Tonight's executive session meeting of the Mthuan School Committee to order. The date is Monday, June 22nd. Time is 5:34 p.m. We're meeting in the media center at Mthuan High. Uh I just want to note right at the outset that we are working
with an amended agenda. Uh tonight there was a scrivener's error on the original version that indicated uh that the meeting was taking place on Thursday, June 22nd that's since been corrected. There's an updated agenda online. Uh we confirmed with legal counsel that we're good uh to proceed with tonight's
meeting considering that it is only a scrivener's error. Uh so here we are for uh tonight's meeting. I will ask secretary Dunovan to call the role. >> Vice Chair Daglio. Donovan Grassi present. Member Bayz
>> present. >> Member Keegan >> present. >> McCarthy So >> present. >> Member Wulette >> here. >> And Mayor Bogard >> here. We have a quorum. So we can proceed. Uh we'll take now a motion and a second to accept the agenda. >> So moved. Second.
>> Motions from member Keegan. Second is from member sus. Any discussion? Discussion. We'll vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. You guys have it. We'll rise now for the flag salute. >> Flag of the United States of America and
to republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Next on the agenda, we have public participation. Uh we haven't received anything in writing and we don't have an
audience. So I will close public participation. Next on the agenda, we have an executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 38 section 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-UN personnel
or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-UN personnel, the interim superintendent. Uh we will uh we have a separate meeting beginning at 6:30. So, uh, what I'll say
is six. Okay. >> Sorry, my bad. >> Um, so we have a separate meeting at 6. So, we can adjourn the executive session and then we'll begin a new at 6. Um, and with that, I will ask the secretary to uh take a roll call vote on entering
executive session. >> Vice Chair Zaglio. >> Member Donovan Grassi. >> Yes. Member Bayz. >> Yes. >> Member Keegan. >> Yes. >> Member McCarthy So, >> yes. Member Wlette. Yes. And Mayor >> Bogard. Yes. >> Just for the record, uh, Vice Chair
Daglio has joined us. So, at this point, we'll enter executive session and we have our meeting at six o'clock. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Good evening. The school committee workshop business end of year session of June 22nd, 2026 will now come to order. This meeting is being recorded and will be made available for viewing on the Mthuan Public Schools website. Secretary, would you please call the
role? >> Vice Chair Daglio >> present. >> Donovan Grassi present. Member Bayz >> present. >> Member Keegan >> present. Member McCarthy Sober Wlette >> here. and Mayor Bellard >> here. We need a motion and a second to accept tonight's agenda.
>> So moved. Second. >> Motions from member Soy. The second is from member Keegan. Discussion. Vice Chair. >> Uh we're going to motion to remove item number three from the agenda for >> second.
>> All right. We have a motion from uh me vice chair Daglio and the second for member Wlette to remove number three. um discussion about that. I'll just state it as a housekeeping item. We'll probably have a special meeting. >> Absolutely. Sort >> that out. >> Special meeting. Whatever needs to be
done, I want to still work on this. >> Absolutely. >> That's an absolute reflection I'm going to give right now. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Any other discussion? >> If not, we'll vote. All those in favor? >> I opposed. The eyes have it. Let's have a motion and a second now to accept the agenda as amended.
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Motions from member Soy, seconds from the vice chair. Any other discussion? If not, we'll vote. All those in favor? >> I posted the eyes have it or I salute. I'll ask that we remain standing and
I'll invite the vice chair to share a moment of silence. Thank you. I'd like to uh have a moment of silence for a class of 2007 student and the brother of our principal here at the high school, Adam Caret, passed away
uh late last night. Our thoughts and prayers go to the family. Thank you. Thank you, vice chair. Um, first on the agenda, we have public participation. Uh, we haven't received anything in writing. Uh, no one's here tonight, so
I'll close. Public participation at this point. If you are unable to attend a meeting in person in the future, you can email Susan Shanti at sni ni mthuan.k12.mma. us before 3 p.m. on the day of the
school committee meeting. Uh next on the agenda, we have the strategy plan uh year two overview and highlights. I'll invite Dr. Gowski to begin her overview. >> Thank you. Uh I've already presented uh
four quarterly reports this year, but there were just a few remaining items that I wanted to address this evening with regard to our strategy plan. Um, and I first wanted to publicly thank all the administrators and teachers and staff members in the district um for for
sticking with us through a difficult year, through some transitions and the budget season um and really giving their all for our students. Today was our last day of school. And while we had a lot of smiling faces who were excited to head into summer, we also had some tears um
sad to separate from the teachers and staff members that our students have grown so fond of. So, I appreciate that as well. um around January or February, I had said that our intent by the end of the year was to at least initiate all the key actions in our strategy plan for all
three objectives and we have done just that. So beyond just initiating those actions, we've really committed to those and uh are in full swing with some and a couple others. We look forward to moving on next year in more depth. So, first
I'd like to talk about objective one, and that's our our objective regarding literacy development and language acquisition. Um, all of the items here in terms of creating school-based walkthrough schedules, supporting staff through lesson planning, being part of
our learning acceleration network, um, creating and implementing a district-wide assessment calendar, creating a multi-year cycle of curriculum review and revision. uh all of those actions have uh been
initiated and are underway and we are beginning to reap the benefits of those while continuing to refine our practices. Amplify is the publisher of CKLA, which is the brand new ELA curriculum that we
launched this year. Um, which was a tremendous amount of work. And it's exciting to be at the end of year 1 and in year two. That's when we get into more detail about how we're using the curriculum skillfully, what we're focusing on each lesson. Um but to date
I wanted to point out a few aspects of the program and where we stand with it. So Amplify in our end of the year meeting with them offered methan the opportunity to take part in the science of reading coach pilot which is a brand
new feature and part of their program. So only a few districts were selected in the science of reading coach. It uses AI um a Q&A feature and an addendum to each lesson where the teacher is able to move through the lesson and then ask
questions or the program will highlight what aspects of the lesson of the science uh pertain directly to science of reading and where they should be leaning in. So we have asked teachers K4 if they would like to participate uh and Amplify will select some teachers for
participation. So we're eager for the extra assistance there that will come at no additional charge. Also at the end of the year meeting with Amplify they highlighted just through this publisher alone there were 29 professional development sessions
offered to teachers. They gathered 279 participant responses from the PD sessions that move independently of us and go directly to the publisher. And 93% of teachers who submitted the those responses said that
they feel prepared for the next steps next year in terms of implementing the curriculum. Also at that meeting um they shared with us some reports that we typically do not have access to on our platform. And now
that we know that we can get access to those, we're either going to be asking Amplify regularly to produce them or um perhaps they'll open up that portal to us. But that pertains to the MClass growth data. So what I typically present
to you is the achievement data where you might recall it's the the four colored bars that talk about whether the student is above, at, below, or well below where we would hope they would be at that time of the school year. And the MClass growth data
measures students making average or above average amounts of growth compared to other students across the nation who had a similar beginning of the year score. So dependent upon where they started the year, how much do we expect
them to grow and did our students accomplish that? And so on the next grid, Spzac, I'm sorry I'm moving quickly here. I know you can find me around the blue bars.
On the next graph, you'll see here that we have grades K through four. Uh, and the line across the top shows those national norms. And the national norm is set at 60%, meaning 60% of students make average or
above average growth. and very proud to say that in our our first year of implementation of the program where we're really still learning about its capabilities um we exceeded that in grades one through four in terms of growth and
we're just below in K. What's interesting to us as a leadership team when we're looking at this data and asking for additional um charts beyond this is that um there are some inconsistencies across classrooms,
grades, schools. Um and so we're going to work on narrowing in on where we can uh improve and be even stronger and supporting our students. But overall, um, this is great to see as sometimes when you're beginning a new curriculum,
there's a bit of a slide in the year one. So, we did not experience that. Also, um, as I alluded to, um, schools, I know that there's sometimes some curiosity as to how different schools
fared. Um, and to that extent, all were above or nearly at what we would hope for in terms of growth. Um, so CGS at 70, Tim at 60, Marsh at 69, and Tenny at 59.
And within those schools, there's so many layers of which to slice the data. Some outliers um that might be impacting data one way or the other, but um or information for us to delve into over the summer, and those just became available to us last
week. So that's um of interest to us. Okay, >> this is really interesting to me. Um, so is this comparable to what we would see even I hate to compare it to the MCCAST, but the um student growth percentile,
which we don't really look at a lot as a committee, but it can be really helpful to a teacher. So, I guess I have two questions. Is this something that we could kind of compare apples and orange wise and do the teachers will they have access to the individual growth scores
of each student? >> Yes. So it's similar to the SGP from the MCCAST. Um and similarly that threshold is 60 where we'd like to see students as well. So it seems like that's what they're trying to mirror here with the amplify. um and it's of use to us
because it's in in real time that we're able to gather this information. So yes, um what I'm really interested in is showing teachers their class scores as well, almost like we do with the MCCAST. Um and we do it um on two ends. So
students who they just had who are advancing to the ne next grade which may inform how they go about their instruction moving forward but also the students coming to them. Um sometimes we're hesitant to show individual student data as we don't want teachers
to create a profile of the student in their mind before they meet them. But certainly the aggregate as a class might be useful um to help indicate areas where they may want to focus going forward. But of course we have the beginning of the year benchmark for that as well. But we do we do plan to do
that. Um sharing with teachers and also building administration. I think that's really important too because as I alluded to there are some some pockets um what we're interested in either spreading what's going really well there or um maybe a misconception
that we can help correct. And then for Dreambox, this if you recall is the um assessment that we're using for our upper school students. I hadn't shared with you the quarter 4 or the end of year marks at last
presentation. So I wanted to add those here. Um and you'll see the beginning of the year verse the end of the year by grade and then also by school. This is the the first time um in my recollection where
we've had all schools and grades end fairly similarly and on the higher end. Um in the past we've had some outlier grades or schools. But you can see here at the end of the year benchmark every grade districtwide
is over 60% of students shown to be reading at or above grade level. And again, one data point but useful information. And then the same thing for the schools um where we have CGS at 60,
Marsh at 69, Tenny at 64, and Tim at 60. Important to note that all of our students um those in the Excel program included our newcomer program do take these this screening data because um it's important to us instructionally to
figure out how best to support students. Um and so all in the 60s in terms of the end of the year growth, room to grow certainly um but we are encouraged by that and we'll be moving to the M class next year for the upper school as well
which will be really nice to show the consistent trends. We'll be able to pull students and track them all the way through. Okay. And then also wanted to highlight on the next slide which looks Oh, I'm sorry. Um, we had the anxious generation
talking about social media and we always talk about the science of reading and literacy. Is there like a a latest offended book on reading that could be presented to the school committee that we could read during the summer like a summer reading assignment? because I
would like to dive into the literacy because we talk about different test scores and different metrics and different you know I I applaud what you're doing obviously in the team >> but I also want to make sure that I'm not a full expert but I also want to learn so if you have a definitive book
like the anxious generation was for is wonderful for social media >> it was eye opening if we had a definitive book because I think the science is has fluctuated through the decades Yes. >> So, if you and your team can just pinpoint one book and give us like an
assignment for homework during the summer reading, I would definitely dive into that >> because I definitely want to learn about this. Obviously, the forte is you and your team with bolstering the literacy and reading scores. >> And I think with the state, what's
happening is that I wanted to make sure too I think we're in alignment with everything that the state is proposing. They think we're ahead of the curve. So maybe even have that type of report. But I think I see uh massive changes in the test scores, but I also want to know
personally what's the latest science because I think it is a scientific method to >> so that would be something I would appreciate. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> And member Keegan has a question. >> Um I just have a question about you mentioned that the Excel students were taking this. are our um special needs
and specifically the subs separates taking these um benchmarks and are included in these numbers. I just find the marsh very high if that if they were being included. >> I do not believe our sub subsparate programs are our other special education students are though.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> This this assessment in particular um is deemed ineffective unless the students reading at a third or fourth grade reading level to start. Um and so sometimes when students are below that level, it'll it'll signal that to us and
then we can move them to a different assessment. Um but just to keep that in mind. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um and then I like the idea of the books and also Amplify provides a lot of one-pager resources for parents and community members on the science of
reading. So I'll print some of those out as well. >> One more question through the chair if possible. in terms of uh the continuity of testing. I think you were talking about what I had talked about a few years ago >> if that's going to be explored if in greater detail the pros and cons of it
because I think if we alternate between testing different models the methodology the longevity uh the longitudinal aspect of it I think it having continuity of testing sometimes it gets dropped by the wayside through no fault of our own but
I think you were talking about that possibility I'd like to go into further detail during the summit when everything's like a little bit quiet. It's never quiet with the school district if possible. Thank you. >> Sure. I actually put that on the agenda for one of the the early fall meetings
to talk about that. Um >> Okay. And also wanted to highlight the students reading above grade level. Um these students, it could range from a year or two above to five or six years above. Um but I found it really
impressive and wanted to share that if you look at by grade level across the district there are it ranges from 40 to 49% of students are reading above and if you were able to go through individually and
look it's it's not just above it's way beyond um and so I find that reflective of what I see when I visit classrooms that there is a portion of students who are excelling and achieving and need the enrichment and enhancement. And then there are students who are right where
we would expect them to be and then also students for whom we need to fill some gaps and help support. And so that's really the challenge that our teachers are facing is the widespread um needs within the one classroom. Okay. So um moving to objective two um
and this is reducing the opportunity and achievement gaps between student groups. So we had set out at the onset of this three-year plan to revise and review and strengthen our MTSS process which we
spent a large part of this year doing um to consider equitable grading practices which is going to be a large part of our work next year. review the efficacy of wind block and reading success to deliver instruction which we have been
doing um thinking about the referral process for our interventions which ties into MTSS co-eing and communities of practice looking at our decap our um district curriculum plan which accommodation plan
which I'll talk about later um and then working on uh expanding um some of our programs and monitoring the the efficacy of those to make sure that the programs we're investing in are really doing what we hope that they will do. So for this
objective what I wanted to highlight tonight um had come up from some com committee members earlier and that was about our early college program as it stands now. Um, we are currently working with Northern Essex to enhance and add another partnership. But to date, uh, I
wanted to highlight just this year since we've had the early college designation with UMass LOL, what that looks like and what the impact has been for our students. So, if you're unfamiliar, our early college program is a two-year program and we ask that students are
committed to it throughout those two years. uh and the students have an opportunity to take eight college courses and earn up to 12 college credits over two years. This is from our assistant director of early college who
provided this information, Miss Dailyy. And the pathways that were offered this year included the introduction to teaching, engineering, law, and criminal justice. And then there were some gened courses that went with each of those
pathways. And if you notice, um, these pathways, although they're specific to a a specific, uh, profession or interest a student may have, could still be considered gened requirements. So that if at the end of the program, the
student wishes to change their mind or go into a different major, these would carry over and would be credit bearing for them moving forward. So we had 83 students and we say here MHS students but they're truly considered MHSM
LOL students uh enrolled in our early college program and just in this year we had 264 college credits earned by the class of 2026 and we had nine MHS seniors who graduated with 12 or more college
credits. seeing as we did have a partnership earlier, but it was formalized um just this school year. Also, I I spoke of this earlier, the summer opportunity where students will go um free of charge through our grant
funding to live on campus for two weeks to take a three credit college class called social problems uh fully all expenses covered. And if they complete this program and the two-year pathway, they will have earned 15 credits, which
is a whole semester of college. So heading into next year, same pathways will be offered. Introduction to um sociology instead of calling it introduction to teaching um engineering,
law, and criminal justice, and still some a gened course of college writing. So you'll notice a major difference uh between this year and next is where we whereas we had two geneds this year in two pathway specific courses, students
that begin the early co early college program next year will experience three pathway courses and one gened course. Currently we have 57 rising juniors who are interested in the program and will be new to it next year. and we have 48
returning seniors. So, because we have space, we are budgeted to um support 150 students across grades 11 and 12, we will be able to open up opportunities for students who hadn't opted into the pathway but still wish to access a
course as well. Okay. So, um Miss Daly wanted me to highlight that there were some students who um over time and having spent time in the program came to see themselves as true
college students. one anecdote in particular of a student who had really no intention of of going to college, was unsure they'd be able to persist um as a result of going through the pathway, building relationships with the University of uh UMass staff felt
comfortable moving forward on campus um and then completing the first uh first year of UMass as a freshman, ended up on the deans list um and attributed that success to the early college program. Also wanted to highlight uh about
advanced placement, our advanced placement students this year. Those scores are available between July 6th and 10th. There's different reports that come out different days. I know the teachers anxiously await um those scores to be published. This year we
administered 762 AP exams to 387 MHS students in 23 subject areas. So in the fall I'll be able to supply you with information about passing rates um
subject areas that were most popular uh and what that means for students in terms of seeking college credit. That's one of the areas that's uh sometimes tricky for parents and students to navigate is whether early college or advanced placement is the best option
for them. So over the summer, our counseling staff is going to help create a one-pager or some information that helps uh decipher the difference in what those options um could bring for students. >> Mr. chairman uh through the chair to the acting
superintendent. Uh and we don't have any problems with anybody that's low income of taking examinations. There's there's a process to help with the fees. So if someone takes multiple multiple AP examinations, they're not going to be
deterred simply because of the e economic status of the household. Is that correct? >> That's correct. Um in 200 eight, we began a partnership with Mimsy, which is um an organization that
is interested in opening access for AP courses to all students. Um and as part of that partnership, our teachers get professional development at a much reduced price that the district is able to incur. Our students were able to take
mock exams. Um it helped us afford the cost of those exams. And although we've moved away from that formalized partnership because we achieved what it had hoped to achieve in terms of opening access to students, they still allow us those discounted opportunities. Also,
the college board um offers some discounted opportunities for students as well. So, determined by the um the assistance status of our families, um we sometimes can offer tests as low as I believe it's $25,
um per test. And we do have some um we do have some funding to support students that have difficulty coming up with that because that's a good point to raise. We do have some students that take five or six AP courses a year. It could add up really quickly. And then uh secondly in terms of like the sky's is the limit
with the expansion into the early uh college courses at different uh places >> is it are we constrained as a school district like if we are able to explore other opportunities with like neco obviously um l there's a lot of alumni
here that teach that went to UMass l so is there anything that we would as a system look into or work with the state in terms of being constraint trained of because it's amazing the course selections like looking long term. I think as many kids as we can get
involved in education, then you're limiting uh remediation, it's a form of testing anyways and the the colleges that are going to be aligned with the high schools. So, they're not I hate the diploma mill mentality, we're not being
engaged in that. These kids are passing courses, AP examinations. So, down the line, like do you envision anything being constrained in our system? Because I mean, Neco would be great. I think UMass Low is excellent, but anything else that you can envision?
>> No. Uh, the our early college status makes it easier for us to add another partner onto that. So, it'll be easier for us to add Northern Essex since we already have an early college destination with Soul. Um, there's also different areas which we can target to
make sure all students have the opportunity. So, our most recent conversations at Northern Essics have talked about looking at our CTE programming and building in courses as part of that pathway because our students need the hours, the additional coursework and can have the dual benefit
of getting some microcredentiing and earning college credit. Um, so there there's some there's some areas of interest there. Also, whereas our UMass partners um delivers more of a hybrid experience, the Northern Essex
partnership would deliver more of an in-person experience with our students going to those campuses. Um and so there's there's different offerings. I think something for everyone. Um so we're interested in moving forward with that.
And then objective three is about enhancing our partnerships with students and families. Um last meeting you heard about the vision of a graduate. We've talked about the use of talking points over time, publicizing school events,
looking at extracurricular um school-based activities, working on our chronic absenteeism, and expanding um the mental health parent student advisory council, uh developing an advocacy and awareness
building action plan and the bright uh program at the CGS and administering surveys to get educ educator feedback on school culture and climate. And finally, looking closer at what our tier 2 and three counseling
services are are having in terms of their impact and making adjustments if necessary. So, I first wanted to um bring to your awareness I don't know if you're able to see it on the slide. It's a chart. Um the idea here is that it's a
one-pager that could easily be distributed to students and families. Um and I had asked Mr. Crocker to come up with this because we do have a lot of offerings in terms of mental health supports and awareness um and programs that are available not only to students
but families and staff as well that sometimes it can be hard to navigate or distinguish one from the other. Um and so this is a one-pager that just articulates what exactly um these opportunities or or programs are. Um and
so this is something that we can can add on to as well in terms of uh the difference between um like Care Solace and some of our other offerings. But I thought that was important to do. So we're beginning to get that word out. And then I've mentioned uh before a
second step is a sorry >> I'm sorry to interrupt. >> Sorry I was just rolling. >> I know you are and I appreciate it but I wanted to go back to um the first bullet on objective three the chronic absenteeism which is obviously impacting
student achievement behavior everything right. It that responsibility lies so heavily on administrators in the building. Is the state does the state have anything to in play to support schools
to improve chronic absenteeism? Is that because it's not it's not just us and it's so much work to keep track and it's so much work to find out the root cause. Is there anything the state is doing in
terms of money, programming, support? There was an awareness campaign originally to make it known that it in fact is a struggle from many schools. Um, in terms of funding, I've seen
funding for programs that we run after school that increase voice and belonging, which you could argue impacts attendance. Um they've also recently started tracking and publishing teacher
attendance um by district and school and that's accessible on the DESIE website um administrator attendance. So I think attendance on the whole is something that they're interested in. Uh has there been direct funding in terms of truency
officers or uh to build out an attendance office? There hasn't been. Um, I will say that we've been trying to turn over every leaf um to figure out what we could be doing better and have delve delved into our infinite campus
system deeply um to discover that there was a there's a formula that was in the system that was accounting for students who were missing less than half of the day
but counting them as absent. Um, and so we believe that had been that had it happened perhaps during like a half day schedule and it hadn't been reverted back. So we've made sure that what we're reporting is a full day of absenteeism,
which is more than half of an academic day truly is to get so that we're able to um act on real data. Um and then also really enhancing and emphasizing to parents the importance of being in
school. Um and and while that responsibility for chasing the attendance and notifying families I think does fall with the administration um teachers have a large role in this because I think when students feel like um they're needed in the classroom and
that they truly belong and have a connection with the staff member in the school, they almost have a sense of obligation to come to school. And so um the relationship building between teachers and students has been really emphasized in the most recent release of
the teacher rubric from DESIE. it exists in a couple of places. Um, which I think is is great for our teachers who have always been really strong in that area and we haven't had a way to capture it and it also names for our staff members for whom that doesn't come as naturally
that this is a valid and really important aspect of teaching. But to get back to your question, no hard funding. >> Mr. I really honestly I just want to emphasize and give kudos to Miss Tetro.
She's like absolutely phenomenal because she will recover students >> to go back to school. And I think if it was anything in terms of the MCCAST, and I've been a big supporter of the MCCAST, but the fact that maybe there's some kids that could go back to school and
just finish up some courses and and be uh directed towards a GED. She uh it's a thing like leave no child behind. She that's her motto. So, I really want to recognize her and if there's anything she recommends
>> because she's been like in the business for a long period of time. >> I would definitely love to have her and us through the committee send a letter to the legislative delegation because it's a there's a crying uh out outpouring for going to the vocational
schools, the adult learning. I think we still have a waiting list. >> If someone wants to learn English, that's a waiting list. We really as a society if someone wants to learn we should be emphasizing that
we have the resources at the state. I'm not saying the local people because we're limited but we really as a a society we the vocational element the GED the adult learning the English acquisition that we have to mobilize
because we're going to lose a generation. Now I don't know if you with the COVID it really impacted mental health now. Are we I know the mental health is starting to stabilize. Is that starting to improve the absentee numbers
at all? Because I thought there would be a tandem of mental health anxiety issues translating into absenteeism. I don't know if that's a factor, but if you have like a quick turnaround, it's starting to look like getting back to precoid numbers with anxiety and
depression and suicidal thoughts and how that relates, if it even is a correlation to absenteeism. I'd love to go into a deep dive on that because I think if we improve the mental health and we offer uh outreach to the families
and then we have someone as a point person referring people to services and even it could even be like food banks or uh fuel assistance EBT. I know the mayor's doing it with uh in the Allen neighborhood in that central office. Um
and I think Miss Tedro is phenomenal. something too like during the summer because I I think you know the absenteeism and again I personally I have one kid that goes to school one kid that hasn't but looking to go back to school I'm going to say right and I
think Miss Tatel has been a huge factor if there's anything we can do as a committee but also reflect to the legislative delegation. Thank you. >> Thank you. I just wanted to ask about the um skills to identify and prevent bullying. I
notice that it's in K through four, but then it goes away in the upper school and then the high school. Do you feel is is the feeling that that's when it should be directed mostly to that age level? I just was wondering why it stops when they go into fifth grade. Any type
of um prevention or skills towards that? >> No. We need to change that graphic. So, actually we bought the K through 12 model uh for bullying prevention with second step. Um and so
we we liked it because we use trails for social emotional learning and sometimes the lessons are redundant year to year. Second step gives an age appropriate look year to year. the structure and frequency of the lessons changes from elementary school to middle school and
then when you get to high school it's more built for an advisory block which we call our connections block. Um so those themes will would go throughout K12 but the the dosage is appropriate developmentally. Um that's a really good
question. Um also the the Boston vers bullies which will layer on top of that looks more at four five and six. um we see an uptick in um middle school, so that's certainly of interest to us as well, but that would be consistent
throughout. >> Okay. Thank you. I just I didn't see it on there and I I know parents usually have concerns about that. I just want to >> I'm glad you pointed that out. >> All right. So, that'll be added on then. >> That will and um that's leading me to
the to the next slide. We uh had a had a little bit of a a pilot this year because we did purchase the the curriculum and wanted to make sure that we knew how to roll it out or support staff in in delivering lessons and planning who is exactly is going to do
that, what it looks like. Um we ultimately decided it's important for everyone to have a hand in that. But the pilot this year um was for all K through5 students. Um, and so they experienced an evidence-based bullying lesson from SecondStep that was
co-delivered from a counselor and a teacher or staff member. Um, and so that that went well. Um, and so next year we'll be able to add on the 6 through 12. Uh, and there's also um some caregiver resources too that we'll add
to parent university. Do you have um any information on h if that made a difference this year and if it did what kind of a difference? >> Um it was just they experienced the single lesson. So I I think perhaps if
you ask students to to think on it, it would probably brought it more to to present mind. Um, but in terms of large-scale impact, we would need to see more frequency with the lesson in delivery over the course of the year. And certainly as it spirals up year-over-year, that would be really
helpful. But I think um the more programs we we layer or the more um messaging regarding bullying prevention that we can um add to existing programs, hearing it from multiple parties uh I think is helpful. Uh and and some of
these programs work not only to support the student who feels as though they may be receiving um poor treatment or being bullied, but also talks to about if um your actions as an individual may be classified as bullying and why are you
doing that? Um and similarly the bystanders becoming upstanders. Um students looking out for each other. >> That's good to hear. Thank you. I appreciate that. >> Thank you. And then the next slide uh was shared by Mr. Crocker looking at the case load
monitoring um and partner services. So um there you'll see the percentages of tier 2 and three services that resulted in progress or growth. So this is it's a cumbersome process to crunch this data. Each counselor in the
district has a spreadsheet. We started this I believe last year of um their students, the services that they may or may not be receiving and then progress monitoring checks from when um our counselors meet with those students and
ultimately a determination of whether the intervention was successful or not. So some students are receiving more than one, some through the progress or monitoring if we figure out it's not being successful, we change course and go in a different direction. Um but whereas before we just counted how many
students were in an intervention, now we're we're looking at um h the effectiveness of those for the individual um so that we can move on if it is not being effective and find something that works. So this is part of our our TSS plan as well in terms of our
um assessment of data. Miss Bozac, are you able to click that link? Okay, great. Okay, this this didn't print well on um regular sized paper, so I can print this on large paper for you as well. Um this
is a a flowchart that our ELE supervisors um created to indicate uh the path that a student takes from registration to design designation as an English learner or um not an English
learner. So as you can see all students begin in that first first step there in terms of uh registering. And so part of the registration process is a home language survey which asks students or or family members caregivers to identify
the languages those students are largely exposed to. And as I mentioned last time, the new um home language survey that's recently recommended by Desi, we've already adopted and already have translated on our website, says right at
the top, any indication of a language other than English will trigger screening. Screening meaning testing to see if the student qualifies for additional support in academic English. So, um, you'll see a couple paths there
at the top. Once a student registers and completes the packet, if they have already been a public school student in Massachusetts, they have what we call an Edwin report, which is in summary,
um, a summary of the student and their record that they're coming with from the other district. So, if they're coming to us with an an L or English learner designation from another district, we are obligated to maintain that designation. So, if they already come
with an Edwin report that says they're an English learner, they are also here in Mthuan an English learner until they test out. If they come with an Edwin that says they are not, then they are not. So for students that are brand new to Massachusetts public schools who have
indicated on the home language survey a language other than English, they enter the screening. Then you'll see on that chart there are um threshold scores for each age group and screener and those are set by DESIE.
Those are not set by Mthuan public schools. So if a student reaches or meets or exceeds those scores, then they are not classified as an English learner and their parents get notified of such that they have in fact tested but they
are not identified as an English learner due to their screening scores. If they do qualify based on their screener scores, their parents receive a letter that says that they have qualified and are identified as an English learner and that their student
will have access to additional support during the school day. The type of the support will vary based on the level of proficiency of the student. It could be a push-in service where there's an extra teacher who happens to be in the room
working with a group of students while typical instructions going on. It could be a pullout service where the teacher takes a group of students and works on particular domains of language. Um, it could be the newcomer program that they have the option to attend at the CGS.
The parent also has the option to opt out of services entirely and say, "Thank you. I decline no service." And at that point um we note that that opt out is good for one year. The stu student is not scheduled for service. The only
obligation that we have as a district is to um test the student with the access test standardized test across the state. Um similar to the MCCAST except the the
access comes much earlier. So it comes um the window that we're given is usually late January, midFebruary and it tests um reading, writing, listening, speaking. Students need to reach um a threshold composite score which is all
those domains averaged and then also a literacy score. Um, and once those two thresholds are met, the student is then identified as a former English learner, still incumbent on the district to monitor that student's growth for four
years to make sure that we didn't take away supports that were still needed. If in monitoring that student's growth, we find that a student could still benefit from extra support, we can offer it back to that family and say, "We know they've
tested out, but we think we can be helpful. Is this something you would like?" That's one way to go about it. Traditionally, once a student fells, um, we just monitor them. They no longer need to take the access, no needs for services, and we and they move on that
way. Um and so I think um I've heard from some parents who feel frustrated that even though they opt out of services cannot opt out of of the access um and that's because we are obligated because we receive federal funds to have
a standardized measure of assessment to show that we are doing right by the child and keeping an eye on their progress much like the reason we still do the MCCAST even though it's no longer a graduation requirement. because we need that to meet that federal obligation of a standardized
assessment in order to receive federal funds. So this is the flowchart that we will um maneuver to fit neatly on a typical 8 by11 um and put into the packet so that families understand um
the process and and where they fall there. Um but typically we see an uptick in testing um in July, August, some into September of students registering and then um in
January there's sometimes another um uptick of students who need to test who are registering. And so what's interesting is when we're giving the access test within that window, if a student arrives within that window, we still need to test them on the access.
um if they do qualify as an English learner. Do can we gauge in terms of uh the the transient population that goes back and forth from our country to other countries and if that's a huge impact
and then also the numbers with the enrollment if that fluctuates and if we could have because I know they're going to examinate uh examine excuse me the the chapter 70 situation with the formula that's been outdated. I mean, I
don't know if it's been revised since 93, but it needs to be really revised significantly. I'm I'm just concerned that we have a transient population and I don't know the numbers that they go from here down to whatever country and they come back that they're losing the
education and that the state is not acknowledging the numbers because they might be coming back after we would be counting them. So, they're not part of the population initially. then October 1st we get penalized. So I would like to know those numbers if possible. That's
just something to like you know during the summer because I think we need to you know formulate something to the legislative delegation about that because I we want to educate the children and we we operate under federal law. That's very important. I have to emphasize that. Thank you. >> We'll definitely look into that. I will
see say that Mthuan unlike most districts in the Commonwealth has seen a decrease in newcomer students significant. >> Um I noticed on the flowchart um it said I don't have the right words but it sorry it's um can you go up a little bit
so I can read it exactly? Uh, keep going. Right there. Sorry. Um, does the students home language survey indicate a language other than English? Some parents are going to read that and think that I didn't say that my kid speaks anything other than English. It's
not really clear that it's if it indicates that there's any non-English spoken anywhere in the kid's life that on that survey. um it's not just whether or not the student speaks another language. Um and so that
that statement isn't clear and I believe that that leads to a lot of confusion with parents that they're like, "Well, my my kid is only ever spoken English even though there they've indicated that there's another language spoken in the home." And so I wonder if you can make that a little bit more clear so that
there's no confusion that it's not just whether or not the student speaks English, but it's whether or not the student is exposed to another language. >> Yes, it does a much better job on the survey with that phrasing. So I can take that exact phrasing and put it on the flowchart.
>> Thank you. >> Just real quick, I I very much appreciate this. This was helpful to me because I every once in a while we have parents with legitimate, you know, concerns. Um, so parents get this when
they come in. Am I right? How how can we make sure everyone has access to this 15 times? It'll be in the handbook. Will it be in the handbook? The student handbook? >> We can put it in the handbook. >> I think that would be helpful even to the staff because sometimes you just get
caught up. I think that would be awesome. Um, and I do appreciate that. And you said it's on the website. >> We're going to add it to the website. Yes. >> And people come in to have their children tested. >> Thank you. >> Okay, that brings us to the end of the
slides. >> Uh, through you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you to the I wanted to make sure that I let you finish your presentation before I asked any questions. I appreciate your energy. Um on the
E flowchart, I just had a quick question on whether or not that language is translated when given to families if it need be. >> Yes, it will be when we publicize it. um the home language survey that has that
language um that member Keegan was referencing is is translated. >> Thank you. >> I also wanted to highlight the importance of our early college program that has been initiated. Um I I was wondering if whether or not we track um
as a data point if a student if they were to go to college if they were be a first generation college student. Do we? >> Yes, I believe we do. So, I can I can grab that information as well. >> Perfect. And I bring that up because
again, I think I brought this up when this first came to us in in our last business meeting is the importance of being exposed to a college campus life. >> For me, currently still a first generation college student. It has it was it was just immensely
uh know uh immensely important for me to understand what it is that is college life. Um I'm really impressed with what we're doing here with expanding this program. 10 students being able to do this is is amazing and hopefully in the future more. Mh.
>> Um, and again, students receiving 12 or more credits, I mean, in some institutions, that's a whole semester. >> And so, for free. And so, when you talk about closing that achievement gap, that is really to me very, very impressive. So, I congratulate the administration on
that designation on expanding this program, and can emphasize from my own personal experience how important that is and will be for the future of our district. Thank you. >> I should h I should highlight too, you
made me think of something, member bias, is that um the credits that they're receiving are not just honored at UMass LOL and that there are a lot of highly competitive colleges and institutions in addition to UMass LOL that will accept
them. Um, and so it's part of what we're doing with the advertisement and marketing of the program is for students to understand that it gives them access to a number of schools um that they may be interested in and what that looks like. But certainly I will say when we
began the program without the designation when it was a very very small group um I was concerned that we weren't um following the intent of the program which really is to support the firstgen
students and expose those students to opportunities available to them. because largely of what we're talking about in objective two, the opportunity wasn't um publicized wide enough so families weren't aware and we see that trending back to where we would hope it would be
where it's it's more widespread that there is an opportunity there for students who are interested. >> Thank you for the context. >> Thank you. >> Great. Next we have the district curriculum accommodation plan.
>> Thank you. U and this is one of the key actions that we talked about earlier. Uh the district curriculum accommodation plan had not been revised since 2013 which um is not typical uh and it it
needed some adjustment. So, we decided to take a look at that as a district um administrative team this year. And so, the idea of the the DECAP as it's called or the district curriculum accommodation plan is that it it provides a reference
for educators, families, students. >> Just a point of information, this is for an approval tonight, right? >> Yes. motion to approve. >> I'm thinking we could hear the presentation then once we're ready we could Okay. Does that make sense?
>> Either way. >> Okay. Um it's supposed to be a reference point um for staff, families, students to know the accommodations that are available to everyone universally within a classroom. U and so when we were
working on this um we reminded the leadership team that this falls under Mass General Law um because it's important for the the school district to put forth this measure of assistance so people know where to look and and what
they can have availed to them for support. Um but we started looking at our own from 2013. Um we pulled a dozen other districts, looked at their examples. Um there were many other districts on the
superintendent list serve that were doing the similar type of work. So we had shared folders looking at um different ways of presenting, different ways of organizing. Um, and we pulled um several ideas and
into a a messy whiteboard of thought of how to categorize um and organize. And really what it came down to was what's listed in the DECAP are best practices for teaching that should be um known to
staff and students and families. But it's very important to articulate that so um it's clear what's available. Um and we have a lot of districts around us where the decap is on the website and that's kind of where it lives and
nothing else really comes of it. What we hope to do with this is um to look at it yearly in the cadence that we do our handbooks and eventually build it out so te teachers for instance in our mentor program who are new to us can come and
look at the decap, click on the link, maybe get a sample of what that looks like in the classroom, some dos and don'ts of a best practice. um because in some ways it's just pointing someone in a direction to need to get assistance from another administrator or colleague to understand
what that terminology means. Um so we tried to keep it simplistic. Um and you'll see that the the heading on the DECAP um is the branding that we're using for all of our district documents um that we hope that we plan to roll out
in the fall like our common walkthrough tools, common lesson components. uh many of the district tools. Um and then decaps typically begin with the vision or the beliefs of the district. Um and so we've added that
here. The district vision and core beliefs were those that are in existence. I didn't I didn't just come up with those nor did our administrators. Um and then I added in this vision of a graduate visual which we know from our last presentation isn't
the final visual. a student is working on that, but I thought it was important to add here. Um, and then in the decap wanting to talk about purpose so it's clear to everyone briefly touch upon
MTSS and then get into the supports. So we hear that a lot uh multi-tered system of support and what that truly means. Um, and so it really focuses on academic, behavioral,
um, and equitable access to social, emotional supports in a school district, identifying what students need, and then supporting them with those needs. So, when we talk about tier one and MTSS, we're talking about what should be
happening universally in the classroom. Sometimes um districts get into trouble with MTSS or they find that they have a backup of students being referred for extra supports or considered for extra interventions because the tier one is
not strong enough. So what the student is experiencing in the classroom every day isn't robust enough or diverse enough to meet their needs and that's why they're perceived as not making progress when really tier one could be strengthened. So this document talks
about tier one. What are some things that can be done in the classroom to make sure um universal design from learning is present in all functionalities within a classroom um and that we're targeting student support that a teacher could implement
without needing to call the meeting without talking about uh student needs with administrators. These are things that can happen every day. Once the teacher implements those aspects in the DECAP as appropriate, makes some other modifications to how they're working
with tier one and they're still finding that a student is not making progress, that's when a student gets referred to TSS. That TSS team looks at all the data points, assigns an intervention for the student to go through, usually for six
to eight weeks through progress monitoring to see if the student is making improvement. From there, we could try another intervention or another means of um providing additional support for the student. But these are practices that are are truly good um for all
students. So on the structures and supports on this first page um we touch upon universal design for learning inclusive practices um our different departments and supports we have PBIS
collaborative problem solving our school counseling and mental health services our bright program our family resource center uh parent resources and engagement opportunities. This is in essence a page of what we're
aspiring to do and how we're inspiring uh aspiring to be inclusive and supportive of all students. Then um as typically found in some decaps and in some plans that our leadership team really liked um there's a listing of staff who are available for
consultation for uh their colleagues, staff members or families and then we move into the accommodations. So, are there things that we do offer daily that aren't listed here? Of course. Yes. Um, are there some generic um terms
like established clear routines and expectations that we can get even more distinct in focusing on? Yes, absolutely. And that's where the hyperlinks would come um to really articulate what's important to the district. to do this well um and to have
it function as we intend for it to as a reference. It would take time to build out what each of these aspects could be. Um but for instance for assessment um clarifying directions, providing rubrics when assigning an assessment,
communicating progress to guardians, using data analysis to inform and adjust instruction, regularly utilizing formative assessment, all best practices that we would expect to see. But by having them articulated, it gives us
some leverage to direct teachers back to the accommodation plans. Um sometimes um teachers may not teach a test taking strategy or not feel comfortable allowing extra time if they
feel like the district is not supportive of that and this would articulate that those behaviors would be appropriate. Um, also our um our team really liked the districts that had a bundle of attention
and behavior regulation and executive functioning um is those are some some key areas that often impact each other. So we wanted to outline some some behaviors there or strategies there and then also um how to
aspire to support students with their belonging and motivation. Um there's a number of students that um I'll say is as they get older and progress through the grades we see their their um lack of success in some
academic areas. it's a correlated to completion of activities or motiv motivation to learn more than it is um a conceptual misunderstanding and so that is really important and part of our objective three is to increase that sense of belonging um and then
instruction as in general. So seeking approval here for the decap because it's been um 13 years we're obligated to have it. It's becoming um a little bit embarrassing that we have one
on our website from 2013. Um but again I to prevent this from happening again we would like to review this yearly live in it for this year make adjustments um have teachers and also students maybe make some adjustments to things that
would be helpful for them. Um, in education, we do sometimes get caught in doing a lot of guessing about what we think kids needs when they're the ones that know best. Um, so if there's something that's missing, we'd be happy to include it. Um, but also as a guide for new teachers.
>> So, I guess this is kind of backwards, but to engage in discussion among committee members, I guess does make sense to have a motion and a second to approve and then we can go from there. >> So, move second. Motions from member Soy, seconds from member Keegan. Refer
the presentation. And do we have any questions or discussion from the committee? Member Keegan. >> Um, so reading this, um, it is definitely an improvement from the previous one. I went through both of them. Um, my big concern is that going
through this, this reads like an accommodation on a 504 or an IEP, and it's taking a lot of the things that would identify a student as a student who need needs a 504 or an IEP, and now
we're just making it every kid. And so I'm worried that it's going to delay our identification of special needs students because we're now giving all students these accommodations. Um my second
concern on two particular things is the alternative setting for assessments and the allowing for extra time when appropriate. Those are things that if they're not documented um you can't get on um the SATs and the
College Board testing. And so if we're now giving that to everyone, we no longer have it documented on the students who need it. and therefore we're going to struggle getting them to be allowed to have it on the tests
that they needed on because we're no longer going to have that documentation for those students. So, I'm a little bit concerned that we're going to be this is part of our DECAP, so we can just do it as opposed to we have documentation so we can prove that the student needs it
when it comes time for PSATs, SATs, um, and anything else in that category. So, those two jumped out at me in particular because knowing that students need that documentation in order to get those with the College Boards. Um, so those are my
comments. Thanks. >> Any other discussion? >> I'll just say that uh I think we're finding this trend of documents in the city that have been expiring since 2013 that we're getting after updating. Uh so >> yes,
>> absolutely. >> Well, if there's no other discussion we can >> I just want to say kudos to the superintendent for doing this. It's a herculean task, you know, again with the policy uh subcommittee which has done a fantastic job. This is another in
concert with it. So, I just want to say kudos to the administration on this. Thank you, >> vice chair. >> I do like the new There we go. I do like the new template style, the new branding. It it it does modernize
everything. Uh so, and I did notice it on the vision of a student, too. Um so I I I do appreciate some modernization to this as well. Thank you bias. >> Uh thank you Mr. Mayor through you. I
just want to set on the record that I did step out um but have reviewed the documents so very prepare well prepared to take this vote. I just had a question to the acting superintendent on the district vision. That little blurb right there. Where did we where where is that
from exactly? >> That's the vision that um what year was that? I'm going to say five years ago. Um that was altered to match um and to
preede the strategy plan um and it came with the district core beliefs and expectations. So before a vision of a graduate portrait of a learner came into play um and its prominence, there was the mission
statement for schools and districts, a simplified vision um and sometimes we need to use that phrasing in language still on grant applications and then the core beliefs and expectations um for the district. So I can recall
maybe 20 years ago sitting in the auditorium, Gina, I don't know if you can recall us as well, and arguing over over comma placement with 160 staff members raising their hand and talking about the impact of different words and
their power and strength. And so it was through many years of um a couple years I think worth of um deliberation that these um were established from these we had schoolwide rubrics that were in play
at one point to measure um if we're really achieving what we're saying we believe and then came into prominence the vision of a graduate. So I kept the vision and core beliefs because they are in a lot of our documents still guide um
much of what we do and whereas the vision is new to us and we don't have the the full graphic yet I put that here um but I know we've talked about updating our vision and core beliefs um through policy committee um and so as those change they would change here on
this document too. >> Correct. Thank you. I I just bring this up because again as we've discussed we've as a policy subcommittee decided to hold on kind of philosophical aspirational until things like the vision of a graduate were uh concluded.
And so again, this is these are one of these documents, right, that we're going to look towards in a vision in a educational philosophy document for language that has come from not just the elected officials, but the people on the ground doing the work and the
administrators and and the leadership team. So I just wanted to clarify where that language came from because I thought it was pretty interesting. So thank you. >> Thank you. uh through the chair to the acting superintendent. How has been the feedback regarding the
parent university? I'd be curious on that. like if even if we surveyed the participants in that parent university, I think it's been a novel idea and I encourage the parents to participate but I would just like encourage like the feedback maybe like a brief survey just
to gauge you know likes, dislikes, uh improvements um you know that thing if we could do that. Thank you. >> Any other comments? If not, let's vote. All those in favor? >> I
>> opposed. You eyes have it. Uh, next on the agenda, we have the MASC policy review. A second read approval of section I. Uh, do we have a motion and a second to approve? >> Motion to remove from the table. >> Oh,
so it's not indicated on the agenda that it's on the table. >> Was it tabled at last meeting? I just want to make sure we're in good shape from an open meeting standpoint because it's >> I missed that question. I'm sorry. >> It was on the table from the last
meeting. So, we're dismissing removal from the table. >> I thought it failed >> because we finished the whole thing. Correct. >> This had been and this had been posted prior to the conclusion of the last meeting.
>> So I just want to I just want to be cautious, >> Mr. Chairman, is not take a final vote on this. We can do is come back to another meeting. I think that was the consensus of some of the people, myself included. I had some questions. I had a
conversation with the uh chairman of the subcommittee and again I applaud the work but I also had some friendly amendments I wanted to offer. So I think we have this as a working group and we don't formalize it because we still have
August and if we have to do a special meeting anyways just for to be safe on the open meeting law I don't think we take any formal action. I think if that might help us with the open meeting law. If not, then we can't act upon it. But I
think if we just review it, um concerns, I think the vice chair had some concerns. He needed to digest it in your capacity as chairman. I wanted you to be privy to it to ask questions. I think it was healthy to ask questions and do like a couple. Again, I didn't like the
process last time around with the prior uh subcommittee. I think this this subcommittee has been very conducive, very transparent, very open to suggestions. So I think in that vein I would like to continue that that we don't fi finalize anything but we ask
questions and pose concerns. >> The only only issue tonight is that we would need a vote to remove it from the agenda and the vote isn't on the agenda itself. So out of an abundance of caution, it might make sense for us to hold on any discussion. Removing it from
the table would need to take place in order for us to engage in discussion. Uh so I would strongly recommend that in in that case maybe we can wait until we're going to have a special meeting upcoming anyway. >> We we can schedule a special meeting in between now and August if we need to.
Nothing prohibits us from that. just >> sensitive that we don't get into >> I I just have a clarifying question to the superintendent. >> There was some urgency in getting this done with staff leaving for the summer. Am I
correct? Could you remind us of why we were trying to get this done in a timely fashion? I believe and respectfully I believe you may have exited the meeting during some of that discussion last time. Oh, you did? Okay. I wasn't aware. >> I wasn't aware. I know you had exited
>> again through the chair. >> Just want to be careful that we don't get into conversation about it because we're >> so we we we're going to have a special meeting in the next uh week or so, I would imagine, to finalize another item. >> The only thing I wanted to add, Mr.
chairman is if I had a conversation with the the chairman of the subcommittee, what I'm going to do is formalize my concerns in an email and in your capacity is the chairman along with the acting superintendent. I'm going to formalize my concerns. So between now
and the next time we have a special meeting, okay? Because I'll defer to you on the caution on this, right? I'm hoping that the subcommittee will entertain my concerns. Uh if not, I will unfortunately have to vote against the
provision and it's has nothing to do with the subcommittee but I have some concerns. Thank you. >> Um to respond to to member Denovan's question, we are in the season of revising handbooks and planning professional development and
communicating to staff changes and practices and policy moving forward. Um so we are interested in um having the consensus of the committee um with some direction of of where we're going forward. So if practices need to change
or our procedures need to change that we have time to do that um and plan for it. Um, >> and I suppose it's not an amending of the agenda that we can vote on because we would have had to do that originally the start of the meeting
>> and we would have to have it posted as well that we would be taking that vote. So what I would recommend is that we will be reconvening before the end of June for a special meeting.
>> We're going to need two meetings, not one, because we need to finish going through them and then we're going to need the second read. And so we're going to need two, we're going to now need two meetings before the end of the >> with the table that was that satisfied the first read. So this would be the
second read. There would only need to be. >> But if there are going to be changes that we make based on the discussions we have on the rest of the section, then we're going to need to change it and then vote on the changes, right? And so I still think it's going to end up
needing to be two meetings, not one >> perhaps, but we just I want to make sure that we don't get ourselves into any jeopardy tonight considering that that would the vote to do that from a parliamentary standpoint. It would have to be on the agenda that we would be voting to remove it from the table.
That's my understanding just coming from the city council. >> Just a point of clarification, too. I did I I did notice that there was an updated packet. Were the changes made in
the first round done? >> No, because we did that on Thursday evening, but there were most of the recommendations or some asked for more cross cross referencing for additional policies and laws um that I didn't have
time to do or connect with Alicia on. >> Mr. Mayor. Uh um so my comments are more geared towards logistics and and timing. Um but I just figured actually that I'll reserve my remarks for uh the next item on the agenda which is any other business just so that we could clarify
in terms of timeline because there are some things that need to be considered but I don't want to get into them currently. >> Sure. Understood. >> And we can talk about just the logistics of it. I'm not interested in delaying the process. I want to say that I want to applaud the subcommittee. I do have
philosophical issues that I hope can be addressed. If it if it's not, then I'll be in an opposition vote, but I think working with and I think they're common sensical. I hope they're friendly amendments and I'll relay that in an email. But my intent is not to delay
delay delay. I defer to you on the caution, but I also want to emphasize that this subcommittee has worked tirelessly, has been open and transparent. Okay? And I think they've been a balancing act. So I don't want to have this as a judgment of the chairman or the subcommittee on this. But I think
in caution in the open meeting law and because of Mthan's history, I agree with you how hardly. But that doesn't negate that I will meet any time. And if uh we can have uh member Keegan's inquiry vetted by our legal council, but I think
that we can make changes through an email as long as it's not a quorum and going back and forth and debate, have the subcommittee meet and look at the the changes and then formalize maybe some changes, right? And then we as a body look at it and then I'll take a
final vote. Yes or no? I'm one voice, one vote. But that's just my opinion. >> Thank you. So we'll we'll we'll get it done. >> I would be excuse me I would be concerned about an email coming to the subcommittee because that would then be a >> quorum the committee itself.
>> So that wouldn't be more than I want to be really careful because we're off the agenda right now. So we just we want to reel it in. We're gonna be able to get this done before the end of the month, right? Uh this would be a second read. The tableabling was the first read
>> and then we can move. >> Mr. Mayor, if I may, can we just close this debate on this item and then move to any other business? >> Yes, we can. We can proceed to other business from the committee. We'll hear from member Bay, and then we'll hear from the vice chair. >> Thank you. Um, so I just want to be
cognizant that there were changes made during our first read to our uh, MASC policy review section I amended as in uh, the full committee made a decision and then there were recommendations that
weren't formally voted on that the subcommittee was re it was recommended upon to the subcommittee to look at these changes. And so this week the policy subcommittee is not meeting because we like to meet with every voice um that has been throughout the process
meeting our MASC representative, our three uh school committee members and our uh acting superintendent. And so this week uh Wednesday the 24th we will not be meeting. Um, so I so those
changes that we made in our first first read last week on Thursday um are not going to be on a live document until the subcommittee most likely meets um to update all of that. And so with that
being said, the uh what was on the agenda today as a second read and approval um was most likely again um in my own uh my own personal opinion I anticipated a review um um if ch changes questions being
asked and then a further tableabling for for a review once again because Mr. Mayor you weren't there for our first review so you missed probably the first half. Um, and so again, I would anticipate finishing our initial review as member Keegan uh talked about and
then again going over it one last time because some folks uh were concerned about the time that they that they had to review it initial initially. And so if it is that if that is the will of the committee, then that is the will of the committee. But I just wanted to note
that in terms of time frame and scheduling special meetings because we do have other things such as contracts and votes on the city council that um it we to schedule that special meeting. I hope that you'd be in contact with at
least the acting superintendent after the subcommittee meets. That would be July 1st is our next meeting. And so um I just I just want to make sure that that that is stated for the record. And I want to also say that I
thank and appreciate the impressive patience of the full committee during this process. It has been um for us the subcommittee a very painstaking but rewarding process and despite any uh
process in terms of the full committee that that people had concerns with, I'm impressed with the patience that folks have exhibited and expressed. Thank you, >> vice chair. Thank you. Um, the new chair, the intention of the last meeting
when we met was the table and review the final first read have the subcommittee have their go at it to fix it or take the recommendations and the second read be a final vote. The only reason why we did not finish was because we met with
the 10 o'clock time frame and we had to end the meeting. If we had an extra hour, maybe we would have got through it, but we we did it. So, um I again I I think maybe we because the students we
had to um my intention of this was not to hold things up. I think everything here has been professionally done through the review of the first round. Um I think it was just a clerical error tonight. So, um, I think we just need to
work as a team like we've been doing. Like I said, I I think the committee was very open and amended to the conversation last meeting. So, whatever we can do to potentially have a special meeting this week
or early next week to finish the review, I think, Mr. Bayas, how much time do you need left? I know another hour and a half, two potentially. potentially there's some policies in there that take up like 20 pages of your
of your packet that we uh not to get into the the deliberation. Um let's just say that it'll be around an hour, an hour and a half. I don't anticipate taking too long depending on the will of the committee and their changes and their questions >> and I've had time to review the second half of this too. So my questions I have
lined up and ready to go. So as long as we've all done our due diligence, we should be able to get through. >> Sounds good. I just have a question about the agenda. So it when we were voting on the agenda, it could have been amended at that time
to add that or not. We couldn't have added the um the table. >> We we we can remove things when we accept the agenda, but we can't go ahead and add it unless there's the 48 hour. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Notice Yeah.
>> Anything else? If not, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Motions from the vice chair, seconds from member Keegan. Uh, all those in favor? >> Opposed. The eyes have it. Time is 7:58
and our meeting is adjourned. Heat. Heat.