Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Uh, welcome to this meeting
of the ch school committee. Uh, this meeting is being live streamed by Chelsea televia and posted on the CPS website for interested community members to access and watch. Inerson public participation will be taking place tonight in accordance with the chumps of school committee public participation policy. Anyone speaking tonight during the public input portion of this meeting
as notified the superintendent's office of the desire to speak been provided with these guidelines. Upon request written comments received no later than 12 p.m. on the day of this meeting also be read and made a part of the record during of the meeting during the second public comment session. So welcome. Uh first order of business is to approve
our minutes from our meetings of March 24th and March 31st. Okay. I move that we approve the minutes of the regular school committee meeting of March 24, 2026. >> I'll second. >> Anybody have any corrections on those minutes?
>> Right. All those in favor? >> I I >> 5-0. >> Okay. And I move that we approve the minutes of the uh school committee meeting which was a workshop on AI of March 31, 2026. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Any corrections there? Oh, very
thorough job by the way on the minutes. All right. All those in favor? >> I. Okay. 5-0. >> All right. Next up, we'll hear from our CHS student representatives. >> All right. So, the spring craft fair took place on Sunday, April 12th at McCarthy Middle School with proceeds
going to the CHS class of 2027. Uh, which was very, very good for them. It was over $5,000 raised, I believed. Yeah. >> Uh, so thank you all who stopped in and all the vendors that came. Uh the student council elections uh were held on Monday, but the uh runoffs happened
today. Um so congratulations to Na Barti for winning president, Deanna Jackson for winning treasurer, and for co uh vice president and secretary who was split 50/50 on the runoffs. So there there's going to be um they're sharing
the position for co- vice presidents and co- secretaries. So, congratulations to Julia Perez and Alish Dow for winning co- vice presidents and Roman Porio and John V. Patel for winning co- secretaries. Um, today was the junior career breakfast um which is a time where juniors were able to meet with
their workers with workers and jobs that they were interested in in order to get information on it and get a sense of a day-to-day uh life in their job. >> All right. Um, we're very proud to share that nine students from the Chungs for DECA Club earned the chance to compete at the international level. These
students get to travel to Atlanta from April 25th to the 28th to represent our school against the best in the world. And the AC Capella Aapocalypse performed their shows on Friday and Saturday with it being very successful and many people showing up to support. And Catel is
taking place on Friday night on May 9th. And we chose a masquerade theme for this event. And we're looking forward to see all juniors there for a great night. And some amazing news to end it off with is that April vacation starts next week. >> There's good news.
>> All right. Thank you both. Uh any >> You stole my good news. No, but um congratulations to our two committee members for a three-year term, Susan McKinnon and Dennis King. >> Well, thank you very much. All right. Anybody else have any good news to share?
Okay, great. So, we are now to our first public comment session uh of the meeting. Um we have one registered speaker tonight. So, uh for those speaking tonight, I would ask you to try to limit your comments to 3 to 5 minutes so that we can move on with our u regular business. Um remember this
comment period is for items listed on tonight's agenda. Also, please keep in mind we will not be responding directly to your comments during this part of the meeting, but we will try to address them we get to those items in the agenda. So, I'll invite our first speaker up. If you could just give your name and address to the secretary.
>> Uh, good evening. My name is Jen Johnson. I'm from Robin Hill Road. I'm a mom of three children within the school district. First, I'd like to congratulate the reelected members of the school committee and thank each of
you for your service to the community. As you reorganize tonight, I think it's an ideal moment to reflect on the core mission defined by your handbook that you are a high functioning governing body whose primary charge is to ensure accountability to sustain continuous
improvements in teaching and learning. As a committee, you provide essential oversight for our district's academic health and for upholding the performance standards that have come to become that have come to be expected in Chelmsford.
The handbook is clear. While the administration manages the day-to-day operations, the school committee as a whole holds the authority to set the direction of the district objectives and monitor the results for attaining them.
I'm here tonight because our long-term data regarding overall academic achievement in grades 3 through 8 suggests that strategic change is needed. When we look at our MCCAST results from 2019 to 2025 across both
ELA and math, I see a concerning trend for our later elementary and middle school students. In both subjects, we still have 11% fewer students scoring in the meeting or exceeding expectations category than we
did in 2019. Even more concerningly to me is that in both ELA and math, the number of students in the bottom scoring band not meeting expectations has grown significantly. For literacy, it's more
than doubled since 2019. and it's increasing with each year that we move further out from the pandemic. These figures represent a growing group of our children who are falling further behind grade level expectations.
To ensure true accountability, there needs to be a shift from presentations that provide qualitative defenses of underperforming practices to acknowledgement of areas of weakness.
and identification of datadriven action plans. I'm asking the committee to exercise the governance authority entrusted to you to help our students to get back on track. Your leadership tools include
collaborative smart goals, working with the administration to develop specific, measurable, and timebound goals for district-wide academic recovery to the district's highest perform levels of performance in both ELA and math.
Evidence-based evaluation, ensuring that the superintendent's annual evaluation, which is a publicly shared document, formally reflects these links to student achievement data points as evidence of performance
and budgetary alignment. As you exercise your final votes on the operating budget, please ensure that resources are being prioritized for the intensive interventions that our hundreds of struggling students clearly require.
We rely on you to move beyond the review of annual administrative reports to the active monitoring of long-term progress against ambitious and strategic objectives. By prioritizing clear overarching goals for academic
excellence over narrow year-over-year snapshots, you can ensure that the continuous focus on instructional improvement promised in our district mission becomes a measurable reality for every student. Thank you for your service and your commitment to our
schools. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Right. I think that was our only speaker at this point of the meeting. So, we're going to move on to new business and I'm going to turn the meeting over to the superintendent. >> Thank you. And uh I also want to just congratulate Dennis and um Susan on
re-election. Um this is the uh first meeting uh since the election and we do this every time we uh reconvene annually. Um so it is up to the school committee to elect a slate of officers. We have a chair, we have a vice chair and a secretary and I usually step in here and open the nominations for
someone who would be interested or recommending someone to be the chair. And then once we have nominations and close and we do a roll call to secure that person as the chair, I'll turn the meeting over to that person and then they'll elect a vice chair and a secretary. So, uh, at this point, I would open up, uh, nominations for a
committee member to serve as the chair for the coming year. >> I would like to nominate Maria Santos to be the chair. >> I'll second. >> All right. We have a nomination from rear and a second. Are there any other nominations? All right. Can we do a roll call vote
then? Um to nominate um Maria to serve as the chair. Diana >> I. >> Susan >> I. >> Dennis >> I. >> Maria >> I'll accept. Yeah. >> Thank you. And John. >> Uh empathetic. I >> very good. So it's unanimous. >> Yeah.
>> All right. So we'll now >> you turn this over to you. >> Oh, thank you Dennis. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you very much. Thank you very much for everybody for uh supporting that nomination with your vote. Um I will do
my utmost best, but I've already said to Dennis, pop in and tell me anytime that I go against whatever the flow of the meeting is supposed to be. Um he's got a lot of experience and I want to thank him for all the years of service,
>> he has honestly led us well. Um and um we do have a big mission. And so now the next is the election for the vice chair. And I will um I would like to hear a
nomination for that. >> Anyone? >> I would like nominate Susan. Yeah, >> I will second. >> Okay, let's do a vote. Dennis >> I. >> Okay. Susan
>> I >> Diana >> I >> and John >> I. >> Yay. And you. >> Oh me is I. So Susan >> congratulations. >> Welcome aboard as a vice chair. You get to make all those wonderful >> um >> lengthy motions
>> motions. Million motions. Okay. And I would like to now uh have a nomination if I could for uh secretary. >> I would like to nominate Diana as secretary. >> I'll second.
>> Okay. Vote. So Dennis >> I. >> Susan >> I. >> Diana. >> John >> I. >> And me is I. >> Um we have a board for the committee. Congratulations. >> Thank you everybody.
>> Okay, Parker Middle School is next on our agenda >> and this is the open uh comment section for it. We've been looking at the grade level options. So >> correct. Um so this is the standing item that's been on our agenda for the last
few meetings. Um and this is kind of a big week for us. A little bit later in the agenda, we'll be talking about uh grade level configurations and our next steps with the MSBA. But we had this as an item in case anyone from the public wanted to uh make a comment on our um upcoming votes. So it doesn't seem like
anyone is in the audience to um to do that. But uh we're at least covering ourselves. >> Great. >> Okay. So um this requires very specific motion. Is that >> Nope. That's later on. That's the one later on. >> Okay. >> This is just the open comment one. >> All right. >> And then when we get to that later,
we'll do those motions. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So >> So we'll just move on to So there's no action on number two. So, we'll just move on to number three, >> which is inviting uh Steve Murray, who's our principal of Chswood High School, up to share a spotlight on some of the activity that's happening at the high
school. >> Well, congratulations again, Mr. McKenna, Mr. King. Great. Thank you, everyone. All right, so I uh I pulled out three things that we're going to talk about for our uh today for the high school that we've been focusing
on, been working on, and they're all in our improvement plan. And uh the first one is we're going to talk about updates on innovation pathways and dual enrollment. Talk about the vision of a learner and then social emotion social emotional supports at Shelford High School. So our innovation pathways this
program is just bursting. It's getting really large. We have we started off really small uh because we we had to get we had to build capacity. So we had teachers who had to uh who had to go through the rigorous process of Middle Sex to kind of become our instructors. Our innovation pathway programs provide
students with skill-based and advanced courses relevant to high needs employment sectors and those employment sectors are the business and finance in information technology advanced engineering manufacturing and life sciences. We have our courses our curriculum include both technical and advanced courses and the benefits are
in-depth career field exploration industry recognized credentials and senior capstone and internship with collaborating partners and that's been getting larger and larger. Um the uh we're hoping is is that kids will get some informed decisions before they go on to their careers either after school
or or to college. Our dual enrollment program is you can earn college credits. You get some skill enhancement uh some strengthened academic skills with access to college librarys and resources. Financial savings for a low cost of $128 per credit. And the mass transfer
program is huge. You can seamlessly transfer your earned credits through the statewide transfer program. And it's unmatched. We have 31 courses in all subject areas of dual enrollment and we're by far the largest school that Middle Sex Community College has who's doing dual enrollment uh dual enrollment classes. We have the number largest
number of kids who are described in the largest number of classes that a high school has. And I know I'm benefiting from this. My son's a freshman at University of Rhode Island and because he took so many dual enrollment classes, he's going to graduate a semester early. So I'm ecstatic by that. So he doesn't
he doesn't seem as excited but my wife and I are really so we appreciate all the efforts that the school committee and the uh Dr. Lang and Dr. Hers have of putting this together. Early college access programming we there are three tiers. We're just moving into tier three. The first one tier tier one is foundation where it's a free online one
college credit class for all our our kids can take. We do that freshman and sophomore year. We're in the immersion part right now which is all the dual enrollment and the enrolling the college level courses. And now we're we're now we just started last year into a new the associates degree pathway. So right uh
and it's the liberal arts and sciences. So we're we're just getting involved in that. We're building that out and hopefully get some more uh associate degree pathways on on the way. But we're we we built it out and we're getting started. I'm very excited by this. Um our vision of a learner. So uh Linda Dr.
Dr. Hirs about a about a year ago when when MCCAST was was voted out as a graduation requirement, Dr. Hirs, we were talking and she said it's it's going to come back in some capacity uh some some new graduation requirements and she was right. This past fall,
Governor Healey put out her recommendations of what's going to be move forward. They're talking about the vision of a learner. So with NIAS, our accreditation program, they have a vision of a graduate they want everyone to have when people graduate. Massachusetts is going to vision of a
learner and NAS has now changed that and because we did our dennial visit two years ago, we're already ahead of the curve on this. So even though the vision of a learner is not a mandate for Massachusetts yet, uh I think it's going to be as Dr. H had mentioned and we're already working on this. So what are we
doing? So why first of all why is the vision of a learner important? It's important because it's crucial because it provides a shared and long-term roadmap for developing future ready skills, character traits, and academic success, aligning our stakeholders on core educational goals. It also enables
schools to move from a vision to action. And so, we're hoping with the vision of learner that there's four things come up a future ready skills, uh success and assurance. We're going to have a road map so for our framework and where we're going and then hopefully empower some leadership give educators and leaders the vision needed to transform our
learning experiences. So what does the transforming mean? So the first thing we have to do is find out from students what learning is. So during our block which is our our plus block in January and February we had kids look at and ask what what kind of things is learning. So
we use mentor meter and Bill Silver's fantastic with his zaps he let us use and it categorized what kids said in these four categories knowledge and application. Students said learning is learning is fundamentally the process of acquiring new understanding information and skills through experience study or being taught. They said growth and
understanding expanding knowledge and evolving by changing a mindset. True learning is defined as understanding concepts to apply them in daily life or real world scenarios. That came out over and over again by kids. and value and importance important necessary and a privilege serving as a key to the
opportunity and foundation for future success becoming a well-rounded person. And then the last thing which came out uh right after under growth and understanding is experience engagement where kids were saying they found they described as fun and rewarding. It can be stressful but but it needs to have those hands-on experiences and we talked
to them what learning is not and so they talked about memorization without understanding that's not learning. They talked about passive and dishonest activity such as cheating or using AI for assignments. The kids were very honest. That's not learning. Uh learning is not always fun or easy, but it should
not be excessively stressful to the point of punishment. And then it's not just about achieving grades. I love to hear about that. And uh and re receiving lectures or completing piles of unnecessary homework. And then so then what we did is we met with the staff. We talked to the staff
and said, "All right, this is what the kids have said. We want you to now we worked in pairs and we had teachers come up with um professions that don't exist yet that will exist in about 25 years and uh because the you know world is
changing so fast AI etc. So when we kind of talked about those things, what are kids are going to need in the future that they uh uh that we could really focus on? And what came out from the staff is based on what the students said and the and the jobs of the future, they need to think critically, appropriately use of AI and technology was was
resounding, be able to identifi identify fact and fiction that goes back to the social media etc. Communicate effectively, collaborate, uh perseverance and resilience and also be empathetic. So how we going to get there? So what we we've been analyzing with the staff what
learning is and what learning is not. We did that with the staff as as we did with the students. And then as I said we did the future prep. So where are we going in the future because we can't stay where we are now. And then we're going to use our SEO blocks to define learning and state uh their learning beliefs. Our next step with the kids is
what they're going to talk about their learning beliefs. What do they believe in learning? So, what we want teachers to do, we're going to do in our in in May at our faculty meeting and then with our students in May during our sale block for teachers, they're going to identify and magnify powerful moments of learning. What does that mean? What
lessons do they have that they've been teaching over the years that they know they got a big bang for their buck that kids really liked it, they couldn't get enough of it. And we're going to we're going to categorize those. Every every teacher has one. We're going to ask the students in May, what are the p powerful moments of learning from a class or a
person that they liked? And some of those things we might not know the impact we make and maybe a lesson we didn't like is making an impact. So we're going to categorize those as well. And the uh ultimate goal the impact on the right is to increase the clarity of our learning expectations strengthen the student reflection engagement promote
consistency across classrooms and what that means is we're hoping to take some of these powerful moments of learning and then sharing them through each course the similar course and through the departments so there's not just one powerful moment you have several power within within a term or or unit. and then support equitable access to meaningful learning and experiences.
This has been hard work, but it's been good and the staff has liked it and we've um been very uh appreciative of the of Dr. Lang and Dr. Hirs allowing uh me, one of my deans and a handful of teachers to go to NAS a conference down in in Connecticut for two-day
conferences was two days in October and two days in March to kind of work on this and and uh working with other people who can help guide us on that. And the part that I'm excited about is social emotional learning at at CHS. So this is one quick slide of what we're doing. We have four kind of buckets
students transitions and growth. We have mentoring program for all new students. And so that's not just ethan, but any new student that comes into the building at any time of the year, they're going to have a mentor. We're going to work on the vision of a learner because that's so important to where we're going and what we need to do. And youth science, I
cannot thank Shannon Bishoff enough. She's our director of guidance. And that you science is the science of you. And we're having our sophomores and junior juniors take it. It's in personal inventory on their strengths and their passions. And it kind of helps give kids this kind of um mind map of where they
want to go when they leave the high school. If they're going to be in college, what are their strengths? What are they what what they they can gravitate to? But if they're going to go into um the workforce after high school, what are their strengths and what are what are the things that they can bring to to a workforce? So, this is an inventory kids are are taking and it
goes back to what Dr. Hershey said a year ago is and what uh Governor Healey said this past um fall is that they want kids to do a MY cap where kids are going to have to look and get prepared for their their postc career life and how can we present how can we support them in that and so the youth sciences we
started last year we we and this year we got that from Shannon so we're really happy very excited with that we're going to uh better use our scheduled time so we're using character strong block on Wednesdays and our pride blocks to find out from us our get guidance from our kids on where we're
We're using the data and post secondary information for for panorama and the youth risk behavior surveys. We've noticed in the YRBS in the last few years we've done mock car crashes. But looking at our YRBS, the kids are saying that um drinking and driving isn't the
isn't the issues that that's uh that's stressing them out or or causing problems. It's it's still drugs. It's social media and stuff. So with that, we brought in Becky Savage this uh about a month ago who came in and spoke to our kids about it was it was pretty cool. It was one Did you both go see it?
>> Yeah. >> Her her old things she she presented her family. It's uh she has four boys and it's uh and they every winter for 14 years they go down to the to down to Florida for um for vacation. They take their Christmas picture there for them. Well, her kids her purpose of her
program was just one bad choice. Her kids were they're involved in the school. They were captains and athletic, etc. And they each went to a party and they each took some pills. It was one bad choice. They both died that night. She lost two of her sons of the four in one night. And her message was just one
bad choice. You don't have to be an addict. You don't have to be it's just so basically was talking about and then we talked about our resource with our guidance counselor. So that kind of stuff's so important. We're getting that data from our youth risk behavior survey and our panorama data on what's weighing on kids minds. And then the climate
engagement. Um, again through uh through Shannon, we got restorative practices where we're not just giving consequences. We want kids to kind of meet and hash things out and kind of get to an understanding of what their conflicts are. And we're doing more and more in that. And that is that is so important that kind of work. Um, and the
uh we have almost 70 studentled clubs. Kids come to clubs and almost all those clubs are community service based as Joanna knows. We're always finding out because we're raising money for things and I think that's great when kids are getting involved in the in the school and leading it. uh the direction and the last thing is that we've done a stealth
adoption. We did this last year and we did it again this year. We increased this year and what the stealth adoption was we talk about the importance of belonging where every every student needs to feel they belong. Every student needs to feel they're connected to the building or an adult. So what we did last year and we did this year is we
took uh during a PD day we took every student's name 1450 kids. We put them across the whole cafeteria. Then we took every teacher guy. Uh last year we just did teachers. This year we did teachers, our par educators, secretaries, custodians, etc. And everyone got
stickers and they had to put a sticker next to the name of uh of any kid they knew something about. And I'm not saying like says if I wear if I wear a varsity jacket that says baseball, doesn't mean they know about baseball. That's something we all know. But something you do know about them. And we went through
all that afterwards and looked at any kid who didn't have a sticker or had low stickers. And we talked to the staff and we did a stealth adoption. So, they had 22 teachers and staff members this year who we took one of those kids and they've and they're adopting that kid uh for the second half this year. We didn't
tell the kid this because it's stealth is that they bring them in and start making connections with their kids. They can help them out just simple talking, maybe having lunch and hopefully getting those kids who are not connected connected in some way, shape or form because those are the kids we do worry about. So, it went really well last year. We had I think 12 teachers doing
it. We have 21 this year doing it with kids stealth adoption. Some of us are doing double duty administration and I think that hopefully makes the difference. But that's the uh but those that's our highlights for Ch High School. Any questions? >> Thank you, Steve. And um I'm going to
open up the floor for any comments. Um >> any reactions to Steve? >> Uh I wanted to say that one of my favorite programs that's been started since I've been on the board has been um the dual enrollment program. And I'm glad to see that because I've talked about it for a long time that they're going to actually be able to do uh all
the way through associates. >> And uh as a parent also of a of a sophomore, I'm super grateful that you have this program too because college costs do not go down, they only go up. True. So uh really great work there and just great work all around learning and
understanding uh what the future holds uh for these kids. You too for going all these things and participating as well. So >> thank you. >> Thank you. No, thank you. Oh, just Okay, Diana. >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead. >> Go ahead. >> Okay. Um, I was equally excited to see
um that innovation pathways and early college have continued to grow and expand um several years ago in my day job. I was involved in some of the early days of innovation pathways statewide. And um I was very excited to hear that Chelmsford was going deep with that um
cuz I think it's really beneficial way for students to explore um future career options while it's still early enough to change their minds and >> true >> have them still be prepared for college options as well and just keeping their
options open while also investing some of their time in something. So I think that's great. Um, I love, this is the first I've heard of the stealth adoption idea. I love that. I think that's a fantastic way to build connections for students. It's ultimately going to help
with, you know, retention for some students who are kind of on the on the bubble. It's going to help for deeper engagement, I hope, um, at least. And there's certainly a lot of research around the benefit of having a trusted adult in the building. So, I think that's wonderful. Um my question is
around um the vision of a learner which it's interesting hearing that reframing. I've certainly usually heard it as vision of a graduate. So >> that's different. Um I like it but it's different. Um but I'm curious. So you mentioned that there's going to be some
integration of this into the upcoming uh PD day or or >> yeah our next faculty meeting coming up in May. >> I'm curious what the next step. So there's a vision >> and I love visions and they become meaningless if they just stay as a
vision. So I'm curious both what the plans are then to kind of bring this down like what impact this is going to have on the way that things are shaped in the building. >> Yeah. >> And also if there is any uh dialogue on a vertical level to think about what
impact that then has on let's say McCarthy and >> that's a great question. So what what our hope is and when we finish the vision of the learner in terms of what what learning is, what's important, what are some powerful moments for for lessons um we're we're hoping to do is
that when we move forward with this is then then we can come across like for instance pride our pride acronym and so we're using that as part of our vision of learner then how do we measure it >> so that's the next step so in October's uh NIAS conference is now once you have your vision of a learner how do you measure it because exactly you said you
can have it but if you don't measure it and you don't move and change from it and reflect and it's it's just words. So that's what that's where our hope is in October to get that done by. >> That's great. >> Yeah. And what I what NAS has changed so what used to happen is when you used to your accreditation you get accreditation is a the 10 years a big celebration they
give you things to work on and you're done. They want the vision of a learner never to be done. They said it's always going to be reflecting and changing because we're always changing. So that makes sense. So it'll always be an ongoing um >> uh process. I think I think that's valid. >> A living document. >> Exactly. Living document is a better
word. >> Yeah. I we just finished our NES too and we're learning the same lessons. But my question was about um the internship program like where does that fit in the scheme of is it part of the innovation pathways is a separate program they integrate. >> It's a little of both. There's for with the innovation pathways program they do
have their own capstones and their own um internships that this the teacher works placing them in as our career and college readiness center does. And then there's the internship program. The other one the large ones we have a bunch of seniors went out on their own. It's it's touches on that but it's not as
prescriptive as the as the pathways. So we're here where we have a kids we I think 235 seniors 233 who are out and I think you took some in the years. >> I've had insurance before. >> It's great. It was uh it's it's um I think the ex the example I use two years
ago is a girl her father is a CPA and and she her plan is to become an accountant and take take that over. So she went and interned for him and when she did her presentation what they weren't what they liked and stuff she said she hated it. She was so bored. So and that's good to know the father laughed. It was funny but that's good to
know before you go into college and you start you start going down the accounting approach. So so the to answer your question the pathways uh there's prescriptive for what they're they're going through and the internship the one I just spoke about is more for the kids personal inventory and their own experiences and sometimes they cross sometimes they don't.
>> Okay. So just another option for >> Yeah. Exactly. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Can I just do a shout out for three different people before I go? So in October I had that NAS conference and it was schools from New Hampshire, it was Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. And we had it again this
past March. And then about a month ago I had my own MVC Marramac Valley principal conference. And I got to hear from those schools the frustrations they have in their districts. And the frustrations I had were uh two was one their technology. And I want to say I want to
shout out to Bill Silver. >> His vision and what he set here for technology. We're so much better equipped than other talents from what I've seen and heard. We don't have those glitches where things just fall apart all the time. You can't access it. He's got a vision of where we're going. And he's also support network to support us
with these things. So very fortunate to have Bill Silver. Second one is uh Brian Curley. The conditions of our buildings here are phenomenal. It has been. This is my fourth district I've been in and I haven't seen buildings uh this good and I'm hearing people talking about how unclean their buildings and all these
different issues and we've got it going good here. So, we have two really good hires. And then the third one I want to say I I think is a real MVP here is Shannon Bishoff. She's our director of guidance and social emotional learning. She's brought some really great programs here for both staff and students to support on this. So, I think there's
we're in good hands and those three people are really making a difference. So, shout out. Thank you. Susan, did you want to >> I did have a question also about the dual enrollment and the um associates degree pathway. I mean, I think it's wonderful we have them, but I know that they there's a cost, a monetary cost,
and I'm just curious how now that any high school graduate can get free community college. Have we seen a shift in how students enroll for those things? >> So, we asked that question last year. We said because community college is free for a couple years, will that fall down
to the high schools? And they and Middle Sex said no. Uh I don't I don't think they're even considering it. I think that's where they're going to get some of their money from. So we're looking at a a Steph Quinn uh curriculum coordinator for social sciences and John Morris for um for science. They're
looking at the early college access. So if we get that, then that'll be free for kids. So it it'll level the playing field. I wondered if that was something we might try because some like no show tech has that for instance. >> May 22nd I think is when we're going to find out whether whether we qualify or not. >> Yeah. I I I mean I think it's great we
have what we have but you got to pay for that. >> It does nothing. >> Some families may opt to just wait it out. Get it for free. So I just question. We hope they do it. And uh when we went to the day on the hill uh we did bring that up as an issue and uh
with our legislators talking about the fact that you know some more money needs to come into that pathway program. >> Now right now you have what maybe 120 students or so in the pathways at the high school. Right. And more programs
being considered for pathways. >> Correct. Yeah. Which building out we need. So um and and those are tough choices to make because once you're in a pathway >> you are going to have to take certain courses which means you might not be able to take other things >> right
>> so it it does leads to making certain selections here >> um all great now I was fascinated by the learner uh versus um what was >> graduate >> graduate okay and learner to me seems to
me that should be starting at um chips. >> Yes. >> In our preschool. >> So I think that that's kind of what Diana was also asking in terms of how is that going to float down in terms over the entire system once we have that
definition of a learner that our older students are coming up with along with um the staff at the high school. How will that filter through our entire system which would be really important I think to keep it in a uniform thing. I
remember we always would say everybody ends up at the high school. >> It it they do but it's from the very beginning of your life that you are a learner. >> So um you know as you guys consider this in high school I think it's really important. It's important for the entire
system. >> That's a good point. Both of you. Uh just my my two points. Want to thank you >> uh for presenting to us. It's always important >> what's going on at CHS >> and I agree with you on the buildings except we need a new building.
>> That's true. We do need a new building. You're working on that. Exactly. That's true. >> We need that Parker School. >> Nope. I agree. That's >> why we're not putting a lot of our bucks right now because we need that new building. >> Agree. >> Very much so. >> We do. I just said it. >> Thank you everyone. Appreciate it. Thank
you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Steve. Sure to see you. >> Nice to see you soon. >> Good to see you. >> See you at graduation. >> Yes, that's right. That's coming up soon. >> Don't forget to fill out your form. >> I already did it. I did it. >> It was one of the first ones this time. >> Well, I wanted to jump ahead as you
could tell um prior to Steve's presentation and go into number four. So, here we are. Parker Middle School, uh the building project. >> We are going to do uh education program review. Um and we have to approve the
updates to the program and the document. So we've got you >> happy to um yeah I can just give you a quick overview and then there's a a prepared motion. We have left field and AI3 are here um just to kind of support us along. But we have two kind of
critical votes tonight um as we're working our way through this MSBA process. And just to foreshadow for the um viewing audience, on Thursday we have a Parker School building committee and we're going to be taking a couple of significant actions on Thursday night as well. So this is kind of a big week for us. But the first um action before you
this evening is we had previously presented a um an education program for Parker Middle School that had been approved by the school committee. We submitted that as part of our application process to the MSBA. They came back and asked a whole bunch of questions of us. we were able to
incorporate the responses to those questions into the plan. And then also as we've been kind of refining this and looking at what our preferred option is, we pretty consistently been talking about looking at the grade four, five, six option. So the ed program itself, as previously written, covered all three
scenarios. It covered just a 56, a 456, and a 5, six, seven, eight option. So it covered all three. But the final ed program actually has to just kind of contain our preferred option. So the preferred option is the grade four to 56 uh the three grade level configuration.
So um what we did just for ease of of review is we sent you the um track changes version so you didn't have to read the entire document again. So you have uh that in front of you. And what we'll be looking for tonight is to approve the uh the revised and updated um education program for Parker Middle
School that incorporates the um the verbiage that we've already sent back to the state as well as um hones in on a three grade level option, the 456. >> Okay. Does anybody have any input or comments into what we have reviewed here?
>> I I just have one. It's a note I sent to myself and it um I'm just going to quote from it. It's very short. It said about the grade configurations. At the present time, grade four students are instructed by one teacher delivering all four primary academic subjects, English,
language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. The district is researching developmentally appropriate structures potentially including a hybrid model that may include a self-contained grade four with increasing um team exposure. Whether grade four remains with one teacher instructing all
four primary academic subjects or transitions to a two-teer team as in place with grades five and six, the required number of core academic classrooms, blah blah blah blah blah. Um, I I definitely support a move to 46, but I just want to publicly state that I
think that it is extremely important that when we get to that stage, we really do look at what's developmentally appropriate for fourth grade and not just choose the same model as grade five, six, because that's what exists in the in the building. I just wanted to state that that I just think it's really
important reminding everyone of that. I'm going to ask can we move one more mic down so that because Yeah. So you each have one because it's hard it's been hard for me to hear what Susan's saying. I don't know about everybody else but just to make sure >> you can you're okay.
>> Okay. >> All right. So okay >> I just wanted to state that >> that's important uh because the configuration is going to be quite different from what we have now. >> Um anybody else? I just want an observation and I don't notice
superintendent hers worked very very very hard on on this and and the the changes just on page 19 you have a repeat paragraph that's the only mention just has the same paragraph twice so >> I liked it so much I put it in twice >> just to clean it up yeah that's the only thing I just noticed just said
>> yeah there's a couple of um errors couple spelling we'll go through it >> I didn't do a for spelling >> we'll do a grammatical check too >> yeah but I just want to put that but otherwise it look great I was surprised that did weren't that many changes for this particular thing. >> Well, it also incorporated, remember we received the questions from the state,
right? So, taking those questions from the from the state, sorry, building association um and incorporating it in it is a little choppy when you get to that point. That's why kind of remindation because it doesn't flow as well, but you have to incorporate if they ask those questions, then they
didn't read it in the document. So, we have to put it into the document so that they don't ask the qu hopefully don't ask the question again. >> No, thank you for all the work. We know this was >> yeah this is a lot heavy lift heavy lift. So >> and just to Susan's point, it's valid and I think that's why we specifically
put that wording in there. The MSBA is primarily looking at this from a spatial standpoint at this point and it's not going to have a difference one way or the other. But we, you know, like the current configuration and we don't want to just abandon that. But we don't have to necessarily get too deep into it now.
But we have that as a placeholder. So I I highly agree with your comments and we have it in there. and it will be three years before the building is complete. So, lots of time to see which option is best and going
forward as things change. Anybody else? Any other comments? Okay. Or input. So, we're ready for the motions. And these motions are fun, huh, Susan? >> Okay. Nice long ones. >> So, um and we have some wording for it because it has to include this wording.
>> Okay. I make a motion that the school committee based on its continued review of the educational program is developed through the preliminary design program known as PDP submission to the Massachusetts School Building Authority and is refined for the preferred
schematic report which is a PSR authorizes AI3 Architects and left field on behalf of the school district to submit the PSR educational program to the MSBA for review and consideration. Okay. Could I have a second? Thank you,
Diana. Second. >> Um, everybody vote or roll call on this one. >> No, I think so. >> Do roll call. >> What do you want for the record? >> To be safe, let's do it. >> Can we do a roll call? Yeah. >> All right. Dennis >> I. >> Okay. Susan >> I.
>> Um, Diana >> I. >> John. >> I. >> And Maria's eye. >> All right. We have an additional motion. Um but that will be under uh the project grade recon. It's under this. So we're ready for it. >> Yep. And let me just give you a little
background to this one. So this is the second significant motion that the committee is going to consider this evening. And this is required by the MSBA because currently in Chelm our grade configurations are grade K to four for elementary and then 5 to 8 for middle and then 9 to 12 for high school.
Um, so going with the 456 option would be uh taking fourth grade out of elementary and putting it into middle school. >> So the committee needs to vote to say that yes, if that's the course we go down, the committee is okay with grade four moving up to be with the five, six in middle school. So it's a um a grade
reconfiguration statement just basically granting your approval for that grade level alignment. >> Does it can I Yeah. >> Can I ask a question about this? So I I share some concerns to make sure that
fourth grade isn't without consideration of the developmental needs of students in fourth grade prematurely middle schoolized in this process. I trust that the intention is to be really careful and deliberate with what happens for fourth graders.
Is there something um built into the nomenclature saying that fourth grade is now part of middle school that comes with any assumptions or um policy um aspects attached to it? In other
words, does that actually fundamentally change anything that is built into the assumptions around fourth grade? Right now, >> it doesn't fundamentally change anything in like the school committee kind of policy purview because everything is still delineated by grade. This is
basically just telling the MSBA that if all the votes align and we're actually approved for this that the school committee is okay with fourth grade being with fifth and sixth in a new building, we're even going to have to take a look at like naming at that point. >> I was going to say, are we locked into middle school? Oh, I mean whatever we I
mean yes, we're locked into it for the MSBA's purposes, but I mean internally like locally when this school opens, we could call it an upper elementary or like no, they're not going to get hauled up on the names. Okay. >> Um it's really just that grades four, five, and six would be together. Um but
we would have to then even kind of go back and look at our own policies and things like that because everything is spelled out by grade. And if there are any instances where elementary is listed as say grade K to four, even in our contracts, grade three to four, we would have to kind of go back in and potentially tease out where we'd want to
have the fourth grade be more aligned with the middle school. Um, but this isn't changing any of that right now. So yeah, because that is that is the piece that I was thinking about not just like in an employee contract, but I was
thinking about the potential impacts on, for example, if we were to be discussing policies around technology and if we made a distinction between, let's say, elementary and secondary or middle school versus elementary. just wondering
would that I'm not trying to be too um caught up in the details here, but does that impact what happens now in fourth grade? And I don't know. I'm just >> I'm just wondering if this literally only applies to this document for the
new school or does this vote impact the way in which we are grouping our grades from this point forward? This vote is basically specifically for the MSBA and the PSR process that we're going through. If everything is approved
and the school moves forward, then the committee will have to come back and revisit like how this could actually tie into our existing, you know, programs and again namings and things like that. But for right now, this is just signaling to the MSBA that if the community supports this, the school building committee supports this, that
the committee is okay with grades four, five, and six >> being housed being housed in the same building. And that's really what this vote does. >> Um, again, we'll have plenty of time after the fact to go back and actually figure out to extent like if we have a policy that's covering say elementary school or middle school, which do we
want it to apply to? And we'll have I mean it's minimally four years before this even opens, but we would have plenty of time to do that. >> Yeah. I just wanted to make sure we weren't locking ourselves into something that would be hard to back out of. Thank you. >> Yeah. Does the Commonwealth even have a different definition of middle school?
I'm not aware of one because it's town different towns have very different grade configurations from each other. So I don't know that middle school has to mean anything in particular. And as we do policies, I think we just going to have to be careful to name what grades
we're talking about. >> Yeah, >> I agree. And I I that's what I thought Diana was asking. It's it would really just be locally what we're calling elementary, middle school, not from the state. The state just wants >> anything. >> No, the state just wants to make sure it's okay having grades four, five, and six in the same school.
>> Okay. I I was just making sure that by changing it to being middle school, that didn't suddenly unlock some new uh policy implications. Thank you. This this vote basically just clears the deck for the building committee on Thursday night to approve a four to six school
new school building. And you know, if we don't have that as an option for a school committee, then we can't really put it forward as a building. So, >> no, I get that. I that's fine. I just wanted to make sure there weren't any >> Yeah. >> like surprises built in. >> But your point is a really important
point. Um because policies do apply. there are different policies that principles implement and so on and through the handbooks uh for the elementary level versus for the middle school. So those are very good points
but those are things that we will have to deal with. Uh so we're creating more work for ourselves. Well, I was going to say I I I hesitate to say this. It's definitely a parking lot item, but when we talk about um liaison assignments and things like that, I was going to
advocate that we probably do need a subcommittee to actually look closely at our policies and ensuring that they are up to date and and kind of ready for some of these kinds of shifts. >> Okay. All right. That's coming up under
a different item. Um, we are. Are we ready then for a motion? Okay. No other comments. Great. >> All right, Susan. Here we go. I make a motion that the school committee based on current and projected enrollment growth, district-wide facility capacity
constraints, overcrowding at the elementary level, reliance on modular classrooms, and the district's objective of maximizing the long-term district-wide benefit of the MSBA supported Parker Middle School project recommends that the school building
committee give strong consideration to a grade four to six configuration as a preferred schematic. report that's PSR option for submission to the Massachusetts School Building Authority and further authorizes the chair and superintendent to execute the required
grade configuration and districtricianing approval certification in connection with the PSR submission contingent upon the school building committee's formal vote selecting a preferred schematic option that reflects a grade four to six configuration for
submission to the MSBA. >> Wow. Okay, >> I'll second that. >> Night motions. >> Well, all that had to be in there. Let's do a roll call vote. Um, Dennis >> I. >> Susan >> I. >> Uh, Diana >> I.
>> John >> I. >> And Maria's eye. All right. Now we are going into Joanna's going to talk to us about what's going on with kindergarten. Kindergarten. Right. I have a hard time
with that word by the way. I don't get it right until I feel you. Kindergarten. >> Yeah. Good. And yeah, Joanna will ask to share the um the updates on Oh, thank you folks for coming very much. >> Thank you. >> Have a good night. Thank you. >> Uh the upcoming kindergarten registration.
>> We are going to have another kindergarten registration on April 30th from 900 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. here in this building. This is our third date. We had a couple dates in January. We we had u many families come and register.
So you have to make an appointment. So communication went out and um you just make a little 15-minute appointment and you come here with your paperwork and you meet your school clerk and we get you registered for um kindergarten starting September 1st.
>> So do folks come from the different elementarymentaries? >> Everybody comes here. >> Comes here. And you do it all here. We do it all here. >> And anybody else any questions? Okay, I have one more. How's it going so far? >> It's about the same.
>> It's about the same. Um, you know, we have we had a really good turnout in January and we've already had some appointments u for April because the notice went out Friday with the superintendent's newsletter. >> And so we'll see how it goes. And then if families can't make uh this date, you
know, they can stop in any time between now and September and register with our central register, Jane McDonald. But it's it's good to get it over with. We want to know you're out there. Please don't wait till August. >> I was going to ask a question. Do you have a lot of people over the summer all
of a sudden say, "Oh, I forgot to >> Sure." >> Yeah. >> You do. >> More than you will. >> All grades. >> Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. And if we go back to the report we had on the Princeton pro um apartments and units, I think this is this the final
year for full tenency there. >> I haven't revisited that. >> Was there another phase? >> I haven't either. I believe they're fully occupied at this point, but I'll confirm for you. Um yes, they weren't previously, but I do think they're full now. I'll confirm for you for the next meeting.
>> Yeah. Just to see how that's going along. But I mean it's leases so every year it could bring a different >> It could be at any time right now things can change. >> Correct. >> Yeah. We don't exactly more mobility. >> All right. So thank you. Thank you very
much Joanna for all that. Okay. We're moving into the next item which is our schedule for meetings. >> And here we go. So, I prepared a draft schedule for you um for consideration. Just taking into again consideration
what we typically do meeting the uh first and third Wednesdays of the month. >> Um Tuesday, I'm sorry, Tuesdays. >> The days, >> I'm sorry, first and third Tuesdays of the month. Um I lost it there for a second. And um I did move the February
and the April uh because the second t uh second Tuesday fell during the vacation week. So we bumped it to the the uh the last Tuesday which we've t typically done. And then um the only note I made on there for you is in July. We typically meet the third um Tuesday in
July and the 21st. We certainly can keep that. I at this point I'm just um away at a conference that day. I can try based on what my schedule is to join remotely if I can. Um or I didn't know if people already knew their summer schedules. If you wanted to bump it to the 28th, I would be here. Um but I just
put that out there for you. Whatever you, you know, think is best and easiest. >> Okay. Would anybody be have an objection to July 28th? >> No, I'm good to the 28th. >> I am no conflict with either the 21st or 28th. So that's fine. And my only
wondering is I'm trying to remember what business typically comes in the summer. Is there anything that because that's our only meeting in July. Is there any reason why having a gap that large between our June meeting and our July meeting could cause challenges?
>> There's really not. The only thing that we do with the July meeting, and this actually just gives Joanna an extra week, it's the closing of the financial books. So we usually just do the end of the year report outs on the finances. So, um, whether it's the third or the fourth, it's not really substantly going to change anything. And then we would be
meeting the following Tuesday, the first Tuesday in August, and then the third Tuesday in August. So, that's when we kind of get into the planning for the next year. >> Okay. >> So, that's the meeting. We just traditionally do the finances, and sometimes we've done like a little look at the capital projects. We we've um gone around to take a look at some of the projects taking place, but there's
nothing really materially substantive that has to happen. >> And things like that. That's usually in August, the first meeting in August, but where it's a week later, it's it's not going to impact us if you did decide to do that. >> And then when do you give your end of the year evaluation report? Is
that beginning of August? >> It No, it's either usually the end of June or the or that meeting in July. >> Oh, okay. The end of June. So, we really have that time to really look at. >> So, it actually gives us more time. >> So, it gives us more time even >> to um ponder your evaluation. >> Yeah. But we usually do the year-end
report and then you start to kind of craft the evaluation and then usually in June in the end of June then usually in July we come back and do it. >> Okay. >> Because then we kind of shift for me even mentally like August is kind of the shift to the new school year and that's when we start to kind of focus on that. >> Okay. >> Okay. So
>> I do have a question. September 1st is the state primary voting day. >> Um the first day of school >> not not meet when there's voting for that. I don't think we can. >> Correct. >> That is >> You're right, Susan.
>> Yep. >> That is a good catch, Susan. >> Yep. She's good. >> She's our election. >> I'm the election worker. >> They'll be after me at work. They'll say, "I can't. I have a school made me." No, but that is the uh >> um >> It is the state primaries. >> Here's another thought. Not trying to
throw a wrench in this here, but September does have five Tuesdays. Would you want to switch to be the 8th and the 22nd instead of the 1st and the 15th just to spread the meetings out a little bit? >> I have no issue with that and that
sounds sensible. >> Good. How about you, John? >> Sounds good to me. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Good, >> Dennis. Okay. >> Susan, you're good with that. >> All my Tuesdays are free. >> All right. >> For now, >> that might actually provide a little spacing, too, which could be nice. >> All right, then.
>> So, we'll go September. >> We'll go seven 728. Yep. >> And then we're going to go uh 98 and 9:22. >> Okay. >> And what I will do is just make these updates for you and then I'll just put this back in the next packet to kind of
finalize. We'll just kind of know for our own planning purposes when they're coming, but I'll throw the revised schedule in the next packet for you and we can just vote to approve it then. >> All right. >> Are there any did anyone see any other um conflicts or issues? >> Anything else right now for our
meetings? Everything else I just maintained is consistent. >> If there's nothing else, Susan, I'll entertain a motion. All right. I'll make a motion. >> We wait for the next meeting or >> well with the revisions. >> You if you want you can as amended and then I'll make and I'll throw it in the
thing. >> Got my words are ready. >> I make a motion to approve the 2627 school committee meeting schedule as presented and amended. >> Second. >> Okay. >> You got one. >> You got me. >> You seconded it. >> I did.
Okay, let's have a vote. All in favor? >> I I We don't have to have a roll call on that one, huh? Changing things up on me here. All right. School committee uh liaison assignments is our next mission here. And we have a chart here.
>> Yes. So, what we typically do is I just provide the current year's chart to the committee. And then the chair has usually just asked the committee members to review it and get back to them over the next week or so before the next meeting. And then if you're going to make any changes, you would just let me know. I'll work with you on it. Okay.
>> And then we'll present the final list at the next meeting for approval. >> I was going to recommend that and anybody pipe in on this. I was going to recommend that we add two uh things here. One, the strategic plan. Um we
there are you three of us are delegates to that strategic plan and it's not reflected >> as it now exists. That is a standing thing, a standing item. I think it's very important that it be part of this and be part of regular uh reports on
liaison. >> And then the other one is um per the minutes that we just approved today of that workshop we had on AI. >> You said we'd have an AI policy committee. >> Yes, we did say that we would create an
AI policy committee. And so the AI policy committee should be part of this as well I think so that we can have regular reports. The building committee is already on here correct on >> yeah it's under part of building but that's fine. Yeah we just say building committee if you wanted.
>> Um if we make an AI policy committee is it a subcommittee because then we have to >> a subcommittee of the policy committee. >> Yeah. How would we frame that? Um, so if you're doing a as long as it's not a majority of the members, as long as
it's not three members, you're okay to um because we run into that with the strategic plan where only two of the members can come. You don't necessarily have to post the meeting. So if it's only two, it would be okay. You wouldn't have to post. >> I thought for the policy we had to post it.
>> We did a policy subcommittee. >> Not sure. >> We haven't. >> Yeah, I know we haven't. >> We haven't previously. Um, again, just as long as it's only the the two members. >> Okay. >> Um, I can do a little leg work and see if we should have but >> on that particularly subcommittee, we're
not only going to have school committee uh members, we should also have Bill Silver and >> Well, what we typically do is for the subcommittees, it's really just the committee members assignments, okay? >> And then like admin just come in and support as needed based on the different groups. So, obviously like a tech or an
AI one, we'd have Bill come to it. um if it was something else you know I might come but you I would just worry about the school committee members being assigned to the group and then whatever admin is needed for support will be there. >> Well, all right. So only two school committee members can be part of that
committee. Uh what I'm going to recommend is during between now and the next meeting if you want to approach me and we just discuss uh what you would like what assignments you would like and feel free to
request changes. It doesn't have to be you don't have to stay with the current assignment. All right. >> So, >> yeah, I I'm fine doing that in between meetings, but I did want to name like I don't I know somebody had thrown out possible people being involved,
including me, in the AI thing. I don't mind doing that, but I'm wondering if maybe that could be like something that I don't do that often, like finance committee, somebody else might step into that. um because I do anticipate having a finite number of these subcommittees I
could probably devote myself to. >> Okay. So, we why don't we do that during this time? You go ahead. You give your input and then if we need further discussion at the next meeting, we can do that. No problem. All right. >> Um
and is that that's it for that? Yeah, I'll make those I'll make those notes and I'll work with you on updating the list and then we can put it on bas after you get feedback. We'll put it on for the next meeting. >> All right. Thank you. >> Um All right. So, those were the leazers
on assignments and we are on to approval of field trips and we have a few. >> You have a few before you? Yes. It's kind of getting to be uh summertime. So the well the first one is actually I think Richie had mentioned previously but uh it's Chelsea High School students
who qualified through DECA to attend the international career development conference in Atlanta Georgia on April 24th to 29th and then the next three field trips are all community education related. These are the summer quest or summerfest field trips >> that they're all day trips but they just
happen to be going to New Hampshire. So uh where they're out of state we um seek your approval for those. Okay. You >> do one at a time or you want to do them all? That's actually >> one at a time is required. But what what is um chunk cinema? Is that chunks or chunks?
>> Chunkies. Oh, I'm It's Chunkies. >> I thought maybe renamed. >> No, I made a mistake. I >> I wasn't sure if there's a new cinema, but there it is. >> Chunkies. Okay. So, it's Chunkies. >> It's Chunkies. >> All right. So, Susan, I will entertain. We will entertain this motion if you would. >> So, we going to do each one
>> one at a time. >> Okay. Um, I make a motion to approve the Chelford High School DECA students trip to the DECA International Career Development Conference in Atlanta, Georgia from April 24th to 29th. >> Second.
>> Second by John. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I >> I second motion. I make a motion to approve the community education summer quest field trip to Ga Canopy Lake Park in Selenum, New Hampshire on July 9th,
July 23rd, and August 5th, 2026. >> Second. >> John seconded. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Third one. I make a motion to approve the community education summerfest field trip to Canaby Lake
Park in Salem, New Hampshire on August 5th, 2026. >> Second. >> Okay. John seconded. All in favor? >> I. And number four. >> And I make a motion to approve the community education summer quest field trip to Chunky Cinema in Manchester, New
Hampshire on August 3rd, 2026. >> Second. >> Okay. And all in favor? Hi. >> Hi. So, funfield trips. Thank you everybody. >> Um yes, >> before we we go on, can I make a request? Um Susan's extremely articulate
um motions tonight about the Parker School are not anywhere in my agenda and and not >> usually um YouTube does a decent job when I'm doing the minutes, but sometimes they miss out on a lot. If
there's a way, do you have that? Send it. You mail it to me. >> I'll give it to you. >> Okay. Yeah, that would be wonderful because they were so articulate and I don't want to mess them up. >> Thank you. No problem. >> Just hand you this piece of paper. But >> if you don't need it,
>> I don't need it anymore. >> Give it to you at the end of the meeting. All right. So, we're Okay, we're up to the liaison reports. And does anybody have any of these today? >> I have two. Um, actually three. Okay. Um
Okay. So, one of them is a joint one. So, Parker and McCarthy's joint PTO meeting met on the 9th. Um and it was a positive um meeting talking
about a lot of good news, a lot of excitement. Um a few specifics to name at Parker. um they were really um happy with how MICA ensembles from Chelmsford
all got gold um in their competitions um recently. Um both Parker and McCarthy feel that the early days of MCCAST testing have been going well. Um and at
Parker specifically, they named um the Parker Fund Run coming up on May 17th. They're taking registrations for that. And um they were excited to plan for the We Are Parker event, second annual coming up on June 4th.
Um McCarthy specifically talked about some of the focus of their recent professional development for the staff. um really thinking about the unique uh developmental space that seventh and eighth graders
are in and and um the kind of academic and social emotional implications that has. Um and it it sounded like a pretty interesting deep dive as a staff. Um and they're also bringing some new systems into place around time on learning. Um
they were very excited to talk about um how their restorative practices seem to be going and their I decide initiative and they were happy that they had a successful black light dance. Um,
McCarthy also shared that on May 2nd will be the McCarthy and Center uh joint uh fundraiser for household and electronic waste. So folks with things
building up can save that date. Um, and the other thing that those PTO's were talking about was the upcoming staff appreciation and other ways of honoring and thanking our staff. Um the other PTO that I went to was South Rose
um where the fourth grade educators shared what's happening at that age group. Um particularly as we near the end of the year um and they are debating right now between having an indoor versus outdoor moving on ceremony um having had advantages of both in the
past. Um they were really excited the multicultural festival was a success there. I know some other schools have also recently held similar events. Um, and they were also talking about being in the middle of the placement
process. And um the last thing they really talked about was um the AI survey, the same stuff we talked about because I think the administrators at South Row are are
involved in the um internal work in the district around AI guidelines. There was some chatter across the uh the PTO meeting from parents as well as staff about um kind of the implications of the work happening around AI.
Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Yep. I um on Wednesday, April 8th, I went to the Harrington PTO meeting. Last night, they had their steam fair. I was really um interested hearing that they partner with Massal Chemistry
Department in putting that together. I think that's great. They have that connection. Their next skate night is May 3rd. The celebration of the arts and ice cream social is on May 28th. The big event to tape Mr. A to the wall
is happening on April 30th. And I just want to make sure people know it is a cash donation only. $1 will get you a length of tape to tape Mr. A to the wall or $5 for seven pieces of tape. And Mr.
A will be taped to the wall >> for four hours. >> And it is cash only. So, just making sure people know to send your kids with the actual dollars. Um, another thing that they someone at the meeting mentioned is that the special education
parent advisory council is back up and running. The CPAC now has an interim board and she didn't offhand know the contact information, but I asked for it. So, hopefully we'll get that soon and we can share that out with people that CPAC and maybe I don't know if you know more about it. correspond with one of the
people is >> in involved with getting it back going again. >> I'm really glad to hear that that's going up on again. So, that's good. >> And then I um was at Chips PTO meeting last night. They have they do so many enrichment things. I keep giving them a good shout
out, but they do a nice nice job over there. Um some things they've got up is Big Joe the Storyteller coming. Touch a truck is coming up. They have Oh, during teacher appreciation week, one of the days is a
popcorn bar. And I did want to give a thank you to Showcase Cinema because they're donating the popcorn for them. On May 28th, Chipin Farm comes with goats. That's really fun. They um next meeting they will be electing their
slate of officers and they do have a full slate ready to go into the next school year. So, that's really good. And I did mention to them that the AI that we had done the AI workshop in coordination with the staff doing the professional development and even at the chips level. They're really curious
about seeing where that's going. So >> you know definitely a hot topic. >> That's great. Anybody else? >> No, I wasn't able to attend alumni association because it was election night. Um >> but we do have the building committee coming up on Thursday. So we hopefully have some good news for you uh next
meeting. >> That's great. Um, yes. >> Uh, uh, also on the same page, but I have a different meeting coming up. I'm going to DC tomorrow to attend, um, third district day with Lori Treyan and, uh, with Representative Tran and, uh, her team down there. So, I'll I have
some education things I want to talk about and I will report back, you know, kind of what she says. >> That's great. >> Good. >> Cool. >> If anybody wants to fill John Zer with anything that we should say on our behalf, go. >> Text, don't call, text. Um that would be
terrific. Okay. And that I don't have any liaison reports for tonight. Um personally. All right. Our next action item. Anything anything new that anybody wants to add to coming meetings? Um any
items? >> Well, I have one question. As I was clearing out all my paperwork that I'd gathered as I was campaigning for school committee, I one of the things I was looking at is our goals, school committee goals. And one of them is to
by the end of the school year to the sub the policy subcommittee to review the policies. So is that happening? >> We can set up a meeting. >> It says it in the goals that it will happen by June, the end of June. So,
okay. >> Wanted to bring that up. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. And >> and then I did I just have an ask for someday whenever we have the elementary schools present. We always see students in student work. I would love sometime to see middle school or high school work
like especially writing. You know, I I we don't really get to see their work and someday I'd really like to. >> So, >> okay. >> Doesn't have to be soon, but I just want to put that out there that I >> Well, Patrick, bring a paper in. >> Yeah. Next. Okay. Next great assignment
you guys have. Bring it in. >> And you're also going to report to me on the assignments. I want to hear what you're learning about yourselves. Yeah. >> All right. >> That's no unofficial. >> Did we do Day on the Hill since the last meeting? Did you guys get to tell us what it was like for you?
>> I did. >> I thought it was awesome. I thought >> Did you have a good day >> experience? Yeah, it was really >> My favorite part was definitely talking to senators. I think that was really cool seeing what they do and all that. >> It was interesting, right? >> Oh, yeah. And it was for us all. Does anybody want to say anything about the
on I thought personally I thought it was a good um good meeting with our reps and I really appreciate that they both came to that meeting. Dennis, thanks for setting that up. >> No, it was nice having it back at the state house. You know, it was, you know, much easier to do it all in one spot and
have lunch in one spot and >> their office is right there. So, >> but it was helpful to have both of our reps together so they could kind of if one knew something because of being on a certain subcommittee the other one might not have. It was great to have them both there and for you to be able to be part of that. >> Yeah,
>> definitely. I thought it was um it was so definitely the highlight was meeting with our own representatives of course, but um I also appreciated the array of folks that they brought in to speak about different aspects of what's
happening at the policy level. some talking more about the financial >> side of things, others talking more about um you know other kinds of policies that impact the the student learning experience and um I even appreciated the things that don't have
immediate relevance to our district but the context setting um hearing from a student things like that um I thought was really beneficial. I hope that they continue to offer these. This time of year felt like a great time of year to do it the time they did it this year and
I also really hope they continue to hold it where they did to make it so much easier to kind of have that all under one roof. >> It it was really excellent. I thought this year um gave us all a chance to really reflect. Now, one additional new item. I believe that we now have a final
law on uh digital technology. No, has it passed yet? >> No. No. Now the House has their version, the Senate has their version. Now the governor has >> Okay, it's up for reconciliation on the >> They're all kind of have their own. >> Okay, >> they're getting closer >> and it's the same status for the early literacy there. The House has theirs,
the Senate has their >> differences >> and that's going to have a great impact on policy. So we definitely are keeping an eye on that and we want to make sure we understand that and we'll put it as an agenda item when it comes up. All right.
>> Just one other thing just we meet again on the 28th but town meeting is on the 27th. >> Okay. >> So just Oh, I know most of us are town meeting. Is there anything else besides the budget that concerns us in capital >> for No, for town meeting it's just and
we should be we should be primarily the first night. It's the operating budget. >> It's the capital budget and then uh at the very early the report outs there will be a report out of the uh school building project. But uh those three items are really the only ones that pertain to schools. >> Okay.
>> All right. Thank you. Okay. Uh everybody else set with that. Okay. We now are at the point of the meeting where we have our second public comment section. And um if there's anyone present, I believe
that there is someone who has um signed up for this part of the meeting. And if you're speaking tonight, just like to try to uh please limit your comments to three minutes so that everyone who you have plenty of opportunity uh to speak. If there are other people who want to
come, it's always three minutes. Remember that the comment period is for items listed on tonight's agenda. Um right. >> No, this one is the one. I've got the other one. This is the open one. >> And uh we won't we don't usually respond
directly. So, cuz sometimes people feel offended that we don't. So, please know that we don't. Um, okay. Did anybody receive any emails with comments or anything that they need to share at this part of the meeting? Okay. Great. >> We do have the one registered speaker.
>> One speaker. So, please >> welcome you up. >> Yes, it's your turn. >> And it's Allesia. >> Yeah. >> She's going to be able to say her name because >> Is this the new spot or please? >> Okay. >> Right there. It's great. Last time I said there, not anymore.
>> Okay. >> Okay. Um, so I just I had a couple things to say about actually >> Oh, could you please say your name and your address? >> Sorry. Yeah. >> Um Oh, let me get my reading glasses. Sorry.
>> Ah, thanks. Good idea. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Good idea. Good idea. >> My kids are watching so that they'll be happy to see my face. Thanks. Okay. Um, my name is Allesia PL and I live at 7 Clear Street. >> Could you spell your last name?
>> Sure. It's P L O K H I I. >> Thank you. And the address then? >> Um, 7 Clear Street. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Sure. Um, are we allowed to address you guys after the public comment period just to ask specific questions about certain agenda items that I heard about
today? I mean you can speak to anyone but this is limited to just this comment period >> to this item that >> Yeah. So I have a specific thing I want to talk about during the three minutes and >> you're always welcome to talk to any one of us anytime. >> Okay. So after the meeting I can just ask a couple questions. >> You can come up to us individually if
you like and you can also address us anytime by email or >> Sure. I'll come up after. Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. >> Close it. Right. You have to go to individually. >> We would have to close have to close the meeting and then we'll close the meeting and then you Yes. You're welcome to talk to anyone just individually.
>> Yeah, >> sure. Sounds good. Okay, now I'm addressing the group now. Okay. >> And just to make it clear, anybody can cuz in the town they can do that with us. >> Okay. Very cool. Okay. Thank you. So, thanks very much for the opportunity to speak today and congratulations to Susan
and Dennis on re-election. >> Um, I also am celebrating re uh election, not re-election, but I'm a newly elected town meeting rep in precinct 6. Congratulations. >> Thank you. Um there was no way I was going to lose. So um because there was
just two two seats and and me and the other guy won. Um so my son will attend center school next year in grade 1 and my daughter will attend kindergarten the year after. And um they were missing me when I came to this meeting. So I'm going to say hi Savvy and Jude. They're watching with with dad right now um on
Chelmsford TV. So um I spoke at this meeting several months ago on the dangers of education technology on students of all ages and especially those in elementary school. During that meeting I told the committee that edtech in school or in other words the
use of Chromebooks and gamified learning apps as well as AI in school was becoming a topic of national conversation. Every hour, a well-organized movement of parents, educators, and mental health experts are raising awareness about the harms of edtech,
advocating for the ability of parents to opt out of edtech for their kids, and putting pressure on elected bodies such as school districts and state legislatores to take actions that dramatically reduce their reliance on edtech in class. Because the health of our kids and the next generation is at
stake. And so today, I'm here to give you an update on the attention this topic has been getting recently, just in the last 3.5 months, three and a half months since I've been here, to give you evidence that the heat is on, momentum is building, and big change is coming,
and that the Chumsford Public School District can still take a stand. Here's just a snippet of what has happened in the last couple of months. The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in January heard testimony from parents and experts concerning bipartisan legislation aimed
at curbing the harms to children caused by technology, including discussion of edtech. Sweden and Finland have both pulled back substantially on screens in schools, returning to pen and paper. The Los Angeles Unified School DI District, the second largest district in the
country, has introduced a resolution to re-evaluate education technology in class, including the use of onetoone devices. The EdTech Law Center filed a lawsuit against Google on behalf of a Utah boy who was pushed pornographic content on a school device. The state of
Vermont has introduced an edtech opt-out bill for parents who don't want their kids learning on devices. The state of Maine has introduced legislation aimed at studying the use of edtech in class as well as studying safeguards related to its use. Legislature legislators in 14 other states have also introduced
bills this year that would limit edtech in public schools. Magic School and EdTech AI product recalled and retoled their chatbot Raina over concerns that students were developing problematic relationships with it. The Republican
group Moms for Liberty has begun advocating against edtech and launched and recently launched a safety in AI initiative. The National Education Policy Center, a think tank, published a white paper called Time for a Pause. Without Effective Public Oversight, AI and
Schools will do more harm than good. The same think tank published another white paper called Fit for Purpose: How Today's Commercial Digital Platforms Subvert Key Goals of Public Education. The Brookings Institute released results from an extensive premortem on AI. So
not a postmortem because we're still in it. It's still right in front of us. In schools that was called a new direction for students in an AI world, prosper, prepare, and protect. One of the findings was that quote risks currently outweigh the benefits. End quote. And
the ACLU published a white paper called Digital Dystopia: The Danger in buying what the edte surveillance industry is selling. National media has also covered this issue extensively recently. Here are a few headlines. Some of these are older than three and a half months, but
most of them are very recent. The Economist. EdTE is profitable. It's also mostly useless. Independent research identifies few learning gains. NBC News. Parents are opting their students out of school laptops, returning them to pen
and paper. NBC. Parents say schoolisssued iPads are causing chaos with their kids. NBC Google's work in schools aims to create a pipeline of future users. NBC edtech industry scrambles in fight scrambles to fight
wave of bills to limit screen time in schools. Bloomberg kids spend hours on a screen and for what? New York Times. Kids rarely read whole books anymore, even in English class. New York Times, the screen that ate your child's
education. New York Times. Get tech out of the classroom before it's too late. Some of these are op-eds. Most of them are not. New York Times, iPads and kindergarten, YouTube on breaks. The school screen time battle. New York Times. Chromebook. This is a recent one.
Chromebook remorse as in the the last 10 days. Chromebook remorse. Tech backlash at school as at school extends beyond phones. Wall Street Journal. Screens have taken over classrooms. Even students have had enough. Educators question whether the rapid shift toward
more technology has benefited learning. I'm almost done. Fortune. The US spent 30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets. The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents. Fortune. American schools weren't broken until
Silicon Valley used a lie to convince them they were. Now reading and math scores are plummeting. Fortune. Schools across America are quietly admitting that screens in classrooms made students worse off and are reversing years of tech first policies. The Atlantic. The
elite college students who the elite college students who can't read books to read a book in college. It helps to have read a book in high school. The Atlantic. What happened after a teacher ditch ditched screens? Why one early adopter of computers in classrooms has
decided to toss them. These sobering updates are just a sliver of what has been going on and what is about to happen, what is going to continue to happen. I implore So what can you do? I implore this district to form a subcommittee to study the risks
and benefits of edtech in Chelmsford public schools and to agree to an opt out policy for families who choose old school pen and paper over devices. because in the case of edtech, newer is not better. Thank you for your time
today. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. No other public comments. >> Right. So I believe that brings us to the end and I will entertain a motion to adjurnn.
>> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Second. Second. >> Diana, are you seconding? Oh, >> I seconded. Okay. >> All in favor? >> I >> I >> All new board. We're doing it. We're good. >> We're good. >> Yeah, we're good.
>> Good. >> Yeah, we're done. >> Done. >> We're done. Okay.