meeting of uh the school committee for for October 6th. Calling the meeting to order. Would you please join me in our pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The mission of the Damas Public Schools, creating a supportive environment where all learners thrive. This meeting is being broadcast on Damas Community
Access Television. Is there anyone recording these proceedings as well? Who do who do you represent? Thank you. Um items of interest in the superintendent school committee community community statement. Jim, would you like to start
us off? Jim, >> thank you. Jim, please state your name, your your address, and just so you know, we may have a few uh people speaking tonight. You will be held to three minutes. I'll let you know. Try to give you a warning. And uh
floor is yours. >> Yeah. Push the middle button. >> Uh hello. My name is Jim Rose. I'm the committee member Precinct 3 and a concerned citizen among many other of my community involvements. I have a few uh issues I'd like to uh address tonight.
Three of them. Number one, I and numerous other Danvas residents are deeply troubled by reports that the Massachusetts Teachers Association has advised school departments not to take any disciplinary action against educators who publicly celebrated or
condoned the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk. whether through social media posts or classroom discussions. Such conduct, if true, is wholly inappropriate and reflects a troubling disregard for basic human decency and professional standards. Okay. Number
two, and this is for any Danver High School students and their parents who who wish to learn more about Charlie Krak's Turning Point USA uh student organizations or may be interested in starting a turningpoint club in Danvas at the Danis High or Danis Middle
School. Please visit uh that website. It's www.clubameall oneword.com for more information. I would also be happy to discuss this with anyone further if I would like to. My contact information again is available at the town hall at the well on the
website town. I'm a town meeting member. Just look at the list. My email and phone number are there. And I'm also a member of the Republican committee. We uh we talk about these issues. So if you uh we have our meeting is the third Wednesday of every month. The next meeting is October 15th. So, if you want
to come and talk about a a TPA club, we'll put you on top of the agenda. Come on down. And third and final, several years ago, we did try to uh there was an effort that some of us
tried to help some interested students establish a TPA TPA USA club in Damas. However, some of the students expressed fear of being ostracized or ridiculed for holding conservative views. I understand that there are ongoing discussions surrounding certain DEI
diversity, equity, inclusion, and CRT, critical race theory curriculum topics. Often the issue is not about book censorship, but rather about age appropriateness and developmental considerations. In reviewing statements from the Damas
Equity and Inclusion Collaborative, I note I noted one quote from the American Library Association. The American Library Association is committed to and I I'll quote that. The American Library Association is committed to upholding our core values
which include equitable access to knowledge, social justice, and intellectual freedom. I wholeheartedly agree and I hope that the same principle of intellectual freedom extends to Stan Dan Denver students who are interested in starting a Turning Point USA club in
this in this town. My sincere wish is that we can all foster open, respectful dialogue about both the intellectual freedom and the age appropriateness of education material and curriculum. Thank you. Jimmy forgot your sign. Mr. Morose
forgot your sign. >> No worries. Thank you. Hi everyone. I am not here to speak on the issue that I think the majority of people are here to, but I want to speak on special education while I have
everyone's attention. Um, so as you know, I'm Julie Bulock Defilo. I'm the chair of the Damra CPAC. Um, I am coming to speak tonight just to give you all an update as usual, but also to speak to a few items of interest to this committee that were put on the agenda and that
have a unique impact on students with disabilities in this district in this district and across Massachusetts. Um, first I want to begin to talk about um the accomplishments we've had recently and begin to acknowledge um
those accomplishments and we should have some be very proud of them. There are meaningful areas of strength in how this district supports students with disabilities that we can visibly see now, not just in the classroom. I think one of the best ways that that was showcased is last week during the
unified basketball game held at Danvers High School. Um it was an incredible example of inclusion in action. The positive response we received from families, students, and even other school districts showed that this is the kind of community Disr wants to be.
We also saw saw encouraging signs in DESI's 2025 accountability data that was recently released. While MCCAST isn't the full picture, it's one of the ways districts are measured and the results matter. Students with disabilities in DERS achieved a scaled math score of
481.3 placing the district ahead of many other districts in this region. In high in high school math, their growth percentage was 54.3, which Destiny classifies as typical growth to very high growth. These are gains that are
not trivial. They affirm that when supports align with curriculum that is responsive and resources are committed, students with disabilities can and do make measurable progress. The expanded investments the town has made in special
education in recent years are already having an impact and that's something that we should all be very proud of. At the same time, it is important to consider how we might leverage this success to overcome some of the challenges students and disabilities face that this year's accountability
data represent as well. In Denver's chronic absenteeism among students with disabilities is nearly double of their peers. In grades 1 through eight, about 20% of students with disabilities are chronically absent, compared to just 12% in their
peers. In high school, 39.5% of students with disabilities are categorized as chronically absent by Desi, compared to just 22.2% of their peers. When more than one in three in three high school students with disabilities
are missing significant instruction time. It's not surprising that some of the key inter indicators um show that we're lagging behind. And attendance is not simply a data point. It is a mirror of school climate, belonging, safety,
and student well-being. And I understand that these are nuanced interdependent states of being, each with a direct impact on academic achievement. >> Julie, you're at the three minutes. Could you wrap that up very quickly? >> Um, I just wanted to say that I hope as you consider the audit report tonight um
that will be presented to you as well as um the accountability data that you think about how this uniquely impacts students with disabilities and I can submit my statement to the committee to review further. >> That would be great. Thank you so much.
[Applause] Just state your name. State your name and where you live. >> Sure. Guyo. >> Mr. Norio. Yeah. >> Uh, precinct seven or eight, I think. >> Seven. I don't know. >> Um, so I'm here today to talk about a
few things. I'll keep it brief. Um the first thing is under your the student handbook or the damburst handbook under file J--r uh reconsideration of instructional resources. Okay. And this comes up with the book that we have been teaching our
children All-American boys. Uh and this is going to be under your your topic of profanity and um obscenity. Okay. So, in this book, which has been banned uh over most of the nation over the last few years, um this has been
chosen. And in this book, there's over 200 swears in this book. And I can't say those swears here because you probably yell at me. Um but our children are learning those. They can read it. They're writing it. They're writing it. If there's an sh in the front of the
word, they have an exclamation point to do the I and then a T. So, they're learning how to write the swears in a sort of interesting way. And there's some other language there, too. Um, also in this book, glorifying underage binge
drinking, shotgunning 10 beers. My son Dominic came home and said, "But Bob, what does that mean?" That was a great conversation I had to have with my 13-year-old son. Uh, drug use. What is crack? He said they talk about use of crack in this book. Uh and then also
finally in this book we have an adult who beats up a child. That is the book that is inside our ELA class at Damber's public schools in 8th grade. So I will be submitting this
um to Superintendent Bower for you guys to review and go through that. And I look forward to your uh answers on. Um next for this curriculum development in your handbook also it states constant
adaptation and development of the curriculum is necessary if the district is to meet the needs of the students in its schools to be successful. Curriculum development must be collaborative enterprise involving staff administrators utilizing professional
expertise gathering input from parents and community. Unfortunately, that wasn't done in in this particular instance. Um, I had a meeting with Superintendent Bower, the assistant superintendent and curriculum
director last week. I'm sure most of you know, and I asked the question, who reviewed the curriculum? And Mr. Demoro, I I appreciate his honesty. Uh he said, "Guy,
this was under me. I did not review the curriculum." And there was an eight-page lesson plan that came out on white privilege. And basically came out and saying that shouldn't have been released. We should
have done a better job at reviewing the lesson planning so we can come out and take things out. So kudos to him as he came out. He was honest. I thought that was great to see. Um but it did slip through the cracks and now we have this
big up. >> Okay, your time time's up. Could you wrap that up? >> I can. Yeah, thank you for reminding me of that. So uh to wrap up, uh I do not I know there's the teachers are here. I do not blame the teachers one iota. I think they're in a very tough spot. I think
that they come into this to teach the children and they do a great job all from K to 12. Okay. I think where this needs to be most focused on is the curriculum planning. What goes into the curriculum? Who gets to vet it even further? What is
appropriate? What is necessary? And how we can be better. So in the information that's going to come out tonight, how we can grow Danverse High School to have more attendees because in the last 10 years we're down 27% in enrollment and I personally believe and I think a lot of
people in this town believe that because of the choices of curriculum Danver is losing students. >> Thank you. >> So I appreciate your time. Thank you for >> Thank you. [Applause] Anyone else?
>> Good evening. My name is Sarah Stone. I am a seventh grade ELA teacher here at Holton Richmond. And um I'm also the English teacher leader at Holton Richmond. Um, and I'm here delivering a letter that the Denver Teachers Association collectively wrote. Um, and
I'm going to share it with you tonight. I can't promise it'll be under the three minutes, but I'm going to do my best. As an English teacher, it's hard sometimes. Um, so the letter begins with a quote from Jason Reynolds, one of the co-authors of All-American Boys. Specifically, for a lot of us, it doesn't always feel like you're banning
the book itself. Sometimes it feels like you're banning the people who that those books are about. That you're saying that those lives are lives that should only exist in the shadows. Dear school committee and school leaders, we are writing to you today to express our grave concerns regarding objections to
the first ELA unit of the school year. By objecting to the book All-American Boys, an acclaimed novel by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kylie, some within the Danvers community are expecting the district to censure this book and are denying their children the opportunity to attend ELA class alongside their
peers. We would like to make clear that this letter is a defense of intellectual freedom and teacher autonomy, not a reflection of the work of our administration. We will continue to work with the district to follow guidelines established by the American Library Association regarding intellectual
freedom. The right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. The National Council of Teachers of English echoes these sentiments. Schools cannot restrict student access to books in the classroom or library unless it's for educational
or compelling safety reasons. Schools should follow established district policies when reviewing requests to restrict or remove books from classrooms or libraries. As teachers, we are concerned that our expertise, knowledge, and the established process that guides book choices in instructional
decision-making are being questioned. In fact, just over a year ago, the Damber Teachers Association negotiated academic freedom in our contract, which specifically outlines following and implementing educational policies. The contract reads, "The parties further recognize the respective
responsibilities of the administration and teachers in the formulation and classroom implementation of the school district's educational policies. Further, the contract explicitly states, "A teacher's appropriate exercise of discretion shall be respected within established guidelines, including but
not limited to performance evaluation standards, school district policies, district determined curricula and assessments, and state standards. and with consideration for student ages, grade levels, and developmental stages, and best practices in determining the substance, organization, and
presentation of lessons and courses. Our current circumstance is deeply troubling. This is not the first time Danvers has grappled with the threat of censorship in our ELA classrooms. Several years ago, we collectively spoke out against the pause the district placed upon teachers as we prepared to
use Stamp for Kids as a vehicle for critical thinking and rigorous discussion with our students. After a thorough examination of the facts in the text by history teachers, we proceeded to use the book in our classes. We are proud to be a part of a school community in Massachusetts. This commonwealth is a
pillar of progress in academia, of civility and service. The Massachusetts curriculum frameworks declares the purpose of teaching literature is not only to sharpen skills of comprehension and analysis, but also to instill in students a deep appreciation for arts,
beauty, and truth while broadening their understanding of the human condition from differing points of view. Reading and discussing important works of pros and poetry will also help students develop empathy for others while learning about who they are as individuals and members of a wider
civilization and world. We stand by these statements. We stand with our students. We stand for social justice. And we are not alone. The ALA and NCTTE clearly and concisely condemn challenges placed on instructional material such as the one we are currently facing in
Danvers. We feel that it is crucial to address such challenges. The American Library Association is committed to upholding our core values which include equitable access to knowledge, social justice, and intellectual freedom. As members of a profession committed to free and equitable access to information
in the pursuit of truth, we stand firm in opposing any effort to suppress knowledge, to label controversial views, or dictate what is orthodox in history, politics, or belief. >> Sir, are we almost there? You >> I'm almost there. Children and dams deserve honesty and it
is our duty as their teachers to help them think critically. Silencing the reality, viewpoints and perspectives of the black American experience and story is not teaching from a place of truth. We simply should not reject stories that are uncomfortable or difficult to understand when they are the lived
experience of people who are different from ourselves. We are very worried that the current challenge against a book selected by teachers and curriculum leaders through a curriculum exploration process could take away the power of teacher autonomy and trust from experienced educators. What stops a
parent from rejecting the next book in the curriculum for a new reason? We must ask what books will be left for our critical thought and rigorous learning if we pull every text that requires students to grapple with complex or uncomfortable situations. We feel as though upholding our responsibility as
teachers and defenders of intellectual freedom requires us to speak up when texts are challenged in our community. We are living in a moment that has tremendous potential for positive growth. We need to be brave, willing to evolve, and most importantly, we must have the hard, messy, essential
conversations our kids deserve. We are trained to have those conversations. They are courageous and we're trained to do it. These are the reasons we are in this profession. We believe that our kids are the ones who will lead us into a more hopeful future. It is our responsibility to facilitate their
learning. An essential part of learning is analyzing, discussing, and considering diverse perspectives. We believe our administration and our greater school community wants to collaborate and work together to provide students with a rich exposure to literature, specifically diverse texts,
and a sense of belonging. On the Dams Public School website, the administration has committed to these ideals. The Dambridge public schools is committed to addressing issues of race and equity. We strive to make sure that our students feel safe, cared for, and heard as they navigate our complex
world. We believe it is vitally important for us to support our community as we face social justice issues together. We are standing at a crossroads. Option A is to have faculty teach with books that we select based upon curricular review, our expertise, and the developmental needs of our
students. Option B is to pretend that some of the most pressing and relevant issues of our time simply don't exist and to fail in giving our students the experiences and tools they need to think critically in an increasingly complex world. Only one of these options sounds like a reasonable path for our school
community. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sam. >> Thank you all. Is there anyone else? >> Just your name and address, please. >> Hi, Suzanne. Wright bridles. Um, my name is Suzanne.
>> Of course I can. Hi, Mr. My name is Suzanne. My son is in sixth grade at the middle school. Um, I read the book. This book is written in two perspectives, one incident, and the choices and actions each character make. The subjects of racism, violence, bias, and privilege are really uncomfortable topics. This
isn't a light, fun, beach read where everyone lives happily ever after. This book makes students think critically. It fosters empathy for others, as in do unto others as you would have undone unto you. It teaches them to assess situations, assess facts, and to understand how all of us have a lens
through which we view situations that is shaped by our own experiences and biases. Most of us will never have the experience that Rashad has in this book. And it's okay to acknowledge that others do face this type of racism and prejudice. It fosters that discussion.
What would you do if you saw this? What would you do differently? What would you do if you were Rashad? What would have been different if Rashad was white? If you haven't already seen it, there's a really good YouTube video if you search um it's called Life of Privilege
explained in a $100 race. All the students line up, everyone equally on a line, and there's a chance to win $100. But first, they're told to take two steps forward if they have any of the following. Two parents at home, a father figure at home, access to an education, access to tutors. If you've never had to
worry about where your next meal might come from, if you've never had to help your parents pay the bills, you get the point. Suddenly, the race isn't so fair anymore. Those students who are now yards ahead in the race didn't earn that advantage. They aren't more worthy. They aren't more talented than those that were left
behind. But they do have the advantage to win that $100. That's privilege. It exists. It's a difficult concept for some, but turning our eye away from it isn't isn't the good way to go. I don't have to worry about my son having the
experience that Rashad had. He's not going to be beaten or arrested in a traffic stop, but others don't get that privilege because of the color of their skin is different like Rashad. Let's talk about that with our kids. Let's just discuss how lucky our kids are living in a town like Danvers with safe streets and food in their bellies and
all the privilege that they have and trained police officers as well. The language used is the language that teens use. It puts the reader in the moment and becomes relatable. A teen doesn't want to read a book or relate to a book written by a 50-year-old who uses words like goshaly and she will occur. This is
the language of their time. It wasn't for us and that's okay. Things change. No one's asking you or your child to change their mind or political beliefs just to think critically, to be able to discuss topics and facts with a firm moral compass. We can't raise our kids
in a bubble of fairy tales and romance novels and expect them to thrive in the real world. Expect them to act with morality and empathy and dignity if we don't challenge them and teach them those skills. Opting out teaches them that they can walk away from anything uncomfortable or hard. That isn't an option in adulthood. No one offers you a
month-long library pass when life get hard gets hard. But God knows I would really love that. I will leave you with this. But if anyone has the world's good and sees his brother in need and yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or
talk, but in deed and in truth. That's from John 3:1 17:18. Let's give them the tools to act and to love and to be good human beings. Thank you. >> Thank you. I would expect nothing less. >> Well, good after good good evening. I
guess >> good evening. >> I was a little late because I expected this meeting to start at 7, but I guess you start at 6:30. And one of my first questions was, and I printed out your agenda,
and I'm very happy to hear what's going on here this evening, but I'm looking at item number two, items of interest to superintendent and school committee. Where's the public? That's been lost in the last few agendas. So, I'm just happy
to be here and I appreciate your time. My issue has been, and this is a combination of issues because I've been reporting this on my show for a couple years now.
Instead of stamping out inequities, DEI, seal, CRT, and LGBT create new issues and further inequities in our system. The current crop of
students and parents are enrolling their children in out of school programs, whether they're going to private school, they're going to St. John's Prep, uh, expensive, but that's what they choose
to do, they go to Essex Tech because we have been chasing that issue as well. Now when people contribute to the widening performance among all levels
because our attention is focused on the four or five different issues that have been presented in our school system. Now I'm speaking from a standpoint of a grandfather and my daughters have gone
through 30 years ago. So, I'm looking out for the young ones. Now, Dan schools, there there's a parent that wrote to me and said more technical and rigorous curriculum would bring more people back
to the school system that we have in place. My contention has been over the last four or five years that this is not a Danver school system. This is a state of Massachusetts school system.
The thing is we are under the perception that we have controls over what's being taught in our school system. I don't see it. I have in my back of my truck probably a pile of paper about this
high. About two years ago, I asked for the curriculum that is dictated by the state to our education department here in Dan in Danvers and that's what we follow. So the English
especially as a second language to make sure that kids learn properly the majority of students 92% are being cast aside and I've you know I use that term loosely as I have in the
past for the 8 to 10% who deserve special treatment special education and that's something that we talked about in the The only way to eliminate the
DEI, seal, CRT, LGBTQ, and all of the other books that we've seen in here is the only way is to stop letting the equity industrial complex of consultants. And I'll bet you the books
that were chosen that were discussed tonight were chosen not by the teachers but by a consultant from the book company. >> Mark, you're at your time. Could you close that up, please? >> I have two paragraphs.
Uh equity is a noble goal if it means ensuring that every student has the same opportunity and educational support. But it should not come at the expense of high achievers. Nor should
the lower expectation in it's to lower expectations and outcomes for the kids uh kind of students that qualify that equity advocates claim to champion. It will take more than updating the curriculum for Danvers to regain the
trust of families that are cleaning the system. It will take renouncing bad ideas that damaged it in the first place. And the thing is that we're not willing to do any of that. We're willing to continue with the past and we are
sort of learning along the way. And I've had discussions with the superintendent and the school committee people and I hope you're getting something out of this because Danvers is not Danver's
education system. It's a state education system. >> Thank you. Thanks, Mark. >> Mr. Sherman, >> Mr. Bower school committee. Hello. >> Could you just state your name and we where you live? >> Sure. My name is Andrea Sherman. I live
at one Stafford Road. And I come to you tonight first as a parent of an eighth grader and a 10th grader, but also I am a former English teacher. I'm the president of the Beverly Teachers Association and an overall supporter of public education.
I'm here to speak in strong support of the Danvers teachers and their professional choice to include all American boys in the eighth grade curriculum. Recently, as we know, this book has been challenged. And while I respect every family's right to engage
in their child's education, I do not believe we should allow discomfort to dictate curriculum. Discomfort is not harm. In fact, avoiding that which makes us uncomfortable does our students a great disservice.
All American Boys is award-winning, age appropriate, and it addresses issues of race, identity, justice, and empathy. Issues that are not hypothetical or distant. They are real. They are present. And they are exactly the kinds
of topics that our kids are already engaging with in their lives, especially in a digital world where nothing is filtered and everything is accessible. Yes, the book contains violence and profanity. So do the works of
Shakespeare, but they are not included for shock value. They are authentic. They reflect the lived experiences of many young people. And in the hands of trained educators that you have in Danverse, this book becomes a powerful
tool, one that guides students through difficult conversations. Danverse classrooms must remain spaces where students can safely explore complex topics. That is the point of education. Almost every text has a
conflict. We can't choose to shy away from some and not others. If our community is uncomfortable with racism and violence, but not the atrocities of the Holocaust in Night or the famine in A Long Walk to Water, then we are bending to the wrong pressure. We should
not be censoring classroom texts. If anything, we should be supporting our educators in the incredibly difficult work that they do day in and day out, bringing context, compassion, and critical thinking to our schools. When we allow students to opt out of vetted meaningful texts because they are
uncomfortable, we send the message that hard truths should be avoided. And that is not the message Danber schools should send. I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to acknowledge the speakers before me referencing students leaving Danvers to attend private schools.
I'm not sure if the community is aware that St. John's Prep, a highly respected private school in this town, selected All American Boys as a community read way back in 2018. Both of the authors were invited to the school to speak. The book is still
taught there today. This is not a fringe title. So, I say this, support our teachers, trust their professional judgment. Support the parents who are asking questions, not with fear, but with curiosity and a willingness to learn. and most importantly support our
students by allowing them to engage with literature that reflects the world they are inheriting. If our school community can't stand behind the teachers on the front lines, those who are confronting all of the isms in society and using literature to help students make sense of it, we will
fail our kids. Please don't shy away from this discomfort. The only way forward is through it. Your teachers jumped. Catch them. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening. >> Please let us know who you are and who where you live.
>> Absolutely. My name is Deb Jazwaldo. I live at 34 Abington Road. I had not intended on speaking tonight, but as I was listening, um, those who know me probably knew I could not keep my mouth shut. Um, I am obviously a Danver's resident. I am also a public school
educator and president of the Malden Education Association. I chose to live in Danvers because of things like the really good public schools. I don't have children, not because I don't want them, but because of health issues, but I chose to live somewhere where the
property taxes certainly aren't low. Because I wanted to live somewhere where the children in the community have access to really good public school services. And that is what Danvers does. But as I'm sitting here and listening, I think it's really important to recognize
a lot of what several people said before me. The reality of life is that it's not all peaches and cream. It's not. I can tell you that from having taught in Malden since 2004 where there are children who come from
all different places, all different backgrounds, kids who are war refugees, kids who really struggle socioeconomically, kids who struggle with the issues of racism in the community and in the country. You can't
erase racism. It exists. You can't erase classism. It exists. You cannot erase LGBTQ plus people. They exist. I exist. By ignoring things, it makes life
incredibly more difficult for our young people who are being raised in times that are so much more difficult than even when I was young in the 80s and 90s. I'm feel like a dinosaur now in comparison to them. Times have really changed. We have to read the difficult
texts. We have to discuss the difficult texts and teach our children how to have those conversations because if we don't, nothing in our society ever changes. Nothing ever gets better. We don't teach
young people how to have empathy, compassion, and dignity for themselves and for other people. That is how we teach our young people to be able to not just survive but to thrive in an increasingly complex and interdependent
world. >> Thank you, De. >> Hi, I wasn't going to talk either. I can't help myself. I'm Ellen Graham. Um I live on Lindle Street. I've been here my whole life. Um, I I think the
conversation here clearly tells us that the the book that was chosen makes us critically think, makes us get out of our own environment. I think that's exactly what the kids need. More importantly, I'm very familiar with our other speaker, Mark, which I know I must
speak through here. Um, I think the idea that we had a speaker stand up and I understand he missed the beginning that talked about people with different abilities and how much gain we've made in our school system on how we have taught them, how we teach people with
different challenges. Equity is important. Diversity is important. You guys have done a good job. Dam is a Damish school system. I went through the Damish school system. My children have gone through the damage school systems. We're not perfect. We all have our issues. But if
we all talk about it and come together. When my kids went through the school, I read all the books they read. And then we took that opportunity to discuss it if they wanted to. They didn't always want to, but but that's the whole idea of critical thinking. We can't hide from it. And we also have to acknowledge that
white privilege is real. I'm privileged to have been in Danverse my whole life. We used to call it the bubble. My kids I get to bring my kids up here in Danveris. They're very lucky. But we don't we don't understand the diversity. Danveris is not that diverse. I grew up
Danveris was very racist. People get upset when I mention it. I heard the n-word more than once. I grew up surrounded by conservative Christians. My own family, my neighborhood. We didn't know any different.
Now, now we have the priv privilege of learning, understanding, having books like this that we could understand other points of view and perspectives before you leave Danverse. I mean, didn't find out till I went to UMass Ammerst and boy was that more diverse. That's, you know,
we need to we need to teach our children to critically think. You can read it. You can disagree with the book. You can not agree with the different perspectives your teachers have. You can agree with your parents, but you have to be able to know how to critically think to get around in this world. And we need
to embrace our diversity, our equity, and our inclusion. Don't be afraid of it. I'm tired of people not wanting to say the words because they're bad words. They are not. They're what make this country great. Thank you. >> Thanks,
Anybody else? >> Hi, good evening. I'm a New Damas resident. My name is Christine Parker. I live on McDermott Farm Road. Um, did not plan on speaking tonight. I came in support of the teachers union. Um, a lot of folks might not agree with
this statement, but there's fascism going on outside today in our country, and it's scary. It's scary to me. It's scary what future my daughter's going to have in this country and in this town specifically. And fascism is going to win when they
tell us whose history we can learn and whose history we can't learn, what we can talk about and what we can't talk about. And if we stop talking about white privilege to address what one of the gentlemen said earlier, what's next? Are
we going to stop talking about the genocide and slavery that this country was built on? I want my daughter to be supported by Denver school, right? Not to have voices shut down. It's a very
slippery slope and I really hope for the sake of our kids that we're not going to go down it. Um, and just one more point that I'd like to make. I would, my daughter's in the first first grade here in town public school. When she's of age, I would much rather have her read
the words of All American Boys than the words of Charlie Kirk. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. >> Could you name your address? >> I'm Carrie Callahan and I live on Northshore AB. Thank you. >> Sure. Thank you for the opportunity to speak in support of the book, All
American Boys. I attended my children's curriculum night in September and was impressed with the book selection our kids would be reading prior to entering high school. I felt it would give them an opportunity to expand their thinking, learn about history, and open their eyes
to sometimes harsh realities of what people face on a daily basis. I heard there were concerns raised about the book, and I took the opportunity to read it myself. The night I started, I had a hard time putting it down. I was immediately invested in the characters
and how the story was unfolding. Yes, there is swearing and a couple of references to drugs. However, nothing that stuck out to me as egregious. My recommendation is for those who opted out of the book and have not yet read it, read it alongside your student.
There is a pretty significant plot twist. I don't want to give it away. I almost did to my own kids. You'll be surprised by the turn of events and how the book ends. All American Boys opens the eyes and allows for discussion around the biases from all cultures and backgrounds. It gives our children the
opportunity to look through other lenses, have empathy, and ask questions before reacting in haste. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else? My name is Alyssa Develin. I live on Ipsswitch River Road here in Danvers.
And um I don't really have anything prepared to say. I was just coming to here to be uh in support of the Danverse Teachers Association and in support of including this book in the curriculum for the eighth graders. My son is an eighth grader here at the middle school and I asked him about the book and you
know what his feelings are in it thus far. and he's really enjoying the book and he thinks it's it's really like well written and it's a great story which is a lot because he does enjoy reading but he hasn't really been super interested you know on his own and so for him to have that much of a a review about the
book really impressed me and made me think it's it's probably pretty good and I'm planning to read it myself I haven't yet so I just wanted to um share that with you so from the perspective of a student he actually wanted to be here tonight too to speak on behalf of the book but um he had another commitment Um, but I just want to share that with
you so that you know that that is some of the feedback from him and some of his friends that I've spoken with as well. They're just really enjoying the book and they think it's important. And I also want to say that having this sort of a book in the curriculum really seems to be in line with what we've been talking about at the superintendent
council meetings um about what the vision for Damber's public schools is to teach critical thinking and to encourage critical thinking and empathy and you know strong children. and this is the kind of book that will help to do that. Thank you. >> Thank you.
Anyone else? >> Seeing none, I'm going to close this portion of of the meeting. >> Comment from the school comm. >> All right. This is part of the comment piece. Um I wrote all this down so I don't mess
this up and I don't get misqued. But um I was very interested by several emails that I received specifically about this book in anticipation of what was going to happen tonight. Um so I thought I'd put a little statement together and um and just share my thoughts on this. Um most importantly for those who are not
in favor of the book, I hope at least you took the time to read it and to really understand what you're against. If you haven't, I'm happy to share a quick summary of the book and some additional thoughts. And I think I'll hurt some feelings on both sides. Um, I
spent just the last week reading and listening because I was on a flight, so I thought it'd be easier to do the audio book audio book for American Boys in full every single chapter. Um, before I go further, I want to be clear about where I'm coming from. I'm a parent. My my kids are in the Denver schools. My
daughter is in the middle school. Um, for those of you who remember, I was introduced to this community and eventually elected to this committee because of an incident right here in our district that forced all of us to reflect on who we are and what we value. And I also have close friends in law
enforcement. Um, a few of whom are here today, and I've seen firsthand the dedication and sacrifice they bring to their work. So, I'm not anti- police and nothing I'm saying tonight should be taken that way. As a school committee member, my role is not to write or approve curriculum. My job is to listen,
to represent the community, and to make sure what happens in our schools reflects our shared values of fairness, respect, and balance. What this conversation really comes down to for me is balance. How we teach, not whether we teach. Because books like All
American Boys are not dangerous, and it's not propaganda. Experiences, conversations, and how we treat one another shape our kids far more than any single story or lesson ever could. One of the things this book does best is is to present two very different young men,
both trying to make sense of the world around them. One comes from a single parent home. He's loyal. He's flawed. He's trying to do the right thing, but he's navigating a world without much guidance. The other has a strong two parent household. His father is a former
soldier and police officer who once made a lifealtering mistake on the job. I may ruin the plot, but I'm going to say it anyway. The father was in an incident that left another young man paralyzed and that experience hardened him. He believes that nothing bad happens to you if you keep your head down, follow
orders, and don't question authority. Now, if I stopped right there and didn't mention race, most people would assume the first story of the single parenthood teen was the black teenager and the second teenager was white. I'm out of order here. Sorry. But it's
the opposite. And that's the genius of this book. It flips our assumptions upside down. It challenges us to examine the quiet biases we might not even know we carry. That's valuable. That's education. In my opinion, um, where I do have
concerns is with the curriculum that was presented alongside this book. And please hear me out. It's specifically the use of the phrase white privilege. In my opinion, that term has been weaponized. What may have started as a way to explain inequality has become a flash point that shuts down
conversations instead of opening them up. It's not that the topic itself shouldn't be discussed. It's that I think we can do it a lot better. We can talk about fairness, opportunity, and empathy without using words that divide people before the discussion even
starts. For me, it's just like the thin blue line flag. It began as a sign of support for law enforcement, but later became politicized. The term white privilege has taken on that same energy. It creates walls where we need bridges.
I believe our teachers and our students deserve a better framework. We don't need labels to talk about justice. We don't need buzzwords to talk about respect. And we don't need to choose between supporting our police officers and teaching our kids about fairness and empathy. We can absolutely do both. I
also want to acknowledge our teachers and their commitment to academic freedom. You have to know that no books have been banned or censored in Danverse. All American boys remains available in classrooms and libraries and is being read by nearly all eth graders. I think roughly 95% of them.
The limited optout option was a short-term accommodation for a few families, not a change in policy. as we work to balance academic freedom with parental choice, which I know is a kind of a sticky word, too, but I say it in Danvers. We've already seen what happens
when difficult issues aren't addressed early. It hurts our kids and it hurts our community. So, let's not avoid the hard conversations, but let's approach them with care, respect, and balance. Let's believe our students are capable of understanding complexity without being divided by the language we use.
Opting out might feel like protection, but engaging thoughtfully and respectfully is preparation. And I think we can all agree that what we want for every student who leaves Dambers is preparation to think critically, act compassionately, and navigate a world full of difference with confidence and
respect. Thank you. >> Thanks, Mr. Crane. First of all, Gabe, um, brilliant. I like everything you said there, and I think you made great points. U, I don't have anywhere near as much to say, and I
probably won't say it as articulately, but I would tell you this. First, things sort of jump to mind as to what my perspective on this type of issue is. And the first thing is that our teachers are professionals and they
aren't choosing books or advocating for books that in any way they are going to think would be harmful to kids. We have developed this inability to trust expertise now and we're seeing it in all sorts of areas of our life and it's not
doing us any good. So the first thing is I trust our teachers when it comes to um their viewpoints here. The second is that I'm a big believer that in most cases if someone tells you not to read a book, it's probably the first book you should go find. And
that's not my idea. That actually is uh paraphrasing something you know Dwight Eisenhower said, don't give into the big book burners. Uh read every book in the library. And I agree with that. I don't think there are any ideas that we need
to be afraid of. things need to be taught um certainly in an age appropriate way. But the point of education is to teach and learn how to think critically and to consider ideas that might be different
from the ideas you walk in with. My own experience as a parent was from an early age I tried to talk to my kids in a way they would understand about the way the real world is. And that's just me. I I think it's the way
to go and I think um most parents have some have a lot of faith in your kids. That's part of what this comes down to. Um you can trust them not to be influenced to go in a bad direction because they
read a book. You can trust them to sort of work through the issues and think about them. At the end of the day, you're going to get I think you ultimately are going to have children you can really be proud of. So anyway, that's it. Thank you.
>> You good? >> Um, so since the two gentlemen on either side of me, um, you know, pretty much hit all the points I would have hit, uh, with me having just a little bit more. Uh, I've worked in schools for 28 years.
Um, of those 28 years, um, 20 of them have been in a city district. I also coach high school sports, middle school sports. Um, and the way that this book is written, yes, I read it. Um, do I have time to read it? No. But I did
because it was important to me. This is how the children speak, you know. So, for us to think that our kids in in the playgrounds or running around town aren't swearing or aren't using words or aren't talking about vaping and
drinking and things like that, we have to open our eyes because I'm around them every day. Um, the thoughts in this book, the the different aspects of the two main characters, aside from some of the other characters that are interjected throughout the story,
are reality. you know, we we might want to think that it's not a reality, but it might not be a reality for us right here, right now in town, but it's a reality in the world. Um, not 12 months ago, we went through an incident of assault right here outside of this
building that I was a big part of. My phone was ringing a few moments ago because my friend Chris was calling me and that was not a race thing, but that was a special needs student um an adult. You know, I've known him since he was a
young boy. So, for us to try to glaze things over is, you know, we we went through this last year. Maybe not for the same exact reasons, but it's under the same umbrella. And I applaud the fact I wasn't going to say this. I applaud the fact that our
teachers are stepping up and taking on these conversations that should be had every day by all of us, not just in the classroom, but in real life every day, sitting at the coffee shop, walking down the street. And that's how we come together is we conversely figure out how
to fix it, not to say get rid of it and walk away. And you know, I'm going to stop there so I don't go too much further, but I appreciate the fact that everybody's the people who are here tonight. There's a lot of you, a lot of emails that we've received um in support
of this bill. So, I appreciate your time and efforts in writing to us. Thank you. >> And literally one more. >> What I turn that on. What I forgot to say is that um everyone who spoke tonight, regardless on uh how you might
feel, it feels to me like did the town crowd in the sense that it was a respectful presentation. It was a respectful dialogue. We probably didn't give channel 7 much to show tonight. Sorry. So, in any event, thank you all
for the way you conducted yourselves. And I'd just like to say thank you all for bringing your voices into the room. That's incredibly important no matter what side you're on. Um I ask that you keep the conversation going, keep civil discourse going over this issue and any
other issue. This this is important for us to to hear and and for you to hear other other just like we were asking the kids to do in class. So I thank you for bringing your voices into the room, but we need to move this meeting on. These young people have to get home. day of school tomorrow. So, thank you all for
for participating. >> Items of interest. >> Thank you very much, chairman. All right, we're going to start off. We have our annual regular student representative report. We have a certificate of academic excellence and recognition. We have presentation by
principles Colony and Principal Strauss. And then we have our bullying harassment audit findings for this report. So, try to move through this. Hopefully, we'll cooperate. Okay. All right. Oops. Must have misplaced that slide.
There it is. So, we have Nathan and Olly. Take it away, please. >> Hello everyone. I hope everyone is having a nice night. Um, now I'd like to take the time to highlight some of the amazing things that is happening at Danverse High School. Um, so we're now
into October. We had a great first month over in the high school. And one thing that I wanted to start off by highlighting was the DECA projects that are underway. Um, DECA is a really big part of our school. We have an amazing program um at the high school. We have amazing teachers for DECA. Um, my
project is starting up this month. It's called Rake It In. And I'm raising money for the um Danverse um DECA um program with two of my partners, Jack and Luke. And um we had a lot of families and residents in Danver sign up for this
project. um we're going and raking the leaves off of the yard and all that money is going back to the Damverse DECA program and then students can also sign up to get community service um to do the raking. So we're using residents in Danvers and also the students in our
school. Um the next thing a lot of the students or all the students at our school had an assembly last week about the um first 504 film festival um video competition. So, you're going to create a video and fill the testimonial um on the importance of 504 students with
disabilities and the protection that they have in our school. Um and that's a really great thing that is happening. And then last weekend um we had our first senior and junior homecoming. It was really successful. It was held in our courtyard. The class officers did an amazing job djing and good food. And
>> uh the DHS marching band and color guard took first place in Melrose with a score of 77.81. 81 and also took first place in North Reading with a score of 8 uh 80.51. The first fan bus attended the marching band competition in North Reading this
past Saturday. I didn't I didn't see them. I was on the field. Um and uh from now on DHS will have a fan bus for cheerleading in November when their competition start up. and the DHS concert band. Uh this year we have
started testing uh a new program for practicing and playing assignments called um make music. We use that for um all of our concert band music is on there and when we do playing assignments it will
it will um like mark every note if it's right or wrong. It's a little like weird with some parts like uh any of the percussion parts that have multiple instruments. It will be a little weird um until
uh uh like for example, Mr. Daniels will go and um like he can listen to them. So like the score doesn't necessarily matter for those. But other than that, it's so far it's been going pretty well. And then I know this was mentioned
before, but I just wanted to recognize the unified um basketball game that happened again last week. We had a record crowd of more than 800 people that attended. Um and the last and there was 12 community partner organizations. It was a really good game. It was really fun. We had so many students there
cheering. Um and I know how important it is to them. I'm in the Best Buddies program to show up and show our support for them. And it's something that they really value and really enjoy. And then um one last thing I just wanted to show was for the seniors the college process
that has begun. Um some students have already signed up um to play in college sports or um and others have already started signing up for early decision. Just want to say it's been going really good at our school. Our guidance counselors have been so helpful um helping everything set up in our common
app and just all the assemblies that we've had. It's been so informative and really really helpful over at the school. And yeah, that's all we have for you guys tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. Excellent report as always. And um the
fan bus, right? I know that was a big deal. Principal Strauss coordinated that to make sure that we got students to the performance which is outstanding and we continue that trend. So great report. >> Awesome. >> I was at that unified basketball game and I'm sure they enjoyed it, but I got to tell you, I enjoyed it I think more.
That was that was a phenomenal event for everybody who was involved. If I may through the chair, I understand you're raking leaves. Nice. Is there a link or a rate? >> Are raking leaves to raise money? Did I hear that correctly?
>> Yes. Um students can sign up in the Google classroom um to get community service for it and then all the money that we raise from that um from the residents paying to have their lawns rake goes back to the DECA chapter.
>> And how does a resident get students to rake? >> That form. It's a community service. >> That form was um taken out in our by my two other partners um just around town. and they just shared it with family and friends and other people and we have 29
pe um 29 houses that have signed up. So, >> you need a 30th. >> If you have more, please share it with Dr. Bower. >> I will. >> We'll pass it around for you. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you so much. I did have my
slides out of order and I apologize. I'd like to call Principal Strauss up to present the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendent Certificate Award of Excellence and Recognition. Um, every year the association uh puts together an award for all schools for a student that
exemplifies outstanding performance in the classroom but also in the community well-rounded. So, um, I'd like Principal Strauss to say a few words and introduce our uh, winner. >> So, Congratulations.
First of all, Josie. Um, I was going to keep it short. I know I have three minutes, but I'm kidding. >> You have less than that. >> I know that. But I think it's really important after hearing um comments over the last three or four
weeks that has nothing to do with the book. I'm going to start there. Um, but really about who our students are. So, I've had the pleasure of of meeting Josie and and spending some time and and getting to really study who she is. And
she represents everything that education's all about. And so, I had the the honor of writing her letter of recommendation, which is four pages long. I'm not going to read that, but there is a couple things in there that I would like this community to hear
because I think not only is she exceptional, but she also is an indication of what Danver's high school and Denver's public schools produces. So bear with me. Every year throughout my incredibly blessed career, there seems to be a plethora of students who have
made their school better because they are wonderful people. And those fortunate enough to know them are confident they will be successful in whatever they choose. It's not often, however, that there comes along a student and a person who not only makes the school better, but the world better and us as educators and people better
while simultaneously being validictorian, a superb athlete, a leader, a voice for the marginalized and a gentle, humble soul. Josie Vogel embodies this extraordinary combination of attributes.
She is one of those truly exceptional individuals who seamlessly integrate all the qualities we aspire to see in outstanding young adults. And I can say without hesitation, she is a generational student and human being destined to make a profoundly positive impact on any campus fortunate enough to
welcome her. This is how long it is. I was once asked what my biggest fear in education was. And after thinking for what seemed like an eternity, I thought of a quote from a principal to his staff on the first day of a new school year. What he says sums up my fear best that as a whole, society
in general and educators more specifically are too caught up with numbers. Who is brilliant based upon a standardized test? And we forget the kind of people we need to bring this world to greater heights. And so he pointantly states what we must look beyond the words and the need to fill
resumes and look deeper into the character of someone before making an assessment as to their effectiveness as a role model and a future leader. He said, "I am the survivor of a concentration camp and my eyes have witnessed what no man should ever see. Gas chambers built by educated
engineers, experiments that make a shutter done by brightest doctors, children tortured by intelligent nurses, and the elderly slaughtered by skilled and learned psychopaths. Therefore, I'm suspicious of education and encourage us all to seek out those students who are not only bright, but who have the
kindest and most giving souls and let them lead us into a new world. Josie Vogle is that person. So, I introduce to you the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendent Award for Danvers High School. Josie Bogle
[Applause] cried again. [Applause] camera. >> Oh,
I think [Applause] Okay, Okay, we're going to move into the next portion of the superintendent's update and I'm going to ask if principal Colony and Principal Strauss can come up for the presentation. Uh just to frame
the presentation, hopefully I'm in the right way. Uh one of the areas that we've been looking at as a district um is what can we do in terms of our branding and as we talked about in the last meeting, branding encompasses a lot of different areas. I think one of the big areas of branding not only is
perception but it's experience whether it's good, bad, negative, positive perceptions as well. And one of the areas that we wanted to take a look at um is really looking at that transition to um Danvers High School was talked about tonight and I know it's been something that's been we've been talking
about since I arrived in my two years ago now in my third year and just really taking a dive into the data but we know that there's a lot of work and it's it's a bunch of pieces. So, in the context of this, um, I think it goes back to some of the findings in the survey that we'll discuss, but I just want to say thank
you for bringing this. You did have a great discussion with our superintendent advisory council. We talked about a lot of things. Some things might be a little uncomfortable, but that's okay. As we say, it's okay to be vulnerable in order to look to improve because you have to put that out there to know that maybe things aren't where they need to be, but
believing that we fully have pieces in place and how can we tie this together. So, I'm gonna turn this over to Principal Kellon, Principal Strauss, and you're going to have to tell me when to turn the slides. Okay, >> turn the slides. >> Okay. So, when I first started in July, one of
the first things that I heard about um in in speaking with Adam was he he gave me a list of all the students who were not coming to Dan High School. And my first initial question, I was always trained to ask the question, why? Let's
dig deep into this. Um, Adam was kind enough to put out a survey to families of students who were not coming back. Um, it was late in the game, no question about it, but I think the work that he
did really drove all of this, so he deserves the credit for it. I just asked this a pretty simple question and from it came some really interesting um eyeopening thoughtprovoking data. So we want to
present it. So and I don't want Ellen to take all the credit. He shared a Google form with me that he used uh in a previous district. So I appreciated that partnership right away. It was a question uh superintendent bar and I have had the last few years. Why are students where are they going and why? So I was excited
uh to jump right into our work right away as partners. U before we uh go to the next slide, just the other question, you know, we're going to dig into this year as well is um students coming to the middle school as well. You know, trying to be reflective about uh working with our elementary school students so they are informed about the middle
school, what we offer up here. Um and so I put this survey out in July. Uh Danny, go to next slide, superintendent power. Um and so we had about 82 students I believe on the list I sent to Allan. Um again as indicated was late in this uh game but we still got some great
responses. We got 23 responses. The slide represents the range of uh different places students were going this current year in nth grade. We rode from Essex Tech to St. John's Prep um to Bishop Benwick Molton Catholic St. Mary's and Lynn and Landmark School. So
that's just a breakdown uh of the distribution on that slide. This was really our most important data. Um, there were some multiple choices on the Google form for families to to choose from. They weren't limited to one particular choice. It could choose multiple options. Um, but
I'm going to turn over to to Alan to kind of break this down a little bit. So, I think what's interesting is and it's important for everybody in public to understand number one, no assumptions can be made. This is general. So when we
talk about academic reasons and and as parents began to list um and they were a also able to write responses so it was not just a multiple choice or you know circle circle the best answer. Um one of
the things that we found was the perception that there is not enough rigor. The question was not specifically asked and we will change our question for next year um as to do they feel that there wasn't enough rigor in the high school or did they feel that their child wasn't
pushed enough in the middle school that we don't have the answer to and it is something that as we talk for next year um when we will do this survey much earlier that we will begin to delve into but I do think it asks a very important
question as to how rigorous are we what are we doing what are we not doing and what can we do better? Certainly there are going to be students who are leaving you know the reality is most students who go to the technical schools do not
go into the trades they go to colleges and and so therefore what is it that Danver High School doesn't have or perceived not to have that we need to market a little bit better. So, it ties in in in a lot of what Superintendent
Bower is doing in terms of how do we begin to show the excellence that Josie who's going, you know, she's applying to Harvard and University of Virginia and and all of these magnificent schools and Ali and Nathan who are doing fantastic things and so many of our students who
are playing D2 and D3 athletics. The assumption that in order to play sports in college, you have to go to the prep is false. Having coached in Connecticut for years, in a very small school, we
had kids going to Notre Dame and to UCLA. And it doesn't have to be the perception that people have. We just need to change that perception is a lot of the information we we did. You know, certainly there will be people who had poor experiences in the middle school.
There will be people who feel as if their children can get a a religious education. We can't. Those are very difficult to fight. Um and and legacy is is a difficult thing to to go against.
But what this did is it provided myself some information and I certainly know it provided Adam some information. And um you know the other piece just perspective, this is my 16th year as a middle school administrator, 12 as a principal. This is not a new conversation. At the end of middle school, families are looking for other
experiences. I think what has changed now, it's just we're in the age of information. And the conversations we've had as well is just marketing sooner and better to to highlight what we do in Denver is um new beginnings. You know, middle school can be a grind for families and students. Sometimes they truly do want a new beginning um at the
end of middle school. Um and so a lot of these options up here or that families chose are not typical are typical to middle school in general after after middle school experience. So these are not unique from my perspective and experience working in a few different districts.
Next slide. Um but what was really important to me um going into my third year here was um regardless of what I just said about middle school experience, what can we be doing better at Colt Richmond? And so um as you can see from this slide certainly families experience at the middle school did
drive their decision making for some um and then when there was opportunities for open responses to learn a lot more um you know factors that went into that that we could be reflective about do a better job here before they make that decision at the high school level.
So one of the things that we're talking about is what you know data is great but unless you do something with it it doesn't really make any difference. So what are we doing? As you all know last spring um the high school held its first showcase wi-i which I actually was lucky
enough to come to because I you know I had already been hired. I hadn't started yet. So, it was an opportunity and I was incredibly impressed with everything that was going on. The problem with it was everybody had already made their decisions. So, the first conversation that I had
was we need to do this the day after or two days after the last open house of all of those schools, which we are doing. We are doing on um I actually think that slide's wrong and it's November 19th or is it the 18th?
It's the 19th. Yes, it's the 19th. Um, and we're taking the private school approach, which is we are opening this up to fifth grade parents because we know that once they leave fifth grade to go into a middle school
that is not Danvers, they are not coming back. It's the Hotel California. Once you check in, you never leave. And that's the advantage that PREP and and Fenwick and and some other places have is they now have middle school, too. So, they think everything's going to be answered. So, we're going to do this both for fifth grade parents as well as
for eighth grade parents. And we are taking the approach, you're going to start seeing lawn signs all over town. And we're using three words, inspire, empower, and soar. So being our Falcons, but Soore is also support, um, opportunity,
accountability, and rigor. And, and we're going to drive much of what we do based upon in PIO, inspire, empower, and soar. And one of the things that we're talking about, and some of this you're going to hear in my sip tonight, is that our goal by 2029
is that our students will be able to graduate with a Dammer's high school diploma, an AP diploma, which some of you may know or some of you may not, and we'll talk about it in when I talk about SIPS, a seal by literacy, and potentially an associates degree um for
our middle of the road students. And we think that that would be phenomenal as well as create more non-chapter 74 pathways project lead the way. So we're looking to go globally but we need to sell that. Um there are parents who have no idea what's happening in our high
school except what they read on particular Facebook pages. We need to change that narrative. Um it's very different now in high school. It's not everybody just comes to Danver High School or the community school.
when you have choice, we need to show why we are the best choice. So Adam's work was phenomenal for his school and what they're looking at, phenomenal for us as well. >> I I heard this the other night, so I
don't have any questions for you. I enjoy your presentation. Uh I like the strategy >> and um and I love inspire empower. So >> let's do this. Great. >> Um thank you for the presentation. Um I
I've always been a proponent of showing where our students are going. >> You know, I think that's super important. And we looked at the website I think a couple weeks ago during one of our sessions and I'd love to see that stuff bubbled up. So, we're going to have a scroll of where kids get in. So,
we just had a student get in early uh very early to Wake Forest, which is a big deal. Um, so we're going to start scrolling where everybody goes, where athletes are getting into and playing. They're playing in some big time schools. So, um, that that will
certainly be a change. >> I mean, that'll be great. Like, where did last year's kids go? And then an early look into this year. I think that's fantastic. And I and wasn't when Adam was here, I don't know if it was last year or the year before, >> was was it like a card that was sent home or
you know what I'm talking about, it was like a flyer that said, you know, look at where our students are going or look at what we're doing. Um because I think that that's that's missed, you know. Um the data it's tough to I don't know how many students leave 8th grade. 22 or 23.
It's >> no 82. >> 82. I know. But we only actually it's a little bit lower which I'll talk about but I think if I may share >> uh on the data point we talked about this too is like you know how much data is there right this really is starting the discussion the conversation right
because we haven't done this in a while and knowing that you know we have choice data to go through and run the same survey as Alan and Adam said you know do this survey a little bit earlier and add some more questions to it so this is really just having the conversation and starting this because we really haven't
had this conversation The other piece that I did not mention and I to repeat I said it the other night. I did some backdoor investigating over um using all those schools taking the top 10 of each of those schools over the last
five years. So that would be 50 students per school. It's 250 students. Okay. of that I wanted to know how many were potential Danverse High School students and it's over 30%.
So if you bring half of those students back that's a significant change and there's no reason why. I mean I see you know Jos's taken Harvard multivariable calc in at Dish High School. So everything's possible. We
just need to think a little differently. >> Okay. and and and it it was just a suggestion if possible how many students are coming back you know they don't go directly into eighth grade but what does it look like grades nine and 10 incoming I think I saw that data before but
that's that's kind of it so thank you for that I appreciate >> when you say coming back >> meaning how many students returned to Danver public school >> we had five in the first month who went to tech and came back >> right but exactly exactly and that's I think that's important information as
well and why, you know, and surfacing that. Y I think that's important just capturing the other side of the equation. So, thank you. >> Um, first of all, I love the uh the stratter of the diplomas. I think that's a
brilliant day. Um, so much more opportunity for students who uh can and are willing to work for it. Love that idea. And what I see is sort of an organized marketing effort, if you want to call it that. The idea is that we have a good
story to tell. We really do. If you look at what our students have done and where they've gone and you know, we've got a good story to tell. It just we haven't really cracked the nut of how to tell it yet. And I feeling like you guys are on that path. So carry on.
You can definitely tell that there's a lot of hard work behind this and a lot of vision. Um, having gone to Danver High School, I know that I had friends that went to Penwick that went to the prep that went to at the time it was in Beverly, but at the Northshore Tech and Essex Aggie.
There have always been those options and there have always been people going. So, you know, it's like like we've been talking about, it's trying to keep as many as possible because we are going to lose for whatever reasons uh that are, you know, most of them are listed here. You know, if your pet dad and grandfather
both went to the prep, right, odds are you're going to the prep. Uh, you know, so, you know, for us to battle through that, we appreciate your efforts of trying to streamline and figure out where and why. So, thank you so much for that. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. More to come in this area for sure. Okay, we're going to move on to our next piece which we've asked our um our our group uh Makaboy Joyce and Kowalsski uh attorney Neans and Attorney
Joyce to do an internal audit of our bullying, harassment and discipline policies and the inner workings. Um because one of the things and this actually ties into branding and perceptions is that you know what are we doing? Uh are we consistent? You know, have we calibrated? you know, are we
following the policies and procedures appropriately? Um, because I think a big piece of this is building the trust. And one of the things I've heard since I've been in this district is that, you know, we've had bullying harassment issues and are we dealing with these appropriately? And we're working really hard as a team. So, we felt as we've done a number of
audits throughout our district. You know, this this is one audit that um we've been doing a lot of work and Patrick is here now. And I don't know if uh Patrick, thank you for being patient. Uh we had a lot of public comment tonight. So I am your uh turner of the
slides. So just tell me when and we're going to turn this over to you uh attorney Neans. >> Sure. Uh good evening folks. Uh Patrick Neans, attorney with Makavoy, Joyce and Kowalsski. Have the pleasure of serving Danver's public schools. um superintendent had reached out to us
over the summer to do this audit with a focus on looking at compliance with bullying, harassment, and discipline, both state and federal law. Um superintendent, you can change to the next slide.
So, the audit consisted of uh a review of existing policies and procedures to make sure that they're up to date. uh some areas of the law particularly use title nine as an example uh changes uh it feels like every year. Um so the goal
here was to make sure that dampers had the most updated policies and procedures to work from. Um compliance starts there, right? You want to make sure your administrators are following the right grievance procedures. We then looked at a review of sample cases. Um so administrators, principles, assistant
principles, title N coordinator provided us with a sample of cases and we'd look through them um trying to you know notice any trends or any issues and then uh over the summer um had the pleasure of interviewing 13 administrators, principles, assistant principles, title
9 coordinator and some student service folks. Um really just want to highlight that um they were fantastic, very transparent and I think that that really helped uh you know the findings and the recommendations really came from them being honest about what works, what
doesn't work uh and what they could use going forward um like training and materials and whatnot. Um next slide. I won't go through all the findings. Uh we do have an executive summary and we do have the findings report. encourage
folks to um read it. But I wanted to highlight just a few things um in regards to the bullying space and really any space bullying, harassment. Uh safety planning was a strength of the district. Administrators were really good right at the outset of putting in
safety measures and supportive measures for folks. Um and communicating information with the um special ed department if the student was on IEP or 504 plan. Um one of the areas of growth um for the school you know going forward
is looking at uh I think this is you know in software and in what technology investments can be made of having a centralized repository of reports. So for example there was um a lack of information say when a student went from elementary school to middle school and
middle school to high school. So if they had had a history of say being targeted by a particular student or groups of students and they were in eighth grade and heading into the high school, the high school wasn't necessarily um you know if something had happened say in 9th grade um they didn't necessarily
have the kind of centralized reports that they could go back and look at and see what the history was with those students. Um some revised procedures that we were able to put in place updated the bullying plan and the policy. Um and we also created uh incident reporting forms and checklists.
Administrator's day is very very busy. Um what we wanted to do is create accessible checklist for them to be able to use to make sure that they're in compliance with all the steps. Next slide. Um in the title N process um so looking
at sexual uh harassment um strengthen areas of growth grievance process. And I say that because again the title 9 u law has changed with the change in administration at the federal level. Uh and so we were able to provide
a new updated title 9 manual which has all the steps template forms flowchart so you can see exactly uh what needs to be done. Um the folks were upfront that they felt like that this was really an area of need for training um particularly where the law changes so
much. Uh next slide. and uh in non-title 9 civil rights. So that you know be looking at protected classes on um you know race, national origin, other you know um protected classes. We were able to uh update uh
and provide a a new um civil rights grievance procedures which the district didn't have before. Uh as well as a new food and service program civil rights policy and procedure. I highlight that that comes out of the US um department of agriculture
um was something that they had been um finding non-compliance with other districts and so proactively we put that in place uh for dampers. Um next slide. We also took a look at discipline and
um one of the feedbacks from administrators was um wanting to be able to have flexibility um in terms of individual circumstances but having consistency when it came to discipline. So, one of the recommendations is for the
superintendent to um organize a subcommittee to look at different school rules violations and what the potential uh responses and consequences could be uh for that. Um the idea there would be to be guidelines, right? Um administrators always maintain uh
discretion when it comes to discipline, but to be consistent from one administrator to the next in the district uh to have these guidelines. Um also uh training on alternatives to discipline. So um with the new there was
a amendment to uh Massachusetts law section 7137H and 3/arters which is school discipline for school rules violations was amended back in 2022 with an emphasis on um trying to exhaust alternatives to discipline. There are
exceptions. Administrators felt that they had used alternatives but could use more training. um on skill sets on how to facilitate those alternatives like mediation, conflict resolution, um problem solving. And um
uh in terms of with special ed for folks that are familiar, if a student's disciplined when a manifestation determination has to happen. Um and so making sure that coordinating with the special ed department and we were able to provide a new checklist uh to make
sure that folks uh in in a manifestation review are able uh to ask the right questions and be in compliance with the special ed law. Um that's a really high level overview. I tried to stay within my time frame here, but I will open up
to any questions. I think we're good. >> I'll just throw in some Thank you for doing this by the way. And um the uh one thing I would say is that I'm I'm glad that Dr. Bower and others have supported
this because frankly bullying always sort of it's percolating below the the surface and we hear a lot about it then maybe it's quiet but I think it's one of the things parents are very concerned about and I think these recommendations are have a chance to make things better.
So, thank you >> Patrick. Thank you for being here and our administrative team tomorrow at uh 3:15. Uh we'll have Patrick will present this actually more detail uh the nuts and bolts uh as we work to implement the recommendations. Um certainly as we've
discussed, you know, there are areas that, you know, we've done a good job with, but know there's areas of growth. Um and we're ready to embrace that to move forward. I will be posting the information for the public to see. Uh I'll put that in my update so they can see this. But uh again, Patrick, thank you very much for your time.
>> Yeah. Uh thanks for having me and hope everybody has a good night. >> Thank you. Take care. Then we're ready to move on to unfinished business. We're ready for our financial port report. I have actually a couple slides this
evening to help uh help move this along. Um so I wanted to do two things. kind of give a look back and a look forward. Um the FY25 uh budget closeout had some challenges
um things that I had uh alluded to over the course of the last year that were presenting us with some uh higher than budgeted expenditures that were being forecast. and and so um this slide is really just sort of a summary of some of
the ways in which we did ultimately close the books on FY25. Um in the category of special ed transportation and out of district district tuition, we did rely heavily on circuit breaker. Um about $5 million total was spent on tuition out of
circuit breaker, including um $883,000 at closeout. Um about half of that at closeout was um thanks to the supplemental budget uh increase or you know kind of making whole our circuit breaker reimbursement um from last year.
Uh we did manage to maintain our goal um of carrying forward a little over a million dollars in circuit breaker funds from this year from FY25 into FY26. So that will be available to us as well as the revenue that will come in this year. Uh with the Mckin Vento homeless
transportation um again we had some money that we knew was coming in from the state. Some of that is based on the FY24 end of year report. Um where they uh they do a reimbursement based on the expenditures that we reported having actually made in FY24. There's also a
process through which we can claim a partial reimbursement for some of the foster care specifically for foster students transportation. Um and then realizing that districts were facing um some you know immediate need state did
accelerate the homeless transportation reimbursement process. So rather than wait until FY25 report was submitted and have it audited and have that reimbursement money come in next June or July, um they did expedite that process for some districts. Um and we we
reported to them almost in real time the expenditure so they could do that reimbursement. So that's another $300,000 that I was able to use at close out towards those expenses. And then finally, we had some of those um instructional assistant positions that um were needed to address uh particular
student needs. Um and we were able to meet those um expenses with some combination of, you know, unspent money and some of the budget lines, but a lot of it was also the emergency assistant funds from the state. And then moving into FY26, I just wanted
to provide kind of a highlight really um of where we are with that. Uh you know, our operations and transportation coordinator, David Pulsifer, has been working extremely hard to look at every aspect of transportation to see what we can do um to bring some of those costs
down. Uh we have begun utilizing the specialed contract uh for out of district well I the contract for special ed out of district transportation through the consortium um and you know the data is kind of preliminary because the year has just kind of started we had
uh at the time I was planning this or preparing this we only had really the August invoices to of hard data September was not quite closed um but it looks like we are conservatively hoping for a 10% savings
on that uh that line item. Um we did, as you also know, reduce the number of contracted buses from 10 down to nine. That's a savings on the bus contract. We do have the expense of paying the driver. Um but that is a savings overall. Um we also have some maybe
better oversight and processes for collecting the $180 bus fee. um and a clearer process for both our staff and for the families about what it um the process for obtaining financial assistance if you need a waiver.
Uh and and finally, uh David Pulsifer is also making sure that he is in close contact with the folks at DPW for any vehicle repairs and maintenance that needs to be done so that we can avoid needing to um rent a bus or otherwise outsource some of our transportation
needs for that reason. The out of district tuition I would say is um you know I mean obviously year-over-year there are going to be some increases but right now I feel the the sense is that the indistrict services are meeting more of the student needs. So um we're having uh I think
fewer outplacements to increase that financial projection. Um we did have uh some moderately bad news in the sense that the circuit breaker reimbursement for for the
revenue that's coming in this year. If you recall last year um the state kind of has a bucket of money that they budget for circuit breaker reimbursements um based on the real expenses that expenditures that we report um to them from the previous
year. They reimburse 75% of the tuition first and then they take what's left over and they reimburse as much of the transportation as possible. Um, last year that reimbursement on the transportation was 44% instead of 75%.
And this year it's 61% instead of 75%. So that calculation for us is a little over $200,000. And there will probably be the same sort of um conversations with the state about whether and the governor about whether or not this can u
be made whole for the districts across the state. And then there was an um sort of unexpected and unfortunate um reduction in the amount of our idea federal grant. Um but we have been working in
conjunction with our partners um at DESIE to find ways for the district to kind of make up as much of that funding as possible. The IIA positions based on student needs. I would say that need uh that challenge does continue this year. Um
and part of that is that the needs of the students continue to increase. Um but it's also a reflection of us having our programs in the district and the staffing required to run those programs. Um you know we're just making those adjustments.
Uh for substitutes if you if you haven't heard um our implementation of moving into a new accounting system for the town that's been challenging. Um we have brought our substitute services into the district like under our control rather than contracting that out. Um it's been
a lot of work over the summer and early fall, but I think it is bearing fruit in the sense that it's being successful in um we've hired a lot of substitutes and we have good fill rates and it is saving us money because we're not paying a contractor to do this work. Um and once
we are fully implemented, I think it's going to be great. As far as capital investments, I just wanted to share that um we are kind of ahead of where we usually are in terms of uh making our purchase of school vehicles with this year's warrant money.
We already have our new bus for FY26 has been delivered and is operations. So, that's fantastic. Um and we appreciate both David's efforts and those of um DPW and helping to make that come to pass. Uh and there was a $60,000 earmark for
classroom technology. um that was part of the governor supplemental budget and we just got word today actually that the executive office of education has put out that money in the form of a grant application. So, uh Jim Sullivan, our
tech director, will be writing that grant and um identifying exactly what technology and which classrooms we'll be using that money for. As far as the um more in the weeds part of the FY26 budget, I that's something I will continue to work on and come to you
at a future date with uh some line transfers that will reflect the fact that we're not contracting out for substitutes. So, we don't really need the money there, but we'll put it into our substitute lines um where we'll actually pay our own employees as the substitutes.
>> You have any questions about anything? >> Any questions? Thank you, Pam. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> So, one thing for the committee that um we appreciate the opportunity so Pam could present more of a detailed report. So, look for any feedback in in the
future for the for the next report just to make sure it's pinpoint to any questions you may have. Thank you, Pam, for your efforts, too. Thank you. >> Okay. Next is the wellness policy and your recommendation.
>> Yes. So uh we presented the for a first reading last meeting the wellness policy there were adjustments made. Our wellness committee meets four times per year as mandated and the big recommendation and actually in partnership um
with with this with actually the University of Massachusetts um was to just make some tweaks. Not too many major changes as we talked about last time. One of the big areas was um just making sure that you know um in terms of
the nutrition program that all items are purchased through the food service department which is a little bit of a change but that is something that is supported by our nurses because of allergies and being in line with that. Also to clearly state that recess should not be taken away as a punishment. Um
and looking for alternate means for any discipline which our administrators are doing a great job with anyways just solidifying that. Um and then also looking for uh ways that our staff can improve their own self-care. So those are the major pieces of that. So just looking for second reading and approval
uh to move forward with this policy. >> You want to hit that again? >> No. So moved. >> Seconded. >> Any discussion? >> Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. All right,
it passes. All right, new business. >> Sorry, I'm just manipulating through Zoom as well as on here this the share the screen. So, next up is Assistant Superintendent Anderson, who will give an overview of our curriculum, instruction priorities, as well as
assessment data overview, and she'll present in more detail the student data and the MCCAST at our subcommittee meeting and a formal presentation on our November school committee meeting. So, I'll work on this. Yep. Bring it right
up. Good. Okay. Sorry, it's a little slow tonight. It's just three slides to give you some sense of where we are curricularly. Uh the first if you can just uh flip to the next slide, Dr. Bower. So,
oh fancy, nice. Uh so, uh where we are in terms of the school year is um giving our what we call preassessments. This is part of um a general strategy to support all students achievement and growth um
which is called MTSS a multi-tered system of support. Basically we give um screeners in reading you can see dibbles is there social emotional and math. um usually just those three and then we are able to inform our instruction meaning
some students will get uh tier one all students get tier one instruction which is what happens in the classroom for all students some students need a little more support they might get small group instruction let's say in reading um with specialized uh in uh leaders uh and then
finally tier three instruction usually is done one-on-one with kids who need more intensive of intervention. So, we're just in the beginning of that MTSS process for the year. Next slide, please. And just because the MCCAST results came out and were made public,
uh I just wanted to show you this. Um generally how MCCAST is read is if you look at the district uh bar graphs, they're right next to the state bar graphs. So, what you want to do is add
the blue and the green. So that's the um exceeding expectations and meeting expectations and hope that um Danvers in this case is above the state averages. So just in English language arts that first slide grades three through eight
you can see the district um has three% of the students exceeding expectations and 33% of the students uh meeting expectations and the state is slightly higher than that. uh 7% are um exceeding expectations, 34%
meeting expectations. So, usually add those two together and you can see as we look across mathematics grades three through eight about the same. Um the state slightly higher than Danvers. Um science and technology is a high point for Danver. So, you can see that
Danver's um across the board is higher than most other districts. um but right around the state average. And then the next slide just shows the 10th grade. So this was a big question in everyone's mind. As you remember um question two,
the voters of Massachusetts said we don't want MCCAST to count for graduation requirement anymore. Um so the question was whether the results uh kids would take it seriously. Um and there reports all over the board. Um but
you can see again um the district is very close to the state uh in many cases. So we uh will look deeper at all of these results. Um because as I've mentioned before, we're pulling all of
our assessments, MCCAST, Dibbles, I Ready, EXL into one big platform that helps us look across all students and what every single student needs so that we can deliver that in a timely fashion. And then the last slide is just our um
priorities moving forward. Um, as I said, using data to inform educators of what each kid needs. Um, number two is to implement our comprehensive elementary reading program um that has all the components of reading, phmic
awareness, phonics, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. Number three is to pilot test uh new elementary math programs. Very excited about that. Number four is to analyze our secondary math program. Uh we use
grades 6 through 11, the Carnegie math program. I just recently met with the middle school math department and they're excited to explore alternatives to that. Number five priority is to implement K to2 our new SEAL curriculum
which is called wayfinder. So we have a comprehensive um implementation at elementary and then at secondary we have a pilot test. And lastly, I've laid out that Danver success is gonna one of the three things it's going to be based on
is how well general education and special education work together. So, um that also includes uh English language instruction. So, we want to make sure that that partnership is working seamlessly. So you'll hear much more about the data and you'll see beautiful
graphs in November, but right now any preliminary questions not seeing any Kristen. Thank you very much. Appreciate you >> school improvement plans. Awesome. Uh thank you for administrators who uh were here. very long day for them if they
could come forward uh to present. What we'd like to do just like we did with the school handbooks is present each level and then vote as a whole to accept the improvement plans. So, if I can have we'll start I believe it's with the high school first. Uh but if the administrator just want to move forward,
that'd be great. I I'll just see where the slides are. Just give me a second. >> Yeah, elementary's first >> right elementary first. Just testing, >> right? >> So, since you have three minutes, so we
have elementary, middle, and high school. You get a minute each. All right. Are we clear on that? >> All right. accepted. >> Uh before they begin though, our task really is alignment as much as we can with our district improvement plan which connects with our strategic plan which I'll talk more about in our next
meeting. So take it away please. >> Excellent. Thank you for having us this evening. Um the elementary goal the elementary level has three goals. Um in goal one we're continuing to work on our literacy work across prek through fifth grade. Um as um Kristen mentioned we're
implementing the dibbles assessment making those initial groups. We started our MTSS system today um across all five elementary schools. Our second goal um also already mentioned is around adopting a new mathematics curriculum for implementation in the 2627 school
year. Um we have over 43 teachers engaged in this work. um and we appreciate their efforts in working closely um with our elementary math coach to implement different curriculums, collect feedback um using a rubric to really make an informed decision um about our math work going
forward. And our final goal um similar to what the assistant superintendent said was utilizing our wayfinder curriculum to show growth in our social emotional competencies in our prek to 5 students uh especially around self-awareness, adaptability, empathy, collaboration, agency or purpose. Um and
that'll be assessed using the waypoint summitive assessment. Um and we'll have more to share in the spring on that. >> Thank you. just felt it was very streamlined and and sensible. Yeah. Thank you.
Mr. Mar and I have been working on the middle school improvement plan and what's exciting is Peter and his role between high school, middle school and working with Allen really looking to streamline our goals as well. Um, you know, our one of our goals, as Kristen mentioned, we're met with our math department. They're very excited about
uh digging really into our current program Carnegie. I think there's a lot of excitement about piloting and looking at other programs, really trying to implement science in LA this year. Real focus on our standardsbased alignment vertically in six to eight. I really an
exciting goal for us along with that MTSS model is we're really trying to um lift up our tier 2 intervention for math and reading. Last year, our first year, we implemented windblock in sixth grade as a structure. Um, which was a really great win for us. This year, we're looking at how to how we use that in a datadriven way. But also in the seventh,
eighth grade, we're really targeting small groups and really trying to um that that big bar graph of the students that are just on the bubble of um making meeting grade level improvement. Like we're trying to really target those students and small doses, quicker doses to kind of figure out what might be the
boost they need for a tier 2 intervention. We'll talk about the goal three. >> Yeah. So goal three, by June 2026, our overall student achievement scores will improve on following measures in MCCAST, doubles, I ready, and benchmark assessments. So as Kristen said earlier,
we're really getting in the ground running, collecting all those initial benchmark assessments for this year. Um, and I think our goal is to create consistency across all the grade levels. It's been great coordinating with the elementary teams in terms of the dibbles assessment. Um and then in terms of um
we use that currently at the high school. So going to see if that can be another measure that we want to move between perhaps grade eight as well since dibbles goes to grade seven. Um and then additionally as Adam mentioned earlier we're excited about all the new um curriculum implementation going on. There's a lot of moving parts. Um, Adam,
Adam and I have been out to some leader training for the new um, science curriculum, open sed, which really puts students at the center of their science investigations and that's connected a lot to the work of um, applied learning that we're doing in the district as well. Um, so a lot of great things that I think in the end um, we will see
dividends in terms of student achievement scores here. And then goal four, student engagement will increase as measured by the climate survey and other data points including attendance, after school participation, and learning locks. So, I think this is something that we're continuing to keep our eye on. Um, also as referenced earlier, we
have the new Wayfinder platform, um, which emphasizes all those different skills and competencies related to student engagement in the classroom. We have a pilot team at the middle school that's digging into the grade level curricula, uh, to start implementing those lessons at their grade level. Um, to hopefully that see gains in student
engagement in the classrooms as well. You know, the one piece of uh data that we were excited about was our absenteeism really has improved at the middle school the last few years. So, our our kids are here. So, now we really want to work on engagement, participation, student leadership, and kind of uh calibrating our instructional
practices across the school. >> Any questions? >> I got one. Um just curious as to how long we've had the the current science ELA and math curriculum that we're using. Feels like it's been of course
I'm old and so days run together. I'm trying to think when the last time we changed it was. >> So this is the first year for ELA and um science. So both of those curriculum adoptions happened last year. Okay. So we're this is the first year of implementation. As I'm on boarding, I'm
supporting that. Adam supporting that Christmas that Julie is supporting some of that. So it's definitely a full team approach. Math we've been using Carnegie for about four or five years I would say since 2020 2021. >> Okay. >> Um so we're definitely at a point we want to see is this the right fit for us or we do do we want to look at
alternatives. >> All right. Thank you. >> Our science department went for professional development uh a week ago. The whole department went for four days. Um, which was great for them, challenging for us. Um, but they went and had a tremendous experience learning about uh the new curriculum program to
bring back. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And two more things though at the middle school just to to bring in more align, you know, alignment. We brought aboard a reading interventionist which we were able to find creative ways
within our budget to do so. And we also brought aboard a team chair. So bring more connections to ensure that all students get what they need. Um so great job with that. All right. High school please. >> So for the high school school
improvement plan goals we have goal one. By June 2026 students will see an increase in student achievement scores on the following assessments. MCCAST, AP exam scores, localized data, and graduation outcomes. And goal number two, AP enrollment. Number of students enrolled. The number of tests taken will
increase 15% for June 2026 and 25% for students enrolled for 2627. AP qualifying scores of three or higher will increase by 5% and AP offerings will increase by at least three. I would say out of all these different measures up here, we're really having a concerted
effort on our AP programming. I feel like we've built it up a lot over the years having 22 offerings at the high school. We're looking to add two more offerings for next year. And we did make significant gains in our achievement from last year to this year. We went from 65% of students getting a three or higher to 73% of students getting a
three or higher. I think we want to continue to see that grow. Much to Allen's credit, too. I know this is a priority of his as we continue to push those students and we really want to make that a shining light in our our school to want others to want to come because of our programming.
>> Sure. >> Yeah, I'm good. >> Uh goal number three, strengthen inclusive efforts that build relationships among families, school, and community. I feel like we've already seen this at the beginning of the year with different community events. We've already advertised our open house, but this continuing to think about ways we're welcoming families and community
into our school so we can put out there the great things that are going on. We want to showcase that, not have that behind closed doors. We want people to see that, be excited about that. Students coming up here. And then lastly, goal four, student engagement will increase as measured in the climate survey. Similarly consistent with the
middle school goal as well. We want to see students engaged in their classrooms in their class work um as we're doing learning walks and other measures too such as attendance that they want to be here and coming to school >> like that. That was Thank you very much. Um I'm very happy to see goal number
three that kind of stood out in the superintendent advisory committee. You were listening. I'm sure you I think you've heard from other stakeholders as well. Thank you for including that. I could I the chair just one last thing. So you know reviewing and it was said
tonight that we are looking for equity equity and equity means for all getting what they need to be successful and that's not at the expense of any one particular person or individual which is critical. Uh, so we're looking at everything across all lenses to make sure that our students get what they need. And Allan and his team and Peter
are really looking at advanced placement because studies show that if a student takes one advanced class at that level during their four years of high school experience, the chance for success and graduation, they're moving on further is greatly increased. Stud studies show
that unequivocally. And I think that's important looking at that because this is about increasing rigor for all. So I want to applaud the high school for this piece here because it does connect with the alignment with the elementary the work that's done there through the middle to the high school. Thank you.
>> Yeah, if you subseted this, we would also include special education students taking. >> Okay. >> So we need to take a vote on this. Correct. Correct. So I would move that we approve the school improvement plans
K through 12 as presented. >> I will second that. >> Any discussion or comments? >> All those in favor? >> I I oppose. >> Thank you. >> I actually need to move ask uh Mr. Dear,
Mr. St to come back for the competency determination. Uh we're requesting the school committee make a first read on policy IKF fe. The rest of the principles can leave. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Unless you want to go as a collective
group. >> So I believe this was already previewed during one of the subcommittee meetings. Um but we we finalized our policy so we have an update around that. Um so essentially just a brief introduction um as you're aware um with the ballot
measure change um we had to establish a local competency determination to ensure that all students are making local graduation requirements based on their success in um our core academic areas. And so the to show mastery, a student must successfully complete in accordance with district's grading policy the final
assessable course or a capstone or portfolio uh project. Um and so we have the ability to determine which courses this fallen and uh what measures we're going to use to assess that they have met that goal. Um so the courses that they're required to complete are two
years of ELA, ELA 9 and ELA 10. the first two years of math, algebra, and geometry. Science, all students come in taking the biology and are still expected to take the biology MCCAST along with the other MCCAST exams for state accountability purposes and then need to take at least one more
additional lab-based science. Um, then starting with the class of 2027, all students will be additionally required to take one year of US history. Additional considerations that I wanted to note. Um, so in terms of specialized
instruction and our student groups, we want to make sure that we ensure that all students have the support they need to meet the competency determination that we're supporting them on the way to graduation requirements. So for example, students with disabilities, uh, we include language to ensure that both in
district students and out of district students have equal opportunity to meet the competency determination. And I do know for students that do go out of district that's an important distinction to even though they're attending school elsewhere still be able to graduate with a cohort of students at the Dammer high graduation. Similarly for our English
language learners English learner student work is aligned with the standards and is assessed at the WEITA level to allow for access. And so this allows for multiple means of expression for students to be able to demonstrate their understanding based on their WEITA level. Um, also for late enrolling students, uh, we need to make sure that
we account for students that may have attended different school if they're they're transferring into our high school after their second first or second year. Um, make sure we do a transcript review. Um, this may involve them enrolling in courses to make sure they're meeting our competency determination here. um or if it's
impossible for them to get all they need based on coursework and say they're a senior. Um MCCAST can be used if the previous methods are not possible in terms of accepting equivalent courses or enrolling them a course in their schedule. Um we also do have an appeals process which can be used by two groups
of students for current students who disagree with the competency determined decision. Say if they we say they do not meet a requirement by successfully completing a course and completing the final exam capstone. And also we've already had parents reach out students
in the classes of 2003 through 2024 that did not earn a diploma and would like to now earn a diploma. If the MCCAST was their only barrier, we can do a review of their transcript and see if they now meet um the competence determination requirements plus our local requirements, we will be able to issue
them a damper site upon >> for clarity purposes. Could you speak speak briefly on how this differs from what we require for to be graduation required? >> Sure. Essentially, we're we're codifying
that students need to make need to meet the requirements that the MCCAST was requiring them to get through all of they have to get through all the courses that was being assessed by the MCCAST. whereas our local requirements a little more general and that they just need four years of English, four years of
science, four years of math, etc. So, it's really essential that they meet that same benchmark that was being determined by one test. >> No, I appreciate that. I just didn't want people at home thinking you just need two years of English to gra I thank you for what you just said.
>> Of course, and I hope that makes sense. >> And if I may, the chair. >> Absolutely. Um so the update to this policy which last year if you remember we approved this general base policy looking for further recommendations from desi those recommendations came out so
we made the adjustments based on looking at those two areas of uh satisfactory completion of a course but also the specific courses and then the appeals and then the other considerations. So this is updated based on desi recommendations. So we're asking for an approval for a first read tonight with
an opportunity for a second read that would be in November because by the 31st of December we have to post all districts across the Commonwealth have to have the updated compensation. So we're right on track and want to thank Peter and Kristen and owl for the teamwork on this.
So we need to take a vote. I move that we approve the um competency determination policy for first reading. >> Second. Any uh discussion or questions? >> All right, hearing that. All those in favor say I.
>> I passes. First reading. Moving on. Next policy. >> Yes. So, uh, a fall a following up of our policy subcommittee, um, policy JB, which is the entrance age for school.
Um, I've had a few community members reach out to me that have situations where, you know, the children are born in a certain time and they're not eligible for kindergarten. um and and that there is a desi regulation in terms of um readiness in terms of where
they're born and it really is September 1st, you know, so they must be before on or before September 1st. Um and with that being said, our old policy, our current policy states just in the black in the second part. So for first grade,
those students must be six years old on or before September 1st. So, we discussed this in the policy subcommittee and we believe there should be some discrepancy for grade one because you very well could have somebody that you know would not meet the requirements for kindergarten. So, that would require a parent to send
their child out to you know another school for kindergarten and then they would be in the same predicament for grade one. And we feel that if a child has the readiness and the skills required to be successful at grade one, then we should be able to be flexible,
you know, with the discretion of the principal. And again, we'd work for consistency. It just makes sense that we adjust this. And it's based on other policies throughout the state that allows that flexibility as long as there is the um readiness for grade one that's demonstrated. We want to keep students
in district because ultimately if they, you know, if they were born on September 2nd, for example, right? They wouldn't qualify for kindergarten on that piece. So, they'd have to go out and therefore the next year they're still born on September 2nd, that doesn't change. So, they wouldn't be able to come in grade one. So, we feel that we should have
that discretion. Again, looking to keep students in district. Um, and really there was not a whole lot of discussion at the policy subcommittee. So I am asking requesting a vote for a first reading for this policy.
>> Um Sean and I had the chance to uh we were basically the policy committee. So we looked at this and I think we were both very much in favor of the uh the policy but primarily the flexibility because there are students you know
there there you want to have a system that has a cuto off but you also want to recognize student born within a month of the cutoff might be perfectly ready. So, um I can't speak for Sean, but I think we're very much in favor of this.
>> That makes sense to me. Makes perfect. You can speak for me there. Yeah. >> Okay. So, I would move that we approve the policy for first reading as presented. >> Second. Any other discussion?
Seeing none, all those in favor? Hi. >> Go next. Sorry, just juggling back and forth with Zoom, but we're getting there. Thanks for your patience as always. Share Okay, for superintendent goals, um I did
align them with our strategic plan and there are actually four components of our strategic plan, but I added a fifth goal which I'll discuss which is the implementation and follow through of our strategic plan. So for goal one is student achievement and that's really strengthening and aligning our prek12
curriculum that aligns student centered responsive design to support all learners and really this is just supporting the work that is happening with all of our departments right and I think the big ones are number three we we have to increase expectations for student achievement um supporting the
curriculum that is is going through the AP programming the 1A programming which is the project based work which we're going going through um and then also special education programming in alignment with the curriculum. Those are the four big areas uh the portrait of the graduate. So we have the
competencies across all the grades which a lot of work was done on that. Now we really need to start drilling into what does this look like at each of the levels? What does it mean to be a compassionate citizen, resilient problem solver, etc., etc. Uh and how is that demonstrated? The wayfinder that was
discussed earlier is a way to really help students find and there's a lot of connections with this so they have those soft skills to be effective. Um and then pathways we need to strengthen them further because that's the ability for students to receive uh more uh detailed
instruction through engineering um the medical pathway uh environmental science which are so important and we need to have these discussions with grades six through eight and bring those up. Um, and also professional development. So, we're doing these things to increase student achievement. We need to provide
professional development that allows teachers to receive the training that they need. Kristen has done a lot of work. Kristen Anderson has done a ton of work with improving and increasing professional development opportunities. The last bullet is increased distributional leadership in our schools. And we're really working hard
and Kristen developed the teacher leadership uh institute this summer looking for ways that we can provide opportunities for our teachers to have more leadership in our schools whether they have a title or not. It's so important. Goal two is our professional practice
goal. It's really structures and and procedures to support um the work that we're doing. So it's a high quality learning environment for all students. Really number one is our district protocols. They have to be aligned. Our handbooks align with current protocols.
We have to one thing number two is very important. Student technology device platform is a discussion that we need to have as a district. Um I know we were one of the earlier adopters of our onetoone program with the Chromebook devices and we're taking a real hard look into is that the adequate
technology needed to be successful uh to fulfill the portrait of the graduate and what our students need and how our teachers are supported. uh the mental health team which is which is now ongoing. Kristen's done that work. Dual enrollment which we've talked about which is a the ability to receive
college credit while you're in high school and really look for ways that we can set ourselves apart from our competitors where students can have these opportunities not only one to provide deeper learning but also they can acquire credits that when they go to college they can really utilize those
credits to accelerate through their time or receive a minor. And it really from a cost savings, it's a huge benefit for families. Um, and then our safety, continue to refine our safety procedures and practices. And then district three is really that developing the community
relationships. And this is an area that was a lot of talk at our a lot of discussion at our superintendent's advisory council. And really, we need to continue and build more relationships among families and our school community. We have lots of uh great stakeholders. Um, so we need to make sure that we're
communicating appropriately, making sure that families know who to contact with questions and receive timely responses. Uh, increase not only just our newsletters and websites, but really dive into like what do parents really need and and create some focus groups and talk with parents. We talked about
branding. How can we look to increase and improve the brand of our district and that really de developing an action plan is a key area of that. Um and then continuation of our superintendent advisory council which really dives back into ways that we can look at how has
our district perceived the experiences and what can we do to improve how can we keep students here keep them and want to be here and also we do need to involve I need to involve more students in discussions I think that's a piece that is the next level of um looking for more
outreach and next is really the one under um more policy and operational structure structures. So, our student services programming is improved, but we still need to refine that further. We need to really look at the continuum of services, make sure that pathways really
strengthen to increase uh parents confidence in providing services for students across all grades. Um, we also are looking at really for the the customer service on our end, you know, updating our district protocols and having a safe place where people can
find what they need. We've talked a lot about that as a central office team. So that way when new employees come in, they have a great experience. Uh but also those that are involved in current employees, they know where to go for whatever they need. The other thing is though, uh Kristen's going to lead this
is creating a unified school handbook prek to 12, which that in itself would be more of a refined. We have three handbooks that do align, but this is going to really drill down deeper, I I think, and really make it easier for families to navigate. um our school
policies. There'll be individual differences in some areas, but the alignment is going to be really important. Hiring and onboarding, we need to improve that. It's it's as you know, we want to bring in the best possible staff that we can, but we also need to make sure that, you know, that
process is as good as it can be. So, our people are really digging in looking closely at those policies and procedures. Uh we need to really look at our facilities and our multi-year facilities plan. So, um, we're going to look to create a team to develop a facilities plan and that's really
important piece of our, uh, strategic plan because, as we know, um, the buildings are in great shape, but, um, we need to look be looking 5, 10, 15 years down the road at what we need to plan appropriately for financial, uh, needs um, and align our budgeting and
operations really to strategic goals. You'll hear more about this with transportation specifically in areas that we're looking to save and how can we uh utilize our our budgeting operations to improve student services and our personnel. Uh transition to
digital systems. We're expanding to Munis which is now um we're almost fully implemented. So that's just looking for ways that we can house all the data in one place to make it easier for our staff uh for accountability uh and outreach to families as well.
So and number five is really the implementation and follow through of the strategic plan. Um and again I will report out midyear as well as end of year you know where the strategic plan is and look at how we need to adjust any specific action plans for the next year
as long as they align at our pillars. U again as that relates to our district improvement plans and school improvement plans and then really give some u I'd like to get some feedback from our stakeholders in terms of their perceptions of improvements we've made and areas that we need to continue
improving. So it's five goals um and I just wanted to share those with you. will provide updates throughout the year. U but I do want to point out that they're aligned with our strategic plan and um you know again this is aligned with the work that's happening at the district level as well as diving into
school improvement. We're trying to create more alignment to be more efficient. >> Thank you. Any uh questions? >> No, I like the uh the depth of what you've put on your own plate this year.
So, it would be a bit of a it'll be a bit of a challenge, but I feel like you have a plan and you know where you want to go. So, excellent. >> May I to the chair? >> I appreciate that. And um you know, we're we're doing as a central cabinet
as as our leaders, you know, really, you know, I'm looking for ways to get obstacles out of the way and and that's our mantra is how can we help? We have to we have to improve student achievement. they have to, but we also have to make sure that we're supporting our great educators that work really,
really hard and also our administrators do too. So, we have to be very um we need to be moving forward here in this. So, thank you. >> Moving on to the enrollment report.
>> Okay, coming up. Bear with me. Okay. Okay. So, the uh October one enrollment report. Um, I just want to give Janet Ingraham, our executive assistant, a lot
of credit because she uh spearheads the work to make sure that we publish our October one report to the state, the accuracy that's required, and she pulls it together. So, I just want to say thank you, Janet, for your work on this. Um, and I did a little bit of a dive and I can do more of a dive into this. Um,
and I just wanted to say that just our areas of interest, you know, I just did some some quick high level things that our high school enrollment is actually up 13 students. I know, you know, we would like it to be more, but it is up 13. Our retention um, you know, is lower in some areas of students not attending
in five years. That shows shows true. Our retention is steady from fifth to sixth grade. We have our homeschooling numbers that are the lower the numbers are lower than they were at this time last year. The district enrollment overall as a whole is down 102 students
and the elementary is down 105 and I can say that some of this may be attributed to students that were attending through the emergency assistance program have exited the district. Um and then the choice program uh students that are leaving as well as students coming in that data is actually being tabulated
that comes off the October one report. So we don't quite have all that data ready for you and I'll present that more in in November. So, if I just look at the overall whole data where we're at, just I did a we did a five-year uh comparison of our total enrollment. Uh the numbers in red were
were the high numbers over this period of time. And you can certainly see, you know, we've declined and I I pointed out the number in terms of that decline from um 2023. Um but if you look at it, you can see that the numbers uh may reflect some of
the students that have exited out. Um, but I think we're improving in some of the areas too. You can see though we have dropped the numbers at the middle school from 770 down to 734 and we bumped we're closer to the number in 2021 at 790 and that number was 800 in
2021. Um, and then we just did a a one-year breakdown. The total enrollment we're down 102 K through5 is down 105. Hold Richmond down 10 and the high school's up 13. But if you do a five-year breakdown of that piece, um the
enrollment, the K5, hold enrichment and the DHS uh over that period of time. And then the retention one is the most important one that I really looked at the grade five to six at the bottom. You can see that we're holding steady. You know, we lost 17 students this year at
the middle uh transition 12. I can give percentages of students available because that might tell more of a story. And you can see at the high school um I I gave a wrong number at the super advisor council a way wrong number it's actually 56 but I can give a percentage number off of that as well.
Um and I just wanted to show you the enrollment changes at the elementary level out of the 105. You can see that there were more students out of Highlands and certainly Smith. Although at Smith, we've added quite a few through the consolidation of our special education programming. But students in
the emergency assistance program 114 have exited the district. A higher number at the elementary versus the secondary. >> Can you clarify that on the emergency uh students? Mhm. >> Is that reflected in the number above or those additional?
>> No, it's reflected in the number above. Yeah, it's not additional. >> Okay. >> Yep. Thank you. >> And then we looked at the homeschooling just over time. I was curious to see where that number is. Um in terms of the number of students, we're holding
steady. Um and you can see the breakdown with the families. And the trend is typically, you know, I I don't really know when students may return back from homeschooling or when they go out. We really haven't dove in to those data points. Um, and then we do have the
choice out numbers which we had from last year's. Uh, and it says tabulating because we haven't received those numbers yet from the state as we record our choice numbers. Uh, they record choice numbers coming in. Uh, and you can see that, you know, there was a peak. Again, this is cumulative. This
doesn't mean 43 students are going out. They are going out cumulatively but then the next year you know five more were added in 2021 and and that's how that works. Typically the students don't come back. Uh but we're going to do some data on that and some surveys in that
particular area. So that is a high level enrollment and certainly happy to share this on the website as well. Um and this is the October one data that we we send is all public schools required. Private schools are not required to but they
they do which is important because they also balance the enrollment and it can impact locally. So I don't know if the committee has any questions on the enrollment. All set. I think we're all set. [Music]
>> Order of business. Minutes. >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve and release the minutes from the August 11th and September 8th, 2025 regular meetings and approve and not release the minutes of the September 8th, 2025 executive
session. Second discussion. All those in favor. >> I'll expent agenda. Move the consent agenda. >> Second.
Any discussion? All those opp. >> Any communications? You good? >> Anything from the legislation? I >> Sally sent me a Sally Currents representative sent me a relatively
lengthy report. >> I'll try and go through it quickly. Um she talked about the uh fact that the house is um taking up uh the cell phone restriction issue. Um I told her that
what we had in place so she's aware of that. Um she said they're also looking at charter school funding again what the formula would be. And all eyes are on DC because of the shutdown and fallout to local districts. The US Department of
Education ended 106 million in K12 grants that were designated for Massachusetts schools, including for student mental health services, tutoring, and school security. And um I think at the moment they're not sure. It does not look like the state could begin
to make up all of the lost federal funds. Let's see. She said she was grateful to Drazai students Jessie Pepe, I think it is, and Evelyn Heard for joining them at the Northshore Boston Health Expo at Essex
Tech on Saturday, September 27th. They helped with several elements of the day and uh she just wanted to thank them for what they did. All right, I guess that's it. That's the legislation. >> Thank you. Anything else?
a human human rights and inclusion committee. Um want to congratulate Joanne Hunter who took took Paul off the hook by becoming chair of the committee. But um Paul did an excellent job during during his leadership. So we thank you
too. >> And Paul's here. >> Yes. Thank you Paul. If I may chair, we had the safety committee which was uh actually um a lot of areas we've improved with informcast the communication system. Also, we have
improved uh exterior security cameras at the elementary. We've added a few more and upgraded our system. Um additionally, we're discussing ways we can improve uh further safety procedures and protocols. So, it's a really productive meeting. >> We heard from policy earlier. That's
about it. Nothing else. Correct. Our next meeting will be November 3rd and um this meeting is adjourned. >> Need to take a vote. >> Yes. >> Move to adjourn. >> Second.
>> All those in favor? All right.