Malden School Committee 6/01/2026

001All right, good evening everyone and welcome to the Malden School Committee. Today is Monday, June 1st, 2026. The time is 6:30 p.m. We would like to uh apologize to you at the outset. We were scheduled to meet at 6:15, but the kickoff for Pride Month ran a little bit behind. So, we are here now. We're kicking off the meeting. And uh what we're going to do first is pledge allegiance to our flag. We'll then have a moment of silence for our veterans. Our clerk will take attendance to ensure that we have a quorum, allowing us to come together tonight. And then we'll take a look at the agenda. The agenda consists of the following. It has the approval of the May 4th um minutes. Uh we'll take a look at the May warrants. Uh I

002think we're then going to skip to our school superintendent to recognize one of our retirees. We'll then go back up to public comment. That will be an opportunity for members of the public to address the School Committee. We only ask that you state your name and address for the record. Uh based on where we are tonight, we're going to go for 15 minutes, 3 minutes per speaker, and then we'll reevaluate as we get toward the end there. Then we'll go back to our school superintendent where he's going to talk about next year's improvement plans, uh strategic plan update, superintendent evaluation, and then finally an update on where we are with the extended day and summer programming. After that, we're going to go to my right, your left. Uh we'll hear from Ms. Rose Aiberg uh

003regarding the policy subcommittee and Ms. Spadafora regarding finance. After that, everyone, we're going to take up a series of motions and resolutions. First is the nomination and confirmation of the vice chair. Uh we then have a $100 donation to the Malden High School band. Uh Ms. Spadafora will introduce the budget for fiscal year 2027, as well as the school improvement plans. Uh from there, we'll go back to Ms. Rose Aiberg where we're going to take up school choice, timeout, seclusion, and restraint policies. And then uh we're going to take a look at the Mass Association of School Committee Contract Policy Service. Then there are three more items. First is the uh handbook, the bullying prevention and intervention plan, and then finally acceptance of that extended day and summer programming RFP. Then after that, everyone, we'll

004take points of personal privilege. And then we'll entertain a motion to go into executive session for one reason, and that is the approval of the May 4th executive session meeting minutes. We're then going to come back out from executive session, we'll move adjournment. Uh there will be another meeting toward the end of the month. Uh we will keep the school community apprised as to when that is. All right, so are there any questions of the members? If not, let's do this. 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. Please remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of all those who have fought for our country and continue to do so

005today. Thank you. Okay, everyone. We're going to take attendance. >> Mayor Christensen? >> Here. >> Mr. Drummy? >> Here. >> Mr. McCarthy? >> Here. >> Ms. Spadafora? >> Here. >> Ms. Macklin? >> Here. >> Ms. Houghty? >> Here. >> Mr. Piazza? >> Here. >> Mr. Bernard? >> Here. >> Mr. Rosenburg? >> Here. >> Superintendent Zippo? >> Here. >> All right, everyone. We have a quorum sufficient to allow us to gather. Let's take a look at these minutes. Motion by Mr. Drummy, seconded by >> Second. >> Mr. McCarthy. Any questions, everyone, on the May 4th regular [snorts] session meeting minutes? Hearing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anybody here opposed? >> Abstaining. One abstain. You have that, Madam Clerk? >> Yes. >> All right, that carries. Next up, May 2026 warrants. >>

006Motion by Ms. Spadafora. >> Seconded by Ms. Houghty. Any questions on those, everyone? You've had them, you reviewed them. Let's do it. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anybody opposed? The eyes have it, that carries you unanimously. Over to our school superintendent. >> Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the committee, members of the public. Uh we have many of our employees who are retiring this year and some of them have already retired and will be I'll be mentioning all of their names during my the beginning of my report. But I want to recognize Jamana Salome Cafferty who is a Spanish teacher at Malden High School. Um Ms. Cafferty, would you come up to the >> [applause] [applause] >> Cuantos años trabajó en Malden? >> [laughter] >> It's been my pleasure to work

007in Malden. It's been the support of my colleagues, wonderful awesome scholars, all my students. It's just a beautiful experience and wonderful administration. So I I just been a pleasure to be working with you. >> We appreciate you and thank you for your service. Um Thank you. Gracias. >> [applause] [applause] >> Sure. All right, everyone. We're going to be in a brief recess to personally come down and congratulate you, okay? >> [applause] >> All right, everyone. You know what time it is, public comment time. Anybody wishing to address the school committee can do so now. We only ask that you state your name and address for the record. We're going to open this up for 15 minutes, 3 minutes per speaker. Okay, hold on one sec. Let me just get set up here. What the heck?

008One second now. Where's my timer? Oh, yeah, here we go. I think this is it. Hey, how you doing? Yeah, that's it. That's it. No, this one. Yeah. Okay. All right, you ready to go? Let's do it. >> Okay. 31 Grace Street, Dr. Liz Tonak Banwa. Good evening. I'm here with the hope that the superintendent strategic plan for next year and beyond can will be uh sorry, will call for a reduction in EdTech. For years, our children have been mandated to spend many hours each day on their Chromebooks in and out of the classroom using tools they actively detest. You have trained students to equate school work with coercion and monotony. The issue for me is not that kids dislike i-Ready and Course Mojo, it's that the repeated use of EdTech has poisoned our students'

009attitudes towards learning, curiosity, and discovery as a whole. Malden's English language arts classroom should be inquiry-based settings that allow students to dive deep in a literature, perspective taking, and exploring genres. However, the Course Mojo video that district leaders showed me was a dystopian environment with screen fatigue and instructional time lost due to pleasing a chatbot instead of interacting with the classmates around them. This was the district's vision shared with me over the winter. In the superintendent's report, I hope to hear about how the high expectations with support to meet diverse needs, the first tenant of the strategic plan, will be thoughtfully implemented in ways that we did not see this year. One way to do that is to have your school-based MTSS teams differentiate EdTech usage for students' instructional growth. The Los Angeles Unified School

010District recently decided only students who are below grade level should have to use i-Ready's weekly personalized lessons, which is a step in the right direction. Struggling readers will need a more targeted approach with rules-based reading programs to make gains, however. While on the topic of i-Ready, I was wondering who's the point person in Malden for families looking to join the federal class action lawsuit? The company has allegedly harvested and shared over 80 categories of sensitive student information with third-party vendors without parental consent. Will Malden be keeping track of families who sign on to it? Another tenant of the strategic plan is to have fair access to opportunity. However, this year we saw your one-size-fits-all approach. The entire classes were told they were in Course Mojo pilots without parental permission, and pilot partnerships were not recruited

011based on any criteria used to support students' growth. That isn't fair, and it denied access to rigor and again, differentiation. These tech vendors promised personalized frictionless learning. What Malden schools got instead was mind-numbing, data-hungry, junk software that devalues teachers and shortchanges students. >> 10 seconds. >> Please listen to the growing movement led by alarmed parents and teachers who are saying enough. >> Thank you. All right. >> [applause] >> Anybody else wishing to address the committee? Good evening. >> Good evening. Uh Rashna Virani, 119 Bainbridge Street. Thank you. Um I'm the parent of a kindergartner, a third-grader, and a fifth-grader at Forestdale. And I'm also a pediatrician in Chelsea. Last year, when the school day was extended, I was happy to hear that our kids would have more time for recess. However, over the course of

012the school year, I have become disappointed to learn that my third-grader and fifth-grader are allowed to play on their Chromebooks during indoor recess. As a parent, I [clears throat] made a decision to not have any screens for my children at home. I see the benefits of this decision in that my children love to read paper books, draw, build with Legos, make paper airplanes, play Monopoly, play analog chess, hike in our woodsy Bainbridge backyard, ride bikes and scooters in our back patio, and in the neighborhood. They like to play and are given the freedom to play and explore. As a pediatrician, I have learned that play is critical to childhood development. The play that is critical is the analog kind. It is very important that Malden Public Schools encourage our children to play with each other

013even during indoor recess. There are many cold, rainy, snowy days during the school year, and I would like our children to have the gift of being off screens and playing board games, card games, coloring, crafting, and talking with each other. When I brought this up at a parent-teacher conference, one [clears throat] teacher suggested that she could tell my child that she couldn't be on the Chromebook during recess. But, of course, this would result in singling out my child, and perhaps she would feel different. Also, the pull of screens is strong, and my child would probably feel left out. Sadly, my child told me that she would like to play a board game called Guess Who, but there was no one to play with because all her classmates were playing video games. I encourage Malden Public

014Schools and Malden School Committee to consider implementing a screen-free indoor recess policy so that we can allow our children the benefit of play that will foster their development and their social emotional well-being. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> All right, anybody else wishing to address the School Committee? >> Good evening. My name is Abdul My name is Abdul Wahab. I'm from 405 Pearl Street. Um on May 27th of this year, Eid al-Adha fell on the morning uh three of our school, Ferryway, Forestdale, and Linden. They sent 264 eighth graders down for a state test. This keeps happening. We tracked the decade of it because of the Islamic calendar moves 11 days earlier each year. Each sweeps across the testing period, striking a different grade a test almost every time. Uh in 2019 is

015the high school science MCAS. This year is the eighth grader civic. And weeks before, it was the 10th grader ELA. I know Malden Public School offers a religious excused absence. And intention is good. But consider a person and submit a person um who have to uh submit the request often needing help for it in a city where four in 10 residents uh were born abroad. Even then, the child misses the lessons, make up the test alone, and in another day, and might have to explain the classmates why they were gone. A child who celebrate Christmas face none of this. This day is simply isn't the calendar. Our neighbor cities figured this out. Medford does it. Cambridge does it. New York City has done this for the past 10 years without losing a single day. If

016they can, Malden can. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Anybody else wishing to address the school committee? Good evening. >> Hello. My name is Miriam Bushto. I'm a student at Malden High at 82 Washington Street, Malden. Um so, good evening, Mayor and >> Welcome. >> Good evening. And uh Superintendent Sipple and members of the school committee. Um, I'm here tonight to ask the school committee to consider recognizing Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha in the school calendar. For Muslim students, Eid is one of the most important days of the year. It is a day of prayer, family gatherings, charity, and community celebration. It is similar in importance to Christmas or other major major religious holidays for many families. When school is held on Eid, students often have to choose between participating fully in an

017important religious holiday and attending school. Even when absences are excused, students still miss education, tests, assignments, extracurricular activities, or important or important classroom um experiences. Many of us students uh Muslim students spend Eid worrying about what we are missing at at school instead of fully celebrating with our families and community. Malden is one of the most diverse cities in America, not just in Massachusetts. Our diversity is something that we are proud of. Recognizing Eid al-Adha should be like it would be sending a message that Muslim students are valued members of the school community and that our traditions matter, too. This This request is not about special treatment. It is about making sure all students feel included and respected. When I was a kid, I used to live in my country, Algeria. It is mostly dominated.

018And every Eid I would be so excited to dress up, go to morning prayer, and then after we'd visit family. It felt special to me. Everything stopped for one day, one memorable day. But today we don't have that luxury. Today we miss school work. Today we miss tests and quizzes. Today we stress about how costly Eid comes for our grades. How are we supposed to prioritize a special day when we don't feel valued? Now, after morning prayer, I no longer go visit my family. Instead, I check Google Classroom to see what I have missed. I postpone plans with my friends because I have a project due tomorrow. All I think about is how hard it must be for kids who never got a taste of home. Kids who grew up worrying about homework, kids who

019learned to FaceTime family members instead of meeting face-to-face. Kids who converted to Islam and feel alone and unsupported, especially that their school doesn't give recognition for their identity. Many neighboring districts have already found ways to recognize Eid while still continuing to meet all educational requirements. We hope Malden can explore similar solutions solutions. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you. Well said. >> [applause] >> All right, we have just a few more. Good evening. >> Uh my name is Zenadine and I live at 64X Street. Today I will be advocating for two things. Uh Eid as a school holiday. A big number of our Muslims A big number of our students are Muslims. There are at least like eight eight people in my class who are Muslim and I have a sister as

020well who has five people in who are in her class who are Muslims as well. Uh when we take uh Eid as a holiday break, we miss our work and we end up having to double it the next day. Uh and we end up having to choose between our uh reli- our religious uh prayers or having to go to school and do our work. And another thing I will be talking about is no electronics in school. Uh a lot of the students end up being distracted by the games and ju- and end up like not doing their work. And they will learn and they learn better on paper as it is less distracting. And they have been taught to learn on paper. And and learning on their computer has an impact on their health uh

021as their posture, eyes, and affects their attention span. >> Okay, good job. >> [applause] >> Thank you. >> All right, we have time for one more speaker. Good evening. >> Lucky me. >> We'll see about that. >> I know, right? Um good evening. My name is Donna Tool. I live at 130 Adams Street in Malden. Um Malden is a diverse community with many different religions and ethnicities. This is what makes Malden a well-sought-out community to raise a family. I am empathetic to families whose children may not get their religious holidays off. As a Catholic, it is also and also an ESP in Malden, many of my own holy days are not on the calendar as full days off. Most recently, Ascension Thursday. Um nor were they for my children who went through the Malden public

022schools. It is important to make sure that absences due to holy days are excused and work is allowed to be made up. According to DESE, students are required to be in school for 180 days. With vacations, legal state and federal holidays, professional development, and snow days, Malden starts school in late August and ends mid to late June. To be fair, if one group's holidays and holy days are added, all groups' holy days and holidays need to be added. And that may put a burden on families as vacations may need to be removed and school may go longer than August through June. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, that's it for public comment. Thank you, everyone, for being here. And we'll now go to our next item, which is our school superintendent. >> Thank you,

023Mr. Chair. We'll just wait one moment. All right. Oh. All right. Thank you very much, members of the committee. Thank you, um members of the public, um who are here tonight, our parents and caregivers, as well as our staff. Uh as you all know, we uh are committed to leading through these core values, including and collaborating with as many members of our community as possible, embracing growth, as we are always a work in progress, and doing right by all of our kids, regardless of their background or their prior success. All alone, each of us is strong. Together, we are much stronger. Tonight, we are uh as the chair already mentioned, we'll be covering these items in my report. Um and I assure you I've made efforts to try to be as succinct in tonight's report.

024>> We'll see about that, says the chair. Um I do want to recognize, in addition to uh our Spanish teacher from Malden High that we recognized previously, these are some individuals who have given their careers to serve the students and community of Malden. Um from the Beebe School, Joanna Katalski, who is a teacher at the Early Learning Center, Bernice Stallworth who is an education support professional for 25 years. Earl Fitzpatrick retired earlier this year from the Ferryway, 29 years in our system. Gloria Marcella Valderrama from Ferryway, 13 years. Richard Catone Wow. 39 years as a custodian in the Malden public schools. >> [applause] >> Juan Anderson, Cheryl Cohen, and Deborah Thomas all from the Linden. Marcia Healey 30 years at Malden High School as a teacher in our system. >> [applause] >> We recognized Ms.

025Cafferty earlier. Maryann Genova Long also retiring from Malden High. And then from Salemwood, we have Carolyn Jacques, an education support professional, Tracy Luther, a teacher, Susan Noonan, a teacher, Wendy Masternardi, a teacher, and Deborah Tenerello, an administrative assistant who'll be retiring this summer. If we could just give all of them a big round of applause. >> [applause] >> All right. Uh we're going to we have as an annual requirement, as you're aware, we have school improvement plans that our schools draft in compliance with uh state regulations and also with our district policy. Uh tonight we're joined by assistant superintendents Komal Bhasin and Pam McDonald who will be who have done a lot of work behind the scenes to coordinate the school improvement planning process. We also have all of our pre-K through eight principals who

026are in the in the house tonight. So, and that's from the Early Learning Center, Mr. Rock. From BB, Dr. Kerry-Ann Murphy. We have uh from Forestdale, Adam Welday. From Fairway, Dr. Matt Stall. From Lyndon, Mr. Greg Garcia. And then from Salemwood, >> [applause] >> Ms. Van Wynen. So, want to thank you then for being here tonight, also. As you saw in uh the supplementary materials that I uh shared with you all last week, um we have followed a very in-depth and inclusive planning process over the course of the last several months, reviewing data, reviewing staff and family input, conducting focus groups with our students, and also seeking input from our school councils. You'll also see that this year our district-wide expectations for all of our school improvement plans have included a focus on math intervention,

027Yeah. >> [laughter] >> uh making sure that we're doing right by our students with disabilities, taking a fresh look at our student success team process, um which is something that uh basically uh the formal process we really um zero in on individual students to make sure that they're getting the supports that they need to be successful. And then finally, a focus on science as well. These are all elements that were required for all of our school improvement plans this year. All of our school improvement plans are also framed by the same structure. They have growth targets >> [cough] >> that are based on fall baseline results from from last year to capture both growth and achievement over time. It has strategies and activities and progress monitoring for an instructional priority, for a multi-tiered system of

028support priority, basically a system to support students who need extra help. And to make sure that that help is given to them by design and not by accident. And finally, a focus on student attendance. What you can anticipate for this coming year is that first of all for Malden High School, we have a draft plan that you've received in your materials. Just in light of the leadership transition we have at Malden High School, our house principals and our directors have worked closely together to develop a draft and working with the instructional leadership team at Malden High to develop a draft plan, but once the new principal is has is on board, we'll be taking some fine-tuning to that plan before we start the year next year. We'll be looking at our MCAS and accountability results

029in early October. By mid-October, we'll be setting new growth targets for this coming year for mid-year and then finally, we'll be reviewing that mid-year data in February and then on to the next cycle of developing our plans for 2028. And just want to we have a very brief video of our illustrious building leaders who are just going to share a little bit about the process that they've gone through and the priorities that all of their buildings are seeking to pursue in this coming year. >> Each of us prioritized getting feedback from multiple stakeholders. We started off by giving out a survey. Um many of us also got feedback from students on how they learn best. And then hearing from our family members at our school. Uh we took all that feedback and then met with

030our instructional leadership team, the school site councils, and worked together as colleagues to put together a school improvement plan that we think will improve the student outcomes in all of our schools. >> I mean, we have a plethora of data to analyze. I think being able to take that data and uh use our teacher teams in the building like ILT to be able to uh look at our family data to see how our families are feeling. Um to be able to look at with our school council to see how our staff were feeling. Uh I think making sure that each of the different subgroups that we work with um had a level of being informed about the Um it really helped us sort of make decisions um that served the best interest of everybody and

031ultimately our kids. I mean, we >> We had We had surveys, but we also had informal conversations with students that let them feel um more comfortable in answering the questions and give us some authentic feedback on what they thought really helped them in their classes. >> We worked with our school site councils um both within our buildings and across the district in order to make sure that we were taking in multiple perspectives of middle school as well as elementary families that are very different constituents within our schools. >> Um when there are events that are happening, it's a good time to also talk with families um and get get their feedback um on that kind of level just to "Hey, what's going on? How are you How are you feeling?" Um and it makes them

032kind of feel like they're included while at a community fun event. Um >> And I think as we disaggregated the the data, really looking at different performance levels of different groups gave us a more complete picture of what the instructional outcomes were in our schools so that it was less masked by majority um and it allowed us to dig deeper into our analysis as to where where are we were hitting the mark versus where we needed to explore other options in order to meet our students' needs. >> Well, I think as you read through the plans, you'll sort of see that well, ultimately the goal for all of us is 100% of our kids on grade level and and learning. But, disaggregating the data allowed us to really hone in on the specific student groups

033that we each have to work on um to try to make the growth that can be meaningful for our individual buildings. So, when you read the plans, you see the differences like for example, we're looking at grade two literacy or grade six to eight MLLs and we were able to use Dibels scores and access scores and we each brought in different pieces to help us decide where do we push the most next year? >> I think it's been the intentional effort of consistently coming back to that data um and looking at it over time to see student progress, school progress, that's really helped us all grow together. >> One of the things we talked about as a district was how we can take that to the next step. And so, we're looking at unit study

034plans and really making those plans accessible for students with complex needs. And so, for literacy, we'll be using all of our data that we discussed and really looking at what supports can we put in place to make sure that our students are accessing grade level curriculum and doing our due diligence. >> Our PD blocks, one of the things that we're excited about is really using those PD blocks to set up our math interventions. So, you know, same structure of unit studies and the lesson studies, but I also think that there's going to be an analysis of the teachers to say, "Okay, this is a skill that our students need to work on. This is a skill that we're missing. How can we put the interventions in place?" But, also make that vertical. So, if they

035need a piece in seventh grade that they're missing, how How build that up in first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth um because math skills are, you know, a little bit more so than than literacy, math skills are really built on top of each other. >> And one of the strengths of having the entire team of teachers at the PD blocks, you might meet here a few minutes ago, is that the teachers get to share best practices. So So practices that are working in the ELA or literacy blocks, PD blocks, can be transferred to math sometimes, too. And it just helps us to helps us work through things. >> We've [clears throat] seen a lot of success this year when teachers who work consistently collaboratively share practices results in better instruction for kids. Uh the

036adults working in schools are always busy. Finding dedicated time in order to sit down, co-plan with the target goal for students to help them make progress Uh pays off tremendously. And we're really looking forward to utilizing that PD block to ensure that colleagues are able to share best practices, aligning goals for students, um to really make sure that the vision of our district play out. >> I mean, when you when you walk in a room and if there's more than one teacher in the room, they're both equally responsible for the success of the students in their care. When they walk in a room to see how strategies that we're looking at in PD block are playing out in the classroom, you know, it's really important that both of the people there were able to actually

037participate in the learning. And that they were able to share in the experience and that they both know what they're working on and why they're working on it. So I think being able to sort of prioritize that co-teaching aspect of it and the co-planning aspect of it could could be really important for us because of the >> When we >> And I think when you talk about the co-teaching, the easiest visualization is your MLC teachers or your special education teachers collaborating in the classrooms. And it's a tremendous value in having them with their co-teachers or their their collaborative content teachers so they can see how those interventions fit into whatever unit's going on or whatever, you know, lesson is going on. So I think bringing them together in those PD blocks is going to be

038incredibly valuable so that they can see how those interventions fit into the curriculum that's being taught. >> So we >> And we're also being mindful about making um schedule changes to allow more access to interventions because we know that that's a need. We found that we couldn't just use one measure for math intervention this past year. So, we take our ISL data, we take our student exit ticket data, and our Eureka assessments, and really disaggregate that and see where we're hitting the mark and where we're missing, and then we're using our math intervention block to really target numeracy, and we're doing that throughout all the grades, um finding those common threads um as was alluded to earlier as math spirals and gets more in depth. So, we're really looking to align that through our PD

039blocks when we're talking about math focus. And our WIN block is um writing across content. So, we're writing about math in our WIN blocks when we have our math cycle and kids will rotate through those different content areas to learn all the learning in each of those. And I think just as with the data, I guess the theme in the steps this year is this multi-dimensional perspective and really valuing that and and putting our efforts for instruction in the SIP to reflect that. We saw the value of multi- perspective multiple perspectives when we were trying to target our areas and need to make sure we're keeping those voices present at the table as we move forward. >> All right. And with that, I just want to invite uh Assistant Superintendent Bassin and McDonald to come

040up just to assist in answering any questions that any members of the committee might have about the school improvement plans. >> Questions from the team. Any questions? >> Tonight's your lucky night. Well, it was. It was. >> [laughter] >> Mr. Piat. >> Sorry. >> [laughter] >> Um I I'm still working my way through the through the improvement plans, but I love the detail there. I'm I'm curious about I see a lot of observations, and I'm wondering how we ensure that folks get You know, there's there can be a tension when your formal evaluator is the person observing you as opposed to a colleague who doesn't write your formal evaluation that then gets registered with DESI, and I'm wondering if there's like attention made to ensure that that the observation and that those feedback cycles are

041separate from the more formal evaluation uh um protocol. >> Yes, absolutely. Uh Yes. So, we have an evaluation process where educators are evaluated based on their years the tenure a certain number of times. And that's clearly laid out the September the superintendent shares this by September 15th of every year. Separate from that are all the non-evaluative coaching and observation type work that you see outlined in the SIP. And we've made a really intentional move this year to to sort of separate those pieces. There are They have to be coherent with one another, and there are times where, you know, it's the same you you need to use the evaluation process to back up, right? to to make sure that we're working and we're continuing to make progress, but we've tried this year to really intentionally

042separate those um so that when educators are trying a new technique, you want them to say, I You know, this might not work, and I hope you come in and see it so we can be thought partners together. Great. Thank you. Can we just move the mic up? >> Sure. >> On top. Can you move it on top of the Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you. All right, let's see who's next. Miss Fordy. Um maybe not. Hold on a second. There we go. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um we were discussing and they were discussing a little bit in the video also about um co-teaching. Because I have a little bit more knowledge about the inner workings of school and this maybe a question for you but may also be more of a question for

043the principals. How are we allowing time for a special education teacher who's in two grades cuz most often they're connected to two grades co-teaching time to plan with the gen ed teacher for that grade. So, just logistically speaking, where are we fitting all of this in? >> So, at that at the high school, instead of um a duty, they have a co-planning period. Um so, most teachers have a duty in their schedule. >> Mhm. >> And instead of the duty, their duty is co-planning. So, that's easy. Um the K-8s are a little different cuz they're a little more spread out. We do have the PD block and most of them are only going to be covering one grade next year due to the staffing that we have, but >> There are many situations where educators

044are split across grades and I will tell you the only There's no easy way to do it. Uh the way that we're doing it is with principals and our program managers and our directors literally sitting down and going grade by grade, educator by educator, when can we find space for these educators to come together. So, it is a painstaking process, but it's ultimately worth it because when there's meaningful co-planning, we know that co-teaching is enhanced. >> Thank you, Ms. Hordy. Back to our school superintendent. Thank you, Ms. Bessy. Thank you, Ms. McDonald. >> [applause] >> And thank you to all of our our principals as well. Appreciate you. Thank you. How do we get that back up? Window? Here? I want to And thank you to everyone else who joined us this evening. We um

045Also, I just want to share this evening a brief update on our strategic plan that I presented in great detail last month. Just uh highlights from the feedback we received from the community over the last several weeks um and what the next steps are for the planning um going forward. We had um over 300 contributions from various members of the community responding to questions we asked about each of the five priorities. We also had a nice group uh gather with us uh along with um Ms. Macklin and Ms. Rose Iburg at the BB back on uh May 19th, I think it was. Um seems like it was a longer ago than that. But uh the uh where there was a lot of affirmation of the priorities that we've laid out in the plan. These priorities

046that you see in the graphic on the right of this this image. Especially inclusive instruction, equitable access to opportunity, authentic family engagement, and support for our worker workforce. We also had a lot of helpful feedback regarding adjustments. Mainly about just being really transparent and how we communicate our progress and also demonstrating alignment between what we hear from the community and what we've done to follow up. This coming fall this this document, the strategic plan is a living document and what is laid out in the the document are not only those five priorities and the strategies and the measures for success for each of those of each of those priorities. But is also laid out a series of activities that we have planned for year one to move us in that direction. This coming fall will

047be really fine-tuning the targets for each of those priorities. We'll be over the course of next year updating the committee and updating the community on the progress we're making in each of those areas. And then also beginning to define what the year two activities will be in each in each priority because there'll be a lot that over the course of next year that based on how things go we'll have more clarity on what our next steps need to be. And I'll stop there. Any questions about the strategic plan before I continue, Mr. Chair? >> Nope. Nope. All right. >> So I uh with the committee last um last week a self-assessment regarding my evaluation for the year. Um what I have to share with you and with those who are here in attendance and online

048tonight um are just a status report on the four goals that that you all approved for me last November. The first goal was the development of our strategic plan. And as you know, I just shared about that. Uh we were able to complete the development of the plan. Uh laid out the activities for year one and next steps to move us forward. And so happy to say that I think we met this goal. The Implementing the District Strategy for Improvement is the second goal. Um we as you as I shared in my self-assessment document, this is one where I feel like we've made significant progress. Um it's always a work in progress. Uh but I think that there are some items that are pending the year the end of the year with some year-end data

049that we're still waiting on. But for the most part, I'm extremely extremely proud of the work that we've done across the district. Not just the district leadership team, not just our principals, but our educators our students, um everyone involved in in making sure that we're really working in a coherent and collaborative way to move our students forward. The growth has been remarkable, but also the way teams of educators, as you've seen multiple times in my presentations and I've had an opportunity to witness in person teams of educators across our schools have really embraced this work. And um more and more and more momentum is building around the work that we're doing to support our students. The third goal is another goal for which I feel we made significant progress and that is the uh special

050education program review. Um and you'll recall that when we uh introduced this goal, uh that same evening there was a a motion that was passed to also implement an audit of our special education services in the district. We were able to complete both of those um by April with within the time frame that the committee uh had requested. Um and we were able to identify many things that are going well in our special education program and also some things that are clearly areas that we want to improve. Specifically, focusing on improving specialized instruction both in our substantially separate settings as well as in the general education setting where we have the majority of our students with disabilities and also uh really improving the collaboration that we're we're pursuing with our parents and caregivers represented by

051SEPAC. And we're excited to uh embark on a on a project with the Apple Institute with several members of SEPAC's executive board this summer. And then the last goal was the new superintendent induction program. Uh it's a 3-year process. I've completed the second year uh attending all the sessions uh completing all the assignments and working closely with my um induction coach. And so this is a goal which, uh, I feel was met or exceeded. And I look forward to receiving your feedback, um, when we meet again for my evaluation later in the month. Any >> Thank you, Gary Ford. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The last item I just want to, uh, mention, uh, to you all, I submitted a memo to you along with some additional supporting documents related to the request

052for proposals that we, uh, issued in partnership with the city for an extended day and summer programming, uh, organization to manage our our programming here in the district starting next year. Um, you'll recall that this, uh, request for proposals was issued in March with a due date of April 15th, and the city received uh, proposals, former proposals from three organizations to manage the after school and summer programming at, uh, BB, and, uh, Forestdale, Lyndon, and Salemwood. We had an amazing advisory committee that was assembled to review those proposals. And, um, yes, uh, members Rose Iberg and member Piazza were, uh, very instrumental to that effort, but we also had Nakisha Dolly, who is, uh, currently a Most High Coordinator at, uh, Salemwood, and an employee at Forestdale, Ray Garcia, who is principal at, uh, Lyndon,

053Rachel Gordon, who is a parent caregiver at, uh, Forestdale, uh, Riyaz Haq, who is a caregiver at Linden, uh, Principal Van from Salemwood, Dr. Sara McLaughlin, our assistant superintendent of human resources, Tony Mertz, our director of finance and operations, and [clears throat] of course our two school committee members. They put in a lot of hours to review voluminous proposals and judge them by the criteria that were set in the RFP and have a lot of dialogue. They also visited two of the vendors' programs to actually see things on the ground for themselves and I'm very very grateful for all of the work that they put in. They ultimately recommended based on all of their assessments that AlphaBest, which is the the the organization that they had the most compelling proposal to meet our the needs

054of our our children here in Malden, our families. And subsequent to them giving us that recommendation or submitting that recommendation, then the procurement office in the city unsealed the financial proposals that the three organizations had submitted and AlphaBest was the most competitive of three. So with that, I am requesting that the committee accept that recommendation from the that whole process. We are very eager to begin working with AlphaBest to formalize the the contract with them as described in the RFP, but then also to begin the next steps of figuring out staff and also registering families for the fall because a lot of families are very eager to to know what's going to be happening. >> Questions of our soup. >> [clears throat] >> Any questions? That's to Miss Badafora and I would ask Miss Mertzen

055Dr. McLaughlin if you're ready just if if needed be ready to come. Thank you. >> Hopefully they're not needed. Uh sorry I do want to say thank you because I know I requested additional information be provided in regards to the RFP and I think it was exactly what um I know I was looking for. So I was happy to see um that financial breakdown for all three. I think my only question really is is what um is the capacity that AlphaBest is able to provide per school for students um interested or parents caregivers interested in um enrolling their students um in either after or before school programming. Miss Mertzen or >> In answer to that question we hope it's a lot more. They do accept vouchers. Um so we're hoping to increase enrollment um via

056vouchers that we currently don't accept now and they also have sliding scale that's a lot more affordable than we are currently offering. >> Um can I continue? Thank you. Um will they or are are is this vendor looking to hire any um current employees um teachers that are with us um to work or or would they be bringing in their own employees? >> So as part of the RFP we asked for some preferential treatment for our staff that want to work the after school program. I can't guarantee but it was written into the RFP. >> Okay. Okay. Um and then just basics, hours. Um >> So, we're offering more extended hours uh along with hours during school vacation weeks and summer that goes up until mid-August. So, it would go an extra 2 to 3

057weeks. So, it's about 8 weeks in the summer, 8 to 10 weeks, depending on when we get out versus the current uh program that only runs 5 weeks. >> And this contract would be starting in >> It would start in September. >> August. September. >> Right. First day of school. So, for us it'd be in August, but yes, it would start in August. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And I would just if I could add they're also offering some drop-in services for parents that have a need that's unexpected, as well as the professional development days um during the school year. >> Wait. Wait. >> Mr. Fiato. >> [laughter] >> Just like to add uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Just like to add um in in response to member Spadafora's questions. So, uh um for the

058new vendor, they'll be licensed under EEC protocols, which requires a 1 to 13 ratio of student to staff. And so, my understanding is that they will see how many registrations we get and then hire to fill positions based on that 1 to 13 ratio. Um that was true of all of the vendors that we looked at. Um in addition to what Ms. Mert said about how the RFP required um priority for current staff, I I will say as somebody who reviewed all the RFPs that the emphasis on hiring from the community came out strongest in this. And that was a very high priority for me as somebody who like my kids go to most and really enjoy it. And um and so, I was I I was really happy to see that emphasis in their

059proposal. Um uh one big change would be that after-school programming could run as late as 6:00 p.m. Right now it starts at it stops at 5:30. I think, you know, that allows more options for parents, of course. Um, and they seem to be flexible about the summer time programming in terms of the number of weeks. It would still be the same where you buy per week. Uh, but but there were assurances that they they said they could run as many weeks as we want in the summer time. >> Thank you, Ms. Forty. >> Thank you. Couple questions as a former MOST parent. Um, not sure how you see that. Um, the one of the issues and I'm glad you brought it up, Ms. McDonald, was that if or McLaughlin, sorry. Sorry. Um, often times unexpected

060issues, parent out of town situation, what they have a protocol for that and that is something that can happen. Um, both with before school care and after school care? >> It sounded like they said so. >> It sounded like that. >> Yes, I mean we didn't dig into like how they register parents for that. >> I just wanted to know if that was an option. >> Again, in keeping with those ratios, they would have flexibility to accept some drop-ins. >> One of the things that used to be really intensely frustrating as a parent is that even if you signed up for the MOST program, you know, whenever the the the enrollment was open, that your student didn't actually start after school programming until after they had been at school for a week. Um, we ran

061into this multiple times. My mother-in-law was imported for that week for many, many, many years. Um, [laughter] so [clears throat] I I it could have been solved. MOST maybe isn't doing that anymore, but I just want to make sure that AlphaBEST or whatever we go with is also not doing that. >> We've asked them to start on day one. >> Thank you. >> All right, very good. Anybody else? Miss Batafor? >> Thank you, Mr. Sheriff, for the last time. Um that as a former MOST parent, like that just spark sparked the special needs our students with special needs. Um And I'll be quite honest, in the past, it's been difficult at times to be able to send our students to after-school programming because um maybe the staff didn't um have the right training. I was

062outrightly denied cuz my child needed a one-to-one at one point, so we couldn't even attend. Um was there any discussions on special needs um Turn it over to Pete. >> [laughter] >> He's shaking his head no like, yes, there was lots of discussion. >> I mean, Pete, Sharon, I want to thank both of them actually for being a part of this process and and being a voice for the committee. Um you know, being able to really ask these questions and bring it to us, so. >> I I I will say that there was a lot of attention to this very to this very question. And it's also something that came up just in the natural course of our visit. We did a site visit to an AlphaBEST program. Um in terms of like the protocols

063that they have in place, it it it felt very robust in terms of like there's a there's a sequence of meetings that they will do with parents, caregivers, with teachers in order to understand and essentially develop something like an individualized educational plan, but for the after-school setting, you know? Um and uh And and so we felt we felt confident about the kind of support services that they were going to offer students with special needs. Now, when we were visiting, um there was a student who I can't comment on whether or not that student is on an IEP, but that student was their air conditioner had broke in their gym and the student had a lot of pent up energy. Like a lot of pent up energy. And they were inside the the the the cafeteria

064to do this like this alternative activity. And I think that the care that they that they directed towards that student really went a long way towards me having having faith in them as a vendor. >> Thank you. Ms. Rose-Iberg. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to just make the comment and add on I get the same feeling that I will not be able to go in person and see the program. But in their written material it was addressed quite consistently and frequently because the program should be accessible to everybody who needs it. I would like to see that definitely become highlighted if we do end up indeed going forward. I would like that made very clear to Alphabet's what our expectations are in that area. >> Okay, thank you. Why don't we strike

065while the iron's hot? So we're going to pull this one up for motions and resolutions if there's no objection. Chair hear objection? Chair has none. Motion by Mr. Piazza seconded by Ms. Rose-Iberg to accept extended day and summer programming RFP. Questions on that? Why don't we call the roll on this one? >> Mr. Geremia? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy? >> Yes. >> Ms. Batafora? >> Yes. >> Ms. Macklin? >> Yes. >> Ms. Hordy? >> Yes. >> Mr. Piazza? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard? >> Yes. >> Ms. Rose-Iberg? >> Yes. >> Mayor Christensen? >> Yes, that carries unanimously. All right, everyone. Now let's go to subcommittee reports and discussions. Let's first hear from Ms. Rose-Iberg what's been going on in the policy subcommittee. >> Again, thank you, Mr. Chair. Policy met on May 21st. We discussed

066policy JFBBs, which is school choice. MASC has issued an update. The areas were and then something that we actually had discussed at our last meeting includes changing words that would be that any sibling of a student already enrolled in the district shall receive priority for admission. This would be if we switched from our current status of not being school choice. So, it's a word change there and adding that in. Importantly, they added a definition of race and updated the legal references um to this policy different than what we had had. We did come out with a unanimous vote on that recommending to send that to the full committee to amend our current policy to include these changes. We then discussed policy JKAA. Our current policy is titled physical restraints of students. The MASC title for

067JKAA is timeout, seclusion, and physical restraints of students. So, tight a little bit of a title change there. These changes DESE came out with new requirements and new updates to this policy which have to be in place by August 17th. So, there is the need for us to make some decisions around this. um Again, the MASC model policy does reflect the state updates. I did speak very briefly to Assistant Superintendent McDonald who had said that she was comfortable with going with the MASC policy, was aware of it, and aware of procedures that need to be going into place with um this adoption. Again, it's something that is mandated by the state. So, there's not a lot of leeway on that. That was a unanimous vote to recommend that we do amend our current policy to

068reflect these changes with the condition though. When we looked at our policy and at the MASC policy, the feeling of the full committee um was that we actually want to go into more detail. Um that there are some sort of general areas that we think need to be fleshed out um a bit more. Um our hope would be that if we do adopt to go forward, which we believe will happen um tonight, with having the total policy review, this would become something that we would be working with um fairly right out of the um starting gate. Um but we are bringing it forward with that with that condition that we do believe that it does need more tweaking to be very specific for Malden. Um there are two additional policies that we discussed that night.

069One is JLCD, which is administration of um medication to students, and the second is a new one from MASC, JLCDC, which is self-administering of medications. Um some of the changes um that were included in the first one, um it actually was the first time I guess that they've included um and I'm sorry if I'm not getting this right, the terminology, but the anti-opioid medication such as Narcan, and um what would go what would need to train people to to have that in our schools, so that if it's needed, it can be administered. Um was one of the changes on that. Um we did realize that with our policy and then the new one that they have um proposed, going through item by item and trying to make sure that we have everything all covered um

070is a bit difficult with just how it is currently set up. Um and we do think that in particular, because this is with medications, we actually want to bring in discussions with the Board of Health um and the new head of the um nursing for the schools. Um so we actually decided on that one we were waiting um to look into um hopefully working with MASC to really pinpoint again making this policy very specific to Malden which is sort of the norm. Um there's um we would it doesn't specify even in the model policy, you know, is over-the-counter medicine the same thing as a prescription medicine when you're saying a child can self-administer, what does that mean? Does that mean Tylenol? Does that mean prescription? It's not spelled out. So, we're hoping to get sort

071of that type of feedback from MASC and help us craft this into what we feel would be best for the district. Um so, again we are hoping that that will go forward. Um and we adjourned at 7:36. >> Very good. Thank you, Ms. Spadafora. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh the Finance Subcommittee uh and if you don't mind, Mr. Chair, I think because we're going to um talk about this in Motions and Resolutions, can I give a a more overall >> Sure. >> to be able to lead into that? So, >> uh the Finance Subcommittee met February 23rd, April 2nd, May 14th, May 20th, and then the committee entirely met um for our public hearing on May 28th. Um for the FY27 budget. Uh this year, the 2027 um required net school spending is projected

072at 134 $394,726. Of that amount, projected Chapter 70A from the Commonwealth 70 million while the required local contribution is projected at 64 million. Um And that is the the FY27 budget is still pending um state legislature final approval. Um our biggest increases um to the budget this year um is going to come from contractual obligations, out of district tuition, special education transportation, special education contracted services, short-term substitutes and staffing adjustments, but we are also um happy to be able to add several proposed staffing additions. Um an additional program manager for specialized instruction within special education and I think that was really an important move for the district after hearing the results of the audit. Um in addition, science coach at Malden High School and an additional STEM coach will be added. Committee members, I think

073really um tackled this year's budget with a lot of really, really great questions um in which Ms. Martz um was able to throw it right back at us. So, I I really appreciate the work that went into from, you know, meeting with principals, meeting with um directors, program managers, meeting with everybody really to to say, "What do you need? What can we work with with what we have?" um to ensure again, I think the focus for this district has always been to make sure that the student has exactly what they need and that we're meeting those needs. So, um I think the the FY2027 budget um does do that. Um I think that's all I have. >> Okay, very good. Any uh questions? Cuz we're going to jump right to the uh budget. All right,

074so why don't we do this first? Ms. Spadafora, you're going to make the motion to adopt. >> Absolutely. >> Seconded >> Mr. Drummy. All right, everybody. Any questions, queries, qualms? You've had it for a while. Seeing none. Um let's call the roll on this one. >> I have a question. >> You're just too late. >> [laughter] >> Just kidding. Take it away. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> I'm looking at your notes. Still getting my whole situation, you know, [clears throat] organized over here uh as a new school committee member. Um I appreciate all of the work that has gone into the budget, and I know that it is uh obviously one of the most important and fundamental pieces uh of um of school committee policy that we talk about. Uh I have a few

075questions that I'm pulling up here on my um on my computer that I'd like to um just hear a little bit more detail about. Now, we mentioned um that out of uh out of district tuition has gone up pretty con- considerably. Um and as I was fumbling through my comments, I was looking for the exact dollar figure. Uh I don't have it in front of me. But I'm I'm just curious the the I know that the increase was more than 100% over last year in terms of the cost that we're spending on out of district tuition, and I'm wondering what the source of that is. So, more students are attending are attending school outside of our district. >> Mr. Mertz. And you've had this document, right, for a while? >> Yeah, I've had this document,

076yeah. >> So, there are a couple of pieces to that. We do have additional >> Mr. Mertz, can you just speak into the microphone, please? >> So, we do have additional students attending out of district, but there's also cost increases that the out of district schools can charge. Most of that is dictated by OSD, which is a division of the government. Um they don't have to stay within a 2 and 1/2% or 3% like we do. So, a lot of your collaboratives went up about 4% and some of your privates went up as high as 14 and one was 30% increase for an individual. We don't dictate those, so those are done through OSD. >> There is also every so many years schools can go for what's called a program review and they can go

077beyond that and that is the 30% and there's actually a few of them that are doing this year. They rewrite all of their programming and then they charge additional amounts of money. >> Right. >> They basically can charge what they want. >> Yeah. >> So, then just to be clear cuz now I found the numbers in FY 2 uh excuse me, 2026, we were spending about 91 and 1/2 million dollars. That's gone up to almost 240 uh sorry, 91 and 1/2 thousand dollars. That's gone up to almost 246,000 dollars, an increase of about 169%. >> is um in district, so that is students who are going to another public school. >> Right, so we used to have one student, now we have four as of this year. We have four students uh going to a

078public school that has I I believe Horace Mann in Boston is um taking I'm taking >> Well, it's yeah, Horace Mann is a um public day. Haverhill have them. Um I think Salem has some different districts have them and they are um charged um a tuition and they run specialized programs. The Horace Mann is a um with students with that are hearing impaired or deaf. >> Mhm. >> And so, that increase from one to four students is what explains the increase in the dollar value you for tuition within state? >> Yes. Okay, got it. Uh have two other questions. I was looking back at the district report card from DESE. And one of the things that I noticed is that our digital literacy and computer science courses are lower than the state average in terms

079of the number or the percentage of students who are completing digital literacy and computer science courses in our district. And so I'm wondering about how the budget this year kind of like speaks to or would allow us to increase that percentage so that it's closer to the state average. Yeah, hi. Mr. Piazza. So one thing I just wanted to mention is that we I think I mentioned to you in a in a conversation that we we have our courses at the high school and throughout our system that are I identified by a state code. And I just spoke with our staff our data analyst today to just get a firm handle on all of the courses that we have that are already aligned with that code. It cuz it could be that there's offerings that

080we have that are not properly identified that we would be able to claim if you will to make sure that we're getting credit for all of the work that we are doing in that area. Having said that, we also we do intend to look at our scope and sequence for digital learning and digital literacy and computer science K-12 as a part of our strategic plan. Probably not this coming year because the state is going to be revising its framework for digital literacy and computer science. But in the process of doing that a at how we can expand um that uh access for students um from the early grades all the way up. >> Thank you. Uh last question is about also from the DESI Report Card. I noticed that our advanced coursework completion dropped from

08177% of students in the 20 the 2024 school year to 45% in the 2026 school year. That feels like a a a fairly dramatic drop, and I'm wondering how staffing or changes in the budget will help us to reverse that so that more students are taking advanced coursework. >> Yeah, before you joined the committee, Mr. Piazza, I think last winter I informed um the members of the committee that we had discovered an error in the coding of courses um that we had reported for the high school and for several years there was a course that many of our 12th graders take uh which is uh statistics that was miscoded as an advanced course when in fact it is not. AP statistics counts as an advanced course, but regular statistics does not. And we uh contacted

082DESI about this error. We were very transparent about it, and they helped us to uh to revise our our reports to make sure that um that that advanced coursework number was accurate for this current year, which did This through the course taking patterns were largely comparable to what they were the prior year, but because that course was coded properly the advanced coursework number dropped dramatically. Um we uh are committed to both through dual enrollment and through advanced placement to see as many students take advanced coursework as possible. That's a part of the strategic plan. We think it's a very, very important um achievement that students can have to prepare them for whatever they want to do next, but especially if they aspire to post-secondary education. Um I think that the investment that we're making this

083year with the double math um in math one um is going to be a very important way to make sure as many students as possible are not only prepared for possibly taking AP calculus, but also for taking other advanced placement courses as well. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you. Over to Miss Rose Iberg. >> Thank you. Mine was not really so much a question as um just a comment that when we were working through things in some Mr. Piazza would address some of your questions. Um we are trying to work to update um some of the forms that Miss Mertz has had to use because they are outdated. There are positions that say one thing, mean a different thing. So we had a lot of questions with going back and forth. I found different things

084from, you know, one source and you couldn't find it in the other one. Um as well as we raised the questions of sometimes the topics that will say, you know, general teachers. And when we're looking at equity between all of our schools, I know I had a lot of questions with well, wait, it says general. I know one school does have a theater teacher, but I have no way of finding it. So we're looking at ways to fine-tune things so it gives the um general public as well that bit of information. Um and also it can be difficult when you're looking just at salaries. We don't know is that, you know, somebody at the high end year retiring year or is that two entry-level positions? So looking to get a little more information into um

085the forms um was one of the things that we talked talked a lot about in the meetings. >> Thank you. Let's do it. >> Sorry, do we have a motion? >> Miss Battefora made it. Seconded by Mr. Jourmey. >> Thank you. Mr. Jourmey? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy? >> Yes. >> Miss Battefora? >> Yes. >> Ms. Macklin? >> Yes. >> Ms. Wordie? >> Yes. >> Mr. Piazza? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard? >> Yes. >> Ms. [clears throat] Rose-Iversen? >> Yes. >> Mayor Christensen? >> Yes, that carries unanimously. All right, next up nomination confirmation of the vice chair. So, going to nominate Keith Bernard as the vice chair. Uh is there a second to that? I don't even know if I need a second. But, if we do, Mr. Piazza. Um any questions, queries, qualms? Um

086Ms. Battefora? >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um just for I you supposed to step down from the chair position when you're >> Didn't say that in the policy. Suppose I could if it would help the members, but >> I always thought whenever the chair has a business that you always step away. You can't make a motion from the chair, but okay. >> Uh it depends. Does the rest of the membership need that? Okay. >> And I do know interestingly >> Uh go ahead, Ms. Rose-Iversen. >> We when we looked into this, we actually did not have a specific policy in place to address when something like this has happened because normally this is done um after we're all sworn in. Um so at that time that's I had asked um the chair what policy they

087would be following and they had indicated that they would go with that, which under that it is that the chair makes the nomination. >> Right. >> I mean, I agree, but I didn't >> talking about just this in particular. Our policy states that when the chair is has any business before the committee that they step down, but that That's fine. >> Yeah, and if the nomination doesn't pan out, then we can open it up. So, All right, you'll sit, ma'am, clerk. So, there's the nomination. Uh let's see, it's been seconded. Uh any other questions, everyone? Okay, let's call the roll. Uh Miss Bettencourt? >> I'm sorry, I wasn't Oh. finished, so >> Oh. >> I'm I'm just we usually have conversations about this, so I was just curious. Um anybody anybody else show interest in

088the position? >> Yes. >> And um Okay. Um and [snorts] why Mr. Bernard for your nomination? >> Uh you had the most seniority. Of the people that expressed interest. >> Okay. Um did I don't want to put you on the I'm going to put you on the spot. I'm because I just know Miss Rose Eiberg has chaired numerous um committees and I guess I personally expected that to be a nomination. Um she's put in a lot of work as well. I'm not saying Mr. Bernard has not. Um over the past 5 years or so now, so I I was just honestly surprised um that she was not a choice. >> She wasn't a choice because she didn't express [clears throat] interest by the timeline that I asked people to let me know whether or not

089they were interested. All right, any other questions? Miss Macklin. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Um so I just wanted to express that I too um was kind of astounded and and disappointed that a conversation was not had with um Miss Rose Eiberg. and certainly Mr. Bernard is a good friend, a buddy, but I think a lot of us thought that Ms. Rose Zeiberg would have been the clear choice, and not to have a a direct um just direct engagement about her interest. I mean, this whole process of you know, having to express in email who was interested and who was not seemed like a departure from how we nominated the vice chair in the past, and I understand that it's the chair's responsibility or you're tasked with doing that, but um the previous two

090times it was the committee who actually made the nomination. So, because I'm really confused about the process, and disappointed that um Ms. Rose Zeiberg um just didn't not have a conversation about the role. I think that she's deserving of the role. She's put in a ton of work. Um I just don't know I just don't know where I fall on this decision. >> Sure. Well, respectfully, I don't know why you're astounded. I mean, I sent an email to ask who was interested. Two people on the committee expressed interest. I mean, it's not rocket science. >> It's not rocket science, but she >> Well, if I could just finish my statement, Ms. Macklin. >> Certainly. >> I think the difference here is this hasn't occurred before where someone stepped down mid-term. You're right about we would

091typically do this as a body at the inaugural, but this is the first time that I can remember when someone stepped back, and so we just wanted to fill the remainder of the term. That's why it was different from how we typically do it. And if it's not what you believe should have happened, we can vote no on the nomination and open it up and and go from there, but I think the goal was just to try to fill the expiring term. >> And that would be for the remainder of the school term or the remainder of the year? >> The 2-year term. Which I think now, I forget, is about a year and few months. >> Thank you. >> All right, any other questions, queries, qualms? >> Uh Mr. McCarthy. >> Uh thank you,

092Mr. Chair. Very, very quick. Um I'd like to hear from the you know, the candidate, Mr. Bernard, if he has any he has a statement that he want has prepared. >> Sure. >> Any comments as to why he feels like he wants to be in the other role as vice chair of leadership. >> Sure. Mr. Bernard? >> Um sure. Uh uh you know, I was uh I was on a work trip when I saw the email come from our vice chair, and it kind of stunned me that this was happening, and um it was something that I had considered uh back at the beginning of that I was looking at what I currently was had for work workload, family responsibilities, um other situations going on, and I said, "You know what? I'm not going to

093go and, you know, Jennifer Sorry, Ms. Mattera, had gone and reached out to me and said, "Hey, would you support me?" And I said, "Yeah, absolutely. I'll go and I'll support you." And I didn't want to go and and do that. Uh but it had been going on in my head that maybe I wanted to go and do this. And when this opportunity came along, I had a conversation with my wife, and we said, "Hey, we think, you know, you you can do this and So, I that's why I went and I sent the email to to Gary to say, "Hey, I'm interested." Um Gary give me some I'm sorry, the chair I apologize. Uh the the chair uh had a conversation with me and I said like I think that I can go and

094I can do this role. I think that I can go and represent us as vice chair. Um but there's no ego in this for me. This is whatever's going to be the best for not just the school committee, not just the schools, but also for the city of Malden. And I hope that I can go and I could represent all of us very well. Um but ultimately the choice is the chair's on who he who he nominates. And if it's not me I will continue to do my job. I will continue to go and work with whoever is put forth as the vice chair. Um and I want to go and just be on the record that hey I understand that other people had uh may have had interest. And I don't mean to go

095and step beyond anyone's seniority. If they had gone and presented their name or if they had come to me and said, "Hey, I was kind of thinking of going and doing this." The likelihood is is that I might have might have gone and said, "You know what? I'm going to withdraw my name." >> All right. >> So, [clears throat] I'm just hoping that you can trust that I'm going to be fair for the next for the remainder of the of the term. Um and come next election cycle, we will go and we'll see what goes and happens and we may have a large number of changes. We may not. Um And we go and we see, you know, at that point. If someone else is interested, I am happy to go and say I'll go

096and support them because I think it's an experience we should all get a shot at. >> Thank you. Well, it's a good thing we took the budget up before this, it looks like. Are there any other questions, queries, qualms, concerns? All right, motion's been made, it's been seconded. Let's uh let's do this. Let's call the roll. >> Mr. Army? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy? >> Yes. >> Ms. Badafora? >> No. >> Ms. Macklin? >> Abstaining. >> Ms. Houghty? >> Yes. >> Mr. Piazza? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard? >> Yes. >> Ms. Roseburg? >> Yes. >> Mayor Christensen? >> Yes. >> What's the vote? >> That is a six. >> 611 All right, I have 611. All right, so congratulations and uh look forward to working with you. All right, everyone, next up, acceptance of $100

097donation to the Malden High School Band. Ms. Badafora. >> Thank you. So, I have a $100 donation made by uh Mr. Christensen to the Malden High School Band in the amount of $100. >> Okay, motion made by Ms. Badafora, seconded by Mr. Bernard. Uh and this was just because of their hard work at Memorial Day, which I was so impressed that they not only came but they performed in the rain and stayed for the entire ceremony. So, uh let's call the roll. >> Mr. Dummy? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy? >> Yes. >> Ms. Battefora? >> Yes. >> Ms. Macklin? >> Yes. >> Ms. Houghty? >> Yes. >> Mr. Piazza? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Rose Eiberg? >> Yes. >> Mayor Christensen? >> Yes, it carries unanimously. Next up, Ms. Battefora, school

098improvement plans. >> Uh so, the superintendent took us through those. So, I would like to just make a motion to uh approve and adopt the uh FY 27 school improvement plans. >> Seconded by Mr. McCarthy. Any questions, everyone? Any remaining questions on this? Hearing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anybody opposed? The eyes have it. That carries unanimously. All right, Ms. Rose Eiberg, school choice. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. This would be a motion to amend the current policy JFBB um over to the you've got the recommended um changes that I already went over that is about um any sibling of a student already enrolled in the district should receive priority for admission, clarification on the definition of race as well as updates on the legal references. So, the motion is

099to um adopt the changes that are proposed. >> Motion by Ms. Rose Eiberg, seconded by Ms. Houghty. Any remaining questions, everyone? Mr. Piazza? >> Just want to be totally clear about what we're what we what we'll be voting on in a second. Also, thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry. >> No, no. Just jumped into it. Please. >> Um so, um because we voted last time to not join the school choice program, uh the way I'm understanding this, but please correct me if this is wrong, is that we're essentially just updating the language for the thing that we decided already that we're not going to do. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Piazza, for clarifying. Anybody else? Um hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Anybody opposed? Okay, the ayes have it.

100That carries unanimously. Let's stay with most Ms. Rose Zeiberg on timeout, seclusion, and restraint. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. This also a policy JKAA would be to um motion to amend our current JKAA. So, this would include actually retitling it, making and accepting the recommended um updates that would put us in compliance with the um DESE guidelines that need to be in place by August 17th. >> Okay. Uh motion made, seconded by Mr. Drami. Any questions? Uh take it away, Mr. Piazza. >> Thank you again, Mr. Chair. Uh Member Rose Zeiberg mentioned this um in our discussion of it earlier that there's opportunities to go beyond what MASC has required us to do. Of course, MASC um bases their recommendations on state law, and if you've paid attention to the Boston Globe recently, you know

101that there uh there are discussions about amending state law related to timeout rooms. And one of those pieces in particular is that state law right now does not require parents to be notified if their children are put into a timeout room. And this happened in a recent story where a child was put in a timeout room as many as 40 times without a parent being notified. I think this is something where we can go beyond in Malden what the state has set for us and so I'd like to make a motion to include parent notification about use of time out rooms into into the policy that we're considering. >> Well, that that's a significant change, right? Ms. Rosenburg or >> The part that if you recall earlier I talked about the discussion that we had,

102what we wanted to do is accept this and then make this top priority. We're hoping that tonight we will be voting to accept the adoption of having the whole policy review go through because we also do before I would do something like that we actually I frequently use our own in-house attorney through the the sped department has one that I will have a legal go through so before we do changes that might have legal implications. I'm just putting that there. We do we run it through legal as well just to make sure that on our end that the um our lawyers are okay with that. >> So then we'll be voting on not accepting the policy as written. We'll be voting on whether or not we're going to review the policy. >> No, the motion

103would be to This is the amended policy. So amend our current policy to accept the wording that you got the amended policy suggestion which had all of the information about time out seclusion physical restraint because there were changes that were made. This one does satisfy the current requirements so we meet that. Um and then we actually did talk to fellow members of actually continuing through the summer if the adoption goes through of um being able to do the contract policy service. We would be working through the summer to start really getting this going. This was one that we had a lot of input also into it. But again we to make a policy without and making a change at this point without running it through legal I would not feel comfortable with that. >> Yeah,

104so I would hold that thought. >> Yeah, that's that's fair. >> Yeah. And any concerns, obviously, send them through. That's what it's, you know, it was why we had some trepidation on this, but we have the August deadline. Um, yeah. >> Yeah, I I understand that, as long as we and it sounds like we're all sort of on the same page about keeping parent notification on the table when it comes to use of timeout rooms. >> Yes. Absolutely. >> All right. Uh, any other questions? If not, all those in favor say, "Aye." >> Aye. >> Anybody opposed? The ayes have it. That carries unanimously. All right. Uh, who's speaking on this? Ms. Rose-Iversen, Ms. Spadafora. This is on MASC contract policy service. Let's go to >> team. >> Ms. Rose-Iversen, Ms. Spadafora. >> Thank you,

105Mr. Chair. I am only going to speak to the financial portion of this just because, um, this did sit in the finance, um, >> Right. >> subcommittee as well as a policy subcommittee, so finance, um, did, um, meet to discuss to make sure that this was just financially doable for the district. Um, the payment requirement is, um, believe it was $3,500 at the signing of the contract, and then an additional $35, um, $3,500 payment, I think, 1 year in, and then a final payment, um, when services have been completely rendered. Um, Ms. Martz was able to build in the full amount into this year's budget. Um, the full contract is 10-5. Um, so we were happy to the it has to be done. It's so desperately needed for policy to be reviewed. So, financially, this

106is an investment, um, and the past, um, unanimously. >> Good. Thank you. Um, Ms. Rosaiberg. >> Um, yes. We know that I've been pushing for updating our policy manual for a number of years now. Um, this is spelled out. We've talked to them. I know that it's interesting that you can go as they will work with us. Um, and meet whatever schedule we need. They work with people right now who even do virtual appointments once a week for an hour. They will do them at whatever we need. Um, we can also jump around and make and prioritize whichever things we think are most important. We have discussed in, um, subcommittees that we do think that section J, with our student-facing things, just like Mr. Piazza just pointed out, um, there are things that are student-facing.

107We would probably want to prioritize those. Um, so there is a, uh, motion to accept the proposal for, uh, the policy manual development, to accept that. Um, do we go forward with that? >> Motion made, seconded by Ms. Spanafore. Any questions, team? Hearing none, all those in favor say, "Aye." >> Aye. >> Anybody opposed? All right, the ayes have it. That carries unanimously. All right, Ms. Rosaiberg, let's go over the handbook. >> Thank you. This was a request that, um, I put this on at the request of the superintendent, um, for passing the, um, student families and caregivers handbook. We did already receive sort of the executive summary, but I can hand it over to Dr. Sipple to review that. >> Super. Thank you, Ms. Rosaiberg. Uh, so, what you have before you is, uh,

108and I there's an executive summary in your packets this evening. Um, the full document was, um, shared with you as a PDF, um, over uh, last week. Uh, the, uh, our legal counsel, uh, Ms. Rogers assisted us in reviewing both this document and the other, uh, document we'll be looking at next. Um, just to make sure that there is, uh, accuracy that, uh, includes the legal and policy requirements that have been updated and remove all outdated information. Um, and then, um, one thing I wanted to add or just note is that we had a lot of work that was done this year, um, by that, uh, artificial intelligence and learning working group. Um, that, uh, those recommendations are going to be coming. We'll be sharing those, uh, we hope with the technology subcommittee very soon.

109Um, and those, uh, recommendations and those policy, um, um, notes have not yet been included in the handbook, but when when you we have those recommendations, we'll be making further revisions to the handbook accordingly. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. Questions. Motion by Ms. Rose Iberg. >> had a question. >> Yeah, I just want to get the motion on the floor, Ms. Rose Iberg. Seconded by Ms. Houghty. All right, you had a question for us, too. >> Um, yes, because I know that we expected to have the AI language by the end of the school year. Do you have sort of that in place? And I'm curious how this impacts. I know most of our stuff is always online now. Um, I don't know if you do printed copies to folks, but were people

110going to be signing this? What is our time frame on that? Or will we need to be having a special meeting is to um, incorporate the AI information, which I do think is important to have some semblance of it in the current policy. >> Careful. Thank you. So, we do anticipate having those recommendations as far as, uh, adjustments or tweaks to, for example, our policy on academic integrity and plagiarism or uh, the um our acceptable use policy specifying certain things that are that are specific to AI in that in that policy. The current policy that we have does include the um I know there was a question that member Pierson asked earlier today regarding the list of digital tools that we have. Um that is on our website and unlike last year it does actually

111reflect student data privacy agreements that we've uh have in place with those vendors. Um so um it's it's always going to be a moving target especially with the technology advancing as much as it is, but uh we um do anticipate probably by the time school starts in the fall that we'll have updates um that reflect that work. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um motion's been made, it's been seconded. Any other questions, team? Hearing none, all those in favor say I. Anybody opposed? The eyes have it, that carries unanimously. All right, let's take a look at this plan, bullying prevention and intervention plan. Ms. Rose Iberg. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um again, this was one that Superintendent Zipple um brought to me to put on. Um it does indicate some changes that would be

112made uh in our current plan. Um one of the specifics is that we had adopted HealthSmart as a health and wellness curriculum, um available version of the bullying prevention intervention incident reporting form, um with those links for that, accuracy check, removal of outdated information. Um can turn it over to Dr. Zipple, but that in a nutshell is what the um the changes are. >> Thank you, Ms. Member Rose Iberg. And uh again, our legal counsel that helps us with student-facing um documents and um policies, uh did um help us with this. I asked uh Assistant Superintendent McDonald just to speak to it briefly because this is that this kind of update is something that needs to be done on a regular basis. >> Every 2 years we have to review it. It is following um

113DESE's model plan. It follows um so does the form in it. So, while we had we did two things. We have looked through DESE's model programs and model forms and copied that as well as had our legal counsel um review it with us. >> Thank you, Ms. McDonald. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Ms. Spadafora. Uh standby, Ms. Spadafora. Let me just get this slide off. There we go. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um I'm just curious cuz we just received this obviously not when I say just, I don't want to say like it came later or anything, but it's just a document that we hadn't seen. I haven't seen it in policy. I will be honest with you, I am a little hesitant on approving it. There are some information in it that like

114um [snorts] deadlines to for um to complete the investigation. So, it says that we will um plan to start investigations within 24 hours of an incident, but it doesn't specify a timeline of how long, when we will notify families. Like, I just feel like that it could >> And and again, >> One second. >> It could use a little bit more work um and I don't know what that looks like if because this is more procedural than policy, but also we have to follow policy, so are we aligned with our policies in this packet of of procedurals. Um >> So, my understanding is that this was approved 2 years ago. It is supposed to be approved every 2 years. Um and this is the 2 years are up, and so that's why I wanted to

115get it approved. Um we can certainly look at it and and put more in-depth things in it. It is the one that um sort of follows DESE's plan. I'm I'm venturing to guess that if you looked at many school systems, they use the same one cuz they mostly all legally go by what DESE offers. I mean, if if we want to tweak it, we absolutely can. Um we we're just sort of doing our due diligence to have it updated and have it reapproved by the school committee, as we're required to do every 2 years. >> All right. Uh Ms. Batafor, you stand by for a couple of questions here. Let's see. Um Mr. Piazza, and then we'll go back to you, Ms. Rosenberg, okay? >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I I do have a few

116um to sort of echo Ms. Batafor's comments, I do have a few concerns about moving forward with this tonight. Again, not because we didn't receive it enough time, but because we did, and I looked at it, and I have a few questions about it. One is that um uh the the language hinges on the word parent pretty regularly, and I don't know how narrowly that is going to be interpreted. Um and I want to make sure that the language is broad enough for students whose caregivers are not their primary parents. Um maybe that's an easy one, but nonetheless, it's still an important thing um for us to make clear in the language. Uh but the the the my main concern with it is um to your point, you know, we we we review these every

1172 years. Um and the last 2 years have been a unprecedented time in the world of cyberbullying, unfortunately. And the growth in that time has been stunning. And um I I would like to see a document that reflects uh those those concerns. Um and so uh that that particular language is something I'd like to look at, run it through legal, whatever we need to do in order to make sure that our policies are keeping up with with um with the fast pace of this issue. >> I think just as a general rule, whenever cyberbullying, we had a case um just recently, whenever it comes um up and it shows up in our schools, we still follow the same procedures. >> Well said. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Mr. Rose-Iversen. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um

118basically backing up what um my fellow committee folks have have brought up. I was curious um and actually talked to Dr. Siple a little bit about this. Um that based on this own document says every 4 years, beginning with 2015-2016 school year, the district will administer a student survey to assess school climate and the prevalence, nature, and severity of bullying in our schools. While we didn't do one specifically, I understand that was a portion of um one that was done and that we also were supposed to be administering a survey to faculty, staff, and parents/guardians to assist in determining school climate needs. So, I'm curious if that one was done as well. Um and also that to look at this at potentially um cuz this one says every 4 years we have to update the

119document every two, but just to try to make sure that we're on a schedule where we're actually doing these surveys so that they can be applied to the um you know, the 2-year process. >> I I the last time we did it, if my memory is correct, is when we had Panorama a few years back is the last time we did it. I would have to check the exact year. Um with Charlie um Connorfree and Aaron Craven had done that survey and I think that was the last time we approved it 2 years ago, but I would have to double-check that. >> Okay. >> My memory is not always >> So, if I may, Mr. Chair, uh we did uh include some questions about bullying, campus climate, safety in the student survey that we just

120completed uh within the last few weeks. Um we do not have that data to present to you this evening. Um I guess I If I might, one thing I would I would suggest is I mentioned earlier in response to your question about the the student handbook and the AI working group. I mean, that the bullying and bullying uh the bullying policy is one of the areas also that that that work is very relevant to because of all of the things that are happening in that that sphere with AI. Um I So, I think that uh we would be right to revisit this with uh in in light of the recommendations we have from the AI working group. And then also um we could also look at the survey data that we do have with the

121intent of doing something more comprehensive next year. >> All right. So, what's the pleasure of the committee? Move to Is there a motion to uh Ms. Rose-Iversen? >> So, I just had one more quick question or kind of comment and um it's just to put it out there. Um former School Committee member Michelle Lohwang, current um city councilor, had asked me about and she has scoured trying to find information and Assistant Superintendent McDonald had some. Um but just to also say in here because it apparently at some point the school committee had adopted the Sandy Hook promise. Um, okay, you're all nodding. >> [laughter] >> And she's been looking for it and trying to see where that is in anything. Um, so just saying some people have good memories with that. So just putting that

122out there is another thing with um, just some questions. >> We do still work with Sandy Hook. I had a meeting with them a few weeks ago, a week ago. I'd have to ask uh, look at my calendar, but we did just speak to them. We still have an MOU with them. We still work with them. I believe myself, Dr. Sibel, and Ms. Bassine are the three um, emergency 911 contacts that are always on call to get a phone call if something happens. The last one I got that was the tips will come in, they will come into our social workers, our principals via email, but if there was something more serious, it will come to the three of us during text. And I believe the last one was over Christmas break. Um, Sajid O'Brien

123gave me a call about it. Um, an issue and I helped him work it through. >> Just relaying that relaying that one for a former school committee member. Thank you. >> Okay, it was a pleasure of the committee. Sounds like we need some more time here and you're not opposed to that. >> Not not at all. >> Okay. Motion to table my best battle four seconded by Ms. Rose Zeiberg. >> Hold on. >> Oh, did you have another question? >> I'm sorry. Mr. I'd actually like to to make a motion to send it to policy. >> Sure. >> Not just a table. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right, motion to send to policy. It was seconded by >> I'll second it. >> Ms. Rose Zeiberg, I think, right? All right. Um, all those

124in favor say I. Anybody opposed? The eyes have it. That carries unanimously. All right, party people. Next up, personal privilege. Left to right. Anybody on my left? Mr. Bernard. >> Uh well, first of all, I do want to thank you for the the vote, and I hope that I can earn your confidence over the next bit. So, thank you for voting me in as vice chair. Um reach out to me if you have any questions, concerns. Um number two, more importantly, um because I can't go and do this next week, uh happy birthday to my wife, because she's going to uh her birthday is next Monday. Um and also, uh just to go and say a because of the presentation earlier today, happy pride to anyone that is celebrating, and uh make sure that we've

125got some dates here, but uh the ones that are important to me is on uh June 23rd at 6:30, uh there's a vigil for Tyran Aza at Coquitlam uh lay, and uh of course, on uh 6:28 at from noon to 4:00, there is pride in the park at the same park. >> Very good. Thank you. Over to Mr. Piazza. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh just a few events from the Salem Wood school community. Uh Thursday of this week is so, June 4th, the K-4 field day, rain date on Friday. I will be there cheering on my kindergarten partner and third-grader. Thursday, June 11th, so following Thursday, is the K-8 talent show. That's at 6:00 p.m. in the auditorium at Salem Wood. Monday, June 15th, grade two concert. That starts at 1:45. That's also in

126the auditorium. It's a lot of Salem Wood events. Tuesday, June 16th is the grade four concert, also 1:45 in the auditorium. Now, we're onto Wednesday, June 17th. This is field day for grades 5 through 8. Grade 3 has its concert that day, also 1:45, also in the auditorium. On Thursday, June 18th is the kindergarten concert, and we all know how adorable that's going to be. That's 1:45 in the K4 Cafe. Friday, June 19th, a reminder because of to celebrate June Juneteenth, there will be no school. There will be a large celebration that is organized by the Malden Juneteenth Coalition. Apologies if I got that name wrong. Miss Van wanted to wish caregivers a happy Father's Day. You know I like that. Monday, June 22nd is the grade 8 moving on ceremony. That's 5:30 to 6:30

127p.m. in the gym. Doors open at 5:00 p.m. for seating for that. Then grade 8 students will have a dinner and dance that follows the moving on celebration. That's 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., also in the grade 5 cafe. Last announcement, Tuesday, June 23rd, last day of school, 11:00 a.m. dismissal. Miss Van extends her thanks for a wonderful school year. Wishes everybody a great summer. Great. Thank you. Mr. Drumey. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh real quick, PTO is uh in Dr. Stahl from Ferryway. PTO ice cream Fridays is still on through the end of the school year. Um this Thursday and Friday the is the third third grade field trip. Tuesday, the 9th will be the PTO and school site council meeting. That'll be if you go to the Ferryway School PTO page, you'll see

128the link to hook up to. Um on Thursday, the 11th is the kindergarten promo promotion ceremony. There's two of them, one at 11:00 and one at 1:15. Uh grade 8 is going to Canobie Lake on the 12th. Field day will be Tuesday and Wednesday, K through 4 on the 16th and 5 through 8 on the 17th. Uh 8th grade is having a pizza party on the 17th. Uh Ferryway's 8th grade moving on ceremony for their 8th grade is going to be on the 22nd and that is because Principal Stahlden gave it to me. Hang on, I got it here someplace. That's I think it usually runs around 9:00 in the morning. So, we'll go we'll go at 9:00. >> yep. >> Uh we know the high school is having a graduation Excuse [clears throat] me,

129this Sunday and congratulations to them. But also on June 4th is the RISE senior ceremony. >> [clears throat] >> Now, for those of you that haven't been, you got to attend because you got some great stories from these seniors and how they attained to get their degree and what they did. It's If you haven't been, go. I'm telling you it's worth the price of admission, which is free. And that is Thursday the 4th at 10:00 a.m. at the gallery at the high school. And uh happy Father's Day to those that need it and have a good summer, kids, if I don't see you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Superintendent Sipple. >> I just wanted to mention that when we recognized all of our retirees earlier, there was one important omission. Um we recognized our Unit

130C, our paraprofessionals, our education support professionals, and our educators. We did not recognize one of our administrators who's retiring and that is Patty Tremendossi. >> [applause] >> Director of Nursing for many years, um who we're going to miss dearly and um just wanted to apologize for that omission earlier and express our deep appreciation and congratulations to uh Patty Tremendossi, Director of Nursing. Thank you. >> Very good. Thank you, Superintendent. Uh Mr. Spadafora. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, superintendent, for that cuz I know it was kind of in part of our discussions and then when it the name wasn't on the list, I was like, "Oh gosh, I hope we didn't get something wrong there." So, um Let's see. I have got some uh dates coming out of BB. Um we have uh June

13112th is the PTO bash. Um and then we will have a kindergarten celebration of learning um on the 18th along with our grade eight afternoon in the park. The Great Malden Outdoors has teamed up with Bike to the Sea in Malden Rec Department to offer $5 learn to ride classes this July and August at the Linden STEAM Academy for kids and adults alike and you do not have to have a bike. No issues, they have you covered. I want to say congrats to the Malden High School baseball team who made playoffs for the first time and won a not just made won a playoff game first time in I believe it was 14 years. They did end it up losing yesterday. Um but it was an amazing season with a lot of records broken and

132I'm just going to wish a personal congratulations to my high school senior graduate who will walk the stage on Sunday, Gino Spadafora. We're very proud of you. >> All right, very good. Now, over to Ms. Horty. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Lots of things going on at Forestdale coming up this Friday, June 5th from 5:30 to 7:00 is the annual PTO Spring Fling and ice cream social for students in grades K to 2. Come down and enjoy a sweet treat and celebrate the end of the school year with your friends. The Forestdale Drama Club production of Annie is almost here. This year there were so many interested students that they had to have two casts. So, there will be four shows. Thursday, June 11th at 6:00, Friday, June 12th at 6:00, Saturday, June 13th at

13312:00, and Saturday, June 13th at 2:00, all taking place in the auditorium. The spring band concert with Ms. Gorman and her students will be held on Tuesday, June 16th at 1:15 in the auditorium. The spring choral concert with Ms. Barber and her students will be held Thursday, June 18th at 1:15 in the auditorium. The eighth grade moving on ceremony will be held Thursday, June 18th at 5:30 p.m. in the gymnasium. Best of luck to the Forestdale sixth graders who are heading off to Nature's Classroom for the rest of this week tomorrow morning. And congratulations to the Forestdale Falcons inaugural Girls on the Run group. They braved the rain and wind on Saturday morning with the Salemwood Girls on the Run group for their first 5K and did it with Falcon pride. Thank yous to the

134staff member coaches, Monica Leahy, Ariana Matthews, Lisa Sheridan, and Lillian Wong. And on another note, I would like to invite you all to a Malden Reads book discussion of the book Our Missing Hearts led by me on a Tuesday, June 23rd. The doors will open at 6:30. The discussion starts at 7:00. It will be held in this at St. Paul's Parish on Washington Street in Malden. Um this is going to come at the book discussion from a mother's and parent's perspective. For those of you who have already read the book, you'll understand why that is the case. Um please join me. Um I'm looking forward to talking with everybody about it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next up, Ms. Macklin. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, this is from Principal Rock and the ELC. Um,

135our students, um, have accomplished a lot this year. And so, from June 15th, uh, 15th through the 18th, classrooms will hold host end-of-year celebrations, including special recognition for students transitioning to kindergarten. So, I would suggest, um, caretakers check with your students' teacher uh, to see which date, uh, they'll be holding the celebration on. Families are also reminded that registration remains open for both kindergarten and the ELC for 2026-2027 school year. Children who will be 5 years old on or before August 31st are encouraged to register for kindergarten as soon as possible. And returning and new ELC students must also complete registration for next year. Um, the the PTO at the ELC, um, is going to cap off another wonderful year. So, families are invited to stay after dismissal on June 5th for an afternoon of

136playground fun and popsicles provided by the PTO. And Principal Rock thanks the dedicated staff, family, and volunteers for making the school year a success. And, um, just from the high school, um, just wanted me to announce that the graduation is this Sunday with a rain date on Monday, if necessary. Um, and that's all I have. >> Very good. All right, Ms. Rose Eiberg. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the Linden, the sixth grade is running a food drive through June 5th. You can donate, um, canned goods. Um, they're looking for canned goods, dry pasta, cereal, rice, oats, breakfast bars, um instant mac and cheese, and non-perishable items. Those donations can go to Mr. Mari's room in C215. The tie-dye foam party was rescheduled to this Friday, June 5th. That will be from 3:30 to 5:30.

137It's $10 for the event. You need to bring your um Lyndon shirt. There were new ones that came out, or you can bring any white shirt that you have um to dye that. Um the Lyndon Park Playground Improvement Plan held its first community meeting. It's exciting that um the funds were approved, so the park will be getting redone, and they are looking for community input on that. The second community meeting will be Wednesday, June 17th at 6:00 p.m. That is virtual. Be um on the lookout for information for that that they will be getting out. The kinder- kindergarten celebration for Lyndon will be June 12th from 1:15 to 2:15. The grade eight moving on ceremony will be 11:00 to 12:00 on June 18th. Field Day is June 16th. Um the production of Cinderella will be

138has been rescheduled. That one is coming up. Going to be like competing um options for being able to see some great theater um during this time. So, on the 12th, it's from 6:00 6:00 to 8:00, and on the 13th, there are two shows, and that is 1:00 to 3:00 and 5:00 to 7:00. Those tickets you have to use Eventbrite. They are $10 tickets. Um the eighth grade dance um does is on the same night as their moving on ceremony. That will be from 6:00 to 8:00 on the 18th. That is only for eighth graders. I do want to say um happy Pride Month. Um I do want to um kind of plan out it, but just thank you to my fellow school committee members for um the comments and recognition that you um put forth

139tonight. I just uh appreciate that, and um it's important for me to hear that from my peers. So, thank you very much. Um I do want to give a special thanks. I said I would would shout this out. I wrote some notes. Special thanks to teachers Jen Clapp and Ariana um Massana at Malden High. They had extended an invitation for me to come and see workshops and um performances that their students are being able to get involved with through the Levine Learning Lab through the American Repertory Theater. So, I was able to go last week at the program brings it's a 3-week process. So, the first one um ART comes to the the the students and they talk about whatever production is coming up next within the ART. Then the following week the students go

140and do a workshop and see the production and then it's followed by people from the ART coming back to the school. So, I was able to see one of the workshops taking place and um fortunately um being this was the the last one they were attending was to see Black Swan. Uh we got to see these students who six schools participate uh Boston area schools, Malden being one of them. And for this particular one, the teens actually put together what the workshop would be for everybody. Seeing them working a crowd of other students, fellow students and they put forth um doing sort of word association and then that went into writing a poem and then they swapped with another group who had to then act it out. Um it was very impressive to see kids

141that empowered and making connections with each other, being able to learn all the skills that uh theater can provide. So, again it's the Levine um Learning Lab. Um it was very impressive um to see that and one of the things that really struck me as I was introduced to a lot of people at the ART was their absolutely over-the-top um compliments to the Malden students and the Malden staff um even saying that in a lot of some ways that the um Malden who's been with it from the beginning have actually been able to shape the way that this program has started to evolve. Um It's It's absolutely fantastic thing. It's another example of different offerings that our school does have. Um hearing that we've got all of these future Thespians out there. Um it's a

142wonderful thing that I hope that um they're able to continue it. Um and as uh Mr. Piazza joins to actually watch um the Black Swan, just caution folks who go, it is an intense production. If you don't know what it's about, as Mr. Piazza was not sure. Um it's it's it's um intense. I will be sharing um Yeah, he had to know. It was interesting to me. I went, "Huh, I'm like, you didn't know?" Um >> [laughter] >> Um and Ms. Clap has nicely volunteered so that the students on their way should they are so excited that on their way back they typically will be record themselves to get that immediate feedback. Um and she is going to work with the students because um they did have their meeting today, but because I would be

143at work, I wasn't able to um sit in on it. So, just hats off to these kids. They represent Malden such fantastic ways. And it's a really encouraging program to see in place that we have here. And um lastly, seeing as we're doing some little personal things, happy anniversary, Andy, on um Wednesday. 36 years. Um There we go. >> All right, thank you very much. >> [applause] >> Motion by Mr. Drummy to go into executive session, seconded by Mr. McCarthy. Clerk will call the roll. >> [clears throat] >> Mr. Drummy? >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy? >> Yes. >> Ms. Spadafora? >> Yes. >> Ms. Macklin? >> Yes. >> Ms. Horta? >> Yes. >> Mr. Piazza? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard? >> Yes. >> Ms. Rose Iver? >> Yes. >> Mayor Christenson? >> Yes. >> I

144found >> Did you You found me this found me. He was in here. So much just whiskey Is that just from getting That was from sitting too long. I thought I was going My knee doesn't want Yeah, so it's stiffness in there. It's still I take that. I used to take oil but When you take oil but I take it in the morning. This is snake oil. Yeah. Come on. I've taken snake oil. No, and not here. I mean like It's like lightning. Yeah. All right. Just enter in this I'm freezing. I think it's really cold. Yeah, I know. I know I'm I'm just like I just want to have I know. Hey I have my way so Should we do this and check with main office? Yeah. Yeah, it's in the gallery. Yeah, I

145see. Yeah, sometimes I believe in national ball. Do you want to set up right? Email me what I'm always here because I like to get pictures of to get Sierra. If can you let me know how many and I'll make sure there's enough seats maybe. I I almost didn't try. Oh. Don't be Well, embarrassed about what I said. It's my friend attending. I don't know who it might be. Um I can find out. If I can find out who's on the list. >> Okay. >> So, we may be able >> [laughter] >> Yeah, cuz my safety plan says I'll be notified I will find that out for you. >> Okay. >> And then we'll make a plan. >> Yeah. >> Because he usually sits to my >> Yes. >> It So, we'll talk. >> Because

146Mike has been saying that it's so good, so I took it >> We like this year. >> [laughter] >> Thank you for coming. >> I'm going to try to speak >> Oh, I left the mic >> All right, we'll entertain any motions. Motion by Mr. Drummy. No second. Seconded by Mr. McCarthy. Any questions about adjourning? You got a question? >> [laughter] >> You better not. All right, all those in favor say I. Anybody opposed? Committee adjourned.