Yes, we're ready. Good evening and welcome to this special meeting of the Boston School Committee. I'm chairperson Jerry Robinson. We'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Because this is a remote meeting, I will ask Miss Parvik to please call the role.
Thank you, chair. Dr. Alkins, present. Mr. Cadet Hernandez, present. Miss Lima Barbosa present. Miss Palanco Garcia present. Mr. Tran.
Mr. O'Neal present. Miss Robinson present. We have a quum. Thank you. Thank you. Tonight's session is shared being shared live on Zoom. It will be posted on the school committee's web
page and on YouTube. Tonight's meeting documents are posted on the committee's web page, bostonschools.org/schoolcommittee, under the July 9th meeting link. The meeting documents have been translated into all of the major BPS languages. Any
translations that are not ready prior to the start of the meeting will be posted as soon as they are finalized. The committee is pleased to offer live simultaneous interpretation virtually in Spanish, Haitian Creole, Cverian,
Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and American Sign Language. The Zoom interpretation feature has been activated. Zoom participants should click the globe icon at the bottom of your screen to select your language preference. I'd
like to remind everyone to speak at a slower pace to assist our interpreters. Before we begin, I want to note that this is a special meeting called specifically to vote on the superintendent's 20 2024 2025 summit of
evaluation. However, a few times sensitive items have come up that we needed to add to the agenda. Before we move into these items, I want to pause and remind everyone that as Miss Lima Barbosza shared at our last
meeting, today is her last day with us. Thank you, Miss Lima Barbosa, for your commitment, your thoughtful leadership, and always uplifting student voices. This work is not easy and your presence and voice will be missed. And we wish you all the best. For those who weren't
with us last time, I want to make sure you also have the opportunity to join us in recognizing Miss Lima Barbosa. I'll open it up for members to share their thoughts. Mr. to Card Hernandez, just want to say thank you for your
service and your commitment and it's been a pleasure obviously to to work together and good luck on this next chapter. Right. Thank you, Dr. Alkins. Uh yes, just echoing uh the sentiments of my fellow school committee member um
you know, Miss Lima Barbosa. um a brief time but a um still impactful and I know that your the spirit that you have around um making sure that communities are properly engaged and are included in
all aspects of the decision- making is something that we shall remember you for and and take forward and um you know we we we will do you proud. Thank you Mr. TR. Um
I'm also echoing uh other members who have spoken. Um thank you for your valuable contribution even though it was uh a short time that I know you but I but I do real really
enjoy having you as a member as a friend and good luck in your new endeavor. Thank you, superintendent. Yeah, I just too wanted to say um you know, thank you first of all for coming
back, right, and serving in BPS having been a student. Um you know, I think it just you know, your passion, your your your talent, you could do so many other things and you chose to do school committee and and that that really says a lot. Um, you also were just so good at
always keeping student voice at the center of whatever we talked about. And we'll just always appreciate the schools that we visited, your input on the welcome center and how we could make it um, a better and more special place for our families. Um, just thank you and
just wish you the best of luck and again hope this is not goodbye but just um, see you at a different time. Oops, I'm doing school committee. of coffee land. Sorry about that.
Superintendent. Oh, sorry. Um, Miss Palano Garcia. Thank you, Madame Chair. I want to say Chantel, thank you for you involved. Thank you for your passion. Thank you for everything. Your voice is very very very important in the in the comm
community committee. Um, good luck and you and your work. Thank you. Thank you. And Mr. O'Neal. Thank you, Miss Lima Babos. I said a lot last time, so I will strictly say um
good luck. We're going to miss you. And thank you for, as the superintendent said, how you always kept student voice centered and bringing the perspective of a more recent graduate uh than the chair and myself. um and particularly our conversations around
your alma mada, the Jeremiah E. Burke, now the Albert Holland School of Technology, and making sure the district continues to um live up to the second part of that name, School of Technology, and how how you raised that issue for
all of us. But good luck in your next step. We're going to miss working with you and as and as I've said to you many times, thank you so much and look forward to hearing what comes next for you. Take care. You okay, we'll now
begin with we will start with report which will be presented now and brought forward for a vote later during the action item portion of the meeting. This report pertains to the land deregistration. First I want to invite the superintendent to give introductory
remarks. Uh certainly chair and um chair I did have a few things I just wanted to uh kind of quickly update on and so okay I I didn't know if you wanted me to do that. Yes. Yes you can. Thank you. Great. Okay. Great. So um first of all
um you know this is the the end of the school year and um the summer. It's the usual time for us to see some transitions in district staff. Um, fortunately we have an incredibly stable principal core and central core. Um, but there are a few key staff uh, who are
going to be transitioning and I just thought it would be good to update you tonight um, on those staff members. Uh, as you know um, Michelle Wosu who was um, our chief of staff for the last several years. She's leaving BPSer has actually left at this point um in order
to relocate out of state with her family. Um, this is a key position in our organization and I'm excited to introduce Yusf Vali who is on uh the school committee call tonight as our new chief of staff to help ensure that all
the critical work dayto-day uh happens and happen successfully. Um, Yusfi joined BPS back in December, um, when he came in as our deputy chief of staff and most recently he served also as mayor Woo's deputy chief of staff and before
that as the director of the mayor's office of immigrant advancement. Um, so welcoming to uh, Yusfi in this new role and every confidence uh, that he's going to be very successful uh, for us as an organization. Uh I also recently
announced that uh Dr. Linda Chen has made the difficult decision to leave her current role as the senior deputy superintendent of academics in mid August to be able to relocate and better support her family on the west coast. Um
Linda is a brilliant colleague and uh more importantly a dear friend. Uh she's worked in urban ed for um over 30 years. Um and she really believes firmly in everything she does the power of education to change a child's life. Um
she has an unwavering commitment to improving the lives of our students. Uh one that I've seen very rarely um among colleagues. Uh Linder and I are currently working on a transition plan. We have the position posted. It's definitely getting a lot of attention as
you would imagine it would both locally and nationally. Uh I will certainly keep our committee uh posted on this. We hope to have someone in place for the start of the school year, but most importantly, we want to have the right person in place. Um, and then I'd also
like to mention that after three years of service in her current role, uh, and 23 years in total in BPS, Leslie Ryan Miller will step down from her position as chief of teaching and learning and move to a new role as the chief of staff
for the Girl Scouts of America Eastern Region. Um Leslie's led such important work on the teaching and learning team really ensuring that we have nearly 100% of schools using high-quality instructional materials and a deep focus
on equitable literacy and numeracy and that it's happening in every school and every classroom across BPS. In consultation with Leslie uh Dr. Angela Hedley Mitchell uh who has been in the district for many many years. She'll
assume the role of interim chief serving as our executive director of human or she has served as the executive director of humanities for the past three years. Um Dr. Hedley Mitchell is deeply familiar with the work that is happening
across teaching and learning and I know and Leslie knows that she will ensure all of our work in curriculum and instruction carries forward seamlessly. Um we also kicked off our summer programming earlier this week. Uh always one of my favorite times of year. Um
just want to briefly mention um a couple things. Um, our 2025 summer programming includes our fifth quarter programming, our extended school year or what we call ESY, uh, our student support programming,
our 21st century summer learning programs, and our exam school initiative, just for a few examples. Um, our extended school year began on Monday, July 7th, and our fifth quarter began yesterday, um, which was July 8th,
a day later than we normally do. And, and this was very deliberate so that we could have, uh, Monday to be able to have our staff in, provide some critical PD and information to all sites before students arrived um, on Tuesday. To
date, we have 2,913 students who are confirmed to attend the ESY and 6,783 students have accepted a seat in our fifth quarter program. Uh, in total, BPS's summer programming portfolio has
the capacity to serve nearly 12,500 students, and this will happen across 81 of our school buildings this summer. Um, as of right now, the high school credit recovery and the middle school course recovery programs have a combined
enrollment of almost 35,000 of almost 3,500 students. Uh, there's a big push for us this year with our high school students as has been the case to make credit up to make sure that they can uh, you know, graduate on time. uh and es
especially those juniors and seniors um who are just a few credits away from graduating so that we can have a one of the most robust summer graduations uh which will happen in August. Um we're also excited to offer free summer meals,
breakfast and lunch to all children and teens under 18 at more than 100 locations across our neighborhoods. There's no identification or pre-registration required. This is really in an effort to care for our whole community. Um I'm also happy to
report that from a transportation lens, um we achieved 76 76% morning bus ontime performance on the first day of ESY and that was 27%age points higher than last year and 18
percentage points higher than two years ago. Uh these again continue to be important milestones as our transportation system gets stronger and stronger for that on-time performance. Um again on day two which was the start of our full fifth quarter we had 84% of
the morning buses arriving on time and this was 20 percentage points higher than last year and 15 percentage points higher than 2 years ago. And we'll keep making that until we get higher and higher to 100%. Uh for any more
information for the public about our summer our summer programming, they can go to boston publicschools.org all lowercase summer resources. Um chair, as you mentioned uh tonight, um we're asking the school committee to
approve the dregistration of land that's located at 315 Mount Vernon Street in Dorchester. Uh this is the site of the planned Boys and Girls Martin Richard Foundation fieldhouse project. Uh we're asking the committee to take this vote
later in this meeting. Um school committee members are in receipt of a memo uh regarding this request which is publicly available along with tonight's meeting materials at bostonchools.org/lorcase school committee. The 75,000 square foot
fieldhouse will include indoor athletic fields and courts uh walking track, fitness and training rooms, classrooms, and other amenities in the community. In 2020, this body voted to subleasase the
BPS owned land, and the district entered into a 30-year lease agreement with the Boys and Girls Club that started in March of 2021. Just as a reminder, the Boys and Girls Club needs permits to continue the construction and the land
needs to be subdivided for them to receive the permits. In order to subdivide the land, the Massachusetts Land Court requires a certificate of authority to deregister the land and this is an administrative act that will
allow the construction to continue. Um and chair at this time uh I have some other uh mentions around grants but I think at this time um we have with us Lorenzo Dilvio who's our legal adviser uh and he'll be here to answer any
questions when we get to the report. Uh just finally uh relative to the grants there's four grants for your consideration tonight uh and they're totaling more than $934,000. The largest is a $375,000
comprehensive school health services grant and this will serve more than 46,000 students districtwide. The grant will be used to reduce chronic absenteeism for students affected by chronic diseases by supporting nurse
case management. There's also a $360,000 comprehensive behavioral health model research and data grant that will serve 40 thou 45,000 students across 121 schools. The grant provides a continuum
of prevention and promotion at risk services and intensive services to meet the behavioral needs of our students. More than 800 students districtwide will have access to comprehensive eye exams
through a $195,230 FY26 pilot BPS vision program grant. And finally, there's a $4,000 21st century community learning center grant, which will increase access to a highquality
academically enriching summer program uh for students on IEPs at the UMA Academy. Um we have with us uh Marcela Maka who is our director of federal and state grants, programs, and compliance. Uh and
when we get to the grant side, um were there to be any questions, uh we would be able to take that up. Then um finally, just on grants, I know that there's been a lot in the press in the media around this. Um we are we will be
providing a memo for school committee uh to just be able to further delineate and explain um you know what the potential impact is for us. Um right now the funding is uh indicating from the federal government a delay. Uh I want to
emphasize a couple things. One is that um we don't we do not uh believe that there will be an impact to any BPS employees for the coming school year 2526 uh or for any of the current BPS summer
programming. Um in terms of the types of funding, it is our title dollars. Uh particularly our title 2A. Um this is a supporting effective instruction um side of the house. And this is uh what we use around student achievement, principal
development, things like that. Um title three, which uh directly impacts our language instruction for our English learners and immigrant students. uh title 4A which uh is a title grant that does student support and academic
enrichment and title 4B which is our 21st century learning centers grant. Um again we are actively looking within our own budget for temporary funding to be able to offset. Um we do not uh right
now foresee any impact uh to staffing who are on these grants for the 2526 uh school year and uh again this will not impact our summer but this is certainly something that we need to keep you informed about. We need to keep our community informed about and um you know
we're going to be doing a lot of deep planning as we've already begun uh for how we might be able to support and offset some of these critical need services. Uh I think that's it. chair for right now. Okay. Um,
we can do one quick round of questions and then we need to go back to the land deregulation report. Does anybody have any questions at this point? Mr. Card Hernandez? Yeah, I have a few questions just
because it's our final meeting. I can ask them all at once if that's easier or I can break them down. What would you prefer? I'm fine if you want to just ask. Okay, great. So, the first one I'm just wondering if you have an update for us on the White Stadium cost just because
there's been a lot of news about it exceeding the figure due to rising material cost. So, is there an update on our the anticipated cost as well as the impact on the budget particularly given some of the other issues? The first one, yeah, I think it's I think it's something that the city is monitoring. I
think it's a bit of a moving target as a lot of construction projects are. Um I we can get I can give you that in writing uh once we can conference with the city and sort of see what the latest figures are. Awesome. What I have just as we're ending the school year is the work that
we're doing to develop a a systemwide AI policy. Is there any further progress in this? And what can we anticipate? Yes. When can we anticipate that we'll have something to review as a committee? Yes. Yeah. So, there's an actual work group that's working out of uh teaching and learning. Uh Dr. Chen uh and several
of the staff have been involved in that. Uh once again, we can update and we'll provide um something as we get closer to school. But, uh we see AI as something that we want to be able to embrace and figure out how it can help us particularly on the teaching and learning side. So, our staff has been
actively involved in several conferences. Um happy again at the start of school to give some update. Great. and and are we anticipating that there'll be a policy for the fall or something later? I think that this is something that we will the first piece is to update how
we're thinking about using it. Um part of that branch would be policy but the other is going to be the practice. So um we'll give uh some update in the September meetings uh about next steps there and if there is policy implication uh when we might bring forward language.
Okay. And then just to for further clarity on the federal funding conversation, is it fair as we're thinking about the sort of thesis here, no major impacts for the summer or the fall, possibly some delayed impact based
on the way that we're budgeting if the money doesn't come in? Or is there a chance that there is um an impact to the fall and the student experience in the fall? And then the sort of second part of that question is when can we anticipate now that will help us
understand that. Uh so the the memo will be imminent um relative to what the impacts could be in terms of the offsets. That's something that we're actively looking for that temporary funding. Uh again right now all we know is this is delay. So we'll
be doing some planning. Um but at the same time we hope not to have to actually use that planning. Uh, and we hope that this is money that gets released because it I can't underscore enough uh, you know, this is $8 million for us and it funds some really critical
needs areas of the organization. So, uh, yeah. So, but the goal will be forthcoming in in the next day. Okay. Thank you. Absolutely. We're And then two more questions. Do we have an enrollment update for the fall since this is our last meeting as well as a graduation rate update based on um the
recent graduation? So the enrollment will be calcul we're calculating round three now. Uh so that would not be ready yet but we will give a memo to that. What we do know is um we are seeing impact to our multilingual learners. I think that's something I've updated
committee on. Um and so we do we do anticipate some impact there at each of the grade levels. Uh I think the other thing is last year's high school data also included several closures of charters. So we actually saw like an artificial inflation um that happened
because we took students in uh and so it'll remain to see if we see that kind of go back to normal level or whether that stays increased. Um but again once we finish the calculations with round three and the analysis that's something we'll be happy to share for the start of
school. Uh your other question was on graduation rate. So, we've wrapped up the chunk of graduation season, obviously knowing that they're summer graduates, but do we have an update on our current graduation? Yeah. So, we don't we don't calculate the graduation rate off cycle like that.
Um, we wait until we do the summer graduations because it's actually pretty extensive. Uh, in fact, that we're hoping and I I would hope uh that school committee will attend the the district graduation. and we'll get you the invites for that. But we're hoping that this is one of our largest. Um because
we had many students who were close, but because of pandemic loss, they were dragging credit here or there. We're merely making an effort, literally going door to door to make sure that students know what they can take advantage of in order to cross that graduation
threshold. So once again, we'll let the summer graduation happen and then we can get some updated figures. Great. It would be helpful when we get to figure two just for our own understanding the students who finish on track cycle and then students who are off track and the relationship between
the final number. Okay. Yeah. I mean I can have further conversation with you. Off track is slightly hard to define because is a multilingual learner that takes extra time to complete their coursework off track or is that a multilingual learner that just needs extra time because
they're learning English in the process and need that additional year to be able to get graduation rate. But happy to have that conversation. Yeah. No, I think like a traditional four-year number and then a fiveyear and a six-year number. I think that sort of trends nationally and how I understand
the reporting structure, but I agree with you. Obviously, every student is different and every student is complex. I don't think it's a negative or a positive, but it's interesting for us to understand who is finishing in the typical 4-year time cycle versus who is taking the summer programs that we that
we offer the the the credit recovery that we are able to fund and then uh and then create like then what does that actually turn key in terms of the whole number? Okay. Yeah, we we'll get you, as I said, after the uh August graduation where
we're hoping as many students as possible are able to get across that graduation line and on to the next level. Uh we'll give you updated figure. Thanks. You're welcome. Are there any other questions before we move on to the report?
No, we can move on to the land d registration. So, I think if there's any questions, uh, council can answer them specifically, but I think chair the comments that I made are are what are
pertinent for this vote and we would just encourage a positive vote so that construction can move forward. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. We will now then move on to general public comment. M pra. Thank you chair.
Um the public comment period is an opportunity for individuals to address the school committee on school related issues. Questions on specific school matters are referred to the superintendent. Questions on policy matter will be discussed by the committee later. We have 10 speakers
this evening. Each person will have three minutes to speak and I will remind you when you have 30 seconds remaining. Please feel free to email your comments for distribution to the committee. Speakers may not reassign their time to others. The time that that an interpreter uses for English
interpretation will not be deducted from the speaker's allotted time. Please direct your comments to the chair and refrain from addressing individual school committee members or district staff. Please note the comments of any public speaker do not represent the Boston public schools or the Boston
school committee. Please state your name, affiliation, and where you live. Before you begin, please sign in using the name you register with for public comment and be ready to unmute and turn on your camera when it's your turn to speak. Please raise your hand virtual hand when I call your name. To support
interpretation, please speak slowly and clearly. We will start with our first group. H Verie Wilkson, Wilkinson, John Mad, Cheryl Bachman, and Mike Hishman. Please raise your hands. You can. Thank you.
You can stop. Good evening. Um, thank you to the committee. Uh, my name is Bnee Wilkinson and I'm with SchoolFax Boston. Um, in the, I believe, most recent, um, school committee meeting, updates were shared about possible
changes in the exam school policy. Um, and as it relates to previous work, have members of the exam school policy committee um that approved the most recent iteration of the work, have they been updated and informed? Um, it would
be important to ensure that they are looped in um for any possible lessons learned and to avoid any redundancy of efforts. um as it relates to comm community input which is our foremost concern at this time. Um in the last
school committee meeting um it was shared that there will be upcoming community engagement on this topic. Um when and where will those meetings be? It will be important for there to be robust community engagement this summer and into the fall uh to ensure that
potential impacted communities and families will be heard from in a thoughtful way. Um and as it relates to data, we are looking for transparency in data. Um we agree with the superintendent that this the issue of
there being um less access potentially for black students around a number of 7% that that will need to be drilled in to more deeply. Um so we're looking for the data as the the district does indeed
drill into this issue more deeply. Um data needs to be shared so that the community can give um thoughtful and relevant feedback as it might relate to any possible changes. Um so data will need to be presented at school committee
as well as shared out widely um with the community. Um so in closing, transparency and thoughtful community engagement will be essential in moving forward in this work. Um especially with this kind of summer timeline, we really
want to um advocate for this conversation not to get lost um in in the season and that we'll ideally be able to work towards an equitable outcome um that won't have to be returned to year after year. um so that
this topic won't continue to pull time and attention away um from other um school and district matters that that need urgent attention. Thank you for your time. Thank you.
Our next speaker is John Man. My name is John Mud. I'm a resident of Cambridge and a longtime education advocate in Boston and grandfather of a student at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School with the three school
committee and BPS staff working groups over the summer and with the resignation of PP key BPS staff leaders as the superintendent noted and a new state commissioner of education. There's an important opportunity to rethink BPS
approaches to the education of multilingual learners and multilingual learners with disabilities as well as the equitable literacy strategy. Please take advantage of this opportunity. The committee and BPS say that they are
datadriven and student outcome focused. The data is clear that English immersion through SEI and inclusive education is failing to prepare more than 90% of multilingual learner students to meet state MCCAST standards. The data also
shows that equitable literacy is not accelerating improvement of ELA reading scores in the early grades or reducing achievement gaps. Something needs to change in adult behavior if we are to expect student outcomes to improve
significantly as we all hope they will. For multimilling learners, the research evidence is clear that building on the foundation of home language is a better way to learn academic English and lay the groundwork for dual language
inherited language learning for those who want it. There are many ways that BPS uh uh could promote the value of home language. For example, by encouraging parents to speak and read to their children in their home language.
by providing professional develop to monoling development to monolingual English-speaking teachers on how to support home language with their home malemale students by expanding bilingual education programs and by stopping the
implementation of inclus inclusive education for multilingual students. think through these alternatives this summer and then come up with recommendations for changes from the working groups and then let's have a serious open give and take discussion
with experts and stakeholders on new ways forward in the fall. As I've said earlier, I think you're missing an opportunity to invoke out voices of the working in the working groups. Without this, maybe you could brainstorm on how
to have a fuller discussion of these issues with open hearings or town halls in this coming fall and winter. Thank you for hearing me. Thank you, Mr. Mud. Our next speaker is
Cheryl Beckman. Good evening. My name is Cheryl Buckman. I'm a Dever alumni, parent, and lead spokesperson. I live in South Boston, and I'm here to speak about the legacy of the Paul Dever School. Since 1958,
the DER has been more than a school. It's been a home, a place where students begin their journey, where educators find purpose, and where families build community. Even during tough times like the 2013
receiverhip and frequent leadership leadership changes, the heart of the Denver never faltered. Parents, students, and teachers stood united, holding on to the school's core values, family and community.
In 2020, the dev turned a corner. New leadership brought growth, inclusion, and celebration of the 14 languages spoken within its walls. The school became a model of what's possible when equity, and diversity are truly
embraced. Then this January, the Deborah was placed on a closure list. At that moment, decades of progress and care were threatened. But the community rose up through rallies, meetings, and the
ever strong movement. We spoke loudly and clearly. And while the final decision to close had been made, I want to be clear. You can close a school building, but you cannot close its legacy. The Paul A de School leaves behind
something very powerful and we will carry it forward always strong and I want to give a deep thank you to the capital planning team for their dedication to the Denver community. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Our next speaker is Mike Hushman. by Kaishman Dchester. Assessment evaluation is an essential part of any learning organization. The purpose of my brief evaluation this evening is to assess the leadership
team, Mayor Woo, the superintendent, and the appointed ward. There is has never been enough resources to provide a quality education for all of our children. This tradition, unfortunately, has continued. Family and community
engagement. If you believed in this, you would have actively encouraged the community to participate in this annual evaluation process. Boss Woo refuses to allow the creation of elected school committee despite the will of the people expressed in an
election and a vote by the city council. Instead, we have an appointed board selected and accountable to the mayor. Many members of the multilingual task force publicly resigned because the system embraced poor policies.
Mayor Woo and Miss Skipper would not have violated their would not have violated the system's own process and instead bushwacked the O'Brien school in their attempt to move these exam school from the heart of the black community to
white Roxbury. The failure to come up with another plan smells of political retribution. The system would have developed a comprehensive facilities plan. Instead, plans are made in secret, including school closings and publicly announced
before school communities are consulted. Shock and awe. Too often, the system practice community manipulation and disengagement. The system continues to act in ways that increase inequities and racism.
Schools are always closed where low-income black and brown children are the overwhelming majority. Under the previous leadership of Dr. Casilius and her chief assistant, Dr. Charles Coransson, equity had been major
priority. The racial equity tool was created and used. Community equity roundt discussions were held on a regular basis. All black and brown children were admitted to our exam schools. Under the misleadership of Superintendent Skipper, this progress
has been erased and the system is energetically marched in the opposite direction. Immediately after Miss Skipper had been hired, black and brown central office leaders Dr. Branson and many other black and brown school leaders were fired. Despite
significant programs that diversify the staff, more black and brown teachers have left the system than have been recruited. The racial equity too became invisible. Community equity roundt discussions died. Inequities have increased and
racism has grown stronger. Thank you. Thank you. Our next group of speakers is Kaval Abdul Rahman, Sadi Jasmine, Ded Ramani, and Courtney Phy. Please raise
your hand. Abdul Rahman is Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. You can start. Yeah. Thank you very much. Dear members of BPS committee, my name is Haval Abdul Rahman. I am a proud parent of two
students at Devil Elementary School in fifth grade and third grade. I am also a longtime resident of Harbor Point in Dorchester for 21 years and a vice president of a Harbor Point community task force committee. Today I stand
before you to discuss what is the next step after closing de school. Since January to the end of March of this year, DE comm community including parents, teachers, students, and educator staff fought and defended to
reject the BPS proposal for the school closure. But unfortunately and sadly, BPS decided to vote for the school closure. BPS tried to help and improve devil school many years ago including frequently changing the leadership.
Therefore, even if I don't agree with BPS decision, but at the end of the day, I am respecting BPS decision because I'm assuming that BPS is working towards the best future to our community. Dear BPS
committee, after closing the school, I hope BPS consider the following demands, please. I hope BPS commit that they don't give the devil building to any private developer or to a charter
school. I hope capital planning team do their best to find a fund to renovate or modify the building structure to meet BPS criteria. I hope the building remains in the community and look at an
option to make a communityrun school or a model that fits the building. My last message and statement to you all with my respectful to you all. You may close our school but you will not close the devil
school spirit. Thank you for your time and consideration. I sincerely hope that you will listen to the concerns of our families and work towards the best future to our community. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Our next speaker is Sadi Jasmine. Please unmute and stop the video, Miss Jasmine. Okay. I I'm not sure if there's an issue going on with um with say the Jasmine.
So I will go to Dedra Manning and then we will come back to say the Jasmine Dedra Manning. Did Manning accept the prompt? Okay. Um, we will continue. Courtney Phy.
Hello. Can everyone see me and hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Hi, thank you. Um, I come before the committee and the superintendent tonight um as a general concern about yet again how the district continues to lack transparent, clear, concrete policies
for communication with families, particularly families with children with IEPs. I use my own recent example of my child as sort of a case study. Um, in point, we had our IEP meeting on June 9th. At that IEP meeting, the team made the decision that it would be in the
best interest of our child to have a different school location for her upcoming grade. Um, we were told by our codes that the we needed to go to the welcome center for that. I repeatedly pointed to the appropriate sections of
the state regulations 603 CMR 28.06 6 that says it is the decision of the team to determine which location services are to be provided and that is up to the team to figure out the specific classroom or school to
implement the placement decision. BPS's own website notes that a transfer request policy does not apply to students who need a different school or program as determined by the IEP team. Despite this clear understanding of the law, which I have heard the
superintendent reflect agreement with in various public settings, the Kosen continued to insist we need to go to the welcome center. We did not receive a draft placement until the last day of school in our backpack. We did make the decision to go to the welcome center at Bowling since we received no additional communication from our school. We went
yesterday, we arrived. I would note that the notices on the website are very confusing about the locations being closed except for bowling. Um, I would suggest you add a note for each thing saying, "Please note, close until August 4th." Because if you just go to the
location, it has the hours listed. Um, and then I would say that when we arrived there, no one introduced themselves to us. No one asked our name. We were simply a number. We were given a piece of paper on a clipboard, asked to fill it out. And when I asked to speak
to someone from OSS, I was told they are off for the summer. I was frankly shocked and horrified um that that was the case. I was told there was no one available. Um I've subsequently emailed Deputy Superintendent Seal requesting assistance on this front since at this point I basically had no idea who else
to turn to. So we were told to go to the welcome center even though that is totally inappropriate and in contrary to what the law is which is the the placement decision is a product of the team and should be implemented as such in the placement form and even when we arrived to the welcome
center we were not welcomed quite frankly. Um and the I received a very um slightly arrogant email from someone in OSS telling me I was you know that all these things happened that didn't happen that I was told how to fill out the
form. I was not um in all sorts of things. So I come here to say that I am not alone in this. I know dozens of parents who have experienced the same frustration of being told to do things and then arrive and get told something separate time. I would like the school committee to
establish a clear policy. Our next speaker is Sadi Jasmine. We're going to try again. Can you hear me? Yes. Could you please turn on your camera? I'm It won't turn on. It says um host
has you started your video. Yes, I I'm Okay, I'm on now. Very good. Thank you. Okay. Good evening. My name is Satie Jasmine. I live in Dorchester. I am the president of the bus monitors local
2936. I am here tonight to speak on the behalf of my monitors, many of whom have dedicated their lives to this work. Some started as far back as 1989.
For the first time all these years, our monitors have been spoken to in ways that are completely unacceptable. Over that past month, they have been referred as too lazy, troublemakers,
thieves, unqualified, and undeserving of their position as special education bus monitors by the district. On November 7th, 2024, I attended a city council meeting with
Ed Flynn and his team. They spoke directly to transportation department. They explained to them that the bus monitors deserve to be treated with respect. We deserve fair wages that
allow us to support our families with dignity while we transport Boston most unvulnerable students. Thank you on the behalf of all the bus monitors for listening this evening.
Thank you very much. And thank you for allowing me to speak. Thank you, Miss Jasmine. We're going to try again with Dedra Manning. But there's doesn't seem to work. So we
will go we will continue our two final speakers Sequoia Craig and Edith Basil. Sequoia Craig. Hi good evening. Hi. Could you please start your video? I am in the hospital with my son. So for
his privacy, I will not be able to turn on my video. Okay, you can you can start. Okay. So, um you know, I thank you to the school committee and Mary skipper for listening to what I have to say. I'm
an advocate for my son who has cle cell disease and acute depression. Um, I've really been trying to be patient and understanding and get a gist of how the support systems are going to be effective, but I've been met with
extreme racism. I've been met with legal threats. My son has been held back three times because he has cle cell disease and they're supposed to be home hospital care, which none of that was implemented while he's been in the hospital. And cle
cell disease is an incurable disease. And due to the high stressors and the discrimination towards my child, he is extreme uh he's experiencing major health issues where he has kidney failure and he has been constantly in
the hospital suffering no home and hospital care, no assignments. Um he passes the MCAST with flying colors, but the McKinley school has been robbed of major financial
um funding to extend the Josiah Quincy. The school does not have a cafeteria. But when you think about it, even in the prison system, you know, they have access to food and cafeteria. There's a lack of enrollment. There's extreme
racism. And all we're asking for is fairness. You can't say that everyone is equal, but then you want to crush the spirits and hearts and souls of children. And there's a lack of enrollment, more staff than students, and you know, very condescending
behavior, legal threats, and you know, more so opposition than working together with the parents so we can see these students flourish. Even as the school committee flourishes in their positions and their roles, these students suffer immensely. And um you know I just think
it would be fair for children to be treated equal and funding to be allocated back to the Melbourne King and the children to be treated fairly because the school's a safety hazard not just for the children but for the staff. And I'm very concerned about this loud
tone of racism and the lack of support that they say is available that has not been available to my son. My son is a number one target at the Melbourne King and you know it's just very disappointing and discouraging but you know I just hope for the best the school
committee can really come together and be realistic with how they're treating the students and the staff. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Edith Bazil. Good evening. I want to echo everything
that was said by Miss Craig Jay Robinson. Melbourne Eggs King Academy for formerly McKinley serves mostly black boys with emotional impairments. It's supposed to be a therapeutic school, but they are
warehoused in crumbling facilities with no therapeutic infrastructure. You have the report. Minimal academic support and rotting bars on the windows. When the school was still McKinley, BPS tried to kick the students out, tear down the
building, and build a new school for Quinsey Upper with no plans for McKinley students. One group was deemed worthy. Black students were discarded. BPS renamed McKinley, but Mayor Woo refused
to fulfill the promise to rebuild it. Placing the honorable Melvin H. King's name, a man who dedicated his life to justice into the center of an educational crisis is not an honor.
The consequences have been educational apartheid playing out in real time. The numbers speak for themselves. Mel King has 81.5% chronic absenteeism rate, flat academic outcomes, and dismal graduation
rates. Meanwhile, the district poured $223.6 million into Josiah Quinsey Upper School while leaving Mel King students in neglected, decaying buildings and installing more cameras for
surveillance. I filed multiple complaints, including one on behalf of Miss Craig, who just spoke uh for students. One student had his arm broken in an illegal restraint. Another student was violently dragged off the bus by out of control staff. When I asked for
accountability, Skipper responded with lawyers, not solutions. When I sought urgent support for a medically fragile student, Miss Craig's son, who was hospitalized in crisis, Skipper didn't send help. She sent a lawyer who threatened legal action against the
parent and the student. Let that sink in. A child struggling to survive and the district's response is to sicken attorney on them. BPS would rather loyal lawyer up than show up for black students. Let me be clear. We will not
be intimidated. We demand fullscale transformation of Mel King Academy, a new building, trauma-informed services, esser funds, transparency, and esser funds, and a real sustained commitment to black student success now. You have
the emails, you have the request, I'm waiting for a meeting. Let's discuss. Thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Brazil. We will try one last time for um for Miss Draanning. Thank you. My name is Dear Danning. I am
um a resident of Dorchester, a DPS parent um and a charter school parent for two public school children. Um, I just want to connect with the school committee to um, reiterate some things that I've said before. It appears that
the district has not provided data to the school committee about the impact of the exam school policy on residents of the city. Based on the summary presented last month, the families of possibly 1,000 students over the last five years, probably each year, likely analyzed the
very little data presented publicly and decided their children would not be treated equitably and did not apply. When will there be an opportunity for community engagement and when will changes be made to ensure equitable access to all eligible applicants across the city? I hope that school committee
members will engage on this issue to ensure timely district action on rectifying areas of the policy that have prevented high achieving students from receiving invitation so that a sixth year of denying access to certain students does not happen. I also would like to note that the student outcome
data has not yet been presented to the public though public data available from DESIE MCCAST scores seems to indicate that the policy has had a negative impact. Please, school committee members, please get the district to get moving on this issue. As you could tell
from the first public speaker, there are lots of people who want to engage on this issue to ensure that the policy going forward will treat all eligible applicants equitably. Thank you. Thank you very much, Shar. That concludes public comment.
You're muted. Thank you, Miss Prax. And thank you to those of you who spoke this evening and shared your perspectives. Your testimony is very important to us. Our first action item this evening is the grants for approval totaling $934,230.
Um I want to turn it back over to the superintendent for any further comments. No chair. I think uh as I included in my initial ones, right, we just really encourage the committee to affirmatively approve all of these. Marcela is here were there to be any deeper questions
about the grants. All righty. Thank you. I'll now open it up to questions and comments from the committee. All right. If there are no questions, I'll now entertain a motion to approve the grants as presented. Is there a motion? Motion. Thank you. Is there a second?
Second. Is there any discussion or objection to the motion? Miss Pix, will you please call the role? Thank you, Dr. Alkins. Yes, Mr. Cadet Hernandez. Yes, Miss Lima Barbosa. Yes,
Miss Polano Garcia. Yes, Mr. Tran. Yes, Mr. O'Neal. Yes. And Miss Robinson? Yes. The grants are approved. Thank you. Our next action item is a vote on the land registration that was
presented earlier in the meeting. I'll now open it up to questions and comments from the committee. Okay. Hearing none, I'll now entertain a motion to approve the land dregistration as presented. Is there a motion? So moved. Thank you. Is there a second?
Second. Thank you. Is there any discussion objection to the motion? Miss Pavves, will you please call the role? Thank you, chair. Dr. Alkins. Yes. Miss Kadet Hernandez. Yes. Miss Lima Barbosa.
Yes. Miss Panco Garcia. Yes. Mr. Tran, yes. Mr. O'Neal, yes. Miss Robinson, yes. The motion is approved unanimously. Great. Thank you. Our third action item
is a vote on the superintendent school year 2425 summitive evaluation that was presented at the June 17th meeting. Dr. Alkins, thank you for your leadership in conducting this year's evaluation. I invite the superintendent to share remarks.
Great. Thank you, Chair. And I just uh want to also say uh thank you to Dr. Alkins and and just all members of the committee uh for the support throughout the evaluation process. Um you know, each year I appreciate having the opportunity to share our progress as a
district, which is also my progress with the committee and the public. Um over the past three years I think we have steadily created the foundation for change and we continue to build on those successes year upon year. Um all of us agree myself at the the forefront that
there's a lot more work to do. Um, but I'm confident that we've really taken the time to lay the groundwork and the foundation to create the real lasting systemic change that we know we need um to really be serious about uh achievement growth in our district and
closing achievement and opportunity gaps uh once and for all. During my 2024 evaluation um I indicated that we had several folky. One was centering the identities of our students to cultivate the sense of belonging in our schools.
Uh another was shifting our practices so that children could learn in the least restrictive environment which is expressed in our inclusive education uh uh practice. expanding native language supports and access to native language instruction in the form of bilingual,
dual language uh and uh access to language specific uh and providing the tools and professional development for our teachers and staff to do their very best work. I believe we've made significant strides over the past year
in demonstrating how we're meeting those goals through the operational changes we've made, the academic shifts, the changes we've made within family and community advancement. Um, as we move deeper into our summer, our work continues with full speed, not only
through the summer programming that I mentioned earlier tonight, um, but also in our ongoing planning for the school year 2526 and preparing for our large, um, what we call our August Leadership Institute or ALI. Um this week uh in fact right now
uh I along with um some of my members of my leadership team were attending PELP at Harvard which is the public education leadership project. Um this is an experience that we did several years back that helped with formation for our capital planning initiatives uh and what
that plan and execution would look like. Um, and we're hoping that this experience in particular that we're going through this week, um, that that will really set the stage for, um, renewing the district's strategic plan, um, for the upcoming year. Um, and as
I've said before, and I will say each time, you know, every day I wake up, I love doing what I do. I love our district uh, very much. It's a part of who I am as an educator. It's formed me. Um, and I just look forward to many more years of being able to serve our
community here in our city. Uh, certainly our district and our staff, in our schools, and, uh, you as the committee members. Thank you. I'll now open it up to the floor to questions and comments from the committee.
Mr. Card Hernandez. Thank you so much. I I'll start just by thanking Dr. Atkins as well for his work in this process. I know it was a heavy lift and it's a lot during as any parent knows during one of our busiest times of the year. So, thank you for that and of
course thank you um to the superintendent. I think I appreciate I deeply appreciate the superintendent's commitment and the progress we've made in certain areas and I remain um deeply concerned I guess by just the lack of
I mean quantitative rather data in both self-evaluation and then our broader team's assessment. Um, I think for our community to have confidence in our direction, we just need to set clear, measurable outcomes and then transparent reporting. And I urge us for the future
to align our evaluation process more closely possibly with the state standards and to ensure that future evaluations are grounded and uh robust quantitative evidence especially as we address persistent achievement gaps and of course major operational challenges.
For me, one of the things that has stood out in the process, you know, surrounded student achievement gaps, recent MCCAST data, it shows that only 17% of black and Latino students in grades 3 to eight met expectations in English compared to
59% of white students and half of Asian students. Um, in math, the gap is even wider with only 15% of black and Latino students expectations versus 60% of the white students. So the evaluation acknowledges these gaps but doesn't provide a clear data driven plan for
closing them or measuring progress year over years. Equally, I've shared my concern obviously around long-term facilities plan and and our declining enrollment or strategy there would be helpful for us. Um and then these we
think many committee members of the well-intentioned I think similar to the superintendent we just consistently grounded in specific measurable data. So the ratings often reference general progress or intentions rather than cy clear evidence or outcomes. So it's not
just the superintendent's evaluation that needs more data and transparency. It's our own process as a committee that needs to improve. So I think we owe it to students and to families and to the public to ensure that both our assessments and our decisions are rooted in clear evidence and and clear metrics too. So I hope we can do more of that in
the future. And of course thank you superintendent for for your service. And thank you Dr. Alins for pulling all of this together. Thank you. There any other comments? No. Okay,
Mr. O'Neal. Thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to echo um your comments and member Cadet Hernandez comments about thanks to Dr. Elkins. Um I saw my comments reflected in the summitative and read other
members um as well and saw their comments reflected. So I know Dr. Elkins worked hard to make sure our viewpoints were represented and um as member Cadetan it has it's a lot of hard work to make that happen. we actually all read and say, "Oh, I saw something of
mine in there." So, it is truly a summitative. And so, thank you, Dr. Elkins, for that. And superintendent, thank you for your work in the past year. There were a lot of uh positive things happened. All of which are continue to be building blocks. But um
you know from all of our collective bargain agreements being done to the SIP being stopped to um um um a number of other things. There were improvements in transportation. There are some challenges there as well as we
talked about and I think it is laid out in the summitive um you know movement that we're taking now the building blocks that were done to set up for long-term facilities plans etc. I just think it was a a very positive year and
I deeply appreciate when you said you wake up every morning excited to go to work. Um it shows when all of us deal with it and for the amount of things that hit your desk every single day. Um, I deeply appreciate the commitment and the positive energy that you bring um
and the work that you're doing to build your team. So, I'm excited about the future under your leadership. Thank you, superintendent. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Okay. If there's nothing further, I'll now entertain a motion to approve the superintendent school year 2425
summitive evaluation as presented. Is there a motion? So move. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion or objection to the motion? Miss Pavitz, will you please call the RO?
Thank you, Chair. Dr. Alkins. Yes. Mr. Cernandez. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Miss Lima Barbosa. Yes. Miss Pano Garcia.
Yes. Mr. Tran. Yes. Mr. O'Neal. Yes. Miss Robinson. Yes. The motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We are confident as a body that super superintendent skipper is the
leader to continue moving the district forward towards transformational change as per the provision in the superintendent's contract which outlines the potential for contract renewal discussions after July 1st 2025. If the superintendent has reached a rating of
proficient or above in the past year, the school committee recommends entering into contract negotiations with the superintendent. With the approval of the superintendent school year 2425 summit of evaluation, the superintendent has reached such a rating. Our last action
item is a vote authorizing the chair to represent the Boston School Committee in contract negotiations with the superintendent. I'll now open the floor to questions and comments from the committee. Mr. TR. Yes. Um
before we vote before we uh take a vote on on this important um vote, uh I as I understand the vote is to allow the chair to enter into an
individual negotiation with the superintendent. Is that right? Yes and no. I I will represent but before any decision will be made it will come back to the comm community it will come back to the um board to the group.
Okay. So it just starts the conversation. So any any any recommendations will be coming back to the committee for a final vote. So it's not that I'm negotiating this and it's a done deal. No. Okay. Yeah. Um
during the negotiation process uh between uh the chair and the superintendent, is there any uh windows for uh members of the the the committee to
you know to introduce uh items and provisions. The reason I'm I'm raising this is I like to see the the framework of the negotiation. Yes. Uh the you know the the uh
the items that are going to be uh negotiated upon the terms and benefits and all that to be negotiated upon and I I like to to to have at least some kind of a clear view on that before before we uh Yes.
move forward. Okay. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think we all everyone has access to the current um proposal that she is working under her her current contract. So that will be a starting place. So I
mean and if I mean I think the first thing you should do is to go back and review the current contract. So if there are any new questions or issues we can certainly bring those forward in discussion. So yes there there is you know plenty of an opportunity if you
feel that there is need of something that should be brought forward to be part of the conversation or the discussion. So those kind of um uh recommendation will go directly to you uh in in person or is it happening or
okay that's good. Yeah thank you. Yes but it will but I said it will certainly include all voices. It will not be a personal one-on-one right decision. Yes, I understand. Okay.
Are there other questions? Okay. There's nothing further. I'll now entertain a motion to approve the authorization of the chair to represent the Boston School Committee in contract negotiations with the superintendent. Is there a motion? Move. Is there a second?
Second. Is there any discussion or objection to the motion? Miss Pavix, will you please call the RO? Thank you, Chair. Dr. Alkins, yes. Mr. Kadet Hernandez, yes. Miss Lima Barbosa, yes.
Miss Polano Garcia, yes. Mr. Tran, yes. Mr. O'Neal, yes. Excuse me. Yes. Miss Robinson, yes. The motion is approved. Thank you. And again, I want to thank Superintendent Skipper for her strong
leadership and unwavering tenacity in bringing us to this point. She has dug deep at the core challenges facing our district. And with much of the foundational work now in place, it is time to move forward with urgency. And with everyone on board, we are fully
committed to doing what's best for our students and ensuring our efforts and resources are aligned to achieving high student outcomes. Thank you. Is there any new business? All right, that concludes our business for this evening. The sec the next
school committee meeting will take place in person on Wednesday, September 10th at 6 PM at the Bowling Building in Nubian Square. There's nothing further. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting. Is there a motion? Moved. Thank you. Is there a second?
Second. Is there any discussion or objection to the motion? Miss Pavitz, will you please call the role? Thank you. Dr. Alkins, yes. Mr. Kadeternandez, yes. Miss Lima Barbosa,
yes. Miss Pano Garcia, yes. Mr. Tran, yes. Mr. O'Neal, yes. Miss Robinson, yes. The meeting is Thank you all. Have a good night and a
great summer. Thank you. Good night everyone. Good night everyone.