going to call the Tuesday, April 14th meeting of the Hoyok school committee to order at 6 PM. Roll call, please >> here. >> Dr. Ver Cologne >> here. >> Uh,
Mr. Sheen, >> present. >> Miss Lefave >> present. >> Mr. Ram Martinez >> here. Miss Tenzy Williams >> present. Uh, >> Mr. Zaza >> here. >> Flag of United States of America
for it stands. One nation under God. >> Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This meeting is being recorded and because of the emergency order S2506
signed into law an act relative to extending certain CO 19 measures adopted during the state of emergency and this act extends through June 2027. The authority for meetings of multiple member bodies can 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 provided. Uh moving on to student showcase. Mr. Sto. Yeah, I have uh a team from Sullivan
here. I I think there's a video they wanted to share and uh talk about the uh a new program that they launched this year. Yes. Got to turn it on. >> Thank you. >> Perfect.
>> Sure. So, my name is Crystal Torres. I'm an adjustment counselor at Sullivan Middle School. Today, we're going to talk about this attendance intervention we started. It's really unique. It's called the attendance alliance. So what that is is we took a group of our students who historically had very poor
attendance and currently had very poor attendance and matched them up with a group of counsel. So the this all started in a room with the attendance our attendance group but majority of that group is counselors. So the counselors took on the attendance alliance and started to mentor these
children and have meetings during school. So they have like these 10-minute meetings and we set them very randomly so that the kids look forward to coming. we usually do something fun and we've had really great outcomes just of relationship building and attendance improvements and R's really good at data
so he's collected some good data to just like tell you a little bit more with like numbers about how that's going >> so um and I want to say for for our students um our approach with them has tried to be that they get them to help
each other and because they bring so many assets to the school and I think when we just look at attendance or chronic attendance. We sort of look at like kids who are not coming to school. Um but getting them to build a sense of belonging with one another and say, "Let's help each other get to school."
Um our counseling team at school, they're amazing. Crystal um is part of our counseling team and you'll see in the video that they put like they the students were not able to attend so they said we'll make a movie. We'll make So you'll see in a second it's not just it's like somebody made a movie. Um but
you can see in the graph here right around week 17 is when the intervention started and week by week the gap between these students and all students is closing. >> Um and you'll see when we watch the video sort of how they feel about themselves in the program and how they
feel about how they feel about the work. So we wanted them to be able to be here to speak to it but but they weren't able to make it. So in lie of that we've got um a video which I believe should work. So, thank you for coming today. Um,
Niss, what grade are you in? >> I'm in eighth grade. >> Awesome. And do you enjoy being part of the alliance? >> Yeah, a lot. >> So, has this group made it any easier for you to come to school nearly?
>> Yeah, it made it like a lot easier for me. >> That's awesome. I feel like I see you more, too. actually. >> So, what do you like about the group? You seem very excited about it. >> They had like they have a lot of
different activities that makes me like like it a lot. Nice. What's one of the activities that you've tried there before that you liked or was one of the things you guys bingo? That must have been fun. That sounds
fun. And now, how does it feel knowing that you're making a difference in attendance at your school? Cuz you guys have made some big improvements as a group and individually. >> Um, it feels good. Like they like they
motivate me a lot. So, I really feel good about it. Thank you. Is there anything else you guys want to add? Cuz maybe I love it. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's helpful, right? Like what about the adults? Do
you do you know more adults in the building since you started? How does that feel like when you need somebody or like >> It feels good cuz like if one of the adults are not here, I can go to the adults. >> And do you feel comfortable with all the adults? >> Nice. How about you, Jet? Did you meet
any new adults or did you pretty much know everyone? >> Pretty much. >> Nice. That's awesome. Okay. Um, yeah. Any kids? Did you guys meet new kids that you didn't know before the alliance? Okay. How about you, Jet?
Okay. All right. Awesome. Okay. Thank you guys. two things that I want to point out. So Jet, who's the young man in the video, last week in the district attendance awards, he got he got an attendance award. So he started in this group. He's
engaged um every week and is really you can see the belonging that he's built and like help helped others too and that's the best part when you go to see them because they meet each week and it's just they're helping each other. So it's saying you know I'm going to I'm going to be a leader for my peers and
I'm going to help you out. Um and then Nariss one of the answers that she gives um Crystal asks about sort of what's what's your experience like with adults in the building and she talks about how now I feel like there's a bunch of other adults in the building who I know so
when I need things when they're around I feel like like I'm seen in the school. So, um, we're really excited about the work that kids have done because we we set it up that kids have done all the work to help each other in, um, to really improve their attendance. We're
excited for a lot of our eighth graders who go off to high school feeling like their attendance is in a much better place than it was. And we're excited for our sixth and seventh graders to be able to continue this work next year. So, >> I just want to say this to Crystal uh, Torres and the people that's working
with her. I it's an awesome thing that what you're doing with the alliance class and I'm happy that uh the attendance is picking up and I'm glad that the students are having fun and the encouragement from me to you is keep up the good work and if you need me to help
out anything as an volunteer just give me a call. Thank you sweetheart >> so much may take you up on that offer. Please, please do. >> Thank you so much. >> Miss Lefay,
>> as with anything, there's always a root cause. Um, so prior to anything, have you determined what the root cause was of your chronically absent students and then addressing that as a whole?
if you can use the microphone. >> I think yeah I I think it varies student to student. I don't know that there is one root cause for um this group. I think they all come with like all different reasons why they are not going to school and they vary from different um transportation is some of the
reasons. Um some things might just be anxiety. There's some mental health stuff. There's some family there's some family things going on. So it really does vary. I'm not exactly but we did try to attack it by creating more of a sense of belonging and a s and some sense of joy in school and um so even if
there is things going on outside at home and they're all different things at least like this could be a place that was a positive that had positive influence or yeah so I don't know that there's one root cause >> I don't know >> so and I fully understand but when you're treating a whole child it's
basically also addressing what is causing those barriers so that this way Um, it's it's going to help them succeed moving on because 10 minutes because if you're telling me it's a meeting of 10
minutes, what exactly can you do in 10 minutes? >> They group 10 minutes like 10 15 minutes once or twice. But so we can't get all of the kids together as often, but the ones they're all mentors, but we all
have small case loads that consist of different kids on the list and they all have different goals and different attendance plans and I think they're all different. I should have brought an example of one of those plans. >> Yeah. And if I could say there's a whole layer of case management that happens
and individual attendance funds that happens with kids, which we've always had before for tier three students. this piece about sort of the the the collective working together we haven't had and we've found much more success this year by pairing the two together.
So to have this collective experience once a week and then pairing that with the individual supports for students because we are talking about tier three students who need individual supports and individual plans. Our attendance team meets once a week for an hour and we those are the students that we go through um to tailor the supports. So
this isn't meant to be in in lie of that individual support. It's meant to be um partnered partnered with it. >> Yeah. I think it's just it's kind of hard to really see like the whole picture and see like the progress unless I mean we're having this progress being
monitored on a monthly basis being sent in like yes we are improving when it comes to the chronically um the students who are chronically absent. So the gap is closing in and um that's it.
>> Mrs. Blue Bald. >> Hi, thank you for coming. Um, so I I just saw a question regarding the transportation because I know that you have students that um come from the Kelly school area and I know that that is an impediment for them going to after
school activities or things of that nature because they can't get there. Are you seeing in your data that there's a large proportion of students who live in the Kelly school area not coming to school? Is that >> is that has that been looked at? I don't
know if we've ever sorted the group by address to see that. I mean, definitely when we do the root cause analysis and we talk about individual students, there are students where transportation is an issue. So, if they wake up late and they're late for school and they miss
the bus, they're not able to get to school the way that some students who are closer to the >> Yeah. I mean, that's a long way to walk for sure. Um, and it doesn't feel like a overall trend with the group that it's like distinctly all students who live um who went to Kelly School as their neighborhood. But definitely when we
think about root causes, transportation and distance from school is definitely an issue. >> Mr. Michaelelsson, >> I want to say thanks for coming tonight and I I really think that the approach that you took it was innovative and it
also showed an awareness to sort of like the goals, right? The the goal of the district with a sense of belonging, right? You've addressed that and it seems to me like it's a positive experience for the kids. Um my question would be you talked about 30 the 30 most
chronically absent students. Um my question would be when do you have ideas about when you might adjust that? Have you adjusted it? Have you like changed the 30 students? >> Do you want to speak to this part? Yeah, the answer is yes.
>> So we have cycled some people in and cycled some people out based on their individual data. So what's happening is when we cycle them out, they're moving more out of the mentor phase of it, but they still want to come to the 10-minute meetings. So we have acquired a lot more
than 30 for the meetings at some points. Um and a lot more than 30 that want to be a part of it. But that gets cycled through weekly and monthly. We meet weekly and kind of talk about individual data. And then monthly we'll kind of reassess like who's gra not graduating
but like we call it graduating from the group and then um who we need to bring in. Have you seen an increase in attendance in like after school activities and and things of that nature with some of those same students that were like cycled out?
>> No, I don't know that I have looked into that, but that is a really great idea and yeah, because I guess that would really prove they feel they belong a little more if they're like applying to that. >> So, I am just going to limit discussion on the showcase which was the video we
couldn't see. I mean, if we're going to have in-depth discussions about data, that's not really the intent of the students showcase. This was supposed to be students engaging with us. Um, one small. >> So, as long as it's not dealing with the data, as long as it's about something, the program, the actual mentoring
program, you can ask the question. >> Thank you. >> Um, I just was curious because you had mentioned the the the 10-minute meetings and the kids really being excited about going and the others who cycle at one and come back. Can you share maybe a snippet about like what happens in those meetings? like what is it just they're
talking like what what is making them want to come back? >> The last one we did we played bingo and there was prizes. Um the one before that we played volleyball and there was also prizes. Um so yeah so we've done so many
different things like we really have. Um it's usually something exciting that they choose. We'll give them kind of options or we'll say what would you guys like to do? So that's how we come up with it. Um, and we try to keep it something that's like free but fun and something we can do like on school
grounds. Um, recently we got the community involved. So, our next meeting is going to be a lot longer. It'll be a two-hour meeting and it's going to be at Altitude in Holio. And they um they really hooked us up and they also gave the student with like most improved a free birthday party. So the kids were
really excited to like come to school and they were also excited that like people in the community were like buying into it and knew about them and they were going to go and they're going to get to go meet them tomorrow. So they're very excited and there was like specific criteria so they were all like trying to meet their criteria and it's really cute.
>> This is LeBron Martinez. >> Thank you for um thinking outside the box. I've always believe in that um model for youth in particular. And I say youth because they're young adults. Um, how do who's the mentors? You talk about
mentors. Who are the mentors? >> They're all counselor. They're all counselors and adjustment counselors from the school. >> Yep. So, we all work at Sullivan. Um, this is just kind of like an extra kind of thing we took on >> to do that. >> Yeah. So, they're all mentored by a counselor in the building.
>> Okay. Let me just um say thank you for what you're doing. And again, I think you just shared you play activities that is attracting them sometimes part of not fitting in in other groups doesn't help you come into the school systems for
whatever reason. This is not only Holio, I think happens in many other places when you don't feel like you belong. you kind of fill out and then if they're giving you the ideas about the volleyball sports and all these type of ideas is because they're trying to find their own niche of what makes them
possible, you know, uh valuable or way of integrating to the systems that they're looking for the support. Um, and I'm a believer that when you find the sort of the root causes that I think our our colleague Mildre um was mentioning
is that they then feel part of something. It's what I'm trying to say. So, thank you again for your work. >> Yes. >> May I ask Excuse me. The meeting she said is tomorrow at Sullivan
>> at Holy Mall. >> Tomorrow's at the Holo Mall. They're gonna go They're going away for the first time. >> Yeah. Oh, all right. Cuz I if it was tomorrow in town at the school, I would ask if I could come, but that's okay. I I'll get in touch with you.
>> We'll tell you. The dates are top secret. We don't tell them. And that's how we get them to come to school. We don't tell them the time or day, but we'll tell you. >> Oh, great. We'll we'll be in touch with so you can come by and see. that works. I'm going to check you guys out very soon. Okay. So, I'm happy like
Miss Martinet said, I'm very excited about this and my encouragement to you. I'm happy that the students are having fun. Uh we need to have fun with whatever we're doing. We don't want it to be grueling and drills and all that. Even though I travel uh in the Air Force
on the volleyball team, so I' I'd love to uh show up one time. Okay. Thank you so much. Okay, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Moving on to the agenda. Are there any students online? Irene?
No. Okay. Um, anyone send it for public comment? Moving on to superintendent report. Mr. Sto. >> Yeah, thank you. Uh in your packet, I included a memo that I had sent the school committee last week
and um you know, we're we're kicking off our annual planning for next year and preparing for our leader retreat which is going to be at the end of this month. Uh I think that the important thing that I wanted to lift in this meeting um is
that we're not really creating a new plan for next year. Um, we all know that uh Jackie Gasheen is going to be the superintendent and any superintendent in their first year always goes through uh
an entry plan and a more um you know a a larger strategic planning process. So we talked as a team and decided that we wanted to make sure we build off of the current strategic plan for the for this
upcoming school year. Jackie's uh been heavily involved with the planning of that retreat and she'll be heavily involved in in in helping create what the focus areas are going to be uh for next year. Um and we use this process to
uh work with our school principles, let them know uh based on all of the information that we're looking at and based on the feedback that we get and the retreat that we have, uh we let our principles know. um what the what the focus areas are for the upcoming year so
that they can start working on their school improvement plans which we want to make sure we have you know back to the school committee uh prior to July 1. Um so in there you see you'll see that we're we're hopeful that the school
committee can you know uh dedicate some time each individual member to uh fill out the survey that we included in the uh attached memo so that when we sit down and we have and we have the retreat at the end of April um we have some
feedback from from each of you and if if there's you know any one of you that you prefers to send an email on feedback or anything like that. Um, you could also in, you know, include that feedback to myself, Jackie, and Aaron Lynville so
that as we prep for the retreat, we have that information. Okay. Uh, any questions for the superintendent? Moving on to the vote of the school committee vote to allow the superintendent to seek city council approval for a four-year contract with
the Mosul software to support all mobile Apple devices in the district. >> So moved. >> Is there a second? Second. >> Uh any discussion? Mrs. Lubold. >> So I have some um questions. um a just
two but really um and it's really because some some things this kind of struck a nerve with me because it was coming up in a different conversation in a different setting about devices and the protection that the this particular contract talks about and so I'm I'm
wondering um you know can you confirm that in addition to Apple products that there is um people have to sign compliant data processing agreements with their devices. in the school. So, not just the Apple
products, but devices in general. >> I'm not understanding the question. I'm sorry. >> So, when you're handling when when an employee is handling student data, >> um if they're entering it, if they are this the everything that's in this um is
it moist? Is that how you say it? Or um the contract of the the vendor? >> Yeah. Um I'm trying what I'm trying what I'm asking is is there a a a particular policy or a document that an employee
needs to sign that validates the protection of that information regardless of the device agnostic. I mean we we do have uh an acceptable use policy in our handbook. Um and we do
have uh securely a separate um a separate for the student Chromebook devices. We have a separate system that helps staff like know what um what students are using on their devices.
This this particular Mosul software is for all of our Apple products. And what it allows us to do is less about like controlling student information or minimizing student information going out, but more about being able to push
out specific applications to all of the devices all at once and manage, you know, what students are able to access on those Apple devices. We have something similar for our Chromebooks as well.
>> Yeah. But is I guess I'm I guess I'm just asking in terms of ultimate data protection devices. So them pushing um software out that that protects but also you know when someone might be entering onto their personal device like for example when I'm at work I I have to use
two phones right I have my work phone and then I have my personal phone. I don't do business on my personal phone. And if I do, if I kept one device, then I would have certain criteria on that phone that would be locked in. And the reason I'm asking um this day and age is
is that, you know, we have to protect that that private information. And I think there's some ongoing discussion that can be at a later date. But I just I wanted to know if there was a specific language or specific document or something that we could point to in terms of the accessible use or how broad it is, you know, and if it aligns with
with with the data protection act that is cited in the Apple because I think if we doing it for Apple, we should be doing it for for all of it, you know, just from a from a government governance lens. >> So, I'm just going to step you there. We need to keep the discussion to asking the city council to enter into a four-year contract. that the mo that is
the motion if we can go and request a four-year contract. So that's if there's questions around why we're asking for a four-year contract or things like that, but that is the discussion on the motion tonight. >> So to what extent then do we do we talk about um we're going to the city council
to ask them to approve a contract, right? And and we don't have a specific answer about the the data protection that that I'm that I'm talking about. So, it's great that we're covering Apple devices, but I mean that is part of our due diligence. So, if we're going to the
city council to ask them to approve something, shouldn't we have an understanding about beyond this contract about about what whether this is >> the contract scope that we're being asked to do is only for a year? We don't have the authority to say whether or not we should approve a contract. We only
have the authority since contracts can't be greater than three years to say we'd like an extra year. the authority of actually accepting the contract is held within the chief procurement officer, the superintendent, and the mayor's authority to sign and execute contracts. So, we can only say they're giving us as
in these terms basically a free year if we sign on for four years. So, we can all we can do is authorize the superintendent to go ask the city council to allow us >> to enter a four-year contract. The content of the contract is not under our purview
under chapter 30B. >> Mrs. And what is the benefit for signing a 4-year contract? >> That's a question that >> Yeah. So, the benefit is is that, you know, it it's a system that we currently use. Um, and uh they changed their
pricing model to where they are no longer offering three-year contracts. They're offering either one-year contracts or four-year contracts. And in our discussion with them during our budget development process,
um they essentially I we would be we would be be paying an extra $4,000 than the current rate right now. And instead of getting it for three years, we would get it for four years. Um, and by statute, anything that any contracts
greater than three years, we got to get approval from the city council um to allow us to in enter into a contract. So, it's a product we already use. We have no intentions right now of of of switching vendors because we already
know how to use that. Um and and it's been it's been great for managing our iPad devices and getting content out and getting the right applications out and um making sure the the students are uh that when a student is rostered in a
particular um academic program that we use that it it functions properly on their devices. So it really is about you know this is something we're using. They changed their model. It's the it would probably cost us uh twice as much if we
just went with an annual contract and went with a one-year term and renewed that term every year. So, I thought it was, you know, uh typically we only do one to three-year contracts unless there's a benefit. And in this case, there's a huge cost benefit. We're
essentially getting a whole year for free. >> This is a little bold. Um, so I totally hear what you're saying. Without being able to see the contract, is there an opportunity within that contract if the tech
landscape changes as we know it's rapidly evolving with a AI every other second so that you're updating your technology and your security and all those things that they will do that or are they holding you to the existing thing that you signed today?
we would be so like we would actually pay for this and and we'd be good for another four years. I no I understand that but what I'm saying is the way that technology evolves. So was working on something today um where
an an something was being pushed by some of our from maybe from from Apple or or some or someone else, right? If you have an existing contract that says you have X cookie cutter, this is what we offer you and this new thing comes along, are you going to be able to adapt to that
from an information security perspective? So again, the >> Yes, we would. >> You would. >> Yeah. that. So that's a clause in the contract. >> Um we have termination clauses in all of our contracts with this, you know, uh
with all of our vendors. So if if we're not happy with a product, we we could, you know, we could walk away from it. We we always have that protection in in our contracts. Um, and I haven't run into
any scenarios yet where um where we have partners, particularly software partners or IT partners that, you know, aren't keeping up to date. They, you know, that's how they ultimately get business and make
sure they're they're staying up to date. So like if we ever encounter a problem, my experience with this particular vendor is that we would we would problem solve that together and come to a solution that we both agree to. And if if there was ever a point where I felt
like um we couldn't come to terms for whatever reason, then we would part ways. >> Thank you, Miss Lefave. >> So two questions. The first one, is there a time constraint on on this approval by city council?
Um, so like this would be for next year. So, um, >> this isn't super urgent. >> Okay. So being that um there's so much questions in regards to the contract, the service and and
everything, should we then refer to the joint city council school committee and let them see the whole presentation on the on the contract I or what the service
>> they can but obviously that they don't get to debate the contract. They debate whether it's one year or four year like the the motion request is four years. So the only discussion is centered around should we enter into a four-year agreement. >> Okay. So not even the contents of what
the service is being provided or >> the chief procurement officer, the mayor, superintendent, and I assume the city solicitor um are the ones that deal with the contract on that and have the approval on that. >> Okay. they they approve going into a
different an extra term whether it's anything over three years. We can only contract it like they can only contract it three years unless there's approval governing >> body. That's fine. I'm just talking about I mean um if I'm not mistaken, Miss Lubold, what you're asking is what
are the services that they're providing um like more in depth about who they are and what they provide and whether it's beneficial for our district. Mrs. Lubold. >> Yes, that that's accurate, Mel. But I
also just want a a point of understanding um and perhaps either the mayors or or the superintendent can can share. Um if we're passing this on, right, for the the city council to vote and and I understand what you're saying. You say
we do not own the contract, but from my reading, um, we are liable for student outcomes and we are, uh, presenting something to the city council by our approval that says that this is a
contract that protects student data. And so if I am presenting something that's protecting student data, I want to know that it's protecting student data because that comes back or could come back to our governance board is my
understanding. >> Yeah. I mean I I that language is in there so that a vendor can't you know I think every single one of our IT vendors that we use their platform We make sure in every single one of our
IT contracts that because just because it's their platform, it's our student data, we make sure there's language in there that says they can't take our student data and, you know, and and do what they want with it and sell it or whatever. Um, but as it it really is
just using their software to help manage our iPad devices. And because they're a company and they're allowing us to use their their their program, we we need to have certain protections in place to make sure that the vendor themselves
can't take our information. So we have an accounting software, Munis, that does the same thing. It has all of our employee information. We enter, you know, we engage in a contract with them. like it's an understanding that they can't take our, you know, staff social
security numbers and staff data. So that's just typical language that you see in in software products that you know work with every district. Mayor, >> was your hand up?
>> Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I just wanted to make a comment just as far as when things like this come up and a matter of procedure, you know, each of us ha have a vote and every one
of us have a we have questions and if we're going to get someone's vote, it's that it's going to be contingent upon of whether or not those those questions are are are being answered in adequately to earn that person's vote. And so this is
the first time I think this has this hasn't gone to committee or anything. So I just worry, you know, uh this is just kind of an example as things come up for approval from this body, how we're filtering that
information so that we can make sure that every member's got an an opportunity to get their questions answered, whatever, you know, so that they can earn that yes vote or no vote, however they decide to to vote. And so I I don't know what the timing is. How
quickly do we need to get this in front of the council? And and and Devin is absolutely right like you know the the the the matter before us is as to we're voting on whether or not we want to send this to the council so we can get there for you. So a lot of sounds like a lot
of the work has been done that got us this uh got us here uh to begin with. Um but also you know in a matter of procedure how we should think about how things should get presented
um before um uh you know looking for that whole body vote um to approve something. Uh how we do it I know sometimes timing can be an issue. Um you know normally we'd send it to committee further discussion committee members can ask more
questions. I know in the past we've talked about no one going to committee me meetings. Well, maybe we do it at full body meetings. Um, but either way, we need to kind of figure out um, you know, how do we filter information up
to get members ready to make their votes. Um, so it does just doesn't feel like rubber stamping. Um, that's, you know, just wanted to add that out there. We don't have to answer that or talk about that now, but I'm just observing that right now. and and I worry that as other things come up, we're going to
always have this problem. >> Miss Lefave, >> so I'm going to ask one question, then I'm going to piggyback off of what you you just mentioned. Um, Mayor Garcia, the first question is, how long have we been with this company? Um, Mr. Sodto,
>> we've been with this company for three years. >> Okay. With that being said, we were in receiverhip. So, are we saying that we're going to pull every contract now that we're out of receiverhip and then start sending them to committee before we even start making approvals? Because if that's what the plan is, then I
suggest we start getting a move on. >> No, second. Can I address that? >> No, we're not doing that. >> Um, we did that just so I mean the finance subcommittee took every contract that was greater than three years, which would be in the extension and we just
did that. >> Okay. >> So, that's been done. So, okay. But >> I mean that's part of the complex done. >> But I think we we all need to then really understand what our roles are then as school committee members. Um and
to no offense um Miss Lubold, but um we're really at this point we're nitpicking a lot of things and we have some major things that we really need to be addressing versus um a contract such as this. Just
like with anything, if we've had these this contract already for that long, have we had any data breach, any student breach, anything, >> we have not >> we haven't um and and however you look at it, it can happen at any given time with anything as people are getting
smarter with with um you know, hacking into systems and whatever. It's not something that we can guarantee with 100% that it's never going to happen, but this is a company that we've continued to use. Um, well, we've used for three years. We haven't had an issue
yet. Um, so I'm just not sure where where we're going to end up going, but I'm starting to feel um just >> I don't even know how to even start with
how I'm starting to feel. Um, >> I'm looking at my role as a member to ensure that our students success, right? our student success, making sure that um we're meeting the needs of our students, the district, our staff, everything combined.
>> But to sit here for the past maybe 20 minutes, 25 minutes on this contract, either we're going to send it to committee and we're going to start doing that so that people can um see it from the very like this is all the services they provide and whether or not you like it or not, whatever. Then let's get that
done and over with. I understand that it's already been heard in finance and operations. >> Not this. >> Oh, no. But I'm just saying um other contracts that are are expiring when they come up again, if they come up here, the questions are going to be so prepare yourselves. So either we do this
already now and start sending everything over to the joint city council school committee for them to review and go through the whole thing. But for us to sit here and to over this one specific contract 25 minutes and the other thing
is when I mentioned at our last meeting there are certain things that should come to the full committee and other things that go to another one was like the the superintendent um whatever it was the superintendent
evaluation however that gets done here when it came to the panorama survey. What do you sending it to committee for what to then for me to say oh was complied with when that should have been everybody to have an ability to speak upon um
>> the survey results it shouldn't be just the committee >> focus on the motion >> I am focusing on the motion >> I first of all respectfully I I do appreciate um Mildred where you're coming from and I do and recognize that
my questions about data protection ction um may feel uh intrusive or o over the line, but I want for us to maybe consider my point of view about why I'm asking that. And that is for student
outcomes. It is for student protection. It is for the protection of our families and it is the protection for our community. when we look at contracts like this and what exposure there could or may or may not be you know potentially I can't tell that
in in a good faith effort from a memo from our IT department how I can look at that intelligently and feel confident to the mayor's point is by having a link to the contract to review it I recognize
that what is before us is something to send to the cent something to send to the city council. But I in no way, shape, or form feel confident in passing that on to the city council without doing my due diligence as an elected official. That is my job. That is why
we're here. So that is why I'm asking these questions and I realize that it takes an an amount of time. But this is serious business and the care and protection of our community, the care and protection of our schools, our children, their families and their data, particularly sensitive data in which,
you know, I was at a meeting just the other other week talking about some some policies entering student data that were not being applied to. So, you know, this is a real issue and it's going to get increasingly worse as the technology landscape evolves and we need to have
our eye on this and that's that is my point. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Miss Feliciano. >> Yes. >> Miss Lar Martinez. >> Yes. >> Miss Tensey Williams. >> Yes.
>> Mr. >> Yes. >> Michaelson. >> Yes. >> Miss Lau. >> No. >> Mayor Garcia. >> Yes. Uh >> Dr. for Cologne. >> Yes. And Mr.
>> Yes. >> Anything else for your report, Mr. Stoodto? >> No. Thank you. >> Moving on to out of state field trips. Morgan Elementary School, High Meadows. The school committee vote to accept the out ofstate field trip to High Meadows, North N, Connecticut on May 28th, 2026.
>> So moved. Is there a >> second? Second. Moved and seconded. Seconded. Any discussion? Roll call, please. >> Mr. Fave, >> yes. >> LeBron Martinez, >> yes. >> Miss Ty Williams, >> yes.
>> Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Cologne. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Budget transfers and reports. The school committee approve the budget transfer.
>> It shouldn't be approved. That the school committee vote to refer to finance and operations subcommittee the budget transfer for language access services and the purchase of a wheelchair van using >> move. Second. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call, please.
>> Mave. >> Yes. >> Martinez. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Maza. >> Yes. >> Mr. Michael. Yes. >> Yes. >> Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Rick. >> Yes. >> Yes.
Uh, warrant approval report. The school committee vote to accept the report of warrants reg226F-6 and reg 0326A-J. Approve as listed above. >> So move. >> Moved. Is there a second? Moved and seconded. Any discussion?
>> Second it. >> Roll call, please. >> Mrs. B. Yes, >> Mr. R Martinez. >> Yes, >> Miss Tenzy Williams. >> Yes, >> Mr. Zaza. >> Yes. >> Uh, Miss Bo. >> Yes. >> U Garcia. >> Yes.
>> Colon. >> Yes. >> Yes. Appointment to the parent and community engagement committee that the school committee vote to approve the appointment of uh Mrs. Lubold chair, Mrs. Lero Martinez, and Miss Ms. Tensley Williams to the parent and community engagement committee to support the
parent groups. Moved. Is there a second? >> Any discussion? Mrs. Lefave, >> I just want a clear understanding of what will be the role of these three school committee members on um
this ad hoc I'm what is it an ad hoc committee or creating this committee? um >> or was this committee already established by by parents and and community members and now you're appointing three school committee
members? So, I just need to know what the role and extent of their work will be. I want to make sure that we're not crossing boundaries and and now um kind of telling our directors how to do things versus working in collaboration
and and providing assistance and support as needed. >> Uh Dr. River Cologne, are you able to >> This was Yes. This was in response of getting um reports about recruitment and
support for the different parent groups and in order to be able to get those reports and be able to have the right questions from the district. That's the purpose of this particular ad hoc committee.
Okay. So then what will be then? So they get this report. Then what is it only for the three school committee members to have that information versus just doing an FYI
um update maybe, you know, monthly or quarterly on the school committee agenda where it's just an FYI that it's just added in there for our knowledge. So like how long is this ad hoc committee? Is this something that's just going to
be forever? >> Dr. Verone. >> Well, that would be the decision of the full committee as we move forward, but this is an attempt to be able to have regular reports to the full um school
committee as a response for more communication with the parent groups in the district. Good. >> Any other discussion? >> Is Lefave. >> Oh, you heard me breathe.
>> I thought you were about to I thought you raised your hand. >> Okay. So, >> I know where probably where this is coming from. It's from the discussion as to um through the leadership and
accountability measurement subcommittee where we did meet with the um special education um director as well as the multi- language learners director and they did discuss the concerns about um parent
engagement and how we don't have you know parents haven't signed up to be like the the president, vice president, secretary and it's not really driven by the parents themselves. Um, but what I am going to acknowledge is
that they're doing everything that they can, right? Um, these directors are are are doing all that they can to get people engaged. Um the and and it's not I don't want to use it like saying that they don't the
families don't want to get engaged is that they also have priorities. Right. >> Focus your comments on the moment. >> Right. Well, this has to do with the voting to approve appointments to this. I want to make sure that this committee is not going to be like on top of the
special education director or the multi- language learner director whatever like saying but you haven't done enough because we have to acknowledge that they have they they are doing enough. We can't force people to take on roles of that of what should
be led by the parents. Um I know we did h when Dr. Reich was here. He had appointed myself and Miss Burks to serve no myself at that point because Miss Burks wasn't here to serve
as a special education um co-chair. And my role was not to direct them on how to do the work. It was to be there and and to support and assist. I want to make sure that that's how we're going and we're not going as the ones that are driving
driving these meetings. And like that's where >> the intent for this is for information gathering, identifying any barriers that we might be able to help eliminate or things like this. It's not in any
um way to be there's boundaries, right? We're not going to be there telling them what to do or how to do it. We do not oversee or manage any of the parent subgroups or anything like that. We're not replacing existing communication
channels either. This is more a focus on district-wide engagement in general to be able to have a place where we can gather information, serve as the liaison between the school committee and the um parent group. So that way we can gather
and hear the feedback from these groups to the full committee. is all support alignment but there's no overseeing or all or coordination or anything like that. >> Thank you. >> Not yet. You can soon.
>> Not soon. >> Not yet. Mrs. Lubold. >> Yes. Um thank you. Yeah. I I just wanted to say that I I didn't I mean I I didn't get the sense of of of a of a negative incentive of of policing what they're doing. it was more of a
supportive role to to Dr. Rivera Cologne's point gathering information and to uh um Miss Labar Martinez's earlier point with our student uh guests um thinking outside of the box and being
partners in that ideation so that we can help from an engagement perspective as we live in this community as well. Um and so it to me it was a partnership opportunity, an information gathering opportunity and then something that we
actually have um line of sight into when we get reports like the Pan River Panorama survey for example to be able to have real world knowledge of what type of engagement barriers there are and what kind of things might work in the same way that our guests were here today. That that was how I was viewing
it. >> Mrs. Liberal Martinez >> if if I'm not mistaken and correct me if I'm wrong, Miss Labal, but um I think you came back from the conf uh from the conference, right, that you got certified and you learned about the fact that this is required. It's not a
>> Yes. Um and that is why also >> it was put in front of us to kind of think about it and see how we could be of any support to what it isn't happening and not to point fingers or not to I have enough in my plate to go
and follow people around and figure out what they're not doing. But um my thing is that I think you know we can hopefully help identifying um individuals who can get involved if they're not and definitely we got to go
and meet with those who are running these meetings already and see what they may having barriers or what are they lacking to see how we could be of any support. So that's why I got involved. Thank you. >> Mrs. Tensley Williams.
First of all, who do we think we are? I don't believe in being bullies. First of all, we need to work with the parents. I don't argue with people because I don't get into that kind of stuff. I was a parent. I raised two sons single-handedly, but I know it was with
God's help. But the point is we we can't take over. Oh, I'm the boss. Nobody's the boss. We need to get in the group, help the people, be there for the parents. So that what whenever whatever comes out of the meeting, it will be correct and
everyone will be happy. That's all I'm saying. I'm not joining anything to tell parents what to do because I was a parent. But we need to work with the parents. That's why I'm on the school board. Okay? So thank you guys. >> Any other discussion? Roll call, please.
Mr. >> F. Enough is enough. It's a hard one. I'm sorry. >> I know I will be asked, but my answer is going to be no. >> Mr. Ron Martinez, >> yes. >> Miss Kenzie Williams,
>> yes. >> Mr. Zaza, >> yes. >> Mr. Mike, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Mayor Garcia, >> yes. >> Dr. Cologne, >> yes. >> Yes. Moving on to approval of minutes. Are
there Does anyone have any amendments to any of the listed minutes? I will entertain a motion to accept and approve the February 9th, 2026 school committee meeting minutes, the March 9th, 2026
school committee meeting minutes. The September 10th, 2025 policy and governance subcommittee minutes. the October 8th, 2025 policy and government subcommittee minutes and the March 2nd, 2026 finance and operations meeting minutes. >> There are seconds.
>> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Yes. >> Um Martinez. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Garcia. >> Yes. Dr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen. >> Yes. Um, item F is just an FYI of the new appointment of the Morgan School principal. No actions needed, but you all have that updates of committees, uh,
finance and operation or policy and governance subcommittee. I know Miss Wilson is not here. Is there any update from any members of the committee? Oh, >> there doesn't have to be. I'm just if I know we have action later on, but
Mr. Michaelelsson, >> so we we definitely approved uh at least a couple policies that are come to the full committee. Um we looked at um was about advertising and revenue for clubs.
Um so that'll be coming and it was cooperation with other districts. And one other thing was we looked at the enrollment process for Dean which changed to a full lottery system instead of a uh more of a subjective system
where you could insert different it's it's completely a lottery system and that was based on a change to state law in 2025 November. Um so those three things should be coming to us at full committee probably in two weeks.
>> Okay. Moving on to finance and operations and there's some action items that the school committee vote to accept and approve the 2526 midyear project list as attached. >> So moved. There a second. Any discussion?
>> Roll call, please. >> Yes. >> Miss Lebron Martinez. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Oh, sorry. Miss Tenzy Williams. Excuse me. >> That's okay. Yes. Yes.
>> Yes. >> Mayor Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shane. >> Yes. >> Moving on to budget transfer. Uh request the school committee vote to approve the budget transfer report of March 23rd, 2026.
There motion. So moved. There. Second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Yes. Martinez. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Uh as you can see the committee also complied with two orders that are listed uh within the agenda. Uh the next meeting of the committee will be May
7th. uh and that will be to review the uh FY27 budget and make recommendations to this committee and it's at 6 o'clock at the Hoyok High School uh media center uh joint city council school committee.
Anything to report? >> Um Martinez. >> Yes. I just want to share that I just learned today through Miss Labolt that there the the item of the um general law chapter 40 that we um that it went in front of us already as a joint committee
for the school bus violation detection. It's going to be taken it's going to be taken up by the governance committee of the city council on the 28th of this month. I looked up on the page but it's not up yet on the clerk on the um site. I'm sorry but I learned that it is. So
just for us to be aware of that that's all. >> Okay. Thank you. Leadership accountability measurement. Miss Lefave, do you have anything? >> We have to reschedule our meeting. It would have been held tonight. Um but obviously the this meeting was moved. >> Okay. >> I'll be reaching out.
>> Moving on to ongoing business. Um the tabled approval of $10,000 grant from project leadway. Lead the way. The school committee vote to accept the $10,000 grant from project lead the way. And project lead the way is the grtor. So moved. Is there a second? >> Second.
>> Any discussion? Mrs. Leave, >> could you just help me to remember why it was tabled? >> Because the grand tour wasn't listed there. >> Oh, okay. >> Uh, roll call, please. >> Mr. F. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rinez, >> yes.
>> Williams, >> yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Dr. Cologne. >> Yes. >> Yes. Moving on to uh policy updates,
removals, additions. That the school committee vote to receive recommended changes to above to policy BB and recommend that the interim superintendent review recommended changes and post the
policy for feedback comments for two weeks. >> So moved. So move. >> Is there a second? Any discussion? Mrs. Lef. Ms. >> Lefave. >> Mrs. Rodriguez. >> Changing. Mrs. Rodriguez. That's right.
It'll be changing soon. Got to update everything. >> It changed a long time. >> Two years almost. >> That's right. >> It was just there. There's a process for that. >> I can only do one thing a year. Okay. All right. So,
Um, you know, I've been sitting because I was part of the the policy subcommittee meeting that discussed this and I just sat back and really thinking about and it's like I said earlier, I think we're
taking this to another level of um really micromanaging how things are being done. And so my concern is if something's not done, clearly the the red items that are here, what is going to be the full
extent of this? Are we not going to accept and then we're going to have to cancel meetings because we're not getting the things appropriately um such as getting a brief summary, um plain language.
I'm just really concerned as to how indepth we're getting here versus you know we have more important things and I'm not saying that not I individuals with disability that I'm not
meeting their needs um because overall I am the first one trying to meet their needs but now we're taking this to another extent and if it's not met then But is this where we're going to start saying we're not going according to our policy, so we can't can't submit this
agenda. We can't do this. I mean, I think we're just going a bit too far on how the agenda is going to be written in every presentation that's done. >> Um, Mrs. Lold. >> So,
I appreciate where you're coming from because standards can can feel um coming over the top, but basic communication standards are critical. We are overseeing a $1.25 million organization and we need to show up at
the table and act like it. So when we get reports in that do not have basic executive summaries so that not just that we access but that the public accesses. We have engagement issues that we talk about around this table all the time. People cannot engage with
something that they don't understand. So it is critical to adhere to some basic standards in communication so that people can access the information that we are talking about. If we want community interaction, we need to give people something that they can
understand. And there have been multiple reports that have come to this body, and I have heard many of us on across this table say, "I don't understand this. I don't know what this means." Multiple times. And that doesn't have to be that way. So, are we going to send people
back to the principal's office because they didn't come with the perfect executive summary? No. I'm just talking about uniform standards and it needs to be codified because everyone shows up with a different standard. Uniform standards can help alleviate that problem.
>> And I agree, >> Mr. Michaelelsson, your hand up. So, uh, I definitely appreciate where both of you are coming from and I understand the the feeling that it it comes off as critical like like critical like do it this way.
Um, I think we had an example of this not that long ago, right, where we we had some panorama information and we were we were trying to talk about it and trying to figure out what we were going to do about it and we tabled it and Mr. Sto came back the next meeting and he presented something totally different.
Um and I I think that says right what happened with that process was how I picture this going forward right is hey you missed the executive summary let's let's bring that back two weeks from now but now it's in plain English that says
hey can you give us a can you give us an executive summary with that so that we can all digest it the public can understand it everybody understands it so I think in in crafting this yeah I understand that it looks ownerous, but I think it the intent is not to be
ownorous. The intent is to make sure everything is understandable before we sit here at our meeting and discuss it. >> Miss Lef. >> And so the title of this is the agenda
format. Now this went further in depth which I did question before when it came to um the public discussion meeting all that
because basically what this is saying is how the agenda is going to be formatted. If we're looking to institute more indepth processes of how things are going to be submitted
to the you know for the packages so you're supporting documents then to me that's something that would then fall under the superintendent procedures for submitting
supporting material for whatever is coming onto an agenda, not so much that this is coming into the agenda format. Cuz to me, when I'm reading agenda format, the agenda format is that we're going to arrange it in the order on how
we're going to it's going to be new business, public comment, blah blah blah, and keeps going. The part where it says the agenda together with supporting materials will be distributed to school committee members three calendars days prior to
which even that right there I even had mentioned that's like that should be in the other area that has to do with how the school committee receives it not how the format of the agenda is. So again this type of stuff should have
then been asked of this the interim superintendent what is your process for submitting the the supporting materials and if they have a process like should be done you know whenever the school committee asks for something and the supporting materials we needed a week
before the the agenda sent out to the school committee members then that's where he would also he or she would also put in there and this is how we would like it presented. That's a process for them of how they would want their staff
to do the work, right? Because at the end of the day, >> who's going to be monitoring this and saying, it's not going to be our our our assistant to make sure that it's all written in the way that it should be and to say that yes, that's that's the appropriate
um summary that the school committee is looking to receive. And yes, that is fully in plain language how the school committee wanted to receive it. That would be the job of the interim superintendent to make sure that the staff that he requested that work from
and whatever he pre he or she presents to us reflects what what's in here if that's what's written into his procedures at this time. >> Mrs. Lubald,
>> I guess I just think differently about professional standards when we're communicating and we have as Mr. Mr. Michaelelsson aptly pointed out there have been things that have been tabled and have come back to us that have been fabulous. There has been and I've mentioned a couple of points where
there's been communication about uh field trips or extracurricular activities that weren't explained and then um the next the next meeting they were explained so that we and the public and again this is about also the public who also gets our agendas who we also
are begging to engage with us right this is what this is about. So while these are may seem ownorous to to uh a lay person look looking at this, I assure you that they are basic
communication standards that we already know um the capability exists within the school department to do because they do it. I'm just asking for a consistency. That's that's what and and that's what the public deserves no less so that they
can understand what is being shared in a report. You shouldn't just get numbers on a page and figure it out for yourself. That's that's just not how this works. We're not synthesizers. >> Dr. Verlone,
>> thank you. I agree with the spirit of the proposal, but I think that there are some things that we also have to consider. Um, so I in order for this to come back, I would have certain amendments,
recommendations, and so on and so forth. And I'm not going to say all of them right now because I can send them to the the chair so that she can bring them forward. But this would increase staff
workload and preparation time. So this could be challenging depending from which department a particular report is coming from depending on how many people they're available. Um we also with a with a what was it
called the executive summary we have the risk of oversimplifying things that are important just because we want to make it fit one page. It may miss nuance things or technical details that might lead to misunderstandings or things
might be minimized or unintentionally misleading just because we have we're trying to make it simpler. Um, not to mention, of course, that then we would have delays in agenda items.
Maybe now something that was supposed to come forward sooner because they don't have an executive summary. Now, they have to wait until the following meeting and now we won't be able to see things in the appropriate time. Also, there
might be inconsistencies with what we call plain language. Because if one department thinks that something is plain language and then another department thinks that something else is plain language, that might make it difficult to then simplify what it is that we are asking for. Um, it will be
redundant for the people who actually know what the summaries are. And um and just like some of my colleagues had mentioned before, so I don't I won't take too long on that, but also the enforcement, right? Like what's going to happen if we do or we don't, right? Like
that's going to be also an another level of of overseeing that we may not have. Um but that not to say that there couldn't be other things that we could do like spell out acronyms is important. People should
know that, but it might we might need to think about how we do that in in a better way. I don't think that policy might be the right place for it. Thank you,
>> Mrs. Lubold. So, Madam Chair, so and perhaps I can ask this to the more senior levels of uh on the on the group, but what and again as I mentioned that we are overseeing
over a $1.25 million organization. What are our standards and expectations for people to come before us as a board so that we can consume information and make educated decisions about them? What what are our standards? because I don't see any uniform standards that have come
across our desk at all. So, so what are they? What is the professional standard for this committee? Miss Lefave >> and I'm going to go back where then that would be
the job of the interim superintendent superintendent to create that process for school committee meetings. when his staff has asked for something or when we technically ask them the the
superintendent for something then delegates delegates it to whomever the director is for that department he need you know to receive that information that's for them to tell them how this is going to be the uniform way of doing it
to submit to the school committee um the other thing that we could do is is we don't want or you know when it comes to let's say using acronyms
then we specifically just ask hey I don't understand these acronyms can we stop using acronyms but it may happen that it'll pop up again at some time but are we going to hold up everything if someone submitted with the acronyms and
now you know what it's we're taking that off of the agenda because the agenda has to be posted. And going back to who is going to be responsible to ensure that everything is to the tea, even though like I said before, that section right there has nothing to do with the agenda
format. Nothing whatsoever. Because in the agenda itself, when you're looking at what we're going to discuss, the brief summary is not going to show up in there. It's not going to say it right there, you know, under the thing. That's supporting documentation. documents.
That's something completely different from just the agenda of what we're going to talk about at what specific time. But we do receive the information. Yes. Do we have to do a little bit of extra work that if we want to Google something or find something to really get in-depth
knowledge of it? Yeah, we have to do that work. Not everything is given to us like here's all the answers that you're ever because you know what? There's always going to be that one question that it would have never dawned on me that somebody was going to ask me. And
now I'm at fault for not having that darn answer. And yes, I'm going to have to come back the following meeting to provide you that answer. And I'm feeling like that's where we're going. It's these are becoming aha, you didn't do it. that we're doing aha moments right now because they didn't come fully
prepared thinking of every single question that any one of us committee members are going to ask. So this is what I'm going to ask each member right now. If you really have in-depth questions about anything or you feel that you did not receive the adequate
information that you need before showing up to this meeting or any meeting, even your subcommittee meetings, make that phone call. Send that email and say, "I need a onetoone with you. Here's all this that I received. Explain it right
now so that when we come in here, you have your information." But sometimes we do have to dig. There's things that I have to dig to find, especially when I'm doing the panorama survey. Dig here, dig there. What they're doing, I have to go everywhere. It's not given and handed to
me. Like my husband always says, it ain't going to come out and jump at you in your face. You're going to have to look for it. And that's that's basically where I'm at right now. >> Dr. Rivera Cologne, >> I just wanted to add that policies should govern highlevel rules, not
formatting details. And I feel like this at this point is more operational than policy level. >> Mrs. Lubold. >> So the reason that this came to be just for our background sake
was because we were talking about this and we were asking about you know how things come before the committee and to to better understand to to do our jobs. And we were told that
an order should be filed and it should be submitted to the policy and governance committee for for basic principle. You can edit these down you know make them what you want. This is not a micromanaging play. It's just
an expectation of coming to us with information that we can understand. I have no problem as you all know because we've talked about it in certain ways tonight of doing my homework and digging and understanding things.
Clearly I don't lack that that ability. But in a governance role, I don't think that we are synthesizers. I am not a subject matter expert in education. You all are. So if you are speaking just like you are speaking to
students or any other audience, it should be coming to us in things that we can access. We've had multiple meetings or subcommittee meetings and I know Miss Lebron Martinez had mentioned we had a wonderful meeting where we had Rebecca Thompson come in and explain things in
plain language to us that was the best meeting that we had ever attended. So these are gold standards. So that's when I ask madam chair what are our standards where where do where do we draw the line
to have some uniformity so not just that we as a board are accessing the information correctly and understanding and coming prepared to Mildred's point to be able to ask right questions or not have to ask any questions at all because we get it you know um that that's that I
guess that's the spirit of this and if it's a little bit too detailed then Let's whack it down, but come up with something as a group so that we can all understand the information that's coming before us. >> I'm I'm going to comment because I
haven't commented yet before Dr. Rivera Cologne and Miss Lefave. So, I understand um I understand having stuff streamlined for the public and understandable for
the public, but I also personally have issues with executive summaries. And it's from issues that we have had over the years. It's issues that we've had during receiverhip and pre-receivership that we would get
selective storytelling in executive summaries that we would have that we would use terms like overall performance improved but we never talked about certain subgroups and the inequities that were in certain areas and I think that there is danger in providing a
summary because we may read or we should read the 50page report that goes along with something. But as we're giving this out to the public and what's being picked up on social media and what's being picked up by the press is all too often the one page. It's what can be fit
in a tweet and that is there's just a lot of omission and we leave out data with that and I understand I I'm fully supportive in making things understandable for people but >> the
I am just very cautious because of seeing some things that have gone on and not under Mr. I these comments are in no means anything that's happened in the past few years working with Mr. Sodto, but I think it's something that when you
work in these environments that often times, especially when dealing with data and talking about improvement, that executive summaries often highlight and we highlight the good that goes out there, but we don't talk about the gaps that persist persist that are out there
and that um that we really don't talk about and we omit the challenges of what our historically marginalized communities um sometimes in executive summaries because we're looking for a one paragraph or a one page or whatever it may be. That's my concern with something
like that and that is my challenge is the the access the um the points about being able to visually be able to read all of our do I I'm okay with all of that. It's the fact that we are the
summarizing of details that my worry is not necessarily the 10 people sitting at this table, but it's what is pulled out of that and pushed out into our media that high that could unintentionally
not highlight some of the things that we need to highlight because people aren't going to tune in necessarily to a meeting or do the deep dive. That's my concern with an executive summary on that. I think I had >> Mrs. Lefave and Mrs. Lubold as speakers next.
>> So, um, uh, Dr. Rivera Cologne, I think, you know, really, I guess there's a lot of a lot of, um, things that really need to be addressed kind of of how the the school committee is receiving information. And I know you're looking
at um scheduling a retreat, but I think this is where we all need to bring what we want or what we expect out of this. Um especially not currently right now up
until June 30th, but even beyond as of July 1st, moving forward with the new superintendent. So that way they're also aware of what our expectations are as a committee. Same goes for our goals. Um, as school committee members, same thing.
So, I'm not sure where we're in line with that, but if if we can just move that along. >> Yeah, there should be a poll coming out soon for that to pick the date.
Yeah, I just wanted to say that that is a an excellent point about the executive summar being taken out of context um for and I I totally hear your point on that. Um and you know I also feel that if we do
feel strongly about standards that we can certainly hack and edit this. I mean, I think that was the spirit of it is is to say like if this doesn't meet your expectations, what will um because I think the need of standards remains critically important and I'm not opposed
or or wedded to even what's there. It's just what is what is our standard and what should it be so that people know. Um and then lastly, I just wanted to correct the record because I was looking at my notes and my discalculia got a the best of me. It's 125 million, not one
2.5 million. So thanks uh my learning disability in full display. >> Okay. So two things. One is in the context of the executive summary, right? One of the one of the key things was actions being taken to plan next steps, right? I would think that if you had
glaring discrepancies, right? I I hear absolutely everything you said. I would think that that would kind of be addressed. you know, if there was a particular action that needed to be taken, I think that would be kind of indicative of anything that might be buried in the data. Um, so that's kind
of point one. Point two is there is another change to this policy below. Um, I don't it's basically just making the accessibility of getting onto the agenda through contacting the superintendent via email, not just through mail. I just
wanted to draw your attention to that as well. I I I just want to say that it looks like um of course I was away um for years and coming back to the school board that it seems like we're lacking
also the part of um briefing those new members who are coming and those that are on board are more knowledgeable of certain rules or or formats that are being used including myself. I'm still learning, believe it or not, in two and a half years, two years that I've been
here. Um, and I'm glad that we're having this retreat because it'll help us kind of define ways that, you know, we can better communicate or receive what we're getting. Um, because that's a dangerous um moment when somebody can vote on something that is really not briefed
enough or understand what is happening. Um, that was something that, you know, I being at the city council had to do a lot of work on my own to try to figure out the reality and the the the the what could be favorable or detrimental to our
community. So, I just want to say that I think the retreat would help a lot with um what's going on with our processing here. Thank you. I have um an amended motion. I think
somebody an amendment to the motion. >> An amendment to the Okay. >> Okay. So um or would it would it be an amendment would be to remove that whole thing about in the interest of transparency
and one two three four because I'm going back to agenda I agenda format refer that back to policies subcommittee
for it to be reviewed under CL administrative reports, which is what we receive. And if we're talking about how we want to receive it, that's where it would be. And then
without that on there, motion for the first read on what's left of it, which is actually about the agenda. >> Okay. So, can I Or should we just refer the whole thing back?
>> So are you indicating that you believe this is falling under the wrong policy? >> Yes, that that section the other stuff like agendas will be posted according that's fine. >> This whole thing from in
to SANS. So I would probably recommend that you send it back to policy committee to make the corrections if they didn't put it in the correct policy. >> So then that'll be my motion would be to refer
>> be. >> So it's to amend the motion rather than to post but to refer back to the policy. Okay. >> Is there a second on the motion? Any amendment? >> Second that. Any discussion on the amendment to refer back to policy for
revision? Roll call, please. >> Mr. Leave. >> Yes. >> Martinez. >> Yes. >> Missy Williams. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Garcia.
>> Yes. >> Dr. Cologne. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> So that was an amendment. And on the main motion, which is really just the spirit of the amendment that we have to vote again, um we only amended the
original motion. So now we have to vote on the motion as amended. Um which is to refer it back. So uh any other discussion? Roll call, please. >> M. >> Yes. >> Bar Martinez. >> Yes. >> Miss Williams.
>> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Michaelelsson. >> Yes. Yes. Mayor >> Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Cologne. >> Yes. >> Yes. Okay. Moving on. The announcements
are there. I will now entertain a motion to enter executive session for the purposes of collective bargaining with all units and uh superintendent contract. >> Moved >> and not to return and not to return to
open session. >> So moved. >> Is there a second? Second. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. F. >> Yes. >> Mr. Brown Martinez. >> Yes. >> Miss Ty Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr.
>> Yes. Mr. >> Yes. Mayor Garcia. >> Yes. Dr. >> Yes. And Mr. >> Yes.