All right, I call this rare Saturday, April 4th, School Committee meeting to order. We have We have a very consequential agenda, I would say, today. So, let me go through what the agenda will look like, how the morning will flow, and we will jump in. We're going to start with public
comment. There is going to be comment on the Superintendent appointment decision, but public comment is for things not on the agenda. So, just if you want to speak to the Superintendent appointment, just ask you to hold those comments. For anyone at home on Zoom, if you're looking to make comment, what I ask you
to do is just drop your name and address into the chat, and we'll we can take you off of mute and give you the opportunity to comment as well. So, again, public comment for things not on the agenda first. Then, we'll go to reports, liaison committee reports, and then we will move into deliberation
and potentially the vote to appoint Dr. Turner as Superintendent. Depending on the outcome of that discussion, we'll do one of two things. We'll either go into executive session to conduct strategy sessions for negotiation, in which case we wouldn't return to an open meeting,
or we will have a discussion about next steps in the absence of an appointment this morning. So, that is our agenda for today. Let me start with comment. So, there's anybody here in the room or on Zoom who would like to make a comment about anything
not on the agenda, it's your chance. All right, everybody's Everybody's here for exactly what we thought they would be. Okay. Let's then move to liaison reports, and I will start at the end of the table with Carla. No No report. No report. No report.
No report. Sarah? Aaron? No report. Marla? No report. Okay. I will make just one comment. This is Carla's last formal meeting with us. We are going to have an opportunity to recognize her. Dennis O'Rourke feel like to
squeeze it into this particular meeting. So, I we're going to ask Carla to come back at one of our upcoming meetings so that we can sort of properly recognize her 6 years of service as School Committee and at least two more years of service that we'll get out of her on the Kilmarnock Cross. But, you know, just wanted to acknowledge her last meeting this morning. So, thank her
for being here today. Okay. So, into the business of the day. So, before we jump into our discussion, I just want to start by providing an overview of the process that brought us to this moment.
I'm sure many are watching who followed us a bit more casually up to this point. In mid-December, Dr. Milcetsky notified the members of the School Committee that he would be accepting a new role at the end of the school year. We shared this news with the community on December 16th, and 2 days later began discussing as a committee how we would
move forward. The committee agreed that we wanted to initiate a search. We committed to seek an aggressive timeline to ensure that if we were able to find the right leader, that person could be in place for the start of the 2026-2027 school year. We also agreed that we would seek proposals from organizations that could
help conduct the search on our behalf. I immediately reached out to the New England School Development Council, NESDEC, and our rep with the Massachusetts Massachusetts Association of School Committees, MASC. By December 22nd, I'd received proposals from both organizations, and we opted to move forward with MASC.
It became clear, however, they would not be able to support the timeline we were seeking, in part due to conflicts with a nearby district that they were already supporting. I will note that this district was Littleton, which despite their head start is actually 5 days behind us on the process. Thanks to the incredible support of
Olivia LeJune and Shell Roach in the Central Office, the committee was willing to entrust me and Carla to make key decisions in between our meetings. We were able to conduct a full search with all of the same elements as an MASC supported search would entail. We held community forums to solicit feedback on priorities for the next Superintendent.
We developed top-quality marketing materials to promote the position, to invite applicants to apply, and to make it straightforward for them to do so. We recruited and conducted training for a screening committee, which included 18 individuals representing the School Committee, Central Office and principals, building staff at every
level and across roles, parents, CPAC member, one of our METCO directors, Lieutenant Abati from the RPD who supervises the the SROs, and former Town Manager Bob LeLacheur. The position was posted in early February, and by the time it had closed on March 1st, we had 24 applicants,
which is three more applicants than we had when we hired Dr. Milcetsky in 2021. 15 days later, after interviewing 11 of the applicants over four different meetings, the Screening Committee voted unanimously to advance four candidates as finalists for the position. We immediately began working to get
those scheduled for what is, frankly, a fairly intense interview process. In our search, as in prior MASC led searches, candidates were asked to spend nearly an entire day in Reading meeting with a variety of stakeholders, as well as to arrange seven different groups of stakeholders from their districts to
speak with the School Committee. And all of this before even sitting down with the six of us for an interview. Unfortunately, we did lose three of the finalist candidates along the way. Two withdrew for personal reasons that I won't divulge out of respect to their privacy, but which were unrelated to
Reading or this particular opportunity. A third withdrew after reaching agreement with another district who was ahead of us from a timing perspective. When the third candidate withdrew earlier this week, I called Dr. Turner to give him a heads-up. I knew that the the dynamic would change, and this would become a much more difficult process
when you're one person receiving an up or down vote, rather than one of multiple people who bring different strengths and opportunities. But, let me be clear, this is an up or down vote. I think I can speak for my colleagues when I say that we do not have to make a decision out of desperation or by default.
We've said from the beginning that we're approaching this search from a position of strength, and I think that was validated by the significant interest in the position. If we vote not to appoint Dr. Turner this morning, it's the problem. Oh. You can just Yes.
Um If we vote not to appoint Dr. Turner this morning, we'll move on to next steps immediately afterwards, and I'm confident that should we choose to pursue an interim Superintendent, not only would we have viable options, but that our district is well positioned to continue to make progress under an interim leader.
So, all of that is context, I'll say again what I said on Tuesday. We're here simply to determine whether Dr. Turner is the right leader for the district moving forward. Finally, before we jump into our discussion, the last thing I want to say about the process is just how grateful I am for the work of so many people. All
of the candidates shared that they thought the process was well-run and organized. Several remarked how much clearer we were about timing and expectations of them than other searches they've participated in, and I think they had a really great experience. Truly, all of that credit goes to Olivia
and Michelle who I mentioned earlier, phenomenal job of making all this possible. And it should be noted it allowed us to forego 15 to 16,000 dollars in consultant fees. Thank you again, Michelle. We're also very grateful for the members of the Screening Committee. You know, it was a big commitment to spend, I think,
four evenings and a Saturday morning over the course of about 6 days, not to mention several prep sessions with us. And they approached it professionally and with the rigor and seriousness that this process deserves. So, thank you to all of them as well. And finally, I want to thank everybody in the community who watched the
interviews, participated in the forums, met with the candidates, emailed, texted, called us with your thoughts. This is the most important decision that we make as a committee, and I know I speak for my colleagues when I say when I say that we highly value all of that input. So, transitioning now to our discussion, a little bit about how this is going to
work. We'll open the floor for members to share their opinions, and based on the pulse of the committee, we'll potentially take a motion to appoint. Before we either move to the vote on that motion, or or we move forward without a motion, we will allow for a period of public comment. So, I'd ask folks in the crowd and on Zoom just
to allow us to have our discussion without interruption first, and we will give you an opportunity to be heard. There are a lot of people who want to speak. We may ask that you limit your comments to 2 minutes each. We may have to time box the total that session depending on sort of what the interest looks like.
Now, with that, I usually prefer to go last, but in this case I'd love to take the liberty to go first, if that's okay. >> [clears throat] >> All right. One of the arguments posed in some of the emails that we received over the last several days is this idea that with one remaining candidate, we don't
have a comparison point and can't make a proper evaluation. I've given that a lot of thought over the last several days, but I wanted to make sure that I didn't have a blind spot, you know, in that regard. Where I landed is that I think that premise is a little bit flawed, frankly.
Cuz while we don't to today have an A/B comparison to make this morning, we all have many data points for what a Superintendent candidate looks like. Four of us have worked with two different super here in Reading. Same four of us have been part of a Superintendent search in the past and seen all the same interviews and site
visits and community forums for for credible candidates in 2021. Several of us have participated on screening committees and seen dozens of resumes and double-digit interviews with semi-finalists. And while only Dr. Turner is still up for consideration, we do also think it's important to note that about 90% of the
data points we received during this process, we did receive on the final candidate pool as well. We completed the site visits to Lowell, we observed your community forum, we got plenty of feedback from staff and other stakeholders who did have the opportunity to meet with both candidates. Um so, I'm confident that we have enough
information to evaluate Dr. Turner on his merits. Um and I will be voting yes to appoint him as superintendent. And let me share a few of the highlights as to why and then invite others to jump in. Um one of the things that I'm proudest of in terms of this committee is that regardless of our political differences,
we've actually become pretty well aligned in terms of what equity and this concept of all means all really means in practice for Reading. And it's not about, you know, scary woke DEI, CRT, any of the buzzwords. It's about a shared belief that every student, no matter what may be unique
about them or maybe traditionally considered as an obstacle, every student deserves to be able to achieve to the maximum of their own potential. Our job as a district is to provide the right environment for them to do that. I think it was evident in all of Dr. Turner's interactions here in Reading and in feedback that we received about
him how deeply he aligns with that value. I also feel like I saw even just during the course of the last week or so how he started to really understand the context of our community and apply that shared value in a way that will continue the great work that began under Dr. Milowsky's leadership.
Um the second thing for me is, you know, there's a big jump from high school principal to superintendent. His jump may not be as big as some just given the size and complexity of Newton North, but it's still a jump. It really is. Um when we met with stakeholders from Newton, I was really tuned into the
central office group in particular trying to gauge what kind of things he'd done that could prepare him to make that leap. And I was very encouraged. Now, I want to just share a few of the highlights, not all of which I think came up in other forums. Um they talked about his district-wide policy work. And I think folks heard about the homework policy as one example. They talked about
how he was an active voice and a leader in planning for negotiations with the teachers union, how he had an active role in curriculum reviews across levels, about his great relationships with department heads at the district level and a strong focus on consensus building. There was a quote that it caught me which was, "Henry is always
looking out and he's not somebody who's sort of stuck in the bubble of his own school." Um he's contemplative but decisive. And then uh when we spoke to the principal group, something that really struck me was they were um they were reflecting how they had a retreat the day that Dr. Turner was here in
Reading doing his his rounds of stakeholder meetings. And they talked about how um sort of noticeable his absence was in the room and how, you know, it's it's just a different feel when he's in the room in a really positive way. Um and then, you know, another big driver and probably the last one I'll
say here is uh for my yes vote is that, you know, a lot of people whose opinions I value highly are backing this movement. Um in all between the site visits, you know, seeking out opinions from staff throughout the district, and a number of people I know who had exposure to him either in Newton or Bedford or or maybe
known personally from Marblehead, um I've had the chance to hear from north of 100 different people in in like live conversations with 100 different people. Um RPS staff represent about 30 of those. And overwhelmingly, the staff that I talked to are excited about his candidacy. One of the more common refrains that I
heard is that they'll never be able to replace Dr. Milowsky. Dr. Turner possesses a lot of the same traits that have made him so successful here. He leads through empowerment. He understands that his role is not to be the resident expert in every room that he's in. And he deeply understands that as long as you keep students at the
center of your decision-making, you're usually going to get it right. So, uh I'll close by just saying I'm excited about Dr. Turner. And as I already said, I will be voting in favor of his appointment. Who would like to jump in? Um >> [clears throat]
>> I don't have all my words fully written out, so >> [laughter] >> bear with me. Um This has been a really intense process. Um this week has been incredibly uh intense. Um Tom was never going to be easy to
replace. Um he's beloved. Um he's beloved by everyone. Um he has worked really hard to build relationships, to build trust. And frankly, um I think most of us can agree that that the district is in a
place that we we could have only like dreamed about 5 years ago. Um and nobody that I know up here is looking to derail that in any way. Um looking to
stay the course. So, I I just want to acknowledge that that there's there's an uncertainty, there's a nervousness when there's a big change like this. Like are are things, you know, is the dynamic going to change in the district? Are we going to be back
to having more drama? Um so, I I understand that. I acknowledge that. Um I also appreciate Tom for reviewing the process. Um I do think um there's a lot of opinions on it. There was also maybe some misinformation
around it. So, I really appreciate that he was able to outline cuz I do stand by our process. I think it was a very rigorous process. Um and I think that for me, um just because, you know, by Tuesday night we were down to one finalist, I I
didn't see it as a default candidate. I saw it as we still had a finalist that our screening committee had put forward and that we needed to see this process through to today. Um and see what came out of it. Um
that being said, I started getting outreach from people in the district when we still had three candidates, when we still had two candidates. Um and it was always in support of him and his team. Um during the community session, um I
watched I watched it multiple times. Um I was incredibly impressed by his tone, by his calm manner. Um he was asked some really uh tough, pointed questions that were very
deliberately aimed at him. Um and I just was really impressed by the ease with which he handled it. It didn't seem to rattle him. He didn't get combative or defensive about it. Um in fact, if anything, I felt like he was he was validating and understanding. And
that's been one of Tom's great strengths. Um I think that for a long time parents in the district, some parents, uh were not feeling heard or validated. Um they were not feeling that they could trust um district leadership to come to with a
concern. And that's part of the culture that we have worked so hard to change. And I saw that in Dr. Turner. Um during the virtual session with um multiple cohorts from Newton. Um so, we
got to speak with central office, we got to speak with principals, we got to speak with students and parents and other school staff. And what's really amazing in these virtual visits is each group is isolated. So, you know, the principals can talk freely because, you
know, the superintendent's not in the chat with them. Or the students can talk freely because the parent's not in the chat with them. Um it was a really important part of my process 5 years ago. And again, I felt it was a really important part of my process. Um
I took copious notes and I went back last night um just sort of looking through like what were the terms that came up over and over. Was I imagining it or, you know, is this what I wrote down? Um >> [clears throat] >> student-centered was the number one
thing that came up over and over with all the different groups. Um great listener, calm, collaborative, a team builder, a consensus builder. Values and seeks input from others. Does not try to make decisions without it. Um
genuine and supportive. Makes people feel heard and validated. Trusted, respected. Students talked about how much he cares, how positive he is, how he would make these positive signs when students were coming in the building in the morning just so they're
starting the day on the right foot. Um strong communicator. Um and I can't remember who, but I wrote it down as a quote. Believes all students can succeed through proper support and that all students deserve it. And that was something that really resonated with me
because I think that is what we stand for. Um So, I, you know, I got off that session and I I I said, "Wow, okay." Like I felt a lot of similarities to what people have been drawn to in Tom.
Um and yet I also saw someone who can continue to to move our district forward. Um this week I spent time um meeting with or talking to every one of the principals, um several from central office, several
other district leaders, several teachers, many parents. Um and overwhelmingly, uh they want us to hire Dr. Henry Turner. Um overwhelmingly. Um and this was something many of them
identified feeling earlier in the process. And I want to be crystal clear, it is not about him being the last one. It is about him having what they feel [clears throat] our district needs. Um and I'll tell you why this matters to
me because we have really strong leaders in place right now. That is another thing that I I think we can't always have said. You know, sometimes you'd say, "We have really strong here, but maybe not here." Um you know, when we hired Dr. Milowsky,
we had several significant roles turn over at the same time. I remember being terrified that we were turning over these big roles at the same time. Um and it's worked out amazingly. Um those people don't want to go anywhere. They want to keep working for Reading. They
believe in our mission. They believe in Reading Public Schools and they believe that Dr. Henry Turner is is the next leader who can keep us on track. Allow them to do their jobs that they do so well. Um
So, I think uh some of the feedback I heard were that he takes the time to listen, to connect. Um they understands their roles and is not trying to impede on that. Um several people commented that they feel they can learn from him.
Um again, student-centered came up over and over. Um caring, thoughtful, sharp. Um and just, you know, that overall feeling that that he would be a good fit for us. Um during his interview, again, I remarked that I thought he was calm and
thoughtful. Um I thought he was mostly thorough in his responses. You know, was every response perfect? No. Um but I think that's hard to do as well. Um he took the time to consider each question. I liked that he was writing them down and really trying to
address all aspects of it. Um I felt he emerged as an experienced, values-driven leader who truly wants to work in Reading. In fact, we're the only district he applied to. Um So, that tells me something that it's not, you know, just a job. It's it's
unique to our community that he sees as a good fit. Um I think that he has the ability to continue the collaborative culture that has been so important to our leadership. I think that he has the equity priorities that are so important to this board
um and to, you know, our entire staff. Um I think that he wants to continue to make Reading a high-performing district and I think he has the skills to continue to bring us higher. Um I think he's looking to build on our
success, not to shake things up. Um I don't feel that he is coming in with his own agenda. I think he has great respect for where we are and for the leadership we have in place and wants to empower them to continue to fulfill their roles.
Um Yes, there are some areas where he's going to be weaker, where he doesn't have experience because he's a high school principal, he's not worked in central office, he's not a superintendent. Um I was on the screening committee when we hired Tom.
So, I I had a sense of what the full spectrum was. Um so, I could appreciate when the finalists came forward um what that meant, what that process was um to get to that point. Um We are not what I would call like a a challenge for someone to take on right
now. So, I I didn't expect a a lateral superintendent um looking to move over. Um we're in a great place. So, I I think that a steady, competent leader can come in and and keep us on track. So, I was not surprised that we didn't have a current
superintendent in the mix. Um you know, three of our four finalists were were essentially like high school leaders or high school principals. So, um that wasn't a surprise to me. That wasn't something that concerned me. Um again, I go back to the trust and
faith I have in our leadership in place. Um So, I will be voting in favor of appointing Dr. Turner for all of those reasons. Good thing I wrote them down. I do have my words written down because I'm not a morning person and I'm under caffeinated. So, I pulled my thoughts
together last night while I was thinking about this difficult decision ahead of us. So, um under Dr. Adams' leadership, the district has developed a cohesive, high-performing, and highly collaborative community >> [clears throat] >> that has driven meaningful progress on key priorities. I really believe the next superintendent should be prepared
to build on this strong foundation, sustaining a culture of collaboration, constructively challenging and supporting our and advancing this work through the continued focus on closing achievement gaps for our highest need students. I wanted to lean on data and inform my thoughts and
decisions on three core things: our district vision, our equity statement, and the selection criteria that we unanimously agreed upon as a school committee. In the job description, we highlight the following selection criteria: demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, and ensuring high outcomes
for all students; outstanding collaboration and communication skills with diverse stakeholder groups; ability to establish trust and credibility with staff, families, municipal partners, and school committee members; leadership grounded in humility, service, and a commitment to maintaining and strengthening Reading Public High
Performing Public School District; strong people management and leadership development skills. I strongly believe Dr. Turner meets the district's selection criteria with a consistent record of collaborative, equity-centered, and results-driven leadership. He increased advanced coursework participation from 65% to 87% with the
largest gains among high need students and improved college placement rates from 79% to 84%. He has strengthened student well-being through schedule redesign, restorative practices, and expanded social emotional supports. At systems level, he co-chaired pre-K to 12 vertical alignment to ensure a coherent, equitable student experience
across all grade levels. Across more than 20 complex, multi-year initiatives, he has demonstrated the ability to balance innovation with effective implementation while developing strong teams and leadership capacity. The screening committee, as some of my colleagues have pointed out, conducted a rigorous and thorough selection process,
reviewing a strong pool of highly qualified candidates, and ultimately advancing four finalists through the full process. Among them, Dr. Turner stood out far and above due to his academic achievements and the breadth and impact of his professional experience. These qualities were reflected at all stages of the process, from resume
submission to screening, to site visits, to staff interviews, to school committee, and in the countless, countless conversations I have had since then with key stakeholders. While it's unfortunate that other strong candidates did not advance to this stage, my support of Dr. Turner is not relative relative to the field. He
independently embodies the qualities, leadership, and vision I believe are essential for our next superintendent. Further, I wholeheartedly reject the assertions made by some community members that Dr. Turner's values do not align with those of Reading Public Schools. On the contrary, his leadership closely reflects the district's vision
and equity statements, expanding access to rigorous coursework, fostering inclusive and supportive environments, and ensuring all students feel known, challenged, and valued. His work demonstrates a system-wide commitment to equity, belonging, and high outcomes grounded in strong relationships, data-informed decision-making, and
meaningful community partnerships. I am enthusiastically in support of Dr. Henry joining our district and being the next superintendent. I'll bring it to you well. Just to have the other side of it. I'll let her work it through a little bit. You know, I have not decided on which given as right now.
You're running out of time. >> [laughter] >> I'm struggling a lot. I've been struggling a lot with this conversation. Um You know, in what I was listening to, as some people saw your your buds in my head on the way in, was Tom's interview 5 years ago
and try to compare, contrast the two. Um and understand the depth of answers that we were getting there versus the depth answers we got from Dr. Turner. Um Just to try to make sure I was being fair
as I was going through it. I I reckon Well, first of all, let me back up because, John, thank you for outlining the search process. As the chair of that committee, I stand firmly behind the search process and what we did. Uh you know, 24 people applied. 11 were
interviewed of those 24. Um Of those 11, a good number of them said they only applied to Reading. Right? So, this is not a pool of of also-rans or anything else like that. I want people to understand that.
Uh it's a pool of really strong candidates um that of which eight of them only applied to Reading. Three of our four finalists only applied to Reading. The one that didn't is obvious because she got hired in Mashpee, right?
Um so, I think that's that's telling in terms of where Reading is, what people see of Reading, um how much change has happened in Reading over the last 5 years that people want to come here. Uh Dr. Turner is one of those three, right?
With Dr. Turner comes a lot of really, really strong positives. My my my peers on the committee have outlined some of those. Um I don't agree with everything that they've said necessarily, but that's there. Um I think that
uh his equity focus, and as John defined it, I think is more appropriate um than as some other people are defining. Really, that all means all. We really want all of our kids. I firmly stand behind that for people out there. We want all of our kids,
whether they're black, brown, white, purple, green, whether they're on an IEP or not on an IEP, whether they have high income or low income, whether they're living Reading, whether they're living Boston, whether they're living Stoneham or Melrose or wherever they live, all of our kids have an opportunity to
meet their highest potential outcome. And that's individually defined. Every kid has a different outcome potential. We're not saying they all can reach the same outcome. That's not what we're saying. Uh but that they reach their highest potential outcome and we put the systems and structures in place to make that
possible. Um So, I'm I'm fully on board with with that portion of it. And in in Dr. Turner's case, you know, people know I'm a data guy, so I look through all the data that's publicly available. There is a lot of
really positive public data available from Newton North. You know, the AP participation rates are up across every single subgroup significantly. Right? The post-pandemic AP 3 and 1/2 to 5 are up across all subgroups.
Right? Comparatively to his first year when he 2016, there are some that are slightly down. Um but almost from a pandemic forward, it's been it's been great. His post-pandemic MCAS science scores are up across all sub- subgroups.
There are some mixed information though pieces that are important to understand and be aware of. And MCAS is a little bit of a misnomer these days, especially last year when they changed the law and people took it less seriously. But post-pandemic MCAS scores are down for ELA and math
for nearly all subgroups. Interesting. There's a disconnect there between the output from AP and from MCAS. And perhaps the difference is two additional years in high school to be exposed to the curriculum and instruction processes there at the high school of Newton
North. What is also interesting though is another standardized test, SAT scores are down across all sub- subgroups. Um but up from his first year. So, down from post-pandemic but up from his first year. So, there's definitely a post-
post-pandemic bump that's still coming, a catch-up that's still coming, and I think that's consistent across the education sector overall. So, as I look at it, I'm trying to say, "Okay, you you are an equity-focused guy. Uh is is the outcome matching?"
And in many ways, and perhaps the most important ways in my mind, AP and college applicability, it is definitely meeting that. Uh and so that's something I I look at um very focused and very heavily. Um I would echo that a lot of what Aaron
and Shawn said in terms of talking to staff around the district. I've talked to numerous members of the staff as well. Um I think there is a a strong support from our leadership team overall for Dr. Turner. Um which is one of the reasons why I
might go yes. Right? Um those people I trust, I know them well, I worked with them a lot. Um and, you know, I think that support is is pretty strong. Um I will say he was not my number one candidate. Absolutely was not.
Uh and I and I told that to other people. Um And that's my primary reasons are and this is where my pause is. His limitation um with regards to his access from a high school perspective versus district
level perspective. Um you know, one of the things I don't I didn't I don't align with necessarily with Sarah's statement about his work on curriculum K to 12. I didn't get that from the interviews. I must have missed a note um if that's in
in fact the case. Uh if it's great if it is, that's great. Um I know he's done work on like homework policy, but I don't consider that curriculum. Right? Uh I know he's talked about certain things um in terms of uh you know, math-related challenges in
the elementary and them having to pivot to elementary um you know, ELA, etc. Uh but I have not seen a K to 12 view. From everything I've heard in the conversations from a a curriculum and instruction
Counter that with the fact that he is a professor in how to do curriculum and instruction. So, there's there's an interesting balance there as we should work through that. Um as I understand it. Um I also am worried on a couple of fronts.
Right? Um I don't believe his budget experience or answers were anywhere near good enough. Um I and that's one of the things I was really trying to go back and listen to the way in which Tom answered the budget
question versus the way in which Henry answered the budget question. And maybe we should have asked a a follow-up in this case. Be a little bit more fair in that in that case. But his budget answer was was almost abrupt. It was focused only on one school. It was focused on having
to deal with a cut. Um and not necessarily looking at it from a systems perspective like how are we going to execute a budget process? Who do I pull into that process? How do I in in gender it and whatnot? Now, counter that with some of the
feedback we heard from the department heads in our site visits where uh he they mentioned how he's had them come in and force them to look at it at a different angle and say, "Okay, I am now as the math teacher going to advocate for the ELA department and say
why we should budget more for the ELA ELA department." So, there was a little bit of a juxtaposition there as well that I appreciated the counter view of it as they were they were looking at it. Um That's it. But that But that in terms of how to build a process, who to involve,
uh evidence that he's looked through our budget wasn't there. Uh and that was a concern that is a concern for me. Um Shawn knows I asked I reached out to Shawn yesterday to ask if I could call Henry uh last night to talk to him, and
I did. And he did. And we talked for about 45 minutes to an hour. Um where we went through quite a few of the concerns that I have and questions and answers and back and forth and I shared a little bit more about how grading works as well and and whatnot. Um
That to me was a positive conversation. Uh and it was a it was a We covered a lot of topics, uh some of which I'll get to in a minute as well. Um Another one I was concerned about and still concerned about, especially since we're going to be starting it here shortly, was negotiations with the
teachers and the next ones. He has no experience as a negotiator. Uh from a union perspective. For one reason or another, Newton left the principals out in their conversations before. They just brought them in to a degree with this this last round, and he's
starting to get involved now, but he has no experience of taking it from beginning to end and navigating the challenges of cross, you know, balancing off teachers' need and what they want from a certain hours perspective versus the cost and all that kind of stuff. He does no multi-year budget horizon of what an
impact of a of a negotiation might be. Um But again, you balance that off or compare that to what we heard from teachers about how he's respectful of them and they like the way he's around the school and he's visible and he's not hiding in his office all the time and he's relationship-focused.
So, there's a lot of again juxtapositions that I'm working my way through. Um Now, perhaps the biggest issue for many in the community and the one I spent quite a bit of time deliberating on, researching, and
understanding is his public presence. Right? Um Go ahead and lean into that His public presence. His the way in which he has been portrayed or has come across and portrayed himself uh historically um
within the the realm of the DEI, the woke, whatever you want to call it. Right? It is what it is. Um but if you look at it, you look closely, uh most of it is is is historical.
You're not going to find something that he's gone out and caused controversy in the last couple of years. Um Yeah, I had a conversation about some of those convers- This is one of the things I talked to him about cuz I'm really worried about it. Um and you you might hear
some other concerns in this space as well. One of the challenges that we have overcome from the past administration is public controversy. Frankly, fair or unfair, it is reality. We It doesn't say we don't have
controversy, but we managed to manage it for the most part internally. Um and a lot of our controversy is aligned to his controversy
in the 2019, 2020, 2021 time frames. Uh fair or unfair, it is what it is. Right? Um He chose at the time to make some rather public statements about things that may or may not have been true. Um
Whether we want to, you know, people have different opinions about the whole Kyle Rittenhouse situation, but he went pretty public about that. Claimed it was a racial incident. There was not a single person of another color besides white involved in that process, but there's a perception of if
that was a black person, they would have been convicted regardless. Uh and he chose to make that public statement. Um which brought a lot of pressure on Newton North and on him at the time from
yes, maybe far-right peop- gr- groups, but it was it is out there, it's well understood. And it's an issue, and I don't want that kind of um I'm going to call it knee-jerk. People may disagree with that statement. I don't want that kind of knee-jerk reaction
to what happens somewhere else to come back into our district. I want our kids to be able to focus on learning. I want them to feel supported and safe, but I don't want national media coming down to Reading and say, "What did you guys do?" Right?
Um so that is a concern. Now, when I talked about that with Dr. Turner, um his answer was was one I appreciated in that it was a lesson learned to a degree. Um that he is now um
he believes he's more slow to act um than quick to act, more contemplative. His opinions haven't necessarily changed, but how he presents them changes. I I don't want somebody who's going to be weak in their opinions, weak
in their convictions, but I do want them to be contemplative about how that plays and how they address that uh appropriately. Um so we talked about the concept of measure twice, cut once. Right? Really measure and think about
collaborate, compare. How do we want to address this issue? Is this something we should address or not address? Um and I told him I frankly think he missed the mark in the national national uh politics answer because he did not reflect back on how he had responded before.
Other than a recent case, which arguably was less controversial. Um I've been reading his book as well. Part of my due diligence was to go and read his book. Um and I told him that as well. One of the challenges, I would argue or
posit, that the quote conservative or right side has is the redefinition of racism as opposed to a a personal like held belief that a group or a a group is subordinated because of their group, it becomes a
more systemic problem. Um and as I look at that, I think that's the fundamental dividing line between the left and the right, frankly, in many ways, and it drives a lot of a lot of things. Um
and I think as we think about it, we both want equitable outcomes, but what do we say is the root cause? What is the problem? Is it the system? Is it the structures that are there? Or are there more foundational issues? Um
and so that then starts me go go look at how he's solving them. Uh and in this in the realm of his capacity, he's solving them as he can, but he's solving them in a very similar
way to how we tried to solve the equity gap 6 years ago in that while not officially collapsing tracks, his multi-level classrooms are partially doing it.
And when I talked to him about that, um I wanted to clarify my understanding, so I'm just going to tell everybody what my understanding was and what he clarified for me. My understanding was um >> [clears throat] >> Newton North has essentially four four tracks, CP, ACP, honors, and and AP.
My understanding of of multi-level was that he would allow students to register for their track and then put multiple tracks in one classroom with one teacher at a time and expect the teacher to teach to all levels. And I in particular in my case, I said,
"Let's say you have five CPs, 10 ACPs, and five honors and put them all in one class at the same time." He said, "Well, that's not quite true, Tom. We limit it to two levels. So, you may have 10 CPs and 10 ACPs in the same class at the same time, or 10 ACPs and 10 honors in the same class at
the same time." Which and he said, "You also need to understand Newton South and Newton North executed this at different times," which was one of my questions because there were concerns pushed out on social media and in the Newton School Committee meetings about some of these things.
Um and he said, "We were very deliberate in our process of making sure the teachers were trained in universal design for learning and a few other things to help them educate in a multi-level classroom. Newton South was behind us by a couple
years and did not have that same execution because they had an administrative change on their side and they did not have the same execution. Um so I take [clears throat] that to say, "Okay, we're what we're trying to do, Tom, is increase the rigor of the students at at CP to see ACP, of
ACP to see honors, right? So that they can then say, "Yes, I can achieve that now." Okay. That's a different answer than my understanding. It helps me to grow my understanding of what they're trying to achieve. Uh and then I look at the data.
And the data, especially AP scores and the people increasing and taking AP scores across all different subgroups, support that that theory of action. Um which is different now than the theory of action that we took at Reading 6 or 7 years ago of shutting down tracks
and saying you're either only CP or honors. Right? So that does sway some of my fears and concerns in this space. Um and it is something I expect he would probably push this district to do, which would do a couple of things in my mind.
We'll see. A, reopen ACP cuz we don't have it anymore. Um and then B, figure out how to make sure our teachers and instructors have the proper training to support multi-level instruction in a single classroom. We've done a lot of UDL work in this
district already. Uh we have a lot more to do um to to to to be even better and close those gaps. Um so as I look at this, I do see weaknesses in K to 8 that I'm worried about,
uh but I also know the strength of our team at that level already. Um I'm not even going to list everybody, but I've talked to most of the people at that level at this point in um
I see that he's contemplative and not the same person he was 5 years ago. We all grow. We all should expect ourselves to grow. Um and in doing so, I think that's uh important. He's well educated.
BC is not a small program from a doctoral program. Um and I think he has he's made some significant changes in his approach from outwardly facing. Now,
so I would say that to say I'm I'm leaning towards yes, but I'm not a strong yes. And I told him outright. The other thing I told him outright is, "If you are chosen, you will have a lot of work to do your first 3 to 6 months
to gain the trust of 33 to 45% of the town." Outright, told him that. Fair or unfair, it's reality. Right? And I would rather him know that reality than come in and he's and he was not surprised by that.
And he was willing to still he wants to stay in the process, he wants this job. He said other districts have reached out to him uh about coming in because they a lot of other districts have openings now that he his name is out there. Um they said he still wants this job.
I also told him I'm worried because of the budget, because of the potential override, that we cannot go into a place where we have a good number of the town that does not trust him and therefore does not trust the leadership in the district.
And you know, that's something we need to make sure is number one priority from an entry plan perspective if he is chosen. Right? Um we cannot afford, if an override comes forward in in November, to fail the
override simply because of lack of trust in the leadership. I Yeah, I just call a spade a spade, people. Whether you like it or not, I'm calling a spade a spade. Um and that is a concern I have. And that's one of the reasons why
I am on the fence. Um but now I look at it and I say, "Would we be better off in that space with an interim or restarting the process?" I'm I'm unsure. I'm unsure. Um
I think there is a a a high possibility that he can be a really strong superintendent for this district. I think the leadership within the administra- the principals and administrative team have that belief, too. They see the
collaborative nature that he has. And um and that's come through loud and clear. In our interviews from my perspective, the collaborative nature comes through loud and clear. Um so I'm all that to say, you know, I've done a lot of research on this, a lot. I've gone down a lot of rabbit
holes. I've talked to a lot of people. And I I'm I'm actually looking at around the room. I'm not talking to the people in the room, right? For the most part, I'm talking to mostly the people that are online right now. Um and the people who have sent in some
interesting emails. Uh I'm also going to say this and people may not like it, right? Um but it has to be said. We have to be really cognizant as a community about who we want to be. Uninformed, misguided, inaccurate
emails does not help us. On either side. Both sides sent uninformed, misguided, inaccurate emails. Um it I'll be honest though, it was mostly on the right {slash} conservative side
where it was uninformed, misguided. And I want I want you all to hear me because you elected me. Right? We've done a lot of work with this committee and a lot of work with this town to keep us moving forward. And in a positive way. Your kids are
benefiting. You are benefiting. We're not making a decision here in a rash way. Um we've done a lot of work here, a lot of diligence, a lot of people talking through this trying to find the right answer. Um
I'll pause there cuz I've said enough. Um and see what others have to say. Um I also did not write out a statement ahead of time. Um but I do feel that I am in a
I'm one of few people who are in the unique position by virtue of having been on this screening committee this time around of having a really good framework of reference for understanding um
how Dr. Turner compared to the other applicants that we got for this job. Um and I agree because I was there that it was a very rigorous screening process. It was time-intensive, it was um representative in terms of stakeholders
across the district, it was um thoughtful in terms of the way that people engaged with the candidates and engaged with the questions and engaged with each other uh in our discussions that we had about the candidates after the interviews.
Um and so I'm thankful that I have that frame of reference because I think it it gives me a slightly different perspective on the idea of the the Dr. Turner being the the default candidate, so to speak. And uh I too think that
that is a a misguided um or or misrepresentation of of the way the process worked. Um I I So, I'm coming at this from two different angles. I'm coming at this from um is it problematic that he's the
last remaining candidate? And if so, what does it mean to restart the search? And what does it look like to restart the search now having known what the uh initial pool of candidates looked like and thinking about what the next pool of candidates might look like. Um
and then I'm also coming at it just thinking about Dr. Turner himself and whether I think he's the right fit for the district. And um I sort of feel like the the you know the fifth fourth person here giving a a wedding toast because I'm I'm going to be repeating what everybody has said
before. So, um I don't want to to belabor the points, but I will echo what I think several people have said, which is that in both his semi-finalist interview and especially in the site
visit that we did with the different stakeholder groups from Newton and the conversations that I have had with different principals this week and district leadership, um there are a couple through lines that keep coming up over and over. One of
them being people his clear enthusiasm for um a student-centric focus and that he is really an educator at heart and that he is he he likes kids and he wants kids to
succeed. And he is interested in not only understanding how we as adults can help the kids best succeed, but also in hearing their perspectives and really have allowing students to have a voice in the process of their own education,
which I think is important. Um the collaborative nature has come through repeatedly in terms of his efficacy at being a listener and really hearing what people are saying um in terms of
wanting to gather multiple points of view when he's making a decision and in terms of building teams and um being humble as a leader in recognizing where he doesn't necessarily have as
much expertise and where he benefits from relying on the expertise of other individuals in his circle. It came through that came through very clearly to me. Um Tom, you were talking a little bit
about concerns with curriculum. And one of the things that I heard from a couple people this week in in talking to um current district leadership is that that's not a concern for them at like it's that we as multiple people have said on the on the committee here, we
have really strong leadership teams in place um at the central office level and across different buildings. And that um they are not concerned that that might be a knowledge I don't want to say gap, but
but somewhere where he doesn't have as much expertise. They were um people I talked to said they felt very confident that while there might be a learning curve, that it was um that it was something that he could do and that it was something that he
not necessarily curriculum, but in terms of his broader approach to the position, that he was coming in with a growth mindset. He knows that there's concern that he doesn't have the superintendent and central office experience. He knows that there's concern about the budget experience and the union contract
negotiations. And um people seemed encouraged by the fact that he gives the impression of wanting to learn these things, that he himself is a lifelong in addition to an educator, he himself is a lifelong student and wants
to continue to expand his knowledge and his skill set. Um So, I I had I have found the last week and a half to be very very stressful in terms of the
the change in dynamics that has under it has has evolved as we've had candidates drop out of this process. And then especially in the last >> [clears throat] >> 5 days or so, um the emails that we as a committee we as a committee have received. I tend to be a very
conflict-averse person. And so being reminded of the fact that these kinds of disagreements exist in our town and um bring up lots of powerful feelings for people, um that that sets off my personal anxiety. So, I've had
I've been feeling challenged this week to try to really empathize and understand with different viewpoints and think about what my role is in terms of being an elected official that represents the
community and being um what the role of the school committee is in terms of promoting the best interests of the school district. And what I kept coming back to was that I really wanted to prioritize
the voices of the people who I think are going to be most directly impacted by this decision, people who are going to be directly working with and under Dr. Turner. Um and the people who who have more experience in understanding the inner
workings of these schools and what it takes to make a successful leadership team and keep a successful leadership team. And I heard the sentiment expressed multiple times that while I think everyone has echoed, you know, we can't
Dr. Milowsky is leaving big shoes to fill, that there was a a sentiment that this if Dr. Turner were hired, it would represent a a continuation of the same leadership style and that they felt optimistic
about having it be a positive um a positive transition that would enable us to continue to make the gains that we've made. And I'm I'm I'm the new kid on the block here. I've only been on the
school committee for 1 year. So, everyone else has a little bit more historical perspective um than I do in terms of of thinking about how from a school committee perspective, the the district has evolved over the last few years. Um but I said when I ran for
school committee, you know, that I was running for school committee not because I wanted to see any major changes in action in the district, [clears throat] but because I wanted I thought the district was in a good place and I wanted to be in a position where I could uh support the initiatives that continue to let the district be in good place and
continue to advance the district in new ways. Um and what I am hearing from the people on the inside of the school system is that there is a lot of enthusiasm for Dr. Turner as a candidate
and given my perspective perspective that I gained as a member of the screening committee and knowing how he compared to um some of the other candidates and I will say he was um he was one of my top two candidates from the entire pool of 11 semifinalists.
Um I I feel like he has shown that he would be a leader that other people would be happy to work with. Other people within the school system would be happy to work with
and I like to think and maybe this is a a naivete or misplaced optimism on my part, but I like to think that if he gets buy-in from the people working in the school district that that can hopefully be transferred into a broader
buy-in from the community because I do think that he is coming at this wanting what is best for the students and that is all that we want as well. So I am a yes vote as well. First off, I'd like to thank Dr. Turner
for his interest [clears throat] in Reading. It was a pleasure to meet him and to go through this process with him. I would like to thank the staff and the residents like who sat up here. That's all of the additional people.
I appreciate people's perspectives. I appreciate this committee for how we conduct ourselves and how we go through the process of this and um that our district goals are the same. Right?
It's been very evident that our district goals are the same. And that goes across the board with higher high achievement requirements, with equity work. You know, we worked long and hard on our equity statement all of those things.
Um so it it can be done, right? We we can bring people together to make things happen. >> [clears throat] >> Um I I do appreciate that we have one candidate left and one of the the issues that I see with
not having multiple candidates is if if we want to advocate for one candidate, we can talk about the positives. But instead of having only one candidate, that we're either talking about the positives or the negatives. This is a professional process. Um this is a human being who has a
professional career and a family and I appreciate this committee and how we conduct ourselves. Our job here today is to determine if Dr. Turner is right for Reading. >> [clears throat]
>> Having and like I said about that one um I will give you um you know, we we've done the research research. Um we've had the community um input. We've had the site tours of you know, three hours with multiple
um constituents. I learned a lot in Dr. Lojeski's um interview process and in this one through the site visits. I feel like in some respects I learned more during the site visits than I do
during the interviews because we really don't kind of hear how these candidates are perceived. I will tell you um the things that I noticed and appreciated about Dr. Turner. Um he is engaging. There's no doubt about
that. He's a great guy. In our site tours for eight different subgroups that we had for 20 minutes the first 15 minutes was how great of a guy he was. And I was like, "Okay, let's get on to the meat." Um
I did feel like there wasn't enough meat there in a lot of the instances. I felt like um we got to the end of our time and our questions were more pointed around some systems um at the central office level
um and they came out because we asked those questions. So I I was a bit disappointed in that. Um he [clears throat] is a collaborator. Um I I have no doubt. In my opinion, um he is a collaborator. He will talk to people. He will try to bring people
together. I will say that um during this process I heard we heard a lot of people say he really deescalates situations well. Okay, that's that's great. Um I did feel like there were a lot of
situations to be deescalated, which concerns me. So that is something I kind of been thinking about a lot, delve into things a lot. He has strong interpersonal skills. Um No question about that. Um he has lots
of experience with the METCO program. Um I was excited about that because I think he could help our METCO program in some ways that he might not be thinking about. Um I'm going to get on to the the not as positive things
which cause me um concern. I In some respects, I felt like we were interviewing for a principal position. And and I know he's a principal, but we were interviewing for a superintendent position.
I felt like the answers that were provided, his acknowledgement of central office systems was just not there. Um I and I heard kind of from my colleagues that they feel like he's and he has expressed these are things he wants to learn about. He wants to get
better. I feel like Reading deserves to be there. That we don't have to have someone come on board to help Reading. I feel like we have we have talented leadership in our system right now that could take on that role. So I feel like
we shouldn't shortchange ourselves in in that respect. Um I was looking for more in terms of central office systems and I'll give you some examples which some of my colleagues have mentioned as well. Um negotiations, right? He
Though he was very supportive of the teachers union um with those negotiations, so it made I think the transition back after um after their protest that strike thank you that it
helped to to get people back in and and working together. Um budget. Um You know, he had that experience with having to cut the budget that he was working with at that point in time. But I didn't hear that conversation
about complex budgets and and how that process would look in his mind, right? He may not have the experience, but but what is the thought process for what he would do when we're talking about mobile and what does that
mean? So that was um another issue um and pondering for me. Um school committee relations. We asked him directly a question about communications. Um I I was concerned with >> [laughter] >> Um
I was concerned with um a couple of the answers that I heard there. Part of me um you know, part of me is One example of that was that if you know, something was going on in the community and he reached out to the community, um he would communicate with
the school committee and let the school committee know how to talk to our neighbors. And and I I you know, in my head um we have such an active community and a a vocal community and an advocating community and um we as
elected officials bring that information back to our superintendent um who makes the determination of how that's going to play out within the district. So um that partnership which you know, I don't have a doubt that he
would make that work and say, "Hmm, you know, maybe I didn't [clears throat] think of that." because he hasn't been in that role, but that was just one of of the things that came to mind. Um managing political issues was another aspect that I didn't hear or I should
say more cause for concern. Um I will get to my the meat of my um ponderings and the reason for my no decision for Dr. Turner.
I probably am in the unique experience on this committee of having um children who were older and who were in the high school um in the 2016 17 18 time frame.
I will I will bring up some of the stuff that happened and some of the concerns that I truly have. I I will also just as a um an overall guide for this conversation, I will say that we did hear from a lot of principals, central office staff.
Out of all of our wonderful principals, we've only had one principal who was with us during our first year. And >> [clears throat] >> all the other principals were hired during the Dr. Lojeski's So, this does not apply to our staff.
Um and we had different leadership as well. Um during the 2016 election at the high school, I had three children at high school. Um election day, they came home and told
me, "Well, that was a waste of a day." I said, "Why?" They said, "Teachers were crying in the hallways and um we did we we worked independently in our class." That bothered me. That's bothered a lot
of people. Um we've gotten I kids have gotten prompts in at this time frame about um prompts for for papers. Trump is like Hitler. Yes or no, please explain, write me a
paper on it. That might be a controversial, but okay prompt, right? We want our students to be engaged. We want to have conversations. But it has to be handled properly. Okay? Students have to feel comfortable
in the classroom. Conservative and liberal students have to feel comfortable in the classroom and they have to feel safe in the classroom. [clears throat] So, when you get back to our equity statement of all means all, this is what we're talking about.
Okay? Um as as a district and I and I will start off by saying the question that was asked um to Dr. Turner um in our questioning
which was read by Aaron, even though it was submitted by me, um please describe your approach to responding to national events in the variety of political viewpoints present in any town. As superintendent in Reading, how would you handle issues that come up on the national stage and
how would you provide direction to principals and staff as well as communicate with to families? I learned a lot from the answer that he gave. Um he said that I think fundamentally he is
who he is, right? He is focused on equity and uh social justice and diversity. And um agrees with our well in compliance with our equity statement. The last time and and many [clears throat] people and I know that
our principals probably are not aware of it because they weren't here um and maybe a lot of our community members um weren't part of they knew they weren't part of it, but weren't aware of it as well. Um was in 2021 right after January 6th.
On January 7th, we had emails going out to the public from principals. Two things fundamentally went wrong with this process. January 6th happened, principals sent out um
resources for for parents to speak with their children about what happened during January 6th with the U.S. Capitol. Some of the links in that in those emails were very left-leaning publications
which portrayed our police officers in a very negative light. An unfair light. We had a lot of people in town who were upset about it and sent emails back to the school district.
Angry parents, right? People may say parents that are fearful. I don't I don't know if fear is the right word as angry may be the more appropriate word. Me personally, I don't want somebody telling me how to raise my kids.
If I need resources, um I'm free to reach out to anybody. But that um when the school system kind of reaches out in in that type of way um maybe too hastily because that email was
out the next day. Um maybe giving it some time and having more ponderings about what you're doing. Um What happened later, we had a um outside of the school district group who
wanted to know what parents were against what the teachers sent out, right? That presented a lot of problems for our district in many ways um and ultimately ended up hurting some of
our children. I I don't forget those things. These are some of the reasons why I ran for school committee. Um when Dr. Milowsky came in a lot of that outside influence on our schools stopped.
We have the best staff anywhere. Between our central office staff, our principals, our educators, we are all our school community, we're all swimming in the right direction and in the same direction with shared goals and shared
values. When we let those outside influences come into our system, it doesn't benefit our children. It only can hurt our children. Now, am I saying that we are not having
tough conversations, that the educators aren't talking about difficult things or current happenings? Absolutely not. Those conversations are happen happening appropriately. Our children are not missing out on on things.
When we were in the site interview um at at New New North with with students and and parents and staff, um I I kept hearing about de-escalation. I kept hearing about all of the issues that happened. Um and how he was
wonderful at de-escalating and they were student-focused and student-centered. And I said, "Where Where is all of this coming from?" I mean, every hot button issue, you know, lots of them were mentioned. And um you know, in advisory, well, we have
advisory um in in our high school. So, in advisory classes, that's that's good, right? We we want we want to bring people in and have those difficult conversations, but um
not when it's bringing in so much angst that our focus is no longer on education. Also, prior to this morning time, prior to all of our principals being here,
we have we had three schools in our district that were led by um principals who decided to educate parents and and put publications out there and um they felt it was their
responsibility to do that, right? And this is where the the the balance is. Those three schools were our three most underperforming schools. Why? Potentially, my opinion, is because
the focus was not on education. When you spend your time worried worrying about other things instead of what our responsibility is, which is educating our children, um
things can happen. So, my um Dr. Turner is who he is throughout. He he he has certain um values and that [clears throat] are part of who he is.
It is he able to come to Reading and keep up uh the pathway that we're on? I I asked pointedly to um some people who I spoke with who were in positions in this um district. W- What This is my concern. And they
said, "Well, when he comes, we would tell him, 'This is how we do it here.'" And I said, "Do you think he would be able to c- continue along that path or do you think fundamentally who he is, his abilities
wouldn't allow him to do that?" Um and and that's that is the the biggest question and concern for me. Um I will tell you that uh when Dr. Milowsky first got here, um
he he is a master he in terms of how to keep that delicate balance and keep us moving along. I I don't think that many staff may really understand how many political pressures
comes his way comes our way. I think he's done a really good job of keeping that balance. Um in in May 24th of 2022 when the um terrible school shooting in Uvalde, Texas happened,
I braced myself, right? I said, "Holy cow, here's a big incident that happened." Um The next day at about noon, Facebook was quiet. And I said, "Did we dodge a bullet? How you know, everything is quiet." And I
called up Dr. Milowsky and I said, "Tom, what'd you do?" And he said, "What do you mean?" And I said, "Facebook is quiet." And he said We met with the principals. We met with central office staff and we decided what
our approach was and what was our best way to go about it. Now, it doesn't mean that children weren't coming into school and and talking about it where teachers would talk about it, but there wasn't some grand public statement um
about it. So, I I you know, it's that sigh of relief um and I I and I do feel like we have moved forward as a district because of it. Um it it concerns me that we have so
much angst about this appointment and it makes me nervous, right? And I I think Laura had mentioned like, "Oh, I don't like controversy. What's going on?" This is what's going on. People who have older children are are remembering this principal. Um
So, that that's um where I am and um Okay. Um before I go open up for public comment, does anybody have anything they want to just give the committee an opportunity if there's anything anybody wants to
address or respond to one another or do a little more discussion before the public comment. I'll take a motion. One last chance for deliberation and control. Anything else before we go? Just one thing. Yeah, just um
So, I what I appreciate our committee is everything I think we just put on display. Um we are all very passionate about the students and about this community. Um we are all extremely invested in our
roles. Um I'm sure I'm not the only one that was, you know, losing sleep and grinding my teeth all week and um just feeling very anxious and and you know, it's it's not a good feeling and we haven't had to feel that in a
while. We We Things have been very good. Um So, um I just want to say that um you know, Carla referenced some really really really low points in our
district um where I'm not going to rehash it all, but really difficult times. Um but I I want to keep coming back to who we have in place now and the leaders that we have in place now and that these are
all leaders that told me point blank they want to stay in Redding. They are committed to Redding. And that they feel that Dr. Turner is who they want leading us forward. So, um I ask for
a degree of trust from the community. Um you have been trusting us for the last few years. This is the most people we've had in a meeting in years aside from a night where, you know, students were getting awards or recognition. Um
I want you to trust our our building leaders and our district leaders who are asking for this. They're asking for it. They're not saying, "Sure, we'll deal with it. We'll settle with it." Um and I know that you believe in those leaders because I've not been hearing
complaints about them for years since we've put, you know, these veteran staff in place. So, I do agree with Tom that there will be um trust will need to be built and that trust needs to be earned for Dr. Turner
if he is appointed. But I hope that you can find some trust in us and try and find some trust in the district leadership um that we can get to that trust with our next superintendent um and that we all want
to see things continue on a steady steady and smooth path forward. Okay. So, with that, I will open it up for public Sorry, anybody else? Okay. Um I'll open it up for public comment. Um if you're on the Zoom, uh if you could just drop a message in the
chat with your name and address and I'll I'll come to you after we uh take some folks here in the room. Folks here in the room, um if you could just approach the podium, name and address and uh you know, you have 3 minutes and shoot your time. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Dave Monahan. I live in Reading Road
in Reading. I've been a resident of Reading for 21 years and um I'm here also representing my wife, Cindy Monahan, who's in the front row of our meeting this evening for and we are enthusiastically supportive of the
candidacy of Dr. Turner and I'm glad I got to go first because I think what I wanted to say really dovetails with what Aaron just [clears throat] said. Um we our family wants to thank the members of this committee for the work that you have done, for your diligence, for your
thoughtfulness. Um everything you've said this morning shows us how seriously you have taken this screening process and how thoughtfully you're approaching the challenge of the fact that a few of the candidates have stepped back. And in our family, we are so appreciative. You
know, um I think there is going to be that degree of trust. As residents of the town, we voted you all into office and it um what you've said today shows me that you've taken seriously um the trust that we have put in your hands. Um you know, it's so important uh
to the future of our children and I should have said we have children in first grade and eighth grade in Reading public schools. Um but what could be more challenging and more important for the school committee than making a decision about the new superintendent? And obviously huge um shoes to fill with
that trust that we have in And um you've shown that each of you has kind of um done your homework on different areas and done a deeper dive on different areas and each one of you thoughtfully approached this challenge and um I'm so
excited about the prospects of Dr. Turner leading us forward and really appreciative of the work that you've done and um just wanted to say thank you. Anything else in the audience here who wants to talk? Hi. Good morning. I'm Ryan Johnston,
Willow Street, uh 01867. You remember I apologize I didn't get to go first cuz there's a lot of things I was going to Um I'm not going to advocate for or against Dr. Turner right now. I just want to say thank you also to the committee. Um one of the three potential [clears throat] concerns I had the last
week as a master of all trades was the professional sitting. I really appreciate you knowing that that's not the case. I personally voted for appointment in town for 4 years. When I had my election, I had to deal with all of you for all of your hard work and I'm very happy with So, thank you all for for having
everything You people are working on the school committee together. Uh and our school district deserves our attention. Students deserve our attention. School committee members deserve our attention and you have every right to Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Good morning, everyone. Good morning, everyone. My name is
Reggie Nichols. Some of y'all know me as Reggie. Uh I'm I'm talking to you here from Reading from Reading. Uh West Street has a dump in the area. Uh our high school is right there. You know, our kids are right by there. It's supposed to teach me a lot about leadership.
I I just want to wish This is a hard decision. I want to thank all of you for your diligence. And you know, there is a quote, "Agree to disagree." You can think that. We're not always going to agree. We come from different life experiences and
perspectives. Um and I I think it's important I want to thank you. What I think is missing today is deep you know, deep thinking, deep thought, deep research. And we will plan to be
coming here with research. We're not always going to agree. And I think with that said, there's different sets of life experiences like I said before. I do think and this decision is hard, but I do think Dr. Turner
is the right candidate for the right time. We don't want to be eating chocolate and donuts. We also want someone who's going to be a captain and keep the ship right. Uh with that, if you know, captain does not do it by themselves. They also have a great team. But we don't hear great
team. I suppose teachers and so forth. One of the things I have learned in my life and especially about leadership is that you don't come from ancestors, but a good leader relies on a good team. And that's where
with these areas of concern, we need to do that. We need to build relationships. And also, just like lessons learned, sometimes when you look back, you know, you know what? I said 5 years ago I really should have,
you know, known where my role is. What is my role? And I think the role is student centered to make sure all of our students have the best quality education. And that's why we were named in this community. That's why what we have is people
working together. I'm Michelle O'Brien um thank you for the committee for the work you've done. It's really amazing and thank you to Tom for actually being the substitute. I appreciate that. I um that's a lot of work. Um couple thoughts.
Even though they really won't change anybody's opinion, I feel like I have to come and say something. People are still my children that are in the system. Some of them don't children in our system. Some of them have children working in private schools. So, you're making this decision for me. I have three children who are in this district. And I feel like this decision
can go one of two ways. He only collected revenue and that gives me pause. I had not heard that before. I kind of want to know why. To be completely honest with you, I don't know. When I listened to a lot of I guess an everybody that was here this morning, I didn't hear answers to the questions.
He said a lot of great things, but he didn't give us concrete answers. One of the examples I would give you is the override question. What was his point? He told [snorts] us he was 10 years as a school principal. He knew we had building projects going
on. He knew that the schools committee was developing developing plan. His process will be to prioritize the number of issues. He knew that there was economic work
routine, educational aspects, management, building management, community communications. He said it would help to build trust, that budgets are connected to values, that contracts are connected to values.
He said he will think about those things and the ways we can continue to grow and demonstrate the fiscal responsibility. I didn't hear a concrete answer. I heard a lot of words. I heard a lot of words out of my my heart and tongue. I don't like
that phrase, but that's what I heard. I also just want to point out I heard this developed last day of the public meeting members tonight and I found it very unprofessional. And I just wanted to call that out. Thank you. Thank I would like to move
that we thank the superintendent. I'm a junior here at the high school and I actually graduated in 2014. And I'm having a very nice time and I can't tell currently based on excellent graduation >> [laughter] >> program. Thank you.
I have three things I would like to say. Firstly, to absolutely echo what everyone has said. The work has been phenomenal by the school committee, by the staff, this process has been phenomenal and the candidates. If one thing I've learned
from this process is that I never ever want to apply for this position. >> [clears throat] >> So, thank you and I know you all worked really hard. And I know a lot of you worked hard. So, thank you so much for that. The second is what's really really
struck me is the leadership we have here in the school committee. Um, it's so heartening to hear that there are different opinions in this committee that can be expressed and given the room respectfully and this dialogue that
means a lot. And to me that that says a lot about what we have. If you do both and I know he has been excellent facing construction as well. You as our representatives and that's central to all of us. The leadership in the schools is what we are
looking for. So, thank you. And the last thing I wanted to say about this thing about community support. I really want to thank you Paula for giving the voice to people's fears and concerns. So, thank you for that. No matter where I am and everything that I appreciate
and you're very clear. I particularly want to thank you Tom because I think what you've done is you've modeled a way of how we can achieve things or how we can have conversations. Because I think that is what stood out the most for me in this
whole process is that you had a and calm that you called Dr. Turner and you raised some of the concerns that we had and you had a respectful conversation about them. I think that is it. We as a community can do that. And so, here's what I'm thinking, here's
what my concerns are and listen to each other, then we can make this district even stronger and most importantly we can show a way for our young people how we can live with difference and reconcile. So, thank you Tom [clears throat] and
thanks for letting me have my opinion tonight. I am still Dr. April Reading. First of all, I want to say thank you. I sat near seats. I know how difficult it is to make these difficult decisions and how many
different opinions there are at the table. Um, bringing that all together into a a decision that's going to impact every student and every community member for hopefully a long time to come. So,
thank you for your hard work, thank you for your research, thank you for being honest about your opinions. Um, I have three kids who have gone through the schools here and who are thriving and that I think Reading Public Schools
and a lot of the team members that are on the ground heading each of the schools, principals, the teachers, the team leaders, they've all done an awesome job. There are new ones. I've seen evidence that they're
also doing a great job. Part of this as mentioned is trust of those leaders and that's part of what I heard from Dr. Turner is that he will work with the teams, he will nurture the academics he spoke about specifically and he would be
um, trusting the teams to work with them. Um, in terms of the override, he also talked about um, dealing with money issues in Medford and I know that's not an easy community and Newton and they've gone through
um, a rough trial period um, and I really respected that. Um, I loved that he has the experience with restorative justice. So, um, he understands the importance of getting communities together as well as
the students, the families and the students together to understand discussions. Whether we like it or not, the outside world comes into our schools and every child has um, different conversations at their
tables, at their dinner tables. Um, they come in with different conversations with their peers and they come in frauds a lot of times. And ignoring that actually can interfere with their education which the the Zaro
mentioned is priority. It is, but ignoring the issues is not always the answer. Um, so, um, I just want to thank you for the thoughtful decision you're about to make and to consider that education
the priorities in education are the ABCs, but they're also beyond that. They're about life experience, about integrating the different conversations, about getting to know their peers so that in 10 years when they're working on teams and people come in with different
opinions and different emotions and different backgrounds and different races and different cultures and that they can work with everyone. And I think that that is and problem solving is an equal part of education to
the math, reading. And and it flows down into everything. What they learn in math, what they learn in literature. The content of that, the characters. I know some of the courses that are being done that are integrating them.
Excuse me, um, the requirements coming down from the state about civics and about um, holocaust education, genocide, forgive me, genocide education. So, I think all of that should be considered as
an equal part of the education that our kids are getting. We feel that. And I do thank you again um, from both my heart and where I stand for this difficult decision and for the way you led the meeting respectfully
um, until now. So, thank you very much. Anyone else? I don't see anyone. Is anyone on the phone? Let me take a motion. I move to appoint Dr. Henry Turner as superintendent subject to successful contract negotiations.
Second. Second. And by Laura, um, I can't recall whether we're required to do a roll call for this via Zoom or not, but we should. Um, Laura. We do. Yes. Oh, go ahead. Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. Yes, no, no, you're right. You're right. I did I even said I
wanted to pause for one more moment but of discussion deliberation. Thank you. Uh, go ahead Tom. Can you confirm you don't have no comments in there because I can't see no comments. Nothing in the chat and then that was what I asked was for folks to come off of or to comment in the chat and we could take them off
of you. Okay. Just want to make sure cuz not we can't see everyone anymore. It's only to you. No. And I and I have received a couple chats on unrelated, you know, okay. a mic problem issue and things like that. So, it's working but no comments. Yeah, just want to make sure we're not accidentally locking
people out. So, a couple of things I just want to respond to if you don't mind. >> [clears throat] >> Um, um Miss Blane, is I want to hear Are you still here or did you leave? She left. Um we'll just see it when she watches it back cuz she doesn't have a viewing.
Um I I want to I want to say first of all, I had similar concerns, as I said it already, around budget and negotiation and whatnot. Um but uh
I don't think we possibly could be taking this more seriously than we are. Um My wife knows there have been nights I have not slept, got up and gone to the couch and studied and looked and I'm one of those who doesn't have a kid in the school anymore. So, you could say it doesn't affect me.
Uh but guess what? It affects me. Um I'm here because I care. I still care. I always have cared. Uh I know you weren't personally going after me in any of those statements, um but I think it's important that you know that everybody on this committee
cares, right? We wouldn't be here if we weren't. This is not an easy job. It was a little cushier about 4 weeks 4 months ago than it is now. >> [laughter] >> I gotten into a nice rhythm. I was comfortable. And boy, my comfort's been upset.
Quite a bit. I give Tom a hard time about that. I always play around with him. Um I will note a couple of other things that I, you know, forgot to include in my conversations before. Um I've been relatively critical of some of his answers around special education
uh as well. Um I think he missed the mark in terms of what he could have highlighted and only focused on the academic side of closing gaps from an IEP perspective and whatnot. He didn't highlight some of the
strengths of Newton's special education programs. He didn't find the fact that they have an a a tuition in program for blind, deaf, and hard of hearing in Newton public schools that is one of the preeminent ones in the in the in the area
as a way to help potentially close gaps from a budget perspective rather than this. Uh but I will note he did and this was news for me, talk about his own sister and his own the experience of his sister had as a student with in special from a special education
perspective. Um I raise that because of something. There's an empathy that comes with understanding that if you don't have a child in special education, you just don't understand. Just as I would say uh if I have not had a skin color that's
not white, I don't understand. Right? Uh I have a a perspective and experience Reggie as you mentioned as well, right? Um Dr. Turner did come before his interview and tour a couple of our schools with Dr. Stots.
Uh he would burst into Gulick. And I had the chance to talk a little bit uh with a few of people that saw the evidence of that tour. Um And Dr. Turner's willingness and ability to get down uh on the level of the children
um and in particular one one experience at Gulick where certain subgroup of kids just absolutely flocked to Dr. Turner. Um is evidence of caring for kids and
wanting their right outcomes, I think is going to sway me to say yes today. I'm really I'm still not comfortable that it's the right decision. Um If anybody knows me, I will be holding a very hard bar against that decision.
Uh you've seen If you go back and look at some of my high bars in the past, they're sometimes ridiculously high bars. Linda knows, she's nodding back there. So, I say that to say that when I vote yes it's not the end of the answer.
Right? There there will be a lot of watching, a lot of coaching uh a lot of involvement. Uh one of the other topics we talked about when we talked yesterday night was the dynamic of this committee. Um
He mentioned that he's not seeing a committee that reaches out and talks to principals and all this other fun stuff, which surprised me a little bit from a Bed Rock perspective. Doesn't necessarily surprise me from a Newton perspective um in terms of the city government or maybe even a Lexington perspective.
But this body is very active. In a positive way, I think. And I think by the fact fact that you've heard from many of us that we've heard from many of the principals and in the central office direct directly, I think they perceive it the same way. One so much as told me
it kind of goes to Carla's "When can we do that?" So much has told me that we're not going to let him block you from us. Um Cuz he needs to understand the culture of how we work here. And I think he expressed an interest in in in understanding that and the governance structure surely the culture
of how we work. Um and we're a very collaborative group. Nobody's at my front door, so I apologize. >> [laughter] >> Um And I expect that that collaboration uh can and will still continue. I think he just has to get used to
the way Reading works um in both the way we present or or manage outside noise um and and the way we work to move the work forward kids. So, whatever.
Anyone else want to chime in here? Okay, I'll just um I'll close with one comment. Um you know, I I want to uh just say how sort of proud I am to be part of this committee. Um you know, folks in the audience said it, but I I feel it deeply as well that um you know,
I recognize the difficulty of the dynamic here and and you know, Tom, you expressing your reservations and Pam, you expressing yours not easy, and I I really do appreciate um your willingness to do it. The other thing that I know I can say with absolute clarity and certainty is that both of you will be rooting for his success. Um rooting for
the district's success. This isn't you know, this isn't a uh sabotage behind the scenes kind of situation that's about to unfold here. And I know that, you know, Tom, your comments about wanting what's best for the district regardless of where your own kids are and that that sort of thing is is very genuine and authentic. And
uh just appreciate everyone's rigor and thoughtfulness today. On a Saturday morning, by the way. Um all right. So, with that, let's move to the vote. Uh we will do a roll call. Laura? Yes. Tom? Yes. Carla? No. Uh Sarah?
>> Yes. Karen? Yes. And Shawn? Yes. Yes. So, it's five to one. May I make a motion? Please do. I would like to um make a motion for um general consent to move to Dr. Henry Turner as
superintendent subject to uh successful contract negotiations. Is there a second? Here. So, this is procedurally an opportunity for us to show our unity. But essentially, that's what we're getting at. I make Please. Yes, you can.
So, um I um probably came into the school committee with a bang and will go out um of school committee with a bang. Um I have always in my heart made decisions that I feel benefit our students.
Um I would like to encourage I know there's a group of people out there that um are not happy today. And I think that some may say that they are coming from a place of fear. I would say that they're coming from a
place potentially anger, not so much fear. When we're talking about children and our children people get emotional. And there is a thought process um when Linda made a comment, I respect and I
know that um she may have perceived that we are hiding things kind of sweeping things under the rug. I have a difference of opinion. I would like to um have conversations with my
children at my dinner table and I don't want an outside influence when teachers have certain perspectives that they're not allowing children to engage in conversation, figure out their own. So, um for me, that's a huge part um
because when student voice is not heard politically speaking, it's the conservative students who students who have conservative perspectives that aren't heard. So, I I just want to make people aware
that these things have happened and I am hopeful that they won't continue to happen. So, I encourage all the parents out there that may not be feeling good right now um to give Dr. Turner a chance
and to um give him the opportunity to listen and to guide our community in the path that we have kind of established here in the path that we have going in. Um you know, hiccups are going to happen
along the way, they always do. Um don't freak out. Have the conversations. Um stay off Facebook. Um you know, we don't have gotcha moments. So I just encourage people to really you know, there's a lot of good
attributes here coming in. So just give them the opportunity to get to know our community and I say this to Dr. Turner as well. Get to know our opportunity community. Don't come in right away and start changing things and I don't think that he will. Get to know who we are and
how we operate and what our values are and help us get to the next step. All right, let's move to a vote on that one. Laura? Yes. Tom? Yes. Carla? Yes. Sarah? Yes. Erin? Yes. Shawn? Yes. All right, one final motion.
Motion to enter into executive session to conduct strategy session in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel, the superintendent search team and not returning to open session. Is there a second? Second. All right, Tom. Uh, we will do a roll call on this one
as well. Laura? Yes. Tom? Yes. Carla? Yes. Sarah? [music] Yes. Erin? Yes. Shawn yes. Thank you everyone.