All right. Are we live? We are live. Great. Good evening and welcome back to the Thursday, May 15, 2025 meeting of the school committee. We have just returned from executive session and I would invite those here in the studio to please rise for the pledge of allegiance.
Where did uh Oh, okay. That is a minor um we'll just pledge. I'll pledge on. We can pledge to that one. There's one. We'll pledge over there. All right. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Right. That was that was a surprise. We're improvising, but we did well because here somewhere. All right. So, we have uh on our first order of business, we
have public comment. I do not see uh anybody from unless Abby, you're here to speak as a public. Okay. That we have nobody here for public comment at this time. Uh that moves us into recognitions. Does anybody have recognitions they would like to share? I
don't have them all, but I know that I don't have her name. I didn't pull up the email. the new vice or the new president of um Business Professionals of America uh is a young lady from here in Hopington.
I wish I had her name at this moment. It's embarrassing. Is she one of those that has been on the trip? Yes. Yes, she's been in BPA for forever. Okay. I had not heard that. That's very exciting. And if I can find the email, I will be able to give a
name. Okay. All right. And I just want to let people know that we do have Chris Masters here on uh remotely and that means that all of the votes that we will take will be taken uh by roll call vote tonight. Uh does anybody else have any
recognitions to share? We'll I will embed mine in the superintendent report. But you're making a little cliffhanger there. So people report. All right. And the student council report uh is the first one listed. Savannah is not here. I'm guess she's guessing she's busy with
um school stuff. Does she have one more meeting with us? I hope. Okay, we hope one. Yeah, we hope one more. Okay. And then that brings us into the superintendence report so we can Okay. also hear your recognition. All right. I think I am connected to the TV. I just
need Bob to give me the access to it. I have Oh, you want to share the name while we're waiting? I don't think I can say it. Bob, that's okay. I just need to connect. Try again. I'll undo.
Okay, let me start again. Yep. Oh, it's over on the other computer. That's why. No wonder. No, that's okay. I'm perfectly fine. Okay, so this is the superintendent report for May 15,
2025. Um, and tonight I want to talk a little bit about the Hopkins school gas leak that occurred on Tuesday. Um, so it was just about 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, which was May 13th, and that's when the leak occurred. Um, it
occurred at a position called the regulator, which is just before the meter. And as soon as Hopkins school personnel smelled the gas, they called the fire department because that's what we always do. Whether you think you're smelling just a little bit of gas, if you think you're smelling a lot of gas, uh you
pick up the phone and call the fire department. Um when we realized that the odor was growing stronger, um right after that call was made, we pulled the fire alarm to start the evacuation process. Literally the fire department was on scene in two minutes from station
to Hopkins school two minutes. So the time was phenomenal. Um there have been people who have asked us uh was the leak related to Hopkins construction and the answer to that is no. The Hopkins construction is way on the other side of that building. Uh we are currently still
in the investigation process as to uh why that happened. So once we had the kids outside, we called both the middle school and the high school to determine who would have space. And while the athletic center at the high school is an enormous space, AP testing was happening in there on that
day. So both the Brown gym and the Doyle gym at the middle school were free. And so we were able to put our fourth graders in the Doyle gym and the fifth graders in the Brown gym. And if people are wondering what this looked like for kids, you can see our fourth graders
here and they're just sitting on the floor and kind of patiently watching a movie in the beginning. There was some buffering in the movie and they'd watch a little bit and then it would freeze and they'd go boo. That that came right back. And I I
will say, you know, that our kids are so well behaved that they left that school, they walked with their teachers, they got to the next location, they started watching movies, they were terrific. Really, there was not a a single kid that just didn't do exactly what was
anticipated. Absolutely. Um, so I do want to, this is my recognition for tonight, thank to all of the educators, our paraprofessionals, tutors, teachers, administrators, district directors, central office personnel, everyone. I can't tell you,
our custodial staff. There were so many people that helped with student management and I just need to say thank you to them. Um, the other group of people that we need to say thank you to are the cafeteria workers because when we realized that Hopkins was not going
to be able to produce any lunches whatsoever, Elmwood Marathon, um, the high school and the middle school, uh, we got in touch with their cafeteria staffs and they were able to produce enough lunches to feed all of those kids at Hopkins. Did it violate some kind of
law? Somebody told me that about you could like like you can't make meals somewhere else and bring them in. Uh not that I know if I I think that typically schools do that very
frequently about that because Yeah. Because um that we were going to do that because I know in Pennsylvania they do it or did it. Yeah. Okay. I wouldn't know anything that prohibited us from doing that. And you know, it was so interesting because they
would say, "All right, we can do 40 sandwiches. We can do 25 sun butters. We can do 81 chicken nuggets." And we're just all watching text as you know, the lunches were accumulating. Great teamwork. Yeah, it was fantastic. Um, I also want to thank the Hopkin Fire
Department. Really to be there in two minutes was astounding. Um, and the police were there also. Um, one of the school resource officers who we uh affectionately call Goose was able to be at Hopkins then go with the kids up to
the middle school. Oh, excellent. Yeah. So, it was about 10:50 a.m. when the leak was controlled, which was great. Um, they had just turned it off at the main. They didn't have Eversource. Um, they weren't able to fix the the
regulator at that time. Um but by 11:20 all the kids and the staff had returned to Hopkins building and they were kind of back at it. U the fifth grade MCCAST was taking place. It was it was and then it wasn't
and so that was cancelled for the day. Um I believe that was the loudest uproar of the entire week was when the fifth graders found out that they would not be resuming MCCAST that day but instead they would have a continuation. I think I heard that over there was no booing there. Yeah. Are they able to like keep
as completed the parts that they'd already done and then just move on? Yeah. So, Desessie affords districts a protocol and um a work flow, so to speak, whenever something like this happens. And you'll you'd be surprised to know how how often uh interruptions
or irregularities happen with MCCAST. So, we phone them, we report what's going on, we ask if they uh Oh, we ask if they want us to do anything in particular. Um and then we follow through there. Okay, that's great. Well, appreciate all of the the
teamwork and I know that that took a lot from administrators as well. So, yes, and then uh apparently there are only four people who could repair our particular regulator and so they Eversource did come um overnight replace the regulator and honestly on Wednesday
morning you wouldn't have known anything ever happened. Great. So, I mean, not great that it happened, but great that it is. So, thank goodness because in all honesty, I mean, I think it's probably like a a three-inch pipe maybe, and it was just I mean, that much gas was coming out. So, wow. Um, there was we
were standing in the parking lot, but when we first got there, um, and you could really smell gas even while you were in the great outdoors. So, all right. And so really thank you to the kids, first responders, emergency personnel, all of the school staff. It
was it was quite a day and really by noon time it was under two hours that we went from, you know, great concern to it was all wrapped up. So is that I didn't know if you had anything else. No, that's all. I'm
sorry. Oh, no, that's okay. Uh, all right. Anybody have any questions for Dr. Kavanagh? No, but I do have that name. Oh, yes. Go ahead. Sorry. I'm hoping I pronounce it correctly. Cash out ways. And she's been
a member of BPA since her freshman year. Yeah. So, that's a fabulous really big thing to be president of the young. Yeah. Wow. That is well I would be nice if we wanted to invite BPA to to a meeting after. I'm
surprised that that hasn't given us all the results yet. All right. So that brings us then into the school committee chair report. Uh warrants 25-103S25-106s 25-107s
25-018s had been approved uh included in your folder. Do people have any liaison reports? Okay. No. CPAC met this week. Great. Um it was a good meeting. things are
um getting set up for the end of the year. Okay. Little activity and it'll be at the um library and I don't know the date off the top of my head. And do we have another meeting uh with CPAC either? It felt like there was
something in May that was supposed to happen with us a meeting with CPAC and some Oh, that's right. We were going to do the the twice a year thing, right? Yes, they are supposed to come to a meeting and report out sort of where we are. Okay. And I think they also have
their end of year meeting on June 10th. Is that correct? Is that the Is that the Oh, uh, thank you. Do you want to connect with them, see which upcoming meeting would be convenient for them? Okay.
Okay. And then Chris, uh, do you have anything for liaison reports? Nope, nothing else. Okay. All right. Uh then that brings us into um is there anything we want to
take out of order? What is the do we want to do the special education ban transportation for example out of so that out of order since Aby's do you want to come up and do that? No. Thank you. All right. So, just for folks who are
following along at home, uh we are moving into uh item F, which is the special education van transportation. Welcome. It's nice to see you. Nice to see you all. Thank you. So, you have a memo. Um and I'll just hit the high point for you
and take any questions. Um so at the end of this school year we have the opportunity to extend for one year the current contract with ride which provides our indistrict transportation. So that was uh written into the
contract. We're not renegotiating anything, but we're um coming tonight to say that given their commitment to our students, their assurance that they can meet our needs for next year, and their rates being held steady year-over-year,
the recommendation would be to uh you know, activate this extension for one year to provide consistency and continuity for the students and the families. um and to provide us a little bit of time to make sense of kind of the larger transportation environment in Massachusetts before your next um big
decision around a contract. So, I'll take any questions you have. Great. Does anybody have any questions for Abby? I think that would be very helpful. Yeah. No, they're a good partner to the district and we appreciate working with them. So, that's
great. Anybody want to make a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the extension of the contract with Red Ride. I second. So motion by Kyla, second by Susan. We'll do a roll call starting with you, Kyla. Yes. Susan. Yes. I'm a yes. Chris. Yes. Okay. So, it's unanimous. Thank you
very much for bringing that forward. Before you go, I don't know if we're going to have the opportunity to have you back to a school committee meeting before your retirement. So, I just wanted to say thank you so much for all that you have brought in your time here at Hopkin for our students. Um, it has been much noticed and much appreciated.
So, thank you so much. Put us on a good path. So, you did seeing them. It's an honor to work here and I very much appreciate my time. So, thank you and good luck to you in the next chapter for I guess those students will get a good teacher though. They will. Yes. Take
care. You too. All right. That then brings us back to the beginning of uh new business. And the first piece there is disbanding the superintendent screening committee. We obviously we have completed the process so that we need to officially disband that. I go
ahead. I move that we disband the superintendent search committee. Second that a motion by Susan, second by Kyla. We'll start with you Kyla. Yes. Susan. Yes. I'm a yes. Chris. Yes. Okay. Then similarly uh we are looking to disband the director of student services
screening committee because we also have a a um new director of student services set to step in after Aby's retirement at the end of June. I'll do that. I'll make the motion to disband the student services director screening committee. I second. Motion by Kyla, second by Susan.
Kyla. Susan, yes. Ammy, yes. Chris, yes. Okay. Fabulous. So that is um appreciated for everybody who served on both of those committees. That brings us into item C, which is the Project Shark uh donation. I love these. I know. They're great, aren't they? Um
so, yes, you know that our CPAC has started Project Shark, and what that allows us to do is um have donations and supplies for enrichment um things that happen in our schools, especially for students um with special needs. So, the
March and April total, estimated total on those donations is $275.74. And we just need for you to accept those lovely gifts. I move that we accept the gifts to project Shark. Okay. Motion by second by Kyla. Kyla.
Yes. Susan. Yes. I'm a Yes. Chris. Yes. Okay. So that is unanimous. Uh and also much appreciated. Okay. So the next item on our agenda is the school committee meeting dates. And I um am realizing I with Jamie not here, this is going to be
difficult to set. Um the one thing I would like to highlight would be the um cancelling of the May 29th meeting because we've had two meetings this month and we're able to push that out to uh June 12th when we would have our
reorganization meeting. Does that work for people here? Yeah. June 12th. Uh to June So our next meeting would be on June 12th. Uh and then if people can put together their their vacation dates for the summer so that we know which times
we cannot meet and then we'll make at the next meeting a decision about uh whether we want to do fewer meetings but longer meetings. Some years we've done in lie of doing two in the month of July for example done one longer meeting um that has happened in the day. I know for
some people um potentially myself included that might be challenging with uh work and some for child care. Um but that is one option that we should consider. Uh the other thing is that we would have the option to do virtual or in person which might expand people's
flexibility. Uh and then um you know actually set the date. So if we could all have our and actually we can set by email the meeting after June 12th just so that we know when we come to the 12th when the next meeting after that will
be. Okay. Okay. That then will bring us into the bullying and birth reporting. Dr. Kavanagh. Okay. Well, thank you. Um so as you know um the regulations require that annually we make a report on bullying uh specifically bullying but we are a
little bit unique in that a few years ago we put together a bias reporting form that we affectionately call the BURF. Um I know it's a little strange name but I think that um tonight's report is going to show you how it's being used and and I think that it's it's pretty effective and it's a nice
little tool to have. Um just so you know uh when if at the end of the school year you go on to the Desi website and you take a look at the numbers um they can change very slightly because there are still six weeks left of school and there are actually a couple of bullying
investigations going on even as we speak. So the results of those will not be in here. Um so this is the bullying and bias reporting and finding for 2425 um at the high school. Oops. So, we'll
start with the with the BURF. At the high school, we had three reports only in the BURF this year. One was anonymous um and two were investigated and followed up on. And I want to give you like a snapshot of one of the things that would appear in that uh
spreadsheet. So, when a student made a BURF report, that student wrote, "Students jokingly signed their name down on the GSA um which is a the school's um Gay Straight Alliance Club fair sheet. It was disrespectful and absolutely unnecessary. Not only does
this mock gay students in our club's safe space, it can make our GSA members feel uncomfortable." So, you know, that's the kind of thing that someone would report and then allows our high school administration to um you know, do the the leg work to investigate. Um at
the middle school, there were 35 reports. Two of them were anonymous, so they were hard to follow up on. Three, um the administration uh deemed a joke, but 30 of them were investigated. Some were not considered biased, but it really gives the middle school administration an opportunity to talk to
kids. So, for example, one kid went in and wrote that Stephen was sharing his candy with everyone but not me. Um, so we're not considering that bias. It might be student conflict, but it's certainly not bias. But the next one I think is important. Uh, the game was
based on Ulta products. She chose a Fenty tint, which is by Raana uh Rihanna, the darkest tint darker than me. And before she showed it to me, she said, "Don't take offense to this, okay? Just don't." Then she proceeds to show it to me and she says, "Here, I chose the darkest hit because it matches your
skin tone. Uh, and the owner, Rihanna, is black just like you." So, there's like a whole lot to unpack there. And that allows the dialogue to open, for example, at the middle school. So, um, that bias incident reporting form is in fact paying dividends for
us. Um, so at the high school, um, this pertains to bullying. There were eight allegations of bullying. Six resulted in no finding and two resulted in a finding of bullying. There were no other findings. Um at the middle school there
were 13 allegations of bullying and then I think after we talked to students and parents two of those were withdrawn. So essentially 11. Four were no findings. Seven were findings of bullying and none of them resulted in any other finding.
Um at Hopkins there were nine allegations of bullying. One was withdrawn, five were no findings. One was a finding of bullying and um two of them were findings of harassment. At the Elmwood school, we had two allegations of bullying. One was
withdrawn. Um the one that was remaining did was not a finding of bullying. And at Marathon there was one allegation which ended up being withdrawn. So there were no um findings of bullying um at all. Then I took this data and I
consolidated it just so you could see it in one table. um you can see how the greatest number really of allegations took place at the middle school and I don't necessarily know that um that surprises me and uh it also is that kind
of place where you know kids are um you know certainly in terms of the brain not fully developed and yeah and it's a little bit of a tricky age. So, um, it's nice to see that we're responding well to those things as a district and making sure that when an allegation is made, we
do a very thorough investigation. So, what is the definition of harassment versus bullying? Um, yeah. So, when you are um doing something against sort of a protected class, we would consider that to be harassment. So it might not be um
bullying, but we did have um kids who were making um slurs and um that's how that got labeled under harassment. Okay. What type of um um punishment when they have a finding?
What what kinds of things? I I assume it depends on grade level. It certainly does. And I think you know that in the last few years we've done a lot of work with restorative justice. And there's also 37 age and a half which um tells us that we need to do like educational
interventions and restorative practices before we ever move to suspend. And so really I think you know when I look at for example um the Hopkins situation where we had those two incidents of harassment a lot of
education went into working with the students who were involved in those those harassment. Um is that through the guidance department or um you know what most of the time it's an assistant principal that is doing that work with the kids. good. Yeah. And it's
educational and they tell me that they like doing the work because it gives them the opportunity to sort of stay with the teaching piece even while they're in an administrative role. Absolutely. Yeah. And they say they feel like it makes a difference in kids' lives and I believe it does. It would be
interesting if we could do um longitudinal study. Is that the right word? Yeah. that we those like could follow up those two kids with harassment and find out what happens after. That would be a really
and it's particularly interesting, I think, in a district like this, a lot of districts would have a K to five school. So, if something happened in third or fourth grade or whatever, you'd have a couple more years to kind of keep watching. You know, something happened in first, you'd have many years to keep watching. But here, if this happens in
fourth grade, halfway through, you know, in another year, they're getting prepared to leave to go to middle school. So, and hitting puberty. Yeah, we do see a lot of behaviors at Hopkins, I think, that would have 15 years ago
been more middle schoolish, but not threatening. Yeah. They're they're maturing much differently now. Yes. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Any other questions before we move on? No.
All right. So, the next item uh on our agenda is the uh contract for the new superintendent. Uh as people on the committee will recall, we did vote that in executive session, but it also legally requires a a public vote. And I just wanted to talk about some of the highlights of the contract before we
publicly uh vote on it, just for people to know. Uh in Hopkin, our administrator contracts are all very similar. Uh so that there are u what we would look at when we looked at Mr. Lebr or Dr. Kavanaaugh's contracts or uh Mr. Bishop's contract as high school
principal would have a lot of very similar things in them. Uh obviously the uh compensation is a little bit different for each place and uh we negotiated a contract with uh Mr. Bishop for an annual salary of $210,000.
Uh also in his contract is the standard uh leave things with sick leave, uh personal time, vacation time, things like that. Um, we also important in the contract that I think was as important to him as it was to us was having him be
able to participate in the uh new superintendent induction program through the Mass Association of uh school superintendent uh as well as hold membership in uh Mass Association of School Superintendent. uh in terms of you know the piece around
the evaluation uh for the superintendent that is stuff that is largely state regulated. So, I would uh at this time I would seek a motion unless anybody has any discussion they want to say uh about the contract. Otherwise, I would seek a
motion to approve the superintendent contract from for Evan Bishop for a duration of three years uh beginning on July 1st, 2025 and ending on June 30th, 2028, which does not mean that his
employment is ending obviously. It just means that we would need to renegotiate the the contract. And as u people on the school committee I know are aware and some at home uh we do increases are negotiated annually with administrators. It's not something that's in the
contract. So that so I move to approve um superintendent Bishop's contract from July 1st 2025 to June 30th 2028. Great. Motion by Kylo. Second. Second by Susan. We'll do a roll call starting with you, Kyle. Yes,
Susan. Yes, I'm a yes. Chris, yes. Thank you. And then I had also in included uh in a what I had emailed out this afternoon, a press release uh to go out for the community at large, but also for
the the staff and the students to see that we have in fact come to an agreement with Mr. Bishop. Um did people have an opportunity to see it? Yes. Okay. Are there changes that people would like to see made? The the one thing I wanted to add in here which I
realized um after is that I did did not specify the term the duration of the contract. So I would add that back in. Be good. Okay. All right. So that will go out uh I'll send it out to the pre members of
the press and then I think Geette probably would send it out districtwide uh tomorrow to staff and students. All right, fabulous. I just have to toggle back to the next item is the
CPC grant for the ad adaptive uh I think we skipped the HDA contract. Oh my goodness. Well, you know, it's because it's because my computer's not actually working. I have small print on my phone. You're blaming. So, uh that brings us then into the HTA
contract. Yes. So, uh, we started negotiations very early on, I think in October. Uh, we completed those negotiations very recently in April. And I do want to on behalf of the committee, um, thank the team from the Hopkins and
Teachers Association. I felt like our negotiations were, you know, thoughtful, respectful. We used IBB and it couldn't have been better. So, um, yeah, they have ratified their contract and I think we just need to for you to do that publicly. And I would like to also add
just a a thank you as well to the HTA team and felt like it was a very thoughtful process. I felt like there was a lot of listening on on both sides and I really I was pleased that we were able to negotiate a contract that felt like it was beneficial to to everybody. So,
all right. Is there somebody who would like to make B? I'll make a motion that we uh approve the HTA contract. Okay. Second. Motion by Kylo, second by Susan. Roll call. Starting with you. Yes. Yes. I'm a yes. Chris. Yes. Okay. And so that
is a um unanimous vote with many thanks to the HDA. Now we're moving into the CPC grant for the playground, which is super exciting. So, here we should thank our town meeting members for um approving the adaptive playground. And I also want
to thank publicly Mrs. Rothermick who did an enormous amount of work to um get us to where we are today with this project. Um naturally, she had a an adaptive playground committee and I want to thank those members as well. Um, and
then finally, thank you to the CPC for that very gen generous donation of the $300,000, which um really takes a lot of pressure off the price tag. So, we just need for you to approve that, please. All right. So, I move that we approve
the CPC donation to the grant to the adopted playground. Okay, I'll second. Okay. Motion by Susan, second by Kyla. Start with you, Kyla. Yes. Susan. Yes. I'm a yes. Chris. Yes. And it is
unanimous uh with thanks both to CPC and for the members of that attended town meeting that were very supportive um not just of the adaptive playground but also the support that we received for our budget
was I think really much appreciated to help us move into uh next year in a nice a nice space and I am excited for um the adaptive playground to become a reality. It's going to be beautiful. It's going to be a great resource. Wonderful for the community um but as well as the
students that um at at Marathon too. So, all right. So, this is unprecedented. Um but it this brings us into um am I I'm not missing anything. Okay. So,
that moves us into items by consensus. All right. This is officially the earliest end of meeting we've ever had potentially because we weren't able to get the calendar piece done, but we'll be so ready for next time. It'll be fast. It's the one to beat for your next meeting, your last meeting.
Yeah. All right. As superintendent, I um recommend the school committee approve the items by consensus as outlined in your agenda. I'll second. You I think you mean to move. Oh, I make a motion. Sorry. Okay. Second. Motion by Kyla, second by Susan.
Kyla, yes. Susan, yes. I am a yes. And Chris, sorry, I'm a yes. Okay. So, the items by consensus uh are also unanimous. And in terms of time to beat, I think this is probably the
shortest meeting of your entire tenure um with the Hopkins Public Schools, not just the superintendent. Correct. Yes. Okay. So, um Wow. The next piece is would be to seek a motion to adjurnn. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. I will
second by Kyla. Susan is a second. Kyla yes. Susan. Yes. I am a yes. And Chris? Yes. Chris is also a yes. Um so we are adjourned at 7:42. We will meet back uh for our next regular meeting on June
12th uh here at HCAM. And then I um thank you to everybody, but also want to remind people that we have our annual town election on Monday. I hope people will uh be able to get out to vote. The um polls are going to be open at the middle school. So 7 a.m. 7 a.m. till
8:00 p.m. So all right, thank you everybody and have a good night. Good night.