LAE Board Meeting 9-11-24

001[Music] I'd like to welcome back our board members and  officially welcome our new superintendent Ralph   Carrero we look forward to working with you I'm  sorry go ahead we look forward to working with   you collaboratively and doing what is best  for the students in the district so welcome   Maria would you please take attendance [Music]  Dr Dolores Calaf present Edgar DeLeon present   Arlene Garcia Juana Matias present Maria  Muller mayor Brian depeña I just Patricia Marano oh present the Mayor  distracted me I can blame him would you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the  flag of the United States of America   and to the republic for which it stands  one nation under God indivisible with   liberty and justice for all liberty  and justice for all please remain [Music] standing thank you um for

002those of us that  might have forgotten today is a very special day   in the uh history books of uh this country and  referring to the tragedies of uh 911 so please   uh join me in uh reflecting on that day today's  the anniversary I thought is it is important to   remember those who lost their lives on that tragic  day dear loving father we pause to remember the   great losses and courage the courageous acts of  September 11th we lift up those who are still   affected families of the victims police officers  firemen First Responders and all who were involved   we pray you desire to redeem your creation we  trust that beauty will continue to Come From   the Ashes of those dark days surround us with your  Mighty angels of protection give us compassion for   one another in all

003of life's circumstances and  in still in us the courage to answer your call amen please be seated this evening there are no um items for  executive session we will now move on to public   participation the board welcomes public um  comment at this time we will call people   in the order they signed up as you begin please  state your name and address for the record each   person is permitted to speak for no more than  two minutes a bell will ring when you have 30   seconds remaining and again at the end of the two  minutes I ask that you please respect this time   limit profanity will not be tolerated if used  we will turn off the microphone and the person   will be asked to leave the meeting I'd like  to remind everyone that during public comment   the

004board is in listening mode and as such board  members do not respond to comments written public   comment may be emailed to [email protected]  no later than 2:00 the afternoon of our meeting   and I'd like to call up Mr Mali please Omayun Mali 53 Chester Street good evening  honorable members Lawrence Public School with the   impeccable leadership by honorable Ralph  Guerrero moving forward since his arrival   every day has been positive changes for Lawrence  public education Lawrence teachers welcome back   we the Laurentian declare the first day of the  school the day of the teachers appreciation and   appreciate all the employees of the Lawrence  Public School Lawrence teachers you are number   one we are proud to support your union we  demand the best compensation for our teachers   our par professional employees and cafeteria  workers that in this great nation when

005there   is number one responsibility of every citizen  is support teachers union the teachers who INSP   fire the whole world the teachers who the the true  architect of best future for our children we the   Laurentian are proud to be the best example of  support of teachers union in the nation Lawrence   always a strong Lawrence always unite Lawrence  teachers thank you for gift of best education   for children of the Lawrence The Great Nelson  Mandela said education indeed the most powerful   weapon to change the the board this change is  only possible if we support our teachers union   Lawrence teachers thank you for excellent job we  are united to support your union welcome back to   triumphant New Year thank you Mr. Mali that  concludes our public participation for this   evening under the chair's report I have uh three  or

006four very important items to present to the   board the first one we're going to speak about  is the superintendent evaluation one of the most   important tasks this board will take on is the  evaluation of our superintendent included in   your packet this evening is information from  Desie it looks like this outlining the process   superintendent Carrero has chosen the 12 month  evaluation during this time the board will receive   periodic training on the process the process  of superintendent evaluation includes a self   assessment goal setting implementation of the plan  a midcycle review and a summative evaluation first   the Board needs to determine the length of the  evaluation cycle typically either 9 or 12 months   LPS with many other districts typically follow a  12 month process where the process begins and ends   each fall the superintendent and I discuss  the

007process and the potential cycle and he   recommends the board approve a 12 Month cycle  for his evaluation superintendent Carrera will   complete a self assessment and then present his  goals to the board as part of the superintendent's   annual plan to the LAE this fall the LAE will  vote to adopt the district Improvement goals   proposed by the superintendent in the spring the  superintendent will present a midyear review as   a check-in on progress toward his goals the  board is welcome to ask questions and offer   feedback at that time there is no vote taken  then next fall each board member will fill out   a summative evaluation which will be compiled into  a single evaluation document that is voted on by   the board and shared with the superintendent  at this time I would entertain a motion to   approve the superintendent

008Carrero's 12 month  evaluation for the 2425 school year may I have a motion youen second second thank  you Maria any discussion further   discussion all right hearing  none Maria please call the role yes edgar DeLeon yes Arlene Garcia Juana  Matias yes Maria Muller yes mayor Brian depana   yes CH Patricia Mariano yes motion passes thank  you um next on my chair's notes is the board   subcommittees tonight I would like to announce  the Lae board subcommittees and thank everyone   for willingly agreeing to serve on these  committees there are three subcommittees   of this board this school year the policy  subcommittee which will be um uh uh handled   by Maria Moller Edgar Deon and Pat Mariano  the budget subcommittee won G Juana Matias   and Alene Garcia curriculum and instruction  Dolores CF Juana Matias and Pat Mariano the   work of each

009subcommittee will be very important  and to that end subcommittee reports will become   a standing agenda item each month are there any  questions about the um the subcommittees of the board if I may add Madam chair regarding  the policy subcommittee yes so the policy   subcommittee um will be uh instructed and U guided  through the work of the mass Association of school   committees absolutely and we have contacted  them and they are preparing a schedule that   um committee will meet either in person  or through zoom and the the the practice   is to look at our um current policies that date  back several years um and the mass Association   will make sure that through the subcommittee  they not only update the policies but bring any   policies forward uh today uh to date I should  say that are relevent for

010today's running of   the schools so through that work it will be  anytime that they make updates they will be   be um votes required to pass policies and  then they will put that book together and   they will constantly updated for us with  any federal legislation or any new state   legislations that might be passed thank you thank  you superintendent any other questions about the subcommittees do we have an idea Madam chair um  when we're going to start creating a schedule for   for meetings for those sub committees or are they  going to be ad hog by needed um I would anticipate   that the subcommittees get together and um decide  what date they would meet probably monthly and   um be prepared to give a report to the board at  every meeting but I plan on calling each one of  

011the subcommittees and planning out the logistics  of that thank you any other questions thank you   and thank you again to the board for volunteering  I really appreciate that all right the next item   um that's an informational item is our current  monthly agendas another procedural item I would   like to discuss is the board's input in crafting  our monthly agenda many of you expressed this past   year that you wanted to be included in the this  process so this is the process we will follow   to be as inclusive as possible two weeks prior  to our meeting Maria campasano will ask all of   you if you want an agenda item discussed at the  next meeting one week prior to our meeting you   will have a standing 15 minute conversation  with the superintendent concerning your item   or anything else Maria

012Cruz has set out notices  on August 20th and September 9th asking for a   convenient time that works for you please complete  these forms as the procedure will begin for our   October meeting are there any questions about the  procedure that will follow to craft our monthly agendas Madam chair my question would be  um let's say that you know board members   one I want to thank you for doing this um and  and being responsive to this request um let's   say you know in those two weeks before  the meeting is happening the different   board members do have things that want to be  added to the agenda we of course are letting   the superintendent share the things that  he wants to report out on us how are final   decisions made on what the actual agenda will  be that we

013will discuss on day of like what   is that that look like procedurally  I'm sorry I'm not clear with what she said could you repeat that one I'm sorry yeah um  so if board members are making recomendations on   the agenda let's say we're having we're putting  the agenda together I recommend x uh uh board   uh member Edgar recommends C who how do we know  what's being included who makes the decision of   what's being included in that agenda is that  gonna be a vote by the entire committee or   is that a decision you're making just want some  more clarity on that well I think for the um our   first go around at this moment we'll have you'll  have a discussion with the uh superintendent and   we'll see how this all plays out it's a it's a  procedure

014that could be tweaked at a later dat   if you're not comfortable with it we we're we're  just responding to what was asked of us last year   so so um we put this procedure together as an  initial start should it not but should we not   be comfortable in the way it's working we can  change it does that answer your question warna   yeah that that answers it um seems like it's it  can evolve depending on how things go thank you   okay that's the conclusion of my report for this  month um if you have have any questions at a later   date please we feel free to call um we're going  to continue with the agenda with the approval of minutes um we have minutes from June  12th 2024 are there any admissions or Corrections it says here June

01527th I'm sorry jul it says June 27 not 24  June 12th no no no the first one oh   no you you said June 2 did I I'm sorry  so that's what I was highlighting okay   let's start again the minutes  of June 12th any emissions or Corrections could I have a motion to  to approve the June 12th 2024 meeting   minutes motion the mayor thank you second  second any discussion hearing none Maria   please call the rooll Dr dores Gala yes  Edgar DeLeon yes Arlene Garcia yes Juana Matias yes Maria Muller yes mayor Brian  De Pena yes CH Patricia Mariano yes the   next set of minutes are the minutes  of June 20th 2024 any omissions or Corrections could I have a motion to approve  thank you mayor second second thank you alen   any discussion hearing none Maria please 

016call the RO left abstained because I was absent Edgar DeLeon yes Arlene Garcia yes  Juana Matias yes Maria Muller yes mayor   Brian De Pena yes chair Patricia Mariano  yes we have um the minutes from July   8th 2024 any admissions or Corrections 27  oh I'm sorry June 27 2024 any omissions or Corrections could I have a motion to approve the   June 27th 2024 meeting minutes so move  thank you second the mayor any discussion hearing none Maria please call the RO  yes yes Arin Garcia yes Juana Matias   yes Maria Muller yes mayor Brian De  Pena yes chair Patricia Mariano yes   the minutes of July 8th 2024  any omissions or Corrections no okay um could I have a motion to  approve the July 88th 2024 minutes   so move thank you second second  any discussion hearing none Maria   please

017call the Dolores yes Edgar  Deleon yes Arlene Garcia yes Juana Matias yes Maria Muller yes yes mayor  Brian De Pena yes chair Patricia Mariano yes we have the minutes of  July 17th 2024 any omissions or Corrections could I have a motion to approve the   July 17th 2024 meeting minutes so  move who Maria Maria second second thank you alen any discussion  hearing none Maria please call   the Roll H yes Edgar DeLeon I abstained I  think I missed that one Arlene Garcia yes   Juana Matias yes Maria Muller yes  Brian Thea yes CH Patricia Mariano yes motions passed at this time I will turn the  meeting over to superintendent Carrero for his   reports thank you uh Madam chair members of  the board um welcome back to another school   year our school year uh started um several  weeks ago

018starting with uh our welcoming   back of staff that we had some days to do some  professional development accumulated with our   Friday activities on the 23rd when uh I felt  the impact of how large the Seventh District the   seventh largest district is of the Commonwealth  in terms of a public school in the gymnasium there   were approximately 25 to 2600 staff members and  if I can get them all to a football game I think   we won't lose a game uh but um we were uh we were  entertained um by our uh wonderful students from   the Performing Art Center who in one week the  returning students put together and choreographed   a wonderful uh musical which is in the Heights  uh that has been um recognized at the state level   and the uh local level and winning Awards um

019and  they will be performing with schedules coming out   in the fall uh I was I was greeted kindly with um  Madame cheer's um pom poms I still haven't asked   her if she was a cheerleader when she was in uh  high school so those are in my desk uh however   we had a wonderful uh uh afternoon of which uh I  was able to see um how many proud staff members we   have and I think that we were eagerly awaiting for  the start of the school year on Monday the 26th I   was able to get around to some of the schools and  some of the admin ad ministrative leadership team   divided up and went to all the schools uh and  I continue to be pleasantly surprised um by the   Staffing the dedication uh the Partnerships uh and 

020the overall Smiles of kids that just love being in   our buildings I would be remiss if I didn't say  that the mayor also joined us on um on the Friday   before opening day that gave us a wonderful  message that uh together Anything is Possible   so uh we're going to carry that out throughout  the uh the school year um but nonetheless uh   after Monday the following week September  3rd we had primary elections and you know   that our schools are closed um and the first  day for prek was Wednesday uh September 4th   so we are starting our first full week of school  uh this week um and I'm proud to report that um   schools have opened without any glitches kids are  coming to school odonis make sure that our buses   are running on time 100% not 40%

021like a big School  District 26 miles down the road um we haven't lost   any children I haven't gotten reports on how many  crying brand new preschoolers we have but I'm sure   that they're there um and we are at our best in  terms of staff in within the last four years I   think we're only down approximately 123 vacancies  um where we started at the beginning of the summer   months uh trying to recruit approximately 450  wow so the team has done a tremendous job at uh   fulfilling our classrooms and I know that one of  the things that the principles uh made sure that   they had even if they had vacancies that they had  a person capable and willing that understood our   kids in every classroom at the beginning of the  school year so the school year is

022off and running   and we're very proud of uh what we've accomplished  during the summertime and we look for an exciting   school year one of the things that I'd like  to do Madam chair is often when we are uh in   business of the public regarding schools is always  give opportunities for our Administration to be   recognized and talk to you about the wonderful  work that they do and if it wasn't for them the   work wouldn't get done along with our teaching and  supportive staff um while we were vacationing um   and that's a loose term in the summertime I guess  we had a lot of Summer programming going on and to   uh give you the highlights of our summer program  I'm going to ask for one of our administrators   Darissa Francisco she's the assistant director of  curriculum and

023instruction to give the highlights   of uh all the wonderful programs we had this  past summer hi good evening Darissa Francisco   um so today I will be providing an overview  of our summer uh programming just bringing it   back a little bit um but our our vision for our  summer programming to 20 summer 2024 um was to   provide opportunities for all of our students to  participate in grade level engaging and meaningful   educational programming all together um and our  program PR at a glance um we served um all of our   Stu all of our students districtwide and we had  three different programs um which consisted of   level up for our K through 8 and LHS Lawrence High  School students and level up is for our general   education students then we had our newcomer  program and our extended school

024year program   ESY um and some of our goals um per program um  for level up was to reduce learning loss um and   help our students um retain and work towards what  they've already learned um for K through 8 and uh   within the High School Credit Recovery um and  again more opportunities to learn new content   um our newcomer program um we served our uh  multilingual students or multilingual Learners   um and those we wanted to ensure that students  were that have newly entered our um school system   um received English English language development  continued English um development and then again   for our extended school year program um this  served our special education students and again   the goal is to or was to ensure that they uh that  we prevented any regression within their learning   and academics and then

025also continue working  on their Services as required um within their IEP and our programming our scale and locations  we had various locations um and we did um face a   lot of um well we had uh to transport our kids um  to host schools because we had a lot of remodeling   happening within um many of our schools in the  district and I do want to give a huge shout out   to our transportation team which helped to get our  students um to the schools we served over 2,500   students uh districtwide and there you can see  some of our numbers and the Staffing numbers as well and some highlights for the newcomer program  um we had Direct English language development um   daily specials uh such as PE and arts um students  had access to a bilingual uh uh

026literacy access   to bilingual books and within their curriculum um  included handson uh English uh oh sorry I can't   read that far I can't read that one um frames  for flu frames for fluency so sorry I'm wearing   glasses and I still can't see so terrible um with  a lined professional development for teachers um   and then we also had uh interventionist  avail aailable for uh their newcomer students and with level up um which served our  K through 8 students and high school programming   um within K through 8 our district purchase  standards aligned curriculum and reading math   and writing from I ready and this also included  professional learning uh professional development   opportunities for our teachers um during two  days um and then the high school um students um   partook in Credit Recovery opportunities um  and again additional instruction

027and for all   of our students there was a mix of academic  social emotional support and enrichment opportunities and highlights for our from our  extended school year programming esy uh there's   collaboration with Roman music therapy uh use  of grade band specific curriculum uh Visual and   communication supports and classroom materials I  also did want to mention that at a district level   these programs were uh facilitated by three um  different admins and so like I uh helped support   level uh level up in the high school and within  our newcomer program our district facilitator was   Jalissa Diclet and for our ESY program we had Leah  salaway from our students of uh office of student   Support Services um and so they also deserve all  the credit um in helping support planning um as   along with our teachers and facilitators and

028to  end it all it was it wasn't just all learning   we had um opportunities for fun as well and  so our students um were able to participate   in inclusive learning opportunities and so we  had both indoor uh events and opportunities for   outside field trips and some of our Partnerships  included animal Adventures uh reptile show of   New England um Museum of Science the uh Franklin  Park Zoo and Smolak Farms um and again other um   opportunities included uh specialist activities  such as Dance Art PE uh recess and lunch and we   had student delivered literacy sessions so our  students partook in storytelling singing um all   kinds of activities that um supported  their learning all together and thank you any members of the question questions sorry how does it compare to last year how many  um students were able

029to participate yeah so this   year we had I believe last year uh last summer  we had over a little over 3,000 students so this   year we had less um participating and we do um  we feel like there was some um some things that   could contributed contribute to that was the fact  that um many of our schools or the students host   um home schools were closed and so they did  have to we did have to do a lot of planning   um and Logistics around ensuring that they got  transported into their uh host schools and so   many parents decided to just opt out we did try  to make it as uh smooth and Swift as possible   transp excuse me Transportation uh but um we did  notice that there we' had less numbers of students   participate altogether but

030but not much difference  not much difference not much difference just a I   would say like maybe 300 less than La than the  previous year all right just checking remember   that uh this year's planning for summer school  was quite an undertaking because uh the facilities   team uh undertook major major revisions of of many  of our school buildings and those school buildings   that they were going to work on they couldn't  allow to have kids there so they had to arrange   for busing and move kids around the city and  sometimes parents didn't feel comfortable putting   them on buses across the city and what have you  so they opt it out the case when during the summer   um that's when facilities has to do their work  there not kids around but Shuffle make I think   Chris next year if

031there's any more Major Works  and he has kids around he's going to put them to work it's worth it thank you  any other questions for uh Miss Francisco I have a question but I think Juana  you might have had one first so I don't know   you want to go H my question was more for uh  the superintendent so you can go ahead Edgar   and then I'll go after you all right I I  and first off thank you to everyone that   that did the work for the summer I know it's  an an enormous undertaking especially those   with the transportation piece I I didn't  see the numbers so I apologize it might   have been very quickly but how many um of  our teachers and staff members actually   work during the summer yeah so you don't mind  going

032back to the slides um uh the scale of programming um So within our ESI uh esy program  we had six facilitators 43 teachers 141 Paras   and 18 um related Services providers um and  you can see there with the newcomer program   we had one facilitator um for the uh program  and 10 teachers one counselor two Specialists   and four Paras and then our biggest program  will includes level up and so we had 2,52   students 204 teachers ERS 27 facilitators and 27  counselors all together awesome thank you sorry I   couldn't see it no worries thank you were we sure  at any teachers uh in demand to cover programs no no actually qued before you go I just have one  more question especially about the newcomer   program because I know it's such um sensitive  population for us it's and

033I saw it in one of   the slides but what is the ultimate goal of that  of the summer program for newcomers um and how   do we if we do um see that the work that's being  done in the summer is actually working for that   population um so we so as part of the programming  all together we want to ensure that the kids   continue to or are if they're um continue to  introduce them to um English language development   opportunities all throughout um and within uh I  guess am I understanding your question corre uh   correctly like if there's additional tracking to  see if change uh if that's exactly why I I love   the fact that as a as a community and as a school  as school system we're we're investing in that   population given um the need

034I just wondering then  sort of how do we then know that our programming   is actually working and maybe the answer is  during the school year but I'm just wondering   if there's any tracking in terms of what that  actually what what services provide and and the   effectiveness of that yeah absolutely and um as I  mentioned before the facilitator um the district   facilitator for the newcomer program um is Jalissa  DEET and so um I'm definitely because I truly I   would love to give you um an accurate response to  the tracking piece and um unfortunately I don't   have the specifics as to how they're measuring  that right now but I can certainly follow up and   ensure that um we get that answer to you awesome  thank you so much thank you and again congrats   on the summer what

035was that I said again congrats  on the summer work that you oh thank you so much   thank you congrats to our teachers and all of our  staff too thank you thank you D if I may follow up   Madame chair to uh Mr DeLeon own's our question I  think that is a very important question and that   is how do we measure uh the gains that students  made in the summertime so one of the strategies   for English language Learners Mr de Leon is uh  research has proven that if you bring them in   during the summertime all the gains that they made  in learning the new language we can sustain it so   we don't have that much learning loss but it it  calls to your question how do we know that and we   will track these students so

036when their access  scores come out in the winter we will know if   they moved up a level but also at the beginning  of the school year right now when teachers are   doing their benchmarking for the beginning  of the school year we will also be able to   determine if there was any learning loss for our  ESL students and remember the vulnerability of   them is that they're going home to an environment  that they're speaking their native language so by   not practicing their second language there's the  danger of the learning loss so the Strate strategy   is to try to keep them engaged through school  and even though they're doing academics they're   also doing some enrichment also while they're  at the school but we definitely will track that   and I think that that's an important element to  determine if

037our summer programming uh programs   are effective okay thank you thank you for that  Clarity and I and I think you're right I think   eventually it plays out during the school year  but yeah just want to know so have so appreciate   um moving along Madam chair uh I think there Isa  mentioned um some of the programs and one of them   was the credit recovery that I had the opportunity  to participate uh at the end of the summer we had   an additional 54 students um complete their uh um  courses that were missing and uh completed and we   put together a wonderful graduation for them at  the Performing Art Center so I believe if I'm if I   if I'm not uh incorrect those 54 students that  completed in the summer uh add to our graduation   rates is that

038correct Victor okay so we to our  graduates we add another 54 um but aside from the   graduates we had approximately 240 participate  in credit recovery to try to keep them on par   with their with their regular class um and  that was a wonderful uh experience for them   um in terms of uh next slide um our nutritional  service program 83,000 meals to school aged   children over the summer in all of our feeding  programs uh fall Sports started at Lawrence High   School um football cross country boys and girls  soccer girls volleyball and obviously um we had   our first uh season Football opening game uh  this past uh Friday um and we welcomed our new   coach who is in Alum an alumni of Lawrence Public  Schools you might have remembered um Emilio colone   um he was part of

039that magic team back in the 90s  and uh you know they usually stick together so he   was able to um convince his his colleagues now  were former players um Mr concepion who was a a   receiver at Boston College and some of the other  individuals um and there's nothing more powerful   through our Sports programs when we have AUM that  resemble the community and were part of the school   to uh talk about what made them successful and  the fact that they're members of the community   our were kids in in in our sports program uh truly  look up to them so we're looking for a wonderful   um many years of his leadership on the football  field and his team um and uh what a wonderful   opportunity for his first year all of you are  welcome to our Thanksgiving

040game which will be   at Fenway Park this year my prediction is that  we will have more male parents at that game um   I don't know why but uh they'll be trying to get  in on the field and uh it'll probably the first   be the first time that they see a football game  something tell me tells me there'll be a lot of   cameras out by that green wall of pictures taken  so that's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving if   anyone's interested in in going to see the game  and we will be playing our uh sister team in the   City Central Catholic superintendent could I  interrupt you yes ma'am is there a possibility   to um acquire buses for families that would like  to go I think um Miss Hernandez and I tried to   Strongarm lightly our busing contract and

041we  asked them for those in kind contributions   and you can read my mind why I asked they  said of course we will participate uh in   providing services to the district so yes I think  that's a possibility great and we'll coordinate that um let me ask uh our assistant superintendent   Mr Acosta to come up to uh talk  about District enrollment and attendance as I mentioned uh earlier Madam  uh chair and members of the board um you   are responsible for the largest um High School  in the Commonwealth and I think that's a great   tremendous honor that means that we have a lot  of our kids uh attending High School welcome   Mr Acosta good even good evening my name  is j Acosta thank you for having us when   it come to enrollment this is something  that you know

042is ongoing all every day   um numbers changes every day and I I think  when we meet uh our biggest I'll call it the   uh Super Bowl of enrollment starts in May when we  start enrolling uh prek and K and then um at the   end of the school year I think it's June 24th we  start looking at middle school and uh elementary   and middle school I just want to thank Vector for  really giving us the opportunity to use the upper   school uh at the High School where we were able  to meet our families there at the oper calf and   it was amazing so I just want to give a shout out  to uh Folks at F FRC for really you know being   committed and really serving our families well  um so I can see the the

043numbers I just going to   put my glasses on here for one second so like I  said this changes every every day and um one of   the things that we look at is the trends as as  we look at last years and and the trends that we   see is not much uh the elementary school what  we notice is that although the total is 6,253   students uh grade four tend to stay uh as being  one of the largest with and one and what we also   notice is that between the Elementary School and  Middle School uh the trend is that we tend to uh   a lot of those students tend to mainstain in  the district uh so they don't move out um is   it because of the uh I'm pretty sure it's because  of the schools that they're

044in N schools um so as   we continue to to the high school uh we notice  that you know the high school right now um the   toural rollment is at 3,800 uh overall and one  of the highest enrollment piece here is the um   grade 12 which is at 1,7 um 1,75 students so the  trends are still there I I think that uh what we   try to do with the numbers that come in uh I  think Maria can talk to this is that we got to   make sure that as we assign students to the number  of schools and more students are coming in um some   schools do get filled so we got to look at other  uh schools neoral schools within the neighborhood   so we can assign students there um so um the  enrollment team has done

045a great job in making   sure that families are happy when it comes to uh  those types of um School changes you want to good   evening board thank you for having me my name is  Mario Ortiz and I'm the partnership director and   I oversee the enrollment as Mr aosta mentioned  right now we have aalen in enrollment we have   like a maybe five school already with some grades  Clos and then we need to have those conversation   with family um unfortunately the child has to  be assigned to the closest school um due to the   capacity at this at the grade um we have increased  right now I think the number for new enrollment it   is 1,141 I sound correct um there are new comment  coming from different cities is in another state   that's the total number of New

046Commerce um to  the city this year you have any question question Madam dores any questions superintendent Carrero  I had a question for you on some of the um uh some   of the previous data points that you mentioned  but they they have to do with enrollment as   well so you mentioned which I think is really  impressive we we had uh a need for 450 teachers   you guys were able to decrease that to today only  needing 123 teachers do we have empty classrooms   without teachers right now what is these 123  vacany need in our classrooms today and what   is the strategy for you and your team to ensure  that we are doing everything we can to recruit   high quality teachers to fill those vacancies so  that we're ensuring that you know we don't have   large classroom sizes

047ensuring that students  are getting taught what they need to and are   there things that you're considering that could  be really Innovative could we partner with the   city and do down payment assistance for people to  purchase a home like what incentive could we be   looking at to make sure that we have the workforce  in place so that our students are receiving the   education they need thank you Miss Matias I think  those are wonderful questions and I think that   that's those are strategies that we talk about uh  at our leadership ship uh meetings we do have our   uh director of diversity equity and inclusion um  who's a professional recruiter um partnering with   uh various of colleges that we have we track how  many vacancies that we have now although it sounds   like a like a lot uh

048I will tell you that all of  our schools all of our classrooms have an adult uh   professional uh and and that's key that doesn't  mean that a teacher but that means that they're   an experienced adult Prof professional that works  in that building some of those individuals will   be power professionals that have been trained  as we continue to um do what we can to recruit   I know that we use uh the various uh social media  uh websites um search engines to try to continue   to um recruit individuals but I find that one of  the strongest uh strategies that we have is comes   from our own network of individuals that we have  in the district of tapping into their network of   friends that are interested in coming to work for  the district unfortunately we lost the ability  

049to bring in uh non teers that have bachelor's  degree because of the fact that we can't this   year we can't hire emergency hires and work them  through to try to get become certified through the   Department of Education so I believe that that  has slowed the process down a little bit um but   we are continuing to try every means necessary  and I'm going to be prepared in the winter time   to bring forth some strategies for the board to  approve on looking to see how we can attract um   some new teachers um just just by informational  purposes next year we're we are ready to open   our two of our kindergarten programs to have  a full dual language program and in speaking   with the team I asked them if they knew what the  challenge was going to be

050of trying to recruit   for those types of programs and obviously the  biggest challenge is finding certified academic   content um stable and knowledgeable Spanish  teachers uh it's tough enough for us to find   professionals and bilingual teachers now imagine  trying to put together a dual language school   so one of the things and strategies that we are  talking about that we're going to address through   the Department of Education is perhaps the hh1  Visa program of trying to attract uh teachers   from other country that represent our kids to  try to fill some of those positions that's just   one of the strategies that we're talking about  obviously we're going to try to look to see how   we can recruit other teachers um that are just  coming out of uh college and again we're not just   interested in the teachers that

051are coming out  of the the teacher prep programs we're interested   in students that are coming out with psychology  degrees and let them know that there's there are   roles for them as counselors um sociology degrees  um but in order to try to attract a lot of these   individuals I think the time has come that we have  to have a conversation and look for grant funding   that we can attract uh individuals to come into  the teaching field um and that we can um partner   with them and perhaps paying for their tuition  um we have tuition reimbursement because we're a   distressed school district and after I think five  years teachers are eligible to apply but for after   being here for five years they're only eligible  for I think it's either $7,000 or $10,000 but   their tuition that they

052owe coming out of school  somewhere around $152,000 so putting together a   program through the benefits package that if  we have a teacher here and for each year that   they're teaching in Lawrence Public Schools if we  could put aside $20,000 after five years that's   $100,000 I think that's a very very attractive  package so those are the type of conversations   that we're starting to have preliminarily and we  want to talk to the Department of Education about   uh ways that we can incentify young people to come  into the teaching field but as I said you know   unless we raise salaries for teachers so that they  can make a decent wage you're not going to be able   to sustain the amount of individuals that need to  come into the teaching field unless you can make   it rewarding for them

053and one of the areas that I  think that we can do that is help individuals that   if you're asking them to come into teaching that  we can support them through tuition reimbursement   so those are a couple of the ideas and I know that  there'll be more and I know that you're a person   that uh is is a thinker and if you have ideas  and strategies we would love to hear them also   I hope I was able to answer your question just  no that was great and I appreciate the fact that   you're you have this as a priority um and would  love kind of talk offline I think you know loss   of housing has become one of the biggest burdens  right it's like the policy issue are there way for   us to look at City dollars

054get the receipt from  the Department of Housing and Urban Development   and leverage that as an incentive to say you  come and live and work and teach and Lauren   we're going to help you become a homeowner right  that that helps build generation of wealth so just   anything that we can be thinking about outside the  box I think it' be great for a year from now for   to say we continue to tackle you know the need  for teachers and meeting our Workforce needs I   just appreciate what you're doing when it comes to  that and having to support offline in any way 10   my other question was in terms of sports um so  I thought we had like soccer football you know   didn't notice track are there sports that were  not offering and could be offering you know

055one   of the things that I mentioned to you is you  know I don't ever want to see us not use our   budget like the most disturbing thing to me would  be that we end the year with not fully utilizing   every dollar that we have of course strategically  and intentionally in a way that's leading student   academic growth and enrichment but when we think  about our sports team could we be doing more we   bringing on sports that we don't have and what  is your outlook on that for the Academic Year   and and just not just sports but arts and and  and other enrichment opportunities that give   our students a full experience of of what it  is to kind of know their talents um I didn't   catch all of it um Miss Matias but uh I think the 

056pieces that I that I did cover of expanding Sports   and enrichment opportunities um one of the unique  uh advantages that we have through uh all of our   schools is that teachers and the leadership  teams there have the flexibility of creating   enrichment opportunities for Unique populations  that we have and I think that that's important um   that we're able to expand and make sure that we're  trying to uh incorporate as many opportunities for   our kids and families that are interested in  participating within our programs and I think   that it's important that we do that and one  of the ways that we do that I know is that uh   our schools put out surveys uh toward the end of  the year uh that uh we collect from our families   and ask those type of questions what type  of

057enrichment programs are they looking for   for their kids and sports programs so um I  hope that we will continue with the budgets   that we have that we can afford and expand  opportunities for all our students at all grade levels thank all right thank you I wanted  to mention Madam chair that um um 125 more   kindergarten students would be a thousand 32 more  second graders would be a thousand 14 more third   graders would be a thousand uh 14 more third  graders would be a thousand right yeah and 32   more second graders would be a thousand it seems  as if uh you mentioned earlier that some of our   school buildings are now closed okay that's  correct so my question question is if we're   going to move kids beyond their neighborhood area  that would then trigger busing is

058that correct   absolutely that's why we try to figure out there  less than a mile because if the family has to walk   more than a mile the school district has to offer  Transportation thank you any questions regarding   enrollment Madam chair yes I have a question um  Jerry and Maria can you share with me um some of   the strategies you're using for the October  one report The Sims so right now what we're   trying to do is making sure that schools are  tracking those students that are not showing up   and starting to clean up their roster um because  I think that's one of the challenges that we have   uh that um either we don't track them and then  when it comes Samson is close then that can come   back to us and hit us with desie uh so

059I think  communicating with uh schools and also uh with   us in our department could you estimate how many  children we haven't made contact with I don't have   that now share but I I could definitely go back  and get that for you thank you just one piece on   the enrollment I they're coming they're here but  one of the pieces that we we look at as we monitor   or the enrollment is also attendance and students  are coming in into schools so at the elementary   middle school we are 94% if not higher so schools  are doing what they need to do making sure that uh   they have welcoming environment into the schools  and students are showing up and so I'm pretty   sure uh the high school doing the same so not only  the numbers going up but students

060are coming into   school that that's what we want well I know it's  an a arduous task to try to um find these kids   especially if they've enrolled in private schools  and trying to get the documentation and everything um I'm I'm trying to think uh do you foresee the  number of students that we can't find more than   last year if that makes sense it does I just  just need to look go back and look at the data   from last year and see like I said I'll I'll look  at those and then I'll definitely get back to you   on that thank you thank you I do have to say that  I didn't see too much like last year from school   requesting support from the attendance officer  um to try to locate those student so at least   um

061a school is doing everything to um get that  information from a different District or from   the family so they are working on it to try to  track all those student is there are no attending   school thank you may I ask a question I because  I didn't I didn't hear Madame chairwoman's first   question it was in and out in my computer but I  I know that where are we compared to the last few   years um in terms of enrollment I I know we had  the discussion I believe in the beginning of last   year where just general concern about the rate of  which our population is is growing and and the way   and the rate in which we can provide services for  them um and I know this is not one that you guys   can solve but

062uh do we know do we get a sense  in terms of where are we with enrollment this   year in September as opposed to where we were  last year in September um and oh I see it right   now thank you so much so yeah I'm sorry not much  we're yeah not much okay awesome thank you what   does this mean for classroom size do we have  like a mediate average of how many students we   have classroom per teacher that's a good question  because that was going to be my followup thank you   H the was the justce the average the average  I believe we're somewhere around 25 in the   Elementary grades yeah yeah 2 20 25 to 28 we  have I hope we haven't reached the 30 or 32 no   that's where we uh we then we'll have

063to meet and  figure out something so it's it's it's averaging   about 25 uh from kindergarten through 8th grade  uh Mr Deleon in high school uh no not high school   high school's a little bit different High School  look into 28 average class size class size yeah 28 28 how do we compare to the rest of State when  it comes to those numbers how do we compare to   the state is that the question yeah when it  comes to average pass size well considering   considering the fact that um we have the largest  High School population um in the state I would   tend to think that the trend is that we probably  have a higher student teacher ratio at the high   school level than uh your average uh High  School I would tend to think that the at   that

064the average high schools is anywhere from 21  to 23 uh per teacher at the high school level but   obviously I was with the with the size of uh our  classes and and and the increasing that increases   that we've had it's up around uh the numbers  that Mr Carol B just said which is about 28 to1 any other questions I did want to mention I did want to  mention Madam chair that um uh in in spite of   the uh enrollment and and you've asked questions  and board members have asked questions of trying   to find out how many kids are still out there  one of the unique Services through grants that   we see we received this year is uh we were able  to bring on Jerry 26 27 uh homeless liaisons 27   27 uh each one of

065them assign to schools so their  work with apparently liaison and the teams within   the school and the partnership that they have with  the nonprofits that are working with the homeless   population we're able to identify those children  and provide the services to make sure that we're   able to bring them to school and provide all of  the services uh that they would need in a house   did this fall under the mckenny vento money that  we got yeah we worked very close with the mckenny   vento but this is in regard to the AOA Grant  and so we were able to um be able to get 27 of   those school-based Specialists uh and they were  assigned to specific you know not every school in   the district I'm sorry j Jerry I think the the the  chairwoman is requ uh

066speaking about the recent   $30,000 that we that was through the mckenny vento  and that will be used to supply the 15 um centers   right so we we have Katie's Closet in around  17 uh schools kati's closet basically is is is   a room where we have uniforms uh jacket coats  uh for students who back Bo boot bags that for   families that are very humble or they're in need  or anything like that so uh those $30,000 we use   to to do that fund those uh supplies for those  particular room how many um identified homeless   families do we have currently in the district  right now we over 375 families that we know   homeless y in the 30,000 in the district far yeah  no it won't go that far no correct and one second   these are the one that

067we know yeah so uh Although  our numbers increase and we welcome families we   also have challenges but we We Believe we have  a plan to uh work and making sure that we can   identify those families um and provide the  services that are needed within our schools   thank you um quick question when we look at our uh  absentee rate um are you guys able to like create   a profile of this student like like okay it's an  immigrant student it's an English language learner   student it's a student who's homeless right  and has housing instability like what do you   be able to break down when you look at your 5%  of students who who were seeing um f&t ISM from   like what their profile is and and do you and  is there like a targeted approach in terms

068of   like how we create some stability and getting them  into school um your point is well taken obviously   we can track students whichever way we we we want  because of their identification number and I think   that that's an important strategy that we do so  so if we see an uptick in a particular population   we can now um update or um look at the type of  strategies that would be effective with those I   think the the challenge that we are going to have  this year is with our homeless population um when   you're dealing with the homeless family they leave  us on a Friday it's going to be important that   through our partnership agencies they're able to  connect with them for food and whatever have you   on Saturday and Sunday or else on Monday morning  our attendance

069officers and our our homeless   liaisons on are going to be out there trying to  track them down because they probably are not in   the same address that they left us on Friday  so we recognize that that is a challenge for   us but I think the attendance officers and the  parent liaisons that we have in all of our k-8   a buildings have a tremendous relationship with  the current Janet students and ELL students and   special ed students through our family Outreach  programs that they know ahead of time if there any   crisis happening or if there's any uh situation  that's not going to allow for our kids to come to   school I think you heard one of our administrators  said that since the beginning of the school year   we're seeing attendance at an attendance rate of  an average

070of at least 94% which is tremendous   for the beginning of the school year but we are  prepared to track those individuals and we will   be able to create the strategies for uh making  sure that we make those adjust adjustments thank you all right thank you thank you thank you moving  on Transportation yes uh Transportation update   uh Miss odanis Hernandez who um has written  probably every bus not this year but she has   written every bus good evening board members thank  you superintendent yeah so we're very excited we   are transporting over 3,500 students um our bulk  of transportation is for our high school students   we are transporting over 2400 students um that  live in the North side of the city to our high   school about a thousand are special education  students about 140 are our Mckenny vento

071/ Foster   students and then we have out district and then  we also transfer parocio and what we do is we work   closely with families we work closely with um our  department um at central office and at other the   school level to ensure that transportation is  on top time that our students are being picked   up and are being dropped off you know we we Face  different challenges traffic in the city um and   all those different things but we you know we  do a pretty good job at communicating we have a   great relationship with with our transportation  vendor and we have um strength our relationship   with our private transportation providers as  well any questions thoughts we monitor the the   stops uh you know we we went out there the first  couple of weeks weeks of school the

072first couple   of days of school to monitor our high school  routs um and also like I said we receive phone   calls I'm like with some of our parents I'm on  texting um communication with them around my bus   hasn't arrived and when we usually reach out to  nrt they provide the information that we require put on your the mic you don't have a track systemes no that's a actually really good question  we are working with superintendent who brought   that up um we the all of our buses have video and  have GPS systems but we do not have a tracking or   a parent app but we are working um in exploring  that I understand that you you know we've heard   from some families that have some students in in  different you know other a charter or different  

073District that come over to our city um and they  express how beneficial that is our struggle and   our challenge is the amount of students  that we're transporting and the mobility   of our students um also plays a factor but we are  working with um our vendor to explore an app that   will facilitate that and provide that kind of  ease for families thank you sure thank you that   certainly will alleviate a lot of headaches um  any other questions Madam chair from board members Transportation not at this point doesn't  look it thank you the only thing I heard   was that odanis was singing The Wheels  On The Bus every morning oh yes I heard   that rumor I've read in the bus when you  know when we have some this reggulator St   to facility and support um you name

074it we're here  to support our families and our and our our staff   and you do thank you thank you uh next up is  our human resources update um please welcome   our executive director for human resources uh liiz  Beth Gonzalez good evening to all my name is lbth   Gonzalez and I join Lawrence Public Schools in  February as the ex ex cutive director for human   capital overseeing human resource uh this hiring  season the human resource team has on boarded   close to 300 employees um and is still continuing  to recruit for the vacancies that we have as you   heard from superintendent carrer that number of  vacancies continues to go down because that's our   work the slides here says 141 but we're now down  to one 123 those that are teaching and student   facing positions so we continue to

075you know try  to offer uh incentives such as the onetime sign   on bonus to new full-time permanent employees to  try to attract more people um we hosted the new   teacher orientation this year which was attended  by 193 uh teachers and we provided training for   them as well as provided them with a laptop so  that they could be ready for first day of school   and as we uh heard from superintendent Carrero  of our all staff opening day was a success you   know it was very well attended and the student  performances provided a lot of energy at that day questions anything you'd  like to add superintendent   oh no you guys are letting uh Miss Gonzalez off easy I have a question what would you say uh  is the percentage of uh bilingual or or Latinos   who are

076coming in or that are already in place  so we're currently trying to track the data we   know how important it is so we have used uh data  from Desi data from Desi includes uh all staff   so it doesn't break it down by teacher uh I'm  currently now working internal to break break   that information down so that we can uh not only  track it by teacher versus student ratio but also   making sure that we go down to the school levels  because we know that some schools might be doing   better than others so we want to make sure that we  don't have an ask or provide information that says   this is your uh your ratio but in reality that's  not an accurate picture for the whole uh for all   the schools uh so we want to make

077sure that we go  to those extreme than the average has been one of   the phrases that we have heard this school year  so we want to make sure that we are providing   that specific information to school so that we  can know how hard we have to work to get that as   close you know uh to either a 5050 Ratio or as  close as we can to make sure that our staff is   representing the students we serve we do we do  have a team uh Madam chair through you uh miss   khif that will be participating in uh year long  Workshop that's provided by the department of uh   of education on helping to develop both strategies  and programming for uh non-traditional recruitment   uh particularly uh for minority staff members  um and like other school districts we we

078have   that challenge of trying to figure out what are  some of the strategies that will be successful in   attracting um minority predominant ly Hispanic  speaking uh teachers but I think that we are   making uh ways on it and uh if you have no other  questions for uh Miss Gonzalez it's a good segue   into um our diversity equity and inclusion uh  program that we have I have a quick question uh   superintendent for Miss Gonzalez for you madam  chair um I know recruitment is hard and it's   great that you guys are continuing to tackle that  123 number one thing is Recruitment and and then   the other thing is um retaining those employees  like what strategies are we thinking of doing   throughout the years what surveys are we going  to do to understand where teachers are at what  

079they would like to see so that we're at like all  of the training that's going in into bringing in   new people we can actually retain um down the line  any thought given to that yes and that was why I   wanted to jump into uh our diversity equity and  inclusion um program that uh we launched um this   past year um if you would go to the next slide  you can stay up there Elizabeth if you can go   to the next slide um Dave because um um our um  executive director for diversity inclusion and   Equity couldn't make it tonight who is uh glennice  uh Sanchez but she works hand inand and her office   is located in uh HR um she has been instrumental  at putting together um three programs um that   helps our current minority population the

080first  the first one where you see their their uh their   launch party uh is uh aspiring administrators  um so those are folks that are employed here   in our district and are uh participating in the  University of Massachusetts um masters of public   administration program and that's very promising  program over 80% of the uh participants are of   minority status predominantly Hispanic uh the  other one is our power professionals to try to put   them on Route toward obtaining their uh bachelor's  degree with hopes of them continuing to support   them to get um their um teacher certification  and I know that this past spring we graduated   I think it was about 20 power professionals  that were in our uh partnership with Northern   Essex so from inhouse we are doing a decent job  at creating and providing opportunities for our  

081staff that we have across our district to let  them know that we support them and we want them   to move up into more responsible roles whether  it's Administration or whether it's teaching um   and obviously working full-time time having  a family uh and some of the other uh um life   experiences and responsibilities it takes a little  bit of time so working with those individuals to   make sure that we can craft the programs  that includes perhaps Saturday and Sundays   and taking one class at a time and providing that  support we're seeing um a lot of benefits to that   and across the three programs over 80% as I said  uh are all our members of our staff that are of   of minority descent so I think that that's a  promising one and that's why I say I think

082that   I'd like to have more conversations with the  Department of Education of creating incentives   and and expanding those opportunities of how  we can offer that immediately in terms of a   strategy through our benefits package for  recruiting more uh folks of diversity and inclusion questions Madam chair no I  don't see any questions Madam chair   through you what is our turnover rate  could we uh for last year what did our   turnover rate look look like for teachers  interesting Les Beth do we know that number board memb saying wasn't it 177% I don't   I don't so I don't I haven't had  the opportunity to delve in there we don't not a problem we could discuss it offline  or later but it'd be great to you know for this   year to have a strategy of like you know let's 

083let's look at at that turnover rate let's gauge   what's leading to that turnover rate and if there  interventions that could be had to retain quality   not just anybody I believe in Quality quality  employees um just to keep that kind of top of mind   and and just tracking that because again that just  goes back to every summer your hiring need as well   we we will get that information to you I think  that that's important and I do uh believe that   uh your points are well taken um if we know why  they're leaving we can then try to rectify that   by offsetting that with with the reasons they're  leaving and creating opportunities and support   for those particular areas that's an excellent  strategy and and we will look into that but I   I think if we had 177%

084um what when I first came  in and I looked at the numbers um let's remember   that although we had close to 500 openings of  vacancies of those 500 125 were new positions   okay so the district had expanded and obviously  those numbers are in there because we need to   fill those those positions also but we'll get  back to you on that U Miss Matias I think that's   a great question question thank you and and great  to know that 125 of those are new position wasn't   aware about that thank you I have a question  so in listening to what you just said uh when   someone leaves you you do like an exit interview  right um I would like to say that that is a good   practice I don't know if that's the case she's  nodding her head

085so is that yes we do an exit interview so we do an exit  interview but it's still paper ah so so in order to transfer that into a  data compile right that tells us you know   what are some of the main issues that uh  they are presenting that is accurate so   it's currently a PDF paper form that needs to be  translated into a Google uh survey so that we can   actually see the data live and have cumulative  data easily so that we can use it to strategize   you know why people are leaving and and put  strategies to retain them before they leave   I think that would be useful yes to um connect  between what what has been done by Glenn East   and and then your work and all combined absolutely  and of course the incentives

086that you were talking   about too one of our priorities thank you  thank you moving on Madam chair yes moving on   facilities update we have the best facilities  director I say in the state certainly one of   the longest serving I think he started at 17  no he didn't start at 17 years old years old   I had him in school when he was 17 correct good  evening uh board members my name is Chris Marino   director of facilities for the Lawrence Public  Schools we can start the video Dave if you don't mind let's get down let's get down business  so uh superintendent on day eight of his   job he called me and said let's do some school  visits come to find out that day we did 10.1 mil   of school visits inside Space he seen from the  fourth

087floor of a custodial closet to the basement   in a boiler room that day was a long day now I  know to leave my sneakers in my car HVAC boiler   upgrades all and HVAC complete replacement of all  class unit ventilators common area air handlers   Chiller and controllers Leonard School Lawlor  school Tarbox school boiler replacement Hennessey   School border the replacement and also added air  condition to the location north common education   complex eight existing rooftop units removed and  replace with new units upgraded the control system   added split units with air condition and heat  pumps in the library and kitchen area Parthum   HVAC new Chiller building pumps frequency drives  and valves South Lawrence East HVAC replace all   existing classroom unit ventilators and upgrade  the controls Bruce school now has air condition   all classrooms unit ventilators replaced with  added air

088conditioning and heat in all classrooms playgrounds Lawler Rollins  Hennessy and Arlington all   have rubber added playgrounds  Arlington and Lawler School Roofing Leonard Tarbox School roof  replacement complete removal of   all Roofing flashing Edge metal replaced by all new concrete Frost School removal of exist  existing concrete at front of the building   and replace with new work also included safety  Ballers drainer system and some additional parking beautiful painting Guilmentte School in is  painting all interior including classrooms   office hallways gym and Auditorium  have been painted many other schools   also got painted during the summer with  the custodial staff and I'd like to give   special thanks to the custodial staff  and the DPW for working collaboratively   with us and getting these schools ready  for summer and make them look like they are fire line upgrades Allon School South  AR CE

089complete replacement entire fire   alarm system including all components  such as beacons strobes pool stations   amplifiers and call out radio new Fire  Systems when they go off Madam chair   tells everyone to disperse out of the  um building in both English and Spanish okay electrical upgrades Lawrence  Family Academy North Carman Tarbox   Breen Rollins this allows us to  have portable air conditions in all classrooms gym floors South  orang East Gilt Leonard gym   floor refurbishing complete sanding down  to original flooring with some flooring   replacement at the lard School reigning  and finishing all the lines at all three schools bathroom petitions Guilmette  school replacement of all bathroom   politicians and staff and student bathrooms that's it in 10 weeks there you go there good job I guess that's why  our numbers were down for summer school because   many places were closed

090like superintendent  mentions Chris I've um from on a personal note   in all the years that I've been part of this  District I've never seen that much work done   over a summer um you're correct schools thanks  TOA funds local funds that's correct it was a   very busy summer but we were able to pull it  off and uh thanks to everybody who pitched in   Chris are all our schools and classrooms air  conditioned now we're at 95% air condition um   we have the old high school that we're working  with the North Common education complex we did   the fourth floor like mentioned uh and the  first floor so we next we'll be working on   the third and second floor to upgrade those  electrical outlets and classrooms and hopefully   get portable air conditions there next summer  so one of the

091challenges that we have Madam   chair members of the board with the older  buildings and putting air conditioning units   in all the classrooms is upgrading the electrical  to make sure that the amperage um Can exactly take   it we've already ran into that to a building that  we haven't even opened yet right um yes so I think   that uh um we have one of the projects that we  have left is uh is the North Common complex and   and Chris was meeting with me uh this morning and  I think we've secured the funds already for next   next year that's correct um through uh the Grants  Department finance and odanis did a grant for $4.5   million for the north common education complex  to put all new windows next summer there's only   we'll be talking about only 575 Windows there 

092uh that's correct 575 windows so we're going to   do it in two phases phase one will be the front  part of the building phase two will be the second   um back section of the building Chris I have a  question about the Wetherbee yes um there's a   park in the back I think the Wetherbee school  was using has that been re refurbished restored   or whatever word you'd like to use yes we um  about two years ago we put a new playground   back there and a walking Track all right so  that that area is taken care of yes thank   you yeah we're making great strides there's  still a lot of work to do but we're getting   there you certainly are congrats Chris you and  your staff on the work you've done it's awesome   thank you our buildings

093are starting to look  like uh classic cars and there's nothing wrong   with driving an expensive classic car but uh  people will be surprise uh Madam chair and mayor   when they visit our schools um they have a lot of  character there's and you could tell that there's   a lot of love that's gone into them um all of our  neighborhood schools are are really looking nice   they probably look the best that they've ever  looked since Wow since I started' 92 we've made   a lot of Headway oh yes yeah we're we're close  we're not finished but we're close we're getting   there so um the good thing is that I think  that because of the heating systems and the   air conditioning systems the environment inside  the schools are are conducive for Learning and   teaching and staff will be comfortable

094and kids  will be comfortable um gone to the days that we   have to shut school because it's too hot and  we don't have air conditioning or God forbid   that we have to shut down in the winter months  because there's not enough heating so thank you   Chris thank you um last but not least we also  uh through Chris's work but I'm going to have   um our Headmaster of the uh High School come on  up to talk about new um uh High School uh campus   weapons detection system and the foer redesign  that was uh done welcome uh Mr uh carob Balo   good evening thank you superintendent for that uh  introduction board members is always a pleasure   to be here and again just to have this wonderful  opportunity to talk about the high school uh with   me tonight

095too is Mindy Richardson I mean she's  gonna she can officially introduce herself but   um what Mindy represents is the spirit of the  work that we're doing at the high school which   is a very collaborative Spirit it is the power of  community is it is the power of working working   together to get things done and also emphasizes  the idea of why process in protocol is important   whenever we're implementing initiatives so mind if  you can just introduce yourself my name is Mindy   Richardson and I'm a ninth grade world history  teacher um at Lawrence High School and I also   serve as the first vice president of our Lawrence  teachers union it's always tough to present right   after Chris and those that wonderful video and  those wonderful news but I'm going to keep sharing   the good news I always

096like the opportunity  to share great news when it comes to the high   school uh we were talking about attendance we're  at 95% uh grad rate I did some Premier some uh   calculations right now we're looking at 91% we  have engaged over 1500 families before the school   year started and right now we're looking at some  preliminary preliminary numbers and we're looking   at 1.66 when it comes to the dropout rate data is  important we had a strong start to our school year   and when it comes to safety uh safety has played  an a very important role when it comes to these   metrics and over years as you know historically  the high school particularly here in Lawrence uh   safety has been a a concern and so what all of  these initiatives that I'm going to talk about   uh

097will highlight is how safety in a way is  supporting the engagement of our parents that   belief of our parents the support of our families  and when it comes comes down to it a greater a   greater learning environment and a Better Learning  environment for students so the first thing that I   would like to address that you're going to see at  the bottom right is the foyer which is a vesu and   the idea behind that um so this project started  in 2021 and it was part of an assessment by the   Lawrence Police Department in terms of safety and  the conclusion of that study was that we needed to   find a better way to secure the building it was  simply too open anyone could walk in through the   main door and have access to 1300 students  who are

098eating lunch and so that assessment   was produced and as a result we started having a  conversation and due to the funding we were able   then to start this project this project started  during the summer it was built in record time   what makes this structure special too is that it  is bullet resistant and it does have a key card   system that will only allow School Personnel to  have access to the cafeteria and so you know due   to recent and Unfortunate Events this structure  highlights the importance of um having these kind   of systems in our schools particularly at the  campus which you know uh in terms of current   enrollment we're looking at 3600 kids the other  um the other feature that I would like to place   emphasis on which is going to be a big part of 

099the presentation is the metal detection system   or the weapons detection system and I think  what's important to highlight is the spirit of   it and so what we wanted to ensure is that kids  felt that they were going to school that it is   truly a learning environment that it is balanced  but that it is also safe and so in that Spirit we   wanted to ensure that we engage all stakeholders  to ensure that their input was taken into account   and that it was a decision that really took uh  their opinion in uh uh their opinion and and to   put it at the center of this initiative so one of  the things that I would like to highlight is we   started having conversations about um this metal  detection system in January uh during that month   we started uh

100engaging students I engaged the  student government from both Avid and uh Lawrence   High School uh we engaged parents and part of it  was what is your input how do you feel about uh   the system and then we also uh engage our staff  particularly our uh leadership uh Team the TLT   so I would just like to extend the opportunity for  Mindy to talk a little bit about what the process   was like and how did we get to the point in which  we decided that this was a good idea for the campus the teacher leadership team is um an  item that is part of our Lawrence Teachers Union   contract and it exists in all of our schools  across the district but at the campus you can   imagine imagine it's it's larger because we have  so many schools

101Under One Roof at the campus so um   since Victor has come to the campus as our a head  leader we have expanded our teacher leadership   team to really unite all of theems that are on  the campus into one 9 through 12 school yes we   still have Abbot Lawrence um and um unitos but we  we try to operate as one Traditional High School   so we have teach teachers that represent all the  different campuses that meet on teacher leadership   team um and um we the Lawrence teachers union  um also very much supports this process across   the district but we talk and we bring issues on  the monthly agenda um Victor and I we meet and   we set the agenda um his um his administration  can add things to the agenda all the teachers   across campus can go

102through their Union rep and  add things to the agenda and then we we meet and   we we collaboratively put together an agenda and  security definitely it has been on the agenda in   previous years but definitely last year security  came back to our agenda and this isn't a Lawrence   High School concern it's a concern across the  country but we wanted the the talk was after   a campus meeting bringing it back to the teacher  leadership team we wanted security we don't want   to we wanted to be proactive instead of being in  shock and wishing we had have thought of things   to do so that's where this um the idea um came  to to bring more security um to our very large   campus um and we got to the metal detectors we  also um a great amount of

103improvement went into   our um cameras across the campus as well um and  we've talked about um drop off and pickup a lot   of things went into that process when we were  talking about security metal detectors are one   piece of it thank you Mindy for um sharing that  I think it's important too to just um if you look   into the photograph that is at the very top uh the  metal detectors themselves are very low profile   right again we don't want kids to experience the  whole TSA experience every time they enter school   and the idea behind it is as students enter the  building the only thing that we ask is for them to   take out the Chromebooks and that's it you don't  have to take your Coat you can just walk through   the metal detectors and the

104Machine focuses on two  things primarily guns and knives okay we can also   uh you know add other things that we would like  to focus on for example Vapes uh the end result   has been extraordinary uh you know vaping is  an epidemic across all high schools junior   high schools across the country uh as of of now  I can just tell you I just have one incident on record because students are just not simply  bringing any Vapes to school anymore it's not   an issue at the high school when it comes to  safety I don't have one incident on record to   date of any safety concern of any discipline that  has been issued to any student at Lawrence High   School so the impact of the vest the impact of  the cameras the impact of uh the metal detectors  

105and the collaborative Spirit of it having all  these stakeholders engaging and supporting this   has had a a tremendous effect when it comes to our  campus community and just our learning environment   overall so I'm very proud of this initiative  I fully support it uh and we continue to make   improvements just to keep our kids safe you know  just as many stated we're just being proactive   and it's critical for us to maintain maintaining  that kind of spirit because at the end of the day   schools have evolved from what they used to be  to what they are now and it's just a new reality   that we're facing and it's important for all staff  members to feel safe for students to feel safe uh   I'm getting actually a lot of emails/communication  from families who are celebrating this we're   very

106happy that this is in place I haven't  received one email today from any family   who has a complaint when it comes to this  initiative so we're very proud of that uh   and at the same time I just think that you know  uh this in a sense will serve as an example for   a lot of neighboring schools in terms of what they  can do to improve sa safety matter of fact I have   Brockton High School who's going to be coming  in in about two to three weeks to see what we   do and how we go about it in order for us to  ensure that things are safe at Lawrence High School questions Madam chair I have one question um Victor can students put pebbles in the doorways  and keep them a jar while they run off

107and then   come back they can but we have 286 cameras in  that building with the ability to be able to track   movement and so when you open that door a lot of  our doors are also alarmed and so there's a loud   sound that goes through those doors and students  just don't simply open it so what happens when a   door has a pebble on it do you have a camera that  so if you open that door first of all you got   to find a door that is not alarmed and the ones  that are not alarmed are in centralized locations   so when you open the door you're going to hear a  loud alarm that's one but if it's not alarmed once   you do it and we detect that movement the camera  sends a notification that a door

108is being opened   and then the way that we have things set up at  the campus is we have a safety officer that is   assigned to each of the buildings and they  just manage the cameras within that specific   building and so we're able to have a response  very quickly okay thank you any other questions   of the board I never thought of that pebbles  in the door I I have a question so guilty is   this only a specific for the high schools  how about in the middle school there's no   no not these precautions no but there but  there are school resource officers assigned   to each of the elementary schools okay but we  do we do not have in place uh metal detection   systems in the in the schools um do we have uh  cameras in all of

109our schools do we know Chris   odanis do we have cameras aside from the okay  there he is Mr Hernandez aside from the high school good evening um yes we do so there  are cameras at all of our schools correct   and a school resource officer we have a  safety officer in every school building   yes um and we have six Sro for the district  I'm sorry yes the SRO are the uh uh police   officer officers but we do have safety  offices in the all of the elementary   but we do not have metal detection  systems in the elementary buildings correct through you madam chair my question would  be um in addition to to the system that has been   placed and appreciate the thought and effort um  if there were ever an emergency have we trained   teachers and students

110on protocol yes we we  have um when it comes to this process one of   the first things that we do at the high school  level is to ensure that we practice both uh an   active shooter and a lockdown protocol um so  we do that with all staff members prior to   the start of the school year and they're already  scheduled um for the between for the first month   of this year and so the idea is that we do a  practice run with Staff first and as students   arrive and they get accustomed to the schedule  and everything else we do another practice uh   run with the students and that's part of our our  safety plan that's part of our Pro protocol that   is already established through our uh Security  Department uh Miss Matias and in conjunction   with

111the police department all school buildings  through their principles are required to submit   a uh safety plan and I believe that those are  due now like the Monday they due Monday um   and Mr Hernandez along with Sergeant Caraballo  will go through them um one of the one of the   drills that they also all schools practice aside  from you know fire drills and what have you is   is their new safety protocols for active shooters  or crisis planning um and I think that those have   been updated uh as of last year with the and  I forgot what the name of it is do we Alice H   somebody works at schools over there the Alice  program so um it's the new it's the new system   that they have in Protocols of uh articulating  to staff and students what their

112responses are   supposed to be in case there's a a active shooter  lockdown uh crisis that's happening in any of the   buildings great thank you so much I actually had  a a quick question for Mr Caraballo about I know   I know we talked a little bit about the union and  their role in this and you mentioned quickly about   Student Government representatives and their uh  engaging them what was their response in terms of   this change because it actually is a cultural  change to the to the institution I think for   them I'm going to be very honest with you in the  beginning when we introduced it they were like   what wait a minute let's talk about process what  is this going to look like right what is going to   be my daily experience and so one of the

113things  that um I was able to do with them was just to   show them a video a PowerPoint and I took them  through the process then after that they were   just excited being Frank with you I just think  that you know when it comes to them they were   they were they they knew the rationale behind it  they know that reality of schools and uh because   the system is so seamless I mean we're able to get  3,600 kids inside of a school on time without any   hiccups and so for them I think the ability  just to pretty much keep all of their stuff   on their bodies and not having to go through  what I call a TSA experience uh it's really   valuable and so they appreciate it um and I think  a testament of that too

114is whenever we have you   know uh high school shooting or middle school  shooting or an elementary school shooting we   usually get an array of phone calls from families  we get emails from students who are concerns who   are asking hey what what are we doing you know  to support safety measures within the school I   didn't get any of those calls I didn't get any  of those emails which tells me that students and   families feel strongly about the current system  that we have and they trust it Mr uh Deleon I   also want to uh congratulate uh Mr Caraballo and  our security team um with the implementation of   the um metal detectors uh Victor mentioned that  we didn't have any issues and no students were   late getting to class um at the same time  Brockton I believe tried

115to Institute metal   detectors and there was like a three-hour wait of  students outside trying to get into the building   um that leads to why process information and  planning and communication it's so important   and I think um Miss Richardson alluded to that on  the TT teams and their their coordinated efforts   of communication planning and discussing  how these things happen so to put a system   like that in place and engage students and and I  want to say also I think uh Victor had mentioned   we had uh soft um openings in April yes that we  sporadically put some of the metal detectors out   there correct so a lot of the training happened in  February Academy with smaller numbers then those   numbers continue to increment uh you know as as  the year progressed during the summer we fully   implemented

116during summer school one thing is  for the kids to learn the system the other thing   is for staff to understand and and and really  uh put best practices in place on day one so   that's why that was so instrumental so then by the  start of the school year our folks were seasoned   they understood how the system worked and then we  had a processing a protocol in place I have staff   members who arrive to the school at 6:40 every  morning to greet students and for us to start this process I have a question um most recently um the  situation over in Methuen which is our next town   over um um phone calls let let's say would come in  and a threatening call into the school um what's   the process there for you know uh discipling or 

117figuring out where this came from yeah so part of   that whenever that happens right that becomes  a Lawrence Police Department um um it's going   to be focused on them and they're going to be the  one who are going to be reacting to the situation   usually to the FBI gets involved um in our case  we haven't had any incidents uh that are connected   to bomb threats but usually does become a police  matter you know our job is going to be to notify   the proper authorities that it did happen and  for us then to uh you know talk about a proper   response if it's a credible threat and they make  the determination then that's when you know the   superintendent in conjunction with the Lawrence  Police Department make a determination and then   they can decide if we're going

118to you know if  it's a shooter situation if it's a lockdown   or if it's going to be an evacuation in that  case of a bom threat you're welcome any further questions all right hearing none thank you last  but not least Madame chair I'll ask Miss Hernandez   to come back up uh she serves with you myself um  and several other members within the community of   uh overseeing these two construction projects  that um hopefully hope after the winter we're   going to be celebrating of seeing some success yes  good evening um thank you for having me so we'll   speak a little bit about the Oliver project first  so we'll also show a drone video just to show some   images of where the project um is at currently  the the image you see here is the project um in  

119February 2022 as you can see and then you can see  um as of this month and the progress that has been   made we are at 70% of construction complete for  this project as you all know we came before you   many many many times uh for different approvals  um the project the school is um scheduled to   open um for next school year the school it's  a th seats um it will be welcoming students K   through 8th um and we're very excited um I have  members of the team here um the OPM the des and   construction are from conigli s MMA and also from  answer if you have any specific question we'll be   happy to answer but I think we want to um go and  we we want to be able to show the video first Dave

120yes no questions no you want to I'll have um Steve just go through  the the video good evening everyone I'm Steve   valair project manager with kigle um so yeah  this is an update from our latest interior   drone flight um so I'll go over kind of the  work happening on site as it flies through uh   right now this is on level three uh which is  mostly classroom so you can see the progress   of the Interior finishes starting up with the  uh wall paint um ceiling grid install uh we're   currently just started putting lights in the  ceiling grid um so mill work is starting up uh   just a few weeks on that floor and um that's kind  of the first area where we're starting the finish work so this another Corridor up on level uh four  uh

121throughout the building we're also doing the   remaining facade work so the different um facade  panels the rest of the masonry work is continuing   along uh with a big push to get that completed  before um the cold and the snow comes so this   is looking sou you can see the orange uh those  are the Terracotta facade panels um now we're   flying into the top floor which is on level five  so this floor is currently going through the um   inspection process before we start closing  up walls with sheetrock and stuff start that   process and then as we head into this room um  that's a large curtain wall uh which overlooks   the commons um and we're going to fly out in  a sec to one of the Outdoor Classroom learning spaces then you can see they recently  completed

122the roof replacement on the   existing building in that little  small roof um where the learning   area is um is in the process of  being installed right now natural light as you may recall this building it's a  renovation in a new construction so the part   of the back where Steve was um referencing the  um building there that's on Oak Street that's   the new addition to the building um and then the  front of the the school on Hail Street that's um   we we kept the project kept the facade of that  building because it's a historic um building we   would welcome the opportunity to any board member  that would like to come over and take a tour do a   a walkr of the of the new school it is amazing  to see um the building as as it

123is now um and I   think you would um enjoy seeing it now compared to  when we're doing when crossing fingers when we're   doing the groundbreaking for opening at the end  of in June I think it's I think you'll be amazed   I just have one quick question where we were  just talking about Security will there be some   sort of security system When the Children enter  plan for that building yes do you want to speak   to that Helen sure uh good evening Helen fantini  with smma um yes we've had a security consultant   and several meetings with the district throughout  the process um typically we uh have a very secure   entry where there's a vestibule you have to be  known you have to introduce your you have to   say who you are you are checked in you cannot

124have  free reign of the building we have cameras through   the building similar to the discussion that we  just had as well as exterior cameras any questions   from the board the facade at the front is it  is it going to be housed or it's just a facade   no there's classrooms yeah there's everything  classrooms offices that's primarily the elementary   side if if we want to divide the building into  two and then the back will be the Middle School MH   so they were able to clean up the the whole  front facade sand blast it reinforce it and   from the inside they gutted everything and  put all brand new floors ceilings windows   and there's all classrooms in there so as uh  odonis was saying that the front part is where   the elementary is going to be and the back 

125part is where the middle school is going to be any other questions and and we know that that's going to house how  many students it's a thousand seats okay through   eth we probably need to be building another  school based on the numbers that we heard of   enrollment Mr aasta tells us to add a couple of  hundred so it should be enough for the next uh   how many years well if we can answer that question  we should play the mega cuz we we we seeing more   children right I mean if your question is how  many more schools are we going to need mayor   if you keep building buildings to House people  you need schools to school children that's like   an equal formula oh well that's right it happens  but how many additional seats does this provide

126to   the ones that we have right now like so the Oliver  school when it was fun functioning how many seats   was it like so the enrollment right now so this  bu this school it will be to join the Elementary   in the middle and I believe between two schools  right now if we would we we have about maybe 800   students between the elementary and the middle  but don't forget the school never had a Kinder we   integrating four classrooms for K so that would be  the new addition You're Building from the bottom   okay so about 200 more so about 200 more yeah  it would be probably additional two 200 to 300   seats maybe and don't forget we started this this  project planning back in 20 2015 so our enrollment   numbers were a little different then almost  10

127years although we although we we were doing projections all right so that's  the Oliver any any other specific   questions in terms of the project status  I mean it's on time and it's on budget I   think that's what we all love to hear um  and we're looking forward to celebrating   with you all when we do the grand opening June  2025 right awesome thank you I'll stay here   because then we have the Leahy school thank  you team Deb and Steve and Helen so I'm here   with sharesh from the Leahy school project um  happy to report that this school is also on time   and on budget also scheduled to open for next  school year 2526 also a thousand seats and um   the school it's a 48% of construction completion  and I'm here with shares if you have any

128specific questions evening board members Sur baa  with Atlantic construction management   nice to be here and just to give you an  update a year ago actually a week less   than a year ago 51 weeks ago this  was a hole in the ground so what   you see now is 51 weeks of construction  since we started building the building what's unique about this project is  um in comparison to the Oliver this   was a complete uh new building so  we demolish as you remember the   existing building that was there and it's  a complete new building from the ground up it would also be a k through e um  complex welcoming um the Leahy student   back and then also joining will  be the Leonard Middle School um students um Adonis is um through you toess um  The Madam chair asked

129the question of the last   building about security measures can we speak  about security measures for this building this   was designed exactly the same similar manner  so anybody entering the school has to be buzzed   then and once they have in the vestibule they  are secure vestibule they have to show their   credentials get approved before they can enter  the school system the school area however the   vest VI in this building which is a huge front  glass okay what's the glass made out of it's   all the lower level is all bullet your bullet  resistance glass that's bulletproof not I would   call it bulletproof it's a bullet resistant  so there's a little difference there it's   too expensive to be bulletproof bullet resistant  yes yes and I think that that's important so this   doesn't break correct so this building because 

130the vestibule is a huge wide open area when when   you're driving by you could see through it of a  large Gathering of of staff and and students uh   and it's made out of all glass the glass is bullet  resistant unlike the smaller version which is the   coming up through the front of the Oliver  school um and this building also has um   security uh footage for cameras um and obviously  our security team um our challenge is madam chair   on that subcommittee obviously is uh making  sure that we make right decisions regarding   all those wonderful things that they keep  bringing up to us right any other questions yeah it's fair to say that throughout the process  of building these two schools um you know we've   met with key um members of the leadership team  and departments um

131to be able to put forth the   you know not only the security measures but  in terms of facilities with nutrition services   department to make sure that we have the latest  state-of-the-art and that is aligned um with um   our district processes and protocols and when the  Vestal at the high school was being designed it   was mirror um somewhat after the two new schools  so all those measures are are are in place at the   two schools and to ask hopefully the obvious  I'm assuming accessibility for our families   and students is into account in terms of the  creation of all these buildings and um for its   opening right could you repeat that uh Mr Deleon I  said I'm assuming this is obvious but in terms of   accessibility for all of our students the ability  to get around these

132buildings uh I'm assuming   came into account when creating the footprint for  both buildings right yes absolutely Mr donon there   there um both schools are ADA Compliant it will  have um elevators um and everything accessible to   our our our students and families and Community  as a matter of fact I'm glad that he asked that   question are all of our school buildings um um ADA  Compliant how many aren't there are some buildings   that are grandfathered in um because of the the  age um of the building for example and Merlino   can come back up if we need to the Bruce is one  that it's may not have ADA Compliant bathrooms   but that's because it's um grandfather in but in  terms of um entrances and ramps um at least of   main entrances most of all of our buildings are 

133ad compliant yes the challenge has always been   all of the older buildings and if we're able to  um renovate them to make them ADA Compliant but   the challenges are always the bathrooms because  they used to make small bodies back at the turn   of the last century now they're big bodies right  no comment but uh I a question I have a question   in in taking all of these new space or Renovations  or the combination are we looking to have them   more space for more students for the next few like  decade is that part of of of the goal here or is   it just just to bring up the facilities to the the  level that it ought to be um um I think you bring   up a very good point uh and it's a preliminary  conversation that

134I have had with our mayor   and his team um and his administration about the  fact that as we're looking to create more housing   opportunities and um repurpose our vacant lots  and I know that there are several major projects   for housing stability that uh we have to take a  comprehensive look at approach I should say at uh   when you're building buildings and if you're going  to put uh 60 units of housing um not everybody's   single most people that live in those housing  units are going to have families and aside from   increased fire and police and um services from  the from the city one has to also look at um   schooling um um I think the last time we ran into  this situation was at the Arlington school where   we allowed for the renovation of those Arlington 

135Mills and they're wonderful but in speaking with   the staff that is there today because I visited  the Arlington school um It produced 75 new   students that they never anticipated for um that's  a lot of kids that can change the culture of the   school so it's important that as we are looking to  to uh allow for more for more affordable housing   we need to take a look at what building spaces  that we do have and that we don't um look toward   selling off some of our older buildings like we  did with the Saunders school that was on Broadway   in South Broadway wonderful apartment building  but boy could we use those building now for uh   for classrooms so I will I I will be the watch  person I hope to make sure that I can Advocate   and

136and and and advise the mayor to make sure that  we have a balance that we that it's important that   we're on a good role now we're showing Promises  of our buildings facilities our curriculum our   kids our families and you know that folks move to  communities where they have good stable schools um   and I think uh Lawrence is on the verge of being  one of those um uh industrial communities where   multiculturalism and multilingual families and  new immigrants want to come to because of the   services that are provided to their families  I mean the fact that we're going to establish   two schools within the next eight years that's  going to be dual language and kids are going   to be graduating with multiple languages is an  attraction for for families so it's important   that we keep a balance

137that we have enough space  for the growth of families within the community as   it pertains to schools yes yes yes Madam chair  that is the end of our presentation thank you   any further questions for the superintendent  thank you guys Eda I just say thank you to   everyone to presented and congratulations for  the work you you all have done dto thank you to   everyone thank you superintendent it was a very  comprehensive report before we adjourn I'd just   like to ask the superintendent how did you feel  tonight first first go round with us baptism by fire um um at the rip page of 66 I I haven't  had this this many surprises in a long time   uh and they have been pleasant surprises um  the chairwoman has surprised me on several   occasions but I want to acknowledge

138and admire  her preparation for the meetings I've seen a lot   of folks don't see what goes beyond this behind  the scenes in preparation for the things that   happen and uh thanks to her leadership and the  preparation of meetings um it's comprehensive   it's well thought out it gives guidance  to our Administration and I hope that the   public is watching and the public that's here  can appreciate the work that's being done and   the thought that goes into uh the meetings of  making sure that we are transparent and inform   the public of all the progress that's happening  in Lawrence Public Schools thank you thank you at   this time I'd like to entertain a motion to  adjourn with the next anticipated Lae board   meeting scheduled for October 9th 2024 so move  thank you second second Maria please call the

139roll Dr. Dolores Calaf uh yes  Edgar Deleon yes Arlene Garcia   yes Juana Matias yes Maria Muller yes  mayor Brian Depena yes chair Patricia   Mariano yes we are adjourned and  thank you and good night [Music]