WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=Gl1oAjokZzg

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: Gl1oAjokZzg):
- 00:00:11: Meeting Opening, Superintendent Interview Process Overview, Public Guidelines
- 00:02:21: Candidate Welcome and Introductory Remarks from Mr. Car
- 00:06:59: Community Engagement and Building Inclusive Partnerships
- 00:11:44: Budget Reductions and Protecting Student Interests First
- 00:17:21: Managing Complex Change and Building Educator Buy-In
- 00:21:50: Integrating Social Emotional Learning and Academics
- 00:25:56: Building Lines of Communication with District Stakeholders
- 00:31:08: Ensuring Student Belonging and Academic Success
- 00:36:13: Outcomes of Budget Cut Decisions: Data and Hindsight
- 00:38:47: Recruiting, Developing, and Retaining a Diverse Team
- 00:42:37: Prioritizing Professional Learning and Educational Innovations
- 00:48:23: Addressing Barriers to Student Success and Mental Health
- 00:56:51: Protecting Student Well-Being During High Pressure
- 01:01:05: Responding to Crises Efficiently and Effectively
- 01:05:47: Reflecting on School Community & Candidate Closing Statement


Part: 1

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Good evening everyone and welcome to the March 31st, 2026 school committee meeting. I'd like to welcome everyone. Our goal tonight is to conduct fair, consistent, and orderly interview for the superintendent position. Earlier this evening, I had reviewed the order of business with my fellow school

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committee members so we could approach tonight's interview with a shared understanding of process and expectations. As we begin with brief um sorry, we will begin with brief opening remarks followed by a set of predetermined questions. Each committee member will be responsible for asking their assigned questions. We will all

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take diligent notes while a candidate is responding and it's appropriate for a committee member to ask for clarification or to invite the candidate to elaborate on a point they have raised. However, we will not prompt or [clears throat] steer candidates towards information they did not independently

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introduce. This approach assure ensures fairness and allows each candidate to present what they believe is most important. At the conclusion of the questioning, each applicant will be given the opportunity to offer closing remarks. In particular, we are interested in why hearing Littleton is the right decision for them at this

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point in their professional journey. To the members of the public joining us this evening, thank you for being here and for your continued interest in this process. While this meeting is being conducted in open session, there will be no opportunity for public comment this evening. We ask that the members of the public remain silent observers through

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the interview process so that we can maintain focus and consistency for all candidates. Community feedback, however, is very important. All community members are encouraged to complete the survey that is being made available to share feedback based upon the interviews, the

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community forums, or any other exposure you may have had to the applicants. Thank you for helping us maintain a respectful, fair, and smooth process this evening. We all set? All right, we are welcome.

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>> Thank you. How are you? >> Good. Why don't you uh feel free to put your stuff down and we will introduce ourselves. >> Hey, good. >> Hi, Justin McCarthy. >> Nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you as well. Nice to see you again.

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>> Good to see you again. [clears throat] >> So, as you settle in, Mr. Car, uh we welcome you on behalf of Littleton School Committee. We're excited to have you this evening. We wish you the very best of luck. At the beginning of the interview, there will be an opportunity for you to introduce yourself and share

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any opening remarks. We've prepared 14 questions that the school committee members will take turns asking. At the end, we will give you a chance for some closing remarks and to emphasize any key points or raise any additional information that wasn't covered. We look forward to hearing from you. So, the

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floor is yours for introductions, please. >> Okay. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me. It's a It's really an honor and privilege to be able to come back home to to Littleton. Um, so I I figured that you've read my

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resume and you've seen my philosophy and and you've you've been able to garner any of those thoughts. So what what I would like to do is be able to offer you a little bit of who I am as a person. And I and I think that my story comes

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from >> [clears throat] >> Knowing a little bit about me will help you to understand why I want to be the superintendent of Littleton public schools. I come from a family of public service and my family means the world to

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me. I'm the grandson of a man who was a school committee member and a woman who dedicated her life to others ensuring that uh she was always volunteering and her volunteerism efforts were second to none. Uh my father was a a 22-year town

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manager in the town of Wilmington. I grew up understanding the importance of giving back to the public and to working with boards. I I grew up, you know, in in a home where my my dad was always going off to his select board meetings.

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I used to watch them on television as a youngster. How funny is that? [laughter] Come full circle here. My mom was a kindergarten par professional. Um my brother is currently an assistant. He's currently the principal of uh the

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Wilmington Middle School. My sister is a high school counselor. My other sister is an ABA paraprofessional. And I've also chosen the path of education. Uh it's inherent in our blood. It's who we are as people. It's who I am as an individual. I'm so proud

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of the fact that my wife is a high school counselor and uh my daughter who is 16 years old right now is destined. She is destined to be a teacher of [clears throat] the most severely needy students that you could

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possibly have. That that's what her path is. She will be a teacher of students with severe autism. That is what she does right now as a 16-year-old. I love education. I love serving young people. It's what I am so passionate about. And I'm so passionate about the

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idea that I can help a child to do better. And as a superintendent of schools, it would never be lost on me that that is the most important job that's in front of me every day is servicing the kids that we are so lucky

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to be able to assist get to where they ultimately want to be, whatever their goal in life is. Um, you can't read that in my resume and and you can't read that online if you Google me, right? So I I think as an introductory point knowing a little bit about who I am and what led

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me here today also the fact that this is indeed a homecoming. Today's been truly special. Today has just been this remarkable day of uh nostalgia mixed with with some just some wonder and and some learning. Uh I've been able to come

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back to a place where I learned how to educate. In 2000, uh Jerry Derry, who was the principal at the time, took a shot in a young guy, um as a 21-year-old third grade teacher, he he decided to give me a chance and he tapped me on the shoulder one day and he said, "You know, I think that I think you're made for

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this. I think that you probably should be a principal, not just, you know, and I'm going to help you get to that next step in your career." And [clears throat] now now I I think that he would probably be pretty proud of the fact that I'm sitting here in front of you all. Um, so thank you for the

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opportunity and I look forward to being able to answer your questions. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> A key goal for Littleton Public Schools is strengthening community engagement through meaningful partnerships. How

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will you proactively engage with our diverse stakeholders, including parents, teachers, students, and community leaders, to ensure that our district's culture is shaped by inclusive dialogue and that every family feels their voice

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is heard and valued? >> [clears throat] >> So, obviously partnerships are are so important to the success of any school district. And I I really think that uh one of my biggest strengths is is in my

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ability to build relationships with with people. It's what I it's what I truly pride myself on. I I I consider myself a relationship guy. I I enjoy getting to know people. I enjoy talking to folks. I enjoy welcoming everybody to come in and talk to me. And if if you want to truly

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do this, if you if you want to uh you know move a district forward and shape inclusive dialogue that every family feels their voice is heard, then you need to take the time to go out and do that and you need to take the time to go meet people where they are. And that's what I plan on doing and that's what I

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would do and that's what I have done in my entire career. Um, I I talked about uh with with our I talked today with uh the Russell Street School principal about one of the best things that I ever

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did as a leader, as a building principal, was invite dads into our school community. They are a an oftentime group of individuals that that go

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underutilized and unnoticed. One of my greatest accomplishments as a principal was organizing a group of men who were ready to work and help our kids. And we called them the Warren Dads. At our meeting of our first meeting when

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30 men showed up, they simply said, "You know what? We've never been asked before. No one's ever invited us. Thank you." I said, "Well, it wasn't my idea. It was my aunt. She was an old principal and she told me I should do this, so I did." And but that's the kind of thing you have to do. You have to be willing to put yourself [clears throat] out there and go talk to folks. When we were

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having a hard time getting parents to come and um get to parent conferences, a certain population of parents that was was living in in one of our condo units that of of individuals that were less likely to visit schools. My assistant

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principal and I we we ordered a whole bunch of pizzas. We brought them over and we sat and we ate pizza with these parents and we fed their kids dinner and they all sat and talked to us. You've got to be willing to go where people are. You also need to be willing to

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communicate to the masses effectively, right? So, we talked about uh the the bringing people together. Well, how are we communicating right now as a district to parents and community members? Do we have a consistent approach? Are we

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utilizing tools like S'more, which will be easily accessible to all to people who speak all different languages? Are we using things like talking points that are easily um translated in a in a great tool for for staff to talk to parents

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with? Um, do do we have consistent meetings between the building administration and our association, between the district central office and the association to make sure that folks are constantly communicating

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effectively. Uh, and and then the community stakeholders, right? I was talking with such an incredible group of students from the high school that those junior class officers. My goodness, whatever happened with those four, something was right. I mean, that just

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what an amazing group of of of students. And one of them asked about, you know, how would you how would you go about bringing in some internship opportunities? Well, are we connecting with the small business association in town? Are we connecting with the Rotary Club? Are we ensuring that the different

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clubs in in in town organizations are getting into our high school? And then those those folks will ultimately help us to make sure that that opportunities are not only there for our students but really for our staff as well. Right? So I think the more we can

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grow those those relationships and the more we get out there and and and not force relationships but they're not going to happen if we're just sitting back and waiting for someone to talk to us. We've got to go out there. We've got to talk to them. >> Okay. I've got the uh the next question. School districts often face the

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difficult reality of doing more with less. Can you walk us through a specific budget cycle where you were forced to make significant cuts or reductions? How did you determine what to protect and what to reduce and how did you bring your staff and community along in that

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process? >> So, I am experiencing this as we speak. Um, this is what has been eating me inside and our superintendent inside and our director of business uh and finance. Every day we we sit and we

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meet [clears throat] for an hour talk about our current budget situation in the Ashlin public schools and um it is a difficult budget cycle and we do do more with less just like everybody else does.

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Um, but one of the realities right now is that the way the way the system is set up, it's set up for districts to fail. Uh, because it's it's hard it's hard to get by with this two and a half percent. Right? And I said this earlier to the to the uh administrative team.

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Kudos to what's happening in Littleton right now that you're not going through that. Right? So, what are the decisions that we've made? We have to ensure that you're making decisions always with the students in mind first.

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[clears throat] What is if you have to make cuts and you're forced to make cuts, what is going to be the least impact on students. So that's when you start to look at enrollment, that's when you start to look at not only school enrollment and district enrollment, but class enrollment. Are we underenrolled

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in any courses at the high school? For instance, if we're underenrolled in certain subject areas, maybe you can maybe you can combine some classes, may maybe you can eliminate a position if possible without eliminating opportunity, right? So, can you eliminate a position without eliminating

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opportunity? That's challenging, but you can try to do that, especially if you're looking at the data and you're seeing that certain classes are underenrolled. The other thing you can do is you can do it through attrition. If if there are retirements and you know that you have some folks

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that are retiring, you can make a conscious decision as long as your enrollment would allow this to maybe not rehire that specific position in the [clears throat] building and understand that yeah, it may impact

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class size by one or two, but that's that's not a terrible thing. We can we can survive with that and we can work with that. as long as it doesn't mean someone has to lose their job. So, you're not you're not really you're not cutting human

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capital at that point. You're cutting a position in in in ensuring that everybody still has a job, but maybe class size increases a little bit if you're willing to to to take on that. You have to you have to consider it. Um,

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you also have to take a look at the are there any unfilled positions. I mean, often often times, right, when we're budgeting, you're noticing that there are positions that may have been kept on the budget books, but were unfilled. Okay. Well, why are we budgeting for that position if it's still unfilled?

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That doesn't involve cutting anybody. That that involves, you know, taking a good look at your spending and making sure that everything is accounted for appropriately. My my philosophy is you start with what's furthest away from kids with the

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understanding that if you have to make impact on the students, you have to make it as limited as possible and you've got to make the decisions and you also need to do this with a whole lot of collaboration. You cannot do this in a silo. Right? While we're doing this, we

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we are having constant meetings with our building administrators. We are having them look at their staff list. We're having them, we're talking to them, we're keeping the the association involved and aware every step of the way. We are constantly communicating with the school committee

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to make sure that every decision we make is in line with our strategic priorities because that ultimately needs to drive what you're doing. Right? So, we made a really hard choice. One of the things that we've decided to do is we've decided to cut our director of social

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emotional learning. It's been a real that's a really challenging decision for us because not only we talking about an individual who's just an amazing human being, but SEAL is at the forefront of

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everything we do and it is it is a a major part of our strategic objectives and our strategic plan in Ashland. I'm I am very passionate about SEO, but we are confident that the systems that we have in place right now and what

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we've been able to do will survive this. And are other people going to have to pick up additional responsibilities? Yeah. If I'm still there, I'm going to have to I know that. And I and I know that a number of other people are going to have to as well, including our our

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APS, our deans, our principles. lots of folks are going to have to step up to make sure that the the job responsibilities don't go undone even though the the the human is no longer in the position. Right. So

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[clears throat] I'm sorry if I'm if I'm worried I'm passionate. Don't don't >> we appreciate that. >> All right. Uh moving on to number four. Uh the field of education is changing rapidly from traditional lecture-based

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models towards more student centered learning. In addition to knowledge acquisition, soft skills like critical thinking, collaboration, and communication are now highly valued. This often involves a shift in practice for educators. How do you manage complex change in a large system like a school

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district? Please give examples of a time when you shepherded change in your district and how you built buyin from educators. So, it's kind of a two-prong question here. So, uh how do you manage complex change in a large system like a school

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district? So, it has to be systematic. Um and you you again I'm going to go back to what I said earlier. You can't do things in a silo. got to make sure you have a number of people on board because if you are trying to shepherd change and you don't have folks that are

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backing you up, it's not going to be effective. It never is. I'm trying to think about a really good example um of of some change that that I have been at the forefront in terms of some things that we've implemented.

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And um one of one of the things that that immediately [clears throat] comes to mind for me is quite a few years ago our district was at the forefront of making a change in

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school start times. And um that at the time was pretty controversial. And uh I was only I was I was still a principal. I was an elementary school principal, but I I sort of at that time

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had been tapped to be the guy who was leading every committee for anything that needed to be done that was going to be slightly controversial. And I've learned that over time that this is what the superintendent continued to do and he was sort of grooming me for to be his his partner at that point. Um so, you

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know, when we had a space committee, I was there. When we had the full day kindergarten committee, I was there. But on this particular committee, it was it was really going to be a challenge because when you start talking about school start times,

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everybody has a vested interest in this and everybody has a different opinion. But what we did is we we made it about the kids and we made it about what's most important in the school system and that is the children. And we always fall

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on those as as your values. If you if you say if you let people know that what you're doing is in the best interest of the children, then you can go to sleep at night even if someone disagrees with you vehemently. And we also did our homework and got the

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data and we did research and we gathered a team of people to help support us that would get that research and do that work to make sure that we were we were providing people with the information they needed. We held community forums.

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We put out newsletters. We had, you know, sitdown meetings. We had open door policy meetings. We put together presentations and and we answered the difficult questions in an honest and forthcoming way. And ultimately, we were able to do what was in the best interest of

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students. And we pushed our start times back for our for our our oldest learners, for our our high school students. and and [clears throat] I think there's maybe two teams now or two I shouldn't say two teams two schools I

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think about the schools the TVL the Tri Valley League that's why I said teams two schools in the Tri Valley League who haven't now followed suit right because they know it's the right thing to do and and we we took the initiative

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to do it and it's also it was also because we weren't afraid of hard work right and and so when you talk about chef putting change. That was a tough one. That was a that was a hard one. But it was it was done effectively because we we got the right people in the room

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and we we talked to all the stakeholders and it wasn't that decision was not made in a back room. That decision was made in the public eye with [clears throat] lots of information and lots of data. >> Thank you. >> Uh many districts treat social emotional

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learning and academic rigor as two separate buckets. Can you describe a time when you successfully integrated mental health supports directly into the instructional core? How did you measure success in that instance beyond standardized test scores?

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>> So, I have said for years that happy students make happy learners. Um, and uh what I what I learned today is that there are two people on the board who had children in my classroom quite a long time ago. And I and I think that

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that that hopefully their their their children would attest to that as as the a true philosophy. If students want to be in school and if students feel good about being in school, they are going to succeed. And quite frankly, there is research there that backs that up. Right? Social

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emotional health leads to better results. It's proven. It's in the data. It is researchbased. uh you can you can [clears throat] can read about it all over the place. Um so infusing it needs it needs to be one

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and the same. So even you know when when it says two separate buckets it's wild to me because it can't it can't be it can't be two separate buckets. We have students across the state of Massachusetts,

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especially because things are so high stakes here still, even even though we've changed our graduation requirement, it's still high stakes that [clears throat] are are making themselves literally sick because they're they're they're so

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concerned with the academic rigor that they forget about the importance of their own mental health. We've infused things like responsive classroom at the elementary level. It creates a community of learners and it creates an environment where students feel comfortable with each other and

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teachers have set the tone to be able to teach them what they need to learn because they feel safe and they feel empowered. I'm a firm believer in that every single kid that comes through the through the halls of one of your schools should have a trusted adult.

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That means so much to me. We need to take trusted adult surveys. We need to understand does does every kid at Littleton High School, can they honestly tell you that when they look down their halls or look in their classrooms or walk in that

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building, there is someone in that building who was an adult that they could count on. I'm not talking about someone at home. I'm talking about someone in the school building. If the answer is no, we've got to figure out why. And we've got to make sure we're doing something to make that student

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understand they are cared for, they are they are loved, and and somebody there is going to help be that person for them because that's how they will reach their highest level of success. Um, [snorts] so how do you measure that? I think it's

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I think it's things like that. Do 100% of your student 100% of your student population have a trusted adult? That is a that is a great measurement of SEO. >> I you know I imagine the answer to that

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question is no because 100% is is a really lofty goal. But if it's 80% now we've got to figure out how to make that 90%. And that that is measurable. It's just it's a simple question. Answer the

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answer one question. The data that you get is so important because now you know that there's a student that you've got to target for assistance. Targeted intervention. Targeted intervention isn't just about academic success. Targeted intervention, you know, tier 2

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supports are about seal and mental health as well. We cannot forget that. >> Great. Uh I have question six. uh how have you previously built lines of communication with various district stakeholders such as your leadership team, the faculty, community leaders,

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business interests, and families. How will you use those experiences to introduce yourself to and gain the exper gain the confidence of parents and town boards? >> So, in terms of the leadership team, um I I take great pride in the fact that

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I've got tremendous relationships with our with our leaders in our school. I meet with principles once a week, meet with every principal once a month. I meet with any new principal twice a month. So, but they can meet with me anytime they want,

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but they know that there is an official meeting on the docket once a month. It's the same for all of our directors as well. Um I don't have a a a monthly meeting with our uh director of business and finance

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because we meet every morning um and as does the superintendent and I we we meet constantly so we don't have a setup but for all other directors and all all principles it's once a month automatic

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so that happens in terms of other other folks other stakeholders [clears throat] I have I have uh curriculum leadership teams that I meet with on a regular basis. We meet monthly. So we have a curriculum leadership team that involves teacher representatives and uh

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administrative representatives from each building um that we meet with monthly. I but I think the most important thing in terms of faculty and staff is visibility in the schools. We're walking around all the time. We take great pride

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in the fact that not a week goes by where that where we're not visiting every single building at minimum once generally two or three times. Um we we don't sit in our office during the school day. I'll be there late

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or I'll take work home but during the school day I want to be where the action is and the action is where the teachers are and the action is where the students are. So that's how you build relationships. That's how that's how students get to know you. That's how faculty and staff get to know you. They get the opportunity to see you in the hallway and have a quick conversation

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and chat. Um, in in terms of um meeting with the association or the unions, we have we have a a joint leadership meeting monthly with them. We ask we do ask our

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principles and I and this is something I would talk to our building leadership about to see if we have the the capacity to do this. We ask our principles to meet with with with union representation once a week. That's a great way to get ahead of things and it's a great way to

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give us a heads up because maybe we need to step in as district leaders to go and help with situation that might be arise, you know, coming to the table that we otherwise wouldn't know about if we weren't having those meetings. Um the current superintendent meets with the union president once a week as well. Uh

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that's something that that is something that I would want to do as the leader of a school district. It's a really important relationship to to create. Uh and and I would I would want if as long as the leadership was willing, I would want to have a weekly meeting at minimum

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twice a month meeting with with the with the union president if they would be amenable to that. Um in terms of families, I think I already talked a little bit about it, right? I'm I'm willing to go out and talk with families and reach with families. You have to go to community events. You have to be present. You have

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to be around. You've got to go to performances, the theater performances, the band concerts. You've got to go to games. You've got to go to if there's a farmers market in town, you have you have to be around. You've got to be you have to be visible. You have to let people know that you're going to be

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there. Um that's I enjoy that piece. I enjoy that part of it. I like I like meeting people and talking to people. I prefer when they're kids, but I I like meeting everybody, right? And and so people hate to know that I'm I'm going

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to listen. And if it's if it's a situation where someone needs to go set up some time with me, I'm going to say to them, you know what? Now might not be the best time because we're in a public setting. I think the two of us need to chat. Why don't you set up an appointment and let's and I'm inviting you into to my office to come in and meet with me. You have to do that. In

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terms of the businesses, it's the same thing. You've got to reach out. I love the fact that I have a fantastic relationship with with our chief of police in town. I'm the chair of the safety committee, so I have a great relationship with our chief of police. I have a great relationship with our fire

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department, our our DPW. We we th those are folks that you have to have good relationships with. I look forward to having a good relationship with our town managing here. I I think that is really important. And again, I I told you I was the the son of one. I know how important

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that is. that school, that school civic, you know, relationship is, [clears throat] it's vital to the health of the public school system. If we don't have that, we're in trouble. Need to have it. And I will work really hard to make sure it's a positive relationship.

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[cough] >> On to [clears throat] number seven. As superintendent, how would you ensure that every student, regardless of their background, experiences a genuine sense of belonging and academic success in our

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classrooms every day? How will you create and support a culture of inclusivity that will help all of our students thrive? So every every kid who walks through that door needs to understand that it is our job to ensure that they reach their

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maximum potential. No matter who they are, no matter where they come from, no matter what's going on at home, no matter what they look like, that that's a non-negotiable. That is an absolute non-negotiable.

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Um, and [clears throat] that that's one of those things. If you want to give my dander up, we'll talk we'll talk about those types of things where people aren't doing their best for all kids at all times, no matter what. Period. We we [clears throat] draw the line there. That's where the line in the sand comes. Every kid needs

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to be given the the opportunity to reach their maximum capabilities every single day they come into our doors. And if we're not doing that, we're failing we're failing them. Um, so how how that looks, what that means, that means are

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we providing people with in-house programming to keep students from having to go out of district? Are we doing that inhouse? Are we providing those programs? And are we auditing those programs to make sure we're doing a good job? And are we looking at the data? And are we are we providing the correct funding? Are we providing the right, you

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know, staff to make sure that students are succeeding? And quite frankly, what I saw today, you are I mean there today's visit was was awesome. I I don't have a better word for it than that. Sorry. Not trying

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to be the smartest guy in the room, right? It was awesome. And I I just I just so enjoyed seeing the students with disabilities fully engaged in an art lesson.

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and they were there with their aid, but they were there and it was fully included and it was exactly what I want to see when I walk into a school because that's what matters. Those inclusion opportunities truly matter and we've got to make sure they're happening at all

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times. I love the fact that you have an 18 to22 program that is going out and bake that's baking baking cakes and then bringing it to the senior center, right? Talk about an awesome opportunity for those students to not only feel

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feel a purpose, but now to to give back to the community. This is what it's about. Every kid, every kid, it doesn't matter. They need to get exactly what they need when they need it. So, does that mean we need to improve our tier one instruction? Absolutely. It means we need to look at

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our MTSS to improve our tier 2 interventions. And what are we doing in there? That's hard work. Tier 2 is really challenging. I know that you're all doing a great job right now trying to incorporate UDL is that if you have the panacea of that,

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give it up. Let us everybody know. Okay? It's hard work and it involves intentional time and intentional professional development and it involves buyin from everybody. Everybody needs to buy in on that. Okay. UNDL is tough.

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It's It's really challenging. I mean, I I I did it. I lived it. Teaching is really hard. Teaching now is is even harder than it was 20 years ago when I did it. And it was really hard then. Especially for teachers who are in a room with students who have like six

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different varied learning levels in abilities. So, are we giving them the the proper supports they need? Are we giving them the interventions they need? Do they have the tools they need? Are we providing them? Are we providing our staff with the opportunities to make sure that our kids have everything they

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need? That's what we have to do. And we have to make sure kids understand that they come first and they're safe and they're getting what they what they deserve, which is a high quality education to to keep them capable of achieving whatever their goals are. But they can't do that if we're not taking care of our staff.

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So those things go hand in hand. Again, I But th those are that's the stuff that I'll talk to you about forever because when it comes to making sure everybody gets what they need, that's what that's what it's all about. And

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it's kids. That's kids getting from us, the adults in the room, ensuring their their ability to reach their highest potential. Nothing more important. Okay, I have the next one.

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Earlier we asked about specific budget cuts that you had to make. What were the outcomes of those decisions? What data or metrics did you use to guide that decision? What would you do differently in hindsight? >> So, I I do feel like I I've touched a

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lot on a lot of that. So, I'll try to be as brief as possible here. [clears throat] >> Again, enrollment data, right? You gota you've got to look at your budget data. you got to but it I think enrollment plays such a huge role in that right so so are you making decisions that are

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going to have limited impact on on students um again what were the outcomes of those decisions well those decisions have already been made the outcome is yet to be determined because I'm not sure if our override is going to pass but we have made the difficult decision to to reduce

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reduce our force by 13.2 two FTEEs regardless of the override because we believe that that's in the best interest. That's the most fiscally responsible thing for us to do right now as a district because the purpose of the override is to write the ship and to make sure that we are no longer

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dependent upon one-time funds to to to service all of our students. So, those 13.2 two positions through a long process of looking at data have been determined that we can we can survive effectively and still give a

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high quality experience for all of our students without them. As hard as that is to as hard as that is to see happen. Um, so in hindsight, I I would have had a crystal ball and and figured out a way that we wouldn't

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be in this fiscal situation. But I but I I fully I fully believe this. And I'm not just saying this because I'm living it. It wasn't it wasn't through fiscal mismanagement. It it was because this is an ongoing

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problem that that happens. and sometimes just there's just not enough revenue and and and you have to you have to make really hard decisions. Um so hindsight is is that I I feel like we're we're doing what's in the best interest of the of our town right now and I'm a taxpayer

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there and I support it because I I think that we're doing the the best thing in we're showing that fiscal responsibility in in in cutting those 13.2 positions. >> Thank you. All right. [clears throat] Growing a strong community starts with

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our staff. How do you plan to recruit, develop, and retain a diverse team of educators and administrators who reflect the global society our students are entering? Can you provide an example of how you've successfully fostered a professional culture where differing

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perspectives are viewed as a source of strength? So, I feel like it's kind of two different questions. So, so how do you plan to recruit, develop, and retain a diverse team? Um, really challenging, especially in the suburb, right, to to get a diverse workforce. Um, [snorts] I

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I think that one of the things that we've done is we've we've reached out to local colleges. Uh, we have welcomed student teachers. We have welcomed um folks to come in and do their field studies. we've in and often times we end up finding our next great teacher

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through that process. Um, and we have we have tried to foster relationship with with local institutions and I would certainly [cough] that here I think that's really important. You've got to you've got to go out and you've got to go to job fairs if you can. You've got to visit colleges

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if they invite you and and try to do that. But you also have to see what we have in the community. You got to be willing to tap the folks who are currently in your workforce. And we've done that a number of times. And we've done that specifically in regards

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um to to education support personnel. You call them ESPs as well, right? And we we we have tapped ESPs on the shoulder and said, "Hey, I think I think you could you can become a teacher and we've got

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to help you get there. Now, we can't we can't pay for you to do it, but I think that this is a a path for you and and encouraging folks to do that is really important. Look from within and try. Same thing with substitutes, right? When substitutes come in, my goodness, you're

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you're fantastic with these students. Have you ever thought about doing this full-time? And I think looking at that is is a great way to try and, you know, build build from within, so to speak. Um

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again you know providing example of how we have successfully fostered [clears throat] a professional culture. I I think that comes with time that comes with trust that comes with allowing people the opportunity to speak and allowing every different perspective to be heard. Um we went through an

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equity audit a couple years ago. We did a districtwide equity audit. We we uh challenged oursel to try our best to to diversify the workforce. It's hard, but it's really important for for for kids to look around and see people who

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represent where they come from in their culture. If you can do that, that's that's a testament to to your district. Um, that's one thing that we we have done specifically when it comes to our support staff. It's been difficult with teaching staff, but with our with our

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ESPs, we've been able to do that. Um, and I think that's that's really important to do. Um, you know, offering, you know, and fostering that professional culture. That that's that's hard work. That's that's through conversations. That's

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through faculty meetings. That's through, you know, having professional development that revolves around understanding of of all cultures, understanding that that comes first, having that as part of your strategic objective. So, putting that into place that people see that first and foremost.

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Um, your mission statement talks about, you know, Those are important things. It should be out there. It should be out front that we're that we're welcoming all learners and all perspectives. So, it shouldn't just be a a note on the paper. It should be something that's believed and known and understood.

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>> Okay. Uh number 10. We value lifelong learning in our district. How do you prioritize and pursue your own professional learning and model that practice for other educators? Please provide specific examples of recent steps you have taken to keep a breast of current educational innovations.

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>> Yeah. So I I think that obviously um if you if you are an educator who has decided that you are going to stop your own education, you should probably get out of the business. Uh because if we're expecting to teach our students in a in

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a changing world, you've got to keep up with it. Uh, one of my very favorite tools and we have purchased it for our entire building leadership team is the Marshall memo. I'm not sure if you know what the Marshall memo is, but I I I get the Marshall memo uh weekly and I read

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that weekly. And what the Marshall memo allows me to do is to is to it's essentially it's it summarizes a lot of researchbased articles and it allows you to sort of pick and choose what you're most interested in for that particular for that particular week. But what I do

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then is I I take certain things and I'll share it out to certain staff and say, "I think this would be of interest to you." So that's how I'm modeling, right? I'm I'm I'm reading it myself and finding it and saying, "Huh, this is this is about literacy programming. I'm going to send this to

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my literacy coaches or this is about um certain books that are great for readers who are in third through fifth grade. I'm sending that to our librarian to make sure that she reads that. our our our three to five librarian and and

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that's happening on a regular basis. You know, anything about AI, I'm reading it now and sending it out to folks who I know will help lead that charge for us. So, that's my that's really my most, you know, um consistent continual learning right now, but I I also uh am very

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fortunate to work for a superintendent and work in a district that truly believes in professional learning for its administrators. And I and I've been very lucky. Every year I attend the Massachusetts Association for School Superintendent uh Summer Learning

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Institute, the Paul J. Anders Institute. I I attend that every summer. Um I I attend the New England Association of School Superintendent Conference, which is my favorite one because I find that every year that that's a that's a smallest one, and I get to go to that

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primarily because my superintendent is on the board. Um, so he wants me to go with them, but I get so much out of that and then the networking and the growing and the talks that you get to experience there are really wonderful and um I also

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go to the national conference. I've gone to the national conference as well. Those opportunities to learn are so important and I encourage our principles to go to theirs. I encourage our principles to go to their conference uh to learn that that's great PT. We don't get enough. We do not get enough

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professional development as administrators. There there isn't enough. We we work so hard to make sure that our teachers get it, but I think we often times forget about the admin when it comes to those things. Um so I I I do take advantage of that when it's allowed. Um

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and I I think I model it by encouraging folks to do the same thing. in and you know and if a teacher finds a good PD that they bring to me uh I'm in charge of the of the professional development budget as long as we have

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enough money I'm I'm rely on the opportunity to take that course and know also we have to you have to have in your contract that teachers get a certain amount of reimbursement right we have to make sure that they understand that that's there and that's important we want to push that But outside of that,

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there's certain PDPs that they can get that will be outside of that process. And I think sometimes we have to be willing to say, "Yeah, I'll send you to this." Go ahead. [clears throat] >> Can I ask a clarifying question on that? Um, you were talking about some of these conferences that you went to. Can you

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remember a session that you went to that was really influential in your own professional learning? Something maybe you brought back to your district? >> Yes. The first one that comes to mind, I heard Joseph Philippo speak. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Joseph, but he's he's a dynamic

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leader and and one of this one of the things that I listened to him speak about was about creating relationships with staff and how you know the creating those relationships can help to drive institutional change. It can help to um

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make things go and it wasn't just about the relationships with the staff. It was about the relationships with this community as well. always stands that one print in particular has always stood out to me u as as really influential. Um I also recently had listened to a a

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friend and colleague um the superintendent of Medway uh Armen Py did a talk at at one of the latest conferences that I went to about uh the importance of ensuring that SEAL is

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fully embedded in your MTSS process and you know some of the tips and tricks to make sure that's happening and he he did that uh in collaboration with one of his seal leaders in district and um you know that message is so powerful and I you

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know I wanted to go and sort of learn how they're doing it in that way and I had the opportunity to do that. So those two stand out maybe Arvin will watch this and give a little shout out to I like that. >> Thank you so much. >> Uh question 11. Student success is often

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hindered by invisible barriers, anxiety, food insecurity or lack of belonging. How do you empower your building level leaders to identify these barriers early and what systems have you built to ensure that a student's mental health crisis is treated with the same urgency

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as an academic intervention? >> So I I think you already heard me talk about the importance of ensuring that every student has a trusted adult. And I think that's part of this, right? That's that's that that is that to me is like level one. [clears throat] Let's get to that. That's the tier one. That's the tier one intervention right there. every

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every person has to have a a trusted adult. And then from there, how do we empower the principles? We empower the principles by making sure that they understand that that's important. They need to know that from a

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district-wide lens, the well-being of our students has to be their number one priority because nothing is going to be achievable if their students aren't ready to learn, right? We're not we're not going to get great results on AP

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scores if our if our kids are not ready to learn and they're so stressed out that they can't attend in class. So principles need to be be knowledgeable about that. Um I I was I was talking earlier someone about [clears throat] the most beloved employee in our

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district is Huxley. Huxley is our dog, right? Huxley is our our school adjustment college at the high school has has this the service done. Huxley brings such joy to that building

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to those to our kids. And I I bring that up because we need to understand that those are the things that matter, right? him him walking around the school and giving kids that brief little hug in in pet can

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help calm a child who's having a a struggling day, a rough day. So if those like the little things that we're paying attention to, that's how we create an environment of of of comfort and trust, right? And understanding that is important. So you know the but then you

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talk about the invisible barriers, right? Anxiety, food insecurity, lack of belonging. I think I tal I talked about lack of belonging a lot. That's really important. Everybody needs to trust an adult, but we have to offer kids time and space to to get with like-minded individuals as well, right? We have to

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have groups and we have to have clubs and organizations to make sure that every child has somewhere to go where they can make sure they're fostering relationships with peers that are healthy. We we have we have to have, you know, some organizations that that do those things that allow students the

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opportunity to find each other and be together. Um, and l lucky we're in we're we're in a we're in a place right now where hopefully when they go to school at least school isn't a place where food insecurity

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becomes an issue because we're providing free meals for students. But we've got to be cognizant of the fact that not everybody's going home to a to a full meal. So are are we are we are we being aware of that with our kids? Are we

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having conversations to make sure kids are doing well at home? And do we have things in place like we have what's called the helping our own fund where community members will provide funding for students in need if if we if we deem

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it necessary and our school adjustment counselors and our counselors and our APs and our deans and our principles will provide funds if needed for families. Of course, there is a student right now who is a high achieving student in a building

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that doesn't have anxiety. I'd love to meet them because the anxiety level right now is through the roof. I told you my wife is a high school counselor. I hear about it all the time. I don't live with a 16-year-old. You know, the pressures that these kids are under, it's it's gut-wrenching. It's

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different. It's just different now. So, are we giving them the time and space to just be kids, right? Do we have things at the high school like a flex block where they can go and get the extra help they need? Um, or to go and just

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talk to a teacher that they where they're not missing anything, so they're not feeling like they're they're they're they're falling behind. Instead, it's a block that's flexible in the day where they can go and get extra help. Are we providing those type of things? your your four students told me you were.

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That's great because that's the kind of stuff that helps with students who are feeling anxious. >> I could follow up on that. Do you have management tools [clears throat] um or what management tools would you use to be sure that your principles are

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being getting being getting getting good grades for those soft skills of of working with students and of of making sure your students have a trusted adult and aren't

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inadvertently being penalized when they take the steps they need in order in order to make that happen. I don't know if you see what I'm saying, but what we're talking about some very very soft skills here that you know there are there are I've heard

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this in other organizations. You know, we want you to do these soft things, but then you do them and you aren't always rewarded. How do you make sure that those that that work that you just described is actually rewarded?

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[snorts] Um, that's that's a hard one for me because uh >> it's a hard one for >> so so so reward like I I'm not trying to sound flippant here

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and I'm I'm taking a risk in saying this but the reward for the building administrator should be the fact that their students have a trusted adult. So that in itself should be rewarding for

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them. And I guess what I what my job is to give them the time and space to make sure those things are happening and showing them that that is what is important and not putting the pressure on them to do

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other things and saying no this is this is what matches our strategic objective. >> Yeah. to make sure that you are going out of your way to help these kids. And you know, I I think I think that that needs to be that intrinsic reward for

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our for our folks. And if those are the type of leaders that we have, I think it becomes rewarding. Um, but I'm not sure if you were looking for a literal reward. I I I don't know. So, I may have answered that incorrectly, but that that's that's where I'm thinking. It has it has to be something that is intrinsic

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in that leader to want to do that. and I have to help foster that to let them know that I'm encouraging that risk-taking ability for them to go out and do that. And I'm going to give them the time and space to do it and say if that means you're doing one last

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observation today because you're spending time to go and make sure that the kid feels good. That's what's more important than the observation. You get that observation done another time. um do that. >> Yeah, it's it's it's a tough area because you know like when we manage

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>> you know we often have pretty t hard rubrics. Yeah. >> And soft skills into those hard rubrics are sometimes tough even when we mean well. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I guess the the other way I would answer it is I want to surround myself by people who have

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[laughter] have that as a goal and who understand that those soft skills are really important. And I I I think that it's all it's all in the belief system that we all have to be rowing the same boat. And

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if that is part of your strategic plan, your strategic objectives and everything you're doing is based on that and and understanding that SEAL is a is a component of that, then I think it's just inherent that we're all because that's part of what we're our job needs to be. So if they're not doing it, then

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they're really not doing their job, right? >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um I have question 12. >> Okay. Um, when faced with a budget shortfall or a directive to catch up on learning loss,

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the extras like recess, art, nutrition, and student lunches, school lunches are often the first to be cut. Walk us through your framework for protecting student well-being [clears throat] during times of high pressure or limited resources. I I don't I I definitely

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don't want to beat the dead horse, but I I I if if [clears throat] you're looking at difficult decisions, you you need to make sure that the students are what you're thinking about first. So, your difficult decisions need to be made based on what is the furthest away from

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students. Um, of course, you're not going to limit elementary school recess. You got to figure that out. In fact, I had a wonderful young man today uh in one of our elementary schools ask me how I could increase recess for them. So, I certainly have to give that some serious

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thought because I'm anticipating if I get this position that he's going to be coming to me wondering what's going on with his plan. So, [laughter] uh I did promise him that even if I can't make that happen, the two of us will play a little bit of recess next year if I can find him. Um so

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so that that you know it it goes it goes back to decisions need to be made to ensure that students are always getting what they need and recess and the arts and

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opportunities for kids should not be what we're not providing. uh those should be the last things that are disappearing. We have to figure out how to be creative, right? We we want opportunities to not disappear

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and we have to make our decisions with those things in mind. The more opportunities kids have, the better. I mean, right now there's a push for CT programming, right? That that that's something we have to start talking about. The state is pushing that. So, what are we do? We can't we can't can't

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be given less programming. and it's time to get more opportunity, right? So, um and and and that, you know, you can't what are you gonna you gonna cut something to bring that in? No, you got to figure out how to fit that in. So, that's a challenge that we're going to

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have for the next few years, right? I'm willing to take that challenge on because it's important. We have to have more opportunities for kids to to look at look at different potential future outcomes for themselves. >> I have a quick follow on that. Okay. Um,

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so kind of referencing this question, other budget questions, when did you realize that uh Ashlin was going to have a budget issue and how did you start messaging that to the community? >> So we we have been messaging this to the community um for about two and a half years saying that this fiscal cliff was

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was was coming. We knew it was knew it was coming. We've been doing tribe board meetings. U we've had a number of tribe board meetings where these conversations been happening. Um and and finally um you know in conjunction with the the select

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board, the school committee, and the and the finance committee. That's where the messaging has really come from in terms of having those tribe board meetings to let folks know this is where we are. It's really been messaging by the the town manager and and the superintendent working together um to to make sure that

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they're effectively providing the information. The budget book that our superintendent sends out is exemplary and uh he sends one out every year and he's been saying that this you know only so many years so we can continue this. So that's the warning signs were there

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and we certainly knew this was coming. Thank you. >> 13. >> Thanks for taking the ignor. All right. 13. Uh, superintendents sometimes have to respond quickly and efficiently in times of crisis. Please

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describe your process from need to message sent. Please include which stakeholders you would contact and how and what steps you would take after the events. So my my immediate process in any kind

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of crisis is to is to stay calm even if I'm racing inside and understand that people are going to feed off of my energy. So if I am showing panic then everybody else is going to panic around me.

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>> So that's step number one in any crisis. Now it's about who am I communicating with? Who needs to know about something right away? All right. So let's say it is a situation where we have a um

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student who had a fall on a playground where they broke their arm and we needed to call 911 playground. Well, obviously the first call is to 911. Um, the second call is to the [clears throat] families. And if

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I am the superintendent, I'm assuming that I'm getting the call to let people know because I probably would not be in the building when I could be, but chances are I'm not. So, my expectation would be that the building principal were letting me know as soon as they had

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the opportunity to because I don't want to hear about that through the grapevine. And that gives me the opportunity to contact the school committee chair and let them know that this is something that just happened. Uh

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because it's a a big problem because a student just got hurt on our property. B this impacted the school day. C this could be laticious. Right? So you need to know about those things immediately. The next

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thing we need to do to determine does there need to be any kind of communitywide communication. And sometimes we need to specifically in an incident like this one because if we had to call 911 in the middle of recess and students saw this

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happening and students saw ambulances coming in one of their classmates being helped. We need to get on top of that in terms of district to make sure the messaging to the community is appropriate. And we would have to craft a wellthoughtout

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message that did not um that did not invade any type of HIPPO violation or rights, but also provide information to families to know that this is what went down. So something to the effect of we

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are writing to inform you that that while at recess today, we had a an incident in which a student had an accident in conjunction with the fire department

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and our public safety personnel. Uh the student was safely safely taken care of. Um, we we want to let you know because your child may have witnessed this and they may want to speak with you about it when

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they get home tonight. I cannot provide you with any additional information. If you do have questions, feel free to give me a call. Nice and easy, nice and simple. We do that. We do that dozens of times, right? There are always like little emergency situations.

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I just had one on on Friday where I happened to be in the uh Warren Elementary School reading to a group of kindergarteners. I have a monthly reading date with one of with with two classes. And as I was walking out, the assistant principal grabbed me because the principal was out of the building.

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He said, "I'm really glad you're here. Can you come in the office?" A student had a student had had a medical incident during an all school assembly. fell. Everybody saw it, right? So, we needed

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to craft a message that that let families know that we were on top of this. Everybody was safe. We didn't we wanted to get on top of the rumor mill. That's really important to do. And um my first my first email

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uh was to actually text message text message was to our superintendent and his first thought. Okay. Thanks. I'll I'll let I'll let school committee know. So that's that's essentially what we'll be doing. >> All right. 14. Over the course of this

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day, you have met with our educators, administrators, parents, and students. As you reflect on that experience, what stands out to you about our school community? What makes you a great fit for our district? So, the first thing that stands out to

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me, and I said it earlier today, is those four incredible juniors that I just had the opportunity to sit with for 30 minutes. And I think Sean can attest to this because he got to join me. What a what a just remarkable group. And it's difficult for 16 year olds to carry on a

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conversation with an adult that they've never met. And they did it with such grace and ease. I mean, so if I leave with nothing else today, I'm thinking to myself, man, those kids have it put together. Um, the other thing that I I really was appreciative

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of, um, was seeing the the genuine camaraderie of the district leadership team. I got to eat lunch with those folks today. And I I'm coming from a situation, and I explain this to them,

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where I absolutely love my job. I I I love what I'm doing right now. I love the work. And the reason I love it so much is because I love the team that I get to work with. Um we have this dynamic team of of folks who are not

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afraid to disagree because we all genuinely like each other. And I I I just got a vibe today, unless they were just tremendous actors. I got this really I got a really positive vibe from that district leadership team. They seem

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to genuinely enjoy each other's company and generally enjoy working with each other and um that that means a lot to me. That's that that's something that I could get behind and I and I look forward to the opportunity to work with them. And there's there's some there's

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some really highly intelligent folks in that room that also have personality and that's that's interesting to me. I I I want to be a part of a team like that. Um, another thing that stood out, and I said this in the community forum,

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there was tremendous student engagement as I as I walked through the schools today. Um, I I I'm still struck by the the the inclusivity of it. I I just I I kind of forced every principal

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to show me the special education spaces because that I just says a lot about a school. It's what's happening in the special education space. It says a lot about what a school district does and a lot about the priorities. And each time I went and visited those rooms, I I left with a smile on my face because I felt

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really good about what was happening in there. Um and if I didn't, I would have let you know because that's, you know, if you if you stick around if if I get to stick around and learn pretty quickly. That's that's a place where I'm going to be visiting often. Um

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and and then just uh in general today um I I I alluded to it earlier. It was just fun to be back here. You know, I haven't been I haven't been back here in a long time and getting to see some familiar faces. I was I was welcomed so warmly here by so many people. It just felt

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really really wonderful to be back in a place that means so much to me and to feel like people were people were happy to see me and that that just warmed my heart and um I felt that I I really felt that. So, uh, it was it was overall a

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wonderful experience and and I think what makes me a great fit for this district is that I I've listened very carefully to some of the things that folks said

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and one of the things that has continually come up in conversations was folks are looking for a superintendent who is going to be visible. I've heard that from a number of stakeholders. First of all, I'm really tough to miss,

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so I'm easily visible, but I'm also going to be around. I I enjoy getting into buildings and seeing what's happening. I don't want to be stuck in an office all day long. That's not that's not going to fuel me. I need to

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go around and be with kids and see what's happening and be visible and talk to people, especially if if I'm coming into a new situation because that's how I'm going to learn about what's happening around here. And I I can guarantee you that I will be visible and

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I will I will fully engross myself in this community because that's that's what I do. That's that's who I am. All right. Uh, at this time, do you have an opportunity for a closing statement? Uh, we want to thank you for, uh, coming here tonight and, uh, feel free to ask

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us any questions of your own. >> So, so my my closing statement, I thought a little bit about this and it sort of has adapted throughout the day. Um, I think most importantly, I I I am being so sincere when I say it was

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humbling to have this opportunity to return to Littleton, to even have this chance to to let you know um how interested I am in being the next superintendent of schools here in Littleton. Um, I I also think I'd be

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remiss if I didn't say you you folks did a great job because in my opinion, you chose a a fantastic candidate pool. Um, and I am going to give a shout out to the other two individuals who are also um vying for this position. I I think

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you have a difficult decision ahead of you because there's there's three highly qualified candidates. I I and I am confident I am one of them. I have been thinking about being the superintendent of the Littleton public schools

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for a very long time. when I made the decision to stop chasing the dream of being a collegiate football coach and decided to chase the dream of being a superintendent of schools.

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There was a very short list in Littleton is on top of it. I've always had a fondness for this district, a fondness for this community, and I I assure you

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that if you provide me with this opportunity, I would prove you right every day. And I am confident that I would do that because I have had tremendous mentoring for the last six years. My my

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title is the assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction and assessment. And I joke all the time that I think that that is such a misnomer because I have truly been the assistant superintendent.

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And I have been at the right hand of our superintendent for every decision that has been made in that district in our district for the last six years and quite frankly even before then because I was continually by his side on every

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major decision and every major change that has been implemented that has been effective in the Ashland public schools. Uh, and I also believe I have learned from arguably the best superintendent in

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Massachusetts. Uh, Jim Adams is an incredible superintendent and I have been so lucky to learn from him every day and he he believes wholeheartedly that his job is

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to get me ready to take on a district. and uh he's encouraging me to do this because he thinks I'm ready and I think I'm ready too. Um and I I'm looking forward to the opportunity. So again, I can't thank you enough for what has been a truly remarkable day. It's been a

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fantastic uh opportunity to not only take a trip down memory lane, but to also get to learn about Littleton uh in, you know, a little nutshell today. And um it's impressive what's happening here. And I would I would be honored to

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be able to continue to to keep that success going and and see if we could even take it to the next level because I I I think there's some greatness that may be untapped here and and we can see if we can get there. Um, in terms of

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some questions for you folks, I I I've I've had so many great questions answered today from so many individuals and I I have really asked everybody the same one. And I I I think that as a as a school

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committee, you all probably decided to take this journey for different reasons, right? Everybody everybody feels the the call to public service for a for a different reason, right? We all have our

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own our own purpose. Um so what drives you to want to see this school district improve? And if I if I'm your choice,

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um what are what are going to be what are going to be some of your priorities that you want to see us improve on and move forward with that are that are going to be driving the next, you know,

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I got 13 years left to retire. So 13 years of of of my career >> or maybe 15 Anybody [clears throat] want to go first? >> Sure. Um, so for me uh education's really about uh I feel like it's

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probably the number one way to improve socioeconomically, right? So for me it's about opportunity for folks and so it's making a level playing field. So you spoke about um you know food insecurity and anxiety and different pieces like that and it's understanding the whole person and making sure that we're

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evaluating that uh and giving people an opportunity to succeed. Um because if you have a solid foundation in education, you can do anything. [clears throat] >> Um I would say that I am both personally and professionally driven. So I have children in the district who uh got to see today. Um and and we are lifers here

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in Littleton. So this will be their sort of educational home and journey. And I think that really shapes who a human being becomes. I'm an early educator by profession. And so to me, really setting a child on that path, on that journey really sets them up for success. And a lot of what you said, an opportunity.

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And when I I didn't actually run for school committee, I interviewed to fill somebody's role. And there was a lot of people there. And um my speech was really about the growing diversity of Littleton. Um and really feeling proud

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and honored and humbled to be able to be a representative for the growing diversity. And so something that I find really important is that every child is seen not viewed, that they are their name is pronounced correctly, that they're seen in seen in the books, food that we serve. And so that's really been

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for me a big driving force and I hope continues to be a priority. I am the outgoing school committee member here. Um, but I hope it continues to be a priority for the district. >> Um, for me, similar, a little bit similar. I don't have that many

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educators in my family, but I have some. And it was a call to public service. Um, you know, grew up just in the town next door, Westford. You know, received a terrific education. Three young children in the school system. Want nothing but the best for them and uh and everybody

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involved. And it was if if I'm one of those people where it's like if I can't complain if I'm not going to do anything about it. So, I've really enjoyed the process of getting to know the superintendent, getting to know the staff, getting to know members of the select board and the finance committee, working through the budget, seeing sort

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of incremental, constant improvement within the district. Um, so we can get somewhere great. You know, the goal is to leave it better than I found it. Um, that's where I'm at. >> Um, I have four children that went

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through the school system, K through 12, you know, one of them. You think >> he was the fifth grade teacher of one of my sons. So >> um and my background like yours is in education. So um I my stu my children

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had an amazing experience here in Littleton public schools and I wanted to give back to the community using um my professional background. And um another thing I'd like to highlight about our

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school committee, I think that we we all bring different strengths. I think we're a very wellbalanced school committee, which um makes us strong, I think. So anyway, that was my why. I wanted to

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give back, make a difference, um using what I've learned and also continue to learn. That's always the, you know, lifelong learning is sort of my my jam. So um let's focus on one of the questions. So that's my why.

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>> Um so as you know my students my my my children also had had Mr. Sierra and um Mike and um uh they had a wonderful start in Littleton and then I going to out myself. I made the controversial at

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the time um decision for them to go to Parker where um also controversial point of view but but um I feel deeply that there are processes and methodologies

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that are so good that aren't a regular part of of public schools. Um, I don't think like jamming them into public schools is is is going to help anybody, but I've seen such wonderful

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results from doing things outside of the box. And I'm um here to just quietly cheer on anytime we get a chance to give it a nudge in

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that direction. um at their journey at Parker like opened my eyes to to what we could be doing and um you know anytime I can nudge us towards the light a little

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I'll give it a shot. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you all for sharing. I appreciate that. >> Okay. So, anything else? I think uh I I I I appreciate hearing the the [clears throat] why and the purpose and um I know that you have a difficult

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decision ahead of you and it's been a a a long couple days I'm sure. I know you have one more day tomorrow and uh I'm not even sure what time it is now, but [laughter] say you've had the longest day out of anybody. >> Yeah. If I if I can get an opportunity to maybe say good night to my daughters, I'm going to try to do that. And I'm

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going to get these shoes off. I shared [laughter] I shared with a couple people that I am not usually if if you do if you do make the decision to let me join your team. This is the last time you will see me wearing dress shoes. I am a I am a sneaker guy. I'm walking around

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buildings and it's a lot more comfortable and these things have to come off. So [laughter] >> I so goofy. >> I'm going to leave you I'm going to leave you with that. And uh thank you again so much. It's been a it's been a real pleasure to be here and uh I I thank you so much for your time and I

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hope that I see you again soon. >> Just hope we see you again soon. >> Ask for a motion to adjourn and then we'll say our goodbyes. >> Yep. I move that we adjourn at 8:21. [laughter] >> Seconded by Jine. All those in favor indic. I wraps up the interview. Thank

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you very much.