Welcome everyone to the Holio School Committee regular meeting. It is June 23 and calling this meeting to order at 601. Roll call please. Garcia here. Dr. Rivera Cologne here. Mr. Sheen.
Miss Lefave present. Miss Lebron Martinez here. Miss Tenzy Williams a key. Mr. Mr. Zaza here, Mr. Wellan here, Mr. Colmore here, and Miss Wilson present. All rise for the pledge of allegiance.
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. On March 29, 2025, Governor Mora Hilly
signed into law bodies H62 as amended by section 256 entitled an act relative to extending certain CO 19 measures adopted during the state of emergency. Of interest to all governmental public bodies in Massachusetts. The act extends until
June 2027 the authority for meetings of multiple member bodies to be held in an entirely remote or hybrid format. All public bodies may hold fully remote or hybrid meetings without the physical presence of a quorum of the public body as long as adequate alternative means of
public access is also provided. Pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 38 section 20, I'm hereby informing all attendees that a video and audio recording is being made of the meeting and the meeting is being live stream and run live on the city's community TV channel.
Welcome everybody and first I would like to acknowledge the awesome crowd that we have here today and I'll highlight a few of you. Thank you so much for being here. Senator Visas, Mr. Mike Morardi,
and I believe joining us remotely via Zoom is Representative Pat Duffy. Madam Vice Chair, Mr. Mayor, can I make a motion to suspend the rules and go to agenda item 5A,
exit determination on the Hoyo public schools chronically underperforming status update from the interim commissioner, Secretary Tutweiler? May I have a second? There were many seconds. Who's the official second? Orlando could do Mr.
[Laughter] Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? So moved. Commissioner Tatweiler, please come up. And I would also like to acknowledge Mr.
Morardi to come right up as well. Evening. Good evening. Little warm outside to say the least, but not in here. Uh, and any weather uh scenario uh is fine for the news that I I I bring
this evening. So, uh, as we all know, a little more than, uh, 10 years ago, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Ed made a difficult decision to designate the Holy Oak Public Schools chronically underperforming and put the district into receiverhip. It was only
the second district to enter receiverhip. Today, I am extremely pleased to announce that on Tuesday, July 1st, Holio Public Schools will be the first district to exit receiverhip. That determination is uh under my
purview as commissioner, and it comes after notable gains in graduation rates, uh a reduced number of suspensions, expanding prek offerings and dual language programming in the district, uh and the redesign of Holy Oak High
School. also the notable and essential work uh this body, this school committee has put in place to improve their governance. That and so much more. I want to honor that this is an emotional and deeply earned moment for the entire
Holio community. For the past 10 years, Holio families, educators, school staff, partners, and leaders have undertaken the arduous work of transforming your school system. This work has made a difference for your children throughout
the district and it was motivated by your vision that all Holy Oak children should experience the same excellent educational opportunities. I'd like to commend this body uh the school committee for your thorough implementation of your capacity building
plan. You've done this work with admirable balance of advocacy and teamwork with the department. The partnership that has emerged between the Holy Oak School Committee and the department is a unique collaboration that will change on July 1st. But on
behalf of the entire department and the executive office of education, I want you to know that we're committed to helping Holio Public Schools sustain its positive trajectory as the first district to e exit receiverhip. I'd also like to take this moment to
praise receiver Anthony Sodto and his team for the steadfast leadership that has always kept the focus on students. As we often hear you say, students are at the center of everything you do in the Holio public schools. Receiver
Sodto, from the very beginning of your tenure as a district's leader, you demonstrated how to incorporate community input into the district decisionmaking and built consensus around shared strategic uh priorities.
Both receiver Sodto uh and the Holio uh Holio's first receiver, Dr. Steven Reich, brought highly skillful, steady, and deeply committed leadership to the district. Together, Holio Public Schools leadership, including the school
committee and your engaged stakeholders, are demonstrating how strong collaboration can fortify a district's transition out of uh receiverhip. I hope that you seize the opportunity ahead of you uh to leverage your strong systems,
collaborative spirit, and community engagement to make the gains in student learning that your students and families expect to see. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education remains invested in your success and we will continue to support your work to
create excellent outcomes for all Holio children. Congratulations. And at this time, I will uh first acknowledge um Rep. Duffy and Senator Vis uh uh my our partners in the legislature uh and turn it over to uh my
board colleague Mike Morardi. Thank you very much, Secretary. and uh interim commissioner. I think you're in your last six days. Uh so no one's counting, but it is six. Enjoy every minute of it. Uh so I I spent a good 10
years uh 13 years in this room uh with with many of you. Uh I first got to know this gentleman next to the superintendent in these very rooms, sitting right next to him as you do now, Anthony. And uh uh you know, I've been at a front row seat through this whole
process. uh you know I've been uh not very publicly facing about the receiverhip in Hoyok because this is not a board that's representational by geography. It is a policy board that addresses the issues for the entire
state and so I'm not like the Hoyoko member and I never positioned myself in that way but I was sure paying a lot of close attention first through Steve's Reich and uh now with Anthony Sodto they've been they've indulged me with uh you know an hour or more of their time
every month to keep me informed with everything that's going on. Uh instead of abandoning a school committee it was engaged through this entire process. uh although disempowered uh I think that was a very wise choice and um you know
there's been a lot of process that has taken place um I want to talk a little bit about the exit assurances because I've heard a lot of criticism outside of here um you know I've heard a lot of questioning why would that be it really is part of the culmination of what has
been done here an intentional careful and studentf facing process this and I think that's exactly what we should expect from our state department of education uh when they handle anything like this especially because as
you know there are no rules to end a receiverhip this had to be innovative by its very nature. It was sought from this community and it was responded to and I think it was responded to in a way where you have the continuity now of an experienced school leader to take you
in. you have the best trained school committee in all of Massachusetts by quite a bit. Um, and I've been watching as a very deliberative process as you go through all of the policies is taking place. Very few school districts go through that level of housekeeping. So
that really has you set out with the wind at your back. So why have asurances at all? I think there are a couple reasons for this. Number one is that some of it is about making sure some unfinished pieces are completed. I'm going to speak about one of those in
particular in just a moment. Another is to just make sure the offramp isn't a cliff. And I think that's always a good organizational mindset to engage. The one I'm most interested in in the area that as will
surprise no one here I think is most important is that there's going to be a literacy plan developed in this district. I am a huge fan of literacy plans if and only if they are done right. that they're done with a lot of
community involvement, that they're done following the best evidence-based information that is available, and then that they don't just turn into some compliance document that gets placed in a drawer, but rather is a living document that is being referred to by the leadership of every school and by
the people actually doing the instruction, our teachers and our educator workforce. Um, it's had very, very good effect in places all across the country. I've seen it firsthand. I've uh had an opportunity to meet with people who have crafted them. You have
many assets in place to develop an excellent literacy plan and to execute it excellently and it's sorely needed because I was in that room at the war memorial in 2015. I made a case that was different than a
lot of my fellow Hoyokers and said, "Do it or don't. do what works for the kids. Do what changes the trajectory that's been so problematic for so long. And I've always thought that trajectory were the very low literacy outcomes that we've been experiencing across the city.
Now, in the course of receiverhip, two things happened. I pointed this out the last time we were in Holio. One is the Morgan School in the early years of its receiverhip reached a 44% meet and exceeds expectations on third grade
reading. It did not sustain that but it did it. Also, as school configuration was gradually changing, the metaf school while it was still an elementary school obtained over 50% which is the only time that that has happened so long as we've
been measuring this data in the city of Holio. But it was done. And what does that tell us for all of you as you execute a plan going forward? That it can be done. And it can be done in schools that are discounted as places where kids aren't going to learn. You
like I do, like people who actually live in this city understand that's never been true and it isn't true now. Kids in Hoyok can learn. It really is about a solid plan very well executed. So all of these things are coming into place. The
one other thing that I always said throughout the receiverhip because I was never advocating for a change in the governmental structure. I was always advocating for resources and changes and outcomes. And so throughout that time, I always said, you want to enter into the
receiverhip, help the receiver succeed. The receivers success is the best end result. I'm going to be honest with you, I don't believe in terms of uh in terms of academic outcomes, that's where we are. And I actually think this city will eventually be an excellent case study
for what does and does not work with the most extreme versions of state intervention because I think the ball is in the legislator's court at this point. They really have to look at intervention. We have to have intervention. We truly do. But it needs
to always be effective and serve the purpose for which it's invoked. Uh and I don't think we're there yet. However, uh I think the start that you have on July 1st and more importantly the start you have at the beginning of the upcoming
school year with the exciting opening of a new PC school uh is all to the good and I think there's a bright future. So uh by the way another thing is uh I was appointed in September after the receiverhip vote had happened
and all the pre-planning for that was done. You are allowed two five-year terms in Massachusetts and then you're term limited. I'm at my 10th year. So, as this process finishes in this particular hat that I've been wearing,
so do I. But be assured, I remain tremendously invested in the successful outcome for the children of this city and wish to be called on at any time that I can be of any help to any of you. Thank you. Thank you. I think thank you
so much miss for Martinez. I just think for our community whoever is watching this deserves a round of applause for all of us our teachers administration who has worked so hard to make this um become a success for all of us. So you
all deserve that. discussion. Yes. Yes. Mr. Colmer. Yes. Thank you very much. First of all, I'd like to thank the acting commissioner for really, really working
together and your colleague, Mr. Thompson working together to make this happen because without you people and without us and without all the wonderful children in Hoyoke
this wouldn't have happened and I want to work together with you and I know you're going to work together with us to make this happen. Speaking of Mr. Moarity, you know, we go
back many, many years and the best thing that Mike ever did on a school committee is start that reading program. That is one of the wonderful things that
has happened in the school system in all my years of working together with many colleagues. It's been wonderful. Wonderful. Just working with all of you to make sure
that the children come first. And as long as the children come first, everything will gel and we'll be back for successful the best in the state of Massachusetts,
the best school system. and we'll be there shortly as long as we all work together to make this happen. Thank you, Mayor Garcia. Thank you, gentlemen, so much. I think
that's for a very long time uh all we were we have been looking and waiting for is to be considered a partner in how we um uh improve outcomes uh improve our systems in the district. You know
obviously receiverhip is not meant to be a permanent situation. and it's a temporary pivot uh when uh circumstances aren't necessarily achieving the outcomes communities are are expected to achieve. But one um one important note
in Mr. Mayor's point about case studies. When we look at the three districts that are in receiverhip or other districts that are probably on that line, we're talking about communities that have centralized poverty um in in those
communities. And uh one of the uh takeaways now here as mayor in my community um and being in the trenches and trying to understand the landscape and how to improve the quality of life. The social determinance of health disparities in our neighborhoods and the
municipality's inability. You know, we're kind of like on this overdrive where the engine, the foot is all the way down on the pedal trying to close those gaps and improve conditions and barely making a dent because there isn't enough resources to keep up with um the
circumstances that exist in these neighborhoods. And when I speak with administrators and teachers, the superintendent, you know, and there's an expectation of districts like Hoyoke to compete and be at the same level as more
affluent communities. Those communities aren't dealing with the disparities that exist in neighborhoods. In a lot of ways, we're asking our teachers to be case managers and case workers. we had to adopt a whole uh uh community uh access engagement team just to help
principles and teachers establish better uh relationships with households that are struggling. Um, you know, I think there's opportunity to in on the subject of best practices and conversation, instead of threatening to take away uh control from
districts, instead offering support to those local governments to overcome those health disparities, whether if it's public safety issues in neighborhoods and other, you know, domestic violence issues. Glattis and Alansza do a lot of work in that area.
all those disparities that exist in um uh that are barriers for a lot of low-income uh comm uh families. Um low offering support for those local governments to navigate those issues so that kids um are coming to school uh
with uh minimized uh neighborhood level pressure uh and ready to learn um I think is is the is the real solution to path. I think direct relationships with local governments to better improve services, municipal services, as opposed to, hey, if you don't get these scores
up, we're taking away control from your district, I think is a good conversation we should probably have for the future as we try to figure out how to be better with these. But other than that, um, the temporary pivot was necessary. I was on the school board with Mr.
and frustrated about what was going on in our district and happy that receiverhip came in to help blow things up a little bit. Uh but also understanding that it's a temporary pivot so that people can do some soularching, come back to the table,
figure things out, establish collaboration to then get us to where we need to be so that we can regain control of uh and and practice our our democratic process. So, I appreciate you guys uh recognizing um uh that level of
partnership and have been meeting with us very regularly to try to figure this out because there was no blueprint. And now we here we are today celebrating this uh this moment and very much looking forward to continue to build upon what we've all done together um
with our stakeholders and finally be able to get rid of those exit assurances um the training wheels uh so that um you know we can uh get back to business and and doing what's right for our community. So thank you so much
Mr. Sodto. Yeah, I just also wanted to uh thank you all for the partnership. I want to thank uh the school committee. I want to thank um all of our teachers, all of our families, all of our principles, my
leadership team. Um this has been a lot of work over the last 10 years. Like a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. I'll never forget Dr. Reich, you know, when he first uh recruited me from Springfield. Um, you know, one one thing that he got me with was was Anthony,
we're we're not just um supporting a school district here. We're saving lives in Holio. That really hit me. and um working in Holio for the last uh 10 years, I I I see that, you know, the the work that we're doing here is truly uh
you know, all of us, our our teachers, uh our pair of professionals, everybody uh you know, we're we're setting kids up and and and change shaping their their future, changing their lives, saving their lives in many cases. And um it,
you know, it truly has been a partnership. I don't think anybody in this room has has seen how much the state has partnered with us more than than me and my leadership team. You know, many of it in private meetings. Um we we not always agreed. Sometimes there
were pushes, but they were good pushes and they were pushes for the right reasons. Um, we we could all agree that students were at the center of of all the tough decisions that we had to make and and all of the pushes and and and the encouragement sometimes was about
improving the quality of instruction in our classrooms, improving improving the learning environment and improving the lives of our students. And um I'm you know I I can see a lot of the work because I was I was here from the beginning. Um from when it when it all
started and uh you know Holio Public Schools is a much different place than it was 10 years ago. We have a strong foundation to build off of. We got some great leaders here in the room that are ready uh to take on that challenge and and and and you know build off of the
strong foundation that we have. Uh so again, I just want to say uh thank you for for the partnership and for everything that you all have poured into Olio Public Schools. We appreciate it. You miss Densley Williams.
Words cannot express how I feel right now. Um war two school committee and you guys know my mantra. If you mess with kids, you mess with me. Um, as you can see, I wore my Hoyok High School cap. I wore my Dean shirt. Even though this is
war to all of the children belong to me. And I thank you all so much for hanging in there with us. You didn't give up on us. That's that's huge. And I thank you so much for all everyone that showed up today. And and you all know whatever I
can do, don't hesitate to call on me. And thank you so much. And we're going to help the kids. and thank you for helping us get out of receiverhip. I just want to cry, but I'm happy. Thank you all and God bless you all. Bye-bye.
Thank you, Miss Lefave. Why you looking at me like that? This This is a a bittersweet moment for me. It's been um five years in the making when we had our initial meeting. Um then COVID hit
um then getting back to it again with that hopes of are we ever going to see the end of the end of the the tunnel, right? There are many school committee members who are no longer with us that have also put in forth that fight um and
always putting our students first. only one of them is still here but not in the capacity of school committee member but she's seated right next to you Miss Feliciano Sims I'm sorry Mr. Ian. Um,
but the reason why I say it's bittersweet because yes, we are the first district um to come out of receiverhip, but I also feel for my colleagues in Lawrence and Southbridge. And I'm hoping that the work that we've done here can
be like sort of like their path so that they can as well um come out of receiverhip and be able to celebrate that as well because they are dedicated school committee members just like we have been
all along. Yes, there are maybe differences within their cities, their communities, but at the same time, their passion and dedication is exactly what we've been portraying over the years is it was
always students first. Um, I thank you. I'm still in shock and I won't believe it till July 1st. Um, but uh, thank you so much. It's an honor to get him back. So, Madam Vice Chair, hold on. Hold on.
I want to say something before. Sorry. Go ahead. I just want to say just kind of echoing what Miss Lefay was saying. We we are standing in the shoulders of giants, right? There was a lot of people who gave their blood, sweat, and tears for
the students of Holio who are not here anymore. And I'm talking about the our past school committee members. I'm talking about staff and teachers who couldn't take it anymore and they had to leave. I'm talking about the families who left because they found other places
where their children's needs were better served. And as much as that pains me to say, that was part of our growing pains. That was part of this whole process that was painful for all of us as a community. But like we always do as the
Holio community, we get together, we work together, we look at the things that we need, we work with very little resources, but that doesn't mean that we don't need anymore. Please legislators in the room. We do need more money.
But it's it's that sense of community. It is having our students, our families at the forefront, being there for them, making sure that every little decision that we make is for them with them. Not just some of us making decisions in a
room, but with them going out there in the community asking for their input. What can we be doing better? And I'm really happy to say that even though we have had really strong communication plans to be able to talk to the
community, we're just starting. This work is just beginning and there's a lot more that we need to do. We're just getting off the training wheels like the mayor was saying, but there's a lot of things that we need to do. And for anybody who will hear this now or later
if they hear the recording is we need all of you. We need everybody and we need to be able to work together for the common goal which is to serve the students of Holik to the best of our abilities to the best of everybody in the Commonwealth has to offer. That's
what we should be offering our students. So thank you so much Miss Wilson. So sitting here, to be honest, getting ready, I I strangely thought of my parents and how proud they would be. Um,
not just of me being on the school committee, not just me being an educator now, um, but of our community. You know, my mother raised in the Flats, brought up to the Highlands, you know,
through the death of her brother. that's how they purchased the house um that uh you know the family lived in. And I think about our community and I think about the fact that there's so many of us who have started
out in lower steps than where we are. Whether it's through education, whether it's through, you know, formal education, whether it's through their career choice, whether it's through, you know, families, neighbors supporting each other. And it just makes me think of Holio and how blessed I am for being
raised in this city and choosing to live here because this is a city that comes together and so many people came together um not just at the war memorial those many years ago. It was you couldn't get in. It was standing room
only and there's no larger space in our community. And I want to say that you were heard then. You continue to be heard and we want to make sure that your voices, just like Dr. Rivera Cologne said, your voices are very important to
us. I'm happy there are people here today. I'm happy that people came to our last meeting. We need more community involvement whether it be through sending letters, asking information from us, you know, coming to our meetings,
coming to our community events. We need more of you. We can't do it alone. Our teachers, our, you know, pareducators, our principles, the the entire staff cannot do it alone. We need you just like we continue needing your support.
So, thank you very much. Mayor Garcia. Is there anybody else? Uh, madame vice chair, motion to take a short 15minute recess. 15-minute recess. Do we have a second?
All those in favor? I opposed. All right, recess starts now. Thank you so much, everybody. We'll be back in 15 minutes. Calling this meeting back to order at 652. Roll call, please. Miss Feliciano,
Mayor Garcia, Dr. Rivera Cologne here. Mr. Sheen, Miss Lefave present, Miss LeBron Martinez here, Miss Tenzy Williams, a Mr. Isaza here. Mr. Willahan here. Mr.
Colmore, and Miss Wilson present. Do we have any public comment? Yeah. Student reports. Yeah. All right. Yeah. I figured they would be, but you know, I never want to
take that out or jump it. What if they are in Zoom? I never know. Thank you so much, Superintendent Robert. Thank you. Um so included in your packet uh I have the student and family
handbook and this is definitely in draft format and the employee handbook as well. Um we there there were no major changes uh from you know from previous years. Uh but you know through our
policy review I I realize that policy CHCA uh requires that the committee approve um any handbooks that um that discuss standards of conduct conduct for employees or students. Um you know admittedly one of the things you know
this is a transition year and we just heard that uh local control will be starting on July 1st. So, uh, we have to work into our timeline next year to make sure that, um, we we have the the student handbooks and the employee handbooks ready for the committee's
approval before we can disseminate it. We do have, um, you know, any employees that are getting hired that are not part of a a collective bargaining agreement receive a copy of the student handbook. I mean, uh, of the employee handbook. And uh one of the changes that we made
um I want to say a couple of years ago is each school used to have their own student handbook. Um and we created one unified handbook that all schools must use and distribute to their families on an annual basis. Um and then any any
addendums that they would like to add um those are submitted to the superintendent for approval. And an addendum could be you know uh in our handbook. We don't we don't talk about like what our mascot is. We don't talk about whether or not there are uniforms
at the school and what colors the uniforms are. And at the high school, you know, the the an example is at the high school there's there's other pieces of expectations for kids around senior activities and participation in sports and things of that nature. So um those
addendums they they will be you know uh schools will be working on them over the summer. Um there there will be no major changes to the drafts that you have in front of you other than like updating links. Um so we where we have some links
that maybe need to be updated. Um one of them as an example is like the the arc of the year that we have. Um there's there's specific links that that need to be updated, but none that uh substantively change any of the employee
handbooks. So, I'm just hoping that, you know, um because we got to distribute these to employees as they hire um that we we make sure that the committee has an opportunity to review them because these do these are policy, right? um
approval of the student handbook is um you know is just like school committee policy. So uh you you have a copy of both the student and family handbook and you have a copy of the employee handbook and um we're hoping that any changes or
questions or anything that you may have um that you uh bring them to my attention so that we can work on them. I'm Miss Wilson because I do have a couple um questions on them and I I would feel
that any addendum is in the spirit of a handbook and that should also be approved by the school committee. So each school when they get an addendum that should also be approved. So yeah, when those are ready I can I can bring them in. Okay. Um and you know that that
should be a note for us because we I know we have a meeting in July and a meeting in August. Um, so we'll work on uh, you know, setting a deadline for our our school leaders to to provide those addendums to us so that we can get them on the next school committee agenda.
Thank you, Miss Densley Williams. Mr. Sto, will we get a copy of the handbooks? Uh, you have them in your packet. Oh, then we're all set. Thank you. So, I have a question for Mr. Mogill
who's here in the audience. So, if you don't mind stepping up to the mic, Miss Wilson, you have a question mark face. I do. I'm wondering do we have to with Robert's rules do we have to make any motion um as a committee to allow someone to come up and speak or is it
just based on the request of a school committee member? The vice chair has to acknowledge. Okay. Thank you. It is one of the I looked it up too just to make sure because I wanted to know but it's at the discretion of the chair. So that
I was just training wheels just making sure. Exactly. Yeah. No, but I was right there with you. So, thank you so much, Mr. Mogel. I know that one of the very first first things that we got to work
on together was looking at the student handbook. And there was a a group of people who looked up all the different things from the parts of the handbooks and looking at
looking at it through an equity lens and being able to be inclusive and making sure that it was user friendly in a way as well. And because that's not something that might be common knowledge for everybody,
especially people who might be watching, I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about how that process was. Sure. Good afternoon everybody. Uh so typically speaking, the student handbook is not necessarily reviewed by students. Um and so this year we we have not
gotten it in front of students the way I would like, but we've gotten some feedback. Specifically, uh there's a subgroup of high school students that we meet with at Dean. um and they've offered a lot of feedback. What was different though was they were offering feedback to their specific handbook and I said, "Well, we're not having a specific school handbook." So, what I've
gotten feedback from students is what are the things that we're not addressing that we should be addressing in the handbook. Um I definitely think that each year it could get better. Um I think next year I would probably be a lot uh sooner in getting in front of students, getting a larger group of students and families. Um and some of
the things in the handbook unfortunately you can't change, right? They're like policy and law. Um, and so sometimes with a lot of our students, as with any children, it's the why. They just want to know the why. Why is that there? As opposed to like just having a rule. And so, generally speaking, our high school
kids, once you can articulate why, they more or less are pretty accepting. Um, sometimes, you know, the cell phone uh debate continues is what I'll say with high school kids, but that's a different story. Thank you so much, Mr. Mobile. You're
welcome. Can I Wilson, can I ask just a clarifying? So, you referred to the student handbook. Is there another handbook outside the family handbook? That's the student handbook or they we're just using those terms interchangeably. I'm sorry. I'm using them interchangeably. It it really
should be the family and student handbook. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to be clear about that because my understanding was it was a family. So, thank you very much. Yeah, of course, Mr. Wilson. Yeah. Sorry, it's going to be me again. So, I love the fact that for someone who
gets this document online, there are so many wonderful links. But for those people who don't have it online and who don't have access, how do we guarantee that they can go into HPS NCA policy on
page 16? How can they go, you know, e, you know, into different things for how attendance works, the attendance works? How is that going to happen? It's a great question. Uh, so there's a couple couple pivot points throughout the year that are really important that are led by the family engagement team.
For example, as part of the transition from 8th to 9th grade, there's a freshman orientation around NCA policy. Um, at the beginning of this year, what we'll be doing a lot stronger, and we did it at the beginning of this year as well, beginning of next year is we'll be sharing attendance data in particular from attendance works. So, we try to get
in front of families as much as we try to share through websites because we know a lot some of our families don't have access to some of those resources. So really just actually trying to educate them around the policy and knowing what their um resources are. So we try to do that. I cannot say that we do that for every family per se, but
that's another way we try to make sure that families are very much in the know around uh their rights and information. You're welcome. Thank you so much, Mr. Colmer. Yeah. Excuse me.
Does the student council look at this? So, excellent question. They did not this year, but we're going to be doing something different. I don't want to talk overly about it, but Mr. Sodto, if I could talk a little bit about YPAR, if that's okay. Um, so next year we are
initiating something called youth participatory action research. Uh, it's a pretty widely popular uh utilized tool to get student voice. Uh, we're probably more than likely going to start at one school. I like to I like the idea of going slow to go long, if that makes sense, and not trying to just implement
something district-wide and then it dies in a year. Um, and so we're actually lifting student voice through that. So that's some of the work I've started with some of the students at Dean. Um, in particular, conversations around cell phone policies and things like that. So they will look at it. Again, there's but so much that can be changed because a lot of it is policy and law. Um, but
some of the things that can be changed we want to talk about. For example, dress code. That's something that comes up constantly with our students. And so that's important for them to have some input and thought behind it. Um, and believe it or not, they actually are very vocal around the dress code and do believe there should be a dress code,
which is surprising um, from what I would have thought. So I think getting more student voice, I think, um, I'm constantly surprised by how much our students have to say and we just have to start lifting their voice. So that'll be sort of one of the strategic priorities we're focused on next year is ensuring that students actually have voice. Thank
you very much. You're welcome. Miss Lefab. So, I know Miss Tensley Williams had asked she doesn't they didn't print it for the packet, so I don't know if there's like a something that we can get.
Irene can make sure at least she has it. Um, my only other question is Yep. um theou between the the police department and the school district. When is that going to be reviewed and when will it be brought up to the school
committee? Um Sean, do do you know when that is it an annual is it annual or is it a three-year? Like do we know what? Please step to the mic. Thank you, Mr. Rangano.
Um, I'll have to check the exact language on the renewal. We did do a thorough update last year and we can share that with the committee if you haven't received it yet, but I I'll check on the exact timing of the renewal. Well, what I am going to mention is according to this draft handbook that
you have here, it's done annually. So, if in any case that you guys went into a three-year, you know, binding agreement, this would then have to be changed before you Yeah, we do set it out. We do have to submit it annually to the state
anyway. So, um I know we've already had conversations with uh our new police chief and there were some like it it's it is going to be updated this for this upcoming school year. So, we'll make sure that we include a copy of that.
to the school committee. I believe that this might that people might need a little bit more time with this drafts. Is that a correct assumption, Miss Wilson? My understanding was that if we have any
suggestions to it, we submit them to the I'm going to use the term thinking it's July 1st, the interim superintendent. Um, that's my understanding. Yes. So, so I'm not sure what the timeline is for bringing information
back in order for us to approve. So, that's where you're headed. Yes. Thank you, Miss Leviv. That's what I was going to ask. What's the cut off time by when do you need this readily available? We we would like so as I as I mentioned, you know, in in
kind of framing this conversation, if we hire an employee on July 2nd, we we have to give them a handbook. So, this is the draft that they're going to get. Um, and I recognize that the policy requires school committee approval before
dissemination, but because of the nature of, you know, we just found out right now that that July 1, we are officially getting out of receiverhip, um, you know, there was there wasn't, you know, we weren't able to meet that timeline for this transition year. And I think
that that that same rule applies for the student and family handbook. What I'd like to do is at the next school committee meeting hopefully get a vote to approve the this draft handbook and any addendums that we may have if
they're ready. Um so that you know the the policy does state that before we dis before we distribute them to families that school committee um gives their approval. what you have in front of you represents, you know, um the student and
family handbook that has been in place for for a while. I think that, you know, we've made small changes, you know, that you guys have all been included in um you know, um there was reference to the cell phone procedures and things like
that that had come before this before this board and we've had multiple meetings on that. But um you we we discussed at length, you know, a retention policy last year that you'll see in there. So nothing in here is is
new that uh so to speak for um it's it's what our families have received last year and in previous years, but we like uh Dr. Rivera Cologne mentioned, we did go through it with a fine tooth comb a few years ago and and just made sure
that it rep, you know, it represented the equity commitments that we have and made sure that um it got a a a big refresh a few years ago. So hopefully with with some time you guys if if there's anything like concerning I think
one of the things that you will notice Miss Wilson um as the person that's overseeing the policy revisions like there's going to be some inconsistencies with some old policies that we may have but that should prompt
us to go back to that policy and update it to reflect what's happening in practice. But this is uh most up to date. You know, if we an example of that is is if we have in in the handbook if we have anything around Title 9. The
language in here is updated to the new uh laws. And I'm not so sure that the the policy that we have on our website is the newest one. Um but that's just an example of where there may be some inconsistencies.
And you know what I'm hopeful for is that when we run into situations like that that we just work collaboratively to fix them. It's not a gotcha or we're not trying to, you know, violate school committee policies. We're, you know, this is a transition year and we're
trying to update our policies and we're trying to uh keep you all as school committee members informed as to what's going on in in PR in practice and and how that impacts, you know, your your own policies. Um, so our team is going
through that in detail over the next few weeks as well, like looking at all of our personnel policies, looking at the employee handbook, looking at all of our student school committee policies, and looking at the student and family handbook, and identifying some things
that we might prompt uh, you know, some discussion about whether or not, you know, uh, we want to update certain policies. Q. Miss Lefave, I'm sorry. I'm just looking real quickly at the restraint pol um the restraint
section se section here and I tried to look real quickly at the policy. So, if I have any questions or anything, I can email you. But right now, what I'm trying to figure out is is a nurse
assessing this the student is the or is the nurse present during a restraint to um it's they're assessing a student after for sure. Um sometimes if a restraint happens, we can't guarantee
that there's going to be a nurse there, right? Like so then who is monitoring to ensure that there's also a release attempt and then if it's ineffective then you restraining you go back to restraining you shouldn't hold somebody
down for such a long period of time there should be so I'm trying to look but any questions that I may have I'll send it yeah what I would ask is that if anything related to the student and family handbook if you can email myself and Mr. from Moguel. Anything that
relates to the employee handbook, if you can email myself and uh Miss Beth Gage, um that would be super helpful. Uh Beth Gage is the employee handbook and me. Um and Mr. Moguel would be the
student and family handbook and me. All right. So, just one last thing, just making sure everybody knows what their homework is. We're going to be looking through this drafts and sending feedback via email to Anthony and Mr. Muggel. If it's
feedback on the student and family handbook and if it's in the employee handbook is going to be Anthony and Beth Gage. Are we good? Excellent. because we will be voting on this on our next meeting and the next meeting is going to be pretty packed because it's the only
meeting in July and our first one under local control. So, we'll have a lot to do. So, please save us some time and make sure that you do this ahead of time. Thank you. All right, moving on to new business. So, we have our FYI on staff
summer conferences. Yeah. again. Um, thank you to Miss Wilson's work on the on the policies. One of the policies that we came across was around staff travel. And, uh, again, I recognize that
this is a transition year. And, you know, part of what we have to do for next year is make sure that we have all of these approved within a 30 day 30 days prior to that. Um these had come to me ahead of time and I had approved
them. Um um and that was the re receiverhip that was part of you know during receiverhip but post July 1. We want to make sure that um you all are aware of any uh conferences that that
staff are going to that are more than one day. So the policy requires school committee approval when when a staff is going to a conference for longer than a day and is going to be absent from their duties. Um my I go to the uh
superintendent the MASS puts on an annual institute. So I will be going to that annual institute as I do every year to make sure I maintain the PVPs that I need to continue with my superintendent license. And that conference is going to be in
MASHP uh July 14th through the 17th. Um I've included a a draft agenda. I know that they go through a process of updating the agenda up until the meeting. Um and that was approved by the commissioner and uh Miss Courier who is
our chief of people services and members of her team will be going to the Western Mass special education director's conference. Um, again, agenda attached and our uh Jenny Malave, our director of technology and data services is going to
be going to a uh the edge powers school conference in July. Um, we will be um switching from uh school brains to powers school. This has been a project that we've been working on for over a
year now. We're going to be going live with P school soon and it's important that Miss Malave uh stay up to date particularly around some uh the what P school can do with the new IEP uh system and how we can use P school to
help with with that process. So we're hoping that Miss Malave can go to that conference and bring back some um you know kind of a train the trainer model type and see how how uh if there's anything that um that we can implement here. um with with P school. And then
lastly, we have uh Ale Alex Selian Salana, who's one of our who's our phase coordinator and team lead. Um we have a partnership um with uh the equity imperative and they
are having a conference around strengthening strategies for family engagement and um he will be going to that conference uh next week I believe and bringing you know as the phase team lead um uh
bringing back some of those strategies uh to Mr. Moguel and to the rest of the team uh to hopefully strengthen uh a lot of the the family engagement family engagement strategies that we already have in place.
And that's all that we know of for the month of for the summer months. Thank you so much and know that this was a request in order for us to be prepared as we move forward because this is something that we will need to approve in the future. These were all already
approved based on the current process, but in the future we will have to approve these. So again, part of our training wheels. All right. Next up, we have approval of meeting minutes. Vote that the school Well, do we do we want to take them as a
package? Okay. make a motion to approve the um finance and operations meeting minutes from um March 27th and for 17th as a package. All right.
Seconded by Miss Ty Williams. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? So moved. Motion to approve or to accept and approve the meeting minutes of the school committee for 32425
41425 42825 51225 I have a second discussion Mr. Well, ahead. Just want to thank our um um executive secretary for putting putting um the minutes together.
Q. What would we do without you, Miss Fiano? All right. He's feeling appreciated right now. We will embarrassingly appreciate you, Miss. Thank you so much. All those in favor?
I. Any oppose? Abstensions? So moved. Excellent. So moving on, budget transfers. We have the May 6 budget transfer that the school committee vote to approve the budget transfer of a unspent funds to purchase math curriculum and contract with a firm to
audit phone lines for the amount of 54,386. Did this go to subcommittee? We get to discussion once we have a motion. I'd like to make a motion. Motion by Miss Wilson, seconded by Mr. Isasa. Discussion, Miss Wilson. So, as
we continue moving through the process, I just want to make sure that this budget transfer went to the subcommittee. I'm not sure if it was one of the ones that we've been discussing for quite some time. I'm just double-checking
our process. Mr. Willin. Yep. Uh these were discussed in my finance um report at the last meeting. Okay, great. Thank you, Mr. Check the notes.
Yep. Thank you. All right. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Moving on to June 17 budget transfer. that the school committee vote to approve the budget
transfer of unspent funds from Dean Bacon position for instructional materials equipment for the purchase of new computers for the programming and web shop in the amount of 33,375. So move motion by Miss Lefave second.
Second seconded by Mr. Colmore. Discussion Mr. Willahan. Thank you. Yeah, this um transfer um was not brought to the finance um committee meeting because of the
timeliness of the request. Right, Mr. Z? Yeah. I mean, these are these are endofear transfers that we're trying to do. Um and from what I understand process is they come here first and if there is a referral to a scum uh a a
subcommittee for further discussion that referral is made because of the nature of end of year we're hoping that um we're hoping that it's okay to get a vote on them tonight so that we can take care of this and make sure that the programming and web gets the computers
uh that they need for and that if if the full committee has any questions or or discussion that that we can have that tonight given that it's it is the end of the year. Thank you. Miss Lefave, Mr. Wellahan, is the finance subcommittee okay with it coming
straight forward or did you expect a a refer to your subcommittee? Um well just from well we didn't really expect it just because of nature our meeting is so late in the fiscal year and um we have
to spend the money you have to use it or lose it. Okay. So, so, um, I'm fine with it. I'm I'm speaking for myself. Thank you. Thank you. Any further discussion?
All those in favor? I. Any opposed? So moved. Updates of committees. Policy and governance subcommittee. Miss Wilson. So we had a meeting. um we move through most of I
um which is very long um and we should be um finishing up um the rest of the policies at our next meeting at at least the the ones that we're making our first clean pass through um as a subcommittee.
That meeting, just so the public knows, is on Monday, June 30th at 10:00 a.m. um at SuffK Street and I do anticipate having policies to bring to full committee for our next meeting.
Thank you so much. Finance and Operations, Mr. Willahan. Thank you. Um, our next meeting is scheduled for June 26th at um 5:30 at um
57 Suffach Street. Thank you. Thank you. Any updates from Joint City Council school committee? Yes. Uh I spoke to Kevin Jordane and we're going to have a meeting in August.
Thank you so much. Local control subcommittee missave nothing to report then we'll have the leadership accountability and measurement but yeah
we don't have any we don't have any upcoming meeting y excellent thank you ongoing business policy for discussion DJ procurement requirement hold on miss le
Okay. So, that one doesn't have a motion attached to it, correct? So, that one's just for discussion. I do recall policy DJ E the pecurement was where it was um
tabled on a April 28th uh because of the discrepancy with the 25,000 and the 50,000. I do see your recommendation that you'd like to go according to chapter 30B. Um, but was that brought up at the policy
subcommittee or are we just bringing it here now? Cuz it was it was tabled um at the meeting where we were going to discuss it. Um the and and this is the only reason that I asked to bring it back up is because um there's a
significant difference in in what I believe to be a very old school committee policy that hasn't been updated um to reflect the new guidelines. I remember when I first started here, the anything over uh
$25,000 had to go out to bid. And since then it that threshold moved up to $50,000, you know, uh I think in 2016 and even more recently that threshold moved up to $100,000 to allow um you know just to to maintain
compliance with state law, but to allow uh uh schools to um you know to just practice practice to make it make it easier to uh get things in front of kids and get things in front of teachers and
not go through uh you know a bidding process when when the threshold was created many many many years ago right so um I I am hoping that that like come July 1 we can operate according to chapter 30b because it's what the city
currently operates under as well um and and I don't you know my my fear was that we were going to have to all of a sudden change our process to reflect an old policy and that we would get backed up on getting supplies to students and and
teachers for the start of the school year. So that's why I brought it up. Um and looking forward to the discussion and I have Sean here as well, Miss Wilson. So it was this policy um DJ was
uh reviewed by the policy subcommittee. Um there is different language that would have been recommended to the full school committee for review. um other than the policy DJ um bidding
that's being presented in our uh packet tonight and it does use the MASC uh language and so the policy I'm seeing while it aligns to it does not use the MASC uh
language. But and um so as a policy subcommittee we would not we have not reviewed this version presented to as a full subcommittee as a full committee tonight.
Yeah. Um can I respond to that? Yes. Go ahead. Um we did pull this off of MASC's website. Is that correct, Sean? No. Because it's not So, I think there was there were
different versions on the MAC's website, there was a more current version. We were looking for something that would align with 30B. Um, I think we're open to it also being reviewed at the policy subcommittee. We're just wondering if as of July 1st, we can continue operating sort of as we have been until the policy
is fully reviewed. Um, and I'm happy to come to any policy subcommittee. A lot of our order, and one reason being is that a lot of our ordering takes place in July and August. And so to go back to the $25,000 threshold for those two months would it would hinder a lot
of the purchasing that happens over the summer. So, Miss Wilson, so the policy recommendation that and I'm trying to pull it up because I have so many tabs open. I apologize. the clean version does that we would be submitting does uh submit
for service any supply or service over $50,000. Um that would be the language that we are presenting. Um the only other dollar value that is uh the procurement for a supply or service in the amount of 10,000 or greater but not more than
50,000 shall be awarded to a responsible party offering blah blah blah um three written quotes. So um and then less than 10,000 would be obtained through the exercise of sound business practices.
So it does meet that my understanding of the current requirements that that's the old threshold, right, Sean? Yeah. Right. So So that are you looking at the policy tracker and the proposed version? No, I'm I was looking at but I'm I'm looking at the MASC model
and it it says $50,000. Yeah, that Miss Wilson, that is it used to be $50,000 and chapter 30B up updated their threshold to $100,000, which is what we've been following with the city currently. Um there's nothing preventing
the the school committee from setting a policy that's stricter than 30B, which $50,000 would be stricter. And if it is the will of the body that that they want to have a stricter uh uh policy around what goes out to bid, if they want to
have a a you know a stricter policy than what the state law requires, that's fine. Um it just comes at added expenses and more time trying to get things. And we wanted you we wanted to make sure that you all were aware of the impact of that. Right now, if it's under $100,000,
we we don't actually have to go through a formal bid process. Most of the stuff that we we do um with that, it it's it's actually on state contract anyway, which competitive bids have had, and we usually get three quotes off of a of a
state bid contract. Anything over that, we, you know, we follow 30B and we we have to publicly advertise it for two weeks. And if we're, you know, if we're actually going the RFB route, which is just going with the lowest cost, um, we
we have to select the lowest cost from the responsible bidder. Um, and if we go the RFP route, um, it just it allows us to weigh qualitative factors into into the, uh, into the process. Can I
can I just get a clarification? What when you refer to something has changed what what has changed? The threshold for under what law? Chapter 30b. And when was this changed? Guesstimating. Well, so actually I think
this policy is the most recent MASC policy and it says the acts of 2022. Right. So that's why I'm just because I'm just I'd be going back to research chapter 30 to see if it is 50 or is it
the 100 because the MASS policy does speak to the 50 and it was done in 2022. So I think there's a note at the end of the MASC policy that speaks to the change in 30B and it speaks to what school committees being able to have a more restrictive policy if they want.
Mr. Willian, thank you. Yeah, just just to follow up on what um Mr. Soda said, the the thresholds have been increased substantially over the last 10 years is because of, you know, inflation, the rate of inflation. You know, they had
the old bidding $5,000 for services for a consultant. Craz that that'd be eaten up in a month. You know, the thresholds have been increased substantially. We should be relying on the attorney general's determination of 30b. Okay. The attorney general's sets the
thresholds and the law. That's what the law goes to. So, I would take away the the school associations what their websites. Who knows when they're updated? Might be done by interns. Who knows? Go to the attorney general website. Get the current thresholds with
30B. We shouldn't be using those. We shouldn't have higher thresholds. The city uses those. We should be using those. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Lefave. So, I am looking at the MASC policy and it's exactly what's in the attachment
um to the agenda. So, is that the one um that Miss Wilson is saying was not the one or which one are we talking about? And I
because it I mean it's it's there. I mean, it it's up to the discretion of the school committee whether they want to go from the 50 to the 100,000. Miss Wilson, I just need to clarify when I entered this previously, it gave me
something very different. I just want to I I seriously I have a document that looks completely different than when I looked into this again. So, I just want to click. Are you saying that now it matches? That's the question. Yes. It's
bizarre. I That's okay. Mr. F. So are So would the motion then be now? Would this go for first reading now because of all the major changes to it or are we because it was tabled the first time or are we going straight into
second reading? Miss Wilson. So this is first reading because it hasn't been posted for public comment. So the first reading if we approve this this is a a title change to the policy. It used to be called bidding requirements. We are now renaming it or request to rename it
procurement requirements. And then um I'm trying to find 30B where it tells me $100,000 is the amount if someone can come assist me because I can't speak to it if I
can't see it. Thank you for the assistance, Mr. Sodto. Yeah, I you know I I I recognize that there may be some more dialogue that we have to have. What what Sean and I were hoping for is that come
July 1 that you know that we can just make sure that we're following our current state procurement laws and not go to the exist even if we were to go with this new policy it still hasn't gone through the full pro process
of being adopted. So, I I I I'm just requesting that that you grant us permission for July 1 to make sure that we have that we're following uh chapter 30B and that we can then resolve what
the official school committee policy is going to be with Miss Wilson and go through that process and not worry about our existing policy that has a $25,000 threshold that is very old because we haven't gone through the the full
process to get that policy adopted. Miss Wilson, what was the motion on the floor? There isn't one. There wasn't one yet. So, I would like to make a motion um to uh approve as a first read.
Let me go to it. DJ and it's currently listed as uh bidding currently, but we're going to be shifting that to procure procurement requirements. And I'm going to request
that um f coming in line with Massachusetts updated general law that we shift the anytime where it says over $50,000 to over $100,000. So that would be in the one to third paragraph.
Second. Second. Discussion. Mr. Willahan. I mean, there's all sorts of provisions in 30B. You're just quoting one one one part of it.
I mean, you know, if you go to the national law, you know, the, you know, just, you know, a procurement in the amount of less than $10,000 shall be obtained through the exercise of sound business practices. So, that's one one part of 30B. That's another part of 30B.
I mean, there's I mean, are are we just nitpicking 30B and just putting in some of the ones here in this policy? We should just reference 30B general. just just the latest revisions, you know, not rely on other
websites. I mean, that's that's my uh recommendation. There's, you know, 30B is is is more than this. It's more than this paragraph, Miss Wilson. So, the attachment, and I'm going to come back to the beginning in
our packet where it says policy DJ bidding the policy. I'm going to reference back that it does not match it does not match the language that would have been proposed by the policy subcommittee. So, um I'm going to make a commitment
that this policy come to our next meeting on the 30th. But prior to that, I would like to then resend my previous motion. And I would like to make a motion just
to acknowledge and um what uh Mr. Sodto is looking for that he continue to operate um as well as Mr. Mongano um our our policies according to Massachusetts general law um when with regards to
procurement and not what is currently listed in our policy because it is very outdated. Miss F, I'm just a little bit concerned. Are are you sure that we can even allow for that? And here's the other concern
that I have. You talk a lot about July 1st and but when we're looking at policies, right, that we've even voted some to be effective July 1st, how are they going to be in our own
policies so that people know that those are effective July 1st? Have they been sent to MASC for the update so that it starts reflecting what we've already approved? Point of order if we could stay on topic.
Well, this is on topic because my question is how can we say that we're not going to follow a policy and we're giving them the go-ahhead to do. I'm just a little bit confused here.
Mr. I like look this our policy review has been ongoing all year and the commissioner himself recognized that this was going to be an ongoing process. I mean we currently have a policy on our website that lists an org chart of
people that aren't even here. So type like are we supposed to call those people back and and work and have them work here again? like that's so there are some definite like policies that are old and we're going to be going through the process of updating them. Um and and
I am at you know during this transition year like uh Miss Wilson has been working really hard to try to get this and you know we're um we're almost done and then we got to really look at what's been posted for public comment what the
next step is which ones have to come here for second reading and we hope to do that you know um you I know uh Shaina and Irene have been trying to get a meeting on the books but we're going to be meeting in July um when when we have a little more time
to just kind of get an update on that. But in the meantime, you know, uh the reason why this one came was because it was just so important. Like Sean was looking at it and was like, "Wait a minute." Yeah. Does this mean that we got to revert back and like we like go
back to the $25,000 threshold? And I asked my team to go through and look at any policies that like would that were really concerned with the July 1st deadline. And that was the one that would would have like a detrimental impact on, you know, getting ready for
school and making sure kids have supplies. Mr. Colmore. Yeah. Just a question. On any of these policies, not not just the one we're discussing, but on any of these policies, are they forever or until we change
them? Madam Chair, M. Wilson uh until we until we update them as a school committee. Um or in in some cases the law changes which supersedes our policy. So the policy DJ
that we currently have listed references 30B as a legal reference. So I mean it does reference that information that was updated even though our policy wasn't updated. Mhm. And so right now we have a stricter
policy, but it's going to restrict our district's ability to move in a swift manner is why I'm saying I'd be willing to make that shift to allow them knowing that this is going to come on our meeting on the 30th. This will then be on our
agenda item for our following full school committee meeting and we can move through this very quickly along with But I understand your concern, Mr. a fave. I'm going to save my comment for after we've gone through this and it'll be my
little announcement instead. We'll call it an announcement. We'll move this along. Okay. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor?
I. Any opposed? No. Any abstain? Motion passes. All right. So that was DJ. And then next we have policy second
final reading. Miss Wilson, I did notice an error. And I'm going to find my notes because I wrote it down here. BDH and B. Sorry. BE DH which is public comment at school
committee and BE DB agenda format do not match. As I realized it says in BH that um public comment is for 3 minutes
and under BE DB it says two minutes and the intent was two minutes. So to clarify that BEH needs to be updated to have a twominut
maximum, but I'm willing to take any questions now. Miss Lef, I'd like to put in a motion to take each one separately because I do have concerns. Second that. Right.
So motion to approve a second reading for be school committee meeting. So moved. So f second. Second. Second by Miss Wilson. Discussion. Mr. Willingham.
Is there any mention of like the times of our meetings when we have the meetings and time I think we should have time frames on these? So, I know the the city of Hoyok, the city council, they cannot hold a meeting. I think it's
after 5:00 p.m., you know, we don't have that in our rules for whatever reason. Before 5:00 p.m. before 5. Yeah. We can't have a meeting. They can't have a meeting before 5 p.m. You know, we're meeting at 10:00 and noon. It's just sort of um that goes
against the you know just the public that works can't attend these meetings. You know even though they're recorded sometimes they're not recorded. I just think it it goes against the spirit of the law. I think we should have our meetings the minimum should be five 5:00
pm. Miss Lefave, I had asked that question as well myself and it's basically the subcommittees can hold them at any given time as long as they're posted and there's an avenue for people to um
access it. um because I brought up your same concerns. Um and that's what I was told when they looked at um oh my gosh,
I don't know if it was the attorney general or what it was, but it doesn't specify that you have to hold those after a certain time. The school committee is something different aside from your
subcommittees. Your subcommittees can understand what you're saying. Yeah. Um Mr. I think the city council here in Hoyok, I think they're concerned about some of the some of the boards and some of the some of the commissions, you
know, the fire commission, DPW, Cast Electric having their meetings at noon every day, you know. Um so again, that just um the public, you know, can't access those meetings. Their their ability to watch and attend those
meetings are hindered. Okay? Okay. Whether they're televised or not, you know, they if they can't attend that meeting at noon because they're working, okay? Okay. That to me that that doesn't
hold right with me. Okay. They should be the public should have access to these meetings. You know, whether we have to or not, whether there's a law written or not, you know, we can have our own internal rule here. And that's what the city council has here here in Hoyok.
Miss Wilson. So I completely lost my train of thought. Sorry. Um Oh, so um while I understand, Mr. Wilhen, your concern about working adults, many adults work second shift.
Um so those same individuals would not be able to attend the meeting and maybe they could attend the meeting now that it was at 10:00 a.m. or noon. So, um, you know, we we've we're now a society that works 24/7 pretty much. Um,
unlike when our forefathers started our laws about, you know, thinking that the educated, and I'm going to say the words, white males would be home, um, at their being able to attend these meetings. Now, life is much different.
So, to approve it for a second reading. Mr. F. So, did anybody amend it? I I don't know um if committee member Wellan was looking at amending it or because I know I put forth the motion and someone seconded so not sure. I asked a
question. I'll make the motion to just have um that no subcommittee can meet before 5 p.m. Second on the amendment. Oh, miss fave. So then wouldn't
this now be a first reading with all the the change? I need a clarification as to what we're so in addition so I would bas it's a significant I think change so it would go back to a first read because
if we're adding something about the time of our meetings if that um goes through then it would be brought back as a first read. So now it would need to be the language would need to be updated and in um have the public comment for another
two weeks. Discussion on the amendment. Yes, Mr. Willing. Mr. Willahan, you're saying that no meetings should be before I I can't hear you, Miss T. So Mr. Well, a hand is saying no meetings should people
should be able to meet before 5:00 p.m. because people are at work during the day. That makes a lot of sense, but I don't know who's off and who's working. So, that's tough. Mr. Colmer, what what about a uh an
emergency, a special concern that has to be done? We we couldn't meet before 5:00. Mhm. Mr. Willian. Go ahead, Mr. Soda. Um, I'm just looking
at be and it and it speaks specifically to regular meetings and special meetings. There's no mention of subcommittees. So, I don't know if it like even if we
put in here a a a stipulation that limits it to after five 5:00 or later. Um would that not apply to subcommittee meetings or do we need to clarify that and specify that
here because I know regular meeting and special meeting is different than subcommittee meetings. That's correct. Mr. Innesota, Miss F. So, I'm going to assume that it would be a number three added under special meeting and it's going to say subcommittee meetings, right? And then
in there at some point in there we'll trans I guess even in the first sentence if I'm looking the school committee will transact all business at official meetings of the committee no earlier than I don't know however it it's determined
that it's going to read but that's basically they're going to have to add the number three so it goes back to a first read and posting. So, so we're back. Oh, miss. Then I'm going to amend the motion to refer back to Are we not referring back for the
changes or we're going to do it as a first read to go back? I think I this is this would be a language that we would refer back to the full school committee to make a decision on. Um ju I would not be we'd be going okay let's put it in
you you know what I mean because so you know the amendment to the motion is you know what's on the floor and I I don't feel the need for it to go back to the policy subcommittee based upon the
views of school committee members. [Music] Do you know what I'm saying? Does Now, if there's no further, we move on the amendment. All right, let's vote on the amendment.
Yes. Right. Who's first? I am. It's me. It's me. It's me. No. Do we need a roll call vote for this? I don't know. She just No one's online. We're all present. All
right. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? No. Okay. So, that was three nos. No. Oh, four nos. I press a roll call vote. All right.
Can I have a second to that? Yes. Okay, second the second motion. I second that motion. All right, I know. Don't you worry. Didn't expect all the drama. [Music] Miss Wilson. No.
Um, Dr. Ver Cologne. Yes. All right. Uh, Miss Lefave. No. Uh, Miss, go ahead. Sorry. I'm going to need clarification. So, I'm confused. If we're voting yes, is that we're not
agreeing to meetings before I mean, you're voting. You're voting yes to add subcommittees to this policy here that we cannot sub commmittee meeting and add the five o'clock, not before five. If you're saying yes, you're
saying yes that you want subcommittees and all school committee meetings to be at 5:00 or later. If you vote no, you're saying you're we're continuing with that subcommittees can meet before 5:00 p.m. So yes, we'll keep it at the way we have
it, you say? No. No. No. If you vote yes, meetings can take place at 5 or later for full school committee and subcommittees. If we say no, then we are saying that we still want to ha have the availability
of having meetings during before 5. Yes, after 5:00 p.m. only. No, subcommittees can meet before 5. Did that make sense? Yes, it does. I'm going to vote be but I think I'm
going to vote on it because I'm but I don't think it'll make others accommodations as well like a person that has to sit on that committee be available to do it at all times. So I'm somewhat torn about this situation
the way that is set up. Um I'm available now but I don't know who comes in my shoes and say that they're available then. You know what I mean? So why we got to stick to one? So I'm just going to say yes because I I don't know if it'll accommodate everyone else.
Miss Tenzay Williams. Yes. I believe you will not meet before 5. Correct. If you vote yes, you're saying that we cannot meet before 5:00 p.m. Yes. Mr.
Mr. Wellahan. Yes. And Mr. Kawar. No. So you have two four nos and four yeses. Four yeses.
The motion fails. Motion fails. Back to the original. Back to the original motion. Yep. to second read. We pass it as a second read and we would be making this effective on July 1st if this is our
second read. Correct. Second. Second that. Should we do a roll call for this one as well? No. Right. Discussion. All right. Discuss. Can we move the motion? No, we have to
Mr. Just want to make sure that I realize properly what it is that we're voting for. Be school committee meeting. Okay. I do have a question about it or actually a
point about it. Um for convening the special meetings, we're talking about uh needing a written request of the majority of the school committee members. I think in the future someone may interpret that to be either
the super majority and I think it's important then to simply specify that we are talking about a simple majority. So I would hope that we insert simple there. Miss Wilson, we follow the Robert rules
of order. Majority it means the simple majority. That's our our governing process. Okay. Thank you. All right. All those in favor? I. Any opposed?
Motion passes unanimously that the school committee vote to approve as a second reading and adopt policy BC executive session. May I have a motion? Make a motion to um You can just say moved. So moved. So
moved. Whatever. So I'm going to move it. Second. Seconded by Mel Williams. Discussion, Mr. Willahan. Yeah. Thank you. I mean, we're just adopting just the mass general laws. That's what we're doing here. That's all it is.
Why is there discussion on it? All right. All those in favor? Any opposed? So moved that the school committee vote to approve as a second read to adopt policy BA notification of
school committee meetings. May I have a motion? Moved. Second. Second. Seconded by Mr. Calammore. Discussion. Seeing none. All those in favor? I. Any opposed?
So moved that the school committee vote to approve as a second read to adopt policy beb agenda format motion by Miss Williams second seconded by Mr.
Sasa discussion miss so on this one we're looking at the part at where it says that the HPS makes available a public discussion period for persons in the audience to address the committee on specific agenda items to my
understanding we cannot restrict people from what they are going to speak upon Mr. Well, I think Mrs. Lefave is correct on that. I just think there's been court cases that that have u determine that.
So, um I'm not sure whether we can ask people, we can ask people to stick to the topics on the agenda, but I don't think we can force them. But, um I don't I don't I don't have any any any of that in front of me. Maybe some more some more research is needed on that. Thank
you. Um I know we have uh the proposal is 15 minutes for public comment. Is everyone happy with that time frame? Do do they want to extend that to a half an hour? I know
some towns have up to an hour. So, I'm just want to just see whether the the committee I know we went over 15 minutes at our last meeting, you know, um if they do um if they go over
then the chair the chair has to ask the the committee to extend that. So, do you want to stick it 15 minutes or you want to make it a half hour? That's my my thought for you. you're that's not on
this one. It's not on this great this policy. This one is the only thing that I noticed it had to do with the specific agenda items. So my recommendation is to have that removed and just for persons in the audience to address the committee period.
then we'd have to rep. So was that an amendment to So that that was So I I know what just happened just now as a committee. I didn't hear any motion for an amendment. Yeah, I did. He seconded. It was just um
it'll be to remove it could go for a first read with the removal of specific or the second read. No, it would be the first it would be the first then that's fine by removing on specific agenda items. That's all
that has to be removed. Everything else can stay there. All right. So that was the first by Miss Lefave, seconded by Mr. Willing. discussion on the amendment. Mr. Colmore, correct me if I'm wrong,
but anyone that go gets up to that mic to speak can only speak what is on the agenda. No, they they can't speak on uh
paving a street in Hoy. They can't discuss uh the city hall being being repaired or something like this. They can only speak on what is on the agenda. Mr. Willingham, I think the law that I
read I again I don't have it in front of me. It's under they can talk talk about any issue under our under our authority. Okay. So something within the school district. Again, you're right. can't talk about the town hall windows um the city hall windows uh but anything under
our uh authority. Thank you. Any more discussion on the amendment? If not, all those in favor? I. Any opposed? Correct. All right. Can we just pause for a
moment because I I just want to take notes. Thank you. Sounds good. Okay. Thank you. All right. So, that was on the amendment. So, now back on the motion. All those in favor? I as amended. Any
opposed? So moved. Next. that the school committee vote to approve as a second reading to adopt policy BD rules of order. I have a motion.
So moved. That was Miss Wilson. Second. Second. Seconded by Miss Williams. Discussion. Miss Lefave. So I do want to apologize in regards to these policies that are going to show up where we never had a policy. And this is
where the issue lied was back on December 9th. Um when it was put in, it was attached completely as a whole entire packet. And that's and I take ownus for that one. Okay. I take
ownership for that whole entire hot mess. So I don't know. It's just so hard because I it's it's not like anybody really looked at at it. I'm sure went through and were like, "Oh, this is like a new one because nobody mentioned anything. I
just noticed it now that these were never policies." So, do we still want to consider this a second read or go to the original first read? We already Miss Wilson, we already did a first reading. whether it it it's our job to
read our packet and read the information that we are given and vote on what we are presented. As a school committee, we voted on what we were presented. No one had had any issues with it and the first reading was passed. It was
posted and during that posting time, no one on the school committee came forward with concerns over it. So, I'm saying this is our second reading. Okay, that's fine. Did somebody put in the motion?
Yes. We're in discussion right now. So moved. All right. So on the motion, all those in favor? I. Any opposed? So moved that the school committee vote to
approve as a second reading to adopt policy BFF voting method. May I have a motion? Make a motion. That was Miss Wilson. Second. Second that. Miss Densley Williams. Discussion.
Again, save. And just to clarify, these are all to be effective July 1st and that's only if they're updated on MASC. Correct. And that's where my announcement will be. Okay. It's a second read. So, should we even say to
be effective July 1st? I already said that earlier. They're not going to be effective July 1st or they are. I already said that the ones we're voting on tonight will be effective July 1st.
But they wouldn't they wouldn't be effective July 1st because they have to be placed sent to MASC and then put onto our website. I understand that. But as a school committee, we are voting saying they are effective on July 1st.
I cannot. Okay. We we we've if I say if we vote today to make a policy live today, we're not going to make it effective 3 months from
now waiting for our provider to update things or 3 weeks from now. This is the policy that we are using as a school committee and we work um to get whoever we using which is MASC to update our policies quickly.
So Miss Leave Do we have access to ours on our own website internally? Mr. I'm not I'm not understand I I'm not understanding. What do you mean? So, does somebody have access from within
our website to change it themselves? We have the ability to post these policies on our website, just not on a direct link to MASC's. That's what I'm
asking. One, but like there's nothing preventing us from posting it on our website. We do have a section for school committee policies under review that we can post these, you know, we can post these tomorrow, right, if we wanted to. Um, what what takes a little longer is
when we have to send them to MASC and then and then like they post it on their website, but I don't know that that's like we can post a pol we have a policy on our website, so somebody can actually change it, not the MASC's. I'm not
asking the MASC link, but our own from our own website. From our own website, we have a section uh we've created a section on our website for uh school committee policies under review. We can post any policies that already pass the
second reading. We can post them in that section and say, okay, these were approved while we wait for the MASC versions to get posted on their website. And who does that? What do you mean? Who does that? Who
does the posting part? He So Irene sends them to MASC and then they have a person that we work with on their end. I know that part. You know, point of order. We're the motion. We're doing We're reviewing a policy. We're not re we're not reviewing when
it's going to be online. It should. But I'm just saying we're reviewing it has to show up online for us because if we're going to start following procedures and stuff for the policies, we have to know what is the current one whether if it's an interim care um
interim policy whatever just to show that we have reviewed it because if not then who else is going to know that we've already reviewed this and this is the decision that we made. We've have them since April 28th that we reviewed and we reapproved and we set effective
July 1st. I don't see it in here as updated. We were quick to remove, that's for sure. We removed plenty of the ones that we said to remove, but not one of none of the ones that we approved back on April 28th and did the second and
final reading to be effective July 1st or even showing up here. So there's my announcement. All right. Any further discussion on the motion? If not, all those in favor? I. Any
opposed? So moved. That the school committee vote to approve as a second reading to adopt policy BG minutes. So moved by Mr. Isasa, seconded by Miss Ro Martinez. Discussion.
Mr. of faith. This would be the one that we're talking about the three the three minutes. Is this one it or no? That's BEH. Okay. Yeah. Seeing none. All those in favor? I. Any opposed?
So moved. That the school committee vote to approve a second reading to adopt policy BH public comment at school committee meeting. Motion moved. So moved by Miss Tensley Williams. Seconded.
second by Miss Wilson. Discussion, Mr. Willahan. Thank you. Um I just go back to my my previous thoughts on whether we want to keep the 15 minutes or extend that. That's just my uh my
question to the the committee. Thank you, Miss Wilson. I would like to Can we just focus on that? It just makes my life easier if we focus on one topic. I'm not sure if that's
possible, but um I would like to make an amendment to the policy that we update it to 30 minutes. Right. Seconded by Mr. Willahan. Discussion. Miss Tensley Williams. Um I
may be wrong but I thought the public could speak for two minutes and then they could speak for three they had to get permission uh from you. So now it's 15 minutes. Let me chair. Yes. So in the bullet number one
under this policy talks about at the at every meeting we have the opportunity for public to speak. The the language in this new policy speaks to the public comment time in overall cannot exceed 15
minutes of our meeting time. So if we had 20 me people standing to speak however whenever we would give it to 15 minutes it's done unless we make a motion to extend our public comment time which then takes more time from our
meeting. So that's why I would make the motion to move to 30 minutes for public comment. Thank you for public comment in total. Yes. Correct. Any further discussion? All right. On the amendment, all those
in favor? I. Any oppose? All right. On the motion. Oh, I second amendment number two. Sorry. This is where I called out earlier. There's an error. Number two, speakers two minutes should be allowed two minutes to present
their materials and must start, you know, by their name, but it's the um it's two minutes. It shouldn't be three. It should be two. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Seconded by Mr. Willahan on the amendment to the amendment.
All those in favor? I. Any opposed? So moved. I'm going to say based upon the fact that we are reducing the amount of time in this policy for a public comment, I think it should go back as a first read.
Even though we had another policy speak to the two minutes, I think because we're we're not adding something. We're taking away from a perception of an individual who might have read this and saying, "Oh, three minutes. I have plenty of time with three minutes." But two minutes is a lot shorter,
you know, um that I think it needs to go back as a first read and we post it again. So would the maker of the original motion resend it? Oh, because the original motion was to approve as a second reading. Yes.
Sorry, Irene. Got it. Irene, I know after all that. I know. So I will be making a motion. So now you can make a new motion. Yeah. Sorry. I'll be making a motion that um be DH
around public comment with the language updates for number two to 30 minutes. I mean number one to 30 minutes. Number two down to two minutes is uh we approve it as a first read. Second. Seconded by Mr. Colmore. Discussion. All those in
favor? I. Any opposed? So move. Motion passes unanimously. May I May I make a a comment? Quick quick. I am um I just want to let you know that as as we are going to be sending policies um forward soon. We are
going to be grouping them um with you know what type is it? A large change a minor change or putting that next to it it um so that we're aware. But I I just have to say that I would expect um lengthier discussion during their first
read and not our second read. I feel as though that we were not prepared as a school committee during the first reading. Um it was again training wheels which is a a great experience for us knowing what we need to do um what I need to do moving forward to make this
process better. But um again it's that homework that we do between meetings um when I bring the policies going forward because we can't have changes on the second read for the vast majority of these policies coming through because we'll never get move. So thank you.
Thank you so much for your leadership on this. Moving on to announcements. Oh, Mr. F moving forward also when if we're going to have big clumps like that of policies. Um I know that our packets are what three
days, but trying to go through them and if it's through the weekend if we can just send the vice chair um if any are going to be pulled from like a consent agenda to pull them to the side. Um, so that way we can at least get rid of the bulk of them and
the ones that we need to have discussion on. Um, we can then break it down. Do you know Miss Wilson? I'm not understanding because I can't tell what we're going to
have discussions about. So I I'm just maybe I didn't understand you, Miss Lefave. I'm so sorry. When we are reviewing our packets at home Yes. and say that I turn around and be like, you know what, I have a question on BED. So,
I'll send her an email and say, please pull BED aside because I'm going to have a discussion. So, and this way we can start with consent agendas where things are going to pass because there are no concerns.
Um, but then that would be that would be kind of like what we already do in terms of can we take this as a package but if I already know ahead of time that there are questions on particular ones I can be like oh we can do as a package except this this and that. Make sense? I
understand now. Thank you. Sort of like delegate assembly. I understand now. Thank you. Thank you so much. Announcements. June 27 family fun day at Morgan. Please do go. I'm going to be there. Can I can I say something before the announcement? So, sorry to The
announcement already happened. There was only one. Okay. I just want to say um um thank you. Thanks to Ellie who has chaired this um policy and I've been sitting on it and this has been sweat and tears and I you know it's been hard
for and I've learned a lot even though I was on a school committee before but the changes I guess I have not seen it with within those 10 years. So, thank you for the work you put into this cuz it's been a lot of work. Thank you so much for your leadership and thank you so much. The more you do
your homework, the faster these meetings go. Thank you everybody. Motion to adjurnn. Make a motion to adjurnn. No. Oh, no. Mr. Colmer. I have an announcement to make. Oh, go ahead. That uh I won't be running for the school
committee anymore. Uh, I think I put in a great a great deal of time here. Yes, you have sir. Yes, you have. I love it. But I wish all of you the best in anything you do here and tonight was a
success with the passing of going into out of rese. I just felt as though I need a rest and I just won't take out any papers this year. Thank you so much, Mr. Colore. Miss
Lefave, I just want to say, Mr. Colmore, that I was so happy when I saw you here today. We've missed you these past meetings, but I think it was very important for you to be here today because the end goal was for you to be
here when we get our schools back. And I am so happy that you were able to hear those words tonight. Yes. That you are still serving on the committee, but it'll be under local control. Yes. Do you want me to keep coming to meetings?
You have to. You have to. You got to come to the July. You have to come all the way till the end of December. Come the rest of the year. Yes. High and dry. Thank you so much. And I will say, let's give a round of applause for Mr.
And he's always welcome at the convention cuz he's a life member. Yes, that's right. All right. Thank you so much, Miss Dansler Williams. To Mr. Calamore. Um, we love you very much. We will miss you. Okay. And you have our
telephone number, so give us a call. Okay? If you don't, we'll call you. Okay? Thank you so much. Motion to adjourn. Second. Seconded. All those in favor? I. Thank you everybody. See you next time.