Okay, I'm going to call the U May 7th meeting of the Marblehead School Committee to order at 6:06 p.m. This meeting is being recorded and we're going to begin with the pledge of allegiance. Pledge algiance to the United
States. >> Um, do we have any commendations tonight? Um, I would just like to offer one to our uh IT and facility staff who worked to put on town meeting on Monday. I was in the fieldhouse Monday morning when
they were setting up and there was a lot of effort that went into putting that on. So, thank you to all of you. Okay, next um next up is public comment. Can we give a quick commentation? >> Sure. Uh, real quickly, the high school
play this weekend, Mama Mia, phenomenal. Uh, if you didn't get a chance to see it, it was outstanding. The the the show that they put on, the kids, the the technical piece behind it, everything was just first rate was awesome. So they did an excellent job. Okay.
Uh in recent weeks we have learned that several highly respected and deeply experienced educators will be moving on at the end of the school year. For many students these departures will be deeply felt. These are trusted professionals who built strong relationships with students over many years, supported
children through difficult moments, mentored colleagues, and helped shape the culture and stability in our schools. Like many districts across Massachusetts, Marble Head has seen applicant pools become smaller in recent years, making it increasingly important
that we support and retain experienced educators. The Fair Fix for Retirement Plus legislation, currently before the Massachusetts legislature, seeks to address an issue impacting educators who were excluded because of a confusing and
inconsistent enrollment process when the program was first implemented. Educators contribute directly into the Massachusetts teachers retirement system throughout their careers and supporting veteran educators through this legislation sends an important message that long-term public service is
respected and valued in Marblehead. Other school committees, including Medford, have already adopted formal resolutions supporting this legislation. We also appreciate that our superintendent has joined other superintendents across the Commonwealth in supporting this legislation through a
statewide letter. We would respect respectfully ask this committee to consider making a motion tonight to amend your agenda so the committee can discuss a resolution in support of the fair fix legislation currently before the Massachusetts legislature. A draft
res resolution modeled after the resolution adopted by the Medford School Committee has also been prepared for the committee's consideration. I have copies for you. Publicly supporting veteran educators through this legislation would be one meaningful way to show the that
Marvelhead values the educators who dedicate their careers to our students. So if it's okay with the chair, I did we did draft a proclamation. It is modeled after the one that Medford just did.
>> And we're hoping that you will consider that and as a committee endorse that so we can try to get this passed the state legislature and again honor and show that our veteran educators are you know respected and you know especially for the long-term commuting
students. Thank you. >> Do anyone there's no one else signed up in person? Is there anyone online uh who wanted to make public comment? Just raise your hand. Seeing no one, um, we will close public comment and we will move on to our
student representative, Will. >> Thank you. Um, short update since our meeting last week, but Mamma Mia was a huge success. Mr. Heler mentioned it. Um, I was really impressed with the set design, choreography, singing, and acting and the so many students from MHS involved. Uh, I also had no idea how
many songs were in Mamma Mia. Like I recognized Thomas. She was really awesome. Great experience. Um, graduation signs for this year's senior class are now on sale. Um, there's a Google form going around for that. In just a week or two, we should start to see those pop up around town and I always think that's really fun. Pointing out, oh yeah, that's what I personally
like. It's it's cool. Um, AP tests are going on right now at the high school. First week's almost done. Uh, good luck to everyone in week two. Um, junior prom is next Friday on the 15th. Um, I as class president got the um duties of planning that. Uh, it was really fun.
Um, great food, great time. Um, so good luck to everyone or have fun. Um, I think it's going to be a great time. Damber sports, same place as last year. So, uh, it's cool. And then we have a final spring instrumental concert is on May, Monday, May 18th. Um, so band,
chorus, orchestra. Students will be performing there as well as the chamber ensembles. Um, good luck to them. Sports baseball is 8 and 6. Softball is 9 and 5. Boys lacrosse is 8 and three. Girls lacrosse is 5 and 7. Boys tennis is 8-2. Girls tennis is 6 and three. Boys track
is 5-1. Girls track is 3 and three. And sailing is 9 and seven. So that's all I have. Thank you. >> All right. Next we have a superintendent update from John. >> Thank you. Uh good evening. Um I'd like
to start by acknowledging that May is mental health awareness month, Jewish American Heritage Month, Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Um May 1st was principal appreciation day. So thank you again to all of our principles in Marblehead and the great
work that they do. Wednesday, yesterday, May 6th was school nurse appreciation day. Um our school nurses do yman's work in the in the buildings and uh I think uh you know we should continue to thank them for all the hard work that they do to keep our kids safe. And this whole
week is teacher appreciation week. So, um you know, we've we've uh shared the appreciation last week at school committee. I did an all all users email out to everybody just to kind of thank um all of our teachers, but just felt it was um important to say thank you one
more time. So, it's a very busy month filled with gratitude and appreciation. Um speaking of appreciation, Julia, Michelle Carlson, Christy Chowski, Gina Hart, Hmeck Pepper, um were we were all guests this morning at the annual ADL um education event. David Shribman who uh
spoke at the well attended group um group meet last evening at the high school um also spoke there as did our attorney general Andrea Joy Andrea I believe she goes by sorry Joy Campbell um and along with honores Amos Kapalich and our Bever and Beverly police chief
Lasher. Um the event was filled with positivity but also grave reminders of the continued work and collaboration is needed to address hate and discrimination. Uh there's it was well attended by we had a lot of our um high school students there, students from other districts as well. Um it was we
had a pretty good contingency from Marblehead there and I think you know I think folks that were there would agree that there was some powerful um speakers and information that was shared but just a really uh strong reminder that we all have to do our part in making sure that
we treat each other well that we see something say something that we we are not tolerant of any kind of discrimination whether it's anti-semitism anti- anything uh racism anti-isms. Um, and we need to make sure that we
continue to have those conversations in ongoing way, especially with our students. Um, because it's important you have the future and you need to help um make sure that that hate and discrimination is is uh eradicated hopefully at some point. Anyway, on visit um I visited uh high school on
Tuesday and Wednesday this week and the overall feedback was really positive. We will share the report once it's been issued, but I wanted to share my appreciation for the hard work that my high school team. It's a ton of work to prepare then meet and share all the good things happening at the high school with the NIAS team and I'm really pleased
with how everything went. We met with Michelle today just kind of go over some of the initial feedback and we're really um Julie and I did and we're really pleased with uh you know what we uh we heard from the NEAS team initial the initial response. Uh plus we met with them our our central admin team met with
them when they visited and it was just really good positive discussion. So I'm really happy about that. Um before I do our shout outs and so I don't forget um I want to wish all the mothers and mother figures in our Marblehead community happy Mother's Day. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for this
special day. Uh so on to our shout out. Scott Scott Scott Williams, principal of Village School. I would like to recognize Annie Madden, our fourth grade teacher of Village. Annie has done a wonderful job supporting our ABA students this year in fourth grade. Additionally, she had brought tremendous enrichment to our village students with a motivational speaker presenting to our
students, Thomas E. Smith, as well as Grant. She was awarded the Friends of Marble Head for Legos for fourth grade science enrichment program. Annie is a quiet behind the scenes unsung hero who I think deserves high praise and a strong kudos. Thank you, Miss Maddie. Scott Williams, Matt Leandandy,
principal of Veterans Middle School. Um, he is shouting out to his old teaching staff at Edvets. As we celebrate teacher appreciation week, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the incredible educators here at Marblehead Veterans Middle School. Thank you for everything you do to support, inspire, and guide
our students each and every day. Your hard work, dedication, and care are what makes vets such a special place. our school community stronger because of you and your input does not go unnoticed. Thank you. Barry Maxfield, principal of this illustrious Brown Elementary School. I would like to shout out the
girl scout troop of 70371. This includes eighth graders Scarlett Barry, Lily Lasco Lascowski, sorry, Andy Tus, Addy Tus, and Mave Wast. In January, these girls reached out and requested to meet with me to discuss an idea they had for earning their silver
award. The silver award entails completing a project to help benefit the community. They made an appointment and presented a detailed proposal with data on the dangers of increased screen time and the benefits of unstructured play for children. They're prepared, articulate, kind, and caring. After
several months of planning and prep preparation, including navigating insurance, navigating insurance space, adult volunteers, supervisors, and registration procedures, they launched a free play club for our Brown School students on Friday afternoons for the month of May and June. Registration
filled in a matter of hours. And on May 1st, they held their first day of free play club. Bravo to these fine students for their efforts and for giving back to the community. It's really cool. That was really neat. Michelle Carlson, our principal of Marblehead High School. Thank you to all the MHS teachers for your time, effort, and dedication in
creating the self-study report for NIAS. This important work reflects a tremendous commitment to our school community. A special thank you to Dan Richards, Carrie Roy, and Daniel Moer for coordinating the visit and guiding this process. Your leadership and organization were essential throughout.
This has been a two-year effort in preparation for NAS visiting team and collaborative conference visit which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 5th and 6th. We appreciate everyone's contribution in making this successful and meaningful experience. Frank Kowalsski from principal at Glover
Elementary School. Glover school wants to recognize cafe and sless honors Moren and Joanne. They come to work every day and support the Glover children. They treat all of the students like they were their own. Glover is so lucky to have them. Glover school also wants to recognize cafeteria workers Janet,
Tatiana, and Debbie for feeding our students and always making sure the students are well cared for. They smile and make sure the kids are fed each day. We are so lucky to have them. Mike Piperling, our assistant superintendent of finance operations. Shout out to our school custodians, maintenance, staff, and technology team for their setup,
breakdown, and support for the town meeting. Echoing what Kate mentioned earlier. Um, the teams continue to provide a level of service above my expectations. They take great pride in their work. It takes about 12 hours for our entire crew to set up for town meeting and another 8 hours to break it
down. This time takes away from cleaning and other projects around the district. Please know I wholeheartedly appreciate the efforts put forth by our teams. Julia Ferrer, our assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. Thank you to our amazing educators, administrators, and technology department for the time and their effort dedicated to preparing for this year's
MCCAST. The team's collaborative effort helped ensure our students and the devices were prepared and ready for their MCCAST testing days. And finally, I want to loudly and proudly shout out to all of our teachers and to our school nurses. Your hard work and dedication to our students is
evident in how you support our students each and every day. If I had the time to thank each of you personally by name, I certainly would. Please know that as an educator, I understand the challenges that each of you face every day. I understand the good days, the bad days, and the in between days. But what I
understand in a more visceral way is that teaching and nursing are callings, and it takes special people to do this work and do it well. Thank you for making our schools the best they can be. #sup proud. That's all I have. >> Superintendent or chair. Um, do you want
to take this out of order and let the folks the kids from >> questions on the finance stuff the consent agenda? So, >> they're being very patient over there. >> Yeah. So, why don't we is that okay?
>> We don't think we So, let's move to the village. >> So, typically we have each school come to us. Go ahead. I'm just going to do a little intro. Um, we have each of our schools do a spotlight to share that some students and staff can come and share the great things that are happening. So, today um, our school
counselor is going to share um, who they brought and why they brought them and and the great stuff happening at Village. So, take it away, Kin. Jeff. >> So, Jeff Kevin and I have brought um just a handful of our peer leaders. We have a peer leader club that u meets
once a week on Thursday h sorry Tuesday afternoons um and we do well we're going to tell you lots of things that we do um but we p camp picked this crew because we knew that they would be exceptional for our presentation to you all. So I'm going to let them introduce themselves
and then the slideshow. Okay. >> Um thank are we doing the um smartboard for the the audiences as well. >> Okay. Right. We have slides to accompany. So, I think they're on >> Want me to turn around? >> I think they know that. I think they
know. >> There's pictures with them. So, that's the bummer. >> But it's okay. No, >> the audience will see and we can all see as well. It's just not this audience, unfortunately. I'm sorry. >> Sorry, everyone. >> Yeah. >> Why don't you guys start by introducing yourselves and then we'll get started.
>> I'm McKenzie. I'm Vivian. I'm Victoria. I'm Anna. I'm Natalie. Hi, my name is sixth grade peer leaders um who work hard to lead by example and meet after school on Tuesdays and throughout the school year being engaged
in many activities such as peer mentoring with fifth grade third graders during lunch spreading holiday cheer by creating parts for the seniors at the diet house creating skits about dispress expectations cafeteria behavior and bike
safety plan with TV monitors and our school to promote responsibility, safe, and respectful behaviors to our parents of coming fourth graders as well as the third graders on stepup day. Posting positive messages about kindness, inclus inclusivity around schools to ensure a
swing of belonging at village school. Making more announcements about special projects or events that are going on to help our school community. participating in a cleanup day around our village school campus and also four of us sixth graders planned a sixth grade school
dance today. The cocking me club is an opportunity for students of all grades at village school to be a leader, spread kindness and create positive change with a contagious attitude. It is based off the book the call for reading by John
Woodings and Danning West to empower students on their way to change the world around them for the better. They meet every Friday morning at 7 a.m. >> School newspaper. Bliss Puit is the mastermind behind this club, which works hard throughout the year to put out
multiple editions of our school newspaper. They cover topics that range from news and current affairs, book reviews, special occasions, mystery teacher, tech tips, sports, and comics. If you haven't had a chance to read any edition of this paper, we encourage you
to. Morning announcements. Each morning, two students come down to the front office to deliver the daily announcements. Student announcements include a morning greeting, the date, the weather, the lunch menu, a word of the day, and the pledge of allegiance. Students then pass
it over to Mr. Williams for any additional announcements, as well as the joke of the day. >> Village school continues to compass during lunch. During lunch this year, as a community, we learn about what composting is, the the benefits
composting has on our community, and how we can all get involved to make a sustainable difference. We all volunteers to be a compost ranger and take turns each lunch helping our classmates sort through waste, recyclables, and compost. Village goes great.
>> Community engagement. >> Fourth, fifth, and sixth graders have a community meetings. watch them up in place to come together for a full reassembly. The classes teams that are responsible for facilitating a community meeting throughout the year. At the start of each community meeting, the
student dynamic duck are publicly recognized and celebrated for being safe, respectful, and responsible classmates. Past community meeting talks have focused on recess expectations, learn about upcoming cultural celebrations, events, built in empathy, social problem solving, and more. This
year we add our morning meeting for fourth and fifth grade schedules to foster connection practice and form social and emotional skills the in response to breakdowns as a community so that we could all learn and grow together
the chair is a legend when Mr. Williams arrived at village school as our principal he brought George the chair this has been a tradition that Mr. Williams has carried on throughout most of his teaching career. George is an achievement that classes can obtain
showing village school below visit classes and looks for a class or team that is showing dynamic duct. Then on Friday, he announces the class that will receive George the following week. George is a very big part of our school spirit here at Beverage and every class
looks forward to the day where the class requires organic garden also known as a special garden located at the center port of school. Big shout out to Spur for their support. The garden serves as a really cool hands-on learner for us all. We all
get to learn about organic garden sustainability and health nutritious habits. Classes get the chance to go out and work and garden and harvest all plant. It's so fun to walk by the vlog on the way to class and see what we're
planning springing up and go strong. Product 351. Every year an eighth grader is chosen to be the ambassador for 351 from each middle school. This year, Pure Leaders partnered with our ambassador to collect gently used clothing to donate
to Crdles to Crayons, a nonprofit organization focused on ending children's clothing insecurities. We created signs, made a video, and read announcements over the PA system in the mornings. >> School spirit PBIS at Village School Duck Dollars. A
village duck is all about being respons, respectful, responsible, and safe. Us ducks make it our goal to earn duck dollars. We earn duck dollars by and for those positive behaviors like this one. We turn in our duck dollars to our teachers and at the end of the week each
grade's duck dollars to go or naps over their lives by Mr. Williams. We earn full prizes such as movies, extra recess, free sneer, hot cocoa day and stuff and for earning duck dollars. The multic
speed and on several days it gets faced as double dunkers or masc shows up to makes it rain spirit day. School spirit is a very important part of village school's community. Peer leaders sometimes even brainstorms ideas for these events. Some
of our past spirit days have been dress up like your favorite teacher day, Valentine's Day, neon day, and sports day. When a spirit day is decided upon, students will go on the announcement and spread the news to the rest of the schools. These days help unite the school community and add some extra fun to the school day. When the majority of
students participate in it, it shows how it shows village school spirit as a whole school. Community celebrations. At Village School, we are one big community who cheers one another up when there is a win and lifts one another up
when there is a stop, but also loves a good competition. This year we challenged our teachers and students to read by having a March Madness reading competition called Beat the Teachers. >> We also celebrate teacher appreciation week by leading on thank you teachers
campaign. Students write thank you notes for all their teachers and we hang them up around the school on big banners. We love our teachers. >> Thank you. Yeah. Hang on. We're gonna we're gonna get a photo of you guys. Okay. Don't mind.
>> Oh, and I will. >> Okay. >> I'm gonna jump on the phone with you guys. Okay. >> Great job. >> Yeah. That's an awesome >> fantastic student voice, right? Awesome. >> Can you get everybody in?
All right, hold on. Here we go. Three, two, one. Say ducks. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Well, >> well done. Thank you. Great job. >> Yeah. So, we'll go to Mike who has
financial updates whenever you >> All right, I'm up. >> Uh time to follow that especially with the financial update. >> All right. Uh so um you know I have to say I feel like we're given a similar report every school committee meeting.
We're in a uh very favorable financial position right now for the school department. Uh we have an unencumbered unexpended balance of just under 2 million $1.98 million in unexpended unencumbered uh um budget dollars. Uh as
you know we're trying to reserve 1.5 of that for prepaid tuition. So, we're probably about $480,000 uh in unexpended unencumbered funds. Uh with this being our first year with municipent payroll, we are just being super cautious. We have uh probably
about 60% of our teachers elect to have their payroll withheld a little bit each week with a final balloon payout at the end of June to carry them through the summer. So, we're watching that closely. I don't want anybody to get excited that we have a a you know a decent healthy
balance at the start of May. Um and in addition to that we've done a lot of learning I'm not sorry facilities walks over the past month. Um Shaftner Mr. Guazer and I along with our principles who have been outstanding to work with and our head custodians for the most
part and a couple of our facilities guys. We've identified a lot of things that uh need to be I want say there there are numerous things that need to be addressed and we are working as hard as we can to address them now because we know what the financial position for next year is going to be and um we are
cautious of that conscious of that and want to make sure we're doing everything we can this year while we have possibly a little bit of funds available to do this and this these are repairs these are pumps these are water heaters these are things that um you know they they've run their life they they weren't
neglected. They weren't, you know, for the most part. Um, these are just things that need to be addressed. Uh, regular preventative maintenance or repair uh replacement. So, um, >> Mike, just quick question. We didn't make any changes to the level funded maintenance budget for next year,
>> right? So, 27 has >> a level funded maintenance budget. >> Uh, I believe so. I I don't believe we removed the we originally put in a 2% increase on all supply and contract services lines. I believe that we've removed that 2% from the maintenance supply.
>> So, it's a level funded maintenance, >> right? That's why I'm um very anxious to get as much of this work done before June 30th as possible. Um, so, uh, you know, I'm sure we'll be back, um, at some point in June letting
you know some, um, potential things that we could use before the end of this before the end of the year and seek your um, approval to move forward with those items. >> So, can I ask a question? I don't know if it belongs here or maybe at the end.
Um, you can tell me if you want me to hold it off on this, but I just had I wanted a clarification. So, there's a document on the town website that is a school f the school FY27 document which is a document I haven't seen before. Um
so whatever but um it talks about the three level the three tiers and it the first tier um for the for the um general override request tier one it's showing um
for the school portion fund contractual salary increases restore special ed out of district tuition and revolving positions in the general fund. I didn't I thought we were still doing the special education prep. >> So we are going to pre we are going to
prepay next year's tuitions. >> Yep. >> And we reduce the budget by that amount, $1.5 million. >> Okay. >> So So next year we will not have any prepay money and we will be short 1.5 million for our FY28 budget. >> Okay. So Okay. All right. So that
>> that's a tier tier one year two. >> Yes. An FY28. >> Okay. So it's so it's year two. I guess that was unlier. So tier so tier one >> two and three year one we're not there's there's no funding whatsoever going to
school one two or three nothing going to the school I just wanted to make that okay so what's it >> maybe that okay I just wanted to clarify that I got a couple of questions recently and I'm like I just wanted to >> yeah I understand it's a lot to digest and you know
>> yeah no I just when I looked at this I went and then but it doesn't indicate the year it just this gives the full three years here So that's probably why cuz it's in uh year year two or three. Oh, we have three. >> I created that. So that's that's a a
bridged version of the newsletter that >> okay, >> you know, they want it for town needed to post. >> Okay, great. All right, that that that's helpful. I appreciate that. Thank you. I think just to underscore the newsletter hasn't broken out by a year. So it probably just didn't make it into the
aided version since you're like on that. Yeah, but yeah, because the newsletter goes to parent the full news is posted however on our site and the town site too. >> So we can reference that link that document that you have up now actually
links to that >> links to the new. >> Yeah, links. >> Any other questions from Mike on the financial update? >> Thank you. All right. So, next, um, we have our consent, action, and agenda items. I'm looking for a motion to
approve the identified schedule of bills totaling $287,8451 cents, the draft meeting minutes from April 30th, 2026, and the revisions to policies HA, HB, KF, KBA,
KB, KD, and KD agenda means H. Okay. So, >> Oh, it is HF. I my notes. Thank you. >> Um so >> I'll second.
We have a motion from Henry, seconded by Melissa. Any discussion? >> Um Henry, I had a couple edits on the minutes. Um under the superintendent update, there's a bullet on the Mtown meeting where it says Jack Asher and should say
Jack. Yeah, I have one other so let me know when >> um >> I think it's the first page. It's under the superintendent date. There's a bullet on Mer Union.
>> Okay. Yes, I see. All right. Agenda next. >> On page four, um there's a subsection F to the town we need warrant article section, but that the language in the section is referring to the park and wreckou and it's not
actually accurate. I think it should just be deleted because the next section accurately captures. Okay. um um before any other comments from ready to vote. We don't know if we should amend the
agend >> the motion. >> We're doing the motion. >> Um, okay. I I will make an amended motion to approve Oh, wait. For schedule, I've got to add everything in. Maybe you should. >> Great. So, I'm looking for an amended motion
>> um to approve the identified schedule of bills to totaling $287,84541. the draft meeting minutes from April 30, 2026 as revised in this discussion and then the revisions to policies HA, HB,
HF, KBA, KBE, KCD and K DD. >> So move >> second motion by Henry, seconded by Melissa. Any further discussion? Great. We go to a vote. All in favor? Any opposed?
Motion carries. Four to zero. So that brings us to we have three school improvement plans on the agenda tonight. Um the first one is village. John, did you want to >> Yeah, I just just um um Scott, you can come up to get ready. I just wanted to share. So um we're going to start our school improvement plans this evening
with village vets and then the high school. Uh and next week we'll do the other two elementary schools. Uh just to remind folks, we are in process of um updating the um plan for success into district improvement plan that's going
out for uh feedback from uh staff, admin, parents with the school committee right now for their feedback. Um that'll be presented and hopefully voted upon in the next meeting or so. Um so it was a little bit challenging for our principles to create a school
improvement plan that made a th000% um sense when we're changing the district. So this is just that this is that strange kind of catchment area where um they have to work on a school improvement plan um with some of the elements of the proposed dip um without
being fully implemented. So it's just so there's a little bit of an overlap. So, just just so you're aware, um it won't dovetail 100% yet. Next year it will. Um so, there's some elements of the new district improvement plan that obviously haven't been shared that will kind of shine through a little bit here, but so
most of the school improvement plans are kind of where are they right now? What are they kind of working towards with some flavor of the new tip? Um so, I just want to share that because I think it's important feedback um start. So, we're going to start with Mr. Williams. Mr. Williams is going to share his school improvement plan, uh the
overarching goals and how he looks a school look to achieve those goals. >> I got you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Good evening. Um it's my honor and privilege to present to you our new school improvement plan. Um this is for a one-year plan and as Superintendent
Robadoo uh just reviewed, uh we are emulating and following the new district improvement plan. So, we extracted goals from that overarching plan. Um, before I start the presentation, I do want to take a moment to acknowledge our partners in education. Um, our PTO,
which has been so phenomenal to work with. Uh, this week they've been at village every day to celebrate our teachers. Without them, that would not happen. So, I have to acknowledge our PTO. Our school advisory council has is been pivotal. And this document this
evening represents months of work in collaboration with those members of that team. So I'd like to give them a special recognition. Um Laura Clark, Stephanie Trainer, Katie Freegon, Kate Dulac, who was part of the presentation tonight. Uh Kristen Haw, Mary Kim Cotch, Cararissa
TR, Lauren McGlin, and Mary Keller. Their partnership has been crucial to the development of this document. So I want to acknowledge them and thank them. Um we have met five times this year as a school advisory council. We have one more meeting on the 19th of the end of
this month. Um we have been discussing this document in partnership. Uh I presented this to them several months ago and they are completely on board with our plan. So thank you. Um as I mentioned, we're going to focus tonight on the district improvement plan. Goals
one, curriculum instruction evaluation. Goal four, student support and services. And then goal five, leadership, governance and communication. Can you all see the document? >> Yep. >> Okay. So, just briefly, if we focus on goal one, literacy and math growth,
obviously that is a crucial focus area for any public school. Um, as we all know, we are tested on the in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with the Desi MCCAST test, and that's an important data point, but I really believe strongly in a holistic approach
of data capture, um, capturing a repository of data over time to show progressive growth. We usually use our EXL data for that to achieve those results. Um, but we're focusing uh on our windblock model as well. what I need. Um, in prior years that used to be
referred to response to intervention. It has evolved to differentiate instruction for our kiddos where they're at developmentally in their respective grades. So, that is a focus area. We also focus as a district and at village with the um MTSS model, the multi-tiered
systems of support. Again, a model of differentiation to meet our kiddos where they're at in the academic content areas. So that is a that's a pivotal part of this of this document. If you draw your attention to the school-based goal, village school educators will
focus on literacy, MCAST and win. We are going to shift focus to science this year. Um kids love science. They love the kinesthetic involvement, the project-based learning, um the uh the hypothesis and scientific discovery. It's all part of their growth and
development. We have been very fortunate this year at village to have um those new curriculums in place. Mystery science in grade four and then we have inspire science for grades five and six. Um our teachers have been working very hard and I have to give a shout out to the village teachers because they've
really adopted this new model. So it's exciting. We started this work last year building a block in the master schedule to dedicate to science. So we're doing our best to walk that walk for our kids. So that is a focus area moving forward for us at Village. Um turning our
attention to our learning walks and I I'll unpack this a little bit more later, but we piloted a learning walk experience at Village School. Um the district in the past and I have participated in these walks as a teacher and an administrator. Principles, we
visit each other's schools. We felt strongly that teachers learn best from other teachers. So, we're providing logistics and substitute coverage and the mechanics of that, but we're really taking a backseat. Our teachers are visiting one another to see their peers and colleagues live in action. That
helps our horizontal alignment for consistency across the curriculum, across the grade levels. It also gives teachers the liberty and the freedom to say, "I like that. I'm going to borrow that. I'm going to try that." Um, it's it's not a gotcha. It's not an evaluative process. It's a collaborative
effort. So again, the village teachers have done an excellent job modeling adopting that. We we had a staff meeting last night and I I was very pleased and proud to give them that recognition because they they've done a great job with this. I participated in this exercise as well. Um the other
consideration to that is it lends itself to vertical alignment. Um sometimes when our students progress from grade to grade, there can be a bit of of a disconnect. So this helps that process to streamline. I think that's a very effective approach. Um, special
education lens, special education is not a sidebar. It's not a side note. It's how we do business at Village School. So, we are very cognizant and aware of our mandates, our legal mandates for our IEPs for children on 504 plans. Um, and
how we have to meet them where they're at through differentiation practices. So, again, I want to draw some attention to that. At Village, we're working very closely at our PLC meetings, our professional learning community meetings, which happen on a weekly basis at all grade levels. Often those
meetings are very focused on data specific um analysis. So our data team is working very hard there. So thank you to that. Um we also have a commitment and obligation to our stakeholders to post and share our performance. We're
accountable for MCAST as as a school. So we are very transparent and clear. um per Jesse standards that we have to be proactive and communicate that with our parents in the fall. We always notify when the results will be sent so that we're transparent about those results.
Um and then the evaluation cycle in in Marblehead um the the evaluation tool we use is a we start our year with a smart goal specific measurable attainable realistic timely goal. We have conferences with our staff members, um,
myself, Jenny Conrad, our assistant principal, Ashley Leeman, our team chair. We work with our teachers to develop and help and coach them throughout the year. We start with a goal setting, a professional practical or an academic achievement goal. We really want to keep those goals. It it's
important of how we operate and how we improve. And then we visit classrooms frequently throughout the week. We formally observe our professional status teachers at least once a year. and we are non-professional status teachers. Those teachers who are under three years of service, we observe them five times.
So, we're very visible in their classrooms giving them feedback. Right now, we're at the end of that cycle. And um I collaborated with three teachers today to give them their formative and summitative assessments and that is a dialogue that happens. Um and those conversations happen throughout the
year. It shouldn't be a one time at the end of the year. So, we are actually we're going through that system and that process right now as I speak. Um questions about the first goal. Moving on to goal four. Um this is student support programs and services.
Sense of belonging is very important to me. Um it in my opinion and I think the research would support this this uh statement. I think sense of belonging promotes a greater sense of achievement and greater achievement later in life.
even more so I would argue than academic achievement. Um the two are obviously very important to us but sense of belonging is really important through our um student voice. I know superintendent Robu has asked us to promote student voice. We had a great example of that tonight. I can't think of a better example than what we had
tonight who are awesome peer leaders but um sense of belonging is get to know your child beyond the classroom. What are they doing outside of school? Make a connection. And I've done this at other schools I've worked in where a custodian, a nurse, a parah, a cafeteria
monitor, any way to build that sense of community so our kiddos feel like they're they have purpose and they belong to a greater community. So we are really focusing effort on that endeavor this fall. Um we unpacked this yesterday at our staff meeting with our faculty.
So that is a very important area. some ways, some vehicles that we attain this at our school, peer leaders who saw tonight, our student ambassadors, our composting rangers, this is initiative that started last year at village school, our clubs, thank you. Shout out to all the village teachers. We have
awesome clubs. I think we have 12 13 clubs at the moment. And so those are nice enrichment opportunities for our kids. Um, our student newspaper, uh, peer leaders mentioned Liz Puit. Mrs. Puit does an incredible job publishing this. I look forward to reading it. It's actually really fun.
Um, and then our morning announcements, that's where our kids come in and we have a nice exchange there. The best example of putting student voice into action is recently, um, three, I'm sorry, four female students presented to me the need for a village dance. And I
was very skeptical in the beginning, but they actually persuaded me. I was very impressed with their professionalism, their presentation. Um, so we had a dance and I have to say it was a hit. It was a really great night at village school. So that is student voice and
action at village. Um and then just again a shout out to our peer leaders tonight. A special recognition for our counselors Kevin Marrian, Pay Dulac, and Jeff Nuome who were here tonight. They did all the work to prepare them. So thank you to to our counselors. Um
and then just again visiting our learning walk experience. I explained that a little bit earlier. very important part of that process is also connecting to our social emotional learning program. So we have our um morning meeting which is part of our
responsive classroom protocol. We rolled that out this year with our village teachers. It promotes a sense of belonging because our teachers spend the first part of their morning connecting with the kids. It gets them ready. It gets them poised for best learning practices and just building that
community and that connection is really important. um building relationships with our children is imperative to move the needle for their growth. I I feel strongly about that. So that is embedded in our culture. Um I also have to give a shout out to Jean Scona. Jean has been a
great resource who's come to visit our village classrooms throughout the year that was organized and funded through our awesome PTO. So Jean, thank you to her because she's been great. Um she's I've seen her in action many times working with our kids and she is truly a
subject matter expert. Um >> what is the sub >> I'm sorry >> what is the subject? >> She's a social emotional learning expert. She comes in and teaches kids about conflict resolution, skill building, um collaboration, communication skills.
She's done a great job. And then um so we have our emotional safety for our students but then there's our physical safety. I want to acknowledge our partner for safety, Sean Sweeney. Sean is one of the best school resource officers I've ever worked with in 18 years of being a principal. He is
responsive. He He is flexible. He helps when needed. Um we have done three fire drills. We have one more this year. We have done a a lockdown drill. We've done a full evacuation drill where we have reported to our unification points. Um
those have all gone very well and I want to thank the village staff who has done an excellent job executing it. Um and also our fire department and our police. Part of our safety at village school involves um our QBS standards for safety care. So if a child is disregulated, if
a child is emotionally um impaired, it's our job to have the training to make sure we're following those protocols to deescalate the situation. So that is also part of our safety at Village. questions about that goal.
>> Yeah, I have some questions on this. Um the first in each of these and this actually is with the other schools too as well. Um there isn't necessarily measurements on this one. The first one you do there's there's some things there's
assessments, there's MCAST which you reference um but there's not actual measurable goal like set measurable goals. So I'm just not sure where does that have a place at any point in >> so I what I would say is um these are
year-long goals right so we don't have like this is done by September that's done by October te technically in every area um although some lend to that way so some goals would be across you know maybe take the whole year to achieve some goals like I mentioned with the dip
um you know you strive for this and you maybe fall a bit short then you re you have to re-evaluate So there's some of that um that goes on. So it depends on the goal. It depends on the you know where the strategy is and what what it takes to you know implement
those strategies. So things for instance like student voice. I mean that's it's hard to measure other than like to say these are things we're doing to make sure students have a voice. Um, but to say like we're going to meet this by October 15th or you know December 12th
is is kind of it's performative and that kind of >> well I just think I just don't need the M is measurable that's all. So I just at some point wonder, you know, there, you know, maybe not for this year, but you might want to consider going forward because it's one of the things I have
with the DIP plan as well. Um that there are actually not specific goals um that can be backed up by data. So it's just a you know something to think about on some >> for for the AC thank you for the for the
um the capture and performance of academic achievement those are measurable through our through our benchmarking and through our three times a year assessments. So we do measure those constantly all the time during our data work. But do you actually have specific goals though at you know like
so you looking to raise MCCAST to you know a certain level right >> um at village I I don't know but >> maybe at some point that was something that >> so so yeah what I would also say is like we when we do a school improvement goal I mean obviously you're not these these
aren't every single thing that that school working on right so it's the highlighted areas that we're working on just similar to like when we evaluate teachers there's how many standard we have six different standards we don't hit every single standard we have like we have areas that areas that we focus on and then everything else kind of
falls um within that. So I hear what you're saying and >> it's just you don't know at the end you know >> so I'm just I mean I think it's with all of them so it's just something to think about but thank you might want to ask
>> thank you um goal five leadership governance communication so as our peer leaders mentioned we are a PBIS school that is positive behavior incentive program we are the ducks that is our mascot we um every Monday we announce
grade level winners for duck dollars. Our kids respond well to this. We have lunch with our dynamic ducks once a month. They're celebrated and recognized at our community meetings. That is a big part of who we are. Um I look forward to those community meetings because the kids are really recognized and
celebrated. Um and our teachers again do a great job of elevating that program for them. Um and then uh our teacher appreciation week obviously was this week. I have acknowledged PTO and their partnership, but so much does happen behind the scenes through their work.
All of our enrichment programming is brought into our school through their funding, through their hard work, through their effort. So, thank you once again to them. Um, our parents are obviously crucial partners in in our children's development. So, we promote
those partnerships. We we publish our twice monthly newsletter, The Village Voice, that comes out every other Tuesday. But we're focusing and shifting our effort towards more grade level specific openhouse events for our parents and families. Third grade events, fourth grade celebrations of
learning. We obviously have our parent teacher conferences and we have our open houses in the fall. We'd like to extend that more to um further outreach for our families specific to each grade level. Um and those are some initiatives that we are taking there.
And that captures the highlights of our plan. I'm happy to answer questions. Are there any other questions from the community? >> Oh, I'm sorry. I neglected to mention technology. Sorry. Um Steve Quiet and
his team are crucial and they're also partners with us. They've been on the scene every day this week for MCCAST administration. Um, Steve and I collaborate frequently. How can we de I also want to emphasize technology is no substitute for good teaching. It's a
great tool to supplement good teaching. So, we're very cognizant of that. At Village, we have obviously state-of-the-art classrooms with smartboards, Chromebooks, um, uh, document cameras, but how are we going to utilize that very expensive equipment to maximize learning? We have those
conversations on a frequent basis. So, um, that is something that we're also achieving. I guess my only question is I guess to kind of tack on to Jen's comment. I'm wondering if I don't want to take up too much of your
time throughout the year, but could we have a followup, you know, maybe midway through the year to talk about, you know, your success towards these goals? I think I mean I love hearing about the schools and and I think it
would probably be an opportunity for you to to highlight some of your achieve >> um >> I I think that I sorry I didn't jump in. I mean um it's more more of a more a question. So I think that's a great idea. I don't you know I'm not looking to have the principles do more and more
and more but similar to you know my you know the way I'm supposed to craft my goals and updates and my goals and the district improvement plan we talked about doing updates. So, I think kind of um creating those opportunities throughout the year is is a is a good idea. I think um you know, I think just say, "Hey, how's it going? How are we
how are we doing on on these goals um that helps with kind of the data piece of it too?" Um you know, to to speak to, you know, are we are we moving in the right direction? Are we are we just creating this to stick it on a shelf or is this a live document? And that's really that's really the intent is it to
be, you know, um a vibrant uh you know, live document, not like, okay, we did it here. Stick it on the shelf. let's pull out next year. So I I would agree, Henry, that that's probably a good way to start going forward. >> And I wonder even if it it may it could
be written so that we don't take up too much time. >> Yeah, we can we can craft that. >> We we had that we had those that direct conversation our staff. It's supposed to be a live living document. I use that very verbiage with our staff yesterday. This is not supposed to be a oneoff
where you read it and put it away. It's supposed to be revisited throughout the year. We do revisit this document as we meet as a school advisory council. We do a reality check. I call it the mirror check. How are we doing? Are we meeting this goal that we talked about last year? So those conversations are
happening. That accountability piece is part of how we do it. But I I don't think it's a bad idea. >> Thank you. Thank >> um Okay. So we need to approve plans. So, do people want to vote them individually or do we want to
vote them at the end? >> That's I think you >> Thanks, Scott. >> Thank you, Scott. >> Thank you. >> Right. Next, we have the vets. >> So, Matt Levangi is going to come up and um share his uh veterans middle school
thing. Um as he's getting set up, I just wanted to jump in a little bit and share some good news. Um Matt shared this with the with his staff already. It's going to go on his newsletter tomorrow, I believe. However, I >> didn't want to be remiss in sharing this in public. Um that NLMS, the New England
League of Middle Schools, which I mentioned last time, actually has chosen Marblehead Veteran Middle School as a spotlight school. So, they have been approved for I don't go into a lot of detail. I'll drop these in the box you can see. But um just to let you know there's 18
indicators and we scored a we I'm speaking French here middle school 51.5 out of 54. So that's a very high score. Um and as Matt shared with me uh he's one out of six middle schools in the state and the only one on the Northshore who has achieved this uh achievement. So
kudos to Matt in his first year at at Vets Middle School and kudos to his team for for all the great work that's being done and awesome recognition. So, if you make us prosper, >> I'd love to say that that that it's on me, but it's on my staff. It's 100% on
my staff. Um, they did an amazing job. And, um, you know, I just share one or two anecdotes from it. Um, when they were leaving, they wanted me to know that when they were talking to kids, um, the one thing that kept coming up, I'm like, what makes this school great is they kept saying that the staff cares
about them, the staff understands who they are. Um, and I think that was just really great to hear. And then from that partnership with parents, uh, one of the people came up during lunch and was like, "Hey, a kid threw a cheese stick." And I was like, "Oh, no. Where?" And
she's like, "No, it's good because if he didn't, we would have thought you paid all these kids to be hated. So um, and that just like every day, you know, that's what we get every every day." And you we probably get spoiled um a little bit because when you're in it every day, but when outside source comes
in and tells you that your staff is doing such a good job, it's it's just wonderful to hear. >> Even even when um they did the mock Tom trial and first thing that Jack hatcher said, I was like, but I I hope that the adults are this well behaved at real time as they came in like silently sat
down. It was like unbelievable. So I share that with you. It's it's great. >> All right. So I'm up. >> Yes. Uh just to echo what Scott um said that you know when we developed this this is not in a silo um working with the school
advisory council working with my instructional leadership team central office um the staff as a whole um we all you know worked and PCO we all worked together to try to get what I feel will put us in the best position to support students going forward that's the number
one goal when I say any of these things um so to start off around the curriculum uh instruction and evaluation. The school-based goal would be MVMS will implement a structured data team process where grade level teams use
a dedicated monthly meeting to analyze common assessment data, identify student learning gaps and plan targeted instructional responses to improve student outcomes. This is we started this year we had four structured
meetings and a lot of it was around MCCAST or EXL a lot of that hard data that you get um moving forward uh we will also look at that but I really want this to be at a more granular granular
level where teachers are looking at the assessments they're giving in their class and what I want to do what with these dedicated meetings is let's get all the stakeholders Let's make sure this is a dedicated time where we have special ed, we have uh health services, we have everyone who's
in and then we can use that datadriven um process to then guide how we're going to inform supporting students through the wind block through interventions and through enrichments, you know, for kids that that might need a little more enrichment. Um it's also going to help
as we switch um in math from three levels to two really providing that extra support to kids as we move through that process. Um I think a lot of our teachers are doing this informally but I think it's important that we have a more
structured process. Um and I think you know as I presented to staff yesterday they understood the importance of that. >> What are the three levels to do? So currently we have a accelerated, we have a standard and we have a supported. We are going to go to an accelerated and a
standard. And as we do that we will still have um a co-taught class where it'll be direct special education special ed um inclusion services but um it will move at the at um at the pace of the standard class. So we will up up up
the supports because for me I want kids when they get to that high school to have every opportunity to I don't want them pigeon holed through middle school. I want them to enter the high school with having every opportunity at their fingertips. That's super important to me.
>> That's more in line with how the the model. >> Yes. And there's a level algebra you can as well. Yeah. They both any questions on the first point? >> No, the only thing I would say which is
throughout this too is that you do have like to my earlier comment there are specific you seem to be very data focused um which is which is great. I think that's helpful and then you may eventually get to the maybe to the point where you're like this talks about um measuring data
>> and then I don't know at some point maybe >> next year you might have actual goals I don't know you know like specific right once you whether it's or MCCAST you know again my earlier question that um would you eventually then say okay well our goal is to get to you know from 85% to
88% um you know meets or exceeds Yeah, >> whatever, you know, whatever it ends up being. >> No, definitely. And that's actually came up in a discussion that we were having in a couple with a couple different stakeholder groups where it's like we just felt year one like we needed to figure out where we were going with it
and then using that and then so like we threw a few things. Are we going to look at hard data? Are we going to look like how children are are taking advantage of this? How are they feeling? How that's how was that supportive? So we do talk about giving them surveys when they exit. >> So we understand like yes we think it's
great but if the kids aren't using it or it's not the most useful for them then we have to adjust >> but I do agree we are going to have you know there there have to be hard data to move the needle and flat. >> Yeah. But you do talk about that in schools, right? >> What kind of responses do you get to
your like what level of response do you get to your surveys? Do you get participating? >> Um staff, students. Which one are we talking about? >> Well, I guess everyone, you know, together so that we don't I don't want to specifically call out
>> um staff's pretty good. >> Okay. >> Um >> yeah, >> you know, as I move forward the student voice, you know, I think we'll do more of those surveys. we'll take those opportunities. I think year one was really just like figuring out how to do the job, figure out what we want to do. But like as we move forward and we want
to improve uh choice and voice, I think that'll be helpful. Um but staff staff been pretty responsive to that. Um because I for me it's been a priority to actually use that and and make those actionable steps and so hopefully they see that and that's been what's been
helpful with the responses. You could use advisory or some what I know you call it advisory, right? So in theory you could you possibly use advisory blocks for surveys too. >> Oh absolutely. Yeah, that's when we get a lot of >> capture audience to some degree some
maybe some incentives but >> incentives are >> well like you know food or whatever we're on the same page >> healthy healthy food >> healthy snack >> healthy food. Thank you.
>> Ready? >> Go. >> Y please >> show it. So this would be with the teacher quality and professional development >> and the school-based goal. MVMS administration will design and implement a targeted internal professional
development program in which instructional staff participate in at least four peer-led learning sessions per year. Um, and as this kind of came about as we had the the district-wide professional development day and had a
tremendous response and just sort of as an offshoot, one of the teachers like, "This would be great if we could like do it in the building." And I was like, "Oh, that's interesting." Um, and so we uh we did one and it was phenomenal. And there was a lot of different options.
There was uh everywhere from like teachers who had done really great advisory lessons and want to show that an option, but there was like how to win an academic discussion, how to sort data, how to use clicker responses to collect data, student data and stuff like that. Um and at first I was like
well everyone want to go to advisory because they'll play games and that actually wasn't the case. Um people went everywhere. Um we had phenomenal discussions. Um and uh I was like okay this is something that we can recommit and the importance to me is because I think that it gives us a lot of
flexibility. So if an if something comes up or there's a change to something like that we need some some some training that we can get done in 45 minutes to an hour it's going to give us that flexibility to change or to pivot. Sorry is probably a better word. So we can
really um I'm trying to think of the right word. you can really uh individualize like the needs of the staff at times and give them the extra training that that they need moving forward. So that's where it sort of came from and I thought four
would be a good year to start because it is going to be timeconuming. Um but uh staff seemed to be really on board and really excited about it. I I think when we when we create when we created that speaker again when when it was created for the staff um to do that this year
was really well received by by the whole the whole district. I'm I'm I was really glad to hear this and see this as a goal because it just kind of really says hey the staff has said this is what they want this what they need. this what they like and you and you kind of put it into practice right away which is huge and it
also dubtales nicely with what Scott was talking about is his is learning walks where they're going into each other's classrooms and learning from each other. So both things are true and both things are are great opportunities for staff to learn from each other and in ways that you know it's different than saying hey
we're going to pay for this money for a speaker to come in and talk at or to someone and sometimes that's good and needed but that embedded PD especially from their peers I've seen like it's just just so wellreceived and it's so much more meaningful and pertinent to
what what they're doing each day. So, I really appreciated you even this into your school improvement goal because uh I think it's it's got to help improve the school. So, I like to intent, right? >> And honestly, I told the staff like this is their win. This is what I need, right? Like, you know, we do it for the students and we provide these
interventions like this is an opportunity for us to have fluid interventions for staff as well. >> Awesome. I got uh this would be the student support programs and services. MVMS administration will partner with student
leaders to design and implement a series of events aimed at inre increasing student engagement and fostering a strong sense of student belonging. Um, as I've come into the school, I've been so impressed with the work that the teachers do, um, and and the families do
to have that partnership to really build that tremendous sense of belonging. But I kind of noticed that it kind of ended at about 3:00. Extra help ended and that was that was kind of it. And I've kind of always been a guy that's sort of allin. Um, and I was like, well, maybe
we can do a little more. and Cornerstones came to me and they said, "Hey, do you want to do a dance?" And I was like, "Yeah, great. We'll get a DJ and, you know, I'm 46. Like, you know, my ideas are terrible." Um, but they were kind of like, "Well, we want to have like the gym and we want to do ping
pong tables and we want to like make it more of like we have two gyms. Let's take advantage of it and we want this food." And they wanted they really wanted a cotton candy machine and I was like, "Oh my god, cotton candy is going to be terrible." But I'll tell you, the cotton candy line was almost out the door. Um the kids had a really great
time at the dance and it really was student voice driven and I thought to myself like we need more of that. Um but it can't be top down. It really has to be student driven. So, I really want to work with Cornerstones um and their leadership to come up with
four events is where I want to start for next year that are outside of school hours that'll really give kids a chance to get together um in a safe environment and we can really build that community outside of school hours because I think that's a huge part, right? My dream is that the middle school is the hub of the
community. Schools should be a hub of the community and I think this is our opportunity to take that first step. And it was amazing. It was sugar-free time candy and they all lined up forward. >> I think we used to now I think I know we
used to do a lot of events and co kind of um kind of squashed that and I'm not sure that this I don't think they do the raft thing. Do they still do the raft? >> I don't think so. Yeah. So I think a lot of stuff sort of understandably um went by the wayside during co. So this, you know, this is great and I I imagine you
need to certainly have the um buy in and participation from some of the staff because you need chevrons and you know, so it's, you know, I'm assuming that you're including them in these discussions. >> Yep. Yeah, we included them and I was shocked there. >> Yeah, we probably had
25 staff members at the first dance. No, it's the first one. So, you know, that that's go good momentum. But um I tell you I'm extremely impressed by the staff and and how much so Ellen so I don't I don't anticipate that being an issue but I think the biggest thing you know is
really giving ample time because you know people have busy lives they want to be involved but for me >> scheduling is important based on you know sports and activities and and stuff like that but it does help because I think precoid you had a real you know
they went through village they had you know together um and then they come to the village the veterans in those some of those events starts to solidify that idea of their class, you know, their class of 20 or whatever class they are. And so, but they it's really, you know,
kind of a a six year, not a four-year um >> secondary, whatever you want to middle high school experience. And that does those are the kind of things that help establish >> that class spirit, pride, whatever you want to call it. Um, so that's that's, you know,
that's great stuff. And we, you know, it used to be a lot more understandably. >> I think, you know, I think like the postborn now like like the kids start really coming together like as that and they go in that's great and I just I I know I don't know if you were going to mention or not but I just want to make
sure that on the PCO that hugely um >> helpful to making sure these events go especially the dance and stuff. So I didn't want to get fun. >> No 100%. Thanks. Not that just >> I will say that the kids came in and met with PCO and I was blown away with like they had an agenda, they knew what to
say. So that'll definitely be part of it because again >> Yeah, none of this happens. >> None of this happens without parents collaboration. >> We can't we can't do it. >> Congratulations. All right. Thanks,
>> man. Thank you. Thank you. >> The point's not lost on us that um you we'll revisit how we you know craft some of the you the sips and some of the measure measurability of them. So um u heard that heard that quite a lot. So
we'll talk about that with that team. Um Dr. Carlson's here. Uh I I'm just going to throw this out a little bit. So Dr. Pson's um presentation be slightly different um because we are in in in NES. So some of our goals slide um are are related to the NEAS um goals that we
have to kind of address. So they'll look a little bit different than the um the other the other schools but still um current SI going into a new S with NAS and parts of the um proposed new dip. So a lot of things kind of coalesing here. So
>> is NAS in now they're coming. They were just with the visit with the um lab at the conference visit. Um so in a >> probably six weeks we'll have the report um >> used to take and then okay
>> then they'll um >> so you kind of negotiate it. >> Well and then I think they said probably October is when it would go to the community building. Um and but the dennial visits two years out so we have two years to >> to implement >> things that Yes. So um so we have to
start right away. Uh so part of when we have the NEAS is that we had to do the self-study which is done from the faculty um and they go to the district office students. So that there's a lot of things looked at um and
then they identified priority areas to work on um and then NES will also give us areas. So I knew the priority areas that we identified and put them also in our goals because NES does pass. That's one thing that they look for in two
years that we are mirroring what those priority areas are in our school improvement goal. Uh so I tried to make sure that we were adjusting everything that I knew. um from the conversations that I had just verbal conversations um and if the report comes through as I
think it's going to everything is at the best. So that that is really good. So um the first one we're looking at um student support programs and service areas from the district goal and our school-based goal is to strengthen and
systemize structures and practices at Marblehead High School that ensure all students are connected to the school community with a particular attention to monitoring student engagement, well-being, and access to supportive relationships. So, um, what we're looking at really is
our magic block and looking how we can strengthen that and make it more of an advisory. Um, and how often we're doing it, all all of the things that we have to do in there so that students are getting that academic support and also that social emotional support. Looking
at how we are bringing one time they're in and how we can do more with that for their their learning. Um, we're going to be providing more professional development for the staff on Wayfinder, so they're much more comfortable. They've been doing it now for two years, but you know, there's
always work to be done with that. Um, and also bringing it probably into the classrooms. So, it's not going to be so it will be in the magic block, but it will also be more embedded in the school culture. So, um, develop a system for monitoring student engagement and
well-being. So, we're going to look at um regular meetings of student support teams and really digging into that data to identify what students we need to focus on um supporting looking at early warning indicators to identify those
students before they're disengaged so that we can um look at protective factors and put things in place for that. Um monitoring the impact of all the things that we're doing and then make adjustments as needed. So um that's looking at attendance data that's
looking at our M class scores that's looking at connectedness through um surveys our youth list who surveys all those things we'll be digging into. Um any questions on that?
>> I'm glad you specifically called out attendance data because I know like that's an area of concern. So >> Yes. Yep. and especially the MCAST, we've really been focusing this year on it and we have a lot more work to do
with it. Um but um the ELA uh MCAST we did improve with attendance thankfully. Um and hopefully in another couple when we're doing math it's the same. I've been pushing out information in my weekly updates, sending emails um
directly to that grade level, um and just really making those targeted phone calls home to get those kids in. >> Excellent. Thank you. So, we'll be doing more of that this year. Um the next goal is also looking at the student support programs and services um from the
district goal and it's to strengthen and coordinate the transition supports between um Marvel and High School to um ensure students are successfully navigating that transition from the middle school to the high school experience and we're going to look at um
kind of everything we've been doing. So, we do do collaboration in the spring between the counselors. There'll be more of that maybe throughout the year. Um we have orientation programs in place. We're looking at how we can adjust those and get the students into the building
more often before they start because the more comfortable they are before, you know, September, uh, the easier the transition center with them. Additionally, we're looking at the programming that we do while they're in 8th grade to give information to the parents. So we always I mean since I've
been here since 2013 you have the eighth grade curriculum night but really looking at that and seeing could we split that out maybe into a couple sessions and do more or different. It's it's difficult. We can't have people sit up there for three hours and show them everything because different but maybe
we could really target um the supports that we have in one and then looking at you know the athletics and the clubs and all the wonderful things we do that we celebrate um for that as well. and and then also really working at the third ground and um you know listening that
and hopefully the the families will get a little bit more out of that so they know exactly what to expect. Uh that's one of them. Um so then we're also looking at strengthening our academic supports. We do have our R2I classes. Um but looking
at how we're running those classes, targeting the students that need those classes. Um maybe well we are looking at the peer mentors to doing some real work around um transitions to high school academically um and the kind of study
skills and what types of things student should expect because the schedule is different. um doing some work around when they have their finals, final assessments, what that looks like well in advance so it's not overwhelming for the students. Um and then just really
monitoring the student progress in ninth grade closely to see, you know, when we need to set them and what supports we need to put them in those for those students. also making sure that those students are protected to school community um and that they have a trusted adult in the building and
identifying um if there are students that don't have that, how we target that and get them engaged. Um looking to monitor and improve transition outcomes um at the end. So we'll be doing surveys, getting feedback, seeing how it
went and what do you need to adjust um for the next one. Any questions on that? >> Okay. Can I just make So, so the transition piece we talked a little bit about before, but like that that vertical alignment like Scott was talking about between his grade levels,
but we're also looking at the transitions between all the schools and especially 8th to 9th grade which Michelle was just talking about. So, some of the conversations I've been having in addition to the ones with Michelle was with some talked to some parents and like hey, how can we do this differently, more better, earlier
engaging seventh grade and eighth grade? um getting some of the information out before like the the vote tech application or not application but you know the process um things like that so we can just really grab kids and and how do we collect you know um talked about
athletics stuff but how do we really celebrate like here's what here's what we have to offer at Marblehead and how can we do that a planful way for the kids to get them engaged so not just like oh I want to go to this shiny new school I want like here's some really cool stuff we have so just I just want
to make sure folks understand like that's that's a huge focus for for us. So just want to continue with that conversation. So thank you. >> Um also shout out some of the teachers that have started thinking of doing some things in this direction. We have the art uh show coming up and it's actually
um NVMS NHS combo show this year. So um which will be great. So that's not in the newsletter mom. So, um just doing more of that, you know. Um the next um again is student supports. Um and this
is to continue to expand and refine opportunities for student voice at Marvel High School and to strengthen their sense of belonging. We did work on this this year. We have more work to do on it. Um I've been really happy with the students that have really stepped up with Southern Magic Coalition that's
come through. But how do we get more students involved too? So it's not the same students all the time. Um so we're looking at developing more regular opportunities for students and seeing what opportunities those students want. Um and then integrating student voices
into our culture of learning. Um and then of course monitoring it in the spring and seeing what the impact has been and deciding where to go from there. Um and then our last one is around curriculum instruction um and evaluation is the district goal and this is that
we're going to continue to review and update our written curriculum documents follow and that is one thing that new does look at. We've done a lot of work this year. Um, and we have made tremendous progress in this, but there's
still more work to be done um to really do more unit lessons, new asking questions, and really just refining all of that and uploading it to our documents with um with links so everything is is looking to us whatever
>> and that um that links to some of the rare too. So we tal we've talked about rigor quite a bit in different form and I think the enhancement of the curriculum and the scope of sequence and the assessments everything um all speaks um and ties into how do we create and
make sure maintain the academic rigor in our schools. So I think that's all part and parcel of of of what we're doing for with that part of it. That's important. Oh, but I'm sorry. Let me add some questions because I have to >> that's one way that students forgot to
mention. So, the vision of the graduate that we've rolled out also we need to embed that in our curriculum so that it's really embedded in the culture and that we are assessing it and if we're saying that we expect students to be able to do certain things when they graduate, how do we know that? And so,
we need to really tie this into each class and um rule books need to be done all that stuff. Sorry, Dad. Go ahead. I'll wait till I
was >> so to that point and to John to your point I mean the one thing that you know sort of does jump out at this is that the goals are very important no question about it about people voice about the culture about social emotional but um you know I'm looking for where is
maximizing student achievement where is you know that Marwood High School is a shining beacon of secondary school um on the Northshore in Massachusetts, whatever, you know, and that we're graduating students that are maximizing
their own personal achievement >> uh whatever that may be, you know, whether it's collegebound, whether it's military bound, what what you know, into a life skills program, whatever it is. Um I don't know where NAS fits into that, but I, you know, would like to,
you know, eventually see that also that portion, you know. Um, no, great feedback. I think that's, you know, in it in its part and I think I think it's good. >> I'm sorry. Did I interrupt you? No, no, no, I was just I was agreeing with you. I think it's I think that's really good feedback and how do we dovetail that in
because it is important. I think, you know, when when we're developing the um the school improvement plans and district plans sometimes, you know, you're doing the doing and I think that's why I like to get this feedback because it's important to say, oh shoot, like maybe we missed the bus on that. Maybe we didn't hit the mark, right? So that's that's that's all I was saying.
That's that's really good feedback. So I appreciate that a little bit discussion moving forward kind of made more of a boss model >> and celebrating too >> and celebrating. Yes. >> Yeah. Can does anyone else have any
question? I just want to wrap up the thing. So um I just wanted to share my thanks to to the principles um and and just share with the committee and with the folks at home like um the amount of collaboration and communication. You know the the the thought process is we
don't have you know separate schools in working in silos. We have schools that are that teach at different grade levels but we're working really hard to kind of make sure that we're doing collaborative where we're aligning curriculum horizontally and vertically. We're aligning social emotional learning
horizontally and vertically. We're having the conversations and how do we make transitions better and there's all sorts of collaboration between and amongst the principles between the principles the student services between the principles and teaching and learning office and then all of each other all
together. we we meet frequently as admin team as all admin team as in pockets and uh you know that doesn't always shine through like we don't sit here and pat ourselves to the back and say we have all these discussions but we do and I think um I think it's starting to shine through that you know we're we're kind
of moving in the same direction together because we're collaborating and communicating effectively and can we do better absolutely are there ways to um enhance what we do absolutely but I think we've laid some good groundwork And I'm proud of that work that we've done and it's because of the
communication collaboration that's happening with within admin team and with the admin team and the teachers and the staff in their building. So I just I just want to say thank you to all of you. It's it's um it's just it's makes me proud to see all the hard work and the and uh and the achievement of of
working together. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um okay. So, do we have a motion to approve the village school improvement plan, veterans middle school improvement plan, and high school
improvement plan? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Henry, seconded by Melissa. Any discussion? Go to a vote. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries forward to
>> Great. Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um John, I think you were going to handle um the item that was added to our agenda for tonight, which is the use of the high school fieldhouse for >> Thanks. Did we do all we did all? Sorry,
>> I blanked out there for a second. Um so there was a request from the town um to utilize the fieldhouse again for town elections. Um and I had asked uh the the town administrator to send send that request because we hadn't really had it formally requested. So um that that was
uh requested and for so before uh the agenda got amended so that the committee can just make uh talk about that and hopefully vote um to approve the use the continued usage and for for folks uh that will be for the town election on June 9th. Uh September 1 is the primary
and November 3 is the general election. So those those are three elections um for the upcoming year. Um and then I think the question is and it's up for the committee to decide how they want do we want to do this in an annual kind of way? Do we want to do it more globally? Um that's that that's kind of on the
floor for discussion. I guess um the request was just for them to continue use the high school. Um and because it sounds like um that they need to um vote from this committee to approve that and then they do whatever they need to on that committee. But because it wasn't necessarily change in venue from last
year, um previous staff they had to they had to uh uh do something with secretary state. Um but it's not a change in venue. So it's just they need this approval and need select board approval after this approval. So >> is it townwide or is it only certain reasons? >> Uh townwide >> townwide
>> I believe. So I don't know that they're using other venues but I wasn't told that. So they said to the sitw I don't >> that would be helpful though at some point. Not not spoke but >> um the um >> in terms of what the you know the
traffic was. >> Yeah. Did they use like COA or something last year? I don't know. >> No, last year two precincts coted at at everyone else. >> They know they can't use the building that has the elevator. >> Yes. Right. Yeah. But they I thought
they did use Abal ones. >> Um so that would just be hopeful. >> Yeah. Um, I suggest that you do it year, again, I'm not going to be here, but year by year. Um, because you just never know, >> you know. Yeah. You just go year to
year. Um, and some years there are, you know, it's just local elections and some sometimes there are special elections and you could have a conflict. So, if you're giving a blanket usage, does that give you the ability to say, "Wait a minute, we've got a you know,
we've got SAT testing that day." I don't Yeah. Are there any concerns on your end about >> um I think um no because I think we align the uh PD day right >> no
>> but we just have to make sure like for for our end we just need to make sure that we're not you know some of the election >> the the bigger elections you know um we want to make sure it's probably better not to have school in session for that you know small election >> in September and November there will be Right. >> So, are you recommending we don't do
that? >> No. No. I It's It's It's just We have to be mindful of like >> We did November. >> We did November. >> So So yeah, >> we were mindful. >> The only thing I would say is with all the stuff going on, but you know, I
don't know. It's possible there could be some pop-up elections or whatever. Like, so I wonder whether it makes sense instead of saying specific days to just give a blanket, you know, for the >> We can. I just wanted in case anyone asked what the dates were. I wanted to make sure I had them. But uh the big election, we did do PD day on that day.
We did plan for I thought we had um >> Well, primary day could be too. >> It could be, but it's it's still a little >> Is that the day of July? >> Yeah. Well, actually the Tuesday before, >> but we're in session. School is in >> I I mean I I it's not Do I think it's
100% ideal? No. Um, is it is it going to be disruptive to the point where we're not going to be able to know? Cuz what we'll do, we'll move the buses out. We, you know, >> class I mean everything. >> Yeah, it'll be fine. We'll make sure that there's no access for the G the fieldhouse into the school and stuff. I mean, >> yeah, I did this in my last district. I
we did fair last year was was there was zero issues. So, we'll make sure that it's safe. >> Yeah. Um, so I'll make a motion that we approve the use of the Marlin High School Fieldhouse
um for any and all ne needed town elections for the remainder of 2026 which includes at this time but is not exclusive to January 9th, September 1st at
second. Right. Any further discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Four to zero. >> Elsa, you will have to revisit this for next year's town. Yeah,
>> I don't think Well, I think it's just town next. >> Okay. Okay. So, next on the agenda are subcommittee and leaison updates. Does anyone have anything? >> Not strictly a subcommittee or update,
but I, as you know, I did schedule or we did schedule some more open office hours with the community to discuss the override and hopefully just be sure that everybody who's voting understands what they're voting for. Um, and those are going to be on Monday, May 11th.
uh Tuesday, May 19th, Wednesday, May 27th, and Tuesday, June 2nd. And we are doing them two sessions per per day. So, we're doing one session per week, two sessions per day. Uh and from 9 to 10:00 a.m. and 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Abbott
Hall in the in >> Who is coming to that besides school members? >> I don't know yet at the for the for the ones we held at Duncan. Um, we had um representatives from we had Dan and
Alexa who joined us and Molly was able to join us as well. So, I'm hoping sort of a similar crew we could get. >> Did you put it out to the other committee? >> I Yes, Dan and I scheduled this together. So, uh I think he's taking care of that attendance. I may reach out
to um to >> incom. >> Yeah, maybe to incom. I was thinking board of health to measure since they also have you know have the trash measure it might be good to there as well. So we just started organizing this
today but I'm you hoping this will this will >> thank you for some u the only this is actually more question but um so the policies committee met and we came forward with the um consent agenda items tonight
there were a number of other policies that we have to discuss with John move forward moving forward Um the question is do you want to schedule I I'd like to perhaps try to do that at the June meeting. So that's going to be the last one. >> Yes.
>> And you you may or may not have a new subcommittee at that point by by your like right after that. So if you want to try to wrap this up the question is do we want to schedule one where we can meet with John or I was prepared to meet with him oneonone. You can meet with him oneonone just but it's up to you.
>> So we're supposed to meet on the 28th. So if he's available to join us on the 2011 that was sort of our >> standing time so we can do it then but >> I didn't know that yes this week was going to cancel that. So if that works
yeah if that works for you >> I just uh 11 works >> right >> then I I just I wanted college athletic signing at the high school after that but 11 works on the 20th. So, we can do that and that should give time for the floor to put it on the agenda for the floor
>> and then hopefully a lot more everything >> and that way because we may not get who knows we may not get to this until July, >> right? >> Yeah. I appreciate that. Okay. >> Um, anything else?
>> Um, any other business for tonight? If not, I'm looking for a motion to adjurnn. So moved. I'll >> second. All in favor? Motion carries 4 to zero and we are adjourned at 7:42.
Thank