McCaffrey. » I second that. » I’ll make a motion that I have it. » Yeah. » [laughter] » Uh-huh. But I think we know how you’ll vote.

1:51 Any other interested? All right, um Melissa made a motion uh for Kate to be the new chair of the school committee, I will second it. Any further discussions? All right, all those in favor? All right, the motion passes. » [laughter]

2:16 » The motion passes 5 to 0. And with that » [laughter]

2:23 » Don’t let me get a full head of it. » I know, a little discipline. » [laughter] » Um okay, so next we need to appoint a vice chair. So, we’ll follow the same process. Are there any nominations for vice chair? » I’d like to nominate Melissa as the vice chair. » I’ll entertain a new motion. » I would like to make a motion that Melissa Clucas becomes our vice chair for the upcoming year. » You’ll second it? » I’ll second it. » Any discussion? We’ll do a roll call vote. All in favor? Motion carries 5 to 0. And so, then we need a secretary. Do we

3:09 have any nominations for that? » I’d like to nominate Anne Marie. She’s done such a wonderful job of it this year. » I’ll second it. » All right, so you’re going to make a motion? I’ll make a motion to nominate Anne Marie as secretary for this upcoming upcoming year. » I’ll second that. » Seconded by Anne Marie. Excellent. Any discussion? We’ll do a roll call vote. All in favor? All right, the motion carries 5 to 0. Uh Uh we have a lengthy agenda tonight, so I think instead of talking about subcommittee appointments tonight, we’ll push those off to our school committee retreat. We’ll take those roles then, so that we can go business seeking.

3:54 » Yeah, that makes sense enough. Yeah, that’s » you did a really good job last year and the kid had a lot to do with that which is the chart like the details of how we do the subcommittees do. So, you are actually a committee member, too. You know, it’s a good chance to kind of read up on that to my be interested in before we we meet next. » Do you have any commendations? » I have one. So, I I’m I’m really proud to be able to present to our superintendent John Ruopp Odell one of the most prestigious awards uh awarded to any educator in Marblehead district. This is on behalf of Steve Volpe, this is the fishing record largest » [laughter] » fish.

4:48 » I only know who who verified the accreditation or anything like that. » Don’t don’t » Don’t go there. Thank you, sir. I feel you. » [laughter]

5:00 » There will be feedback soon. Thank you so much. I’m honored and blessed and » It’s hilarious. » That was wonderful. » That was my pleasure. » Any other commendations? » I have one that’s a little more serious. Um I wanted to uh serious and then go right next to my other ones. That’s good. I wanted to offer a commendation to Girl Scout Troop 64458. It’s a troop of 16 Village School sixth fifth graders, excuse me. And they earned their bronze award this year by restoring the entrance signs at the Village School. Um if you’ve seen them, they’re among many around town that were made by Carl Siegel and they were in deteriorating condition and so they learned about res- restoration of signs and then they found an artist at Tufts and they worked with him to fix the rotted wood,

5:46 restain and repaint signs which are now back in place at Village. So, congratulations to that group for their award and for their contributions to our stuff. Great. Also, any old business? Okay, so next on the agenda is public comment. Um before we begin, just a reminder that the policy on public comment allows individuals up to 3 minutes to speak and limits the public comment portion of the meeting to a total of 15 minutes. If you would like to submit a comment that exceeds those time restrictions, you can submit it to the committee via email. A reminder, public comment is not a discussion, debate, or dialogue between individuals and the school committee. It is your opportunity to express an opinion on issues within the school committee’s authority, budget, superintendent performance, and school

6:33 policy. We’ll give speakers 15 minute I’m excuse me, 15-second prompts to let you know that your time is expiring. Mary, do you want your phone? Great. Mary McCarriston.

6:52 » Mary McCarriston, Pine Cliff Road. I’m here to say congratulations. I am so happy. The last few years has been tough. And I know each one of you are going to do the best you can for our teachers, our students, our administration, our parents, and the town. So, do the best job you can do. Okay? Just let you know I’m not going to be a candidate. » [laughter] » Thank you, Mary McCarriston. Um do we have anyone else who wanted to speak? » I think I can see no one else. Okay, thank you. So, that’ll close public comment. Um I would like, if it’s acceptable to

7:38 the committee, to take the agenda out of order. We have students here from Brown tonight to do their spotlight. We can go ahead and do that before we move on to the rest of the » Yeah, I was going to suggest that we just make you. » All right, we have Miss Maxwell. » I got me. » Just for Miss Maxwell to get ready. So, we we just for everybody who’s out of here to be up spotlights from every single one of schools to shine on student voice and student leadership. And this is Brown’s spotlight last but not least this school year. So, we’re really excited about to hear from the students of the Browns. Take it away, Mary. » Hey, everyone. Thanks so much for being here. And thanks for having us here. I’m Mary Next Deal, the principal at Brown. » Cara Ford, school counselor at Brown. » One of the school counselors.

8:24 » Yes, but she’s a counselor for third grade. So, we work together with a group of students. They’re going to explain to you how they became student leadership council members, what they’ve worked on this year, and how they’ve grown. And we are » just so incredibly proud of them from where they started to where they’ve come. I mean, they they have grown into really great leaders. And we’re just very excited to share what they’ve been learning. » Okay. Great. So, we’re just going to let them take away.

9:12 » Hi, my name is Harvey Casselli. And um this is how we got on the third grade leadership council. First, we wrote a speech for our class. And our class voted for two representatives. The winners were announced. And um in our first community meeting, we set our goals. » Um » Um Hi, my name is Holly. And the first thing we did was we set our goals to make the brand school a better place to be. The um, a couple of them are we helped people with the things that they needed. We used teamwork and we tried new things throughout the year.

9:57 And we made sure that everyone had a fair chance at everything and we listened to other people’s ideas. » I’m in Hi, my name is Christian and um, one school year I don’t know me um, at our lunch recess

10:43 time when we talk about like what we’re going to do. Like we talk about like community meeting and like we highlight these scripts. Like when we talk in community meeting and we um, like to switch the partners up every time. And um, it’s really important to listen to each other, too. And also we organized our stay. That was fun but also really hard because we had to give a vote to every single person.

11:25 » I am Mr. Love and this is how we organize our community meeting once a month. We come together and we to talk about we should um what we should write up dates this month and like what celebrations we should talk about. And then we do our formative dates and our PBIS. And our PBIS means that like how like well we’re doing on New Year’s kind, brave, and ready to learn. And we just like see how well we’re like what we’re like doing right and like how we’re doing how we where we need to improve. And then we share our every And

12:12 then every community meeting a new class from a new grade gets to um

12:19 share something that they’re learning. And then we sing our school song and then we huddle up at the end and we talk about what we did right and what we still need to learn.

12:50 » Hi, my name is Layana and one of the things that we do in the meeting meeting is we share our learnings. Um first grade shared fluency. Second grade shared about the buffaloes and the west. Third grade shared about Jacques Cousteau and how he was a famous brain biologist. Kindergarten sang two songs from the concert. And we always try to include messages of kindness and working together. And third grade shared a book about the that called say something and it was about being an upstander and like not just standing by.

13:45 » My name is Elena and my name is Cole. And later in the fall we planted bulbs and set our goals. Ways we helped them was we made holes for them and gave them seeds and after they planted them we dig them back up and right now in the spring flowers bloom and so did we. » First we had a challenge. First we had to do a lot of organizing. And many of students were in one group. First we did a cleaning then went to the front of the school and planted seeds and we also mulched our gardens. » Stop there.

14:34 » Hi, my name is Stella and one of the most important things that we do at Brown School Leadership Council members is that we listen to others. » Um after many meetings we listen to others. » Big breath. Big breath. You’re good.

15:09 All right. So we listen to others. You’re absolutely right. It’s one of the most important things we do. And one of the things we do is why do we listen Why do we listen to people about ancient books? » Because we want to make sure that they all have books that they would like to read. » Exactly. And did you do some of the interviewing? » Yeah, we interviewed teachers to learn more about them. » To learn more about them. And where did we play that? » At community meeting. » Yeah, and did everybody love that? Yeah, it was awesome. Nice job.

15:51 » My name’s Hunter. And when we first got on the leadership council, we felt nervous, scared, and excited. And we did not know what to expect. And speaking was hard, and especially in front of crowds at community meetings. But as the year went on, it got so much easier. And we got more confident in doing it, and we got prouder at ourselves.

17:18 » Let’s go paddle up. » Let’s go cuddle up. Great job. Great job. » Have a great summer, everybody. Have a good night.

17:39 » So that’s what he’s telling. » [clears throat] » Can you notice how when you came in and you left?

18:16 » So » So my updates will be short tonight. We have a lot of stuff on the agenda, so I’m going to go through quickly. Um first of all, congratulations and And welcome in Marine. Look forward to working with you and Melissa as we continue to have a talk with you for the next couple years. Um so um great job there. Um so excited for the approval of the override. It lets us take a breath, reset, and begin planning on how we move forward together from the benefit of our staff and especially for our students. Um there’s so many I’ve had some of the awesomeness, so I’ll just kind of reel through some of these and um there’s a million that I’m going to miss, but um so first thing, congratulations to our recent class of 2026 graduates. That ceremony was great, the weather was great, it was just everything was awesome. Speeches were were great. Will,

19:02 our student rep, was uh was well represented. That’s so it was it was awesome. Our student athletes who had their college signing day recently, so congratulations to them, and then I’ll just read through them real quickly. Sydney Ball um signed with uh for women’s soccer. Madison Bessette, signed with College of Charleston for cheerleading. Braden Callahan, signed with Johns Hopkins University for football. Ian Zucker, Colby College for men’s soccer. Finn Gallup, Salve Regina University down my way for football. Daphne Gibson, Bethany College also for football. And Sadie Halpern for Colby College for track and field. So, congratulations to all our student athletes. That’s awesome. And see our sixth-grade National Math Olympiad and Olympiad winners. Amy Graziano and Jonathan Heller

19:48 celebrated our students who had placed nationally in the Math Olympiad I can’t say that word contest. So, I just want to share the the students’ names cuz it was really cool. Both Assistant Superintendent For Our Night were invited into the classroom and we got to see the great work that they did. They shared all the data. It’s a national Olympiad Olympiad I can’t say that word. Olympiad Olympiad I think. That’s sounding right. And like we we showed the score like really high. They had to get over 10% 15% of the national. So, it’s really cool. So, Lily Brock, Jack Bryant, Antone Graves, Alex Elam, Sebastian Gerling, Zoe Goldstein, Daniel Kotch, Reese Leonard, Arya Leeka,

20:33 Peggy Bolong, Luke Murphy, Oliver Powell, Oliver Bromley, Caroline Patterson, Charlie Rush, Margaret Smurka Smurka, Ryan Speziale Speziale, Juliette Strong, Grace Thompson, and Mariana Vassilopoulos. It was just it was great. They they did such a nice job and they really appreciated being invited to just share in the celebration. So, thank you for that. We had a vision of the graduate logo and I should have put on the thing but I’ll hold it up. That was won by um Fiona Var at high school. So, um we decided to do another vision of the graduate. So, I hold up and it’s since our M our M and there was to see 57 people um

21:20 I voted I received 57 responses and 56.1 of those who voted chose this logo. So, this was chosen um by majority voters is creativity, communication, critical thinking, collaboration, citizenship. So, it’s kind of really cool. Um but that all that’s that’s the original graduate logo contest. That was really neat. Um we also had at Village there’s letter to an author award winner Peggy Baloun. She was recognized um for writing a letter to an author and was recognized and she was in the paper. She’s going to work for that. It was for the season six grade from Marblehead Village Board of Education for a second place letter author Laura Amato Messina about the book The One and Only Ivan at the World. So, it’s really neat stuff. So, a lot a lot of really cool um

22:07 student recognitions as well. Let’s see. We had the seniors do their walk through all the schools after graduation rehearsal. I love this. I used to do this in my previous district, too, and it’s so cool to see that tradition is already here in Marblehead. That’s really I was actually able to get to Glover and I was at Village and so I got to see all the seniors go through both those schools. It was really neat to see the preschoolers. They were all excited to high five and then they were all high five and all excited but the the seniors um just I think they were you know nervous and they were like oh what do we do for and then they were so excited they were like they were giving high fives and it was just awesome. It was high energy throughout that school at Village and then you know we’ve done each hallways playing different music. The kids were you know just it was just all the high energy really cool and it went the time went down. So, we listen to the seniors get celebrated

22:52 not just on the on the field but doing that the younger students get to see kind of what they’re working for is and a lot of our teachers kind of get to see the fruit of their labor. It was really neat. In fact, I want to work with Dr. Kaposi one of the requests came in and they were like, “Oh my gosh, these kids got so huge and I can’t recognize them.” So, I asked if we can get any name tags for next year. So, they’re like, “These are full-grown men. We don’t know who they are.” So, but I love that and I’m I’m so glad we do that here at Marblehead on as well. And then we had that L pack parent event yesterday, which was hugely successful. Students were able to choose some reading books and get to know each other a bit more in the space. It was open and welcoming. You want to mention a little more about that? » Yeah, just cuz I do that I enjoy So, it’s just like that. Thank you. We have our We have English language learner population. So, by law we have to have an English learner

23:38 parent advisory council and the meeting has been really strategic in strengthening. And we have a really amazing community. And last night, this is our second year doing it where we provide through our title three funds that we receive for English learners, we purchase summer reading books. So, I work with the school librarians to get their summer lists and then we order the books and we order food and then we had parents they brought some extra some food that they had made and we were at the Brown School playground and the kids were playing and having fun and they all walked away with many summer reading books and they made some bookmarks and it was really a wonderful community event and it’s something I’m just had the privilege of working with Christie Honos, who’s one of our English learner teachers at Brown School and Shelly Burns was there as well at English language uh teacher English learner teacher and our school librarian at Village School this

24:23 year, too. So, it was a great turnout and we just have this really amazing community of many different families, different backgrounds and they the kids were playing and it was just this awesome community. So, it was great. » Yeah. Thank you. » Thank you. Sorry to interrupt you. Throw that in there. That’s okay. I don’t I don’t even mind. I also want to send a news thank you to our PTOs PCOs for the support they provide to our school throughout the year. Without their passion, so many activities would not be possible. We have field days, Glover Glow Run, fun run, the fifth grade boat cruise, teacher appreciation week celebrations, call cast survivor discussions, local authors, artists, motivational speakers and so much more. And I just you know I I just would miss by not say thank you to all the work that they do. Um you know just just amazing and we wouldn’t be able to a lot of what we do without without their help and support.

25:09 So thank you. Um Thank you and peace. Um Uh also uh happy happy pride month June’s pride month happy pride month and finally um I would like just to just make sure that I wish everybody happy healthy and safe summer as we kind of round up the school year and off into summer break. Use your heads do the right thing watch out for each other and and be safe. That’s all I have for my updates Madam Chairwoman. » Yes. You were still up for the next speaker um is everyone on the staff retirements? » So we have some retirees this year that I’d like to um recognize and let’s see. It’s kind of going the way I have them listed. So we have uh Judy Cowan who is instructional assistant at Village. Um she’s retiring after 20 years of service here in Marblehead.

25:57 Um we have Moira McMahon I’m special education teacher also at Village. Uh looks like she’s been employed here for 11 years. Um our first grade teacher Rhonda Gifford Flynn uh has been employed in the district uh for 16 years as a teach as a teacher. We have custodian James Rackey is is retiring at the end of the year who’s been here 21 years. So thank you. And let’s see Mary Roberts is instructional assistant at Glover’s she’s been uh retiring after 4 years in the role and Christine Seymour who works in our bus and food services she’s uh in in it 10 years. And Mark Tarmy I think this number is related to his athletic assistant athletic director um years that’s 17. I I have a feeling he’s been in the district longer than that maybe not um but anyway I I either either way um

26:43 I’d like to recognize their uh hard work and dedication to the district. It’s great to see folks who have been here you know 10 17 20 plus years. Um I think I mentioned this last year in my opening up from the back I always kind of have everyone stand up and and go through how many how many years folks have been here and we have folks that are in been in this district for over 25, 30, couple people over 30 30 plus years. So, I think that was just great and it’s worth celebrating. So, thank you for letting me do that this evening and if I missed anyone I’m sure um Sally and John will let me know and I will apologize if that’s the case. Thank you. » Thank you to all those staff members who are serving us well. It’s possible. All right. Um, next on the agenda is Mike for a financial

27:30 » Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Um, so I in your packet this uh, this evening there was a financial update. This is through 11 months of the year. So, I actually ran the data on June 1st. I might not know where now with the 11th so this data was a little bit I’ll put it leave it but it shows the trends that we’ve been doing all year. Um, as of June 30th June 1st or it uh, May 31st May 30th What is May? Yeah, 30th there you go. Um, we had an an expended balance of 1.703 million dollars. Uh, that’s about 285,000 dollars less than we had a month ago which said you like Um, and just kind of give an update We’re going to go through a budget

28:16 transfer later or which transfer transfer later so we’ll we’ll get into that later on the agenda. But right now what we’re what we’re working on is we have reached out to our special education out of district providers and asked them for invoices so we could pre-pay tuitions for next year. As you probably all know we balance our budget next year by pre-paying tuitions this year using money from this year to pre-pay next year’s tuitions. So, we are in the process of that. I think right now we’ve got about half of it already encumbered and ready to be paid. Uh, so we can get these numbers really really pushing them to get the numbers in so we we kind of have a better feeling on where we’re going to land at the end of the year. Our biggest tell is going to be June 23rd, probably probably June 18th when we push the final payroll through. The checks don’t come out till the 23rd. Don’t get excited back there. Um we

29:01 we we right around June 18th or you know, not the 19th but the 21st maybe we’ll have a really good idea of once the majority of the salaries are gone out where we’re going to land. But we’ve done a really good job encumbering. Carly and Tristan have done an amazing job on the payroll side. So uh kudos to them and uh I really I feel like having $200,000 at our disposal for the last month, there are bills that coming every day that are not on purchase orders, they’re not expected or they’re not expected by my office. They may be expected by the person who placed the order, but um I feel $200,000 right now is a comfortable number. We’ll I think we’ll find and we’ll get to the end of the year and we’ll be in a really nice place. Uh

29:47 That’s That’s it for the budget budget update. There is the the line item budget is in your packet. It does not reflect of the uh budget transfers that I will be recommending uh later in the year. » Are there questions for anybody?

30:03 Okay, so that brings us to our consent action and agenda items. I’m looking This is going to take me a minute. I’m looking for a motion to approve the identified schedule of bills totaling 1,456,265.34.

30:20 The draft meeting minutes from May 21st, 2026. And the revisions to policies ECAB, EC AF, EEAE, IGB, IHANA, IHB H, JB, JFABE, JFABF, JFBB, JH, JH E, JAICB, JAICFA, JAIH, JJ, JJE, JJIB, JL, JLC, JLCA, JLCB, and JLCC. » So moved.

31:05 » A second. The motion from Henry. Seconded by Melissa. Any discussion on these items? Okay, so we can go to a roll call in favor. Motion carries five to zero.

31:22 All right. That brings us to our school committee communication and discussion items. And first we have a request for high school performing arts trip to only go. Imagine that’s why Colleen is sitting in the um in the audience.

31:39 » Hi, I’m Colleen Eagles. I am the uh course teacher for Area 7 at the high school and performing arts team. And uh I’m coming to ask uh permission to go on a trip to Disney World for uh the high school music group. So it would be available for uh around 100 students. I estimate probably closer to 50 60 will end up going um based on last year we went to New York City and that’s about what I think we would have to give each kid that trip. Um but the cost of this trip is going to be $2,481 um per child or per student and that includes uh five five or more depending on how many um end up signing up uh chaperones. So we’ll do a 10 to 1 ratio since it’s an overnight trip. And um this includes

32:24 five days in Orlando staying on site at Disney World, four days in the park, the round trip airfare, uh breakfast and dinners covered every day, and then they’ll also be doing um a workshop with Disney professionals where they get to um sight read some music and then put their recording to a movie trailer and kind of create their own trailer and then they get to also perform at Downtown Disney. And so it’s just a really fun opportunity. It continues to be a recruitment and retention tool for us and it’s a great way for our kids to to connect and really make those important memories. Any questions? » Any questions for me? No. » I’ll make a motion to approve the fiscal trip. » I’ll second.

33:16 I’ll vote. All in favor. The motion carries. » Thank you so much. » Have a fun time. » You got to be home. » I’m going to be on my high school trip to Disney. » [laughter] » All right, thank you Colleen. The next item on the agenda are the handbook updates. » [clears throat] » You want to walk us through those and you can » Yes, absolutely. » So I worked with the superintendent and our principals to do our annual updates to our student handbooks. I dropped a memo in to try to capture all of the updates. I can share it on the screen if you’d like. We did our annual updates of staff names, website links. We did a lot of website upgrading this year so there was a lot of website stuff links to

34:01 update. We updated with our user fees for next school year that the school committee approved, calendar information, etc. We also added some more information about the annual information update that we ask parents to complete. It’s basically the online version of like an emergency card update. Specific to Marlborough High School, we updated the language language in the METCO section and I should say these all came from Dr. Carlson in her work with the her team. Added language about behavior on the bus. Lot of field trips, a lot of extracurriculars so we added thing wanted to add some there. They updated 9:00 as the time to be in school to participate in extracurriculars. It does now that align with the athletic expectations. And then we added and I worked with Michelle on this. We added an absence category as attendance

34:46 chart because there’s many different reasons that students may be absent from high school and there’s many different codes. So we just trying to clarify and had some feedback from families that that could be helpful. So we added that in there. So that’s specific to high school. From middle school and our principal of K8 there, we updated our cell phone electronics language and included smartwatches as technology changes. Updated we are moving away from the term just read which is a 30-minute walk as that coincides or is opposite of lunch for our students to win which stands for what I need which is a reflective of our K8 process for our multi-tiered systems of support. And then we updated the bell schedule. We did a little tweak from last year. The elementary school principals worked together

35:32 together together and they added so updated language regarding attendance and just direct quotations from the school committee policy and they added information under the student health section about communication with between families and the school nurse. Um » I sat down with these elementary principals and she said that there was anything they could package there. There was one I’ll have to I’ll get the language in there but the proximity is that the principals of the elementary level are supposed to notify the superintendents before they actually put some suspension process on their their students. All the whole process is in there it’s just that one of the sentences has to be added. So I just it was made up where I mean this afternoon that we that was missing. So I think when we had the discussion with the board we just kind of did that one

36:18 in the board instead of one sentence So Thank you very much. » Thank you. Nothing to add on my end. So we dropped them all in as drafts and hopefully we can make any changes. Okay. If there are any comments or questions that need to be amended.

36:40 » Well, I’m glad to see the smart watches. » Me too. » [clears throat] » And I don’t think I noted it, but we just we put a kind of a forget the exact phrase, but it was brought to our attention that AP testing they can’t wear the meta glasses. So we put something about like other electronic devices I think just in general we didn’t call out specifically meta glasses, but they’re very strict about that with AP testing. So we felt that to prepare students for that. So we There could be a new device any time, right? So we just kind of have a category, but smart watches in particular seem to be on the rise with our younger students. So we wanted to » I’ll » I’ll I’ll make a motion to approve the handbook updates.

37:25 » I’ll second that. Can » I’m sorry, can I just add maybe the you know, the the small edit that Superintendent Robidoux mentioned as part of the motion so we don’t have to » Sure. » Yeah. » I’ll make a motion to approve the handbook updates with the with the superintendent 7. » I’ll second that. » Okay, so we have a motion from Henry to approve the handbooks with the added things discussed seconded by Al and Henry discussion. Oh, Oh, I’m going to leave it there. Motion carries. I have Sarah. » I have Wanda.

38:09 » Okay, so my next agenda item is the plan for success. » So just just to kind of remind folks we we started our district wide plan you you approved that from the last meeting and we have a set of immense for the fall and that kind of closes out our plan for success that was in place and this for our fall we should kind of just acknowledge the work that was done and where we landed and and so on. That happened to all day to the committee here and what we achieved through that plan for success and where it landed on the board start moving forward with it. » Great. » I dropped it in a little late today. I wanted to acknowledge that, but I do have copies if anybody wants that. I’m going to share on the screen if that’s okay. So, I’m thanking you.

38:57 Thank you, Superintendent. Thank you, School Committee for the opportunity to present. On behalf of the office of teaching and learning, all of our staff, I’m really pleased to be able to share our five-year accomplishments. We set out in 2021. I was an administrator in the district in different role at the time, but we really have worked hard to achieve our goals as laid out in the plan for success, the strategic plan. And so, I did request that we have the opportunity to celebrate and recognize the work that has gone into this over the last few years. So, you might be familiar the document looks like this. Um I was not part of the plan for success team, but I know it involved administrators, educators, school community members, and it really set out our

39:42 where we were going to go in 2021 for the next five years. And so, part of it highlighting obviously our mission, vision, core values, our theory of action, and then our focus areas. And we took that very seriously where we wanted to improve as a district. And we identified that where we were and where we wanted to be by the by June of 2026. In particular, when I stepped into this role on three three years ago now, I’m at the end of my third year in this position. Um we the groundwork was laid and so much work already started in the teaching and learning goal areas that it was um was really my honor to step in continue that work and help it grow. And we really truly focused on the teaching and learning. Um but of course the work we do does speak to professional culture,

40:28 um diversity, equity, inclusion. So you’re going to see um aspects of that in today’s presentation as well. Um overarching, um you’ll see on many of the documents that I send out to our educators, whether it’s a professional development plan or um the meeting agenda, we always have our teaching and learning goal on there, which is to fully align teaching and learning with our multi-tiered systems of support framework to ensure all students meet or exceed academic, social, emotional learning expectations. So as I mentioned, at the very end of the plan for success, there are outcomes that we were hoping to achieve by June 30th of 2026. And seeing that this is our last, potentially last meeting in June, I wanted to recognize um that we have made uh tremendous gains um in that several of these goals. Um so I’ll be primarily focusing on the teaching and learning, professional culture, diversity, equity, inclusion, all again

41:14 connected to the work through our office teaching and learning. As I mentioned, that work of aligning ourselves and integrating the multi-tiered systems of support framework really drove our work. You’re going to see key accomplishments on each slide that seems so simple. Um but truly the amount of uh work that went in from our educators, our administrators, um you know, our first accomplishment in this goal um was that we completed a 6-year curriculum review cycle. The amount of committee work and the amount of time and then the school committee support, thousands of dollars invested um into new curricula for our students. We had an opportunity post-COVID um with some federal funds to make large purchases,

42:00 which was hugely needed for our district. Um so then when you walk from classroom to classroom, our teachers are teaching high-quality um curricula and students are having equitable learning experiences. And we’re there, and it’s really exciting. So it looks like a little bullet point, but it’s been a tremendous amount of work and um we So, some recent ones that through my time in the office we’ve done literacy. So, that’s our Wit & Wisdom K-6. Our math was the year before I stepped into the role and we are using um Illustrative Math there. In science, we just completed it last year. We’re in our first year of integration of a K-12 science upgrade for curricula. And then for the first time ever in the district, we adopted a social emotional learning curriculum K-12. We previously had that in the lower grades, but never K-12.

42:46 Um we updated scope and sequences. That is a map or you know, roadway. Yeah, roadmap is what I’m trying to say there. Roadmap for our teachers week by week to really overview and align our instruction. We continued growing our professional learning communities. That is where our teachers work together in grade levels or content areas to support our MTSS framework. We look at MTSS in tiers one, two, and three. So, tier one is all apps for all students. Tier two and tier three is based off student need. And we have embedded a dedicated enrichment and intervention block grades K through 12 in the district to support our students. Um common schedules aligning to allow for that intervention and enrichment time for our teachers to be with our students.

43:31 students. students. And then most recently we added the WIN events in the magic block, which is essentially WIN at the high school. We also have added over the last few years a very robust data and assessment system. And that is really important because as I get into the presentation, I’m going to be talking specifically about some data points and we can do that because we have the systems to do that. So, I’m very happy with that. We have integrated just two years ago in class, which is DIBELS. It’s the gold standard for early literacy assessing assessments. And then ongoing MCAS and we have a lot of internal documents that I would like to keep internal, but I just There’s so much that we’re doing to support and analyze our student uh learning and then we use i-Ready growth reports and we are expanding our use of IXL as well.

44:18 » Here’s a quick question for a second. How many years of what you would consider robust data do you have at this point? » We feel very comfortable going back to 22-23 school year. » Great. » So a lot happened with the first year of the plan for success in that 21-22 school year. So we feel when we look at data we beyond in class has been forever even though the test has changed over the years, right? Our internal local benchmark assessments we look at the 22 data on. » Yeah. » Yeah, and I’ll wrap things up. » That’s great. Yeah. » Um, you’re going to see throughout some pictures if I may just highlight cuz you know what they say about pictures, right? Um, and I love to take pictures and the left um, this is one of our when we went to

45:04 we use Wit & Wisdom for our new literacy curriculum and we did classroom visits and this is Ken Alston and her amazing sixth graders and we went in and we went to Aaron’s and we like helped plan a lesson with her a bunch of people of us and we had a trainer come from the program and then we got to see her in action and then we gave feedback and then we learned together and it was just it was amazing. So that kind of on the you know, in the classroom learning and then on the bottom right when we implemented Wit & Wisdom we definitely needed to have grade level conversations. So these are our second first we say first grade teachers meeting together like so Brown School and Glover School coming together to talk about how things are going. So I just want to highlight some of the pictures as we go through.

45:51 Um, before I move on, sorry. I also want to say you might not see in all the pictures but behind all of this work are our instructional coaches. So I’d like to thank Rebecca Brand, Mary LeBlanc, Emily Perez, Angie Graziano and Danielle Boucher. We have instructional coaches K-12. Again, you might not see them in the pictures, but they are behind every amazing accomplishment working right there with our with our educators. So, thank you to our coaches. All right, let’s continue the little snapshot that we are looking into. Um we have our the second objective focusing in tonight is by June 30th, 2026, instructional practices will reflect the Oh, sorry, my the aligned and the diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives of Marmarth Public Schools. And what we have done, our key

46:37 accomplishments there, we do have equitable instructional practices. So, beyond just the curriculum that I mentioned, we are talking about how we’re teaching that curriculum, how we are supporting our students, how we’re engaging our students. We also, I mentioned the WIN block to ensure that all students have access to the tier one instruction, have those opportunities for somebody teaching, and further, you know, explanation of to support them. And then you’ll see in the picture here, this is our group our social emotional leads. In the last 2 years, they received a small stipend to help us integrate Wayfinder at the school level. So, this is the C this high school all the way through Glover and Brown Village Middle School all represented here. And the team, you can see them we work really hard. And

47:22 after just 2 years of Wayfinder, we feel like we’re in a really great spot. We have We’ve learned a lot of lessons, and we have some more room for growth. But, thank you to our educators. Um they’re doing a wonderful job with Wayfinder.

47:39 I want to mention before we go on, that when we look at data and I’ll integrate as we talk about this, our instructional practices with our aligned curriculum, we are ending the school year this year with some some really great data points. So, we have concluded our end of year assessments for our K-3 students. We have 81% of our K-3 students on or above grade level in math, and we have 87% of our K-3 students on or above in reading. So, those are really great benchmarks, really great goals, and we continue to exceed our benchmark expectations for the middle of the year, beginning, middle, and where they are now. Amazing. All right. Let’s keep everything here. All right. So, I talked a lot about the curriculum cycle,

48:24 and and what’s really important is that we wanted educators to be confident in their capacity to implement that curriculum, and to ensure all students graduate as conscientious members of society who are career and college ready. We have spent the money, have tremendous support from the school committee and the superintendent, and we’re greatly appreciative of that. The every department, every subject area that goes through the curriculum review, they all have educator involvement in one of the items in the review process is to ensure that it’s culturally relevant, it is equitable for all learners, and it has access points, whether it’s with our recent science curriculum. They really wanted something where students could do more online,

49:11 and do some labs online, and also where the text could like read to the students if they wanted to practice some of the academic vocabulary. So, we have embedded that into our curriculum review with our educators. So, we’re very proud of that. We also um we as part of this, and this is what’s in the picture, we do our data meetings, and this is a group of our um third grade at Brown School Professional Learning Communities. They’re working with our instructional coach Mary, and Rebecca’s just not in the picture. Oh, she’s over to the side. And what they’re looking at here are student groupings based off of data, and how students can work alongside the instructional assistants who are also pictured here in the winter time. So, again, because we have PLCs, because we have the

49:57 assessments, and because we have amazing educators who care deeply for our students, that all works together, um, to ensure that our students are getting all the support that they need and we’re meeting them where they’re at. Um, I also do want to mention, since I talked about college and career ready, um, we also recently integrated at the high school level our, um, manufacturing, engineering, and technology, our MET pathway, and Connor Ryan is overseeing that, and he has done a very nice job, um, securing the state, um, state grants, um, to have, uh, the pathway what it basically means is if the student’s interested in manufacturing, engineering, technology, that they will take a series of classes, um, and by the end of the program they’re in AP courses that are preparing them for, um, the next step of, uh, college and career

50:43 readiness. They do some really cool field trips, too, um, and Connor’s been growing that as he’s now a second in that level. So, kind of cool to think about from our youngest learners to our oldest learners.

50:59 Um, this one is really great and I’m so happy about it. Okay, first, we did not achieve our goal. We are not going to have a free full-day kindergarten by June 30th. I am so thrilled, though, that we are going to be able to, uh, beginning the 2027-2028 school year, um, gosh, this is just such a proud moment for us. Yes! So, while we met the goal, we do have a full-day K program and we’ve had that for a couple years now. So, we did technically meet our goal, but a very important part of that was for, um, access for all of our learners. So, we’re very, very happy about that. Here’s a picture of our young learners at Glover School, um, they’re talking about PBIS, um, with the support of our school counselors right there and all the teachers around them, um, and, you

51:46 know, this year we’ve just, year to year we’re seeing really strong data come from our kindergarteners, especially when they start in kindergarten and by the time they’re taking the MCAS in third grade and then beyond, we’re seeing that their growth is really huge. So, we’re really proud of our kindergarten program. Um and um Lisa Marie Lita, our superintendent assistant superintendent of services, oversees our preschool program and she’s doing really great work there as well. Um and they have uh just tremendous gains with our students and just it’s really an honor to watch them grow. » And after that, you know, with that the kindergarten program, the way we have it you know, set up in each of the eight um classrooms and teacher dedicated IA, plus you know, if there’s uh need for a specialized feeder in there, um instructional IAs, it’s it’s really um really robust programming and you know,

52:32 a lot of conversation about numbers in the classroom right now, but we feel very confident in the fact that we have it set up so that the students can be successful. We have we have classrooms of 21, 22. Um and Brown and like they’re similar at Tech Lover and um students are achieving at very high rates and it’s it’s all due to everything that um Ms. Ryan just talked about and uh and it’s really how we focus that awesome in this classroom. So, I just wanted to give you a little bit of kind of a head’s up in what we’re going to talk about kindergarten. Some really really good stuff, so. » My youngest just got to go to sort of kindergarten graduation today, so I deeply appreciate that that everyone who works in our community. » [clears throat] » It’s great. So.

53:18 So. So. » Yeah, I just had to celebrate cuz we’re just wow, this is so exciting. I’m just so excited, so. Right. Um All right, objective um 2A, so Marblehead Public Schools, um in conjunction with the MEA’s uh Professional Development Committee, will develop a long-term professional development plan 5-year to address deficits, increase capacity, foster DEI, support instructional technology, facilitate aligned curriculum development, and attend the two of the social emotional well-being of potential caters. We have an extremely active PD committee. It is such a pleasure to work with the adults who volunteer their time to be on this committee. It really allows us to have that authentic educator voice in planning our professional development. We do have a PD plan. It is continuously evolving

54:03 though and that is intended to be so and be flexible based off of educator need with that specifically. In the last few years our educators have wanted more professional development on artificial intelligence and we even included that into our annual PD training throughout the year. We just launched we just ended our third annual PD survey. Each year we have seen the number grow. We have over 200 survey responses from our educators to go through. And I really do believe more and more doing that because they know we’re listening and that is amazing to me and very gratifying for the work that we’re doing that they know we’re listening and integrating that into the next year’s plan. For DESI licensure our educators also need to have what’s called professional development points and Angie Graziano

54:50 and I established process where they’re going to be able to get those PDP points that they can submit to DESI when they have to go through re-licensure and that’s a newer system that didn’t exist and has been really helpful I think for our educators. And then we also have per the contract we do have designated PD time and those are usually on the Wednesdays that are half days. And we do listen to our educators their feedback in addition to our annual mandated trainings that we have to do. Anything we’re doing in terms of our especially our new district improvement plan, anything kind of district specific will include in the PD calendar and then also allow time for school goals through our school improvement plan so they can get those goals as well. We are going to see continued focus on professional development in the new district improvement plan because we know our teachers

55:37 have been really enjoying the continuous learning and we do believe as educators lifelong lifelong learning is important. On the left you can see that’s Jay. That was at our March um educators teaching educators PD day. That was a huge success and just so grateful for that. So I wanted to capture really great moment for us this district on our March March PD day. And then on the bottom right I’m going to explain this just for a second. So these are this was Brown School and Glover School at Village School. We have done a complete overhaul of our placement process. So our third grade teachers are collaborating with our fourth grade teachers. They’ve never done this. They’ve never all gone to Village and worked with the NLC Cara who was here earlier. Our counselors were there. Our special educators. You’ll see Matthew who’s assistant principal.

56:22 They’re literally looking at students and working together to make the best possible groupings so our students can feel safe, connected, and really engaged in their learning while meeting all of the other needs they may have. Perhaps they’re having an IEP and we want to make sure they’re getting all the services that they have. So this picture is actually from the Village Cafeteria. We needed some extra space and a big credit to Jenny Conrad our assistant principal at Village and G Graziano as well as um Liz and Colleen Colleen Miller and Liz Pruitt who helped at Village because we saw that we needed to make improvement and we we did. Wanted to make it better for the parents. So yeah. Okay. I’m almost there guys. Thank you

57:08 so much for Okay. I’ll have to take that later. Okay. Um As I mentioned we’re very proud of our curriculum review that we completed. The work did uncover areas that we need to align on and continue to do so specifically more recently at the high school level for our NEASC process. We also did a little bit deeper dive. So we are going to continue that work. Very excited as we start the next cycle of our six year cycle that we will have uh, really clear, uh, idea of what we need to do, uh, to ensure that we’re aligned, uh, K-12. And then, we have, throughout the budgeting process, we’ve been focusing on protecting the instructional core. And I think when we talk about, uh, having the community trust us and knowing that we are looking out for our learners, uh, that’s something that we value and we’re going to continue to prioritize this

57:53 protecting the instructional core throughout our budgeting process. All right. Uh, we’ve got our third graders in the Spruill’s class on the left. They had a visit from the Abbot director, uh, Jim Grab. And on the right, another picture from our PD day. That’s Andrew Evers, uh, teaching some of our teachers. All right. Objective 3B, by June 30th, 2026, Marblehead Public Schools will have reduced at risk act risk measures and outcomes for all marginalized and or at risk students to the point where all students feel safe, supported, and included in school. So, we are, as I mentioned, we have Wayfinder, the social emotional learning curriculum. This is, uh, year two of it, and this is the first year that we did a beginning-of-the-year and end-of-the-year measurement of how students are feeling in terms of their

58:40 social emotional learning skills. And, uh, we were just looking at that data on Wednesday with the SEL leads. Uh, so, we are working towards that. We have now a system in place. So, year one, uh, but we’ll continue that work to make sure our students do feel safe, supported, and included. We have, uh, work to improve our communications with families, especially if our students are receiving intervention enrichments. Uh, we want to make sure our families know how we’re supporting our students. Uh, you’ll see in the bottom, uh, picture here, uh, our METCO program. Our Kesha Johnson, our METCO director, has done a really nice job of collaborating with administrators, educators, and our community partners, uh, you’ll see in the picture here, uh, to strengthen that program. And, uh, thank you to Superintendent for shouting out our ELPAC, which we’re working on strengthening as well.

59:26 And then, uh, you’ll see, uh, Emily was working with some of our third graders on the left. They were doing a science lab. They were um, figuring out how long um, a dinosaur’s stride would be. So, they were doing like like leaps through the hallway so of our new science um, curriculum and we have integrated data meeting so we’re continuously looking at and examining our data um, as we have new curriculum also looking at how that is going. So, we are not only how our learners are doing but how our first graders are doing in math. Um, we did in terms of data for this goal. I want to mention the high needs category um, to specifically for this goal high needs is our English learners, our socio-economic disadvantage or low income, and our students with

1:00:12 disabilities. We did see from that 22 as I mentioned uh, Henry the 22 to 25 data. We did see an increase in our student growth percentage in ELA for our high needs students. We are um, we’ve seen an increase in our meeting and exceeding category from 27% um, to 34% in math um, since 2022. So, we’re seeing increases there. We are not seeing an increase or no change really at this time in the science. We knew that though. That’s why we have the new curriculum. So, I’m super excited to see what happens um, cuz we knew we had a kind of hit a plateau. Um, so » Percentage was growth growth percentiles. Okay. Right? We said in their growth percentiles. » No change in the growth uh, no, but they don’t do growth for science for » Yeah, they do them for science. » Oh, I actually used two different data

1:00:57 points. I’m sorry. So, the first one was we looked at the high needs for ELA. Um, not you don’t see as much in the percentage change with the meeting and exceeding but you do see the growth of students. It’s really high. » Yeah, I just want to just make sure you get like all we are only seeing 27% 7% growth. » Oh, no no, but the next one I’m sorry is increase in meeting and exceeding in math. I switched my data points there. So, the we have know, different categories that we look at data, um, from 27% to 34% Um, so We’re looking at that and that’s just in case that’s just one data point but I do think we can talk about data right because we’ve added those data platforms in addition to in case which is, you know, once a year to ensure that we are targeting students needs.

1:01:43 Our goal was to provide inclusive and diverse curriculum instruction and extracurricular practices and activities that ensure all students have equitable access to high-quality educational and personal development opportunities. We’re very proud of our educational programming that reflects an inclusive membership. Specifically I’m going to call out performing arts. You go to any of our performing arts concerts in this district and it is a tremendously amazing inclusive community and a real credit to our teachers who make the students feel so welcome and safe in those in that community in addition to other extracurriculars and we have so many but I just wanted to highlight that as well. Um And we have worked with culturally responsive experts to revise curriculum assessments as I mentioned throughout our curriculum review process and we’re

1:02:29 always always looking at how to identify create and evaluate practices to ensure all students have that access to those high-level high-quality educational opportunities.

1:02:41 We also I just another shout-out for we did an AP advanced placement AP presentation and we increased those to also help meet the needs of our high achieving students. So, in conclusion we have set a very strong foundation. I look forward to the work ahead and all that we’re going to accomplish under our new district improvement plan. I’m beyond grateful for the countless hours dedicated in these last five years. Thank you to our educators. Thank you to the school committee for your support. Thank you to the superintendent, our administrators, educators, school community for all the support and I just want to um We’re looking forward to moving forward together so thank you. » Christmas time. » Lots of good stuff. » Yeah, you know, John, I do have a question. So, of

1:03:27 of maybe some of the goals that weren’t able to meet or weren’t able to fully meet or disappointed in or goals that you’re excited to continue to build on. Um and and this is really more of a forward-looking question, not not a backward-looking question. So, uh what goal do you want to continue to strive to meet? And and what’s one that you did meet, but you want to build on? » Mhm. » Yeah, I agree. » Um in addition to our curriculum work, uh which I feel we’re in a really great place, I want to continue to look at our instructional practices um and how we’re engaging all learners. And we know our students come with different interests, and different backgrounds, and different learning styles, so we definitely want to continue. So, we’ve been talking as a

1:04:14 team of also we’ve spent so much talk time talking about curriculum. Now, let’s focus a little bit more on the instruction and how that’s being actually taught in the classrooms. Um but, what’s great is we have our professional learning communities, we have the structure to have those conversations. And data helps us know if we’re meeting the mark. » Thank you. » Building on what Henry was saying is more of a Right. statement, but our observation is more of a question. Now, uh recently uh you’ve talked about district being recognized for um being one of the few districts in the state to really improve their attendance, um chronic absence uh chronic absenteeism. And um I think those are important data points as well, and I’d love to hear

1:05:00 more about in addition to uh what the uh data is showing in our assessments, also especially with our high-need students, are are is improved attendance making an impact, uh tiered systems of support, um all of those pieces, and can we how do we » And I think I measure that. » Yeah. Yeah, and I think I think those points are are salient points to to continue to explore because I think everything that Julie was just talking about the MTSS, the supports, the social emotional learning is all important. We’re seeing the growth of students. We’re seeing students be able to be more comfortable in in what they’re being asked of or setting expectations and then we’re kind of helping the students achieve those expectations. And I think globally, um the communication and the collaboration that we’re having amongst

1:05:45 and between um teachers and schools and educators and horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, but also um the the support from the school committee, um the allowance for the superintendent and the team to kind of help um you know, with the operation of the district to make sure all these things are in place, um are really important. You have to look at that. And so, the clear communication, collaboration, um across the board is going to impact all those areas. And I think when you look at chronic absenteeism, it’s not just one thing. Like, “Why didn’t you do well today?” You know, it’s all those things. And um you really have those conversations. Sometimes it’s hard conversations with parents. Like, “Hey, what can we do to help you to get you into school?” Like, to me, I know, you know, we’re struggling because of X, Y, and Z. But, let’s let’s implement some strategies. Let’s talk about the other way Wayfinder and social emotional

1:06:32 learning is is something that’s really impactful for our students who are who are struggling in a in a lot of different ways. And you know, I think the more we embed um the more we continue to evaluate and look at the data points, even more of those things are going to grow with chronic absenteeism and stuff like that. We expect students to be able to achieve higher rates, for sure. » I’m really interested to see and I guess this is 10 years off, but the the impact of of Wayfinder program on someone who started in the first grade or kindergarten and then what what it looks like, how it’s different in 12th grade for someone who who didn’t have that continuous instruction. » The longitudinal data is is important.

1:07:17 It’s also a little different. Sometimes they felt that following in part of the impediment like now is and and the teacher has touched on several times when she’s talked about it you know at the elementary level stuff and there’s there’s some buy-in fairly quickly and you know we’re kind of still pulling a little bit at that that upper level and but once we get it at that range what we do is it’s it’s not an add-on. Like Wayfinders not an add-on. Social emotional learning is not an add-on. It’s it’s how we it’s resources supports for how we educate students. It’s it’s all part of what we do. So I agree with you Henry. I think 10 years from now we’ll look back and say oh yeah like you’ll see a I think you’ll see a clear demarcation between when we had Wayfinders and when we didn’t have that. I think you will. » And we’ll hear some feedback from kids of like some of the activities we’ll ask them when they just started these like

1:08:02 exit tickets. They think they can like shade in the star. They liked it and like the lesson activity getting feedback, right? Student voice. And um like one of them was so cute. It was like oh I had so much fun in class, right? Like like this class flew by. It was so fun. What they don’t like fun what we say is they were engaged. They were actually engaged. They were talking to their peers. They were talking to their teacher and like their them having fun means that they’re going to keep buying into this and coming back to school. We just we want our kids to have fun but that means that they were engaged. So that’s really cool. So we’re getting feedback. Some lessons being we are finding really resonate with the students about and that’s why we’re here too and we know that we’re going to continue to improve and looking at that K-12 side.

1:08:51 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for putting that presentation together. Yeah, it’s all good. We’re really looking forward but I think it’s important that they look back. I think I think you’re right recognizing the hard work staff did all those five years. So, it’s it’s not throwing the you know, just because you’re creating a new district doesn’t mean you’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It’s what can we do with that student population success type of thing to grow up and you know » Okay, so that brings us to the budget transfers, which are detailed in a memo from Mike that’s in the packet for tonight’s meeting that you want to » Yeah, but I’ll let » Just highlight Um you know, budget transfers are something that’s sometimes we’ll do every meeting.

1:09:37 Um I think this year was just a little » [clears throat] » out of the ordinary and not ordinary. Uh in my opinion, I think that you usually don’t transfer more than 1% of your budget between lines. You know, for in our case, $490,000 would be 1%. Uh this is an extraordinary year. We we froze the budget early. Uh we knew that we needed to prepay tuitions next year in order to make our budget work. And uh if you recall, we prepaid $1.1 million last year at the end of the at this time last year for this year’s budget, which meant that because we budgeted everything that we knew that we had for out-of-district tuitions, that we if our budget came in exactly where where it was projected, and it never does in special education, that’s not a uh it’s not something anybody can control.

1:10:23 It’s it’s out of you know, it’s very out of control. Not out of control, but it’s very outside of our control. Right. Um so, had it been a perfect world, we would still need to transfer $400,000 because we would have been short that amount of money. We’re asking to transfer just under $800,000 uh between salary lines, about uh $480,000 in salary lines, $69,000 in uh contracted services lines, $101,000 in supply lines, and $73,000 in professional expenses and professional development lines. Um and in the memo, it kind of goes into some examples of what the kind what types of lines these are and why we had short losses in them. And I go into those, but I you all have the memo in

1:11:08 That would be my recommendation is that we transfer $731,000

1:11:20 in uh those those categories I just mentioned in the amounts that I mentioned in order to allow us to repay the $1.5 million uh from out of district tuition to our next folder. » Are there any questions from the committee before we sort of vote through the motions? Um it all made sense to me. Um yeah, I think generally like good planning, there’s obviously like unforeseen things, but we needed that. Um so makes sense. Okay. Um Okay. Um so we’re going to do this in a series of motions for each line. So I’m looking for a motion to move 488 to transfer $488,000 from the district salary lines to the out of district tuition lines. » So moved.

1:12:09 » Second. » Second. » Motion by Al. Seconded by Melissa. Any discussion on this? So we can go into a vote on the motion to move $488,000 from the district salary line. All in favor. Motion carries 5 to 0. And next I’m looking for a motion to move $69,000 from the district contracted services lines to the out of district tuition lines. » So moved. » Seconded.

1:12:45 » Motion by Melissa. Seconded by Al. Any discussion on this? We will vote on the motion to transfer from the district contracted services lines. All in favor. Motion carries 5 to 0. Next, I’m looking for a motion to transfer $101,000 from the district supply lines to the out-of-district tuition lines. » Second. » Second. » Seconded by Melissa. Any discussion? Okay. So, we are ready to vote on a motion to move $101,000 from the district supply lines. All in favor. Motion carries 5 to 0. All right. So, finally, we’ll be for a

1:13:31 motion to transfer $73,000 from the district professional expenses lines. » So moved. » Great. Second. » You want to be your first second? » Second. » And that leaves me with a second by Ian Reeves. Any discussion? Okay. We » I need a second. » So, you want to transfer expenses to out-of-district And you got the out-of-district tuition lines. » Thank you. Can we amend the motion to be a motion to transfer $73,000 from the district professional expenses lines to the out-of-district tuition lines? » Yes. I’ll make that amended motion. » I’ll make the motion. » I do.

1:14:20 » Second. » Second. » Any discussion? Okay. We can vote on the amended motion to transfer $73,000 from the district professional expenses lines to the out-of-district tuition lines. All in favor. Motion carries 5 to 0.

1:14:43 So, next, um, on the agenda is the high school auditorium naming. John to lead us. » Yes. Um, so, thank you all. » Several months ago this came before the committee where we’re looking to name the auditorium after Gregory Dana who has served 150 years in the Marblehead public schools performing arts. And what we asked was like what would that look like? Would we sign up for it? How big is it? How much you know it’s going to cost? Who’s going to fund it? So, um Kathy Scarpone she she shared it putting it in your folder but um it’s a it’s a plaque that looks very similar to the the last one that we did for the Polaroid sign. So, it says the Gregory Dana Auditorium dedicated recognition of 150 years of outstanding services

1:15:29 to Marblehead Performing Arts. There’s two options and both say the same thing it’s just set up a little bit differently. The sign is 18 by 24 18 in by 24 so they’re roughly 2 ft by 2 ft or less. Um rectangular it’s totally bronze and the cost is let’s say it’s 29,110 for the box shipping is 150.99. Installation is 285 and actually let me know that they were about $800 away from the sign. So, we still wanted him to sign off on it but total they didn’t think there was an issue so I said well let’s come back here for the committee just to finalize that approval. Um so, with the committee’s discussion and approval tonight I I’ll give her the go-ahead and then we know when that’s going to transpire. I’ll let the committee know and then we’ll have a

1:16:15 little conversation but so then we’ll go ahead and do that. Which one is it again? Get lost by the eight by four in the sign approval. Create the new Okay, so » So, in that they’ll be able to pay for the whole of the component of the year. » Correct. » Okay. » I like option A. » Option A for me too. » I don’t know if they were asking me for any of that. » [laughter] [clears throat] [clears throat] » Um and you just have » around decision » Now, we got a lot of really wonderful notes about » We did. » Um universally » Yeah. » I don’t really have a a comment on this naming. It’s a great move.

1:17:02 At the time we were talking about revising our policy or creating a policy around naming. Did Did we approve that? » No, so the policy still exists in the form that it did before um there was talk about bringing a draft policy before the or revision to the policy before the policy subcommittee, but didn’t get done this year. Um I think that it is something that should be a priority in my opinion for the policy subcommittee next year. Um I think I expressed my discomfort trying to change this policy when we have pending advice for naming things. Um but it is something that we really need to take on again. You know, John has some ideas. Um I have

1:17:48 some ideas on we just need to consider. » Great. Thank you. Well, I Well, I I’ll make a motion to approve uh what we’re looking at here. The purchase of » The naming. So, I’ll make a motion to approve the naming of the Charlie Dean

1:18:14 Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Yes, so we can go to the vote. The motion is to name the high school Charlie Dean High School. All in favor. Motion carries 5 to 0. So, keep us posted on » Yeah. » that process and Okay. Right. Next is a request for your items as served us. It’s I believe all outdated high school science textbooks. If you have a memo that was in tonight’s packet. » I have staff coordinator Julia. She’s going to share with the committee. » I have something to pull to add to this. Um so as I mentioned, we have our new science curriculum. Um but Dave Alan Askey, he’s our teacher leader for the science department here at the high school. Um he had a student, she’s super

1:19:00 interested in science and um her name is Victoria Yusenko. She actually asked to do her senior project with him and to work on this project. So because of our amazing Vivica and our senior who’s now graduated, um she did a very thorough inventory um and with all of the incredible new curricula um uncovered just really outdated um material we do not employ in our classrooms anymore. Um so we were just um she also helped me. Um she reached out to charter schools and um Marblehead and Salem um and they did not accept our donation or offer to potentially donate. [clears throat] Um so we also did that before graduating. So um really cool that this was a student-led project. Um I’ve previously come before the committee. We

1:19:48 knew um pretty early on what our K-6 K-8 materials that we were, but the high school was very complex because of all the different classes and the course levels. So um thank you Vivica and um and I just wanted to um ask if we could please um declare surplus and then we would um look to dispose of these as well if if that’s allowable. Thank you. » Um are there any questions? About this project. So I think we do this in two steps. The first would be a motion to declare Marblehead High School science curriculum materials detailed in Julia’s memo as surplus property as they are outdated, no longer aligned to the current curriculum standards, or otherwise no longer needed for instructional purposes.

1:20:33 » So moved. » Second. » I assess that you have a 5 to 0 vote. Any discussion? I can go to vote. And all in favor. Motion carries 5 to 0. So then next I’ll be looking for a motion that the administration be authorized to dispose of these surplus science materials. » So moved. » Second. » I can go to Any discussion? Any discussion? I can go to vote. All in favor. Motion carries 5 to 0. » Thank you. » Yes. Okay. So next on our agenda are executive session minutes from October

1:21:20 17th, 2024, November 20th, 2024, November 24th, 2024, January 6th, 2025, and January 15th, 2025. On May 21st, 2026, the School Committee met in executive session in order to review those meeting those meeting minutes and determine the executive session purposes cited for those sessions still apply. The School Committee will be releasing the executive session minutes from October 17th, 2024, November 20th, 2024, and January 15th, 2025, subject to any lawful redactions. The School Committee will continue to withhold the executive session minutes from November 24th, 2024, and January 6th, 2025, because disclosure would defeat the lawful purpose of the executive session and because of attorney-client privilege.

1:22:07 attorney-client privilege. attorney-client privilege. » All right. » And then next on the agenda is a report on the June 2026 MOAs with the Marblehead Education Association. In the fall of 2025, the MEA petitioned the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations to represent the district’s occupational therapists, physical therapists, board-certified behavioral analysts, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapist assistants, and certified nurse assistants. The school committee and the MEA have reached an agreement to add the OTs, PTs, and BCBAs to unit A, and to add the PTAs, OTAs, and CNAs to the instructional assistant unit. Memoranda of agreement have been approved by the school committee and are included in the packet for tonight’s meeting. That’s regrets.

1:22:52 regrets. regrets. That assessment. It’s great. » Excellent. Uh thank you for that uh the work that we did on that. And then union and the uh bargaining committee, I think it’s um it’s it’s what we needed to happen and it’s one more one more item that we have all buttoned up and ready to go. So, thank you. » Thank you. » Absolutely. » Sorry, Mom. I was just talking to my friend about that. Sorry. Sorry to interrupt. If anybody wants to see the apps, I can get them up before the computer dies. We’ll see. Um okay, so next is item J on the agenda, which is some policy updates. And the first one is policy and GD EB staff conduct. Um and the committee may remember this policy came before us in January. Um and we sent it back to the

1:23:38 policy subcommittee to draft a more robust version of the policy um that Janet found somewhere in the district. The policy subcommittee voted on May 28th to bring that more robust policy to the full committee for approval. Um and so the version that’s in the packet tonight includes a fair amount of detail on how the school committee expects district staff to conduct themselves. Um I don’t know if there are any comments. » Yeah, so so we kind of went back and forth on this because initially our staff conduct um policy was pretty you know pretty straightforward and um I agreed it needed a little bit more, you know, um discussion. And so when when it was brought to the subcommittee, uh we mirrored we mirrored uh policies from other districts that which just kind of gave it a little bit more detail. So, it left um some leave it now

1:24:25 leaves less interpretation on certain things. What I did say to the subcommittee was that a lot of what’s in the policy is mirrored in our handbooks and our So it’s I think it’s all great because it’s you know we can be found multiple places. So although it’s a lengthy policy and typically the policies wouldn’t necessarily kind of talk about operations of how I think this is this is what this policy makes sense to me. It’s similar to our wellness policy how it outlines and how we you know in kind of a a process and so um initially I was a little reluctant but I had some discussions with Lisa the way to go for that policy so » Any questions or comments? I’m looking for a motion to approve the revisions to policy GB EB staff conduct.

1:25:11 » So moved. » Second.

1:25:17 We have a motion by Henry seconded by Melissa. Any discussion? We can now vote on the revisions to policy GB EB. All in favor. The motion carries unanimously. All right, next we have revisions to policy JKAA timeout, seclusion, and restraint students. Um these are MASC revisions to our existing policy. Um there are new DESE regulations that take effect in August regarding timeout, seclusion, and restraint. It’s in this policy we bring the district into compliance. » What’s up guys? » And it also kind of informs the training that needs to be um that went to be done for staff. Um I will say that you know there’s some interpretation of this policy and the regulations that we kind of need to work

1:26:03 through a little bit more um but I think overall this this is this is in line with what the regulations say we have to do. And so it’s it’s we have to bring this one to I think it’s great because we’re ahead of the game on having this in place where we’re not trying to catch up. Um so I think a lot of what this policy is since we exactly like what it needs to be. Thank you. » Any questions or comments? With me, I think so. Is there a motion to approve the revisions to policy JKAA, timeout, seclusion, and restraint of students? » So » Second. » Alyssa, okay. So, a motion by Henry, seconded by Alyssa. Any further discussion? We’ll vote on the revisions to policy JKAA. All in favor? Motion carries five

1:26:53 So, the next one is policy KCB, community involvement in decision-making. Um, and this is a recommendation to rescind the policy. The recommendation came from NESC. Um, the basis being that the intent of the policy is covered elsewhere in our policies. » I think that NESC just explains NESC does this once in a while. I just say it’s like reading a redundant senior year. It’s just kind of think of that huge thing in fears, but when they wiped out like eight or nine different policies cuz they don’t capture it in this one.

1:27:29 » Any questions or comments? So, is there a motion to rescind policy KCB, community involvement in decision-making? » So » Second. » Motion by Henry, seconded by Val. Any further discussion? We’ll vote on the motion to rescind policy KCB. All in favor? Motion carries five to zero. Um, so then I would just note there are four new policies that are on the agenda tonight for second readings. Um, these were all reviewed by the policy subcommittee and voted to be brought forward to the full committee for review and approval. So, those are policy KDC, community use of digital resources, KDCB, district website and social media, JLCDC,

1:28:14 self-administration and self-care of medications, and JICK harassment of students. Um so, if there if you have questions or, you know, proposed revisions, we can discuss those tonight. Otherwise, it would come back to us at a subsequent meeting. Or if there are any meetings No. Good. Just let that stand as the second reading. A lengthy » Sure. Yeah. Um so, just to let folks know that we did um you know, we did have some conversations with the folks that, you know, um like with Kaplan and we nursed the same biotech and had them kind of also review um things to make sure that they were in line with our goals and everything like that. So, when we get to the third reading, if there are any minor tweaks that pop up, we’ll do that.

1:29:03 » Um » Um and there are also a number of other policy revisions that will be coming before the committee that were sort of too robust to put in the consent agenda, and it felt like it was going to make for a pleasing experience for Anne Marie, so we » [laughter] » we will address those, you know, maybe in bits and pieces as we move forward. » One thing to finish up on policies, um having been a superintendent for a decade now, I can say with an incredible way that um the policy subcommittee under Kate’s um supervision and work um did an enormous enormous amount of work this year. Um which generally the work that was done in is generally two or three year processes. To be honest with you, that I’ve seen is

1:29:50 kind of takes a long time to go through the our policies. So, I just want to recognize that the work that was done by kind of behind the scenes is was enormous. Um there were some good conversations, there were some robust conversations, passionate conversations, but I think realistically, what that when you you can speak in French, but most mostly, you know, backing most of the policies up I think they need to be redone. By the end of today this the full committee will have voted on over 100 times. That’s that’s that’s unheard of. That’s unheard of. So, you know, if you’re doing it piece by piece you don’t really notice it, but I was like whenever we talk to Stephanie and then here’s the 72 thing about it. It’s good. I mean it’s it’s good that you you stayed with it and you and Jen really worked through. So, I just want to recognize that cuz that always I know it sometimes that

1:30:36 having done this several times it’s and and I think you know working towards Sorry, I don’t want to call my number people make working towards getting the policy manual online that is up to date, hopefully searchable. You know, there’s there’s still some work to be done on the policy manual itself. We’ve had conversations do we have with them and see if we host it or not. We’re that is an option. Um so, those those conversations they still will happen, but yeah, but all of this the work has been done through through the team Jen. So, I just want to thank you for that. Thank you for tolerating me and the process. Thank you. Lots and lots of time to look at it. This is one that’s like an ongoing always reviewing. Yeah, pretty much. Hopefully you don’t build up to get the backlogs that we have and that you just kind of a continual process. Got it. It’s not It’s not a thing that

1:31:22 happens cuz look things get thrown over. I mean it just kind of sometimes gets put off for a week. So, really if you can keep up on it it’s so much better for you cuz they I mean they send out those updates quarterly at least. So, Have you sent that out? » Yeah. » Yeah, just just » And then hopefully and you know, I’ve had built this tracking spreadsheet and then that can be something that can you use kind of be handed off to you know, whoever takes this on when I’m done with it and you will just sort of keep track of where we are in terms of the many of these things that are brought up. It’s great. Thank you. Um so, that brings us to subcommittee and liaison » We have a quick follow-up on the communications subcommittee. Melissa that I sent out the newsletter. Uh

1:32:08 and it we got to cover a wider variety of topics this time because we didn’t have to write as much about the budget and the override, although we did the local view of the full grassy board and ballot. Uh we were able to talk about the district improvement plan. And then uh I was happy to be able to highlight some of the achievements in our district that that you know, you may not hear about if you don’t attend school with your kids. So, we’re still getting good engagement with that. We’re getting good feedback from people that they’re saying, you know, I didn’t didn’t know that the middle school had this and you know, um so uh I’m just still hoping that we’ll be able to increase our distribution among people who maybe

1:32:53 don’t have direct connections to the school, but our list is slowly growing, you know. » Well, thank you for all the work that went into this. It makes sense. Really well done.

1:33:11 We had a goals subcommittee meeting last year. » Yes. » Uh and we sort of reviewed where we stand on the piece of the goals that our subcommittee was responsible for and so we’ll be getting together at the retreat. Retreat, sorry. You want to talk about it? You want to talk about that? Anything else? Anything else? » Yeah, I just want to go through the whole thing. I just I mean that inside of say these are also but just so folks know it’s the wellness committee. Um they’re they’re working on um we met the final time this year. We did a lot of great work in that committee. I talked about plans for next year. Um so we’re excited about doing that that work. And you know, we’ve known him back so that’s great. Um similarly um the

1:33:56 the the uh data information committee and I talked about that. We we have final meeting we will finalize the the reporting [clears throat] of school security we were reviewing or creating and reviewing uh for implementation in September. So I want to leave the admin team to walk through those or receive them again in an electronic form and paper form or the QR code form you will just set the forms but at least have access to QR’s. Um So I’m really happy with the way that uh that kind of finalized. Those two committees will be meeting kind of probably monthly quarterly next year and again more frequently if needed. And then we have the two safety committees once internal that with the with the union and the admins and those

1:34:43 kind of admins and peace fire charter, Tower School. I didn’t have a final meeting of the year but I still try to squeeze it in if I can and if we can do that I need to hold another summer of peace fire. Uh SRO kind of talked about you know if that these happen or if that happens like then we get a school year where we will start up on that. We will meet quarterly on that as well. The internal one where Sally and I talked a little bit. Um We have we did a lot of good work there really that brought some what discussed in the last couple meetings was about you know reporting in Aspen of student discipline what does that look like how is it reported how do our teachers know kind of what transpires if kids are being disciplined and they tell an officer anything what that looks like. Then that’s that’s an ongoing

1:35:30 conversation but I would I would surmise that we’re in a much better place than we were when we started that. Yeah. Yeah. And then you know we kind of continue to have those conversations the admin team and you know if we need to continue that committee we still will um Sally and I will talk about that for the next school year and the beginning of next school year and see what that looks like. Did I miss anything? Is that pretty good recap? » And mention buses. » Oh, the bus ticket. I saw that kind of what’s there is a big push for when kids are misbehaving on the bus and you know, how to kind of be track that out and communicate that out of the collaborative parents and that inform the school and that’s actually working out really well. Um Yeah, the principals are getting bused up some drivers when the students and that and what they’re supposed to be doing and that being safe on the bus.

1:36:16 So, that we have to communicate that out. So, we’re thinking Um Is actually what I wanted to share with the board. » Keep that in mind as superintendent of community sports but the board will be voting. » Motion. Okay. Um do we have any correspondence and I don’t think there are motions to return. So, moved. » Second. » [laughter] » [laughter] » All right. Um we’re ready to vote on the motion to adjourn. In favor. Motion carries 5 to 0. We are adjourned. » I’m looking at the agenda page 37.