001Good evening everyone. We're going to call the Malden School Committee meeting to order. Today is Monday, February 2nd, 2026. The time is 6:03 p.m. Our next meeting will take place on Monday, March 2nd at 6 PM here in the chamber. This evening's agenda will be as follows. First, we will pledge allegiance to our flag. will then have a moment of silence to honor our veterans. Clerk will then take attendance to ensure that we have a quorum sufficient for us to come together. Then we'll go into this evening's agenda which consists of the following. First up, the consent agenda. There are two items there. First is the regular session minutes from January 12th, 2026, followed by the January 2026 warrants. From there, we'll drop down to public comment. This will be an opportunity for members of
002the public to address the school committee. We only ask that you state your name and address for the record. After that, we'll go to our school superintendent where he has a series of items including recognizing Aaron Craraven, the director of counseling, as well as hearing from Malden Reeds about the 2026 book selection and programs. And then there will be an update on the superintendent's goals which include district strategy for improvement, special education program review, and the fisc year 27 budget preview. After that, everyone, we'll go to motions and resolutions where we'll hear from Miss Spataphora about the NRT contract as well as subcommittee assignments. After that, we'll hear from members of the committee on personal privilege. After that, we'll entertain a motion to go into executive session for three reasons. First is the approval of
003the executive session minutes from January 12th. Uh then we will go to uh Mass General Law Chapter 3A section 21A to discuss strategy sessions in preparation for contract negotiations with non-UN personnel specifically the early learning center principle. Then after that we will um discuss strategy with respect to the uh SEIU local 888. Then we'll come back out here. We may act on one or more of those items in executive session or we may not and then we'll move adjournment. Any questions from the team? If not, let's pledge allegiance to our flag. >> 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 if you would for a moment of silence in
004honor of all those who have fought for our country and continue to do so around the world today. Thank you. Okay, now we're going to take attendance. >> Mayor Christensen >> here. >> Mr. Drum >> here. >> Mr. McCarthy >> here. >> Miss Bataphora >> here. >> Miss Mlin >> here. >> Miss Horty >> here. >> Mr. Piaza >> here. >> Mr. Bernard >> here. >> Mr. Rosyberg here. >> Superintendent Sippo >> here. >> So we have a quorum sufficient to allow us to gather. Let's get into this agenda. First up, the approval of the January 12th, 2026 regular session minutes. Motion by Mr. Drum. >> Seconded by Mr. McCarthy. Any questions, queries, qualms? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anybody opposed? >> The eyes have it. That carries unanimously.
005Next up, January 2026 warrants. Motion by Miss Spataphora, seconded by Mr. Drum. Any questions there, everyone? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> Anybody opposed? The eyes have it. That carries unanimously. All right, everyone. We're at public comment now. This is 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. Public comment is now open. >> Anybody online? >> Good evening. >> So, you have uh three minutes. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, hi Dr. Liz Tanakbanwa, 31 Grace Street. Good evening, school committee members. First, I want to thank the mayor for being a patron of the arts and supporting Malden's young thespians over the weekend. I was pleased to see our local leaders recognizing upand cominging talent.
006My daughter loves theater because she loves language and expression. And that is precisely why I continue to urge all of you to act on the harmful practice that our seventh graders are experiencing. Once again, I am here to bring up the inequities that persist by forcing entire classes to use AI without parental consent. And while other English classes are allowed to have more engaging and rigorous work, I was told recently that a family engagement night on this topic will be announced soon, I have a few recommendations for a more authentic experience. One, inform families about what data will be shared at this event ahead of time. Two, have the format of the event be genuine and open. Do not force caregivers to take out their phones to use QR codes. Families have told me over
007and over how insulted they feel that they set time aside to engage on a topic, yet they must remain muted and be talked at. Malden can do better than this. Three, please present balanced information about the pros and cons of using course mojo. Families do not want to see district leaders act like corporate salespeople while feigning to care about readers of all abilities. Sorry. Okay. Four. Show I ready midyear data from the year before and this year in seventh grade so we can see the differences regarding the student survey that district leaders mentioned would take place in December. Every seventh grader I've asked has not seen it. I asked Dr. Murphy one hour ago. She also has not seen that survey that they said they did in December. Can you please be transparent about when
008it was given? How many responses did you receive? What were some of the questions on it? Most importantly, what were the takeaways? Lastly, my family was given no heads up about course mojo before you implemented it. to give families advanced notice. I want to know when will you announce if there will be more classrooms subjecting students to using AI next year. What grades and what schools will be impacted? Families want to know if they can expect chat bots forced on their children so they can be ready to push back like I am. Families need transparency from the district on this issue and right now that is in short supply. We also want the district to recognize the harm and distrust you have created during this entire course mojo experience. >> Okay, you're at three minutes.
009You have just a little more. >> At Yes, at at home we talk about the importance of integrity on a personal level. We also expect to send our children to schools where leaders possess integrity as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else wishing to address the committee can do so now? Okay, we're going to go online and then we'll come back to you. Hi, Caitlyn. I have allowed you to unmute yourself. You can um go ahead and participate in public comment. >> Great. Thank you. Appreciate the opportunity to comment. Um I wanted to speak up in support of Dr. Tonic Botwa's points about parental consent for AI. We as parents want our schools to, you know, consider new technologies, but I think it it's really important, especially with AI and how predatory the companies
010behind these technologies are, that parents are given adequate um notice and opportunity to opt out when new technologies are being piloted. And I would also echo a call to actually consider it a pilot and consider data to see whether it is working and not just continue to implement it. And finally, I'd like to put in um a plug. I think you'll hear from more parents over time at uh the engagement sessions for the new high school English curriculum, but uh a lot of parents are very concerned that our kids are getting excerpts of texts and not engaging with with um whole novels. And we were really excited this year that the elementary ELA curriculum added um reading groups where the kids are working together to read whole novels and dissect them and interpret them. And
011so that's been really exciting and I just want to make sure that that opportunity can continue past sixth grade. Thank you. >> Thank you. Back to the live audience. Anybody wishing to address the school committee can do so now. Anybody else online? >> Just a reminder for those that are participating um via Microsoft Teams, if you would like to um participate in public comment, please use the raise hand feature. >> Okay, we're going to uh end public comment. And now let's go to our school superintendent. Well, good evening everyone, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. Good to see all of you. Um I the first item on my report is actually something I think I'm want to hold um but Miss uh Craraven was not able to join us tonight and so next meeting >>
012would like to hold up till the next meeting because um Erin Craraven um for those you know she's the director of school counseling for our district and she was named the administrator of the year for the state of Massachusetts for the entire commonwealth and Um [applause] it's a it's a tremendous honor. She's going to be um recognized in a virtual ceremony, I believe, later this week and then in a in a live ceremony at their annual conference in March. But um I definitely want to have the opportunity to recognize her in person um at our next meeting hopefully. So apologies for that. Um we have some esteemed guests in the audience. Um and that namely would be uh the team from um Malden Reeds and uh Linda Zul, Jody Zul if you would approach the
013podium please. Or Jod that's fine. >> Thank you. >> Welcome Jod. just uh as all of you know and I think folks who were on saw the city council meeting last week um had a preview of what um what's in store for us tonight. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Well, I have a different presentation this evening. >> Um so that we don't bore you with two of the same. But I would [laughter] like to share my slides. Um so I'm going to try to do that right now. While I'm doing that, I'll wish everyone a happy Groundhog Day and happy Black History Month. Great. And also, happy sweet 16 to Malden Reeds. [applause] We finally made it to the middle of our teenage years for Sweet 16 and we are so excited to introduce to you
014this evening our book for this year, Our Missing Hearts. It's an incredibly timely selection that we purposefully chose for this year to be able to focus on the special anniversary of the American Revolution and to focus on themes of democracy and civic education and really to connect with the schools related uh to those topics and to connect with local history opportunities. As always, our books have a component of socioe emotional learning. And this year in particular related to the themes of the book, we're focusing on experiences with resiliency, loss, and empathy. And as always, we think about literacy and the power of words and also focusing on courage and standing up for what's right. So this evening I want to not only um announce for a millionth time our book for this year but also
015to share our companion books um for um young readers from prek all the way up through uh middle school. And we also have some se special programs that we wanted to share with you and invite you all to and to also let the school communities know about. We also wanted to start and ground the conversation with the collaboration the special opportunities that we've had in the past with Malden public schools. And I wanted to start by sharing a a quote from Megan McCormack, who's the interim director of ELA and literacy, who really was sharing about the opportunity to collaborate together and noting the programs that we've participated in together this school year with Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day with um Malden Safe Streets and um participating with them as well as focusing um here
016at city hall with Mayor Christensen and and folks at city hall with um winter wonders and sharing stories in different languages and celebrating different cultures here in the community. We also have spent thousands of dollars of books and this year we've just placed our order for companion books. So we're super excited that the new books will be coming that I'll be describing in just a moment. And we also love to shout out all of the com collaborations that we have with student groups. This year in particular, we've focused on the collaboration with Malden High Love for Kids. The they participate in multiple opportunities mentoring younger students um providing um opportunities for the mini writers then the feedback on students writing and to be able to connect with students and have that peer mentoring. We've also
017connected with the Y leaders and they participated at the winter wonders event as well as we'll be helping out at our kickoff and we just can't say enough about the wonderful students in Malden public schools. And then we also wanted to connect the dots and make sure that we thank you uh Dr. Sipple for sharing the information about Malden Reed's programs with the Malden community. And I wanted to share in particular what our missing hearts means to the high school. We've given 80 copies of the book to the high school. That's one of the largest amounts that we've given to the high school. And they're using the book not just in one of their classes, but across the board from their credit recovery class for students in grades 11 12 as a combined credit recovery
018class, as well as students who are taking AP. They're going to be in a book discussion this spring. And so, Jihara Marquez, who's the ELA teacher leader, wanted to share the importance of the collaborations that we've had in the past, as well as hoping that this book will lead to even greater crossgenerational and cross-cultural conversations in our diverse city. So, next, this brings us to our companion books. And I have a long list this year of companion books because we just love them all and couldn't decide and whittle it down more. But this means there are more books for the schools. So I'll share the uh books by the different age groups uh starting with prek early elementary. And these are the picture books um that we'll be giving to the ELC as well as
019the uh younger grades. And these are for students who are early and emerging readers as well as the English learners and for them to read with their families as they're learning English. One of my favorites here is LeBron James who not only is a basketball star but also is an author and he has a book called I Promise which connects the dots between uh the responsibilities that one has in a community. So, similar to the constitution and bill of rights, young students will be able to learn uh their responsibilities in I promise. We have other books including the book by Justice Sonia Sotomayor as well as um Amanda Gorman. Next, we are going to focus on a book is one of my favorites from Malden native Lisa Klein Ransom, who has written other Malden Reads
020companion books in the past. And this was used at a pilot program that we had done a couple of years ago at the Salemwood School. But again, thinking about courage and teaching students to stand up for what's right. Claud Kovven was um one of the um uh first folks to participate before Rosa Park. So we wanted to make sure as a teenager that her story mattered and to be able to share that with uh young students as well as well as some of these other books that we hope will grab their attention. And then in elementary and middle school, we're also connecting the dots back with the local history and thinking about the revolution and wanted to ground our program in local history and thinking about the Boston Tea Party. So we have um additional
021books as resources for the schools as well as other books that were selected by other educators, librarians, and folks in the community. And I'll call out The Ogris and the Orphans who um that book was um especially suggested for us by Tanette from the BB school who's one of the wonderful media specialists. And then we wanted to connect and show the continuity with the books from previous years and previous programs. So, we have a number of books from previous years as well that are are old favorites that we are bringing back into the fold this year, including books like Blue Sky and White Stars, which um really is a beautiful representation of um the diversity in our country and is a wonderful book for prek and through elementary schools. So, next I wanted to shift
022gears a little bit and talk about this year's program and invite you all to participate in the programs and really wanted to um shout out the city for the community connections grant that we were able to apply for and to participate in. And we'll have a number of programs related again to the American Revolution and the 250th anniversary. We'll be doing a citizen lysum series and that's an opportunity for teens and adults to learn more about the constitution and bill of rights. We'll be participating in readers theater again with the BB school giving them that shout out and connecting the dots with them. And they'll be doing a reader theater acting out the Boston Tea Party. And then we have a number of other collaborations including with uh the Mass Center for Civic Educ Education
023as well as Mark Lahan with Malden's Revolution and we'll be exploring some of the city landmarks and doing a trolley tour this spring. I wanted to give more information about the we the people series and specially invite you all to participate as well as the school community as well as um high school students as well. And this is an opportunity to really dig deep into um the foundations of American justice really looking at the foundations of our government looking at responsibility and looking at different themes. will be meeting four different times at the library. Refreshments will be served. It's a free opportunity and we'll be partnering with the Center for Civic Education for Massachusetts on that. We are finalizing the details and I wanted to share about the mini Writer Den. This is a program
024that we've continued over the years for middle school students to be able to not just work on their creative writing and not just to have an afterchool program, but to really develop their skills and to make sure that they have a safe opportunity to transition from the middle schools to the high school. And so the high school love for kids have been participating to provide that peer mentoring opportunity. We've heard that this year in particular, some of the students have graduated up to the high school, have met the high school students, and they have that special connection now knowing that they were we're participating in the mini writers den together. And so we're looking to have this opportunity again uh this school year with experts in the field for different themes. So what's it like
025to be writing like um writing recipes or writing uh food reviews or writing a blog? So we'll have those opportunities to share soon. And this link here I wanted to share with you that's students writing from last year. So we always again shout out the students and want to make sure that you have the opportunity to see the work that they do. And we also want to specially invite you to join us for our kickoff event that will be a week from tonight. That will be at the Malden Public Library. And we'll have um Malden native David Stein and Sue Stein. They'll be back in town participating. Not only is he a chef, some folks might remember him from uh being a chef and some events that we've had with him in that regard, but
026he and his wife also have a band and um based on the themes of the book, they'll be performing protest music with their band called Tail Spin. And we'll have MHS Love for Kids. We have the Y leaders and we'll have crafts for families. We have a model of the Boston Tea Party ship and bales of tea that we'll be throwing overboard and it'll be a lot of fun. We hope you'll you'll come enjoy with us and wanted to just give a taste of things that we've done over the last year and a taste of things to come. We've done things like um a 3rd of July event in celebration of Independence Day and Mayor Christensen, you've come to that and read with the students and we thank you for that. We've also had as
027I mentioned the Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. We've celebrated Indigenous People's Day in Junth in collaboration with other nonprofits in the community and participated with Winter Wonders and Stone Soup with the bread of life. We participate with many different community groups and run nonprofits and uh really value all of the connections across our community. And we invite everybody to participate this year. We ask if anybody is interested in hosting an event, we'd love to partner up. We have copies of the book available at the library and the companion books will be delivered soon. And we hope you'll participate and follow along. And with that, I wanted to thank you on behalf of Malden Reeds for inviting us back again for sweet 16. And um we can take any questions that you may have. And
028we'd like to also present you with copies of this year's book to enjoy and to share with others. >> I think first [applause] Let's take some questions. Let's go to Miss Horty first. >> Thank you so much for doing this and happy 16th. Um, >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Also, sorry. I had a question for you about the we the people lysm. I saw that there was four evenings and I wondered if they were individual or if you needed to attend all of them to get like is there a thread or >> There will be um a thread and we're looking for folks to make that commitment to participate in all of them. But if you can only make one then we'd love to have you for that one. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thanks.
029>> We've also had the person from the state that's part of the whole country and he has done four or five different lys when we started it we had representatives from CCC from core from all the different agencies in So this is not just >> it looks like a wonderful opportunity. >> Joey, just for recording purposes, could you just summarize what mom said? >> Thank you. So the lysum is a continuation of programs that we've had in the past at the library uh with Roger D. Roger and have had him um come back upon request and um in the past we've partnered with um the ArabAmerican Women's Association, the Chinese Culture Connection, and many other community groups to participate. >> Got it. Any other questions? Uh Miss Bataphora. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Honestly, not
030a question. just always a thank you for um coming here and encouraging >> reading. >> Thank you. Um and so excited to see I one of the companion books I just read in um one of Mr. Wai's um classes. It was um That's not my name >> and the kids loved it because it it it opened up a conversation with students to really talk about their heritage and the diversity and where our names come from. So, um, it was excited to see that as a companion book. So, thank you. >> Great. Thank you for letting us know. >> Other questions? Okay. Hearing none. Uh, superintendent. >> Just want to echo everyone from the committee and, um, thank you Jody, thank you, Linda, and to all the volunteers of Malden Reeds. So grateful to have you
031as partners. I'm looking forward to next Monday. >> Great. Thank you so much, Dr. Cifl. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, now we'll go to our school superintendent for his update. So, uh, before I get into everything that was on deck tonight, I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce formally to all of you and to the public our um, new principal of the Early Learning Center, Mr. Alex Rock. [applause] Mr. Rock um joined us last summer as interim principal after a beloved uh former principal Tomorrow Lawrence left us um to to uh pursue some endeavors in another district and um he stepped in on an interim basis um knowing that it was going to be there would be a competitive search process for a permanent principal later in the
032year and um he applied along with others and Um he was uh very successful in that in that process and the from what I hear the caregivers the staff at the early learning center are very very and the students are very very grateful and excited to have him as their permanent principal. So I wanted to give him just a chance to speak um to all of you um just to have a face with his name once more. So Mr. Rock congratulations. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Um, I'm so happy to be here this evening. I just want to take a moment and just really express my appreciation for the amount of collaboration that I've experienced in my short time in Molden working with the fantastic educators at the early learning center uh has truly
033been a gift. The growth that we've seen from the students and the first half of the school year has truly been remarkable and I think the foundation that um is being set at the early learning center is a platform for even further growth and development for students in Malden public schools. I'm really excited to further pursue opportunities at the early learning center. I think that there's so much um potential for further um collaboration throughout the district and I'm really excited to be a part of that and to be leading the early learning center. So, thank you so much. I'm very proud to be involved in public schools and to be uh one of the principles within the school system. Thank you. >> Very good. Thank you. Any [applause] We're going to take a brief recess.
034Yep. >> Uh we're going to take a brief recess to take a photo with >> Sorry about that. I jumped the gun there, Mr. Mayor. >> Okay. Okay, you're wrong. >> All right. So, and um in the audience tonight, we also have uh Miss Van Wyn, principal at Salemwood, and Dr. Kerianne Murphy from BB. Thank you for being here. I'm actually asked Miss Van to be here specifically tonight, and uh you'll see why in just a moment. Um, I'd like to uh continue remind us of the core values that lead our work as a district to include and collaborate to make sure that people are a part of the work from all angles and have ownership of the work that we're doing together and that people that are impacted by the decisions that we make
035have an opportunity to influence them. We also are um committed to embracing growth. The notion that all of us are on a journey. All of us uh are not the person that we ultimately want to be, but we're on our way there. And we see each of our students not as a as a static uh person, but someone who's on a journey also. And we always look for the potential, always believe that there's more that that they can achieve as we work together to support them. and that we ourselves can grow as well. And lastly, to do right by all kids, those that have uh people to advocate for them, those who do not have people to advocate for them, we need to advocate together for all of our students and to make sure that
036the decisions we make are truly doing right and um for all of them because when uh we do so, we are much stronger than any of us could be by ourselves. So um in November you approved uh four goals uh for me for this year. Uh last month we spoke about the five-year strategic plan and the outline for that for that plan. Um tonight we're going to talk about two uh other other goals. the strategy for improvement that we've been in the process of implementing and then which is our student learning goal and then the specialed program review an update on the special ed program review excuse me so goal two implementing the strategy for improvement this uh has to do with uh how we're improving achievement for all of our students in literacy, math,
037and science and with specific key actions uh in view. One, school-based cycles of observation, calibration, data analysis, and action planning that I'll speak about in a moment because that's a lot of words. and then the implementation of formative teacher coaching um by every school leadership team including the principal house and assistant principles and teacher leaders or coaches. And I just want to note again that this uh formative teacher coaching is distinct from our formal evaluation system that we um that we're more more familiar with. And um actually let me go back just for a moment. Um just want to remind everyone that strategy or that pri instructional priority that we're after this year is to really two things. One is to see that our students day in day out in every classroom are doing more
038of the heavy lifting in their classes. That they're the ones doing the thinking. They're the ones doing the debating. They're the ones who are really wrestling with ideas and and showing that they're um that they're growing intellectually and academically. and not just listening and receiving knowledge um which isn't has its place but we want to see them actively doing that heavy lifting and then the other is to see that our students who have more diverse needs uh particularly this year in literacy but not only literacy um that they are having opportunities to receive differentiated support and catch up to their peers. So the um this cycle of instructional leadership, I just want to try to unpack this a little bit um because sometimes these words can be a little um hard to follow. Um but
039basically we have coaches in all of our buildings. Um um typically one focuses more and specifically at K8, we do have a math coach at the high school and we do have some district-wide coaches that focus on math, literacy, and science. But at each of our K8 buildings, we also have building based coaches who support work with literacy and with math. Um, and these coaches come together for a district-wide meeting to share strategies and to look at data together and to receive um training on how to better support their respective schools. The second week of this of a typical month, there is an instructional leadership team meeting and those are um comprised by principles um their assistant principles, the building based coaches as well as select teachers from each of the grade level teams who
040um represent the the faculty as a whole on making decisions and steering the ship, if you will, um instructionally for each building. And that is also supported by an instructional meeting that our principles come to with our directors here, usually here at city hall on a monthly basis to again look at data to um calibrate around looking at watching uh lessons, videos of lessons to make sure that we have a shared understanding of what heavy lifting actually means and how to support it. The third week, that school leadership meeting, uh those are primarily the principles and their assistant principles. um just checking in about how the work's going and that's supported by an operational meeting that we have on a monthly basis again with all of the principles and then the principles have a faculty
041meeting with all of their teachers and we have a Malden leadership team meeting which involves every assistant principal, every principal, all of our directors, all of our special education uh leadership come together on a monthly basis to again focus on these same um elements of work of making sure that we have a shared understanding of what heavy lifting is and how do we support our teachers in getting it done throughout the month. Um, we have all of these individuals that are around that that outside of the of those arrows are involved in observing instruction, not in evaluating teachers, but in observing instruction and giving feedback using our common look for tool that we spent a lot of time as a district developing last year. We also have uh something called lesson study, which uh is
042a a way for teachers to really be more versed and more deeply uh um established in what specific objectives are that they're they're they're getting at in whatever they're teaching. And making sure that the language objectives and the other um underlying um needs that our students may have to reach those objectives are also understood. and the strategies that are being applied are are the optimal ones. Coaching cycles are cycles where selected teachers often on a voluntary basis almost always in a voluntary basis um because this is not evaluative. They're working with coaches on observing them and giving them feedback and and often demonstrating uh doing demonstration lessons in their classrooms to better understand these strategies as well and often being able to observe a colleague who might be using the same strategy in this with
043the same in the same grade level. And then data reviews, we have lots of data that we uh we look at on a regular basis. um the Dibbles, the I Ready, the EXL and and all student work samples as well. That's a part of this ongoing work that's happening that teachers are a part of. And how does that all happen and how is it different from what has happened in the past? Well, one thing that I want to just note is that we have in a part as a part of our contract and this has been um something that's been part of the the culture of Malden public schools for some time or professional development days, but we have really really really spent a lot of time to listen to feedback from teachers and to
044and to work collaboratively between directors and principles and assistant principles to provide as much differentiated support so that third grade teachers teachers get what third grade teachers need and uh high school English teachers get what high school English teachers need and as many different groupings students uh teachers of students with disabilities they get what they need and to really make sure that we're using those those days this professional development days as effectively as possible and then something um new this year that we've done we did a lot of work um both especially at Kades but also at the high school this here to begin embedding professional development blocks or PD blocks within the workday. And this is separate and add in addition to the teachers contractual prep period. So they have their prep period which
045is their time to um to use to prepare their lessons and to work with whomever they they choose. The PD block is a time that we provide coverage for them so they can work with their literacy coach so they can work with an assistant principal so they can work as a team specifically on uh lesson study and developing their their lessons to um to meet their students needs. data reviews are a part of that and those trends that are being uh observed through those non-evaluative observations and the trends that are coming up in lesson study those are supported through faculty-wide meetings at each school behind the scenes. Um you know we we all know what principles and assistant principles do. have an idea of what they do and they do a lot of those things
046as far as making sure our students are safe, making sure that um lunch is is uh is happens without a hitch every day, making sure that students have the support that they need when they're having a rough time. But what our principles and assistant principles have really done an amazing job at this year, even more so than they have in the past, is to really also lean into instruction. and they are present in those PD blocks and they are uh by by team. So we have assistant principles working with K2 teachers, working with three through five teachers, working with middle school teachers, and assistant principles or house principles and teacher leaders working with teams of teachers at the high school as well to really um share the the load and share the work of helping
047to improve instruction and make sure that our students are having a a real productive and enjoyable time in their classes each day. Um and our assistant superintendent for teaching learning um Ko Bassin um and the academic directors um they are in all of it um constantly supporting principles, constantly supporting the uh assistant principles and the directors um to really make sure that they have the support that they need um to to push to push things forward. And um I will share uh at a our next uh meeting I can share some data from our teachers that they have really responded positively to all of this work. I have something I want to share with you tonight. Um, and that is a a little snapshot of one team at one of our schools. Um, specifically the
048first grade team at the Salemwood School and they had a just a brief conversation uh last week about what teacher collaboration has meant to them this year. Um, how it's been different and what it means for students doing the heavy lift. And I'll just um before I I play the video, I just want to make uh um a comment that I've informed our principles that I would like to bring examples like this from all of our schools. And so you'll can look forward to more of these little snapshots from the work that's happening in all of our buildings. Um because there is really good work happening across all of our schools and I want to elevate it and celebrate the work that our teachers are doing. But without further ado, this is the grade 1
049team at Salemwood. The >> uh PD blocks that we're given to work with our team. We're able to collaborate and really dive into our lessons and kind of work together on how to best meet our student needs. Um and it has been so helpful for us. And I think the lesson studies and PD uh days and faculty meetings uh it was beneficial because we always collaborate but those times that we also uh get together with the K23 K22 together. So actually it was an opportunity for us to uh collaborate vertically. So we get to see what strategies working in kindergarten or second grade and learn from each other. A simple tool that we all use is whiteboards. Um, so during skills, they're able to show what they know through their spelling. Um, so it's a
050way for them to really work through the thinking themselves instead of copying the teacher. Um, it's really helpful in math because then they can see all the different strategies and allows for great turn-in talks as well. Yes, I was going to say another tool we use is turn-in talks. So the kids will turn and talk to their peers on the rug and instead of just raising their hand and answering a question that we might have, they answer the question to their peers and then we come back together and talk about it and that is really helping the kids develop their language, develop their sentence um skills and those types of things which is a really nice thing to see. And it's not just a teach uh teachers are teaching it's the students are learning on
051their own way and also they're they take pride in showing in their work. So they are so uh proud of themselves to showing their work when we use a white boards. So it's actually wonderful to see. And I'll add going off of that, I think it's been really cool to see, especially coming from the special ed background, the students on IEPs and also with ones and twos, they're still doing the heavy lift, even if it might look a little different because of the learning challenges they might have, but they're still actively really working hard and using all of the strategies to the best of their ability. >> Students come alive. It's really interesting to watch them productively struggle. So, for example, uh at the beginning of the year, they'll seek out a lot of help.
052They'll say, "Is this right? Is this correct?" They'll be a little bit hesitant or a little bit nervous, but as it goes along, you can see them problem solving. You can see them like working through it and giving them that confidence and support. like teaching them the strategies and guiding them is amazing, but then watching them succeed on their own and doing the heavy lifting on their own is truly what teaching is all about, right? You want them to succeed on their own. So, us as teachers, our job is to supply them with the tools, the strategies, the knowledge, and then they can grow from there. [music] >> All right. And um kudos to um Miss Van um because that's uh her team and she's uh going to be on hand to answer a couple
053of questions if anyone has them. So question is is it working? It it um you know because I think whenever you start a new strategy um there's always an eagerness to want to see okay but is is it working? is is are we seeing signs that the in the data that it's actually working? It's really early um to see what those signs might be. Um but there are some promising signs and at Salemwood in particular with that grade one team, they had higher than average growth um in literacy via the doubles testing than they've had in years past. um at Salemwood also across grades uh students have shown meaningful growth in math uh versus um via excl. And there are lots of examples of individual students who have made more than a year's growth in
054a in four months. Um and we were able to celebrate a lot of those students across schools at our PD day in January. Also across the district, u K5 students have had the highest mid-year results in the last three years in Dibbles. Um they had above average progress from fall to midyear also in Dibbles, which is a an early literacy assessment. Um grades four through eight students improved from fall to midyear in I Ready. And then in u grades five, seven, and eight um and also students with disabilities in grades four through eight, they've shown significant improvement relative uh to mid-year testing last year in I Ready. And then in math, um again, it's very early, but in grades two through four and in grades five through seven, students have shown significant growth in their
055math performance via testing. And so we're going to be watching this data um and our teachers through all of those structures that I was talking about a few minutes ago and just like those those teachers articulated in the video um they're looking at this data constantly and making adjustments to what they do so that they can serve their students better and see even greater growth. So that's that's just an update on what's happening as far as um goal two is concerned and this district strategy for improvement. And um before I go on to the next one, I just wanted to pause and see if there are any questions. >> Questions from the team. Miss Horty. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know you said this, Dr. simple, but I have to ask and it it
056is really really early, but I just had a couple questions about two of the metrics you had on here for math. When you say meaningful growth via the LL testing, are we talking can you just give me a rough number or idea? Are we talking about kids what what are you qualifying meaningful growth as? So this is not a uh and I'll invite assistant superintendent BIN to chime in if she if I don't do a good job. Um but you [laughter] uh the what would define meaningful growth is not so much whether the students are already at grade level standard >> visav where they were earlier in the year but whether they've made progress towards that standard. >> Okay. And so um because embracing all about embracing growth uh a lot of it is about
057um really making sure that students wherever their starting place was um have made growth towards um towards where we want them to get and in four three or four months it's really really a short time frame. >> Oh it's phenomenal. I'm I'm just looking for a little bit >> 2%. So greater than 2% >> okay >> is between fall and winter is considered meaningful. >> Okay. And when we say in the sorry in the the third bullet under districtwide when we say um students in grade four to eight have improved from fall to midyear is that roughly the sameish percentage wise or is that different? >> I'm sorry. Could you repeat that? So in the third bullet under where it says literacy students in grade four to 8 improved from fall to midyear. >> What
058do we mean by improvement? >> So that there sometimes on I ready we we test the students in the fall. We test the students mid year and we don't see any significant change. >> And so the students have improved from fall to spring to the midyear. It means that in those three short months we've actually seen improvement. >> So yeah, we've we're going like this. Correct. >> Okay. As opposed to >> flatline or because I will say the thing about I ready and this is also true in dibbles is that the expectations um do increase um over time. And I want to clarify, I have loose association with my job for for dibbles. And my understanding is that these tests are also um I can't remember the proper term, but that doesn't matter because I'm
059going to explain it because maybe you don't know the proper term either. Um as students are getting questions correct, they're being challenged. Correct. Right. So if I'm answering if I'm in fifth grade and I'm answering fifth grade questions correctly continually, I will then get a sixth grade question. Correct. Right. to see where I stand. >> Adaptive, I think call it. >> Maybe. Sure. I just wanted to clarify for people that that's the possibility for this, too. In other words, if your fourth grade student is doing really well and they >> stop out at midyear fourth grade because that's where they are, right? Midyear fourth grade, they might throw in a few spring fourth grade questions to see where they'll move, right? That's true for I Ready and also for um Dibbles though is a is
060a um the criterion referenced. It's not it's not an adaptive assessment. It's a it's an actual live assessment that the students do with a with um with an instructor. >> Is this um timed reading out loud dibbles? Is that a portion of it? >> There are a lot of different elements to dibbles um in terms of depending on the age too. Um there it's word recognition, sound recognition, um oral reading fluency. There are several parts. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Over to Mr. Piaza. >> Thank you so much uh for the presentation and it was particularly fun for me to see that video because I had my my daughter's first grade teach. She's in third grade now, but her first grade teacher was in there. And anyway, it's just uh fun uh like
061little look inside um the teacher collaboration at the school. Uh so two questions. Uh one uh one one the first question is just about the data that we're seeing here. Um of course we're looking at student data uh by grade level. I'm curious and and this may be coming later in the presentation. If you have some data disagregated accord excuse me according to student subgroups. So what I was sharing with you tonight are the where we're seeing we've seen some initial positive >> um when we look at uh by whether students are learning English or not whether whether they have a disability. I think we do have students with disabilities in several grade levels who have shown significant improvement relative to their performance last year. Sure. >> At the same point in time in the
062year. Um but uh this is just an initial take. Um we'll have more data to share um as we get deeper into the year. >> Great. Yeah. Racial racial breakdown, socioeconomic status of course all those things. Um uh that that that was one question on my mind and then the second question is and this second question is offered more in the um in the interest of just kind of like thinking out loud right you all. So we have an input here which is students doing the heavy lifting right and then we have an output which is the test scores. And of course, the test scores measure something broader than just students doing the heavy lifting. And I'm wondering if you could just connect the dots, like why why would we expect to see students doing
063the heavy lifting as the input? Why would we expect that to lead to higher um test score outcomes because of course there could be a lot of other inputs that are factored into that. >> That's a wonderful question, Mr. Piaza. So, I like the example that was actually cited in the in the video where students were, for example, prompted to uh tackle a math problem or or to use a strategy and the students rather than the way I remember being taught um when I was in school where, you know, you would raise your hand if you thought you knew and everyone else kind of laid low and let that person answer. >> Yeah. [laughter] um or you just kind of faked it, you know. And um the strategies that they're employing that they were describing
064were really um encouraging students and expecting them to turn to someone next to them and explain their answer to them so that everyone was having to do the thinking. And then afterwards, those dry erase boards that they were describing in the in the video, um, those are ways for them to record an answer or show their their the strategy that they're applying and hold that up so the teacher could see at a glance who was with them and who was not. And then ask students rather than saying, "No, that's not correct." Or, "No, that well, you got it. You got it." ask students, okay, you know, this student has this particular approach. Um, who agrees with them or ask that student to explain? And that kind of pedagogy, that kind of strategy really, really forces
065in a good way and establishes an expectation for all students to do that kind of thinking on a daily basis. so that when they're taking these assessments, there's a lot of understanding that they're demonstrating um and that we do have to capture on an individual basis, of course. Um but that's how that that's an example of how it translates. >> Appreciate that. That's super helpful. >> Thank you, Mr. Piaza, Mr. Rose Zyberg, and then then we'll go to uh Miss Better. >> Thank you, Mr. [clears throat] Chair. Um, first question, did are we seeing the improvements across all schools in the district? Is it pretty standard? >> Yes. And as I said, tonight we get to um celebrate some work that's happening at Salemwood, but there's a lot of other grade levels besides the grade
066level one team at Salemwood and all of the schools. We're seeing really, really positive things happen. And I look forward to we look forward to sharing examples at future meetings about that work. >> And um second question um it is fantastic to seeing that the scores are going up. Um do we have a lot more kids who are like meeting benchmarks? Are we still sort of below the average for how many kids meeting benchmark or kids moving up that obviously improvement is good but are we hitting you know the goal to get everybody up? >> Yeah. So we're I I would again Miss Bassine can correct me but I I don't think we're at a place that we want to be as far as benchmark. >> Okay. >> Um however he you have to start
067somewhere and you have to that that growth is is what it's all about. >> Good. Thank you >> Miss Spaphor. >> Thank you Mr. Shear. Um on page nine you talk about districtwide and schoolbased supports. And I I just want to note that under personnel supports there is um there's nothing um in regards to special education. So when I'm looking at this and I'm seeing how we're strategy for instructional improvement and looking at my own child, where does the assistant superintendent of special education um or special ed program managers come into play when we're talking about co-taught classrooms and differentiating the instruction in the classrooms? >> Thank you for that question. Um so and I apologize that for that omission because in those instructional meetings that we have with principles each month the assistant superintendent
068for student services and the program managers are also very much involved um at each uh school also that those um meetings that I was talking about those PD blocks like the one that we saw here there you saw there was a a special education teacher that was a part of that and each team uh it varies from school to school because sometimes there are teachers that might be straddling two grade levels based on the numbers of students that they're supporting. Um however those special education teachers and also ESL or multilingual teachers are part of those teams and they are very much a part of those PD block conversations to make sure that their students with disabilities and also um the multilingual learners are as they said very eloquently in the video doing heavy lifting as
069well. >> Thank you. Mhm. >> Thank you, Arpaphor. If I might from the chair, you seem to overemphasize the importance of these new PD blocks. Are those a permanent feature now or is that a pilot? So we um I mean we were grateful that um we were able to work with all of our principles to creatively schedule in each building so that um the through the exploratory uh periods and other and other scheduling um miracles we were able to provide coverage for teachers on it's not every day it's not every week um they have their prep every day >> right >> um and Some some teachers choose to use preps also to collaborate with one another, but this PD block is is built into the schedule in our K8s in most cases once every other
070week um for uh about 45 minutes. >> Okay. >> And that um is uh something that we've been able to do that hasn't cost um anything extra. It's with with our existing staff. Did it have to be negotiated or is it >> what we we uh the agreement we had was that we would not touch teachers preps. >> Got it. >> Um that um any collaboration that we did um that was facilitated by administration um would not interfere with teachers having their regular daily prep, which is something that we've had contractually for some time and we've been able to do that. And um again I'll share um bring data to you from the teachers um at the next meeting um just that that echoes the comments made by the grade one team in the video.
071>> The teachers are really finding this this collaboration and and the the consistency of it um very very helpful. >> Got it. >> All right. Thank you. Uh seeing no other lights. We'll now go to special education program review. I think >> special ed program review. That's right. Um so this uh I I mentioned um uh and we had when I presented this goal of course we also you also voted for a um a special education audit and so these two things are happening in tandem um because there's a lot of overlap between them um but that's what I'll be speaking about here um specifically the goal was to conduct a comprehensive review of our programs for students with disabilities to inform short-term adjustments and also long-term plans to ensure that every Baldin student with
072disability fully receives the services and supports that are called for in their individualized plans and um importantly that they have the opportunity to thrive academically, emotionally and socially as they move through our schools. Um and just this little graphic is uh you could find on the DESIE website um 18.8% of our students in Malden um last year were um eligible for services as students with disabilities. So the one thing that um was a part of this goal, a key action step was compiling a comprehensive program data review. Um we are still in the process of doing this. Um the the data specifically that we were focusing on collecting and compiling um was aligned with data that the uh Department of Elementary and Secondary Education uses to determine whether stu whether districts are in compliance and
073basically whether their programs are are delivering what they need to deliver for for students. The department changed those criteria last year. Um they moved the goalpost significantly um in many ways and so these were the data um for English language arts and math achievement for example. They used to look at two uh grade levels and now they're looking at three different grade levels. Um and they are comparing this data in many cases to statewide averages. They're not looking at um like so when we get our accountability um data from the state, they're looking at our progress relative to a target that they set for us based on how our students had done last year. This special education uh determination or local education uh agency determination that DESIE is doing for special education is in reference
074to a statewide average that is agnostic about whether it's urban or not urban. Um it's just this is what the statewide average is and there's a statewide target and are you making it or not. Um and then there's points they and [snorts] I can go into to that determination and the matrix. It's very confusing. I'll just say that. But we're trying really hard to understand it because we want to make sure that we are holding ourselves to the same standard and expectations that DESIE is and that we don't have surprises when they come out with our determination for this coming um spring. last year um with this new criteria, this these new metrics that they adopted um they did find Malden Public Schools along with 44 other districts across the state as a year 1
075needs improvement um um district um for our special ed program. And that was one of the reasons why I wanted this as a goal because I wanted to have a really solid understanding of what uh what the state was expecting of us and what we should be expecting of our students and have some ex also some external eyes on what those improvement needs might be. So we have be uh compiled thus far these are data I will say one more thing and that is that desi is looking at data in many cases that it's a year old. So they're looking at data for when they gave us our determination last spring they were looking at data from 2024 and in the case of the graduation rates they're looking at data from 2023. Um and so
076for this year as we move um into the spring of 2026, they're going to be looking at the achievement data from last year's MCCAST from 2025 and they're going to be looking at the dropout rate or the attendance uh the graduation rates from 2024. Um so it's it's always a little bit of a lagging um in many of the many respects. Um but we want to as much as we can get real time understanding of how we're doing with these same metrics so that we can be assured that in two years when they're looking at 2026 data um we've actually moved significantly towards the standard that we want to achieve. There are other data measures that are still pending um that Desessie has not clarified yet um how they're going to measure these things exactly
077or the using the data that's collected how what the specific benchmark is they're going to use to determine whether districts have have have met the benchmark specifically um or by example post-secondary transitions post-secondary outcomes there is a survey that we do of all of our graduates each year to find out where our students with disabilities have gone after they left us. It's self-reported, but they tell us whether they've gone to university, whether they've gone to a college, whether they've gone to a technical school, whether they've entered the workforce, whether they've uh enlisted with the military, whatever they've whatever they've decided to do, um they report that back to us. the the indication is that um right now there's just the expectation has just been that we conduct that survey and that you get a certain
078percentage of students to respond and that's fine. But as we've talked about with the strategic plan, we're interested in seeing the percentage of students who are really meaningfully engaged after graduation is what we want. And Dusty has said that they're going to be looking at what percentage of students are in fact enrolled in school. They're in the military. They're they're gainfully employed. Um they're involved in a or in a tech school, something that that's tangible and meaningful and they they're on their way to the next chapter of their lives. And we don't yet know what those percentages are, what those metrics are. And so these things at the bottom um have to do with with that with those metrics in particular. So let me go to the next um slide here. And that is that
079in addition to collecting data, the the part of the uh the most important part of this um program review involves collaborative visioning and planning with school principles, but also other district leaders. that will include meaningful input from stakeholders including our special educators, general educators, um CPAC which is our parent advisory council for special education, other parents and caregivers and you all as well as members of the school committee. We uh solicited uh proposals from organizations that assist districts in this kind of work. Um we are um excited to work with a group called Empower Ed. They have worked with Boston. They've worked with Springfield. Um they are currently um working with Somerville, many other urban districts in um Massachusetts, but also across the country. Um and there are four buckets of work that I just
080want to highlight tonight that are going to be really important to this program review. One is community engagement. And so there are focus groups that they will be doing with uh CPAC members as well as other caregivers. There'll be focus groups with staff across the district um by role. So special educators, um general educators, uh education support professionals, principles, as well as other school administrators. And then there'll be a survey because a lot of folks will not be able to be a part of one of those focus groups for a variety of reasons. And so stakeholder survey will be really important to get as much voice and as much um input into the process as possible. We'll also have um a uh a visitor from Empower Ed who will be making snapshot observations in special
081and general education classrooms across all of our schools. Those observations will not be more than five minutes in length. They're not evaluative. Um but their I their goal is to get into as many classrooms as possible and determine patterns and themes they see across substantially separate classes, across general education classes um across the district. And um we are expect that those observations will be happening at the end of February. And then two other parts um have to do with data analysis and document review. Um the overall demographic data of the district. You'll see a lot of overlap between the data that we were talking about just a moment ago as far as data for students with disabilities, their demographics. So we're looking at all aspects of students um how they show up and and the
082different groups that they are a part of their placement the level of service the time and frequency of service that they are to to um to receive based on their individualized plans and the percentage of time in general education whether they are in fact in their LRE or least restrictive environment. We'll be looking at out of district placement data, summitative informative achievement data for multiple years, and then staffing and resource allocation as well. And then as far as document review, um really understanding making sure that they with this outside lens, they're looking at our general education reading and math interventions, our special education reading and math interventions, how uh our intervention process, our systems of support and referral processes work, our special education handbooks, policies, procedures, and our plan. and then um the um special
083education teacher and pair professional schedules and case loads and understanding how that aligns with our resource allocation as well. And I'm going to stop there because that's a lot. [clears throat] And I and I do want to I do want to just note that um um our um assistant superintendent for um student services, Pam McDonald, um there was a um a personal circumstance today that um she was unable to be with us tonight, but she has been very very involved and engaged and she and I actually met with um with the the leader from Empower Ed just on Friday morning. So she's been very very much involved in this entire process. But I'll yield to any questions questions from the team. Miss Mlin. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um thank you for the the presentation.
084Um I was just curious when in the spring um will DESIE request the most current data? Um, and and I I asked that because um I'm also wanting to um curious if we're if we can receive the data that you just compiled uh just so we can do the comparison. >> Yeah, the most of that data that I was referring to is data that is publicly available from 2024. So for example, looking at I guess the the thing the the the clarification I would make is they look at our fourth grade, 8th grade and 10th grade MCCAST results and then they look at those those same grade levels for mathematics, but then they compare them relative to a statewide target and it's on the basis of the comparison with the statewide target that they assign
085a score, if you will, for each of those areas to the district. And that's something also that's publicly available, but I will certainly pro provide it to you. Um I can provide it to you this week. >> Okay, that would be great. Um and just do you know in the spring when the data will be requested? >> So it it really will vary. Um the that the again the the student achievement data that they are we anticipate will be used again will be the student achievement data from fall of 2025 >> right >> I'm sorry spring of 2025 so May March April May from last year um and to some extent we think that the way they assign these scores are in comparison with other districts who may have not met standard either. And again,
086it's we're it's it's a new system that they started last last year and we're still everyone in the state is still um trying to better understand it. But so most of these most of the data that we anticipate they'll be looking at will be things that are publicly reported and mo much of it was reported last year. Um but now we'll be looking at it. um where the data that we have currently will be data that um would be indicative of where we might be as far as the state's concerned next year if that makes any sense at all because of the delay. >> It does. Yeah, I mean it does make sense and I'm not so much um interested in how we compare to other districts, but just how we're doing as a district
087um is what my concern is. Um so um yes if you can send that data along um share me an email that would be awesome. >> I just just yeah the the data is we report it through our SIMS platform. We report it through other accountability and compliance measures and then they take that data and compile it and apply it to this matrix that they've developed. >> Thank you. Yeah. Um, and just one final thing. Um, I'm just curious if we're presenting pathways, um, for the sped students prior to graduation. What what are we doing? Because I know if they're looking at are they going to university, college, or military? Um, how are we preparing? What what is our role in that? We have a a legally very important role which is starting at age
08814 under IDA, every student with disability has a transition plan that's embedded within their individualized education plan. And so that team when they meet on an at least an annual basis to review their progress starting at age 14, they're talking about what's going to come next and and talking [snorts] specifically about what opportunities they might need to begin availing themselves of and what supports they might need to make sure that they're preparing themselves for what those next steps might be. Um, and so that transition plan, um, I believe it's in this here. So, where it talks about post-secary transitions, one of the metrics that they they do collect from our from our our data systems, not something we have to report specifically, is whether students in fact have a transition plan as a part of
089their IEP. And um so that's that's that's a very very important part that's embedded within our special education um program. >> And so that would apply for the students um with the IEP. How about on 504s or just just requiring extra support? So we are uh as a part of the strategic plan I think talking about the what's called my cap my college and college career and academic plan which is a statewide structure that we have for thinking about the future and helping students to be more more thoughtful more intentional about preparing for what's going to come later. Um that's something that um that um Miss uh Craraven, our our um director of school counseling could speak to um eloquently also. Um but that so that is something for all students, but this this that
090we're what we're speaking about tonight is specifically for students with disabilities. >> Understood. Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you, Miss Mlin. We're going to go to Miss Hoy, then over to Mr. Piaza, and then we'll end with Miss Pedaphor. Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I may for one second, Dr. Sip will answer Miss Mlin's question. I do know, Miss Mlin, that the 10th graders at the high school within the last month have been receiving um information, instruction from the school counseling department about future planning. So, the school counselors have been pushing in to 10th grade ELA classrooms and reviewing all of the things that students need to complete high school and opportunities after that. You know, even how to go about applying to colleges, how to go about accessing other things, and then also making
091themselves available for questions, introducing themselves to students who may not know them. So, I do know that that's been happening. >> And that's for the general population. >> Yes. Yes. for for everybody. Um, yay school counselors. Um, I have a Dr. Seville a question a couple questions about empower ed. >> Yes. >> Um, we began working with them in January and February. now >> just uh with the the request for proposals was issued in December. >> Mhm. >> And um they were awarded the um contract if you will just two weeks ago. >> Okay. >> Yeah. But they knew that the timeline that we had established was to have the results from an audit before the April meeting. And so the timeline is quite ambitious. >> Um but they um they knew that going in.
092And so that's where you'll there'll be a lot of um activity to compile the data and talk with stakeholders over the next eight weeks to to achieve that. >> So that's kind of what I was looking to ask more about was their timeline and also at the end of well what is their timeline? when are they done with us? What's the final product? Are we looking at recommendations um from them? Um are they with us for six months? We're going to talk money later, but how much? You know, all of these sorts of things related to our relationship with them. Any sort of parameters would be helpful. We asked for uh an interim report by the end in in late March so that we could have a chance to review it and um so that
093we could have something I believe April 6th is the date that we're shooting for >> with an understanding that that that um the re results the review would inform the strategic planning effort that will be going into June. >> Okay. And then would that cease their relationship with us at that time or what or were they >> It'll depend. I mean that as far as the program review, yes, because it was a very discreet um um criteria that we asked for certain deliverables and so the program review and the audit, that's specifically what they're helping us with. >> Okay. um it's conceivable that they they or another organization might have a role in professional development or other services later but that's not what we're we're specifically looking at the program review and having an external
094partner in a program review at this time. >> Okay. Thank you >> Mr. Piaza. >> Thank you Mr. Chair. Um I'm I just want to come back to the conversation um uh that uh you were engaged with with um Miss Mlin about the um about the about Desi's process because I'm just trying to wrap my head around it. Right. So um it was through Desi that we were deter that we were labeled as year one needs improvement for our special education students. That is that correct? Okay. >> And that was based on our comparison against a statewide target. several statewide targets. >> Several statewide targets. But for example, one of those would be MCCAST reading grade four. >> Correct. >> Right. And then the the other the other data points that were on I think
095it's slide 14. >> Um and if I was hearing your earlier um if I was hearing the presentation correctly, it sounds like it's a uniform statewide target obviously according to grade level. Um, and that that target will change each year depending on what the statewide average is. >> That's my understanding. >> Um, and so the reason I'm kind of like pursuing this line of questioning is Oh, go ahead. >> Just just to clarify, so the statewide average for students with disabilities in that grade level in that content area. >> Sure. >> Um, the reason I'm pursuing this line of questioning is because I, you know, I I I want to make sure that the results that we get in Malden are useful for Malden, right? And by definition, if the state is using a singular
096statewide average, if it's a normal distribution of that average, 50% of the districts will be below, 50% will be above. We could change and improve in Malden, but that's not what the state is evaluating us on. We're they're evaluating us according to our improvement relative to every other district. >> Is that correct? that that I would I think that's a fair characterization that in the accountability system itself which has lots of >> problems. >> Yeah. >> And you know but it but it's very well intended and one well-intended portion of it is that you are given a target relative to where you are today and where they think you should stretch to achieve for that particular grade level next year. that there's a target like a a scale score, right? >> That you're intend you
097they want to see that average scale score >> you stretch to meet that scale score next year and but it's relative to you, relative to your school, relative to your district. And this is not like that. This is this is a a target which is established more arbitrarily if you will across for students with disabilities across the district and so that it doesn't take growth into account to the same degree. >> Right? So theoretically, Malden could make progress with his student for Malden's students on IEPs could make progress every year. And if that progress is and if the other if the state as a whole makes progress, then we might still be in year one needs improvement based on the overall statewide average. >> Yes. And and again, these are things that I need that
098we're this is new. >> Right. Right. Right. >> It's new. And um so there there would year one and then there's year two, >> right? Okay. >> Um and again, we're not alone. We are we're in conversation with districts across the state who are also um trying to understand this the the new system. >> Okay. >> Um and we'll have more information soon. >> Appreciate that. Thank you, >> Mr. Patter. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, and I think we keep on all going back to Miss Mlin because it was really great question you had and I wanted to chime in as well. Um, because it's so important and just I'm only speaking from my own personal experience, but I know that the reason why I asked for an audit is because my experiences and
099everybody else's experience. Um, but I I am happy to say that since my own student turned 14, he is included in those IEP meetings where they're talking about what do you envision um, life after graduation looks like for you. um looking at making sure we're on track um creditwise to meet graduation and just having those conversations with the counselors on um what parents are envisioning, what the students are envisioning. So I can say that's happening in my IEP meetings and hence an audit to make sure that's happening in everybody else's. But it is um it is happening. So, um, and thank you, superintendent, for for taking this on because I know, um, when I first requested this audit and this review really because we're going to be rolling up into this, um, DESIE audit, the
100the universal group A, whatever they call it. Um, >> focused. >> Thank you. My a very simple question just looking at the data compiled thus far um a lot of information that we have on hand. I was just curious and it may be a question that I take offline for Miss McDonald when she is um able to be present but it was in regard to suspension rates and I was just curious when we're looking at those are we looking at overall suspension rates or are we looking at it due to disability or manifestation of a disability? Um, so I I guess I just want to kind of dig deeper into what is the data we're really looking at? Um, is it more high level? Are we kind of digging into the weeds? >> Yeah. And
101I I think I would it'd be good for us to revisit that with Miss McDonald. President, >> thank you. I I will just say there are a couple of these metrics that go beyond what Desessie is looking at that I think that might be in that category where we're we are concerned about suspension rates not just more aggregate um graduation rates but looking at things that are happening in real time to see how those are affecting students. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Now the last item is the FY27 budget preview. >> And for this um next portion um it will be brief I promise but I'm going to invite uh our director of finance and operations Tony Mertz to come and walk through uh these next few um pieces of information which
102are very important and um important to everything else we've talked about tonight. Chapter 70 in funding for all public schools. So, I'm not sure if you guys have seen the numbers for chapter 70, but the numbers are not favorable. So, the numbers were released in the governor's budget and it's a 501,000 uh dollar increase or 501,000 increase from year-over-year for chapter 70. So, that is not the number that uh we had hoped for, but given the decrease in enrollment um we were expecting that number. So, what does this mean? Means we have some work ahead of us. uh and trying to get a balanced budget obviously from the city side and from us to come up with um what we are required to spend for net school spending. Um it's going to be a fairly
103tight year for sure as we start looking through all of our numbers. Uh as you guys can see the foundation budget and what we're required to spend that there's a little bit of a variance and that is because in FY25 uh we came in below net school spending by 1.6 million. So that is added to the current year or FY27 that we need to make up that amount in our spending. Uh what I can say is that we're not alone. 270,000 270 communities out of 351 also received minimum aid which is just the $75 per student uh that was given out to um other communities. So we are not alone in this fight as we uh continue to fight to change the funding formula in the way it it is today. Um, as we compare
104ourselves continuously against our urban districts, as you guys can see, the available revenue that we have based um on the money that we take in is so much less than other communities, our surrounding communities, but we have to contribute more of that revenue towards our chapter, I mean towards educational spending, which is very difficult. And that's why we have continuously pushed to take a look at this funding formula to see if there's a way that we can start making changes. We are in the last year or FY27 will be the last year of the S SOA. So, we're hoping to form a working group uh to look at this funding formula to see if there's an appetite to start looking at uh making some changes. As you guys can see, some of our surrounding communities
105um get a lot more to the tune of 60 million more in Chapter 78 than we do for 28 additional students. Um so the formula in our opinion is very flawed and really needs to be revisited. Uh so we're going to continue to push to do that, but in the meantime, we do have an obligation to meet net school spending for the students of Malden. answer any questions. >> Questions from the team? Any questions? Okay. >> Do you have a question, please? >> Thank you. I guess not a question because we've first I want to thank you, Miss Mars, for the work that you do. Um because I know it is not um I know when those numbers came out last week, I kind of did a WTF. Um because 500,000 is nothing. And then
106to look at I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, what the city now has to um that increase was I believe a $4 million increase on the city side from last year. Um, so it's it's disappointing. So, thank you. Um, I I just wanted to highlight because I feel like sometimes when we talk about this stuff in public and especially as of late, we talk about our required net school spending and that difference um between our um our foundation budget and the net school sp and and how that's so different this year because we came in that 1.6 Six. I I I just want to say for the public, it's not that we're not spending the money. >> We're spending money. >> We're spending the money. We're spending it to the penny. Um and I know it sounds
107like we're like, we didn't spend $1.6 million, but that's not the case. Um there are factors that come in. In this case, I believe it was our our health insurance um was lower. we were paying lower. But I just want to highlight like especially working with you when you're like, "All right, we have to spend this amount of money." You're spending it to the dollar almost every single year. I shouldn't say almost. I mean every single year. >> Every single year. There are no turnbacks from the school side. We do spend 100% of the amount that's allocated to the schools. >> The problem is, or the problem comes in is that you're estimating what you're going to spend on health insurance and retiree benefits. you're estimating that now that's going to happen in a year
108from now, right? So, sometimes you came in over and sometimes you're coming in a little bit short. Um, based on the projections, we came in slightly short. Therefore, the city's portion was less than we had anticipated and thus we came in below net school spending. >> Thank you for just I just wanted to highlight that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Mertz. >> You're welcome. Just to reiterate um with our the work that we're doing across everything that we will um include, we will collaborate, we will embrace growth, we'll do right by all kids, and we will get through this. Um and so I look forward to partnering with all of you in that effort. Thank you. >> Motions and resolutions. Now, let's hear from Miss Fedfor, NRT contract. Um, thank you, Mr. Chair. So,
109last month this was on our agenda and I asked um that it be tabled um in order for I know some people had some questions. I I think everybody might have had a chance to take a look at the contract. Um, I also took the time to sit down and meet with the superintendent, our um, assistant superintendent of student services and special education as well as our finance director just to get a general idea of where we are when it comes to our um, special ed transportation. So, what is before you is uh in this contract that we entered into with NRT, it was a three-year contract with two um optional one-year extensions. So, as the three-year contract comes to an end uh this year in 2026, we have the option to extend by one
110year. Um the price that is included in the contract is uh an estimated price. Um we have been paying over that over the past three years because of the cost to transport our special education students in and out of the district has um has increased varying factors. One of them um being that the number of uh what we call separate indirects. So if you have a student that can't be on transportation with another with other students, they have to be transported separately. Um that cost is higher. Um there's also um we've had some of our um collaboratives that have changed locations and have um so for instance um shore collaborative moved locations but they have staggered start times. So we're sending vans at different we had to split up our routes hence more more routes
111more routes. Um, same thing with Seam Collaborative. They have four sites now. So, now we're sending off more transportation. So, um, the price has increased um, including, um, our out of district students has maintained just around the same number. However, um we have more students going to schools where they're the only student that we're transporting from Malden. So instead of having say three students going to an out of district school, one's going here, one's going there. So again, they're more of these separate um and direct. Um, with that being said though, like I said in our last meeting, this contract um does not have to be put out to bid based on Massachusetts general law. And that does allow us to work with the vendor when it comes to negotiating um the price. Whereas if
112we did put it out to bid, we would have to take the lowest um which might not necessarily be the best. So by not putting it out to bid, it does allow us to um pick and choose. However, there is not much to pick and choose from in the state of Massachusetts. So NRT, as we've referred to them, um is actually owned by a parent company called Beacon Mobility. Um, I don't even think they're Massachusetts based, but they have pretty much bought up every small um, transportation company with the exception of a handful [snorts] um, I believe North Suburban um, our own Mold and Trans, but there really is not um, many options out there. So, I think I just put a lot of information out on the table for everyone. And knowing what we
113don't know, and that is where our budget is going to be, um it would be my recommendation that we at least do a one-year extension to start working with NRT to see if we can um work on some of these costs. Um, >> right. Is there a second? >> Second, Mr. Bernard. Uh, questions. Mr. Bernard. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, [sighs] I'm likely to agree with going and adding an extra year. Um, having worked in the industry, I know that it is a very tough industry and uh both on the uh school side with trying to go in and get your students to where they need to be and also uh for the schools and for the transportation companies because you're often going and working with limited resources. But that being said, um we've also
114had some some notable commentary from our uh caregivers and parents and families that NRT is not well loved. And I do think that we need to put that into the negotiations to go and say, "Hey, we we need to go and have some some real if maybe not penalties, but some real considerations that we've gotten this and you know, we want to work with you, but I would strongly recommend that we kind of hold their feet to the fire a little bit." And I know that there aren't a lot of choices, but that being said, I think we do need to go in to say there's a we we need to hold them to a high standard because if we're not and they only they fail, we need to go and get something back and
115unfortunately it's got to be money. >> Okay, Miss Mlin. >> Thank you, Mr. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I do I also support the one-year extension and I'm just um curious um from Miss Spataphora, do you think that the negotiation um would be favorable for us given that they probably are the only providers um available? Do you think that they will be in a position to negotiate? And maybe given what uh Mr. Bernard just mentioned about, you know, holding them accountable and and [snorts] um some of the disappointments in previous um service. We could bring that up as well. >> Yeah, 100%. I think, you know, our next steps are going to include sitting down with them and really going through some maybe some rerouting um looking at the roots um and just making
116sure that um we're holding them accountable to what's in the contract. And that means, you know, including our our legal counsel in on this to make sure that the contract is is being followed. Um, but I do think that I do think that there's room for us to well, two things. Our our assistant superintendent of of student services, special education, has been working with them diligently and the uh amount of um complaints has drastically decreased. Um, so I'm thankful that the work being done by Central to make sure that if we do get a complaint, they're on it immediately and it's being rectified. So, um, but I do think and and sitting down with the team that there is there are a few things that we can highlight that, um, we may be charged for
117that, um, that we can work on. >> Okay. So, and I think I think that one-year extension will either allow us to see where they stand >> and if this is a company that we want to continue to do business with. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Mlin. Mr. Piaza. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, I I apologize if I missed this in the contract itself, but I'm wondering about the deadline that we're under for making this decision. I do not have that in front of me, but I don't know if Miss Martz knows off the top of her head. >> Let me just have you come to the mic. Miss >> I don't believe there's a deadline, but in years past, we have voted on it in February because that would
118give us time. If we have to put it out to bid, you need to put it out for at least a month given the size of the contract. And then they would have to reroute it. You know, if you have a new company coming in, when are they going to come in? It would probably be before July 1 because your ESY might be starting before July 1st. So, there's all of these things that came into play. So, we've always done it right around the February meeting when we've had extensions or put it out to bid, right? I think we put it out to bid maybe seven years ago uh when we left um Men trans and at that point we put it out to bid and then we've been with NRT since. >> Got it.
119It's helpful. Uh along those lines I'm wondering what are the downsides of putting it out to bid. >> So some of the downsizes are is that the price could come in double. So when we originally put it out to bid the company Molden Trans had bid almost double of what NRT was. >> Um so it was favorable to change vendors. So if it that does happen, including the current vendor could come in a lot higher and then we can't go back and say no, we want the price that we originally had. Right? So those are some of the risks that you'd get. Um right now this price is less than what the market is at. So we are still in a favorable position. Um but you do run that chance if you put it out
120to bid because you do have to take the lowest bidder. >> Can I ask a quick follow-up question? I just want to make sure that I'm understanding. >> Sure. that NRT itself could revise its contract if we put it as a bid. NRT itself could revise its contract and significantly increase it. >> Absolutely. >> Got it. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Let's uh let's call the role. >> Mr. Drum. >> Yes. >> Miss McCarthy. >> Yes. >> Miss Bataphora. >> Yes. >> Miss Mlin. >> Yes. >> Miss Hordy. >> Yes. >> Mr. Piaza. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Bernard, >> yes. >> Miss Rose Zyberg, >> yes. >> Mayor Christensen, >> yes. That carries unanimously. Next up, subcommittee assignments. Miss Pedaphor. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so
121this two was before us last month and was tabled for further discussion. Um, just to revisit, so the chair um puts together the subcommittee assignments. um for the two-year postelection um subcommittees. And in sitting down and and working with the chair, there was a few things. There was just some potential changes to the names of subcommittees. Um one of them being uh we called it the budget subcommittee, but realize that it does much more than just a budget. should be called finance because it's not just looking at our budget but just the spending of the district. Um policy and procedure. There's kind of been this weird thing on what do we do? Do we do policy? Do we do procedure? Who handles that? Um and actually in and speaking with Miss Rose Zyberg who has
122been handling policy and procedure for so long. Um I think that one being of the committee's judgment could stay procedure because it does talk about school committee procedure. Um so not so much the procedure that the superintendent um is is in tasked with you know the procedure to the policies we set. So that I would say could go either way. Um and then technology and student services. A while back um previous um member Mr. Gray took on this subcommittee and it really just encompassed technology um student services kind of falls more in everything we do in our budget in our policy um and in technology. So, but the crux of that subcommittee is really technology and what we're doing with it in the district. Um, and then down to our ad hoc subcommittees, there was,
123um, years ago, uh, we had an academic subcommittee and looking at the work that's being done ELA curriculum in the high school. Um, we thought bringing back a teaching and learning, it kind of aligns with our assistant superintendent of teaching and learning and the work that's being done. Um, and then the dissolution or does did I say that right? >> Yeah. Of um some ad ad hoc committees that weren't doing work any longer. Um, and I I don't want to say superintendent evaluation is not doing work, but that is something that um the chair thought it would be best that we actually all do the superintendent's evaluation here on the stage. Um, kind of aligns with what we've been doing the past couple years. Um, the calendar subcommittee, it was formed, it never met. Um,
124and and no problems with that. It looks like the calendar would fall under policy because it kind of where our handbooks go, our students um or not just hand um what's the word? I'm our uh I'm drawing a blank. And then equity and opportunity is another um ad hoc subcommittee that was created that hasn't met in uh about four years. And when it was a subcommittee, it had only met four times. Um, and then liaison, liaison technically don't have to be approved by the subcommittee. Uh, it was just more for note. And, uh, I just wanted to note, Miss Mlin did say just due to um, uh, time constraints with her, um, day job that liaison liazing with the sick bank would be difficult for her. So, um, I've taken her off and have added
125myself as the liaison. So, >> all right. As always, very well done, Miss Bataphor. So, motion seconded by Mr. Bernard. Any questions, queries, qualms, concerns of the members? If not, oh, uh, Miss Mlin and then we'll go to Miss Rose Zyberg. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so last month I was um kind of voiced my disappointment about the um the dissolution of the equity and opportunities um subcommittee. And so I was just curious um I know Miss Paphoria said it was created four years ago maybe. Do we know under what circumstances that that it was created? It's just it's it's hard for me to fathom that the most diverse school district in Massachusetts would not have an equity and opportunity um standing subcommittee. Um particularly given the presentation tonight where um our superintendent
126said I think about 76% of the district are highly high need learners. Um, and just equity across the K to8 schools. There have been caretaker complaints about that as well. Um I I just think um for me I I just think it's it's critical that we have an equity and opportunity um committee. But I I'd love for you to share with us um if you know why it was created in the first place um and the reason that we're considering dissolving it and what umbrella that would fall under if it is dissolved. Um, so it was created in uh 2019. Um, I I couldn't I I wasn't the vice chair back then. I'm not sure um who put forth that motion. I will say it was created as an ad hoc committee. Ad hoc subcommittees
127are created for one reason. >> Um >> it did meet for um in total five times. It has not met since 2022. Nobody has sent anything down to it. The chair hasn't called for it. Uh Miss Mlin, you are on the committee as the vice chair. You haven't called for anything. Therefore, um in looking and trying to streamline subcommittees, we thought it would be best that the work that could be done in there could go into other subcommittees. back in 2022, we did come into an issue with having work that was in that subcommittee that should not have been um it was work for curriculum that should have been falling under policy. So um since then with that one item that sat in there um we really haven't had anything. >> What's that? Miss back.
128>> Yes, understo. >> Thank you Mr. Chair. uh procedurally because there is we do have an existing policy that establishes our standing subcommittee. So we would have to have a vote on setting that aside and with the understanding that this would permanently make changes the other part and addressing um Miss Mlin's concerns. Um, we have our standing subcommittees. Obviously, it's a policy which we can always be looking at and observing and and taking into consideration if we need to create another standing subcommittee that I'd be open to, you know, down the road a motion to sort of look at what we have going right now um and see if we need to reevaluate if there is a standing committee that we might want to add um that would address different concerns of the community members
129and of the school committee. So just saying but that that because it is already it's specified what the names and responsibilities are um we have a standing policy. >> Thank you Miss Rosyberg. Anybody else? >> If I may just as a point of clarification so down the road because it's ad hoc um currently equity and opportunity that could be added um >> yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Mlin. All right, Miss Bataphor, you had the motion was seconded by Mr. Bernard. Anything else you want to add? >> So, I just um for a point of clarification, because Miss Roseberg is chair of policy, what I would be looking to do this evening is to suspend docket rules >> um because we are changing the name of these subcommittees. So, I guess the first motion
130is to suspend docket rules. >> All right, let's do that motion seconded by Mr. Mr. Bernard. Any questions, queries, quanss on that motion. >> Mr. Drum. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy. >> Yes. >> Miss Fatigora. >> Yes. >> Miss Mlin. >> Yes. >> Miss Hordy. >> Yes. >> Mr. Piaza. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard. >> Yes. >> M. Roseyberg. >> Yes. >> Mayor Christensen. >> Yes. That carries unanimously. >> Um Now [clears throat] the original motion misspor seconded by Mr. Bernard. Any remaining questions? >> Chair has none. >> Okay. I thought we Okay, go ahead. >> I just want to um double check. Were we sticking with policy and procedure? Are you going to switch that up or or because the original um doc we had that was to switch it to policy. Are you
131going to keep it as policy and procedure or switch to policy? >> Whatever this says. What's the What's the paper you're referring to? >> Policy. >> Yeah, policy. >> That's what it >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> All right. Anybody else? >> Let's do this. >> Mr. Dummy, >> Mr. McCarthy? >> Yes. >> Miss Faphora? >> Yes. >> Miss Mlin? >> Yes. >> Miss Hordy? >> Yes. >> Mr. Piaza? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ozyberg? >> Yes. >> Mayor Christensen? >> Yes. That carries unanimously. All right, everyone. Now, let's hear from the members on personal privilege, left to right, Mr. Drum. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, tomorrow night, the Ferryway PTO is having a fundraiser next door at uh uh Santa Fe. Uh it's from 3 to 8. All you
132have to do is mention uh the Ferryway School and they get a portion. Um the 10th is the PTO and uh SSC meetings that'll be on Zoom. If you go to the Ferryway School PTO website, you'll see the uh click on to participate the 19th and this is just a beginning of it. There is also going to be a fundraiser at timeline for the uh Fway School PTO. Uh it's going to be all day. They haven't worked out the the reads and deeds of it yet, but uh when it becomes available, it'll be up on their website and I'll put it up on my page, too, so you'll know that it's coming. Uh unfortunately, I missed the talent show because I was in the hospital, but I heard that it was a very good time.
133I've seen videos. The kids were funny. >> You looked very relaxed, both of you, even though you declined to be judges. You devil. Um but it was a very good time. And uh I'm sorry I missed it, but it looked great. And then last but not least, on the 25th of February, the Ferryway is hosting a celebration of Black History Month, and that will be from 6:00 to 7:30. Uh there you can register for a t-shirt. I just don't know where it is. Is it on the school site? Do you know, Miss I know you sent something out, superintendent? >> Yes, it is. Uh just and just to clarify, it is it's a districtwide celebration, and we're grateful that Fairway is hosting it for us. >> Yes. But there so it's on the site so
134you can go and to to win a uh to get a t-shirt. They said they were giving away t-shirts >> On Parents Square parents square >> and uh February vacation 16 to the 20th. Have fun parents. My kids are older. Thank you Mr. Chairman. >> Thank you >> Mr. Piaza. Thank you Mr. Chair. Um I uh am pleased to share a message from Principal Van who's in attendance with us tonight. She wants to remind us that this week is counselors appreciation week. Um, and I'm going to ask everybody to join to join me in thanking our our school social workers uh at the Salemwood School, Allison Mahoney, Ryan Durnney, Kendra Samson, and our school counselor, Jillian Stewart, and Katie Erle, our social worker intern, for supporting our students, families, and staff. They're a great team
135of listeners, and we appreciate their expertise and their heart. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> [applause] >> an important job for sure. Um and then I have a few um uh just updates both in terms of events and then in terms of opportunities for uh some of our opportunities for uh our teachers in Malden. So, um, February 3rd, tomorrow, uh, will, uh, during the afterchool program at Salemwood, uh, the Massachusetts Safe Routes to School program will be convening a yard sign design contest where our students in grades, I believe it's 1 through five will be designing yard signs uh, to promote um, uh, safe transportation um, [clears throat] to school. Of course, the safe routes school program has been partnering with us um on uh on on creating uh walk buses in our in our district.
136Um I've been [clears throat] a walk bus captain for the Salem School. Thursday, February 5th, the quarter 2 report cards will be distributed. On Monday, February 9th, our FTO, our family teacher organization at the Salemwood for uh grades five and six will be hosting a cookie kit. I don't have more information beyond the words cookie kit. That's in the grade 5 to 8 cafe uh from 2:30 to 4 pm. School site council meeting for Salemwood school 5:00 pm. That's February 10th, [music] Tuesday. Uh so there's a school site council meeting that night at 5:00 pm. There's an FTO meeting that night at 6 PM. Both of those are online. Uh on February 25th, there's a grade 6 walk-athon in the gym at Salemwood. That's 2:30 to 3:30. Um, uh, Mr. Drum mentioned the Black History
137Month event. Indeed, you can get a free t-shirt if you register for that before February 6. And I learned when I registered that you get it for everybody that so all four of us are going for my family. We all got t-shirts. Uh, the step team from the uh, from Salemwood School will be performing at that uh, at that event. Super excited for that. Uh, and then I I mentioned this briefly. Um, I'll I'll put this out on on social media as well. Uh, there is an opportunity for ELA teachers uh to apply for a National Book Foundation grant. Uh, the folks who win that win those grants will receive a $3,000 stipend and a $2,000 book budget to expand initiatives that promote reading for pleasure uh in public schools. That's open to any K12
138teacher in the United States. It'll be a big competition, but nonetheless, um the now going state side, the Massachusetts Historical Society has fellowships for K12 teachers. Uh these are stipens ranging from 3,000 to $6,000, including a fellowship for fifth grade teachers, um who are exploring some aspects of Massachusetts history. >> Thank you, Mr. Piaza. Let's uh go to Miss Rose Eyeberg. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh this month over at Lynden, the readathon has begun. Um this will be for the whole month. Students do have logs. They can keep track of their reading. Um excuse me, the PTO will be giving um out prizes for um the people who who get the most filled out on their logs. As part of that, there will be spirit days. This Wednesday, kids can dress up as their
139favorite book character. Next Thursday, it's future me. So, what these students think that they will be doing down the road is um as a career, future me. Um other things coming up, February 23rd, kindergarten will have their 100th day activities pending any future, you know, snow issues or days off or anything. Um and PTO is going to be doing they have items for all of the kids um in kindergarten for that. The PTO meeting is tomorrow night at 7 o'clock. There's a link on the Facebook page that you can look for um for that information. Um good luck to them their model UN. They are going to compete again. Um they're going to TUS this Saturday. There about 20 kids who are going to um compete for that. Um due to the construction that's been
140going on at um Broadway in Salem, they um Lyn has decided they're not going to be doing the February walk to school. Um if you know the area, you understand why. Um, so they will be looking at I want to continue with the other ones. It's just I I had to drive through it. Took 40 minutes to get from Lyndon to um the high school. Um, and that was driving. Uh, it's it's there's a lot going on there. Um, congratulations. They had a really great time with their stuffed animal sleepover over the weekend. Over 50 kids showed up to do the event. So that's where they bring their stuffed animals. They make um little beds for them and then they read a story and then pick their little animal up. um today um they had
141over 50 kids who said it um was extremely um successful and really enjoyable and also congratulations to the new theater group and that whole program that's going on at Lynon. I was lucky enough to get one of to go to see one of the productions and was really impressed. It's a lot of work to put together a production for their first time out. I was really impressed with their acting, with the direction, with just everything that they pulled together. It's a lot of stress to be out there um taking that stage and I thought they um all excelled at it. Um that said, this Friday um all you thespians uh this for 6 to 8th graders, there's a meeting this Friday um after school 2:30 to 3:30 to talk about auditions for Cinderella the musical,
142which will be their next production. Um so again, that's anformational meeting this Friday. And then auditions will be the 11th and 12th. So the times on that will matter. you know, will they'll be determined um depending on how many kids are going to be auditioning. So, good luck everybody. Break legs during your auditions. Um that's all I've got. >> Thank you. Over to Miss Horty. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um as a school counselor, school social worker myself, I want to congratulate all my colleagues on our week. Um but especially Mrs. Miss Craraven, what an accomplishment. I hope to attend MASA and see you achieve your award at the celebration. Um, oftentimes I just want to say oftentimes school social workers and school counselors are doing things that people don't know about. This is a
143common refrain. Um, I hear from a lot of teachers both professionally when I am working and um, from teachers here too. a lot of behind the scenes work is done by them consistently in ways that you wouldn't know about or imagine unless it touched you personally. Um so a big shout out to all of my colleagues who work really hard um and help lots of students in lots of different ways. Uh some messages from Forestdale and Mr. Wy. The Forestdale PTO has their monthly meeting scheduled for Wednesday, February 11th at 6:30 online. The link can be found on the PTO Facebook and website page. Um, looking ahead, parent and caregiver parent teacher caregiver conferences will be Wednesday, March 11th from 3:30 to 5. More information coming out from the school and your classroom teachers. I
144believe that the high school's caregiver conferences are this Thursday also at 3:30 to 5. Just an FYI. Um, Mr. Mr. Walde wanted to give a giant thank you to his amazing custodial staff of Dave, Rich, and Henry, as well as the public facilities director, Eric Rubin, and his team, and the interim DPW director, Paul Meyers, for the work that they put in making the school grounds as accessible as possible during such a historic storm. Um, everyone at Forestdale really appreciates your work. Um, I think that's about it. Thank you, >> Miss Better. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Things are quiet at BB right now, so I'm going to do a little bit more um districtwide, but I want to first congratulate our newest Cork CPAC board members um and thank our outgoing members for their hard
145work and dedication to our special needs students and caregivers. Um, just for the record, the newest president of CPAC is Amanda Sparcino, who is a um, Forestdale parent and was an ELC parent. I just feel like she was a parent everywhere. Um, Isabelle Dela Cruz is the new vice president, Michelle Ferguson will be our treasurer, and Kelly Pereira is the secretary. So congratulations and I look forward to working with um all of them on CPAC February vacation open gym hosted by Malden Recck Department at the Salem Wood School Fieldhouse. There's going to be multiple opportunities but um grades K through 4 uh February 20th 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and then grades 5 through 8 on February 20th 11:30 a.m. to 1:30. But then also an additional grades four through eight on February 19th from
14610 am to 12 pm. And that is actually hosted in conjunction with the Maplewood Association. Um I actually don't have everybody in front of me, but there was a group that really got together. I believe it was Salemwood PTO um to make sure students had some place to hang out during school vacation. The Chinese Cultural Connection and the city of Malden is hosting the 17th annual Lunar New Year celebration. and it's the year of the horse. This Saturday, February 7th, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Malden High School. Um, Miss Hordy said the same thank you that I was aiming to do, and that was to our DPW, but specifically to our facilities director, uh, Eric Rubin and his staff, our custodians, and not to mention or not to forget our amazing crossing guards that,
147um, were literally just climbing over snow banks to make sure kids could get from one corner to another. So, um, a big thank you to them. And then again, um, a thank you to all of our school counselors on National School Counseling Week, adjustment counselors, guidance counselors. You guys are like literally holding it together for our students, whether it's um getting them ready for college, picking classes, or just being a shoulder. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Bataphor. I'm going to end like I did in our last meeting, which is all of you must take a look at city of malden.org/override and try to share that out as much as you can because if you're wondering why I didn't say anything when Miss Mertz was at the podium, it's because sheer exasperation. We cannot move
148forward on those numbers that were presented tonight. And so, uh, we have a big decision to make, but if I know Malden like I think I do, we will meet the moment. So, again, city of malden.org/override. I would encourage everyone to uh look through that. We have a series of forms that will begin uh this month. Uh we'll be releasing the date shortly. Uh they'll be in different um venues. Some will be in person. Uh, one will be online, I think. Uh, and we're just going to do what we need to do because we are truly on our own now. There is no one coming to our rescue. City of Malden.org. We'll now entertain a motion to go into executive session. >> The Patriots. >> In honor of the Patriots. Yes. Miss Hy seconded by
149Miss Rose Zyberg. Clerk will call the role. >> Mr. Drum. >> Mr. McCarthy. >> Yes. >> Miss Fataphora? >> Yes. >> Miss Mlin? >> Yes. >> Miss Hordy? >> Yes. >> Mr. Piaza? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Roseyberg? Mayor Christensen? >> Yes. School committee is now in executive session. All right, we're back. Do we have any uh motions, please? Miss Better. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to make a motion that we approve the compensation for the ELC principal effective February 1, 2026. >> Second by Mr. Drum. Any questions? Let's call the role. >> Mr. Drum, >> yes. >> Miss McCarthy, >> yes. >> Miss Fata, >> yes. >> Miss Mlin, >> yes. >> Miss Hardy, >> yes. >> Mr. Piaza, >> yes. >> Mr. Bernard, >> yes. >> Mr.
150Rosberg, yes. Mayor Christensen. >> Yes, that carries unanimously. Anything else? Miss Bataphor. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to make a motion to approve the memorandum of agreement between the Malden Public School Committee and SEIU Local 888 Malden Public School Administrative Assistance Effective July 1, 2025. >> Seconded by Mr. Bernard. Any questions on that? Let's do this. >> Mr. Drum, >> yes. >> Miss McCarthy, >> yes. >> Miss Baphora, >> yes. Miss Mlin, >> yes. >> Miss Hordy, >> yes. >> Mr. Piaza, >> yes. >> Mr. Bernard, >> Mr. Rosyberg, >> yes. >> Mayor Christensen, >> yes. That carries unanimously. Now, a motion to stay. >> Motion to stay. [laughter] Motion to stay. >> To stay. [laughter] >> Can we Can we have our Can we bring our stuff? >> Yeah. >> I don't
151think you can make a motion. [laughter] >> Motion to adjourn. like seconded by I think it was Mr. Bernard. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anybody opposed. [laughter] >> The eyes have >> school committee is hereby adjourned.