Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Good evening. This is the uh June 16th, 2025 special meeting of the Brookline School Committee. We are here tonight to interview two of our four finalists for
interim superintendent. Um just a word to our committee members who are here and some will be joining soon. Um we are in open session now going to go through the questions that we have uh that Bob sent and make any changes or additions
um amendments that we'd like to those questions. We will interview the candidates backtoback. There'll be no deliberation today. We'll deliberate after the conclusion of uh our two candidate interviews tomorrow. Um, so
Bob, thank you for sending around this draft. Um, are there any committee comments on uh the questions that Bob sent around? Dr. Lou, did you have a comment?
Um, my one comment would be that there was a question that um had been part of the um the screening round that I think is uh also important to ask in this round. um which was um what has been your approach to recruiting and
retaining educators of color? I thought that elicited some pretty useful responses. Um yeah, so I I'll add that as question 12. Betsy's adding now. Bob, you don't have to add Betsy. Betsy's now she has the document and she's going to um add that one. So
you'll add that as 12. Move 12 to 13. And Andy, just one more time. Can you tell me that what has been what has been your approach to recruiting and retaining educators of color?
Any other comments on the suggested questions? Yes. Hi, thanks. I'm sorry I was a few minutes late, so if I'm repeating, just let me know. Um, I would love to see and I don't have wording and I will
defer to Bob and the rest of the committee on this, but um, I would love to see more questions that that get out get at some more of number one. So, understanding not only your life's journey, but your your approach towards teaching and learning. Um, I feel like
one, two, and three and five that we have some Oh, great. Okay. in there, right? And then and then are we still are we still selecting um was it nine questions out of all of these? Okay. Um and then the one that
Andy just added, Betsie is going to update this the um sheet and she'll print it. And then we're just going to go around the room. Question assuming people are here. One, two, three, four, five, six. And Mariah um and Mariah.
Mariah is has her hand up. Mariah. Um there's some questions about financial challenges and such, but um and some questions about staffing and I don't know if it makes sense to have one specifically talking about and maybe it
doesn't, but I'm just throwing out there the situation which we're in, which I find it to be given the sort of overlap of these two, it's kind of a turnaround situation. So, I don't have a question articulated, but I'm just wondering if um the confluence of those two factors is more
than each individual factor. Can you try to articulate a question, Mariah? Let me think about it for a moment and come back. Okay. Okay. a general I have a general question which is uh are we allowed to do
follow-ups that arise because of the candidates's response? Um we should stick so we'll stick to the same questions for all candidates like we did in the prelim. So no additional um questions if there is a very specific and narrow followup. Yes, but not
something that's going to take us down a winding um path that's outside the question. Okay. Um, Val, how long are the interview? An hour or 45? Um, we should aim for 45 so that we can have a transition period between the because we're not going to
deliberate tonight, right? Correct. So, okay. That gives us a little bit of freedom. We have a little bit of flexibility, but um not a ton. I assume the reason that we wouldn't do follow-ups is because we're trying to offer the same experience to all candidates. So, and it worked well for us in the um the prelim screening
committee to be able to compare apples to apples to apples to apples. I have my question articulated. Okay. For your consideration, have you been in a district with both personnel and budget challenges as Brookline has? What areas
did you prioritize? What was your biggest win? I'm good with that question. Other people, can you say it one more time, Mariah? Sure. Have you been in a district with both personnel and budget challenges as Brookline has? What areas did you prioritize? What was your
biggest win? I can text it to Betsy if that's handy. That'd be great. So, if we have that, do we still need question eight, which is the fis just the fiscal half of that? That's what I was going to ask. Well, Mariah wanted them separate and together. Okay. So, it you're it's
intentional that uh we're asking about fiscal stuff twice. once on its own and once uh in conjunction with personnel issues. I think I think it's more I view it more as a question about how do you prioritize when you're facing
multi-system issues. I think is that I think that's exactly it. It's like that there's just a lot going on here. Um where did you put that one, Betsy? You tell me. Um I think after
8 and before 9 any other suggested sorry two things one is maybe this one first that leaves us like like three minutes per question about right yeah does that do we feel like that's enough that's what we're
essentially asking for you. Okay. Yeah. And can you remind me what um what the thinking is behind asking some of the same questions from the first interview because I know you mentioned that. Yeah. Um, only a couple of us heard those responses and so some of them elicited a
lot of really good information about the candidates and so um, you know, Bob and I in talking about it thought that some of them make sense to for people generally to hear responses um, in open session. Those were obviously executive
session and only a couple of us heard them. So um, you know, a lot of you haven't heard them and um, they've never been sort of heard by the public. So, thank you. So, Betsy, you're going to print out the new I am. Are we all set? The new uh I Donna had one. Jesse,
Suzanne, Sarah, we're good. Can I ask a question? Um, Val, procedurally are is one person reading them or are we being assigned them? Um, so we were gonna go around the room, but I think maybe that's Carolyn's not
here yet. I don't necessarily want to worry if somebody's not here. So, let's when Betsy prints it out, maybe we'll just assign numbers and then we can add Carol in if she arrives. Have some Listen, we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and Mariah. So, let's So, we have eight of us. I'm just
as happy to not ask questions since I'm not there. I'm happy to listen. Yeah, that'll make it easier. We'll go in order. I'll start one, two. How's that? That's fine. Sounds good. All right. Um Betsy is going to print out a new copy for us.
I have a drink. I'm good. Thank you. Betsy, you're the best. Cheers. Hi. Hi. I got Did you see? Well, maybe you didn't see that, but I got a really nice note about one of the Okay, I saw that.
I got other notes concerned, but I mean that no from from um that's what I'm saying. Maybe we can reserve some good things and push out individually community members. We're just going to do the process and make a decision. I
mean, if people from the outside sort of do their research or whatever, Hi Carolyn. Hello. Okay. So, we're not starting. We did start. We went over the questions. Yeah, we're all set.
I miss at all the entire recording in progress. I'm sorry. Yeah, we added a few. What was added?
I mean, right. Yes. A couple people. So, we added question. Nine is new and 13 is new.
Sorry. 13 was Andy. Was Mariah. I'm going to go in. I'm going to do one. You're going to do two. All right. Um, welcome back. And we're going to give you a minute to settle in.
Thank you. My little stuff here. More water. You You can all the water. Do you have some water? Okay. All right. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. Um, we have one member. Thank you for being with us for you. You
are the first of our of our interviews between today and tomorrow. So, thank you. Um we're going to go through introductions quickly as we go um with our questions. Okay. Um and uh we're going to some of us, you know, from the from the original prelim screening and
and uh some of us you'll meet for the first time. Um we won't do any deliberation. We're just going to meet with you. Betsy will then walk you out um and we'll be in touch. Um, thank you so much for being here. We're going to start with Bob on that end and we're
going to go through with our with our questions. Okay. I'm Bob Winrab. Um, I'm co-chair of the search committee and I was a high school principal in Brooklyn for 20 years. I remember that. Me too. Um, your first question is
please talk to us about your life's journey. Oh, my favorite question. Why don't you introduce yourself with your name and your My name is Marenda. I'm currently the engine superintendent in East Hampton and until June 30th and currently I'm transitioning uh new
superintendent um Dr. Michelle Balch from Springfield into her role as a new superintendent uh in East Hampton. Uh so my I my journey has been um exciting for me. I never once wish that I chose you
know another profession. So this is my 49th year. I've spent my whole life um really dedicating myself to the students that I served. I was in Worcester public schools for 46 years. So I started as a
special education teacher uh for what um they're life skills students. So there are students that like self-contained at that time and that was in 1976. And then from there um I um two and a half hit Worcester and I went from being
an elementary school teacher uh to a high school teacher. And that was um at first I said I'm afraid of those kids. I don't want to go there. But I went to the high school and I loved it. I spent the rest of my career uh at
South High Community School in Worcester. I was a special education teacher. Let me just go back for a little bit that when I uh graduated from college, that first job as life skills teacher, um it was a bilingual specialed classroom and the principal said, "You
speak Spanish?" And I said, "No, seven years of French." And he said, "Good enough." And so I went back to Worcester State University and uh took Spanish and I taught for two years um uh English and Spanish. So when I arrived at South High
Community School, u my students were deaf and I I did not know sign language. So I'm back to Worester State again and learned sign language. And so the reason I tell you that is that like my view of things is uh if you don't have the skills then you have responsibility to
learn them. So I still sign. The deaf program was at South Community School for many years, no longer there. Um, so I still sign and I end up teaching sign language and adult education also at one time. So I got to the high school. I was a special education teacher also total
service and I really wanted um to get my masters as what they called then a generic special ed teacher. That job actually never came to be uh in the list of you know how Desi does it. So but it kind of translates to an inclusion
teacher. So from there um I became special ed department head. I spent 12 years as assistant principal. Spent eight years of principal at South High Community School, six years as superintendent of schools. Um during that time um as Bob would know, high
school are exciting places. I was the varsity field hockey coach for 12 years, the cheerleading coach for 12 years, the variety show director, the sophomore class advisor, and we had a pool that I was a lifeguard. So, like I really got
to experience and um this is my student Jared Alexander. I couldn't believe that he saw I was coming. He came today. So, he can probably Right. Isn't that so great that I didn't even know he was coming? It's been how many years since we saw each other? 20. Probably in 2002. Yes. So, he can verify that I'm telling
the truth about all these all these things. We had a pool for sure. We had a pool. Uh so, uh and I also in the summers I ran the sports camp there for for youth. So I've had um so many opportunities in this field of education
and always my focus was you know what what can we do to to help kids. Uh so then I retired in 2022 um from the WIS public schools and I was only retired five weeks and I was in St. Martin actually and I received a phone
call um from Quaybog School District asking me if I would their superintendent had got a late appointment and was moving to Lester whether I would come out and be their interim superintendent. So I went to Quayog and as a regional school district I had had no experience with the budget
process. Everything else is pretty much the same, but the budget process and um I learned that budget process and I totally enjoyed being at QuaBog Regional. In April of the year that I was finishing up in Quaybog, MASC called
and there was a situation that occurred in East Hampton and they asked me if I would consider going there. So, I went to East Hampton and um it's a smallest city in Massachusetts, beautiful little artistic place at the bottom of Mount Tom and I have
thoroughly enjoyed it there. Um so, they asked me to say a second year, which uh usually Desi does not allow you to say a second year, but um thankfully they let me say a second year. So, that's been my journey. All right. Thank you, Carol.
Hi. Thank you for being here. Oh, sorry. My mic. I'm listening intently to you. I forgot I have to turn my mic on. I'm Carolyn Thal. Um, I'm This is my second year on the school committee. Um, I've lived in
Brooklyn 15 years. I have had two kids go through the schools. I still have one um at Brooklyn High School. And welcome. Thank you for being here. So, I am question number two. Schools are about
learning. Please talk about your own intellectual development and important influences in your own learning over time. Sure. So, um I guess I would start with the fact that uh for our family,
the fact that my my grandfather was one of um 13 kids and he lived at the bottom of a hill and he looked at up at the College of Holy Cross. And my my grandparents are from immigrants from Ireland. So my mother was the first generation here and he said to his parents, "I'm going to go to that
school." And they said, "No, you're not. You're the oldest of 13 kids. You're going to work." And he said, "No, I'm going." And the reason I mention it to you is that he did go. Uh how did he get there? If the Jesuits ever knew this, they probably wouldn't have let him in, but he was the guy in the pool hall that
you had beat. And he saved that money and he paid his tuition and he he went he went to Holy Cross and he graduated 1917. and my father then went to Holy Cross. So the reason I mention it is that education became a very important part for our family. It changed the
course of where we all went, you know, because my grandfather went there. He set he set those high goals for us and we were always all expected that that we go to college. Um my own professional development is that um I I try to learn
as much as I can. Um not only uh in educational but also like in the theaters and in the arts. Uh 17 years ago Hanover Theater uh opened up in Worcester. It's a great little theater and I really wanted my students to know
a lot about the theater because I thought they'll never have that opportunity. And so I thought I have to learn about the theater too. So we volunteered, we signed up and volunteered. So there was about four faculty members, myself and a group of about 20 students and uh we became the
ushers for the theater. So you had to do two shows a month. So we did two shows a month and we learned about the theater. Um I'm still the head usher at HA theater uh 17 years later. um and you know know a lot about the theater but
the most important thing is that our students got opportunities that they never would have got and so through trying to my learn myself about it you know I also provided that that opportunity for our students I've taught a lot of classes I've taught courses at
Worester State University I've taken courses at Worester State University uh when I was in 1992 91 one uh we had a philanthropist called Jacob Hyatt that lived in Worcester and
uh he was very involved in really wanting to provide professional development for teachers and administrators. So every year they would pick one teacher and one administrator and he would pay 80% of of your salary to go to Harvard Graduate School of
Education and the district gave you your whole salary. So you got to go to Harvard and only had to pay 20%. I received uh that year the teacher uh that got to go to Harvard University and I so I received my second masses in
education um from Harvard University. So I'm always looking for ways I uh to learn. I like to read. I'm a reader. So I like to read you know not just educational books but also many other books. I'm always um I have a daughter
who's also a teacher 13 years now in the Worcester public schools and we're always having these conversations about education, what are good practices and how are we supposed to support students. So by her getting her professional development, I also get it because we
have these very long conversations about like what is right for for our schools. Um hi, my name is Andy Lou. I am a first year teacher of math at a public high school in Lynn. Uh and I was on the initial screening committee and very glad to see you again. Uh I really like
this next question. It is um please talk about special moments of accomplishment in your professional life as a teacher and school leader. Okay. So um I'll start with as a teacher. Uh when I first took over the life skills classroom uh
that was in 1976. uh chapter 766 had just been passed and so that allowed for our for special ed students to come to school and receive all the services that they needed. Um I have two special ed brothers myself. So
for myself that was a really personal reason that I I I initially went into special special education and um the students at that time they didn't teach them how to read. So the it was the idea that special ed students
couldn't read and so I taught them to read because I taught my brother to read. So I so those kids when they left after those two years my classroom they were readers because I I thought it was very important for them to learn those skills. So that was a a great
accomplishment for me going back all the way down there to know that you can provide a skill that maybe nobody ever thought uh or the students themselves thought or their families thought that their special ed kids could do. And so many parents were so appreciative that
for the first time ever their their children were reading. So I'm very proud of that. Um, I'm proud of all the accomplishments that my students have really accomplished uh through the work that I've done with them. Um, we we took
kids on field trips. We fundraised. Um, we have a marching band at the high school that I was principal at and uh it it's a marching band and they really wanted to go to Washington DC on July 4th and be able to walk down
Constitution AB. So, uh, one school gets, uh, selected every year from each state to be able to go down. So, we applied and we we had to, you know, do a performance on video and and we made it, but we needed to raise $85,000
in order to pay for uniforms, the hotel, the bus there. and we raised $85,000 in one year from families that really and community that really didn't have a lot of money to give us, but but we did it.
And I went to Washington DC with them and my job uh was to spray because it was like 100 degrees on on July 4th and my job was to spray all the kids with water as they're playing the um instruments and going down the street. But I have to tell you that that feeling
of accomplishment for me was what that meant to those kids that we that we were able to fill that dream for them. And to see them marching down the street with new uniforms, you know, a a high school in the middle of an urban center and
here we are, you know, in Washington DC marching down the street with with the best in the country. So that that's a memorable experience for me. I mean I have so many I have so many stories of uh student success. Uh other stories are we have a lot of students from um many
different countries at South High Community School. As a matter of fact, we are the second most diverse high school in Massachusetts. And so uh I really wanted to improve the college career process so that when our students
got into college we wouldn't have you know there's the national figures are that first year of college and how many kids really don't stay. So, uh, when I became superintendent, uh, I went for that grant, the college and career readiness grant, and also, uh, Worcester, while I was superintendent,
was amongst the few, uh, school districts that got the early college program. So, I started the early college program like there's well over um, 400 kids in the early college program. Now, another thing that I always wanted to do was uh when I became superintendent was
I wanted to start honors gifted programs in each of the high schools. So, there are nine high schools in Worcester. Uh there are six big high schools. And so, at South High Community School, uh we have we call it Goded Scholars program. It starts in grade six. The kids are
selected. 50 per class are selected. It used to be that you also had to play an instrument because we wanted to keep our band going. So, you know, you would also have play the instrument if you were accepted into the Goddess Scholars program. So, that is a 6 through 12
program. I didn't start that program. That program uh began when I was a teacher. However, um I expanded programs like that to the other schools. So, for example, Handover Insurance is a a big company in Worcester. And I went
to them and I said, "Hey, how would you like if I call this program handover program to pay to pay for everything that this group needs at Burn High School?" And they said, "Sure." So, we have the handover academy now at Burnco
and those are honored kids that have a special program for high achieving kids. Um, at Darity there was already a program but we expanded it and it's a engineering and science academy and then at North High School we expanded the health and science. So I'm proud of the
fact that uh we're able to meet the needs of so many kids that we're able to close the gap uh for our students. Another thing I'm proud of is the personal relationships that I establish with students which last over time uh
because they understand that I truly care about them and that um we're going to be able to provide for whatever they need. So, for example, um I'm not sure if you have Posi scholars here, but um it's out of Boston and a POSI scholar is uh someone that's selected uh by this
group that funds the POSI scholars and these students are scholars, but they get to go to a series of colleges for free. Uh and so we had a lot of our students get become POSI scholars. The only uh part of it is that you have to
pay room and board, but everything else is paid for for you. But most of the Posi scholars from here go uh south or to the west and then their scholars come to our colleges. So, we had several students that um couldn't afford for
room and board and I was able to convince the presidents of two colleges that they were getting such a great deal with these students that they would help recruit for them future students that I was able to get their room and board for free. So, you know, like I was proud of
the fact that I was able to convince and that it was so interesting. Four years went by. Um, Posi always has a celebration and they bring a college president in to talk and that that particular time the college president
was from Bucknell. Okay, that's where my student went and my his speech was about my student and about how she sang at all their national anthems and all their games and what what what a what a scholar she was. So, I waited until he
was done talking and and I went to him and I said, "I don't know if you remember our conversation four years ago, but you're the one that made that happen." And and he was so thankful, you know, that we had this conversation about our everybody's responsibility to help help students get their dreams
made. Thank you. Um, educational equity is a term that we hear in conversations in and about schools. Can you please talk about what this term means to you? Sure. That I think I worked my whole life for uh equity and before it even became
something to do. Uh there's also also I want to say that I also worked with health equity which is really combined with educational equity. So basically it means that you give each student what they need to be successful. And so if
that's you know offering courses, offering opportunities, um if helping them to get transportation to a job, um you do that so that all students get what they need to be successful. Uh one of the big issues that um I had at South High Community
School is that um we had a lot of students that that uh had inequity with food in their house. So there wasn't enough food. So, um, we started the first food pantry in in a Massachusetts high school and that food pantry is
still there. And to talk about how you coordinate that work, I you know, you can't start a pantry and not be able to have kids whenever they need the food to have it there because the first time it's not there, they won't come back. So, what do we do? Handover Theater. We
partnered with Handover Theater. There's 280 ushers. So every show I would post a list of what the ushers need to bring. To this day, it doesn't cost anything to run that that food pantry in the high school. It's still being run. Uh and how
is it financed? Through the ushers at Hanover Theater. Uh the same thing for uh clothing. We had clothing insecurity uh inequity with how to get clothes. So, we started um a very very large um
clothing pantry in the high school. It's it's called Andy's Attic. And because we wanted kids also to learn about the work, I made it a career pathway. So, the students that are learning to sort
the clothes and fill orders are also learning um how to how marketing works and how business works. and now they're connected to courses at Worester State University. So, it's really all about looking for the resources and connecting
all the different resources so that all kids get what they need. Thank you. Hi, I'm Sarah Mogtter. I'm a 25-y year um veteran teacher and now on the school committee for two years. So, thank you
for being with us. I do have a a cousin who lives in um Worcester and has kids in the school system. So, thank you. Good. We'll have to find out who that is. After different last name, but um how do you work to address academic and opportunity gaps while pursuing
excellence for all students? Share examples from your experience that would inform this work in Brooklyn. So, I think the first thing you do because I know you have the MECO kids that that also come here and uh at the first interview it was shared um that
that was something that you really want to focus on. uh the gap there and h how how to lessen the gap and so I know this is a different question but I just wanted to say some of that information that I said before because I think that it's it's the same it's same very
similar and that is um you have to look you have to use data right so you look at the data um if there's if there are students that are having difficulty if there's gaps you need to look at what skills that they they have not received and then you have to put the
interventions as needed for those those students. Um there are still, you know, for example, um our guided scholars at uh South High Community School. Um they they on some of the math MCCASTs, they kept getting the same thing wrong. And
that these are guided scholars that take geometry and algebra 2 and ninth grade, right? And they're and so by 10th grade, they're taking pre-cal Cal, they're taking trig. So we were trying to figure out like what is it? So we looked at exactly what was it. Uh now these were
godded scholars. So you would be saying like what there can't be any gaps here. But yeah there was some gaps in that they uh couldn't remember decimals fractions. So we had to go back and re and and retach that for them. So I think that even scholars can have gaps because
it's it's uneven. For example, when we used to we started the God and scholars program, it was just for kids that that had high schoolers in math and science. And then we found that uh these same kids that had really high schoolers in math and science um they were struggling
in some of the English and social studies classes. So, you know, how do we then work to increase their skills and to bridge that learning for them? So, it's looking at the data uh looking, you know, what we need to do for interventions and providing those
supports. Thank you. Hi, Marine. I'm Suzanne Futterfield. This is my ninth year on the school committee. Congratulations on your election. Congratulations to you. Um, and I'm a retired educator and administrator. And I will just say my daughter went to Clark University, so
I've spent many a time in Worcester. We have a special place. My question is, if you are selected for this position, you will have to select some important members of your administrative team such as the deputy superintendent for teaching and learning and director of the office of special services. What
might your team look like? Okay. Well, I've done that before. uh when um I became superintendent of the Worcester public schools, I um had to select my you know deputy superintendent. I also
Worcester we have what you call quadrant manages. Uh the district is broken up into four quadrants uh geographical quadrants and um I had there were two that retired and so I they I only had the funding for one more and then
eventually I got the funding for another so I also had to select uh who were going to be the managers the quadrant managers and then of course um there's always principles that retire or you know may take other positions somewhere else and so also you know there were um
there 55 schools in Worcester and you know at any one time we might we might have to be placed seven or eight principles. So you know basically is you know you post post the position uh you do interview similar to this and then um
pick the person that uh you think is you know has the qualifications to do the job. Um, as far as I think that person that you were just talking about, the last one, that must be like special ed and L. Is that right? Or just special ed? Special ed. Special services.
Special services and and L's. Right. So, uh, I also um that this the special education director uh I did not have to replace that person and the L person. I had to find a new director of L. So, um,
really I looked at the qualifications of each of the people and I looked at, um, how I thought they would fit into the Worcester public schools, you know, the culture, the the district there and had a lot of personal conversations upon,
uh, first hiring them. Um, so that we were on the same page. So that communication about always being on the same page and like how how do we see um this work going together, what is what are the goals that are being set for us by the school committee, what are the
expectations and then how do their skills work so that we're we're able to achieve those goals. Um when I went to QuaBog, um I always say um that I was going to advertise just hire me. I did
all the jobs uh because there there was so many people that weren't there. The finance manager had left. The special ed director had left. The payroll person went out on maternity leave. Um and the there was no clerk to the school committee. So I was the clerk for the
whole time I was there on the school committee. So you know I understand a lot of these these jobs and therefore know really how to select who needs to go in the jobs. As far as this the special ed and the L, I have a lot of experience in both those areas. When I
was in Worcester, we had 5,000 special ed students in 8,000 L's. And so, you can't, you know, work in Worcester and not know what the expectations have to be for working for those populations. uh in particularly um I have both a
undergrad and masters in special ed and I have my special ed administrator's license um both in QuaBog and also in um East Hampton I had to mentor I was the mentor for the special education
director so um and in both cases I had great special education directors that is a job that really deserves a lot of respect uh because there's so much that you have to do and there there is there's so many financial decisions you
have to make like out of district placements or is there another way that you can provide in district support and a lot of conversation with parents about you know their IEPs and providing services. So I understand the special education
uh job very well. I feel confident that um I have had a great deputy superintendent when I was in Worcester. Um didn't have one in Quaog small district and don't have one in East Hampton. However, I have represented I have suggested that the curriculum and
the grant person move to that position um in East Hampton uh once the finances can can support that. So, I don't have any issues with that. I feel like I've hired so many people over
the years, both as principal and then as uh superintendent. And I I have to say that all my hires were good. You know, uh we worked together. We made a difference. Uh we worked for what's best for families and uh received lots of
compliments for for the work that we did. Thank you, Jesse. Hi, nice to meet you. Yes. Nice. My name is Jesse Hefner. U lived in Brooklyn for 41 years. Married a Brooklyn girl. Oh,
BHS graduate. Um I um recently retired after a 35 year uh science and technology career at Verizon. And during that time, since I was based in Waltham, I did have the opportunity to go to all the other many of the other places in Massachusetts, including Worcester uh for many meetings, especially uh in the
field with technicians. Uh my wife uh has been a still working 40 years now in sped and so we sort of breathe it at home all the time and so uh it informs a lot of uh who I am and I have two grandchildren in the um elementary
schools here at this point too. Uh rising sixth graders I guess you'd call it now. Um my question is the following. The town of Brooklyn is exploring a possible Prop 2 and a half override uh in 2026. tell us please about any
experience you might have in this area and how you might work to build trust in the community to create support for such an override. So I have never run an override. Um I was a victim of one right when um when I
when it was two and a half in Worcester and I had to leave my elementary classroom and and and go to the high school which in the end was the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me. Um, however, I will say that the reason I became the field hockey coach and the cheerleading coaches, they were
all cut, right? And the principal kept calling me up and say, "Hey, would you do this job?" So, I'm like, "Sure." So, that's how I ended up with all the jobs. I was, you know, 24 years old and he kept asking me, "Will you do this job and that job?" And I loved all those
jobs. But it it happened because th those those people in math and science and fizzed and art and music, they were all cut. And it was it was an awful feeling you know for a school to lose so many great role models for students and
some of those people never came back right so hence the gap in the age of of of teachers in in schools schools in Worcester. So um I think I mentioned at my first one that I'm also on Worcester school
committee. So, um, as far as an override, I I look at it as running a political campaign. Um, very similar, uh, you, you know, you do knocking, uh, you have brochures that you put in people's doors. You give them, if they're there, you hand it to them.
Otherwise, you put it in their door. Um, you have to be very clear as to why you need the override. Um, you know, you can't say, as I said before, that it would be, you know, there was, you know, fraud. Now, this happened because, you
know, there was um too many special education out of district placement, special ed transportation, um truthful reasons as to why it happened. Um what would be lost for students if you don't have this
override? And uh also, you know, I think you could gain trust by um also speaking to the Brooklyn residents that work in schools, right? Whether it be the cafeteria people or the teachers, whoever works in the Brooklyn public
schools should be given the same story that we need this override so that we can continue giving the services that that you want for your kids. And then there's the social media platform, uh, you know, get it on their cell phones or as it gets closer to the time of the
override, a little message about, um, don't forget to to vote today for the override. We need it for our schools. Um, I don't know in Worcester, we have like, you know, a lot of those electronic boards that, uh, you can get
messages across. if you can put it on electronic boards, on billboards so that ev everybody knows that there is going to be an override and that we really need everybody to come together to do it. Uh parent teachers groups um on the
fields for sports games, the conversation has to always be some part about this. We really need your help for the override. Hi there, my name is Donna Perry. It's great to meet you. Thank you for being here. Uh my question is as you know in
Massachusetts we're all faced with fiscal challenges. Please talk about your experiences in addressing these fiscal challenges. So, uh, it goes, I guess, all the way back, um, to being a teacher and not
having, you know, enough money to purchase the things that I wanted to purchase for my students and finding ways to go out in the community and get those resources to, uh, being a principal of a of a high school and, uh, one year, um, 13 teachers were cut from
my high school. So there was about 1,520 kids at that time and uh because of budget cuts. This was obviously be uh before we had the esser money or this was before um we had the S SOA money,
right? So there was just no money and there were 13 positions cut from my school and I didn't know because I did the scheduling h how was I going to provide like basic English, math, science, social studies um to the
students and uh Clark University um had a masters in education program there and uh they would train they so they would be teachers they came from everywhere they got accepted to Clack University they already had a degree so it might be in English math
science and social studies but or art and they but they didn't have one they weren't certified in education so they got went there for a full year and I had a few that came to my school so I went to the director and I said can I have 13 I I need 13 of them to come to my school
and and I got 13 that came and they taught those classes right um so so that that was that was very effective um as a superintendent. Uh
and prior to S SOA, uh there were uh how we do it with with budget is that we give each principal uh a call it al budget allocation list. On one side is what they currently have, you know, their parents, their teachers, um
everything that is in the budget for their school. And then on the other side uh we ask what their what their wish list is and they have to uh say it's first priority, second priority and third priority. Then we get all those
together and we sit down as the administrative team and with our chief financial officer and look to see like if we can at least do all first priority for for schools. Sometimes we can't do that and we have to tell them that they
can't have that. Uh sometimes we try uh to get book companies for example to let us pilot some books because those book curriculum is free for the year. So in some cases you know we we looked at evidence-based curriculum and we would
get some free books or free curriculum for uh students to use. It's never uh easy when you have to cut. I find that uh to have those personal relationships with principles and to show them look at this is what I got and this is what I
have I'm I have to do. This is you know where we are. How can I help you to still be successful in your job and supports knowing that I can't cover you know what what you've asked here. Um right now uh
in East Hampton um we end we we have a budget uh shortfall. Uh we're we had to close down. Um all accounts in early March uh because special ed out of district um
costs have gone up and there were unexpected students that moved into the district that uh had out of district placements and the transportation uh for McKinley Vinto. uh we went from one to six homeless families and as you know
with that transportation was like 185,000 uh on that is that um you're not re you're the schools aren't reimbursed for that in October that money will go to the city right I never understood that but that's how it works and then you can ask the city if you could have that
185,000 which um I I the new I've suggested to the new superintendent and and we've talked to the mayor about it and she's great um it's almost like we're now thinking that you have to have some type of contingency fund. So maybe um the uh reimbursement for
transportation uh in regional areas or the McKinley Vinto and then the other part is school choice right sometimes you have to run your school on school choice uh school choice students right so we in East Hampton we got you know
last year 900,000 uh from school choice and now we're have to bring it down to only 200,000 left in the in order to make up for this, you know, special ed uh placement. So, um budget is not my favorite. I mean, I love
everything else about the job, but the budget part is uh really sometimes it's it's grueling because no matter where you are, and now I'm my third district, right? There's just not enough money for what you really want to do for kids. And
so you just have to be able to be honest with people, establish priorities, and maybe look for other resources if you can to pay for those things you just can't afford. Mariah, you want to ask that question that you created?
No. Moren, I just want you to know that my daughter, my oldest daughter, graduated from Clark University. Oh, another one. And when I dropped her, when my wife and I dropped her off at Clark first day and I was driving away from Clark, I started
weeping and I left a lot of tears in Worcester. Honestly, but she had a great experience there. I understand Clark is struggling right now. Clark has had Clark and WPI have massive cuts. Okay. Um, question.
Have you been in a district with both personnel and budget challenges as Brooklyn has today? Um what areas would you prioritize and what was your biggest win? So I think my greatest strength is um
being able to establish a positive culture um in the central office as well as positive culture in schools. I I think that is necessary in order for everybody to be able to work together to find it out. So, I'll give you an
example. So, when I became superintendent, um I really wanted to know what it looked like to have every single person that worked for me in the same room, and that was 5,000 employees. So, I uh
talked to the uh DCU center and you know that's a big like concert hall and I didn't have any money so I I asked them if they could um help me do it for free and uh they said actually there was a bank down the way so we went to the bank
and they said yep we'll give you $10,000 uh for you to to do this. We like the idea. So, uh, we went to the DCU center and then I, it was the first day of school and all teachers had a, you know, report to their schools, custodians, everybody, cafeteria workers, crossing
guards, and um, then I asked the bus company, which was Dorm Bus Company at the time, can you give me 90 free buses? And uh, they said, what do you want the buses for? So, you know, we're just going to be trying out our roots. and I said, 'I want you to get all the people
that work the Worster public schools in one place. So, they donated the buses and we got the buses. So, we brought 5,000 people together at the DCU center. It was the first time ever, ever that we had all seen each other and it was such
an emotional thing to be able to see everybody there. But the power of it was and we had a guest speaker uh that was really a great guest speaker, you know, talking about what how the difference every single person makes to a kid from
the crossing guard that meets the child and and crosses the street to the bus driver smiling when when they get on. It was a beautiful um speech, but the most important thing was the fact that we all
recognized in that moment that every single person there picked one student to make a difference in their lives. We were going to be a powerful group. So, we continued that on for the whole time I was superintendent except for during
COVID. And uh uh during COVID uh we now had the Wooach Stadium in Worcester. So we broadcasted uh from the Woo Stocks Wooach Stadium. And you know what ended up happening is that took on a life of
its own. Uh they asked if there could be a spirit award. So uh different schools would all dress up in shirts and you know uh unique costumes. And then they went to let's can we decorate our buses? let's have a bus award for the school that had the most decorated bus. So we
we we did that and what that really did was it it brought the whole culture together like the message you can give a message in an email or but this message you felt because you were you were all there together. So that's the same way
like when I went to East Hampton and um they were suffering from bad press and you know international people even sending them emails saying you know not nice things to them. it was really necessary for me to spend that time
building everybody up and and I can say I'm we're proud of that fact that that we did that that now we're ready to go back and focus on the other things the academics and that um as far as um so I have a lot of experience and I I'm grateful that somewhere along the line I
learned how how to do that right somewhere in those 49 years um I became aware of how good uh leaders that I worked for brought together a school, brought together a classroom, and brought together a a a district, even a
district with 25,000 students and 5,000 workers. And so I I think the idea about building trust uh is the number one thing that that you need to do. I think you have to have a sense of humor, too. Like we try to laugh at least once a day, you know,
because there's there's a lot of stress that's happening in schools these days and it's it's good to be able to tell a story that's true that that might be funny or share an experience. Um, as far as the budget goes, um, I've had obviously a lot of
experience with budget. Um, in Worcester, very different. You have a chief financial officer. You have a a very large staff of people working in your grants office. So um that that management is through um weekly
um forms that come to you. You look at the different budget, how much money is in grant, what's left over like you know it's constantly looking at at where you are. uh in a place uh like Quayog it's small and uh obviously we work very uh
strongly with the uh they hired a company to come in to manage uh because it was difficult it's difficult to find a chief financial officer right and so they hired a company that came in we worked um actually with the company and then uh we had really good chief
financial people in East Hampton and so I just work you know every day I'm like did you find any money That's why that's what I say all the time because you always we always want to be able to do other things and obviously um you you can't if you don't have have the
funding. So I have a lot of experience with budget from a very large you know uh over uh $450 million uh which is like makes makes me feel like I'm a CEO of a big company uh all the way down to like you know 27
million. So, uh, that's my experience with budget. Thank you, Carolyn. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. My I lost my 10. Thank you. Um, number 10. In these tough fiscal times, how important
are the fine and performing arts and career and tech education in your budget decision making? Okay, those are very important in my budget meeting. Obviously with um my connection to the theater and the connection that I see
for students that I've seen for students is that like you know some of our um high achiever math and science students uh were also very good at musicians right and uh so we want to be able to promote that and also then there were
struggling students that learned to in the arts and they became extremely successful in that area. So you know in two and a half in Worcester that's what we cut we cut the music and the arts and you know what after you know all these years
let's say the middle 80s we're still trying to get back what we lost. So I'm not for cutting uh the arts and I'm a you know strong proponent of college and career readiness. uh that's we we left
that out for such a long time in uh children's development and we just expected that that they knew that and so you know there are so many careers that we don't even know are are being developed every day and we want our students to be able to know about them
and get involved with that. So um in Wist when we had the uh college and career uh innovation program it we actually applied for a grant through Desi. It actually occurred to me after the last interview that so many grants that
um we have been able to get in Worcester because uh they put restrictions like some place like Brookline may not be eligible for that those grants that we have had so many opportunities that a lot of districts never never get because
you you're not able to apply for for those those grants. So, for example, um the DESIE had the innovative pathways program and uh we were one of the first school districts to be able to get it. Uh we partnered with a group called the
18 Foundation and I don't know if uh you know them, but they are the most amazing. Uh Joanna Jacobson is the person that's in charge of it. They are the most amazing foundation that I've ever worked with. they only uh pay for
programs that are going to be 100% successful. So I was able to partner with them and I carried that relationship to QuaBog and now now to East Hampton and and it's all because of that started in my work in Worcester
which was the the innovative uh career pathways. So, I don't know if any of you know what that is, but basically it's an afterschool program that students can go to and there's a variety of pathways that they get to experience and then they get their credentials in those
areas. So, not only are they um because they go to a comprehensive high school, not only are they taking AP classes early college, but now they have those credentials in those areas of of job placement that they can use um for for
their future. So, I would not want to cut either of those and would look for ways in order for those to continue. We have a couple more questions to get through. So, we're going to move to Andy. All right. Pardon me. Um, as superintendent, uh, who do you believe
you work for and how do you balance the various stakeholders to whom you're accountable? So I work for the students and as I said before the school committee also elected to work for the students and the families and what was
the second part of it and the second part was how do you balance the various stakeholders to whom you're accountable. So uh the various stakeholders uh would be the school committee. So obviously the school committee is the boss of the superintendent. So it would be having
constant communication with the school committee as to what their goals are for the superintendent and also the schools. Um the strategic plan, you have a strategic plan. It's very clear. Your goals are clear. So I would follow the strategic plan also. And then always
have every decision that I've always made in these 49 years has always been with students at the center. That was a fast. Thank you. Um, we'll be negotiating six contracts during FY26, so this coming this coming school year. Could you tell us about your experience
negotiating collective bargaining agreements, please? So, it's so amazing to me every time I get to a district, it's time to negotiate a contract. It's that isn't that amazing? So, when I when I became superintendent in Worcester, I had nine contracts that
came came to be negotiated. when I went to QuaBog, I had three and we just had three in East Hampton. So I feel like I'm an expert at that job now. Uh so I have also I think it's important to talk about the relationship with unions when
it when it comes to that. So you I'm unique in that I was a member of the MTA, the NEA and the local for 40 years. So I be became a member of the union as a teacher. When I became principal, I continue to pay my dues. And the reason
I did that was in case there was any extra legal, you know, help that I needed once if I I could still be a member of the of the union, uh, they would provide that. I have never needed to call the union as a teacher or as an administrator. I I never took advantage
of that. But I did receive a plaque that says lifelong member of the union because I was there for 40 years. Not everybody has that opportunity. It did not help with negotiations, though. I I want to say that to you. Um I did say remember I got this plaque and they're
like yep. And that was the end of that. That didn't help. Um I've never been to mediation. So uh we have really worked to try to solve the issues. Um, I think it's important to have a good relationship with the union reps that
are in the building and also um how the the president of the union uh in Worcester the um president of the union uh leaves the school district during their term there. It's a full-time position and uh we pay their salary and
then the union gives them a little bit salary on top of it and then when their time is up um we make sure that there's a position for them you know back because they left their position whatever they were in order to go to the union. Um in um let's see in Quaybog um
we uh decided they decided to go for a one-year contract at the time because of the of some budget challenges. Um, so they're in negotiations again and uh we just settled in October uh in East Hampton and uh that was a three-year
contract and the um vice president of the union um said I'm a gift to any district. So I thought that was a really nice thing for the vice president of the union to say because of because of our work together. Thank you.
We're wondering what your approach to recruiting and retaining educators of color is. Okay. So, well, I I that has um I would have to say be my strength. I mean, I'm was at the second most diverse high school in Massachusetts. Uh we um
had an international show that was not, you know, like fabulous every year. uh at that school uh we respected um everybody's culture uh well before culture responsive work became the thing
to do we were doing it um because that's what our students needed um it was a wonderful place to be. Um, when I was moving on to be the superintendent, they had wanted me to go earlier. Um, and I
said, "I'm not leaving until my seniors leave." And, uh, one of my seniors, uh, said to me, "You know what, miss? Um, I think the world should be more like us here. We celebrate what everyone is alike, and we don't look at the
differences." And I think that was such, you know, a great testimony. uh to listen from our students of color about how they felt wanted, valued, and uh another part that I I also want to tell you is that uh we had some of our Latino
students that weren't performing as well as the rest of our students. So, there was a bigger gap. And so, what we decided is to go to the churches. So my uh guidance counselor uh K Mendus and I went to the Spanish churches uh actually
some of them right near Clark University and uh we gave a homaly and the homaly was really about um the gifts that your children are born with and um how we have to partner together and we'd like you to put their your children in AP
classes. So, we were talking to parents who didn't even know what AP classes were. And so, we had to speak to parents about uh some some of our parents worked two or three jobs and the high school student was responsible for taking care
of the younger children, cleaning the house, and making the meals. And so in order for their kids to achieve what we wanted them to, we had to ask that they cut down on some of that so that their child could take advanced placement. And
the most interesting thing is when it was time to sign up for advanced placement, the first parents at the door were those parents from those churches that really understood what we said. Uh so we offered uh for our students uh
some of our AP students uh Latino students they take AP classes take the class the same class twice every day and we would handpick the staff member uh so it would be a staff member you know who was an excellent teacher um not and
there were so many of them but we handpicked uh for our L students so we had they were um EPL L3s meaning they were emerging right um learners and we um had um Mr. cell uh teach the class
called AP human geography. And we had the students take the class twice a day. And so what that meant is that there was one last class that the department head, he was a department head could teach. So we had to have make a way that somebody else would pick up that extra class. And
what happened is that all those kids came up with a three or more for there were 12 in that AP class. And we blasted that through the whole school because what you want to know want teachers to believe in uh because sometimes you can
think that how is that student that's still trying to learn English and emerging um going to be able to take an AP class but uh that showed that with the right support in this case uh was um two periods a day of that class that
that that could happen. So I have extensive experience with that. been to um and it extended upon their graduation. I've been to more weddings uh you know baby showers uh parties at
at uh different cultural people's houses um just because uh we got such close relationship with the kids and their families that you know they see me as as an extended part of their family. Thank you Moren. It's the last one and
it's your question. Do you have any questions for us? I don't think so. I mean, I I just want to say that um a comment is that, you know, I've loved work here. I've spent my whole life um working in public school education. I'm
a strong proponent of it. I I believe that public education is what we need for every kid. So that it does public education itself if done right closes the gap takes care of equity moves kids to be successful which are our future
leaders. So um I appreciate coming back again to to have this conversation. Um, I hope that I've been accurate in in answering your questions and that you get to see that um, nothing really stops
me when when I really get an idea, you know, what needs to be done for kids and I will pursue it until um, until it happens. So, I appreciate the opportunity uh, to do the journey again uh, with all of you and and I also want
to say that I really liked your questions. I thought that they got to the heart of the matter and uh they they're important um for you to hear the answers. Thanks so much. Thank you. And I want to thank Jared for coming.
Yeah. Disgust the water. You want to switch the water. Bye. Nice to see you. Thank you. I'm sorry. Just so you know, Dr. Katilda, we are on our um community television station already broadcasting. Um we'll go to you
to introduce yourself and then we're going to just go around with the questions in the same format um that we did with the screening committee in terms of alternating the the questioning. Push the button and when it's green. Yes. Correct. Yeah. So, do you want to
turn it on? Yes, I will. Get going. It is now on. Excellent. Go ahead and introduce yourself. Okay. I'm Bob Winra BJ. I think you know who I am. Well, I wanted her to introduce herself first, Bob. We We know who you are.
I know who you are, too. So, I know. Hi, I'm BJ Catelo and I am a candidate for the interim uh superintendent here in the Brooklyn Public Schools. I have been in education for 44 years. I won't begin
my story with what I began with the last time, but there is a reason why everybody pursues. Go to the question that Oh, that's all you need is my name. I am so sorry. I'm so excited to talk. Dr. Kato,
um, please talk about your life's journey, which I began already. I'm so sorry. Um, so I shared earlier in my last interview, I will do a little bit of the same thing in that when I was a young person, I was 12 years of age and I was
out at recess with all my friends and we talked what is not uncommon. What will you do in your life when you grow up? And of course, I grew up in a time where there were not as many opportunities for women out in the work world. But nonetheless, uh, and we still talked about it and some of my friends wanted
to be nurses and other kinds of people. Some of them wanted to be homemakers. Some of them wanted to go off and travel. And when it came to be my turn, I said, "Oh, I want to be a reading teacher. I want to teach first grade, and I want to make sure all children
know how to read," which was pretty good considering I couldn't read the alphabet at the time, but none of my friends knew. And so that was my start. It was not a very auspicious start into the world of education, but I continued through school and I struggled a great deal. Uh,
no one was aware I wasn't able to read, including my own parents. My report cards were fluttered with some poor grades. Again, nobody understood what was wrong. I followed a sister who was quite gifted and did very well in school and it was hard to have that as my role
model, but nonetheless, uh, I continued through it. When I was on my way to college, I went to see somebody because I thought, why is it everybody's finding it so easy in school? And when I went, they sent me to Children's Hospital for testing. And there I met Dr. Martha
Dinkler, who is pretty much the foundation of what we talk about dyslexia in the world. And she diagnosed me as dyslexic. And so for the next four years while I was in college, I would get in my car two to three times a week from Norton, Massachusetts and drive to
Arlington so I could receive my Orton Gillingham tutoring. I will say I can read today. I often tell children I used to do the understanding our differences in Newton and I would tell the children that when I learned to read the first book I read was phantom toll booth because it was my favorite book in
fourth grade. Um, and my fourth grade teacher turned out to be my Orton Gillingham teacher. And then from there it was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, which I continue to read once a year because it was such a prized possession for me. And why I do it and share this with students is I want them to know
that there is always a way. There is a door for them to be able to go through. And as long as I'm working with them, I'll always help them find that door. And so I've stayed in the field all these years. I am obviously certified in a number of reading programs but more
importantly I felt that I can have the greatest impact by being at the administrative level in schools. So what was most remarkable uh and this is not to to garner anything other than I went back to get my doctorate. Dr. Bob was
one of my references for my program. But I went back to get my doctorate and write my dissertation and my mother was quite ill and was nearly uh passed from her cancer. And she said to me, "Whatever you do, you've got to finish."
And so three days before she passed, I was able to defend my dissertation and come home and say, "Mom, I'm graduating." So, uh, you know, I was very grateful that for that opportunity. And whenever I speak to students who can't read, I bring my dissertation along and say, "When I was your age, I
couldn't do this, but I can show you how to get there." And that's really important to me. And that's because I've worked with so many students and not just students who have dyslexia. worked with a vast array of students who ha experience problems in school and I find
ways for them to be able to be in an inclusive setting, help the teachers to learn how to work with them and for them to be successful students. Every child has a door and I help the children to find those doors. Thank you Carolyn.
Hi um and welcome. Thank you for being here. My name is Carolyn Thal. Um, I'm a parent in the public schools. I have a graduate and a a 10th grader. Um, question number two is, "Schools are
about learning." And thank you for that story. Schools are about learning. Please talk about your own intellectual development and important influences in your own learning over time. Some of it you've heard. The one thing I
find really important for students is that they have either a guardian or parent and a teacher that they can depend on. And I often find that my students will go and find a teacher they can confide in or find a parent they can
confide in and they depend on us as educators to help them through. But also uh my mother was probably my greatest influence. My mother herself didn't realize that she was dyslexic and had a big struggle in school. My grandfather never learned
to read essentially except the basics and none of us understood why and he was very successful in life. So I say that because I find it's really important to find your journey and to keep on the journey not at the first uh pothole turn
away or try a new direction but to stay with that journey. and all of the people who have been influential for me, professors in college. Um, the reason why I wound up becoming a superintendent is because I had a superintendent who mentored me and worked with me. Um, Dr.
Paulie Andrews who has since passed away. So, I had people who influenced me and I think it's really important that we present role models to our children in the very same way I was offered role models. The one piece that pro probably is a little bit off the beaten track
that is part of my role model was my father. And you might say, "Was your father in education?" Well, he wasn't. My father was a salesman. But what my father taught me is when you're asked to do something, do it wholeheartedly. Give
a 100%. Don't make excuses. If you make a mistake, figure it out and keep moving forward. And I think that's one of the reasons why my father worked till he was 81. He was on a plane flying back and forth to Europe. And I took that as an example of what I need to do in my life
when I'm teaching and working with children. He actually I think I shared this with uh the group the last time. My father lived to be 101, a very healthy life. And I use that though because it was incredibly powerful for me to understand to never
give up and to keep going even in the difficult times. and I like to be able to help students figure out and problem solve how to keep moving forward. Hi, welcome. Um, my name is Andy Lou. I'm a first year teacher of math at a public high school in Lynn. Uh, and I
was on the initial screening committee and very glad to see you again. Thank you. Um, the question is, uh, please talk about special moments of accomplishment in your professional life as a teacher and school leader. How long do you have for that one? I love this question. So take your time.
Uh so for one thing, anytime I teach a student to read, anytime I can help a teacher in the classroom change students lives, that to me is so impactful. It's not just impactful because I'm able to be of assistance, but it's impactful for me when I see the light bulb go on for
students. And as a result, I'm I'm always very grateful for those moments. I recently had a moment where I have to preface it with obviously I'm in special education right now. I am the director
for student services in Hangingham at this time. Uh I it's really important to say that because I met with a family today in particular in which the parents have been struggling. They have three children. The three children are all struggling. They're all dyslexic. They're all trying to figure out where
their place is in school. and I met with the family and I talked about how I saw their their young ladies in their family and the opportunities and what they could do with the talents they have even though learning is a struggle what we could do to help them. And at the end of
the meeting, that's the short version of it. But at the end of the meeting, what was important is that the mother said that she was so grateful that the school had a real understanding of all of her children's needs and that we could create a plan going forward. So when we
talk about impactful events, that to me is the most impactful when parents feel and students feel that they've been fulfilled and can keep taking those steps to get stronger, to get better, to have other kinds of opportunities in their learning. So that's certainly been
a a huge influence. The other influence in terms of making sure I can be the best leader I can be is to have worked with some of the best superintendants in the state. So I've worked with Bobby
Dellesandre. I've worked with Paul Andrews. I've worked with uh Dan Guda Neam. I've worked with so many of these people who every one of them has taught me something. And I've participated in the executive institutes every summer. Even now, even though I'm not a sitting superintendent, every single summer I go
because I can take away kernels of information. And then of course there is Dr. Bob who influenced me to move into administration way back when even though he didn't realize it but what he brought to me from a one class I took so many years ago. So it shows you you might not even realize you're being impactful and
yet you're able to garner something. Thank you. Um so the term educational equity is present in conversations in and about schools. Can you please talk about what this term means to you? Sure. And I know it's a big discussion here in
town and it was some very difficult decisions made uh recently. So educational equity to me means every student has opportunities to excel to
their very best capacity. And yes, there is special education and yes, we have marginalized groups, but every child should be thought about when we're thinking about education if we're going to talk about equity and how do we
reach every single child, not just a few, not just the few that don't struggle, but we reach every child and give them all an opportunity to perform to their very best. and even after that has happened that we find ways for them
to continue to excel. And so I look at that as and I'm not sure if you want me to go this way or not but I look at that as a real inclusive effort on the part of all the schools on the part of all the leaders
on the part of all the teachers because every child that walks through our door counts. not just one, not just two, not some that are high-erforming, but every child that comes through our door uh is equally important. And we have to make sure that we're providing them with the
greatest opportunities every single time. And if we haven't got those tools in our tool chest, then we have to find a way to make sure our teachers are provided with the right professional development building base in order to make sure that can happen.
Thank you. And the next one is, how do you work to address academic and um opportunity gaps while pursuing excellence for all students? And if you could share some examples of your your experience that would inform this work in Brookline. Sure.
And of course, knowing a culture intimately is the best way to understand the nuances of how to make that happen. But you have to look at the data and you have to look at what the data says. So
by doing that you can see where the gaps are. You can also see where we have to offer support either to the students directly to the teachers to give them the tools they need to help the students to the principles who run those schools. I am very much about the studentf facing
individuals who have to meet the children's needs. And I know sometimes it's very difficult having that happen, but that's the most essential thing. Our children come to school every day to learn and we have to be present for them. So an an example of that is a number of years ago when I was an
assistant superintendent. I was in the town of Milford and I had the opportunity I won a grant to look at data and to look at student performance and to look at our some of our marginalized groups and were they excelling or not.
This is before your calculus project. I wish I knew about it then. But nonetheless, we were able to take a look at students performance, their grades, their MCCAST scores at the time, uh what classes they
were taking, how many students had to be retained, what gender they were, who what languages they spoke. And we took all of this and pulled it together and we looked at each student individually and in groups. We looked at students who
happened to have IEPs and students who didn't have IEPs. And what we found when I was down in DC, I was invited to this group in DC to do this. What we found was that in this particular case that some of our students who were not
succeeding in in some of their grades in MCCAST at the time when it counted for graduation, we found they were taking a specific order of teachers in their coursework. And when these students took that particular set of teachers, they all
missed the mark for graduation. Now, it's not that the teachers were bad teachers. I looked at it in reverse. Some of our teachers weren't certified. Some of our teachers were special education teachers who were teaching curriculum that they weren't wellversed in. And some of our teachers didn't have
a total grasp of what needed to happen to meet all the needs of all their children. So what we did is we ca I came back I presented this information uh to the superintendent to the school committee and what we did from that is we created a plan which is what one will
do when you find there's a gap. Uh we created a plan for providing professional development. We created a plan for making sure the students were properly assigned to teachers who were certified in specific curriculum to support them. We made we worked with some of our um ELELLL teachers to help
in that area and had them coming into the classroom. That was a way of understanding why children weren't achieving and at the same time closing some of that equity gap that was existing in the school at the time. Now, it's been a number of years. I can't promise you I
know what it looks like today. But back then, it was really important to me to understand that we weren't giving the teachers the tools they needed. And at the same time, we weren't giving the children the opportunity to be successful. And so we had to come to a meeting of the minds and create a new pathway for them. So that was an
example. The second example I'll give you and I'll speak quickly because I know you said give one example and I'm giving you two, which means I'm not following the directions, but I when I was in Arlington and I came in and we were looking at reading scores and I was trying to understand why districtwide
students were struggling. some students were struggling whether on an IEP or not. And so what we decided to do at the time is we looked at how many parents were referring their children for testing to see if there was an issue
against how many children we were recommending for testing. So we took those scores and looked at the percentiles. We looked at the different groups of students who sat in our district, those who spoke English as their native tongue, those who didn't. Tried to see some of those things. And
at the same time, we decided at the elementary level in particular where there was the struggle to train every single special education reading and ELELLL teacher in the same multiensory reading program. You didn't have to be
on an IEP or in special education to get it. You just had to take the class if you were struggling. And it also meant that we had a larger pool of teachers to work with children. And it wasn't just a single group of say special education
teachers. Everybody owned it. It was inclusive. Every child could do it. And we found that even though I had left the district, approximately 5 years later, those children were in first grade, by the time that particular class made it to middle school, there was barely a
child that was requiring special education services. That in itself is proof if we can do it when they're young and we're inclusive about what we do for all children, we can pretty much help them be on a course of success.
I'm not giving you a third one. Hi BJ, I'm Suzanne Federsfield. I'm a retired educator and administrator. And your question now is if you select if you are selected for this position, you will have to select some important members of your administrative administrative team such as deputy
superintendent for teaching and learning and director of the office of special services. What might your team look like? I want them all to be very competent. I want them all to want to be here.
And I want to think that we create a culture that says our students are the most important thing when we come to work every day. I know that's very short and I will build it out, but that is the
most important thing. We're hired to work with our children every day. This is why we do what we do for success for our our students. So, amazingly, you know, when you publish an article that says, "Oh, there's four finalists in Brooklyn. Here are their names because
MASC produced an article." Um, and so suddenly I started getting a lot of phone calls in the last 24 hours. Thank you very much. I did have to clarify, I am not the interim superintendent. I am the interim director of student services as one of the articles published. But I
had more friends call me and say, "Is it okay if I apply for one of the deputy jobs? Would you be willing to speak to me about it?" So that tells me there's a lot of interest out there and these are very capable people. Now, will they do it? I don't know. But it's interesting
how many people want to come to Brooklyn to teach. And so I want to make sure that we have a cohes cohesive, collaborative, and friendly administration that is proud to be a part of Brooklyn
that is um transparent in our actions and I know that that has been questioned as to whether there's transparency has to be transparent in our actions to keep the community apprised of what we're doing to build that trust to keep the
committee apprised ized of what we want to do to build that trust and to make sure we're finding people who want to go the distance. So, it's not, hey, I'll pop in until June and then I'll retire. We want people who are going to go the distance, who are going to be here
three, four, five, 10 years. Uh, just like I recently heard you had a group of teachers retiring. I did see that. I heard how many years those individuals put into your district. Wouldn't it be great if you could have your administration do the same thing? Can you imagine what that would look like if
we could help that to happen and build within and help our teachers to maybe want to pursue some of those administrative roles and continue to support the town the way they've already done with some of the most brilliant teaching they've done. So that's how I see it.
Jesse. Hi, good evening. Um my name is Jesse Hefner. Um just started my second year on the school committee and have two grandchildren in the elementary schools in Brooklyn. not look old enough. I know. I don't know how it happened. Um, so the town of Brooklyn is
exploring a possible Prop 2 and a half override, which would to which would be to address building deficit um growing deficits on both the town and the school side. Um, tell us about any experience you have in this area and how you might work to build trust in the community to
create support for such an override. It's a really important question. So, I've not been in a district that has an ongoing override while I've actually been in leadership roles. I did work with Hingham last year while they were
doing the override prior to coming in and I worked with the business manager and I worked with the prior superintendent. So, I am obviously familiar with parts of it. I also came to Cohasset right after they had a failed override and learned from that.
Now, during the three years I excuse me, not the three, the five years I was there, we didn't require an override. Our budget remained very balanced and we were able to even have a little bit of surplus every now and then. I know. Isn't that amazing that you can actually say that today? So, uh, and and even
this year, I had a very large surplus in special education. I'm very grateful for because we were very careful with our spending. But the fact is it's it's somewhat of a race and it's very very political because people are really
concerned about their tax dollars and how they're being used. And while our parents and all of our families who attend the schools will want to participate, some of our generations might not want
to participate. I know for a fact that when Nem was doing an override and my children were in the schools at the time, they're now in their late 20s, but at the time, my father said, "I'm not voting for the override." And I went, "Why not, Dad? I mean, this is your school district." And he said, "But I
don't have children in the district." But dad, you have grandchildren in the district. That's different. Dad, I'm not making you dinner anymore if you don't vote for the override. So, of course, he did. But the fact being there's a whole audience of folks who might not have
children in the district and we need to be able to reach those individuals. And so I I gave a lot of thought to this because I know it was one of the previous questions and thought what would be some of the things I might do because it is very political and it is a
race to make sure we can have this happen if it needs to happen and it sounds like it needs to happen. You have to be everywhere. You have to make yourself available. You have to have open sessions. And not open sessions when it's convenient for me, but open sessions when it's convenient for
families. Open sessions when it's convenient for some of our young senior citizens, or as I'd rather say, our seasoned adults who might not have children in the district any longer. You have to be able to go to some of the locations where our our senior citizens
might hang out. You have to go to locations where some of our families who don't have their children in the schools yet might be to understand the implications of why we need this. You might find yourself on the football field, the soccer field, the lacrosse field, and it might be at the hockey
rink at 4:00 a.m. because that's the only time the children can get the ice, which is why my children did not skate because I couldn't get them there on time ever. Uh but nonetheless, you have to make yourself present and it has to be on the terms of when your voters are
available, not when you're available. And it means having lots of communication, not send out one newsletter and see where it goes, but you have to have constant communication that is very transparent that talks about all the positives going on in the
district as well as even if there's negatives, talk about the negatives. But don't be wishy-washy. Don't be non-transparent. Don't say some of what you want to say. You have to say it all to build the trust and help everybody understand what you need to do. I
actually thought of wearing my running sneakers tonight to demonstrate to you that I really understand how important this is to make sure you have this happen if it's needed. And from what I'm reading, it sounds like it is. So I think it's it would also take part in
working with all of you as the committee because I don't live in the town. These are your constituents. So I would want to make sure I'm present for your constituents and help them to understand the importance of investing in their
community of and working that way. So that's really important to me. At the same time, you have to make yourself available through all frames of social media. Whether it's it's online or it's virtual meetings, whether it is a Saturday morning in the library, you
have to find the time. Make a schedule and make a commitment to be there. Don't say you'll be there and then don't show up or say you'll be there at 9:00, but you don't get there till 9:30. It really is important that you keep your word and show how important it is to me, how
important it is for the teachers, and what the benefits will be for the children, and why it's so important for the children, not just this year if they're to vote the override, but how it will play out over the next 10 years to help the district move forward.
Donna. Hi, BJ. Thanks so much for being here. My name is Donna Perry. I have question number eight. As you know in Massachusetts, we are all faced with fiscal challenges. Please talk about your experiences in addressing these fiscal challenges.
Sorry, just need a little bit of a sip. So even this year working in the district I'm working in, we might have had a surplus in some of our work, but I still had to make some challenging decisions
and not keep all my faculty and we were able to keep all of our teachers because I felt there was a lot of importance in studentf facing personnel. And so the hard decision was to release a secondary administrator who was very
much loved, who's done a lot of work, who was in the office at 7, was still in the office 7 at night, 12 hours later, did a lot of work at home. But we had to make that very hard, critical decision. And so when you are
faced with some of these needs, it does require those difficult decisions. It also requires being able to stand up and when people are angry with you, you have to work with them. You can't walk away and there's no excuses. But for me,
looking at all these fiscal crises from district to district as I've watched this year and I've stayed tied to the superintendent association and attended all the meetings listening to what's happening. I've been very fortunate in this particular district, but we've had
other districts that I've been in that have been very very hard. When I was in Whan, we had to do a lot of layoffs and at the same time, we had a lot of roll over in the front office or the central office. So, we had to deal with that.
So, being very careful with the budget is the most critical thing. And where it gets difficult is if you have to negotiate a contract, which I believe you have one coming up, and trying to figure out how to make all the pieces come together so that we're able to
offer and for our teachers what they need and at the same time make sure that we're answering to the community with their tax dollars, what we're doing with them. Have I ever had a huge financial crisis that I had to really cut back and
remodel? No, I have not. But have I had to be very conservative? I've always been very conservative. And that's not just because I'm in this field. That's how I was raised. You raise with need versus want. And you cover all the need, which is why
when I do a budget, it's it's zerobased. Everybody take your books. We're going to sit down individually. And I start early. I start in late September giving warning. This is what it looks like right now. And we're going to sit every week. And I meet constantly with my
faculty over that, my administrators. But you start zerobased and you build in and you build in everything you need and you look at the cost of that and try to figure out is there any want there that you can squeeze in and if there's not
want then you have to really go into a planning mode to make sure everybody is fully supported most importantly the children. I'm glad I have this swinging chair. I can kind of roll with all of you. Okay, I have the next question. Have BJ, have
you been in a district with both personnel and budget challenges as Brookline has? Um, what areas would you prioritize and what was your what was your biggest win? I've had five superintendents I've worked under in two years. I I think
that's pretty challenging. three in one year in one district. Definitely challenging. Uh because I've been a superintendent for the new folks who came in, I was able to be a support mechanism for those individuals on a number of items. I
realized that when you're new and you participate in the assoc mass association of school superintendents, you participate in the Nissa program, they do give you a mentor, but that mentor is not with you dayto day. And so I'm there daytoday and frequently I would have an administrator or a superintendent come in my office and say
put your superintendent hat on. I have a question for you. And I was happy to do that. And that's why I've stayed active in the association. But you have to understand when you have that kind of change in such a rapid force, the teachers become very
autonomous because they need to they need to be in their classrooms doing their work. And I know the other night I saw that um I don't remember their names, the two teachers who got the grant for the turtles. I just wanted to be here. So
the idea being anybody would show up in a turtle costume. Um the idea being though you have to become autonomous as a teacher because you don't know what the changes are at up the top. So I've been there. I've seen it. I've just experienced it again. So I think it's
really important to be present for the faculty, for the families, and for the children getting into the classrooms. Even if you're not there very long, even if you've had some rotation, you've got to continue to be present and be out there. You cannot stay in your office.
No school can you stay in your office. No district can you hide. Because even if you think you can hide and you take the window out of your door and you put piece of wood in it, somebody will knock on your door. So that's why I'm saying I understand what it's like to have rapid
change and difficult change. And what teachers need to be reassured is we're changing the direction. We're moving the needle. We're steadying the ship. Whatever acronym you want to use, whatever, however you want to say it,
the fact is that we have to reassure them this is going forward and we have to have them with us and listen to them while we're doing it. so that we can inform anybody who's in the central administration or building base
understands what's going on. So I you know there's a hierarchy here we are in central office and there definitely we have a 20,000 foot view that the teachers don't have nor should they because their job is to work with the children. Our job is to make it possible
for them to work with the children through our decisions. And so we have to make sure they know even if somebody there are three superintendents that every superintendent has their back while they're in that office. And that's, you know, what I bring to the table is understanding how you have to
remake a culture every time someone new comes in. It's no different. And I I don't mean to use this as an analogy, but you know, we just had a big change in the Red Sox, as we know on the news, and everybody has their opinion about what happened last night. I have no opinion. I wasn't watching it, but my
two boys do. The thing being, they have to change the culture now in the clubhouse because they made a big change. And this is going to be a big change. You're going to bring in some new central office people. And we have to make sure that everybody in the district understands who we are, what
we're doing, what our plan is, and listen to what they have to say, not what we want to push out. Thanks, Carol. Just want to say that um Theo Epstein is involved in these decisions and he's a graduate of Brooklyn. I know he is. 1991. Yes, he
is. And so is his twin brother. Theo Epstein hasn't been involved in these decisions in about 15 years, but that's okay. He hasn't been with the Red Sox for a long time. It's okay. My father was a Babe Ruth fan. He used to go watch him play.
Um, thank you. So, question number 10. Um, in these tough fiscal times, how important are the fine and performing arts and career and tech education in your budget decision-making?
so important that the very family I was talking about earlier, their children are struggling academically, which of course we're working on, but they are phenomenal performing artists. Imagine if I took
that away from them. I couldn't read in school and I had the opportunity to trade out my PE class to go dance with Boston Ballet. I spend 30 hours a week in my tow shoes, which does explain why my feet are probably so bad
today. But uh the fact is taking away performing arts, somebody will be injured by that decision. Taking away technical, taking away vocational opportunities, somebody will always be hurt by that. So again going back to
that zerobased budget, we look at some of the things that are absolutely required that the department of ed says we have to do that has to get added in. There's a number of items such as making sure our teachers are paid every paycheck. We have to do but at the same
time for those students who rely on the technical arts and rely on the performing arts are those the students that you say okay we don't need them in the district we can live without them. You can't do that. So, you have to find a home for everything. What will that
look like? Well, I haven't looked at your budget in detail, and I know it's going to be really hard, but I am a person that believes there's always a way to make it happen. And I've always found a distinguishing way to create a
path for anything we've needed. It has meant, you know, doing a little pushing and shoving and myself getting in the middle of it. I mean, I've been known when we're short a teacher. We were short a teacher this year um for doing tutoring and when we thought we were possibly going to have to go to hearing
I went to a meeting said to the parent I'll do it myself and so every week I would leave the my office and go back into the elementary school to teach Orton Gillingham uh for which the student said can't we do it during the day and I'm like nope we're doing it afterward but the fact is we were short
teachers and I have been known to go in and teach for a week when my teachers have been out for I had a teacher get married and we couldn't and find a sub and there I went. Changed out of my suit, put on my jeans, was working with a group of children with autism. I was on the floor a lot and in I went. So,
the fact is that's not that it makes me more noble. It's just that you find a way. And when you finally come up empty, you might have to improvise. And that's how I've had to improvise. sometimes is showing up in the classroom which has been some of the best opportunities I've had each of the years that I've been an
interim going back into the classroom working with staff working with students and even having a chance to ask students even with their talker what do you like best about school and hearing what they have to say what would you like me to change about school and hearing what they have to say never hurts to go back
and see where you started all right as superintendent Who do you believe you work for? Uh, and how do you balance the various stakeholders to whom you're accountable? Sure. This was one of the questions I was asked last time and I'm going to repeat that answer for
all of you. I work for all of you as a school committee because you would be my bosses as a a group and individually, but I work for the children of Brooklyn Public Schools if I'm hired to be here. My job is to
come in and make sure there is an appropriate and accessible education, an inclusive education for every child that walks through our door, which is in excess of 7,000 children. That is a lot of children, but every child. So yes, I
have to answer to the town manager and yes, I have to answer to all of you and yes, I have to answer to the taxpayers for the taxes they pay to make sure that we have a solid educational opportunity for every student. But at the end of the
day, I have to be accountable for what the children learn and to make sure that each day they grow stronger across a host of opportunities and then are able to move back in, you know, move into society upon leaving school, whether
they graduate high school when they're 18 or they remain with us until they're 22 with different types of vocational opportunities because they're not able to have a diploma. The fact is I work for them to make sure that happens.
Thank you. Um I think you're aware of this, but we'll be negotiating six contracts during the FY26 school year. Please tell us about your experience negotiating collective bargaining agreements. That I've had a lot of experience. One quick sip.
I did two sets of contracts while I was in Cohassid. Five contracts each time. And while I wasn't directly in negotiations here in Hingham, while we ne negotiated a very difficult contract last year, I definitely was consulted
over a number of pieces that they were debating for the contracts. So I I'm understanding of course you know it's very different today than even five years ago or before COVID how contracts are negotiated and so much of the work
comes from all of you where I'm offering to be some of the reference for all of that but at the same time I definitely have had experience and it's been all the way to my bus drivers my folks who work the cafeteria cafeteria
um my paraprofessionals my teachers, my administrators. So, I have done it all and more than once. Thank you. I realized I didn't introduce myself last time around. So, I'm Sarah Mogtter. I'm a 25-y year veteran teacher
and I did do two years with Dan Good. So, I know what you're talking about when you um reference him. So, I would like to ask um this is a question from all of us. What has been your approach to recruiting and retaining educators of color?
It's been really hard is what I'm going to tell you. The further away you are from the city, the harder it is because a lot of times it has to do with transportation and location. So in Brooklyn, I'm not saying it's easy in Brooklyn, but it would be easier than
say being down in Dubbury or being in Cohassid or being in Hingham. uh having been on the board of directors for Medco, we had talked about this continuously how we would present opportunities for a
lot of our faculty um of color to come and work in the districts. So obviously you can post ads, there's no doubt about it. I've attended job fairs, but the best way is to approach the schools directly where our teachers are and to
let them know about our schools and to give them literature about who we are and why we would like them to come and interview with us. And that to me has been the most powerful thing because we have a lot of faculty, potential faculty
sitting right here at some of our Boston schools, particularly at BEu, Nor Eastern, and so forth. So, I would definitely make an effort to reach out to my contacts in those local colleges here. And we have more than just those two, let's be honest, but reach out there. I would certainly contact the
METCO office and I know you're a METCO district uh with many METCO families and so I would work with them as well and talk to them about what some of our other options can be. But it is important that when we have children uh who are black and brown and they come
into the classroom, it's so important that they see people like themselves as grown-ups who can be solid role models for them. Okay, BJ, last one. Do you have any questions for us? I'm sure I do.
So, I'm curious. I know I brought this up at my last meeting and actually Andy, you were the one that answered my question. So, um, see if anybody else has anything different to say. You know, I've been looking at the district. I clearly I've been watching your school
committee meetings which is why I got so excited about what I saw and I was so happy for your student rep who I met at the last interview heading off to Princeton. What a what a great young man. So um so focused and so mature and what I got to see and not that you're
asking me this but what I got to see in your last meeting are all the students who came to the podium to speak. I have never heard a more eloquent, mature group of adolescents as the ones who stood at the podium tonight or that
night. Actually, I thought I was going to be standing at a podium. So grateful for the table tonight. I wore lower shoes just in case. But the fact is that made me all that much more excited about being a part of the future of Brooklyn,
even if it's only for a year. It really, really did. So, one of the things from looking at everything, I know there's huge concerns about permanent leadership and how do we get that going that seemed to be a bucket that we have to look at. Um, the budget is definitely a large
bucket that we have to look at. Communication and building the trust that seems to have eroded for the last few years. Huge. I want to know what's going on. I don't want to be guessing and I certainly don't depend on social media to get my answers. I am not saying
that social media is a bad thing. So I do all my quilting through Facebook. But the reality is I also know it's not dependable and the best way to make sure everybody understands what's happening is if we are distributing the information ourselves. So that's why I
said being transparent. So I see that as an issue. I understand that you have curriculum and it might not be the biggest piece of the pie for next year, but it is a piece because when we talk about equitable education, we talk about
inclusive education for everybody. You have to make sure your curriculum is matching that matching the needs of your students and finding ways to make that happen. And of course, the other two biggies are the override and the negotiations. So, now I'm going to turn it back to you and say if somebody asked
you to order them in uh most important to least important, and they're all important. Let's start with that. What would be your top two that you would want me to focus on? You'll probably get different answers
from all of us. So, Suzanne, you're you're this is your question. You asked the question. I'd love to hear what you're thinking. Sure. like an audience participation piece. Top is getting people into the seats um
our our senior leaders and building that c culture of trust that the community has in them but then also the culture um between them that they you know will um be able to work together. So I'll just offer top for you. Fair enough. I was I
was going to say probably senior leadership here at on we call it the fifth floor central office. Uh there are lots of holes right now and there's been lots of good work that's been started and I would make I would like to make sure that that work isn't dropped you know that our strategic plan continues
and so the burden will be on this floor. Um, so again getting that leadership team together and then and then going out and again building that trust uh with what I would call at the school level. Sure. So those are probably and
then I guess if we and from now down to a second or third uh but budget will be a big challenge for next year. Okay. So so if I may, we're sitting in the James Walsh school committee room. He was a superintendent who hired me and he stuck
around here for about 14 years. And at his first speech to the whole system, faculty, staff, he said, "I have three goals for you. One, work well with people. Two, work well with people."
Work well with people was number three. Someone shouted out, "What's your fourth goal?" So I think that relationships and that kind of leadership would be critical right now. AB absolutely and remaining unflapable while you're doing
it. That that's you know very very important. The one thing I've often said to teachers is we have to keep our sense of humor because we can't make this up. So while we're doing it we have to make sure we remember to laugh. We get a lot of rest and we communicate communicate.
communicate, which is what I've always said. Um, in when I was a superintendent, I insisted every single week my leadership team had to be there. Had the flu. It was pre virtual meetings. You had the flu, wear a mask.
Come, come, come, come. We have to have you at the table. I made breakfast. I made lunch. I made dinners. We had school committee meetings. You had, they had to come. I made sure there was something there for everybody to eat. Um, I grew up in one of those households where when you had Thanksgiving and you'd made for eight, my mother would
stand outside and say, "You need a place come to our house." So, I really made for 20. And that's how I run my my cabinet that or my le senior leadership team. I want everybody present. I want everybody alert and I want everybody ready to participate. And then I want to make sure they know that I have their
back. So, when they go into the school, they'll have their teachers backs. If it's the central office staff per se, they need to know I have their back so they can do their the challenging work they have to do. It's hugely critical. Uh, interestingly, I came to Hangingham
on my very first day. There wasn't a soul in the office. Somebody had left me keys, but it was July 1st and everybody was on literally everybody was on vacation in the office. And finally, I show up at work at like 6:30, 7. I'm a really early bird person.
I like to go out, run, go to work. So, I got there and there was no one there in the first, you know, three hours and I'm like, where is everybody? And it, you know, I found it stunning that I didn't have the chance to meet people. I had to kind of go through the back door. No,
when I run a district, I want to make sure everybody knows who's present, when they're present, who they can call when they come in. if there's uh a whole central office and four people on vacation, they need to know and be notified who will be there in the event there's an emergency. My phone is on
247. My husband said, "Please retire so it will stop ringing." I said, "I'm not ready." Uh but nonetheless, we if I'm sitting in the chair, which I hope I am because I'm so excited about this district and I grew up coming to Brooklyn a great deal because all my
relatives lived in Brooklyn. But the fact is we have to be excited about our work and I have to give that same excitement to the central office who in turn has to deliver it to the principles who in turn has to make sure the teachers can do their work. We have to
take the blocks away from teachers so they can do their work so we can see more of the turtle that we saw. But it might not be turtles, it might be something else. more of the opportunities whether it is the technical sciences or the technical
anything or more of the performing arts. We need to make sure that everybody knows their place and who they can contact and lean on to get the job done. So that's Thank you. Do you have any more questions for us? Um I think that's
that's pretty much it. It you the things that you're concerned about are the things that I pretty much picked out. I'd like to think that I know that I've had one superintendent's job. It hasn't been for a while, but I have absolutely been in the central office. I have not stepped away from the Association of
School Superintendent deliberately. Last year, I was a finalist in another district and I stepped away because my superintendent at present said, "You can't go. I need you." And she made it. So, I wanted to stay. So, I did. Otherwise, I would have been in
Marblehead this past year. Possibly. There were two of us. I won't say it would be me, but I I will suspect and say I I assumed it would be me. So, the point being, I want to be a superintendent again. I wouldn't have applied if I didn't think I could do it. I wouldn't have applied if I didn't
think that I could offer the skillsbased efforts with communication and association with everybody that I've done in other districts. Thank you so much, thank you. You applaud everybody. This is very cool.
So, thank you very much. I do appreciate your time. I know my time is up. I will leave you to do whatever you need to do. Thank you very much. Turn the mic off. Turn the mic off and we'll be back here uh tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. Thank you. Thank you.