blocked by my thing. Hang on. >> We on. >> Is that better? >> There was also a lot of a lot of noise in the room before. Can hear us. >> Can you hear us now? >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. And Sarah, we heard you as well. Okay. So, I call the March 19th meeting of the school committee to order. Uh,
we've got two members remote this evening, so we'll do a roll call to order. Uh, Carla >> here, >> Sarah >> here, >> Tom >> here, >> Laura >> here, >> and Sean is here. Uh, all right. Let me do a quick review of the agenda and then we will jump in. Uh, we'll start in a
minute with public comments. So, if anybody in the audience uh wants to speak to anything that's not on the agenda, that will be your time to shine. Uh, we have our focus on excellence, which is like a whole drama club tonight, which is awesome. This is [laughter] probably our most the most excellence we've had in the room at one time, which is awesome. Uh we will take
a motion on the consent agenda. Uh we'll move to reports and then in the new business section, we have the ad hoc commemoration committee folks here in the back somewhere uh to give us an update on the work that that group is doing. Um we're going to take a couple of items out of order. We'll we'll take
a vote to appoint uh director of finance school choice discussion uh for this evening and then we'll move to two items related to the superintendent search. So, first is um Tom and Michelle Roach will will uh sort of give us an update on the process that the screening committee went through and then
introduce the four finalists that have been identified as as candidates for our search. We will discuss take a vote to accept that slate of candidates and then we'll close out the evening with um with uh sort of some next steps and updates on the process so that we're all aligned for how the very rapid next two weeks
will go. So, that is our agenda for this evening. Um, let's start with public comments. So, if anybody wants to speak to anything that is not on the agenda tonight, now's your chance. Seeing none. All right, let's move to our focus on excellence. Dr. Milesca, I'll hand it to you. >> Absolutely thrilled tonight to be joined
by many members of the RHS drama [clears throat] club. Uh, the community likely knows at this point have just advanced to the state finals of the MEG uh state theater competition. 96 uh high schools had entered in. Only 15 at this point remain. Uh, so just an incredible
testament to the quality of the program, the quality of the production, and just the, uh, incredible work of this community. So, uh, I'd like to give a couple of thank yous. Natalie's hiding here somewhere. She said she didn't want to be named, but I think the committee knows just the incredible, uh, job that she does in the program day in and day
out, the tradition of excellence in the program, and just thrilled that, uh, we're able to continue to recognize your great work and just our students. Absolutely amazing. So excited and happy for all of you. Uh so tonight we have a couple of representatives from the drama club who are going to speak about one sort of how do they get here two what's
ahead and then also three ways that the community can support as they gear up for the state finals. So with that I think it's Ben and Jason coming up. Come on up. And anyone else who wants to come on up to the mic feel free. >> Uh hello kids.
>> Uh my name is Ben Goldust. >> My name is Jason Walsh. >> And I'm Caitlyn Honer. Um, we're here tonight representing the RMHS Drama Club. Um, we, as Dr. Milchevsky noted, have had recent success in the MEG
theater festival. Um, advancing to the final round with our show, uh, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. Um, this was a show adapted by our company, um, from a a short story by Karen Russell into a script for us to
perform. Um, and we're incredibly proud of those in our company who have received all-star awards um for their work on this production. Um, both in our uh preliminary round and semi-final round. Um, for acting in excellence or
excellence in acting, we have uh Lily Bochelli, Thea Cuna, and Cat Honer. For technical excellence in stage management, Isa Lusk for technical excellence in assistant directing. Jason Walsh. Technical excellence in sound design. Salony Patel, Maggie Morardi,
and Brooke Dylan. For technical excellence in costume design, we have Michael Scandan. And for technical excellence in hair and makeup, Zoe Mclofflin, Showst Stack. Um, this work is uh signifies um special special
shoutouts to members of our company, but um we've gotten um compliments from our judges on the cohesion of of our show and and how well uh our company has worked together and how how much of an experience a valuable experience this
has been. Uh here's what's coming up. >> Yeah. Um, just to add on to how impressive this feat is for the whole company and how proud we are, this is the first time in 23 years that Reading is being represented at the state finals. The last time was in 2003. Um,
so it's we're very proud to be here again after only rejoining the drama guild three years ago. Um, and making it so far on our third year. So, coming up this Monday, we have an open dress rehearsal and benefit performance um to show our cap our show one more time at
our home stage. Uh so, Monday at 6 in the RMHS Performing Arts Center, we'll be showing St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. It's free admission. Um and we're generously accepting donations to help us uh move on to finals and uh deal with these unexpected
costs. Um but also just to show our community the show that we've been working on since the um beginning of December and give everyone a chance to support us um and us to to show our show another audience um what we've been
working on. We're very excited and we hope that we'll have a full house on Monday >> and very exciting that will not be the last opportunity that our show will be available. Our finals performance is
going to be on Saturday, March 28th at 12:30 at the old John Hancock building in Boston. We are very excited to be representing Reading at that event and we really hope that people can come and see our performance and support us. Um
the tickets are available at meg.org. Uh they are live and we're very excited for this incredible opportunity. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Awesome. Congratulations. >> Yeah. [applause] >> Yeah. Please. >> Just like to ask maybe someone we
haven't heard from yet, too. So, this is our segment called Focus on Excellence. I think our committee and our community gets to see the outward kind of uh the all the work that you put in shining on stage. We don't always get to see all the things behind the scenes. I'm wondering if someone could step up and just maybe tell us what are some of the
things that you think are so special or so unique to the program that are consistently contributing to the pro the program performing at such high levels. >> Was he going to put on this? >> Do you mind coming to
>> Hello, my name is Meredith Upton. Um, so our program, it means a lot to the kids in it. Um, I think it's very different. Um, but but also similar to the sports in our town, I feel like they get a lot of um, sort of like that rep up because, you know, there's always going to be
like a state competition. Um, they also have divisions. A interesting thing about MG is that there isn't any divisions. So you're just putting these like 97 96ish schools all together in like different like parts of the state
and then they move on and then they move on again. And I think that it has really brought us closure as a community. We always make a joke that drama club is a family and I think you can kind of see here that we all care a lot about this club. Um a lot of us are currently coming from the pack right now um
hanging up lights. So, um, like it's very just interesting to see like as somebody who's been in sports and who has been in the drama club, um, this is like the only community I think that I've like really felt as a like like I
had a place in it. Um, which is just it's so vital to like an adolescent um, to get that sort of community, especially if like you haven't for a lot a long period of time in your life. So, I think that this club specifically really just created such a community and
can form you in such a way to where all of these people care about each other. Um, all these people see each other for like close to 13 hours a day. I'm not going to lie. It's quite quite a schedule. Um, but like I think just at the end of the day, we all love each
other. And um, yeah, and I think it really shaped as a senior, it really shaped who I am in high school and who I am as a person and going into college. and I want a community like this in college. Um, so yeah, so I think that the drama club really did shape me as a person. So, thank you.
>> Awesome. [applause] >> Any comments from anyone? Maybe any drama moms on the line that want to say anything? >> Oh, yeah. There is a drama mom on the line. I'll let her go first if she wants to. Sarah, >> no. She's choosing not to, so I'll jump in.
As a drama dad. Um, you know, I think it's awesome to see this you guys. You know, some of you may remember me in the in the shop helping you work through things um when you were younger and it's so it's so so awesome to see some of you as you've grown now this way. Uh, and some of you I have not had a chance to
meet yet. But I think it's uh it's wonderful that if you remember last year you guys made semi-finals, but now you're stepping forward to the next step at finals and and just continuing to get better day by day. Um, but the list of excellence that was read off as well, a lot of which nobody ever sees to Tom's
point about the behind the scenes. And I I see you behind there, right? Um, you know, look lurking around. Uh, I think that is so great to see and and and actually be acknowledged front and center. You're not usually acknowledged on the stage, but all the work you do,
quote, makes the magic happen, right? Um, and I just want to thank you all for the effort. Uh I totally acknowledge the family side of it. Many of you know my daughter. Um that is a huge part of her family at at the school as well. And uh even now still the people that she's
still connected with mostly our drama club related members. So um great job you all. Keep up the good work and go kick butt. [laughter] >> Awesome. I think Tom said it well. So congratulations to you all. really remarkable remarkable accomplishment so
far and um eager for the next step. So, >> we need a picture. >> We need a picture. I don't know how we're going to do that. Um but we're going to try. So, can we >> kneeling they can figure it out? >> Yeah. Yeah. You'll you'll figure it out. So, if we can have you all join us up front here, we'll come around and uh
I don't know, maybe take a picture for us. Yeah, maybe >> Kevin and >> Oh, yeah. >> That's good. That's good. >> Smile. Everybody >> say finals. Congratulations.
[applause] >> Go get them. >> It's going to feel >> And while the group's transitioning and other staff, thank you. We see Kevin Gersonner also hiding in the back. >> I just wanted to shout out technical director too and all the work he's put in every hour of every day. find us
another facilities director in a committee who also serves in such in such a high level leadership role within a drama club as well. So just here around the clock 247. So Mr. Gersonner, thank you for everything too and your contribution to the drama club. >> You're very welcome. >> Thank you. >> Thanks Kev.
>> Okay. Um sounds good. So uh let's move to our consent agenda and I will take a motion. Move to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Seconded by Tom. We'll do a roll call. Carla, >> yes. >> Sarah, >> yes.
>> Tom, >> yes. >> Laura, >> yes. >> And Sean, yes. That carries. 5-0. Uh, we will move to reports. And as always, we like to start with our student report. So, take it away. >> Sure. Um, okay. Well, my name is Thea
Cuna. I'm a junior. And we've got some news in upcoming events. Sorry, as I'm reading off my phone. >> That's okay. >> Um, we have senior internships starting right after the end of quarter 3. So, that'll be April 8th. And twothirds of our senior class qualified for that. So,
they got some exciting things to look forward to. And then the French exchange trip is coming up um March 30th. Um, I'm going on that. So, that should be exciting. Uh, thank you to Miss Msory, Mr. Lamett and Miss Murphy. Um, next
year, speaking of exchange, there'll be some more exchange trips, trips to Spain, Switzerland, and Japan. So, that looks pretty cool. And, um, next week there's ELA, MCCAST for grade 10 students. So, there will be a delayed
opening for Tuesday and Wednesday while the tests are taking place. Um, and then next Tuesday, the RMHS PTO will host a speaker from College Affordable at 7 p.m. in the library. Um, yeah.
Okay. And then some uh acknowledgements. The DECA Club sent students to the national competition and 14 finalists out of 52 students placed in the top 12 in their division or in their event. Uh
the robotics team completed uh or they came in 13th overall in their competition. Um the RMHS winter guard competed in two events and in both of them they won first. Uh, and then we have two seniors, Aiden
Hurley and Michael Jenny, who are both named academic all-Americans by NIS, uh, CA. Um, and then spring athletics has started this week. Uh, hopefully it gets warmer for that. [laughter]
>> Pretty cold out there. >> Still snow on some of the fields, I think. Yeah. >> Where in France are you headed? >> We're starting in Ruan. Uh we'll be there for five days and then we're gonna spend the rest of it in Paris. >> Yeah, that's cool.
>> Very cool >> indeed. It is >> awesome. Any questions for Thea? >> That was >> Thank you, Thea. >> Awesome. Thank you so much. Yeah, appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Uh let's move to liaison reports. I'll start on Zoom with Carla.
>> Great. Thank you, Sean. Um just a couple updates on Kum. There was a meeting on Monday. Um I was in not in attendance. I was away. But um some of the things that were talked about was um we sent a
letter to update the committee membership um to the MSBA to include Jane Wellman as the acting town manager and to let the MSBA know that I will not no longer be on the school committee after April 6, but will remain on the
KSBC. Um we're discussing right now parking logistics during construction. Um and we been dealing with some um flooring considerations, the gym flooring considerations.
Um the committee authorized um the town to negotiate a contract with a tax consultant. Um this was something that I will give more detail next at our next meeting because I don't have my notes with me and it's actually something
that's pretty cool. Our OPM has never worked with a tax consultant. Um we are working with one um we are looking to get tax credits um basically a check um having to do with the inflation
reduction act. So uh we're working with a tax consultant who will know what our design is. It's for solar. It's for geothermal and hopefully we will get some significant money back from um from
the state and the feds on this. So, um I will keep you posted on it, but we are going we are deciding to bring them on board. So, that's kind of exciting. So, thank you. >> Yeah, I'll just add on that one. I I I thought it was a little bit um it surprised me at first that we were being
asked about that, but I think it falls into that invest to save category. the the number of different credits and things that are available out there are there are many of them and they're complicated and getting it, you know, getting the applications right and getting all the things right throughout the process is really critical to making sure we get as many of those credits as
possible. So, it really is a good opportunity for the town to recover um some of the money that we would otherwise spend on this project. So, perfect. Uh Sarah, >> well, go ahead, Carla. >> Excuse me for a second. That's a good point. This is in addition to a lot of the stuff that we're doing through the
MSBA and that we get reimbursed for through the MSBA. Right. So part of this, it goes into like our design and what type of design we're doing and where the items are sourced from. It's um it's it's it's a lot and that's why
we're we're bringing in um specialists to help us out with but we're always looking under every rock as Sean knows on our committee looking for savings. >> Absolutely. Sarah, >> thanks John. >> Just a quick update. RCTV is in the
final stages of their executive director search. So more to come probably our next meeting. >> Great. Thank you Tom. uh finance committee had some interesting votes in their most recent uh meeting on March 11th. Um the number
one in terms of us is they uh voted to add $25,000 as part of a community priority to the school department budget. Uh in particular for unified sports. Um so that was approved six to zero at the end of their meeting. Prior to that vote, uh they voted 8 to zero in
favor of the Parker Middle School turf field. Um they did not vote in favor of article 14 which is the adaptive programming unified sports stabilization fund. It was a 4-4 tie. Um they did vote in favor of the community preservation
act ballot question uh 7 to1 and they p they voted to support the FY26 budget overall 8 to zero. Um so some interesting and important votes in that in that conversation as at advisory to town meeting. Laura,
>> I have no report. >> Great. Uh, I'll just add one thing to Tom's point though. They didn't you you made the key word there as advisory. So, still expect that to appear on the warrant, a discussion for town meeting about the creation of a stabilization fund for uh to support unified and adaptive sports. So, certainly relevant
to us. Um, all right. So, that gets us through our liaison reports. Uh, let's move to the update from the ad hoc commemoration establishment committee. Um, if you want to join us maybe at the table here instead of the podium, we'll probably they'll probably pick you up better at home and let me share your
slides here. All right, take it away. Great. Uh, yeah, thanks for having us here tonight. Um, so we are your representatives on the ad hoc establishment committee, also known as ACE or Bill Russell Committee. And uh I'm Ryan Johnstone. I am the
school committee's uh designate. And with me is London. >> Uh yeah, I'm London Sith Nichols. I'm the student design. >> Great. Uh next slide, please. Whoever's driving. Uh great. So uh we wanted to be uh we wanted just wanted to share a lot
of information with you more today than anything. Just let you know what we've been doing because I know it's been a while since we've been here. Um, part of that reason is because the the real main update is we've now been extended to January 2027. I know last time we were here that was a a question of consideration. Uh, so we're able to get
that done. Um, and then some of what we'll talk about more in the next slides are the town events. We've been at our game changer series uh that we've started rolling out um as well as an award that we're trying to work on and uh where we've got a lot of subcommittee development going on to try and address
the the pretty lengthy charge that we have. Uh next slide please and London will take over from here for a little bit. >> Um yeah uh we have made an effort to make people in the community more aware of our committee by attending some town events. Uh last fall we participated in
the reading fall fair um and the connectors reading event. Um in January we also participated in the MLK day celebration and we recently visited the Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading. Um, at the MLK Day celebration, the keynote speaker, Dr. Robert
Bellinger, said that he was really proud of the efforts being made here in Reading. Um, and he specifically mentioned the ACE committee in his speech, and he also read part of the committee's Junth statement, which is really meaningful to see. Um, and yeah,
so coming up, we'll be participating in Friends and Family Day, uh, Junth, and revisiting the UU church along with other opportunities that come up. Um, next slide, please. Um, yeah. Uh, next up is the game changer series, uh, which is a mixed
media series hosted at the Reading Public Library. Um, this series was created to explore and discuss Bill Russell's legacy as a community leader and a basketball legend. Um, on January 22nd, uh, we held a discussion on the
book Go Up for Glory. And on March 12th, we hosted a documentary viewing of My Life, My Way. Um both both events had around 20 people in in attendance. Um uh what's been really cool is how open the conversations have been. Um people
weren't just talking about history. They were very insightful sharing their past and present experiences. Um and then our next event is May 14th. um is on May 14th and we'll be discussing we'll have another book discussion on the book Red and Me and
yeah, we're excited to keep those conversations going and hopefully bring in even more people. >> Uh yeah, and I'm going to let you know about the game changanger award. So, as you can tell, game changer has been a theme that we're working with there because Bill Russell being the game changanger that he was in a lot of ways.
And so, uh, one of the things that the committee has, uh, absolutely agreed on that we're working towards is this game changanger award. And it's based on, uh, six of Bill Russell's core values, which I always forget what they are, so I wrote them down. Uh, so social justice, activism, education, leadership,
teamwork, community building, uh, and mentorship. And so we we're still drilling down on the full criteria, but the idea is to celebrate somebody with a strong connection to reading, past or present, um who exemplified some of these core values, and you know,
celebrate them at an event at some point that would also be part of the Bill Russell event that we'll be trying to work on for a Bill Russell day. Uh and we are hoping to have a monetary component to that. So, uh, if it's a student, a scholarship, if it's somebody else, then a grant that hopefully they can use to to carry on whatever works
led to the award in the first place. Uh, one thing I want to say about the game changanger series really quick before we move on is um I I we forgot to put it on the slide. I really wish we had uh but those are that's all work done by Bill Russell. So, that the goal for glory was his first book that he wrote in 1965. So
in the middle of all the championships, in the middle of everything going on in civil rights and the civil rights movement at that time, his pre-ivil rights act in 1965, you get to a really great insight to Bill Russell of how he became this huge star that he was at
that time. Um, and then in 2000, he helped produce that uh documentary, My Life, My Way, which is about him growing up, about him getting older, I should say. Um, and then and then Red and Me is about his time with his coach Red Arbach. He wrote it shortly after Red
died and you know only u handful of years before he ended up passing away himself. So it's been great to explore all that. I I've been digging into those for a long time now, but it was great to really share that with the community and for some people for really hearing some of the stories that I've become
accustomed to now and getting their reactions also um in that moment. So it was it was really cool to have those community discussions around that. Uh next slide please. So our subcommittee development. So again there are the the charge is very large right there. There's a lot in
there for us to do. And so these are kind of the three main elements that the committee's really been focusing on. And it's about the recommendations to the select board about how do we acknowledge and express accountability for the you know for the treatment of Bill Russell
and his family here in Reading. How do we honor Bill Russell's legacy and how do we implement this annual program and long-term programming? And so, um, after all these months of conversations, there's been a lot of ideas floated around in the committee. Uh, and so what
we've eventually just realized recently is we need to set up subcommittees to really explore all these different options. So, as of today, we have eight different subcommittees that we're working on and they're getting we're staffing it and over the next four or five months really. We'll be grabbing as
much information as we can to then come back to the committee to figure out which ones we want to do. And I expect more subcommittees to to be developed at some point. So, we've had a lot of ideas, but right now it's about uh working on um on doing the expression of accountability. What does that look like? Find other examples and then bring
something back to the committee. um more on the game changanger reward that I was just talking about, more on the game changer series. Like it's focused on Bill Russell because that's what we're focused on right now. But the idea is always to transition off Bill Russell to other people that exemplify the type of
stuff that Bill Russell cared about. And so we have a subcommittee focusing on what else can we do as part of that series. Um artwork or dedications around town. uh permanent display at the library which I know Tom you had mentioned before is something you're interested in generically a per permanent display of some kind related
to Bill Russell um doing a as potentially building a standing committee and making a recommendation to the select board to create a standing committee. So exploring if there's other uh what other towns are doing about other committees to help their social justice teams and and see what other
what other towns are doing. um and as well as like recording some presentations that could be available generically that's out there for the public. So those are the different subcommittees we have now because that's and that's you know maybe half of the ideas that have been floated the ones that we're really trying to focus on
right now. Next slide please and London will finish us up. >> Oh yeah. Um looking ahead we're continuing to build on the work we started. Um as I mentioned before uh our next game changer event is May 14th. Um, on the slide it does say May 22nd. That
was a typo, but it really is May 14. Um, um, uh, we also have we also are going to have a table at Friends and Family Day and Junth. Um, our upcoming meetings are on March 25th, April 22nd, and May 27th. Um, and another cool fact is at
the the bottom of the slide that you see here. Um, this is a picture from the or illustration from the Daily Times Chronicle, which was formerly known as the Reading Chronicle. And this is an illustration from Bill Russell Day, which um was hosted at RMHS Cafeteria in
um on May 16th uh 1963. Um and yeah, that was a little cool piece of history we wanted to show. Um but yeah, thanks again. uh really grateful that uh to be here tonight. Um and yeah, thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Um I have a question about the award. Is is the intent a one-time award or is the in or is that still TBD whether it might be sort of a recurring scholarship kind of thing or what's the thinking there? >> No, the intent is every year to issue a
gamecher award. Um, again, as the committee, right, we'll we'll we'll only be in existence to kind of hand out the original. Um, but the the hope is part of the recommendation package to the select board that will eventually hopefully get picked up is to to do a game changer award every year for somebody.
>> Okay. So, I'll just make a pitch um if if uh if the if the group were open to it. um you know we already have a mechanism in place to award scholarships on an annual basis with you know subject to the criteria that's established at the time of the schol when the time of the um sort of donation of the
scholarship if you will. So um you know it would it would have to be sort of applied to a student as opposed to a you know a broader grant but um might be something to think about you know as an existing mechanism that would provide that annual opportunity. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yeah,
>> there's an example in tonight's packet. >> That's That's right. Yeah, very true. >> Sorry. So, I just >> There's an example of that in tonight's packet. >> Oh, nice. >> That includes a grant or I mean an award of $4,000 that we've split into two $2,000 scholarships. >> Nice. Awesome. >> Yeah.
>> So, awesome. Um any other questions for Ryan and London? >> I mean, I just a question and some feedback, I guess. Um, since we last talked um and maybe you guys have been able to work through it, where have we come with regards to the
the the Russell family, have we have we closed that gap and are they acknowledging the work we're doing here or is there something else going on? >> Yeah, that's a good question. Yeah, uh I I did purposely leave that off right now because we are in the middle of that. >> Okay. >> So, we're we're leveraging uh uh Albert Plus um who's helping us with this uh
director of office of equity and social justice for anybody who wasn't aware of that. Yeah. >> Um we're leveraging him and his connections too and he's actually been doing a lot of work with us on the side. So he has made contact with Karen Russell. Um she did acknowledge being
aware of what it is that we were doing. She seems uh interested in helping. And so right now like in this during the spring, Albert is still linking up with Karen about more of the conversations and and coming back in here. So we have
made contact. Um I'm hoping I think like we had on there hoping to maybe come back here in like May or June um before you know before breaking and hopefully we'll have something more concrete at that time that you know we've spoken or just something more concrete. Yeah. But
contact has been made. Yes. Which is great. >> That's good positive progress. So that's great to hear. >> It is. Yeah. And especially the initial that she's heard of she's heard of it and is overall the feedback we've gotten. Now, I know it's a pretty big game of telephone here, but the feedback will have begun is generally positive feedback from her about the efforts.
It's great. >> That's positive from what the previous feedback was. So, that's that's a huge move in the right direction overall. >> I agree. >> Um, another real quick um that the committee size is what 911. What's the What's 9 or 11 13? What's the size of the committee? >> There's nine of us, I think. Yeah, it's
up to 11, but there's a couple empty seats. >> So, I don't want to I don't want this to come across as a dissuasion, right? But the amount of subcommittees you're talking about is I would suggest you guys think about how can we bucket these into two or three to
get some real tangible progress. >> Okay. >> As opposed to trying to divide and conquer too much that you can't actually execute against those. Right? >> That makes sense. >> So as a committee look at these and say how do we put them together? How do we if we if we think so or how do we prioritize what's the most effective and
actionoriented ones that will drive change? Right? If you if you try and do too many and we've talked about subcommittees multiple times within our group and we do have a couple of subcommittees but even this body does not have nine subcommittees um and we're a permanent body. So if you
do nine subcommittees in the fact of in the process of the next nine months you're you're not going to get much done in my mind. As much as you guys are energ energetic and and want to like focus your energy and really go for the ones that make the biggest change. That's my advice. Obviously, you guys
can ignore it. Um, but subcommittees and doing the work is that's where the real work often happens and you want to make sure you have enough energy to focus on what's the biggest change maker in some of that stuff. >> Yeah. Copy. Thank you. >> Carla, did you have a comment? >> Yes. Quickly. Hi guys. Thanks for the um
presentation. I the one um one thing I just wanted to mention before you go down that the road of fundraising is just to check it out because I'm um if if you're a um subgroup to um the
select board, you may not be able to fund raise. So yeah, >> maybe just look into that. You may know you may already know about that, but >> yeah. No. Yeah, I I appreciate that. Um yeah, and I may misspoke. Yeah, we un unfortunately, yeah, we can't fund raise, which is obviously hampered us a
little bit. Um but we are exploring opportunities of working with other groups in town or like a friend of type of organization that may be there. So um there a couple of members in the committee are drilling down on those funding mechanisms and so certainly the
recommendation that you guys have a mechanism already in place also is is something we're I'm certainly going to take that back to committee. I'm sure we both will. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you Carla. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? All right. Thank you both very much. We
look forward to seeing you in a few months. >> I appreciate you. >> Good work. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Thank you both. >> All right. Um I'll just make a motion here just for expediency sake. I'll move to take items E3 and E4 out of order. >> Second.
>> Seconded by Tom. Uh Carla. >> Yes. >> Sarah, >> yes. >> Tom, >> yes. >> Laura, >> yes. >> And Sean is a yes. All right. So, let's move to E3, which is vote to appoint director of finance. Dr. Milchesk, I'll hand it to you. Great. Uh, I would like to make a recommendation to the school committee to appoint Mr. Phil Little
Hale, who's here with us tonight, as the director of finance. Uh, so I'm going to share a little bit of context on that. Uh, two pieces. First, uh, huge thanks to Phil. For those in the committee are likely aware, Phil's been in the interim director of finance and operations role uh, since October of 2024. So, it's been
about a year and a half. uh Phil and his team uh mostly Kate Finnegan, Anna Silva have done an incredible job I think in not only keeping our district in good financial standing but just continuing to think really creatively about the future as especially as we navigate what we know are some tricky uh uh years
ahead. So uh Phil and his team have done a really nice job. Again I think we see a lot of neighboring communities uh struggling with uh with budgets and as again we know we have some challenges ahead but I think we've been in really good hands with Phil and his team. So, I'd just uh first like to thank Phil for all of his work, his experience, his
skill that he's brought to our team. I think has been a major asset to our district and to our leadership team. Uh the second piece is you probably picked up on the slight nuance in the title shift from director of finance and operations to director of finance. Uh we feel that there is a the next couple of
years will be, you know, especially tricky. We know just what kind of on the financial side. We think it's important for Phil and his team to be able to prioritize and focus fully on the financial side. Uh there's plenty of work to be done there the next couple of years. Uh this will also give us the chance to think creatively about our
operational departments. As the district committee likely knows, it's a pretty small oper operational departments, food service facilities, IT, very small transportation uh sort of oversight. So we can think creatively about what that looks like amongst the rest of our team once the new superintendent's in place.
So, um, again, a huge thanks to Phil, huge thanks to Phil and the rest of the team. Done a really great job. Our team has full confidence in them and feel that this is the best, uh, the way to best position us for what's ahead is to have Phil his expertise and experience in the role. So, with that, like to open
up to any questions or conversation. >> Carla, why don't we start with a motion? >> Yep. >> I move to appoint Philip Little as a director of finance. Is there a >> second? Second. Okay, I will open it up for any discussion.
>> Just quickly say, you know, thank you for taking the time to go through this. Um, and Phil, with all the work you've been doing over the last year and a half, thank you for all that as well. Um, you know, we've seen your focus and diligence and trying to get through things and adjust and correct and, you know, it seems like it's a constant point of improvement and continuous
improvement, which is a theme across the district. So, I appreciate that you're uh you continue to dive into that as well. Um, and I'm supportive of this, so I appreciate it. I think that was really well said. Uh, any other comments? >> Okay, we will move to the vote. Uh,
Carla, >> yes. >> Sarah, >> yes. >> Tom, >> yes. >> Laura, >> yes. >> And Sean, yes. Thank you everyone. Congratulations, Phil. Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Welcome back. [snorts] >> That's right. Um, okay. So, as we move
to E4, school choice, Dr. Dr. Mesk, I'll open this up to you in a second, but just one sort of um I don't know, point of order, I suppose. Uh Tom helpfully caught that if we do want to opt out of school choice, it actually requires a you know a posted hearing. So um we'll have a discussion tonight. We'll sort of
take the pulse of the committee. If there's a you know, if there seems to be a desire to to uh consider opting out, then we'll post a hearing and and take a formal vote at a subsequent meeting. But for tonight, we'll just, you know, start with any discussion on this topic and see if that will be necessary. Um, so
with that, Dr. Milchesky, I'll hand to you to kind of tee us up. >> Great. Uh, so the community again may be aware that we've been participating in the school choice program is, uh, receiving students from other districts, uh, starting back in 22 the 2223 school year and we now have, uh, this year we have 77 students currently enrolled in
writing public schools through school choice. I think there's been three major benefits of the program for our district. one, we have some awesome kids who have come into our community who are very excited and eager to be part of the writing public schools. Uh, so I think that's sort of for us the the the most
exciting and best part. Two, it's allowed us to bring in a ton of staff members, uh, relatives, you know, family members, and that's been both a recruitment and a retention strategy, uh, for us. So again, um, it's nice to have many of our staff know now that they can have through this mechanism
their children attend the Reading Public Schools. And then three on the financial side, we just, you know, are in the currently going through, as we know, budget process. I think the committee has seen that the school choice funding of 5,000 per student run the math times 77 students plus full reimbursement for
all special education costs has put us in a very uh much more favorable favorable position than if we did not have school choice in our district. Um, so our administration and our our team is uh fully supportive of the program. Um, so tonight we're coming uh with some
more information that's in your packet. You'll see our recommendation around seats that we'd like to open up in this first lottery. I also emailed school committee the enrollment data projections. So you have that that you can uh run some comparison. We feel very comfortable that that amount of seats we
can uh fit very comfortably into our uh into our classrooms. I don't think even with adding the amount of students uh recommended this time that we're hitting even close to what are going to be some of the uh kind of the the boundaries in any of our grade levels across the
district. So, um I think the part where it'll become more of a strategic conversation with the committee is we know we have a second lottery. We will uh would like to do that in June if we would do that. I think there's then the conversation of whether or not we want to expand even further than what we have now. There would be space to do that. I
just think that we'd want to have a strategic conversation about that whether or not that's what we would like. U as another point uh just kind of of context, 45 families have reached out so far this year about school choice and that is with no marketing around the program. So I think there's definitely
an interest out there from families and I know if we obviously decided to go with more marketing, messaging, communication, I'm sure we could build that number up. Um, if the committee is in support of the recommendation tonight, we will then move forward with the process that is outlined in the
packet. You'll see us a draft application and also uh some of the the messaging that would go up to families around the lottery, uh, timelines, things like that. So, that's a little bit of information, but I'm also happy to answer any questions about about the program or also about sort of why we've
outlined the number of seats that we have or uh any other questions. I will open it up for anybody who wants to jump in >> or I can >> I guess I'll go. Yeah, go ahead. >> I don't have any real questions about it, Tom. I just want us to as a committee make sure we're we're thinking
about like is there an end of how far we'd grow this, >> right? Um maybe the answer is no, right? Uh but in concert as we think through and go forward, especially as we face override related conversations in the in
the coming year. Um you know what is and it is still reading public schools. Uh so we want to make sure we keep the reading side and and 40 and 77 kids doesn't change that and 45 more on top of it doesn't change that. But I just
want to make sure we're conscious of conceptually that we we maintain the town focus of things as well. Um just because of you know who we are and I want to make sure that's that's clear. Having having staff uh related kids able to come into the district I think is is
an awesome awesome thing and I'll talk a little bit about that in a few minutes on the different topic um as we work our way through some things. Um so I'm I'm fully supportive of continuing to go. So, I just want to I just just striking me as we talk about some of these numbers. Is there a cap? Is it 200? Is it 300? Like, if this keeps going for
the next 3, four years, do we start to say we'll only refill based on who's leaving? Right. I mean, just something for us to think about strategically as we go forward. >> I would think there's going to be some natural logistical limits where we'll hit a ceiling and >> Yeah, I would say that
>> can't expand beyond a certain point. >> Yes. Well, yes. I mean, yes, there will be to a degree. I think that might be part of the answer. Uh, Lara, but if you think about you look at our historical enrollment trends, like we were at 4,400 at one point, right? So, does that mean we want to add 600 more?
>> Got it. >> No, probably not because that was stretching the district too much, right? And that's always part of the calculus that Tom and the team have put together is like how much can we absorb. Um, so I'm not saying, you know, no to any of it. I just want us to think about like where is there a na is there a natural
cap of some sort where we we or a percentage or something like that where we think about there is something we want to slow down or not just food for thought so we're eyes wide open I think it's a fair point I mean I I agree I'm I continue to be supportive of
the program I think the the um say you have the same take like just the ability to offer this to staff is you know worth any any any downsides we might possibly experience and I don't really think there really have have been any. Um so even independent from the sort of financial component I'm very supportive of this but it is it's a fair point. I
mean there there could be a scenario where we've reached some mix where we say you know this doesn't make sense anymore or we need to slow down a little bit. I don't think we're there but I you know it's it's a fair point. >> I don't think we're there yet either and we may not be there for a while. I just want to make sure we don't just run run.
>> I think it would take more years more many more probably many more years of declining enrollment and you know if our if our uh mcken forecast comes true >> it won't be an issue >> that shouldn't be an issue but you know who knows there's a lot of macro macro
dynamics out there as well so we'll have to see where things go. >> Any other comments on this one? >> Go ahead Carla. >> I'll say something. Um, I I I think that um I'm I'm proud of the district for
taking opportunities like this, right? Because it allows us to um increase our budget with um and allows to do the things that we needed to do as a district. I know that, you know, I think
it's a fabulous opportunity for staff to have their children on site. Um and it shows um their the staff's willingness and happiness of being here and um their willingness to want to have their children with them and and and in our
school district. So that is another positive for everyone. I I hear what Tom is saying about um you know wanting to know how much is too much. I know that when we have children come in and there are special needs that
it goes back to you know those if if we need to bring on additional people that the the students district will pay for that. I just want us to always be cognizant of um when we move forward what that does to our you know special
education staffing for for students who just you know need a little bit of help but maybe not a full-time person. Are are we going to those districts to get portions of that cost? Are we appropriately um are we appropriately
um staffing our current students and do we have to add staff on because of it? So, that would be a a consideration, but I I do um value the program and what it's been able to do for for us as a
whole. just want to respond to the last two comments and I think are good pieces of uh conversation. I think to Carla's point first, uh we do get reimbursed for all special education services. So there's a uh a a calculator that we have
to fill out that uh does even if a student's not receiving sort of an extensive amount of services, we're still there's a level of reimbursement that we receive for that too. So it does uh we do receive again 100% reimbursement sort of regardless of the uh kind of the the scale or the
intensity of services. Um and Tom I hear you on your um on your qu on your point too and I think that's worth to worthwhile to consider. I think the point I'll just raise for the community to be aware of too is if I look at enrollment projections right now, we currently have one uh the one school
that has uh two allocated kindergarten classrooms for next year with a total of 27 kids. I think everyone here agrees we're not going to have a kindergarten class of 27 kids. We can either have two classes of 13 or 14. I would say even raising those classrooms to two
classrooms of 18 brings in $45,000 to the district. So moving that like one small piece right there is a huge budget mover. So I think that's just an example of you know even one of the drawbacks of of having a hard fast cap is if we were our hands were tied for a scenario like
that too moving forward. So, I think there are some other spots like that in the district where it's the numbers don't work out to condense classes, but then the classes are significantly smaller than other spots in the district. And I would argue adding a couple of students in those spaces in some cases still keep those classrooms
smaller than others. And the payoff for our district is pretty significant. So, even in that example I just gave, moving from two class of 13 or 14 to two class of 18 are then going to, you know, close to $15,000. That's pretty significant in the what what's ahead. So, I appreciate what you raised. I think that's
something we should consider to continue to talk about. I think just looking at some of those specific cases also might be helpful for us to think about sort of how realistic is that? What would that look like? What would some of the limitations be as well? >> Thanks, John. >> Sarah, Laura, any thoughts on this one?
>> No, I I fully support um continuing on as is, at least for the time being. I think it's a great program. Okay. All right. Um, so I'm not hearing any energy about opting out for the for the
upcoming year. So we will plan to uh not hold a vote, certainly not tonight, but we won't plan for a vote at a future meeting either. So I suppose if um two of you change your mind or any of you change your mind, you could let me know and we could put something on the agenda. But um but at this point, we'll
plan to move forward with school choice. >> Sorry. and we'll come back before a second lottery with a kind of I think a a larger strategic conversation about what this looks like for the uh for FY27 beyond. >> So this is a weird one where you have approval via inaction. So there you go.
Um okay, so let's >> timeline wise we don't really have much time to object anymore. >> Okay, we're sort of running out of time, >> right? >> Um that's fair. >> Second to last meeting before that happens. >> Fair. Um okay, so yeah, you'll have to change your mind like in the next 48 hours if you're going to change your
mind essentially. Um, okay. So, let's move back to our uh sort of normal flow here. We'll go to item E2, which is announce, discuss, and vote to accept finalist candidates for the superintendent search. Is Michelle hiding back there somewhere? >> Going to say, where's my friend Michelle? >> Here she comes.
>> Here she comes. [laughter] All right, Michelle, if you maybe want to join Tom at the table up here, it'll maximize TV and sound and all that good stuff. Uh, Tom, I think you're going to kick us off, so hand it to you. >> I will. Um so um
speaking on behalf of the screening committee, we're excited to present the four candidates that you're going to see or hear about tonight. Um but before we do that, I don't bite. Uh before we do that, um I just want to, you know, just reflect and thank the school the screening committee members that were
part of the process and and outline, you know, how rigorous it was for them. Um, so we had, you know, just going through names, Richard Body, Jess Bailey, uh, Medina Baker, Aaron Burchil, Susie Carroll, Jennifer Delaney, Laura Durgovich, Richard Estus, Lindseay
Fulton, Mary Juliana, Sarah Hardy, Bob Lu Lasher, Stephanie Lasi, Cindy Marte, Joe Martell, Foley, Matt Mloud, Dilly Wilson, and myself, 18 members of the committee. Um, and we we met uh preliminarily on the 24th of February.
Um I happened to be driving back from New Orleans at that point in time which was an interesting drive. Um and uh you know at that point became chair. We met further on the 4th of March um and had previously received some information from ask about sample questions and had
received some feedback from the group about what questions they might want to do as well as some individually crafted questions and discussed the questions and gave feedback about how we would want to organize it. Um, from that point in time, I went through that and put together the 13 questions that we
decided to ask the committee. Um, and we finalized it over the weekend before our interviews. Um, let me jump back in a second. Fortunately, Michelle helped me tighten those up a little bit. Um, she did a great job preparing kind of a Q&A form as well that the committee could use for taking notes. Also, on the 4th
of March is when we reviewed the the candidates. Um, we had 24 candidates apply for this position. Um, and it wasn't really easy to get to the 11 that we interviewed. Um, you know, it it came through in a pretty decent fashion, but
if you go through the the the p the the resumes of a lot of these candidates, there were a lot of really strong candidates in the pool. Um, and so, you know, going from 24 to 11 to 4 um was was a rigorous process. the committee
met um you know for uh three interviews in person in this superintendent's um uh conference room on the 9th on the 10th, two interviews on the 11th and three more interviews on the 14th. So back to back to back small break and
then three more uh interviews on the 14th. We then had the weekend to kind of consider what we thought and we came back on the 16th to make our decision. Um and finally the red smoke went up and we [laughter] we made our decision on the four um after a lot of collaborative
conversations. Um and ultimately these four were the ones that came out on top. Um and I think we're pretty excited about it like I said um and I'll I'll pass the mic over to Michelle and she can introduce the candidates. >> Can I say something please? >> So I just want to take a minute to say that um this was your second experience
I guess on a search committee like this. It was my first. It was really um enlightening experience and I just want to reiterate what Tom has said about the um dedication and rigor that everybody on the committee put into the process. We had some really interesting and
insightful conversations and it was so valuable to have um input from all of the different stakeholder perspectives. And I especially want to thank Tom who served as the chair of the committee because he did an excellent job shephering us through the process and keeping it organized and um really
making sure that we kept our focus on finding the candidate who would be a candidate the most or the most set of candidates that would be just the the most excellent for our district. So, I wanted to thank you for all the work that you put into that um and all the committee members as well because it was
a really um productive group. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> Okay. So, good evening. So, through a rigorous and thoughtful screening process, we have identified finalists who reflect the priorities we have heard from the school committee and the community. Each of these candidates
brings a different set of experiences and strengths, but all demonstrate a clear commitment to equity, instructional leadership, and building strong school communities. I'm excited to announce the finalists. Our first finalist is Andrew Bot. Andrew currently serves as the head of school
at Brighton High School in Boston public schools and brings over 25 years of experience as a superintendent, principal, and teacher. He previously served as superintendent in Brooklyn where he led a large and complex district, managed a budget of 100
million, and worked closely with the school committee and town leadership on major initiatives. He is also experienced in school turnaround work, including leading orchid gardens from a level four to a level one school. His experience reflects both district leadership and a strong track record of
leading complex school turnaround efforts. Our second finalist is Wendy Crocker Rober. Wendy is currently the assistant superintendent for schools and leadership in L public schools where she supports school leaders across a
district of approximately 15,000 students. In her role, she has led district-wide efforts to improve literacy outcomes, reduce the number of schools requiring targeted assistance, and strengthen curriculum and instruction. She also brings extensive experience as preK to 8 principal, where
she led strong gains in student achievement in school culture. Her work demonstrates strong system levels leadership and a focus on driving measurable improvement across schools. Our third finalist is Heather Galant. Heather most recently served as the
principal of Bedford High School and brings over 25 years of experience in public education, including nearly a decade as a high school principal. Her leadership has focused on building strong instructional teams, imple implementing multi-tered systems of
support and advancing work in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. She has led district-wide initiatives in curriculum, restorative practices, and professional learning, and has a strong track record of engaging students, staff, and families. Her work highlights
a focus on building inclusive student centered systems that support both achievement and well-being. And our last finalist is Dr. Henry Turner. Henry serves as the principal of Newton North High School, one of the largest and highly regarded high
schools, public high schools in Massachusetts. He brings nearly 20 years of experience in Massachusetts public education and has led significant work focused on expanding access to advanced coursework, strengthening student support systems, and using data to drive
decision-making. Under his leadership, participation in rigorous coursework has increased significantly, particularly for students who have been historically underserved. His leadership reflects an ability to operate at scale while expanding access,
rigor, and student outcomes. Our candidate resumes will be made available to the public after this meeting and they will be located on the district website within the school committee section. We're looking forward to the next phase of the process which
will include interviews, site visits, and opportunities for broader community engagement. And we feel confident that this group of finalists brings the experience, leadership, and vision needed to build on the strong foundation already in place in our district. And we look forward to your engagement with
each of them as we move on to the next phase of the process. >> Just a few more comments as we're thinking through this. Um, uh, I mentioned I would refer to school choice here shortly, but one of the things that was, um, extraordinarily clear, uh,
throughout this process is we had multiple candidates that only applied to reading, um, which I think speaks for itself. And in many cases, they they recognize the work that this district has already made and they want to contri contribute to
that and help continue to move it forward. They also recognized this committee, right, and how functional we are. So I think it's really important that we keep that tone and tenor as we move forward with a lot of things. Um, so I'll say that. Um, I was really appreciative of
everybody in the room as they would go around before they would ask their questions. You know, they we asked them to tell us who they were and what their role was. As you as you can hear from the names, many of them are staff, but how many of them were able to say, "And I have this many students in the district and I have this many students
in the district." And I think that spoke a lot to a lot of the candidates as well is terms of the investment that we have in this district. Um, and so I just again want to thank the staff that were involved in in that process in addition to the wonderful parents that helped in there. Um,
overall, you know, I think we have a really, really, really strong slate. Um the hardest part is going to be over the next two weeks um as we go through this uh and I'm looking forward to it and excited. So
>> any questions for Go Carly, go ahead. Some questions might be off limits, but fire it off and we'll see what happens. >> What was that? >> I said I said some questions might be off limits. Tom and and Laura can't speak to deliberations or anything like that as you know, but uh fire off your question. We'll go from there.
>> Yep. No, I I actually just wanted to make a comment just to um thank the the committee for um for all the work that they did. I want to thank staff, Michelle, her staff, Olivia, um Dr. Machesky because I know you helped with
the whole process. um Lara and Tom for all of your work and Sean for really taking the bull by the horns and pushing this whole process through and condensing it so we can um get to the point where we're at right now to get
this candidate at least to be able to spend some time with Dr. Moesky before um so um great just great job and very appreciative to everyone for for their efforts. I know it was not easy and I know the the next two weeks won't be easy, but we're we're in good shape once
again. >> She Yeah, she hit it and I didn't hit it before, so I should have. Um Michelle and Olivia were rock stars, right? Um rock stars in the process. I mentioned a little bit of what Michelle did, but that's not even the beginning of it. Um
she did a great job in correlating everything and she's been doing a great job reaching out and scheduling everybody. Um Olivia was there every one of our meetings to help we welcome greet you know help the candidates as necessary late into the night in some cases. Um so above and beyond and you
two did an awesome job. So thank you. >> Yeah I I um I will double click that you know for sure. I you know we went from your your screening committee voted on Monday night to by sometime yesterday afternoon all of the next steps were laid out and scheduled and ready to go. Michelle had drafted about 7,000 emails
that need to go out and and you know those are those are ready to go. So, uh Michelle and Olivia have been just incredible throughout this whole process and um we gave you an impossible timeline and you're making it work. So [laughter] So thank you are confirmed as well. >> That's right. That's right. That's
right. Yeah. Um >> saying a lot. It's really saying a lot. >> It is. And I I'll just add um you know I I had the chance I've had the chance now to to you know kind of have a hello with each of the candidates, each of the finalists. Um, I'm really excited about this group. I think they seem really excited about this opportunity. Um, and
so I think we're going to have a we're gonna have a really challenging we're going to have a challenging couple of weeks to to sort through this all. So, um, any other questions for Tom, Laura, Michelle, Sarah? Go ahead. >> No, I was just going to echo the
express. I think just seeing that email coming through there. So, it gave me a panic attack of the shuffling and it just made me like so grateful for all the work that you guys put in up to this point. So, I'm excited to to meet the candidates for >> Yeah. apologies to everyone's jobs. Um, but [laughter] uh it'll be a busy couple
of weeks. Um, all right. If there's nothing else, Carla, is it is it easier if I make the motion since you were kind of getting the names in real time there? >> That would be awesome. >> Okay. Um, move to accept the following uh candidates as finalists for the superintendent position. Andrew Bot,
Wendy Crocker, Rober, Heather Galante, and Henry Turner. Second. >> Seconded by Laurara. Any further discussion? >> Okay, we'll move to the vote. Carla, >> yes. >> Sarah, >> yes. >> Tom, >> yes. >> Laura, >> yes.
>> And Sean, yes. Thank you everyone and congratulations. If any of the candidates are watching at home or seeing us on YouTube, congratulations. And we're looking forward to uh getting to meet with you quite a bit over the next couple of weeks. Um, all right. All right. So, why don't we shift gears and talk about the next couple of weeks a
little bit and then I want to uh I've got a few Thank you, Michelle. Um and then I've got a few topics where I'd love for you all to weigh in as well. Um we don't require formal votes, but I would just love to >> love to have you weigh in. Um let me share my screen here. So, so Sarah, you
you alluded to this, but the you know, the schedule is sort of uh busy over the next few weeks. So, I just you know, I just I thought it was easier to just sort of visualize it. So, Um we're here on Thursday the 19th. This process really gets started on Monday.
Um Andrew Bot will have his visit to reading on uh from 12 to 6 on Monday. Um it's got all the components that we've talked about before. He'll be meeting with Dr. Millesky for lunch. Uh meeting with central office principles, staff, students. Uh a community session. Um
Michelle alluded to this, but we'll have uh emails that will go out. Olivia might be sending them now for all I know. um emails that will go out. So so you know all the various groups will will get invited to all the right sessions. Um but opportunities for literally anyone in the community who wants to be a part of this to to have the chance to meet
with um meet with each candidate uh ask some questions. We'll have a feedback mechanism that's available as well which will be any feedback that we receive will be consolidated and provided to the school committee for our deliberations um you know a few weeks from now. On um
Tuesday, we have Wendy Crocker Robert's visiting. Um on Wednesday of next week, we've got Henry Turner visiting. And then we'll have uh two of our virtual site visits to the candidates towns or to the candidates districts, I suppose. Um the candidates are working on sort of aligning all the participants in those.
Um so more more specifics on that to come, but those are the blocks to hold. We'll have the other two site visits on Thursday the 26th, and then uh the following week we move into our formal interviews. So, we've got two, Andrew Bot and Heather Galante on Monday the 30th, which will be held here in the
library. Um, and I've got a question about that for the committee that we'll come back to in a minute. Uh, two more on March 31st, again, here in the in the library. Um, our final visit to Reading will be Heather Galante on April 1st. And then currently, um, I think we're planning for April 2nd to have our
deliberation and vote. So, that's the schedule as it sits today, unless anything's changed, but Michelle didn't b at anything when she was looking at the screen, so hopefully we're good. Um, but that's the schedule as it as as I know it. Um, a few things that I did want to sort of discuss with the
committee that'll just get us lined up for the next few weeks here. Um, one is I want to make sure everybody's comfortable voting on April 2nd. And the the reason that I the reason that I ask is I'm seeing a a nodding head there. No. Um, the reason that I ask is our our
final visit to Reading is on April 1st. Um, I think we can turn around the feedback quickly enough that we'll get it, you know, early on the second. Um, but it's not a lot of time to digest that last one. So, let me let me throw that out there. Um, because we have always talked about the sixth as an
option. The downside to moving to the sixth is that there are, as Tom said, many candidates are, you know, as we, as far as we know, are only applying to Reading. there are other active searches that are on similar or even slightly faster timelines to us. So delaying, you know, four days could be could be
impactful in terms of um some of the opportunities some of these candidates may have. So let me throw that out there and open it up for discussion. No, no formal vote on this. Go ahead, Sarah. >> I'm not available. >> Okay.
Remotely or otherwise? Okay. What if we did a different time? >> We can try to negotiate. >> Okay, understand. >> Understand. Okay. Um,
other thoughts or preferences on this? >> It's hard to say that Sarah can't join. I mean, that that would be that would be tough. I do know. I mean, and I think anybody who searches the names now will quickly find out what we're talking about. Um, you know, there is
one in particular that has a pretty urgent related timeline. So, we'll have to figure out, you know, even the two weeks whether that works. Hopefully, it does. Um, so, you know, I think the sooner the better. Uh, I do acknowledge that it is a very tight timeline and I
expect just as I was last time, I'll still be trying to figure out who I'm choosing as I eat dinner before I come that night, whatever that night is. Um, you know, nothing precludes us, and we've had it before, of having a meeting on a Saturday. I was going to >> say, is there a procedural reason we couldn't do that?
>> Nothing precludes us from doing so. I am >> I am opposed to the sixth from a perception perspective, >> right? I think there's a pretty large Now, I know we're, you know, Monday versus Saturday versus Thursday, it's really not that big of a difference in the grand scheme. So, I could see people
say it really doesn't matter that much, Tom. But the night before the election just kind of seems really weird to me, right? It seems like we're slamming something in before the voters vote. Now, you know, we hopefully one of our members, you know, will will be back and we'll see who the other member is.
Carla, we know will not be back. Um, but I think it's it just seems odd to me perception wise to vote the night before an election. >> Yeah, that's fair. I mean, I I and I've seen some of that, you know, discussion online and things like that. I I think
we've owned that decision. That was very intentional that we thought it was appropriate for the committee that participates in the full process to to you know to take the vote. Um you know recognizing that the alternative was to back everything up by two weeks or a month and all the implications that come with that. So um you know personally
I'll take the slings and arrows if we have to do it on Monday. But um I I I I hear you on that. So let's do this then. Um Sarah, we can we can connect offline. I'll probably have to circle back with everybody else. Maybe it's not the second or the sixth that ends up being the third or the fourth or whatever, but we'll we'll we'll uh we'll figure out
something that works for everybody because obviously it's critical that we all >> all are able to be participate in the vote. So, okay. All right. So, that was helpful. Um the another thing I wanted to sort of float by the committee um which again we
don't need a vote, but I curious what everyone's perspectives are. Um because we have four candidates and their interviews can't possibly be on one night. um means we have it spread across two nights. We do have the option, we still have to it'll still be a publicly, you know, publicly posted uh publicly
available meeting for people to attend. We have the option for RCTV not to broadcast live. Um we can have RCTV record and eventually, you know, eventually post to YouTube. Um but we could hold our two interview nights, you know, offline, so to speak. Doesn't
preclude, you know, a candidate from coming and sitting in the in the room. I would think they would all have the good judgment not to do that. But if we want to sort of, you know, reduce the likelihood that any candidate has a little bit of an unfair advantage in going on night two versus night one, um that is an option for us not to not to
have the um interviews aired live on RCTV. >> Trying to remember what we did before. I know we had them on two different nights. >> We did and I don't remember if RCTV was recording at that point in time or not. >> Yeah, I don't remember either.
And I our um our MASC rep suggested that that was a I mean you know committees chose both options but it was certainly not an uncommon option to to not air it live so that we wouldn't be either violating any ML considerations or or um
doing anything that's sort of abnormal. >> Uh what's the downside of not airing it live? just that if anybody is interested in watching them, they have to go find them later and it'll be a slightly more compressed timeline to do that. You know, they probably don't get posted
until late Tuesday or even into Wednesday, you know, so there's only another, >> you know, couple of days depending on when we end up voting. So, that that's the only downside. It makes it slightly less access accessible to people that would prefer to watch online. Um but um
that option would still be there. >> I think the Tuesday can be live for obvious reasons, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Um and Wednesday or Tuesday night, Monday could go live
in the middle of the first one. >> Tom, can you speak up a little bit, please? >> Sorry, I was speaking towards Sean instead of towards the mic. Right. I said I said I I I um Tuesday can be live for obvious reasons because the only reason we're talking about this is that we don't want the Tuesday candidates to
know the questions ahead of time. Now, to Sean's point, they can come and attend and watch and listen if they wanted to because it's a public meeting, but it reduces the likelihood that they would know the questions ahead of time. Let's that's the the fact, right? Um so but in order to compress the timeline of
making the date the information publicly available to the community um because we are asking for their feedback and yes there will be they will have had their individual community sessions you know three of the four of them before that anyway but you know sometimes that how they do in the interview is an important
part for the community as well. We could ask RCTV to release the Monday recording in the middle of the Tuesday interview. So after the final candidate comes to the stage for lack of better say RCTV can you coordinate the release to be
that tight we can ask the answer could be no but if we don't ask the answer is always no. >> Yeah >> and that gives it you know the maximum viewability time while also the maximum allowable protection if that makes sense. >> Yeah I'm I'm sure they could do a scheduled posting to YouTube. I I mean I
you know so I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem. I can follow up with Angela and confirm but I think that's certainly doable. I think that makes a lot of sense. >> And in practice, it probably doesn't matter if it's right in the middle of it or just at the conclusion of it or what have you. I mean, anybody who's going to anybody who's going to be
>> eagerly waiting for it might be watching the live one on Tuesday anyway. So, um but I think it's a good point. We don't have to wait >> until they're both sort of ready and packaged. We can air the Tuesday one live and and um post the Monday one, you know, as soon as we start on Tuesday essentially.
>> Yeah. And if they keep if they record it and keep it private and then just turn it live, that'll be faster than if they record it and then have to upload it. I'm sure they'll probably just record it and keep it private or something like that. >> Yep. Okay. Um, other thoughts on this from anyone
else? >> All right. So, we I will uh I'll check in with Angela and confirm there are no technical issues there, but I I don't expect that there will be. Um, all right. All right. And then the last thing is around developing questions. So if we had a more elongated timeline, one
of the options would be we develop our questions very publicly. We, you know, all submit proposed questions, we come together, we talk about them, we debate, we take some out, we vote, you know, we we pass a slate of of questions. Um, that obviously would have the effect of all the candidates knowing exactly what we're going to ask, which would sort of
defeat the purpose of all the subtrauge that we just talked about here. Um, so we have a few options that are available to us. Um, one option is each ca each each member of the school committee develops questions independently. Um, you need to prepare, you know, a couple or three that are sort of your priority
questions and then probably a few backups in case somebody asks something very similar. And when we come to the interviews, we take turns. Um, we would need to follow the same pattern for each candidate to make sure that each candidate is getting the same, you know, the same spread of questions, so to speak. So, that's that's one option. A
second option is um we could tonight identify some categories of questions that we're interested in asking, assign each member a a category to go develop uh to go develop, you know, two or three questions that they'd like to ask in that category. And those questions will be a surprise to all of us when we get
into the room. Um and then a third option is the option that I call in Shan we trust. Uh and this option would be um you all submit to me um your you know your recommended questions two three four you know I won't really put a limit on it but obviously there's a natural limit to how many we can build into an
you know a 1 hour and 15 minute interview um but submit to me a handful of questions that you're interested in having asked you can certainly you know choose those that you would really prioritize um Sarah's getting some extra attention there that's great uh I think um we do have some guidance from MASC in
terms of some recommended questions that I could, you know, we can certainly circulate to everyone to choose from. Um, and in this process, you know, you'd submit your preferences to me and and sort of just, you know, just sort of trust that the um, you know, list of 12 or 15 or whatever number it is that I
come up with is, you know, sort of sufficiently representative of everyone's preferences. Um, so those are, as I see it, kind of the three options. I'm open to other suggestions, but, you know, I'll open the floor for preferences that the committee has.
I'll throw a couple things on the fire. Um, one is we need to think about two types of questions or two groupings of questions. You might not you might have gotten to that or might be getting to that. >> Yep. >> Um, so both the site visit questions uh in particular that are targeted to the
group of people we're talking about >> and the final interview questions. Um, so there's two sets there. Um, on top of that, we have already asked 13 questions um as well um over a 60-minute period in each of those cases. So,
Laura knows them, I know them, you don't. Uh, so one of us should be consulting with you. So, we don't ask the same question. Great point. >> I'll volunteer myself unless Laura wants to jump in um in that regard. Um, so there's that. And then third um or four
third and fourth is I have the questions from five years ago if they're of use and interest um we can cor correlate and collaborate and while we don't want to ask the same questions because those interviews are still public on YouTube as well we can at least look at the vein
and and and what they're doing in terms of you know different types and roles and cases like that too. >> Yeah just uh two two thoughts on that. one is absolutely I think we should distribute to the committee you know all the sort of question compendiums we might have that might be instructive as we think about what we we'd like to ask
so certainly the questions from five years ago I think can be part of that on the other point um I agree we should consult however there are four of us on the committee that weren't part of the screening committee discussions and so there may be maybe questions people are really the
answer to those questions is really important to Carla or Sarah or Aaron or myself so you know I don't want I don't want to just take something off the list just because it might come up in the screening committee and and the screening committee has the same same characteristic which is all candidates got the same questions as I understand
it. So um nobody will have a leg up in having already had the chance to you know think about or answer a particular question. >> Yeah, I think the themes are going to be the same. I think it's how you ask the question that can be slightly different. Fair and um so I think there's there's that. Um Carlos Sarah jump in. I'm sorry
I just keep talking so I'll stop for a minute. I Okay, I'll jump in again. [laughter] I think it's really important we don't randomly ask questions, right? That we hear the same questions and answers. >> Um, we did not do this in the screening
committee this year, but it can be done. You might have a a particularly targeted question for one for each candidate that is different, but most of the questions should be exactly the same. So you can measure similarly across the candidate set. So I personally do not think we
should say, oh, I'm going to go create three or four questions that are going to be my questions and depending upon what other people ask, I have to go down to number two or go down to number four. Um because it might adjust the the tone and tenor a little bit. Um, so I do think it's important that we have some sort of scripting and
then we assign them out on the night of the interviews. >> That worked really well in the in the screening committee. Um, all 18 of us were given sort of one of the question compendiums and and said Tom said, you know, send me the list of what you would prefer, what kinds of questions we would
prioritize. Um, and then he collated and kind of assembled and and condensed I think with Michelle's help um those questions into into something that represented sort of the broad buckets of interest. um and then assigned them to who to ask and that worked really well
in terms of organization and clarity. >> Yeah, I 100% agree. I mean, consistency of how the questions are asked, how they're phrased, you know, is is critical, right? We're we're trying to make sure we're giving as even a loving a level of playing field as possible. Um so to your point under any of these
circumst under any of these approaches um the expectation would be to assign questions to C committee members um so that the same person is asking the same question each time >> and in the same order as well. >> Yeah. >> But if you're willing to to take on the
task of of yeah >> collecting questions from each of us and and sort of condensing and distilling them um you know I'm I'm certainly comfortable with you taking on that role. >> Yeah. No, I'm I'm certainly happy to
Carla or Sarah, any strong preferences on this? >> Just a clarifying question, I guess. Maybe um to your point earlier, Sean, about nuance of how a question is asked. If we're submitting questions to you, um maybe condensing combining similar type
questions, will we have the opportunity to review them to make sure maybe if it was partially our question to make sure the kind of intent of the question was captured? Um, not really. >> Tell you what I did. >> Yeah, please. >> So, what we did for the screening
committee is Let me >> grab your middle mic a little closer. >> Will that be better, ladies? Sorry. Uh what we did for the screening committee is after the that coalation um I sent out the semi-final or final questions to
the team and I said and I bccedded them so they couldn't reply all and I said reply to me if there's any particular question you have a qu a concern about or you need further adjustment to and I will consider it and if necessary I can have a one-on-one conversation with you. it was easier with 18 people versus six,
Sean. So, it's a little bit of a challenge um to to discuss why I would accept your change or not. Um and then we can agree on what the adjustment was. >> So, that that way um that the the concern or feedback was heard um while
also um you know trying to make sure we stayed within all the rules. >> Yeah. I I mean if that if that uh I guess that doesn't trigger OML
if we can do that without triggering OML then I'm certainly happy to give everyone an opportunity to I know Sarah's not on the line anymore so she jumps back on I'll I'll re reiterate the answer here but um certainly happy to build enough build in enough time to give everyone a chance to react to how they're framed. The other thing I will
say though too is um we can we can leave a little bit of time for uh there she is Sarah I was just answering your question you know I don't know if you heard Tom's um you heard Tom's answer yeah so you know I think you know we could certainly
build in enough time to have to have a review cycle there so the um >> we can also build in a little bit of time we don't have to script the entire hour and 15 minutes we could build in a little bit of time for follow-ups. So, if somebody, you know, not the bulk of
the interview should be very similar, but there may be some a comment somebody makes that somebody wants to follow up on. Tell me more about that or how would you translate that to this thing that we have going on. So, um that might be the other opportunity, Sarah, if there if you felt like a question just sort of slightly missed your intent to to follow up if you feel like you need to.
>> Yeah, that works for me, too. >> And that's permissible in the formal interview whereas it wasn't in the screening committee. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there aren't I mean there aren't a lot of rules. I mean this is just sort of we're engineering it for fairness. There aren't really a lot of rules in terms of how we you know how we
approach this or what questions we ask or who asks the questions or anything like that. This is really just about you know us trying to be >> equity. Fair. Yeah. Equitable. Exactly. >> They'll still have the time restriction slightly more. I think we've given them 75 instead of 60 minutes or something. >> 75. Yep. >> Right. And there's less of a discussion
back and forth here. One other thing. >> Tom, I can't hear you again. >> Man, I keep turning around to talk to Sean, so I got to look forward. and Sean's still there in front of me. Um, >> I don't know if it's your microphone or what. >> I'm not usually one to be considered quiet either, which is very interesting
dynamic for me. Um, one other thing for us to consider, and I think it was valuable before, and I think Sean, you sort of mentioned it, but I want to hit on it again, especially in looking at my notes that it was sent to the candidates ahead of time, is a scenario based
question where it's not just a, you know, here's a question with two or three parts or whatever, but it's a a it outlines a specific scenario that was a challenge or could be a challenge, and then that candidate has it ahead of time um to I forget how long ahead of time
may Tom you might remember um >> dig it up >> but they had it ahead of time to process it consider it and come back with a how will they approach solving the problem um that gives us a little bit more insight into their their thought process their problem solving and things like that that it's not just like on the spot
it gives them time to to mle and consider. Um, so the the question at the time was, you know, relatively robust, you know, eight or 10 bullets of of a scenario of what was happening and tell us how you would approach solving the problem. And that was sent ahead of time to the candidate, uh, versus all the
other questions they did not know coming into the day. >> I think that's really smart in terms of being able to see not only how people answer questions spontaneously, but sort of the degree and type of preparation that they put into a question that they have ahead of time. It's a different form of evaluation. I like that. Am I
hearing you volunteer to draft a scenario? [laughter] >> Sure, I'll draft a scenario. Tom, >> just as clarif context, I received the case study on February 9th, 2021, the day of the interview, at 8:21 a.m., and then the interviews at 6:30 p.m. So,
it's that morning of the interview. >> I love that you can just find it like that. [laughter] >> I know, right? Um, >> so I mean we could send we can if we agree to the the scenario, we can have Michelle or Olivia send it out that morning for their
>> Yep. Two of them on Monday morning, two of them on Tuesday morning. >> Right. Exactly. >> Okay. Um, and I was joking about you. I mean, we could maybe we could work together on it or, you know, workshop it a little bit. Uh, okay. Um, so and and then Tom
alluded to this, but the the where we'll need input for questions is both for the finalist interviews themselves, um, but also for the for our visits to the candidates districts. So, um, I'll remind everyone, you know, we'll we'll send a note out, you know, with some of
the question compendiums and so forth, and I'll remind everyone what the groups are. Um, but, you know, same sort of process. just submit any questions you'd like to see asked of the students or asked of the, you know, central office members or asked of the municipal officials. Um, and we'll do we'll sort of, you know, go through the same
process here in terms of um consolidating those and and uh pulling those together. And then same thing as well when we're in the when we're in the actual site visits, you know, we'll have it pretty heavily scripted and everyone will kind of have, you know, an assignment in terms of which questions
they're going to ask. Okay. All right. [sighs] So, lots of work to do over the next couple weeks for us. Um, I will send Tom, if you can send me the questions from last time. Um, this evening, I'll send out just a summary of
what the ask is for everyone tonight. We do have the first um, let me refresh myself in the calendar here. Um, our site visits are begin on Wednesday. Um, so maybe by the end of the weekend at least for those if you can get back to me with um with your proposed questions
and maybe we have another day or two to propose questions for the actual interviews. Um, but you know this is probably a three or four day turnaround on getting a first draft of these going. So all right, any other questions or
comments on all of the things? All right, I will reiterate my thanks for Michelle and Olivia. Um, can't say enough about how on top of everything they've been and how proactive they've been. Um, and how they're always about two and a half steps ahead of me, which
is very, very helpful. Uh, so thank you to them. Um, Olivia, you're probably watching this back later for motion purposes and whatnot. So, uh, thank you both very much. So, uh, all right, any final motions? >> Motion to adjurnn. I'm gonna give it to
Laura and Carla, would you like to second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Carla. All right. Uh, Carla, >> yes. >> Sarah, >> yes. >> Tom, >> yes. >> Laura, >> yes. >> And Sean, yes. Thank you everyone. Good night.