Malden School Committee 12/08/2025

001Good evening everyone. We're going to call the Malden School Committee meeting to order. Today is Monday, December 8th, 2025. The time is 6:00 p.m. Our next meeting, if we survive this one, will take place on Tuesday, January 12th at 6 p.m. here in the council chamber. So, what we're going to do first, as we always do, is we're going to pledge allegiance to our flag. We'll then have a moment of silence for those defending our country. The clerk will then take attendance to ensure that we have a quorum sufficient to allow us to come together this evening and then we'll get into this evening's agenda. So the first item will be under the consent agenda. We'll approve the minutes from our last meeting as well as the November 2025 warrants. Now, from there, we're going

002to have the Zanta Club present uh 16 days of activism and say no to violence against women. Uh then after that, Miss Spataphor has sponsored a presentation on the Christopher Reeves Foundation grant and then from there we'll go to public comment and that will be an opportunity for you to address the school committee. Uh we only ask that you state your name and address for the record and we're going to allow three minutes per speaker and we'll time that up here and we'll try to give you advanced notice before your time is up. Now after that we'll go to the superintendent report and he's going to give a review of our special education program an update on where we are. Then after that we'll go to subcommittee reports and we have two items there. Uh

003one will be presented by Miss Rose Zyberg from the policy and procedure subcommittee and then from there Miss Batteraphor will have CPAC present their uh survey findings. Then after that uh motions and resolutions there are four of them actually three because we will have taken up the grant but subcommittees for 2026 and 2027. Uh then Miss Rose Zyberg on the competency determination policy and then finally we'll stay with Miss Rosyberg for a discussion on a revised middle school pathway exploration policy. Then after that, the members will give personal privilege and then from there we'll entertain a motion to go into executive session for two reasons. One is the approval of the November 10th executive session minutes and then the other item is to discuss where we are with SEIU Local 888, otherwise known as the

004clerical workers. We'll come back from executive session. We may or may not act on these items there and then we will move adjournment. So there are any questions from the uh team. So as you notice we will be taking several items out of order. Any objections to that? Chair has none. So why don't we first rise and salute 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 for a moment of silence in honor of all those who have fought for our country and continue to do so today. Thank you. All right, we're now going to take the role. >> Mayor Christensen >> here. >> Mr. Drum. Mr. McCarthy

005>> here. >> Miss Baphora >> here. >> Miss Mlin. >> Miss Horty >> here. Mr. Gray, Mr. Bernard here, >> Mr. Ozyberg here, >> Superintendent Cipple, >> Gabriella Perini Cardova, >> All right. So, we have a [clears throat] quorum sufficient to allow us to come together. Uh, we'll now have the Zanta Club step forward. Stand by one second. >> Yeah, that's right. Stand by. Thank you. Thank you so much for having us tonight. My name is Ari Taylor. Um I am the vice president of the Santa Club of Malden. Um and I am thankful to address you all tonight. It's a little bit interesting being on this side of it. >> Where is your Where is your president? >> Our president is in the room. >> Okay. Just want to make sure. [laughter] >> We

006also have with us tonight the president of our uh Z club, which is our young women's club, Emily Taylor. >> Um and so I'm just speaking tonight to let you know a little bit of our 16 days of activism. One of the things that that Zanta does um is advocate and improve the lives of women and girls worldwide. Um and a big part of that is advocacy against the act of domestic violence which affects not just women and children and girls but everybody, families, friends, our communities. Um so our 16 days kicked off on November 25th. It ends on December 10th. If you follow us on Facebook, you'll read facts and figures, ways to get involved, ways to be an ally, um ways to spot red flags so we know what we can change and

007what needs to change. Um and on Wednesday night, we hope you'll join us at 6:30 right here in council chambers to hear the stories of the voices that were stolen um of the people who tragically we lost this year to domestic violence. Um, we honor them by having our silent witnesses displayed. Um, you'll notice them right in the back facing outward. Um, and those represent along with the shoes that are there, the lives that, like I said, were lost in the voices that were silenced. Um, and with that, I will turn it over to Emily. >> Welcome. >> Hello. I'm very pleased and honored to be speaking with you tonight. I think now more than ever, it is so so important that we acknowledge the harm of domestic abuse um not just towards um adults,

008but towards children, towards teenagers and people that it affects, not just the people that are being domestically abused, which happens to teenagers and people in high school and even people in middle school that we need to look out for and stand up and say, "Hey, this is not okay." and acknowledge it. but also the children that are in the schools that are daytoday being affected by their parents and their loved ones being in those domestic abuse situations. And it is so important that we as a community stand up and we say this is not okay and we help those people that need it. >> Great. Well said. >> Thank you. Any questions of the members? [applause] She will be in a brief recess. Uh, one question from Mr. McCarthy and then we want to do

009a uh, picture with the school committee. Right. >> Okay. Once one question. >> Oh, absolutely. >> Ari, thank you so much for being here. Um, the only question that I do have is if anyone's looking for resources, um, does your organization provide that information or should they be reaching out to another organization somewhere so that they know? >> Oh, absolutely. I'm going to actually turn this over to Emily. >> Okay. So ZClub has been doing a lot of work um with the organization respond and we're in ZClub and Zanta are in contact with a lot of organizations that we can get people in contact with. So they want to reach out to Zanto or Zub. We all have Facebook, Instagram, and we check it very frequently. So, if you need someone, if you know someone

010who needs help or you yourself needs help, uh reach out to us and we can get you in contact with uh and I believe we post on our socials other ways to get in contact or >> or we've worked a lot with um respond as well and they have >> Instagram as well if you want to look up respond in sync on Instagram. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And Mr. McCarthy, Respond continues to be embedded at the Malden Police Department. So they're there >> great >> uh year round. >> Excellent. >> Also Mave and in Melrose and the um there's an Asian task force for domestic violence and I do believe that um there's a poster out there, one of the posters that is out there does have a list of those

011resources as well. So >> excellent. >> By all means. Yep. >> Awesome. Great. >> Thank you very much. >> All right, everyone. School committee will be in a very brief recess. Okay, school committee is back. Next order of business is the Christopher Ree Foundation grant. Uh, you know what time it is? Technical difficulty time. Give us one minute. All right, everyone. We're back. So, the next order of business is a presentation of the Christopher Reeves Foundation grant. This was placed here by Miss Bataphor. She'll introduce it. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so I'd like to welcome the Malden Disability Commission um to come before us. This grant was one that the Disability Commission went after. Um, and through it, they were able to um get an amazing wheelchair for our students that have disabilities that

012can be used um for field trips. So, I'd like to introduce u Miss Maria Louise and um members of the Malden Disability Commission. Amanda Bellis, >> she's on. Is there anybody else? And she will be speaking about the chair. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Can you guys hear me? >> Yep. Perfect. Okay. Um, thank you for the introduction and thank you for giving us time on your agenda. Um, we are very excited about this. I do want to acknowledge I know there's some other members of the commission um in the room. Let me So, my name is Amanda Bellis and I'm the chair of the disability commission and I believe Kate Doyle is in the room. Um, who else? Um, Marilyn Andrews and Lisa Pardi. If I missed anyone online or in the room, I

013apologize. Um, but yes, we are very excited for this. So, it's called the Grit Freedom Chair, and it's an allterrain wheelchair um that will allow students and other youth uh the opportunity to, you know, vent adventure to places that maybe they weren't able to before if they have mobility and accessibility issues. Um so, it makes it more inclusive. um makes you know our city more equitable. Um so we're really excited about this. It's um something the commission has wanted for the city for a long time. Um and so when we had the opportunity um through the Christopher and Dana Arie Foundation to apply for grant funding um I give major props to Maria who actually did the application and much of the work um to go for this grant and we were ecstatic when we

014received it um to be able to finally purchase a youth freedom chair. Um, just so folks know, the mission of the foundation is um they're dedicated to curing spinal cord injuries um through advancements of innovative research and improving the quality of life u for individuals and families impacted by paralysis. So with this, thank you for the introduction for the opportunity to introduce this and I'm going to turn it over to Maria. Thank you. >> Thank you, Amanda. I think you've covered it all. Um, we do have the chair here, but I'll just leave it on the side if someone wants to take a look at it. We're going to start by having it at the BB school. I've been working with assistant superintendent Pam McDonald um to have it at the BB, but it'll be

015open to any of the schools that have a field trip coming up. The the unique thing about this chair is that it can be taken apart and it it can be put in any vehicle so that it can be transported pretty easily and it works on all kinds of terrain from snow, mud, mulch, grass. Um, so any kind of outdoor recreational activity would be able to be adaptable. Um, and also with us tonight who supported the grant is Joe Lavine who's head of the rec department. So he plans on using it in some of his programming as well. Great. >> So um, thank you for having us and we're hoping that um, we can apply for the grant again through the Reeves Foundation. They're very supportive with this kind of um, programming. So thank you.

016>> All right. Very good questions of the team. Uh, let's go to Miss 40. [applause] [clears throat] >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you so much for all the work that you guys have done on the disability commission to bring this to students. I have a question. The first thing I thought of when you started talking about this was the fantastic nature's classroom that we had approved for schools throughout the city. Can a student use this at nature's classroom? Do we know? >> Can you repeat that? [laughter] Uh we approved for students to attend nature's classroom. >> Oh yeah, definitely be used it. It's definitely adaptable and transportable and could be used. >> Perfect. I'm so excited to hear that. Thank you so much for all the work you guys have done for this. >>

017Thank you, Miss Hardy. >> I do. Can I just add really quick? Um, and Maria, maybe you're going to explain this a little bit more that students and families will be able to essentially check out the chair for use. Um, I don't know if we explained that. Yeah. So, we we'll loan it to anyone that, you know, gets in touch with us and and, you know, wants to use it for for um a day or um a program. >> Good. Any other questions? >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, with that being said, how can we get the word out in in the schools to um I don't know if if assistant superintendent MC to make sure that people know that it's it's there um because I know we do offer like a lot of like

018Mr. Lavine has so many recreational opportunities. I know there's other um nonprofits in the city that do stuff that really encourage those with different abilities to get out. So, I just want to make sure that we're broadcasting it loud and clear. >> So, we have our fabulous Miss Cora Malone, who's one of our teachers that have a lot of our um students um in her class that have a couple of them have wheelchairs. And so, we're going to house this in in her room. And then we're going to have a form that if you want to check it out, you can check it out, but we will definitely publicize it. We also have Miss Becker Griffith in the room who also has students that could use it, and we will send it out to all

019of our students as well. Um because we want to even if you know you have students that may or may not be within some of our classrooms, we'd love for as many people to use it as they can. >> Yeah. And I think just making sure that people know that even you don't have to have a disability. Like you could break your leg all of a sudden or have an accident where all of a sudden you need an an you know a device, a mobility device. So, I just want to make sure like it's not just for students with disabilities. It's for really for everybody that or anyone that needs it. Thank you so much. >> And we'll be doing press um in, you know, sharing the information on all our outlets and we'll be

020happy to share it with the schools as well. >> Thank you. So, I'd like to make the motion to accept the donation. >> Seconded by Mr. McCarthy. Um, more discussion. Let's go to our student representative. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I was just wondering how many of these chairs are available currently and does it cost anything to loan? There's just the one and the loaner will be for free. >> Thank you. >> We're hoping this is one of many. Uh but this is a great indication that we've been approved by this foundation because uh Maria and the team have been at it for several years. We finally got through. So, >> all right. Any other questions? So, motion's been made. It's been seconded. Now, where we have members online, we have to do a

021roll call. Uh, so let's take the vote. >> Mr. Drum. >> Miss McCarthy? >> Yes. >> Miss Metaphoro? >> Yes. Miss Mlin? >> That was a yes. >> Miss Hordie? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gray? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard? Yes, >> Mr. Rosyberg. >> Yes, >> Mayor Christensen. >> Yes. All right, that carries unanimously. Thank you. All right. [applause] >> All right, everyone. Showtime. So again, we only ask that you state your name and address for the record. Public comment will be open for 45 minutes. We typically do 15, but based on the size of the crowd here, we're going to go beyond that. Uh we'll let you know when you're closing in on the three minutes. Um and public comment is now open. We're also going to toggle back and forth. So we'll do

022some in person and then we'll try to grab some people who are here online. All right, let's do this. So, whoever wants to step forward, uh, again, just state your name and address for the record. >> Thomas Ki, 236 Webster Street. >> Welcome. >> Thank you, honorable. >> And congratulations. That doesn't count. So, start that over. >> You got into Harvard, right? Yes. Yes. >> Aid right here. [cheering] [applause] ALL RIGHT, let's start him over. [applause] >> All right, we're going to start you over. Go ahead. >> All right. Thank you, honorable chair. Hello everyone. I am Thomas Ki, a founding member of the Malden Youth Council, leader of the Youth and Government Program at the YMCA for the past three years, a researcher, Dana Farber, an aspiring oncologist, and a new member of Harvard's

023class of 2030 on a full ride through the QuestBridge scholarship. I say all of these things to highlight how impossible they would have been without the unwavering support from Master Angelo and MHS. So, I'm here today because a great injustice has occurred within our community, one that has been brewing for the past few months and has violently boiled over. I want to quote the same goals of central office to include and collaborate, embrace growth, and do right by all kids. And I ask, does this decision mirror any one of these initiatives? Chris Master was a man who guided the school through the CO9 pandemic and office changes, always keeping the various perspectives of Malden High at the forefront of his mind. He has also dealt with poorly thoughtout initiative overload from above his head every

024year of my high school career. Yet has been the one steadfast pillar keeping us grounded. There hasn't been a single year where everything stays consistent. And so again, do we do right by all kids by consistently altering the landscape of Malden High every year? How do you expect anything to get better if you never give it the chance to? Master Angelo has tried desperately so to include and collaborate. He created multiple studentr run committees to get the diverse voices of MHS all in one place. A decision meant to entice representation. He's ensured that any club can be formed so long as there are at least five members, allowing unique communities to be represented. You were all effectively killing the trust with all future generations of Malden High. And this will not be forgotten by every

025current class, staff, and leader of this high school. And if this decision is followed through on, I implore and will ensure that everyone as a voter and member of the city and youth advocate wholeheartedly votes against anyone who allows this decision to occur. You are killing the diversity of voices in the school district. You are killing the trust in this current administration with lapsed communication and hidden decisions that would very clearly hinder free thought and expression in this school and this city. And you are killing the life and world of a man who has served the school with his entire soul. This isn't just an attack on our principal. It's an attack on our district that must stop here. If not, who knows who will be next? Thank you. [applause] >> If I were all

026of you, you may just want to end here. >> All right. Very Thank you. All right. Uh, public comment remains open. Step right up. State your name and address for the record, >> please. Good evening. >> Good evening. My name is Julius Scott. I live in 208 Washington Street. >> Okay. Welcome. As a student advocate, having been an advocate for three years through the Modern Youth and Government program, which I now lead as president, as well as member of the Modern High School speech and debate team, I'm here to I'm here today to stand to advocate for what Malden High needs, community. It is what makes students come to school and feel protected, supported, because in the end, Malden High School is more than a school. It is a community built on trust, respect, and

027sense of belonging. It is much more than just policy and with the past littered with counterproductive policy and with a future agenda full of change through different requirements from states from in from the incoming phone bands to rehauling of graduate graduation requirements. The last thing we need right now is a new principle. And on although change is inev inevitable, wouldn't it be best to have someone who knows the district inside and out to help ease the transition and ensure the best interest for the student body? Over the past 17 years, Mr. Masterenzo has effectively built a community of trust, respect, and belonging. What Modern High needs is an experienced leader, one that has proved its ability to adapt to change. While we may not know what happens in private meetings between school leadership, the students

028voicing their opinion today do know what happens between the four buildings of Malden High School better than any school leader or committee leader. So if it stands true that leadership is commit that school leadership is committed to doing right by all students, everyone present today will take in consideration the voice of students of Malden High School. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] All right, everyone. [applause] We're now going to jump online for a comment. So, I have online a hand raised by uh Chris Geodano. If you can um I'm going to allow your mic and just state your name and address for the record. Hello, Mayor Christensen, Superintendent Sipple, and school committee members. My name is Chris Jordano. I live at 19 Sprag Street here in Malden, and I am in the midst of my 16th

029year teaching math at Molton High School, currently serving as teacher leader of the math department. Uh, I apologize in advance if my daughter interrupts me. Uh, I am solo parenting tonight. Um, but I am here today as the father of a future MPS student, a taxpaying resident, and an employee of the city to voice my disgust and disappointment with the decision to not extend the contract of MHS principal Chris Mrangelo. I began my teaching career in 2010 and my very first classroom was down the hall from house principal Mrangelo at the time, uh, who was my very first evaluator as well. Throughout my 16 years at Maltton High School, he has supported my development as an educator and leader within the school, always centering our work together on what is best for our students. So

030much of what he does often goes unseen, especially to those who are not walking our hallways on a daily basis, but I can attest that MHS is a better place because of the work he does. Principal Mrangelo's devotion to the MHS community is undeniable, which makes your decision to not extend his contract so appalling. If a man who has devoted so much to our school for so long can be summarily fired without any explanation, what does that mean for me? What does that mean for the educators that my daughter will have in a few years when she is enrolled in kindergarten? I am disheartened that you would dismiss such a public servant without any evidence or explanation. If this is how we treat the people who invest so much time and energy into the development

031of our children, then I am left questioning the trust I had placed in your leadership and our community. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> All right. Public comment remains open. [applause] Please step forward. >> I'm gonna detour a little bit from that from that topic. So, dear Superintendent Sipple, Mayor Christensen, and school committee members. Oh, Dr. Liz Tonagan, 31 Grace Street. Thanks so much, guys. Okay. We exist within an inequitable system that stacks the deck against our students and implicates us in its workings. It is inevitable that as long as we exist within that system, our work is to always push ourselves as leaders, educators, and stakeholders on what's within our locus of control in service of our students. It is in that vein that I come to ask well in advance to district

032leaders, can we please celebrate Black History Month in a meaningful way this coming February? To my knowledge, MPS as a district has never had a district-wide event for the past eight years that my family has been part of the community. I have never seen it mentioned in a superintendent report either, though I would love to be wrong. Uplifting black culture, amplifying black voices, and acknowledging systemic inequities is essential for students to obtain a more complete picture. Inspiring future generations about how black joy has always thrived despite the unique struggles for justice and equality must be explicitly taught so our students have a broader understanding of the past. I firmly believe that an event supported by leadership honoring black history sends an important message that normalizes the gathering which is currently lacking in Malden. We should

033assemble for more joy, not less during these trying times in urban public education. For years, I have asked school leaders when the Black History Month celebrations will be. I bring it up annually starting at ELC at BB. I spoke to Creeps Fataphora last year as well as the director of humanities and the arts. The only responses I've ever received is that links and resources are shared, but engaging in the work is at the discretion of the classroom teachers. The community is ready for that change. Right? I have been at three schools in my nearby district. Every school has its own Black History celebration as well as our district having a gathering that includes many of the activities all in one place. I truly hope 2026 will be different. Superintendent Sipple is aware of this deficit.

034I hope every student in Malden can gather to learn about the joy of poetry, dance, songs, and the many contributions despite ongoing struggles of black Americans altogether. Thank you for your time and attention. >> Thank you. [applause] All right. Anybody wishing to address the committee can do so now, please. >> Good evening. I'm uh Rick Tibnan, 77 Exchange Street in Malden. Um good evening, Mayor Sorry. Good evening, Mayor Christensen, Dr. Sipple, members of the committee. My name is Rick Tivan and I'm a social studies teacher at Malden High School. In January, I'll be entering my 21st year. For 17 of those years, I've had the p privilege of working with principal Christmas. I've seen firsthand how completely he dedicates himself to the students, staff, entire Malden High community. His care for our kids is unmistakable

035every single day. I want to take you back to December 2017. Uh a week before our winter break, the then principal announced by email that he would not be returning to the school after vacation. The shock in the building was immediate. The students and staff were left feeling uncertain and unstable. Our school felt rudderless. That same afternoon, Chris was asked to step in to be interim principal. He didn't hesitate. He simply said yes because the school needed him. The next day, I was asked to fill his former role as interim boilhouse principal. In the months that followed, I had a front row seat to Chris in action. Even though both of us were new to our roles, Chris made sure the transition was smooth and supportive. Everything he did, every conversation, every decision was rooted

036in what was best for kids. He could be compassionate and empathetic, but he could also be firm when necessary. always doing what was right for kids. And he extended the same respect and care to the staff, his faculty. He values this faculty deeply. He listens sincerely to all voices, even when the opinions are differing. Working with him has taught me what true leadership looks like. Decisiveness, transparency, compassion, and unwavering dedication. Since then, I've gone back to my classroom. Chris has guided our school through some of the most difficult years imaginable. Most notably, the CO 19 pandemic, three changes in district leadership at the top, challenging negotiations, and even a one-day work stoppage. But through it all, he's been our steady force. his commitment to this community, often at the expense of precious time with his

037own family. Today, I'm presenting an open letter petition with over 700 signatures from students, staff, parents, and community members. I respectfully ask that Dr. Sipple reconsider his decision and offer Principal Mestrangelo a one-year contract extension through the 202627 school year. >> Okay, you're at time. You're almost done now. >> I'm done in one sentence. >> Uh this would allow for a thoughtful transition and give Chris the opportunity to retire with the dignity and on his own terms after nearly two decades of service to Malden. And I think both the school and Chris deserve it. THANK YOU. >> [applause and cheering] [applause] >> ALL RIGHT. [applause] YEAH, we're just going to go back online to see if there's anyone wishing to speak there and then we'll come back to you here. >> So again, for those

038that are on Microsoft Teams, if you would like to speak, just use the raise hand function. Um and you will be unmuted and called upon. So please use raise hand function. All right, we're back to inside. Anybody else wishing to address the school committee can do so now. Anybody wishing to address the committee? Good evening. Good evening everybody. I'm Jennifer McCabe, not from Canton. I am uh [laughter] 77 Pleasant Street Wald. So um like my colleagues, like the students have shared, I too disagree with this decision wholeheartedly, especially during a time where our community is very vulnerable. I work with the multilingual learners in Malden High and quite frankly some of our families feel hunted down. Um they feel very unsafe and Chris and the staff and our fellow students embrace each other and it's

039a safe haven for our students. Um we're all involved in this and I just really want you to reconsider. I don't want to go on and on, but it's a big mistake and I hope you reconsider. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Hi. Anybody else wishing to address the committee can do so now? Public comment remains open. Anybody online? Uh, please. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Manurva Davenport, 12 Maplewood Street. >> Welcome. >> My family has been part of the Malden public school system since my greatgrandfather, Cecil Calvin Busby, worked at Malden High as a shop teacher. >> Yep. >> He dedicated his life to the school and that was his passion. And my entire family told me stories of his students and how they remembered him. Mr. Mrangelo has managed to

040make the same impact my great-grandfather did all those years ago. I have had friends and family who attended Malden High while Mr. Michangelo worked there in his 17 years and they all said the same thing that he was the best and he was worth coming back for. One of my co-workers this year came back and visited to the visited the school and visited Mr. Mrangelo. He has managed to make an impact on his students lives as a principal and as a mentor. I have only known him for two years and they have been great. I see him every morning when I come into school at 6:30 in the morning. We have a little banter and I go to class. Mr. Mrangelo is worth it. Allow him to have his last year to retire with dignity.

041The students respect him and you should respect him too. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> All right. Anybody [applause] public comment remains open. Anybody wishing to address the committee can do so now. >> Good evening. >> My name is Jessica Gold Boots, 77 Exchange Street, Malden. I'm a teacher in this district speaking tonight as an educator with 12 years of experience. I'm here because the sudden non-renewal of Principal Christopher Mrangelo is not just a staffing decision. It is a destabilizing blow to a school that depends on his leadership, his integrity, and his steady presence in our halls. This decision was made so abruptly with little explanation and just one year before his anticipated retirement in 2027. That timing alone raises urgent questions for us all about transparency, backroom deals, and due process. But more

042importantly, it overlooks who Chris is to this community and the man I know he is. For years, he has been the kind of principal who shows up everywhere and for everyone. He is present in hallways, in classrooms, in the cafeteria, at games, at every single studentled initiative, and as the students here know, every bake sale. He is a leader who listens, who calms crisis, who builds trust, and who consistently meets students, families, and staff where they are. Families rely on him. Teachers rely on him. Students look to him as a studying force. Especially as my colleague Jen McCabe noted, in moments of conflict or fear that is not easily replaceable. When students made the decision to walk out today and exercise their rights, they did not do so lightly. They're doing it because they felt

043blindsided, unheard, and afraid of losing someone who had protected and championed them. When teenagers organize in mass to defend an educator, it's perhaps a sign that the adults in the room should stop and listen. We deserve transparency. We deserve a process rooted in respect, not just for Chris, as we call him, but for the entire Mumm High community. So tonight, I urge the school committee to delay this non-renewal, engage in a genuine dialogue, and reconsider whether removing a beloved and effective principal in this manner truly serves the students of Malden. Honor the voices of the young people who are speaking up. Honor the staff who feel destabilized, and honor the families asking for continuity and compassion at the heart of their school. Christopher Mangelo has earned more than a quiet dismissal at the sunset of

044his career. He has earned the right to finish the work he has devoted his life to. And Malden I high deserves stability, fairness, and a leader who has never stopped showing up for them. Do right by all kids is a core value of this administration as it should be. Sometimes that means doing right by our staff. Thank you. >> Anybody else [applause] wishing to address the committee? Nobody online. All right. Anybody else wishing to address the committee? [applause] >> Public comment remains open. Anybody wishing to address the committee can do so now. >> Good evening. >> Sorry. >> No worries. Take your time. >> Frankie Minki of 55 Dutton Street. >> Got it. >> Good afternoon, committee members. Mayor Christensen, Dr. Simple, and Maldonians. My name is Frankie Pelino. I'm a junior at Malden High.

045I'm involved in field hockey, lacrosse, a club I founded, and speech and debate. Most importantly, I am a proud student under Mr. Master Angelo. I'm assuming after the walk out of almost 500 students and the looks on most of City Hall staff through the windows, you all are not very pleased. I just want to remind the board, whatever decision is made will affect this committee for years to come. Not to mention the students at Malden High. Until the class of 2029 graduates, this will linger over your heads that their beloved principal has been terminated. Many of you have served Malden for a long time, so you understand the constant change in needs. Mr. Master Angelo has taken the needs of everyone into account. He hung up posters that stated, "You are welcome at Malden High

046School, regardless of your background," and three different languages at MHS once ice raids were prominent in greater Boston. He provided resources such as canned food drives and mold and thrift where students can go to where students can go to get free clothes for anyone who needs them, regardless of the weather. Mr. Master believes the students have a right to help make decisions about the place they must serve. After all of his time serving Malden public schools, he deserves at least one more year to obtain retired status. Is half a school year really enough time to private to find a proper fit for our diverse school? [snorts] To quote yourself, Dr. Sipple, I've been in education for 33 years. I know a whole bunch of stuff. I was a principal. I taught elementary school. I was

047a high school principal, but I was not here. And so I have to hear from the people who live here and who go to school here, who work here, who have invested their lives here, and what they think before we make any big decisions. Dr. Sipple, October 18th, 2024. Maldenbland.com interviewed by Alexia Lima. To quote a fellow committee member, he believes in transparency and is always available to answer questions. Elizabeth Hordy representing W 5. June 26, 2025. Advocate News.net interviewed by Steven Frecker. This is an incredible philosophy to stand by, transparency and honesty. And I believe we all want transparency and honesty. The principle I know and love taught us to stand up for those who need it, rally around those you love, and call out what's wrong. And this is wrong. If you thought

048this act would go quietly or modestly, you were gravely wrong. We look forward to hearing answers and to this discussion developing. Thank you. >> THANK YOU. [cheering] >> [applause] [applause] >> OKAY, PUBLIC comment remains open. We have about another 20 minutes or not. Anybody wishing to address the Is anybody online? No hands raised. Okay. >> Good evening. Um, my name is Joseph Luongo and uh I live at seven Summer Street in the wonderful city of Medford. Please don't hold that against me. >> We won't. Now that we won [laughter] >> um for 18 years I had the pleasure of uh teaching in uh Malden public schools. Uh 12 of those years were at the high school and uh I was also honored to work for Chris Mrangelo. Um I think it's easy to forget uh

049how traumatic uh the pandemic was and his leadership during th that very difficult time but uh also his leadership the in the year or so after that. Um he has earned the respect and trust of uh the students and the teachers. Um, personally myself, um, Chris always had my back and, uh, when he asked me to, uh, design the poster for the, uh, vision of a Malden High graduate, I did not hesitate because I wanted to do it because I he he was loyal to his students and to his teachers and I was more than happy to do it. when he asked me to do the mural uh in the school, the thrive mural. Um I did so happily because uh he asked and you know like I said he was very loyal to me

050and to the students and uh I discovered a uh dormant fear of heights but I went ahead and did it anyway. Um I urge you to reconsider this your decision. I hope that he you give him the respect uh that he's earned and extend his uh contract for at least another year. >> Um thank you for your time. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Please. >> Nice to see you, too. Junino Victor, 26 John Street. Y >> um I'm speaking on the behalf of um Chris Master Angelo our principal um as starting of at Malden High School um last year um he has um make sure that everyone's feel safe and um observed that how's the school goes and stuff. Um, as we all know, Marangelo is a great principal and he does everything by the

051book and um treats everyone respectfully and as every single students and uh and teachers treat him respectfully and um as we know like when Master Angelo usually speak on the microphone at school, he would say start here, finish anywhere else. I would like y'all to consider at least letting him finishing um doing um 20 um 2026 2027 I mean and as we all know maybe like let him start here and finish here as our principal. Thank you. [applause] All right. Anyone else wishing to address the committee? Hi, my name is Rebecca Griffith Allen, 77 Exchange Street. I am a PACE and transition teacher at Malden High School, as well as the vice president of the Malden Education Association. And I'm here today uh simply to amplify the voices of the Malden public schools community in

052response to the shockingly opaque non-renewal of MHS principal Chris Ransow. The petition delivered today speaks to the breadth of Chris's impact across Maltton. His tenure has been felt by students, staff, caregivers, and community members. Chris has given nearly 20 years of his life to a school that serves de students across every demographic and every life experience. Our students growth in progress is measured in more than test scores and academic data. At Malden High, we have students attending formal school for the first time who are welcomed and taught how to get from class to class, how to take the MBTA to and from school. At Malden High, no one goes without a coat in the winter. And no one goes hungry over the weekends or the holidays. Students learn how to make mistakes and be held

053accountable in a professional space where they have chances to try again before they have to go out into the world and be judged as adults. At Molden High, students learn to tolerate different views and express themselves respectfully. All of this is because of Chris Mrangelow's leadership and his support of educator and student-driven priorities to take care of people in our building above all else. In a world that seems more unstable every day, it's untenable to remove one of our school's only sources of consistency when we have a unique opportunity for a natural transition after Mr. Mr. Angelo's welldeserved, dignified retirement. Make the right decision and offer Mr. M a one-year extension to allow for a transparent and meaningful search for new leadership. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Anybody else wishing to address the school

054committee? Good evening. >> Hello. Isabelle de la Cruz, 42 Wall Street in Molden. I did not come here today to speak, but I am a parent of a senior at Molden High School. And I just feel like having so many educators and students speak, it's only fair that a parent also comes here and says to you guys, is this the message that you're trying to send to our educators that you're going to provide 18 years of care and then you're just going to be disregarded? As a parent, I don't think that should be the message because we are trying to attract educators that care about our kids. I also have a kid in at baby school. I don't want people to look at Molden and say I'm not going to give my talent to Molden

055because they don't care about us. So, I'm begging you like everybody here is saying just reconsider. I mean, it's it's a year that we're asking. It's it's not rocket science. We're not asking you to give him the moon, but what he has worked hard and he deserves to finish and retire with dignity for all the years and everything he has done. Thank you. >> Thank you. [cheering] [applause] >> All right. Anybody else? [applause] Anybody else wishing to address the school committee? Good evening. >> Hello, my name is Esther Moa House. I live at 51 Valley Street. Um, I have been in the Molden school system for the past 14 years of my 17 years of life. I have gone through the early learning center, the Lynden, and now I'm at Molden High School as a

056senior. Throughout my years at Molden High School, I have always felt supported by Mr. Masterangelo. There has not been a day I have stepped into that building that I did not feel like I had his support behind me every step of the way, every minute of my school day. I have never felt like I could not come to him with something going on with me. Whether it be if I had had a bad day and I really needed someone to talk to, I could come to him. Or if it was something within a classroom, I could come to him. I need you to understand how much he supports every single student in that building. how much he makes us feel like this is a community that we can be a part of and that we

057are safe in and that we are respected in. He has extended so many olive branches to students in rough spots and in hard situations. He has expressed so much empathy and compassion that he did not have to. And I wish you could extend that empathy and compassion to him and let him finish one more year at Malden High School. Thank you. >> THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> ALL RIGHT. ANYBODY ELSE WISHING TO address the committee? I know. >> Good evening. My name is Zia Lobes Maxwell and I live at 7 Kernney Street. >> Good to see you. Ever since I moved here in the third grade from New York, I had one principal from middle school, Mr. Conan, and he got to retire and he was my favorite principal. And ever since my time in

058Malden High School, Mr. Master Angelo has been a really strong step for me along with all my counselors and everyone else. I think that he is deserving of his last year into retirement at Malden High School and how much he has helped us along with any complications like COVID, any tragedies we had and he was really there really caring and supporting. And I think it's really important that we take into consideration how much he does for us. though I'm only a junior. I haven't been here that long, but I think we should you should reconsider his last year for retirement. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Okay, we're now going to go back online. So, I have Selma with your hand up. I'm going to allow Mike if you could just state your name

059and address for the record. You're all set. Selma. All right, we're going to move on to the next raised hand and that is Janine Cogwell. I'm going to give you mic privileges. You should be able to go ahead and unmute. >> Hello. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> My name is Janine Cogwell. Um I'm a resident at 65 Reier Street in Malden. Um, I am a parent of two Malden High School students. One who graduated in 2024 and was a freshman during the uh COVID crisis and I have a sophomore now. In fact, I'm outside of Walden High School picking up her and a few other students. Um, and I am as a parent extremely disturbed by this decision. I have had the opportunity to interact and observe uh Mr. Mr. Angelo's interactions with

060his students and I have been completely impressed and proud that he is a leader of our high school. He is very clearly vested in his students. He gets to know them. He has genuine interactions with him. Um he encourages and empowers them and has he's just an amazing leader and to do what is happening to him right now speaks so much so volume of the lack of respect for amazing leaders and the educators not just for him but across our entire district. And the respon there was a response that leadership changes are hard. Yes, leadership changes are hard. However, the conditions on which that leadership change happens has a profound impact on how things move forward. And you have the power to make a different decision and create a much more favorable environment of leadership

061change by allowing him to function as the principal for one more year. Rather than creating a hostile environment and sending messages to this entire district of every educator, every auxiliary staff person and all of the students. our children in our district about how this change takes place. So I would beg you to make a re to reconsider your decision. U Mr. Mtorangelo is an amazing leader here and I would love to have him for another year. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Hey Selma, I have your hand up still. I don't know if you want to speak or if that's on accident. have access to unmute yourself, Selma. >> Okay. Are you guys able to hear me? >> Yep. There you are. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Uh my name is Selma Sleman and

062I am in 50 uh Park Street uh in Malden. I am doing the timer right now. So um I know there's a lot of emotion today um in the attendance. Um and I would like to speak on two things. Uh I am here today as both a parent and an educator. Um and I'm going to talk about how essential uh a strong CPAC is for our students and our district. Uh the CPAC gives families a voice. It supports collaboration with educators and ensures that students with disabilities are not just included but truly understood and valued. Uh for that work to have real impact, it needs the clear and unifying endorsement of all of us, families, educators, administrators, and especially every member of this school committee. Uh unity sends a message that supporting our most vulnerable

063learners is a shared priority, not an afterthought. As a parent of a neurode divergent child, I know how much it means when a community stands behind inclusion, not in words but in action. Endorsing the CPAC wholeheartedly is one of the most meaningful ways uh we can do that. Uh so that was my intervention um regarding the CPAC. Um, I happened while I was uh watching that to hear Frankie who uh actually my son was just sitting next to me and um he heard her and he told me that he wanted to say uh something in support of um principal Masangelo. Uh he said that um he um respects him um connects with him uh greets him uh recognize him and uh he said that every time the sentence uh be well do well uh which

064he says at the end of um the the school uh day resonates well with him. Um as a parent uh you know whose son is going to graduate uh next year um I have a selfish I would say um appeal uh for the stability that uh Mr. Masangelo will bring uh I think it is important to reconsider um together uh how we can ensure that we are not creating more instability within the district. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. [applause] >> All right. Anyone else wishing to address the committee? We have time for just a few more speakers. Good evening. >> Good evening. Um, my name is Maro Mendes, 244 Kennedy Drive. So, I've been living in Malden my entire life. And growing up, I went to BB school as my middle and elementary.

065And I noticed that growing up, I was always a really troubled kid. I was always getting into trouble and I wasn't always the best at certain things. So, I was always sent to the office a lot. The vice principal there was really kind and helped me go through it. rather she always saw me all the time. She always helped me through and helped me get through it. That's the type of principle Master Angelo is. He helps kids realize what they do. He also helps him get through it. And there are kids who genuinely look to him as a friend, not as a principal or not as a teacher. There are people who see to him as more than just a principal. He helps others and he's always with his little comments on the morning announcements.

066is not necessary and he doesn't have to do it, but he always does. He also lets students help with morning announcements. And if the walk out today didn't help show you that people, even students, really care about him, then I'm not sure what will. So, I urge you, please, to reconsider. It's only one year. Like what uh she said, it's only one year until she get until he gets to his retirement. And think of what other type of problems will cause if another principal comes in not knowing anything about our school. Our school is different from other schools. Even even from Sagas, even though we are neighboring cities, it still won't matter. It's important that we have a principal that knows everything and knows how to deal with certain situations that are unique to our

067school. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] All right, we have uh time for one more speaker. Anybody want to address the committee can do so now. >> Good evening. Good evening. Uh just very quickly, are there any students who want to speak because I'm more than happy to uh yield the floor to you. Okay. Hi, I'm Stephen Nadell. Um, my family and I, we've been residents in Malden for 23 years. Uh, I've been a Malden employee for 19, a Malden educator for uh, uh, well, Malden employee for n for 19 years. I've been a educator in Malden for uh, for nine years and I'm actually my second year here at the high school. Um I have a great deal of respect for principal master Angelo but one reason and I see that he has a

068great relationship with so many of the students. But uh one thing I wanted to bring up was this is like first we have a huge number of students who have been here supporting master uh principal master Angelo 500 participating in the walk out. We have what 700 plus who signed the uh the uh um >> petition >> the petition. My son who is a recent graduate, my son Zachary, uh he reached out to us and asked us to come here in support of Ma Principal Master Angelo. I mean, this is like an alumni, an alum who found out about this and asked to for us to come out here in support. Um, [snorts] and to be honest, I never would have done that in my day for the principal of my high school. Um, never.

069I I can't even remember the name of the principal of my high school. I can't it's I'm just saying I am so impressed with the student and that's one thing I want to address to all the students here. I am so incredibly impressed with the drive and the fact that you are standing up for yourselves. You're standing up for your school. This is something that in my generation we never would have done. Okay. So I am so impressed with all of you and I think you all need to be uh very proud of yourselves. Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. [applause] [cheering] [applause] >> All right everyone, that's going to conclude public comment. Uh we're now going to go on to the rest of our agenda. But before we do so, school committee

070will be in a brief recess. No, I just don't feel it. I felt like I was going to pass out. Yeah. >> Let me um >> Well, I drove so I don't I'm parked outside. Oh my god. You know what I'm talking about? >> Yeah. >> No. No. Can you call uh Junior? >> I can call him. >> All right. >> No, we're good. >> Huh? I know you have a lot on your plate. >> Yeah, she looks like she's got >> I can even talk. >> Tell Billy to be on screen. >> I have se presentation. >> Yeah. >> Do you think you'd be able to just do um >> All right, we'll do it. >> So, you just do share screen or >> Jen, were you able to get through to Billy? >>

071Yeah, I can get her. >> Jen's actually going to call. We should be good. Sorry to bother you. >> All right. >> Hi. >> All right. We'll do. Byebye. Thank you. All right, we're going to bring the school committee back to session. >> All right, team. So, the next order of business will be the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the November 10, 2025 minutes as well as the warrants? >> Motion by Mr. Bernard. It was seconded by Miss Horty. Any questions on those? You've had those for a while. Chair has none. Let's call the roll. >> Mr. Dummy, Mr. McCarthy. >> Yes. >> Miss Bataphora. Miss Mlin. Miss Hardy. >> Yes. Mr. Gray, >> yes. >> Mr. Bernard, >> yes. >> Mr. Rosyberg, >> yes. >> Mayor Christensen, >> yes. That carries

072unanimously. All right, everyone. Now, let's go down to the superintendent's report. Super something trying. Got a good Okay. So, um thank you, Mr. Chair. We uh actually the vice chair uh had asked the special education parent advisory council to um present the findings of their um caregiver survey which was administered last summer and um um just want to um invite them to come forward at this time before I get my report. So, I believe Jackie Eker, who's the president, is here along with Marilyn Andrews and uh Iman say, >> welcome. >> Thank you. Um as you said, I'm Jackie Ecker. I'm the president of Malden CPAC. My address is 58 Lannarch Road here in Malden. I would like to greet um chair Christensen uh vice chairpaphora and the members of the Malden school committee as

073well as the audience. Uh thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. Malden CPAC is a parentled organization designed to support our uh special education students. I am here in the room with two members of our advisory board. Uh we have Marilyn Andrews and we have Iman um >> who's >> Thank you. And we have a few people online as well. We uh Jessica Lenon and Heather Barry are our vice presidents. Amanda Seed is our secretary and as you know Selma was online and she is on our advisory board as well. So uh these ladies have worked very hard on this survey. They uh compiled a great survey. They sent it uh they had the district send it out. We shared it online. Uh they have worked diligently to obtain the um responses and they

074have performed the analysis on the responses. So you at this point I'm just going to give it to them and let them speak about this uh about the details in the survey and afterwards we're happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you. >> So I have I'm Marilyn Andrews 83 Cleveland Street in Malden. Um, I am the past Malden CPAC president as well as the current Malden CPAC advisory board member. I'm very honored to be here, Dr. Cibbo, Mr. Mayor, and to all the city, excuse me, school committee members. I do have one technical question. We did have slides. So, are those coming up? >> Stand by. >> Thank you. I have them here. Just >> one second. I think >> while you're doing that, I'm going to plug our meeting coming

075up on Wednesday night. [laughter] >> It will be at 6:30 at the Salemwood School. It's a holiday meet and greet. meet your CPAC uh board members and also we'll have a speaker who is a Malden resident and education advocate um Arlene Benjamin. She will be speaking on the importance of uh communicating uh with an advocate if you need one. So please come by Salem Wood 6:30 Wednesday night. >> All right, take it away. >> So I need the next slide, please. And it should say who we are. >> No, that's >> Yeah, there we are. So, what I'm going to do is just kind of give Iman and I are going to kind of volley back and forth and give like a brief overview instead of reading the slide to you. So, um this is

076slide two. Uh CPAC is a caregiver volunteer council dedicated to supporting families and partnering with the district to strengthen special ed services across Malden. Our leadership team brings years of experience navigating special education systems and our shared focus is improving outcomes for students with disabilities across Maldon. Next slide, please. This was an anonymous caregiver survey conducted from the past July through November 2025. As the superintendent said, we received 114 responses from families from preschool through postsecary. And just a reminder, postsecondary refers to by federal law the day before a student's 22nd birthday. [clears throat] The purpose was to understand family experiences with special education, what is working well, where challenges are emerging, what they believe would strengthen services. Next slide, please. The survey was distributed through two channels. First, parent square messages from the superintendent.

077Dr. principle. Thank you for helping out with that. These were sent only to families with IEPs or 504s, roughly 1100 students and also to the Malden CPAC Facebook page. The survey did not go districtwide. This data reflects the experiences of families already engaged in special education. Despite the limited distribution, the ranges were detailed. The responses, excuse me, were detailed, consistent, and highly meaningful. Next slide, please. The largest groups were families of students in grades K through two and grades three through five with strong high school participation as well. Most respondents, about 86% were caregivers of students with IEPs. We also heard from families with 504 plans and from those currently involved in special education evaluation. We also asked about student needs. Among the families who answered this questions, there were 42 identified academic needs, 30%

078social, emotional or behavioral needs, and nearly 20% communication needs with smaller numbers reporting sensory needs. This helps us to understand the range of supports that families are navigating. Next slide, please. [clears throat] We want to begin by recognizing something important that came through clearly in our survey. Families do deeply appreciate educators who are directly supporting their children. Nearly 48% of caregivers said they felt very supported as part of their child's educational team. in the comments show why why families consistently pointed to specific teachers, paraprofessionals, therapists, and counselors who advocate, communicate, and create stability for students. One parent with a child in the third to fifth grade range shared that his child's teacher is a good advocate and tries to get the resources that the child needs. Another parent shared that one-on-one tutoring, langu language tutoring,

079has made great progress for my child. A high school parent shared that the Bright program, which is at the high school level, helped keep her son in school while he struggled healthwise. An out of district parent shared that the team at the school is fantastic. Another parent shared that their child's in-classroom teachers have always been and gone above and beyond and are willing to work with them and help their son. They listen and collaborate with the parent and they give their feedback. Next slide, please. Alongside these positive experiences, families were also clear that these strengths are not consistent systemwide. Just under half the caregivers, 47.8% 8% felt very supported this year which means slight the slight majority did not and about only half the families feel progress is being measured effectively or feel fully included

080as partners in the process. Families connected these numbers to things like communication gaps missed or delay services and difficulty getting information or follow through. One caregiver described zero communication when services were missed and the need for information that the district is legally required to provide. Another shared deep frustration with I having IEP commitments agreed to but not implemented. So while we absolutely see good work happening in individual classrooms, family are telling us the overall system reliab reliability just isn't there yet. >> Good evening. Um, now that we've looked at the big picture, we want to take a moment to go a level deeper into what families say is truly working well inside our schools. Thanks for the slide. Um, across the survey, the strongest theme was the impact of the individual educators, and direct service

081providers who interact with students every day. families repeatedly describe teachers, educational support professionals, speech language pathologists, counselors, and behavior staff who communicate clearly, advocate for services, and create environments where students feel understood. When specialized supports are delivered consistently, whether that's small group reading, um structured and predictable routines, social group, uh behavior plans being followed with fidelity, families reported meaningful progress. We also saw several programs rise to the top as Marilyn said, the rise and the bright school um programs at the high school. The strong preschool classroom with solid staffing ratios, school adjust adjustment counselors and liaison supports. They were described as stabilizing and aligned with student needs. And a final theme here, families emphasize that positive experiences emerge when there is consistent practice, when staff are well trained, communicative, and supported in doing the work.

082Next slide. Thank you. Um, as we look more closely at where families are struggling, one of the clearest themes we heard was inconsistent in IEP and 504 implementations. Families reported services starting late, services reduced without explanation, services not happening across all classrooms, and lack of access to agreed upon curricular modifications and specialized instructions. We also heard many concerns tied directly to staffing. Families across grade level noted that when there aren't enough qualified special educators, rel related service providers or ESPs, services get delayed, missed, or fragmented. Even in classrooms that are technically fully staffed, families emphasize the impact of turnover, limited training, and uneven expertise. One parent shared that when um that there was a severe lack of staff training and followup, all affecting the day-to-day delivery. These challenges directly shape whether students receive the supports

083they are entitled to. Next slide, please. Thank you. Um a third major challenge families described centers on communication and specifically not getting the information they need to support their children. Caregivers told us they often have to chase updates about evaluations, progress, service delivery, or staffing. One parent shared that unless they reach out repeatedly about a missed service, the district completely ignores it until they threat threaten legal action. The issue isn't only the about the amount of communication, but the clarity of it. Families talked about not knowing who to contact, receiving inconsistent information between general and special ed staff, or going long stretches without updates, including one parent who said they had no information since the start of the high school that year, meaning this year. These communication gaps con um connect directly to how families

084experience IEP and 504 team meetings. About 40% of caregivers do not feel like they are equal partners in the process. Families reported meeting that felt predetermined, rushed, or confusing with limited access to records or data to inform team decisions. Several caregivers described feeling dismissed or interrupted, and a number reported interactions that felt adversarial rather than collaborative. One caregiver shared, "I left meetings in tears and felt dismissed." Another described administrative behavior as hostile and unprofessional, and some families expressed fear of retaliation when raising concerns. Others noted that key staff were not brought into meetings, which further eroded the trust. These experiences highlight not just communication problems, but deeper issues with transparency, partnership, and confidence in the IEP process. Next slide, please. We also want to highlight a few other themes that showed up across the survey.

085Families pointed to gaps in specialized programming um and advanced supports, especially in preschool and upper grades, transportation and safety concerns, reduced access to inclusive opportunities, and taken together, these trends suggest that the system is not yet fully designed to meet the diversity of student needs. Next slide, please. We also wanted to share what families told us about CPAC itself. Because CPAC is entirely volunteer-run by parents, many of whom are caring for children with significant needs. We know outreach is something we're always working to strengthen. In their survey, about 59% of families said they did not attend a CPAC meeting in the past year. Most of those families said the reason wasn't lack of interest. It was that they were not sure what CPAC does or they didn't know when meetings were happening or how to

086join. We also heard that some families felt more comfortable participating when meeting spaces were parent only without administrators present because it allows for more open conversation and a number of caregivers told us that clear communication along with multilingual options in hybrid format would make participation easier. So for us these responses are guidance. They help us see where families need more accessible entry points, more clarity about our role and more opportunities to connect with each other. Next slide, please. Then we took it a little bit um a step down from the survey and we wanted to connect the family feedback to district and data. So um the patterns we've heard from caregivers are reflected clearly in the numbers and open responses and looking at both together gives us a strong road map for solutions. For example,

087students with disabilities are consistently performing far below their peers on early literacy measures. Um, in last year's Dibbles K to third grade, students with IEPs average around the 28th percentile compared to nearly the 50th percentiles for all students. In I Ready K to8 testing, most students with disabilities score below or well below grade level with only a small group meeting expectations. Looking at last year 2024 2025 I read a projected proficiency that the district pres presented to us last spring the trend continues. In fourth grade 50% of students with disabilities were projected to not meet expectations with only 10% projected to meet them. In 8th grade 46% were projected not to meet expectation and only 13% were projected to meet them. So what families are describing inconsistent instructions, missed services, limited access to specialized support

088and direct is directly reflected in the academic data whether it's literacy or math or social studies or science. You take your pick, you look at the district data and the desi data and you will see disproportionalities across the board. So this slides really sets the foundation for understanding why families are raising these concerns and why consistency, communication and qualified staffing matters so much. This um continues um unfortunately broader in a broader pattern into the later grades. In 2024, according to Desi data, only 62.4% of Malden students with IEPs who exited the district graduated with a diploma and 15.3% dropped out. These numbers matter because they reflect the long-term impact of the experiences families described. inconsistent services, gap in instruction, and uneven support over time. Most Malden schools fall into the category of not requiring assistance

089or intervention with school personiles ranging from mid20s to mid-50s. What that means based on DESI's definition is that these schools are meeting the minimum statewide accountability expectation. It does not mean that the system is performing where we want it to for students with disabilities. Malden High School, however, is classified as requiring assistance or intervention with a school percentile of 14. That designation means the state has identified areas where targeted improvement and supports are needed to better serve students, including students with disabilities. So, when we layer this data with caregiver feedback about inconsistent services, staffing shortages, and gaps in implementation, it paints a consistent picture. The district has committed educators in strong pockets of practice, but there are also structural issues that are affecting student outcomes. This data helps highlight where targeted supports and collaboration could

090make the biggest difference. And importantly, this aligns directly with the superintendent's own um goal number three titled the special education program review, which as your slide said, um aims to ensure students fully receiving their IP services and have the opportunity to thrive academically, emotionally, and socially. Um next slide, please. I'm almost done, I promise. Um so here are the core needs family families identified. And we will keep this brief because this align with closely with our recommendations on next slide. Clear proactive communication, respectful and collaborative meetings, consistent services delivery, access to qualified staff and specialized instruction, meaningful inclusion supported by strong co-eing and appropriate accommodations. These needs are consistent, reasonable and achievable with the right structures in place. So um next slide please. So based on what families shared and aligned with the state expectation

091and the district's own improvement goals, we're offering several concrete recommendation that could meaningfully strengthen special education in Malden. First, clearer and more consistent communication. Families need timely and for information about progress, misservices, staffing challenges, and who to contact. Establishing district-wide protocol would make communication predictable for everyone. Second, stronger and more collaborative IEP and 504 team meetings. This include clear um meeting norms, training and family engagement, and restoring the end of the meeting feedback survey so teams can improve their practices and ensure decisions aren't predetermined. Third, a strategic approach to staffing. Malden needs a recruitment and retention plan along with targeted professional development so new and existing special and gened educators and providers can meet the need of diverse learners. Fourth, regular regular implementation checks. Families should receive consistent documentation of services delivered, accommodations applied, and

092evaluations timeline. Fifth, stronger inclusion and access to specialized instruction, co-eing models, curriculum modification, disabled specific instruction must be consistent, available, and implemented across all the schools, not dependent on which classroom or program a student is in. And finally, we strongly recommend re-engaging with the federal federation for children with special needs through their advancing parent professional leadership in education known as Apple program. Apple bring caregivers, educators, and district leaders together for shared planning and collaborative problem solving. We um as a district uh were a part of the Apple program back in 2018 and I believe >> 20 also 2013. >> Next slide please. Um and CPAC has some work to do. So looking forward, CPAC is committed to strengthening support to for families. We will continue offering practical skill building workshops that family requested. We will

093continue offering accessible meeting format including more multilingual material and hybrid um and caregiver only space. Actively recruit newer caregivers as we prepare for upcoming elections because CPAC grows stronger when more voices are at the table. And I'm speaking of you here. Um, so if you want to help strengthen this work, this is the moment to join us. And then the last slide is a thank you slide for your time and attention tonight. Um, families were clear in the survey. There is deep commitment across Malden and also real work ahead. We believe the findings you've seen tonight can help strengthen collaboration, transparency, and shared responsibility. We look forward to partnering with you as the district continues its special education program review and work together meaning toward meaningful improvement for all students. Thank you again. >> Thank

094you. Questions? [applause] Questions from the members? Uh let's go to Mr. Bernard. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um thank you for the presentation. Um, this is something that's near and dear to my heart because my mother worked for as a uh as a nurse and a teacher in a special education program for many, many years and then after her retirement volunteered because she just felt so deeply about it. Um, I just wanted to go and ask I um the survey seemed to be very detailed. Um, did you have any plans on maybe going and expanding that to kind of go and and further hone in on points or um where we could do more uh or particular uh pain points I guess I hate to use the term but uh >> like the specifics is

095what you're saying >> more specific more uh specific needs that we need to go and fit even though this is very very well in this survey or you future surveys >> in future surveys. >> Yeah. So this to get the survey um buyin from everybody CPAC included was really tough because there's a huge survey fatigue and people don't want to complete any surveys and we were trying to be recognizant of also districts sending out surveys and also desi sending out surveys and so while we're open to continue this conversation we are hoping to continue this conversation with all of you um I don't know if town hall meetings would be more effective if um you know if you have one of those fun QR sessions um happening with our families and caregivers in the district

096will be better. But yes, I think that this survey really reflects a lot of um really emerging but also priorities and urgency that we've already been experiencing for years and years. This isn't something that just came out of this survey last spring. This is these are issues that have been um consistently been brought up to this body, but also to um specific school buildings. Um and uh you know, this is our way to kind of ring the alarm of what can we do now with this information that we currently have. >> One other thing I'd like to just jump in with too, um the superintendent and the assistant superintendent P McDonald have met with us several times so we can kind of iron out some of these issues and that's been a good sounding board.

097But Keith, excuse me, councelor Bernard, the excuse me, school committee member Bernard, sorry, I should just read the tags, right? The the thing is it's an ongoing conversation and I think it has to go deeper, too, you know, and I know the there's so many parents and caregivers that we meet with, but I also know just my own work as an advocate and as involvement with the CPAC, a lot of parents are afraid to come forth because it's kind of that stigma of my child has a diagnosis, I don't want, you know, they don't want to talk about it or just and sometimes it, you know, for a variety of different reasons. So, and all the more reason we've got to keep going and uh you know what, I hear you and and uh to

098be honest, uh I wholly support you guys and uh please let me know if there's any way that I can continue to go and support or increase my support. um the you know our uh our new atlarge counselor this was a passion of hers and uh I'm happy to kind of try to go and continue that um and I know that we've that we're working on getting an audit of the system as we should as one of the things >> that's actually the next step when I think of it as far as getting specifics I didn't know if I was speaking out of turn because my understanding is that will break it down more so I almost see it as I think we've talked about because we've talked with Dr. simple about this us working

099together you know as the audit goes out and working with the whatever the survey results are the results of the audit and then figure out how to fine-tune the other thing I can somewhat speak to not I'm not a school employee one of the issues that is happening too is turnover of staff and also trying to keep people I see as an advocate through across the board in Massachusetts you know true but then how do we work with parents who need and caregivers who needs their kids services taken care of and time can get lost because of that, you know. So, it's really if we can really the audit will be a good way of identifying and honing in on what what the areas are. Um, I think that will help us out, >> you

100know. >> All right. Well, thank you guys. I appreciate your time. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Mr. Bernard. So, now we're going to go to Miss Mlin, followed by Miss Rosyberg, and then Miss Horty. >> And thank you, Mr. chair. Um, and I I also want to give a um a big thanks and shout out to um Marilyn Amen and and Jackie and the rest of the CPAC advisory board. Um this is important work. I'm so glad that you have come forth with the survey and that we've had caretakers participate. Um additional shout out, I think it's Eileen. Well, is it Eileen who'll be at Salamwood on Wednesday? >> The special education advocate. Yes. Yes. On Wednesday at 6:30. Um I think that's so important. Parents, caretakers don't know um particularly when you're new with

101the 504 the IEP process um and and how to navigate that. So um thank you for for sharing that resource with with our community. um you know some of my concerns and they've been concerns um since our boy our grandson um who's on the spectrum was in Malden public schools who had a 504 and then an IEP um you know so I have personal experiences and so 52% of caretakers not feeling supported is just it's so unacceptable um in this climate it's so unacceptable with this vulnerable population. And so again, the missed and delayed services not acceptable. IEPs not implemented, not acceptable. Um IEPs are not optional as we all know. So, you know, I I just feel this is so important. I'm so glad that um our vice chair called for the audit um

102because we need to do better by this this vulnerable student population. and um you know I hope that we get clearer answers going forward and um we can support these students uh more than we have been. So thank you for your work. Thank you Mr. Chair. >> Thank you Miss Mlin. Miss Rose Zyberg. >> Thank you Mr. Chair. Um first just again just to echo what Miss Mlin was saying. Um thank you for this work. Um look I know all of you. Um [laughter] uh well they do um part of this um some of the comments from folks and thank you to any parents who are watching this and who had um put the time and effort into saying these because one actually made me start too well up because to say the administration is

103not being transparent and trying to almost bully you to give up. My son was giving me permission to talk about it. Um, I went through that and it's wrong and it's partly why I ran for this. This is it's just wrong. And to know this is still going on. Marilyn knows because Marilyn and I Marilyn was um learning how to be an advocate and helped me through the process. I was very fortunate because I knew Marilyn and she could help me. And I know that we have people who are feeling this and feeling like they have to just give up or don't understand the power that they have and we have to correct that. So, thank you for this work and thank you again to parents who did take that time to put this out.

104It's extremely meaningful. Um, I try to work with constituents who call me if you do have a question and you're, you know, a constituent or even just somebody who wants to talk. Um, I do try to reach out to people and get back to people because these should be solvable situations. We are not, as we've said, and Miss Mlin just said, these are legal. These this is, you have to do it. Figure it out. that's on us to help figure this out. Um, I was curious, was there any way to determine when you got responses back? I know our IEPs covered such a scope of needs. Was there any way to know and also if we reach like were the responses from any of our um multil- language learners? Any resp like like how do

105you know like what did you know what kind of pool you pulled from or was it just just because it was anonymous? I'm assuming. So some people chose to give us their identification. Um some responses were in Mandarin, other in Spanish. So we did get some multilingual. >> Um but it was the survey was sent out in a really um narrow scope with the superintendent sending it to only families of IEPs and 504. We really wanted to also capture people who were in the evaluation process who may not have been found eligible yet. Um we're hoping that some of it was captured as well. I think like 4% of it. But yeah, we would like to see especially when it comes to the communication and transpar transparency and the due process of just the IP

106team eligibility process um get more responses. So >> that yeah that that's good to know that it did reach you know a bunch and just like I'm curious right with who felt comfortable enough to answer it and I understand that people do get weary of like oh another one. Um I get that. Um, and just to echo also what I know all of us are probably feeling at this point of how can we be part of this ongoing conversation. I do fully supported when we were doing the audit. I fully support that this is one of the goals. It's gone on for a long time and it's got to stop. We've got to make it better. >> Um, and because I did wonder where you said that people feel more comfortable talking to you all,

107which makes sense when it's it's parents only. So I would not want to be put myself in a situation of okay try to go and sit in on a meeting but then that would make somebody maybe me feel uncomfortable and not wanting to say something. So if there's a way and it doesn't have to be right now if you don't if you can think of something later of like oh maybe we should do this um I'm open to that. So ways that we can um get more information from you all who are in the front lines um to make sure that we are addressing the concerns adequately. >> So I have to tell you you've all raised this question. It's an excellent question and it's a very supportive question. So, we do appreciate it. Um,

108you obviously have a group of constituents that you probably can reach that we are not aware of. So, even, you know, we have a CPAC Facebook page. If you let your constituents know, even if you post your own Facebook page, you know, I'll say Sharon Zyberg 48 school committee and say, "Here's a CPAC page. This is what they do." You know, that might be a good way of getting that message out. You know, social media sometimes is the best way. And that's kind of the main venue we use. We also will um I guess I'll just leave it at that because I know parent square and there's other things within the school too, but if you your kind of support that way would be a great help as far as having administrators there. So it's

109we and we talked about this with Dr. Sipple and with assistant superintendent McDonald too. It's kind of a mixed bag because we want people to know that you're all there and that you're supportive and you're an ear to, you know, to listen to it and be involved, but at the same time, sometimes the story becomes so raw for a parent and I've been there myself that you only want to talk to somebody who's in the trenches with you at that moment. And so, we've talked about several different things and one of the things we talked about is possibly having one or two meetings where we say, you know, as you've talked about coming up in December, right? Come meet your team. These are the people. So they know they're there that time. Another time is

110just a time just for parents and caretakers. So we're going to try to distinguish that more. But Jackie's already taken the bull by the horns with that one. So because we don't want to leave anybody out, but it's kind of like just that gentle balance that we're trying to find. >> And in terms of communication, I sent an email to every single one of you asking you to share the CPAC meeting on Wednesday. Who shared it? Did everybody share it? Everybody. Nobody. >> I don't know. >> All right. Please do [laughter] >> that. Mr. Ros, >> thank you very much. Thank you. >> Thank you so much for doing this. Um, I don't know how else to say this other than I feel your pain both as a parent of a 504 student, but also

111as someone who works every day adjacent special ed as a school adjustment counselor. And I wish I could say that as after reading this, I said could say I never have any of these problems in my day-to-day existence, but these feel like they're they're more magnified than I'd want them to be here. Um, and I it makes me really bang my head against the table and say, what are we doing wrong for special ed period? you know, and I know we can't solve those grand problems in this group, in this meeting, but I really appreciate how strong the CPAC is as a voice for parents. And I think one of the things that there were a couple things I wanted to ask you about. Um, I read in some of your materials somewhere, so I

112can't remember exactly where, that there had previously been an exit survey after an IEP meeting. Yeah. >> But that that doesn't exist anymore. Is that right? >> Yeah. So, when my >> Is he still here? >> Yeah, he's right here. My 14-year-old when he started at the ELC way back when. >> Um, and I realized that as I was trying to just uh get rid of paperwork that I had at home that we had an end of um IEP meeting survey. >> Were your concerns heard? Do you have any more questions? Do you want one of us to follow up with you? Did you understand the materials? It's very um it's like four or five and it's um you know whe Whether or not you want to fill it out, it's totally up to the

113caregiver. I know Chelsea Everett uh does it >> currently do have an end of um survey meeting and it's also a way to say hey um CPAC in Malden is also here to help you if you have any questions or if you need resources >> and I think the main thing that helps with too and I see as an advocate is misunderstanding. So, >> and I'll be honest with you, for me as a parent and an educator and this is my field when my son was going through everything and more than, you know, we did well, I still brought an advocate because I heard nothing because it was my son, you know, that was that emotional thing. I think having a survey afterwards helps with some of the misunderstandings because you leave the room and

114you say, I should have asked this or this one said this and I didn't take them up on it or whatever. But if there's that immediate followup then there's a call or whatever who can kind of you know I know a lot of things are team decisions but there's other things sometimes that can be worked out as a general practice because what I see sometimes is and this is across the board that people say it didn't work and then they meet the goal I got to get an advocate I got to pay money for this and I'm trying to we're trying to work at the ground level like we've got a lot of good people they're working hard so let's keep that communication open figure out like Um, Mr. Renard said, "What are the specifics

115that we have to address?" So, nothing will ever be perfect, but the more we can kind of really work into this, the better off. So, so you have homework, share Wednesday's event, share the CPAC Facebook page. I don't know if there's any other questions, but those are two. >> I just wanted to follow up on one other piece of something that you guys highlighted was that um there seems to be difficulty with communication. Um, and I think that again there's there's staff change right there's there's your child is changing their their needs are different sometimes different needs necessitate a different liaison right you know things move like that um I do think that that that's definitely a a major concern also because if you don't even know where to ask the question to I think

116you make the good point Miss Andrew that you are then going to assume that you have to take it to the next level when it sometimes these things are conversations And I the other thing that kept ringing in my ear the entire time we were talking about this is you as a CPAC are clearly working to be collaborative and we really appreciate like that aspect of it because the school committee we we want to work collaboratively with parents. We want to make this better. And I know that everybody even from the the survey that you guys did, the the folks are really appreciative of the work that they get from the teachers and the kids that are interacting with students or the people that are interacting with the students every day. Um so let's hope

117that we can find our path together and we appreciate your work. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Miss Hoy. Superintendent So, thank you again to uh Marilyn, Yemen, Jackie, and to the rest of the executive board and the team that put the survey together and for putting together the presentation, I it really does segue really well into what I was going to speak about tonight and um so I I thank you and we'll be obviously we'll be in very close touch going forward. So, thank you. >> That's great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Mhm. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Do you got it? [snorts] the best we can do. It's okay. It's really short actually. Go ahead and click to slide. Perfect. Actually, go one more. So, thank you, Mr. Chair and members of

118the committee. Um, just want to uh very briefly just uh revisit something I presented about last time, which is goal three of the goals you approved at our last meeting, which uh specifically addressed conducting a review of our special education program. And um this goal was developed uh independent of the um motion that you all approved for a special education service audit. Um I like to think great minds think alike. Um and then we've got even more great minds here tonight with CPAC. Um, but the the uh general uh process that I uh laid out in more detail at our at the last meeting when I presented my goals to you um was uh basically these five elements or these five dimensions of the work we're going to be doing to look at our special

119education program. And I've I've embedded the work of that audit of special education services within this program review also because they are very very uh related, consistent and in many ways complement each other. But this month um uh by the end of this month I'll actually submit u a process timeline to you that with more detail of what what the uh like a timeline from now until until the end of the spring. what this process will look like. Um, we've already begun a collaborative visioning and planning process with our principles. Uh we'll be meeting with our uh K uh 8 and preschool principles tomorrow morning specifically to look at uh integrated kindergarten and the placement decisions that um just the general process to just kind of reflect on how we go about um determining um

120and transitioning students from our early learning program into our kindergarten classrooms. and then depending on what setting students are served in, what that transition looks like for them to first grade and beyond. Um, but that is just the tip of the iceberg of the of all of the conversations that we're going to be having um as a part of this program review. There were several pieces of data that CPAC mentioned uh in its report and that um were also laid out in the goals that I um that I presented last month. Um, DESIE uh has a a a very very specific set of metrics that they look at to determine whether a district is meeting the needs of its students with disabilities. And they include um basic uh measures of our student attainment and achievement

121of grade level standards in English language arts and math. Uh student attendance, graduation, dropout um rates and suspension rates. uh inclusion rates for preschool and K12, preschool and uh post-secary transitions and outcomes. Um the representation of different racial and ethnic groups in special education and within specific disability categories. Um the timeliness of initial evaluations and several other compliance um measures. And the this review will compile and analyze all of those data that DESIE is also uh examining so that we are in very very intimate touch with where we are, where our uh needs are, where we need to grow and really beginning to to look at um why some of these data seem to be consistently pro problematic and and difficult for us to make progress in. Um we'll be engaging diverse stakeholders as a

122part of the process. Um um Emen um during the CPAC presentation alluded to town halls or uh other engagement um opportunities. We will have things like that and we'll if any surveys we do we'll do as early in the spring as possible so as not to conflict or fatigue people with any survey that would be happening on a follow-up basis with CPAC. But we want to have as a lot of folks can't come to a meeting, but they can uh complete a brief survey. And we have such great technology now that we're able to get that input in multiple languages. Um and so we want to make sure that we do that. And then um per the motion presented or approved by the by the committee, we will be uh conducting an audit of special

123education services and presenting the results of that audit to you uh by the April meeting. I should mention that the motion that the that the committee passed uh was for an internal audit and we definitely appreciate the trust and the confidence of the committee to conduct an audit internally and we'll do that. But we are um looking and seeking um the possibility of engaging some external technical assistance on the overall program review um to make sure that um we have fresh eyes on our work um from people who are work with districts across the country so that we um ensure that um we get this right and um that that we'll have more of an update on that um by the January meeting and the the ultimate goal of all of this is to identify

124key strategies and next steps and um we will be bringing that um is folding that into our district strategic plan by the end of the school year. So, I just wanted to lay out again um what this uh program review will look like over the course of the year. And again, this is one of the four goals for me that you all approved last month. And so, it's going to be a big focus of my work this year. And I'll go to any questions. >> Any questions from the team? Miss Roseberg. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a quick question on the um compiling and analyzing um comprehensive data. Will that be from prek all the way up to 12? >> Yes, thank you, Member Rosyberg. It will indeed. Um there not all of the

125data um is um relevant at every grade level. We won't be looking at graduation rate for preschool for example, but we will be looking um the inclusion rate for preschool, the percentage of students at that age range with a disability who are in um who are in an inclusive setting. That's that's one of the metrics that Desi looks at and they look at similarly look at for for K12 they look at that same metric. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Any other questions if I might from the chair? Uh the possibility of having someone come in is unless I'm a little foggy right now. That's a new twist to what it is we were doing. What's the estimated cost of that? Do we have one? >> So we don't yet. Um but we what what we

126would do is to um use existing funding. would not be asking the committee for any additional funding. And uh we would do what's called a request for quote process where once we have a a specific scope of what we think a technical assistance provider could um help us with, then we would ask um reputable organizations that have done this work with multiple other districts to submit a proposal and then we'll we'll go with the one that um is most economically feasible. >> Not that it matters. I know the importance of it. I was just curious from a financial standpoint. >> All right. Very good. Now, let's uh go down to policy and procedure. Let's hear from Miss Rose Zyberg. >> Okay. Let me find my notes. >> It's been a busy night. [laughter] All right.

127Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um so policy and procedure we met November 24th to review amendments uh to policy IKF and IKF is the um the need that we have to do um because when they took away um MCCAST so it's something that's mandated that we have to do and come up with new policies for determining competency and that is due by the end of this month to turn into the state just to review that that's what's going on. Um, see I'd marked stuff up and now I'm all over the place. Um, so anyway, so we had reviewed feedback that we had gotten from um stakeholders at the super through the superintendent's office. They had done um some surveys. Um, specifically concerns that we were talking about in the meeting was um the concern over changing

128the bar for kids who are sort of already in the process and not to um make that unrealistic expectations for the kids um who are in the process. We talked about that and also being able to create assessments. Um there were different opinions on the desire for both having sort of standard testing um end ofear assessments but also to look towards portfolio assessments and we also want to be sure that we have time to create assessments. Again this is coming from scratch. So it will take time to create those um and then also to um make sure we have the time to put them in, get the feedback and make any kind of adjustments that we need. Um we talked about how for the first year of giving those assessments would be a hold harmless

129year, meaning that kids who take it um it will not be used to determine their graduation status. Um but those tests then will be evaluated and be able to be changed um in any way looking at the data that comes back from those. Um and we also discussed at great length the different um different categories that we have to be aware of um which you can see in the policy from um you know just as we're saying students with disabilities, multil- language learners. All of those things have to be taken into consideration when we are writing these assessments to make sure that they are um fair and equitable for all kids to be able to access them. Um we also had spent some time talking about um the process for appealing decisions. I mean we

130came up with various scenarios of well what if you passed the class but then you didn't pass the assessment but what if you passed the assessment and actually hadn't passed the um the grade um and are looking at all these individual things that there are there is already there are appeal processes in place which is good to see. Um we've looked again at sort of how we're going to unroll this as part of the policy. It does say the school committee will approve and communicate will propose policy will approve and communicate the specific assessments or portfolio requirements for each content area required by state regulations no later than May 4th, 2026. These assessments and our portfolios will be piloted in spring 2027 with students. After a thorough administrative review of assessment results, revisions to the

131definitions of mastery will be presented for school committee approval no later than 812027. Based on this work, assessments or portfolio requirements will be fully operational for administration in spring 2028 when the class of 2030 will have the opportunity to demonstrate mastery on these assessments for their competency determination. So that's a lot in there, but that gives sort of a timeline. Um, and that gives us enough time again to work with kids who said are already sort of in the system. Um, and then kids to help them um, if they do not make that requirement gives us time to actually be looking towards um, what they will need to do, what type of interventions we need to get those kids across the line so that they will be able to receive um, their diploma. Um other

132things we talked about there's actually a process in place for kids who received um certificates. what's called shipment of attainment. Um can actually if they feel that they would qualify for a diploma um with the the way things are now can get in touch and things can be evaluated and looked at to see if those can actually um if they meet the meet if satisfactory can meet the um guidelines to be given a diploma which could be I think they said 15 people have done that so far or looked into it um which is good. So, we talked about that. Um, and so then in looking at it, we decided we did vote to send this out to full committee um in this form and did ask for it to be sent out earlier than

133the norm. Um, I think we went out maybe the next day or so just so that because it is lengthy and is a big change. Um, which I did see was done. So, thank you for that for getting it out. Just to let people um on the full committee have time to really delve into all of the specifics. Um, I will be making a motion later on to accept this as an amendment to policy IKF, graduation requirements and competency determination. I want to put out to the public and to folks here to to understand that with the state being in flux with a lot of what they're doing. I've been following it and it does seem that they're going to be coming up with their own level of assessments that we will then have to

134incorporate. So, there will be changes. this will be an ongoing process because even at the state level we're still working through what the changes from losing MCCAST will be. Um it doesn't mean um and again sometimes we might not support those changes. Um I've read a lot there's a lot of push back um but we will be beholden to what the state wants us to do and we'll have to adjust our policies accordingly. >> All right. Thank you. Let's uh let's jump right into these motions. So, do you want to do the competency determination policy first? >> Sure. Because we just >> You're making the motion. It's seconded by Mr. Bernard. >> Any questions on that, everyone? Miss Hoody. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Chair. Uh, Mr. Rosyberg, the appeals process. >> I just want

135to make sure that I have this straight before we accept anything. So, in the fall of uh 11th grade or junior year, a student will be notified if they've met all the competency determinations. If they have not, they can then begin the appeals process and the appeals process according to this information could take various different routes. Is that correct? Am I am I understanding this properly so far? >> I don't actually understand what you mean. Okay. >> Because it's Can I give you another example? Okay. So, I'm an 11th grade student and I did not meet the competency requirement for 9th grade ELA, but I did for 10th. >> Um, I'm in 11th grade now. I seem to be on the right track. What is my course of action for that ninth grade ELA class

136that will prevent me from graduating? Am I doing an appeals process? And then through that appeals process, are we determining what I am doing? like am I then making a portfolio with a teacher that is sort of assigned to me and this is on my own time. I know I just Sorry. >> It just cracked me up. She's like she's taking her coat off. She's ready to come. We have superintendent. >> You know I'm here. You know I'm here for you. >> We actually did. [laughter] No, it's good because we did talk about this that um in some cases it's going to be the individual and you can see like the appeals submission and review process appeals must be submitted to the building principal who um at Malden High School who will acknowledge receipt within

137five school days. So it's even spelled out with time which we felt was important just because timewise with getting things in. I don't know if you want to come up and address >> assistant superintendent BIN had worked on a lot of the appeals process part. >> I feel like when we write policy like it's very important and >> like the policy subcommittee does a fantastic job of being very specific with timelines and dates. I'm trying I'm coming at this from someone who is not going to read the policy. I did. But I'm what I'm saying is someone who's like I just want to know what's going to happen with my kid. So I want someone to kind of walk me through that. So if you take my example of this ninth grader who didn't meet

138the determination for ELA but seems to be on track. So at 11th grade, they're trying to play catchup. They're going to go to the principal for this first to set up an appeal. The principal is then going to turn around and say this is the next step. And what could those next steps be >> roughly? >> Great question. So the students the competency determination when students are in 10th grade would be in each in their math ELA >> um in a few years history and science class. Right. So to your point they find out in the fall of 11th grade >> and there's actually two ways that they can be supported. >> Okay. >> One is through um equivalent coursework. And so they might go to their guidance counselor and they might say, you know,

139in math two I didn't pass, but I'm in math three right now. I took summer school. I feel like I am on track. And an equivalent course might be that if I pass my math three course, >> that actually shows us that you've sufficiently understood the math 2 concepts, right? And so in the fall of junior year, that's just one example, they might explore with their guidance counselor the idea of equivalent coursework >> to say, are there ways maybe through summer school, through an online course, or through the actual courses that I'll be taking this year to demonstrate equivalency. >> So ideally, they're doing that junior year. Um, and hopefully that those pass. >> Now maybe I'm in the fall of senior year and I think to myself, wow, >> I need to continue to

140pursue equivalent coursework if I'm still not on track. Or at this point, I might do an appeal. Then you could do the appeal and we've said, you know, within a timely manner, we'll get back to you where you might say, listen, I actually think I've demonstrated this. And that's where you might put together a portfolio or you might work with um an educator um in your um in your content area to say, you know, I've actually demonstrated this an alternative way or I'd like the opportunity to demonstrate this an equivalent way. So there's there's sort of multiple courses of action. The equivalent coursework allows students to say based on, you know, the paths that I'll take ahead of me, an appeal is more retroactive, saying, actually, I think that even though I didn't pass this

141assessment, I have evidence that I've mastered this. >> Okay? >> And so, I think what that allows us to do is really consider the individual needs of each student. >> Right? Um, and I think that was what voters were looking for with this question of sort of a more customized path to demonstrating what you know. >> Okay. Um, when we did when we were talking about comp competency determinations before, I remember distinctly there was a survey, sorry, another survey um of something or something of that kind that went out to um teachers and it was people that were interested in a test at the end of either the quarter or the year. Um, a portfolio that was made. Uh, a combination of both. like are we using that information to inform this or was that

142just a like we're interested in what you have to say but we've decided to do this like where are we in that? >> Absolutely that was definitely used to inform this and it will be that we will go back to the educators to use their input to um determine what we bring to this committee later this year in terms of the actual assessments. So, it's going to be spec so specifically individualized if I'm understanding this correctly that Mr. Gordon who was on here before he's the math lead he said if I remember correctly I'm just going to use him as an example he's teaching math three um he has two different students in math three that come to him with an with a math n issue. So those two different student meaning a competency determination

143issue those two students their path to competency determination could be very different. Yes. Um so yes and no. So um what we what we will bring to this committee is in uh in math >> how will students in math 2 demonstrate their competency determination? So when we did the survey of educators, for example, our math educators leaned more towards a final exam. Our ELA educators leaned more towards a portfolio. So it could be different. We could we might bring to this committee, you know, a portfolio requirement for English 10 >> and a final assessment requirement for math 2. So that was standardized in that way. Then >> it would be standardized for students who then do not meet the competency determination in their 10th grade year. they then have the opportunity, right, through equivalent coursework

144or through an appeals process to sort of have a more customized way of demonstrating it. >> So, okay. So, in the end, there will be more specific standards, but still wiggle room within that. >> I'm sorry, I didn't hear the last part. >> More more specific standards like for grade 10 math or math 2, sorry. Um, but then also other options on appeal. >> Yes. And what we want to be able to do is elevate educator voice and determining in those content areas rather than saying competency determination of Malden is always an assessment or always a portfolio. We want to be able to go back to the educators and talk just hear a bit more about um what makes sense in each curriculum. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Yeah. Thank you. >>

145Please. >> Thanks. >> Um actually had another question for Miss Bassine. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I was wondering if this coursework >> um I was wondering if this equivalent coursework path would be happening during a school day for these students or would it be um some type of separate class and will this coursework be based on what each student can handle during those school day hours? That's a great question and I think uh if this were a multiple choice test I would say all of the above. And so um the idea is that all students who are in Malden High in 10th grade the policy what we'll bring to this committee later this year would be you know in math 2 you're going to take your final that will count for your composite termination.

146In ELA you'll take your portfolio. I'm making this up. This will be to be determined. So for some students if they pass that they've met the competent determination no problem. For some students they may not pass there. That would be when we need to look at a customized way for each student based on their unique circumstances to meet the competent determination. There could be a variety of different reasons. So I'll think of three sample students. So one student might in fall of 11th grade not have met it because they just moved here, right? And they came from another country where those courses weren't an option in their in their schooling. Right? Maybe they didn't take US history because they came from the Dominican Republic and they took the history of the DR. Right? So that

147might be an opportunity for the student to work with their guidance counselor and say, you know what, for my equivalent coursework, I'm actually going to use a transcript analysis and show you that I've met the equivalent of this through courses that I've actually taken in my education. There might be another student though who comes in and says, I actually took that and all but I didn't pass. And so, however, I um believe that through online coursework, right, um that I could actually meet this and make this credits up this term. Um and I'd like to do that because I have time in my day. That might be something they work out. There might be another student that says, "Listen, like I have a job after school. I'm working over the summer. I don't have time

148to to do an online course." in which case they might work with their guidance counselor to do um to say, you know, I'm actually going to do some I'm going to take US history uh another history course this year um and I'm going to do some extra assignments on the side to demonstrate that and put together a portfolio for my knowledge of US history from my 10th grade year. So, I think it really depends on the student. Um and I think what is exciting about this policy is that it allows us to say if you met it, great. If you didn't, let's actually go and look and work with that student one-on-one to figure out the best way for that student to show what they know. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Sure. >>

149Motion's been made. It's been seconded. Anyone else? Let's call the role. >> Mr. Mr. McCarthy, >> yes. Miss Faphora. >> Miss Mlin. >> Yes. >> Miss Hordy. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gray. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard. >> Mr. Rosyberg. >> Yes. >> Mayor Christensen. >> Yes. That carries unanimously. Uh, do you want to do the middle school? >> Sure. >> Motion. >> Yep. >> Seconded by Mr. Bernard. >> And I just go into a little bit with this one. This one is um the >> policy IH AIA revised middle school pathway exploration policy which we approved just last month and then superintendent sent it into the state and we got feedback. It they don't make the changes they just make some recommendations for different wordings. It's minor wording changes which tie into changes that have

150actually happened with um with the vocational schools. Um so they are minor tweaks. Um to do this we will have to do um normally even when there's an amendment we do um need to wait for a month. It's their mind or there's a couple just little sentence changes but we need to make a motion first to set aside docket rules >> and just if somebody wants to make one I mean >> motion >> make that one. >> Why do you have to do that? >> We have to because normally even when there's an amendment to a policy we have to make the amendment and then wait for a month for feedback from the community. But these are sort of language tweaks, not content tweaks. >> Um, I feel that it would be fitting to get

151it in. >> Okay. Motion second. Everybody clear on that? >> Okay. Let's take that up first. >> Mr. Drum. Mr. McCarthy. >> Yes. >> Miss Bataphora. Miss Mlin. >> Yes. >> Miss Horty. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gray. Yes, >> Mr. Bernard. >> Mr. Rosyberg. Yes. Mayor Christensen. >> Yes. >> All right. Then the original motion. >> Yep. >> By you, seconded by Mr. Bernard. >> Any uh questions? Let's do this. >> Mr. Drummy. >> Mr. McCarthy. >> Miss Faphora. Miss Mlin. >> Yes. >> Miss Horty? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gray? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Rosyberg? >> Yes. Mayor Christensen? >> Yes. That carries unanimously. Uh, who can take this subcommittee up? Can you make that motion? Miss Better's resolution here. The motion. >> Um, >> excuse me, Mr. >> Yeah.

152>> Hold on one second. Go ahead, Mr. Ros. >> Um, I did receive um, Vice Chair Batfor had asked for a motion to table. >> Okay. >> Motion table, seconded by Mr. Bernard. Let's call the RO. Yeah. >> Mr. Drum. >> Miss McCarthy. >> Yes. >> Miss Baphora. Miss Mlin. >> Yes. >> Miss Hordie. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gray. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ozyberg. Mayor Christensen. >> Yes. Carries unanimously. All right. Personal privilege left to right. Mr. Bernard. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um just real quickly some announcements from uh the Salemwood. As as we all heard, uh CPAC's having a meeting on Wednesday. Please come. Uh there will be a presentation and a uh some questions that could be answered. Uh give me one second to go and just

153pull up the rest of my things. Uh tomorrow, Tuesday, December 9th, uh there will be a meet and greet uh with the new W 6 school committee member being sworn in in January. Uh that's Peter Piaza, and that'll be from uh 8 to 8:45 a.m. in the K4 Cafe. Uh upcoming on Tuesday, December 16th, there will be a gingerbread event from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the gym. uh signups are are are required. So, please contact the uh the PTO or the FTO for to for that. And then uh Thursday, December 23rd is an 11 a.m. dismissal and then it's uh the winter break and enjoy your holiday. Uh for those that go and celebrate Christmas, merry Christmas. And for those that celebrate Hanukkah, happy Hanukkah. And for those that go and celebrate anything else,

154uh, please go and have a good time with your family and friends. And that's it. >> Thank you, Mr. Bernard. M. Roseberg. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the Lynen, they're having a paint night. It's $20 um to to attend. It's December 17th um from 6:00 to 8 at the school. The proceeds are going to go to the seventh grade for nature's classroom. They have 40 kids who are signed up who will be going to um to do that program. Um the PTO is sponsoring. They're going to have a laser show with the school on December 16th um which was part of the prizes that were done for the um tiger trot. So it's assembly with music and different winter songs. Spirit week starts Monday all the way through the 23rd. The holiday shop is

155open this week. Volunteers are still needed and in order to do that, you need to check in first with Jade just so she can make sure all the paperwork is in order. Um there is still a canned food drive that's going on until December 17th. So you can bring in any canned foods that you can to donate. Um and that one it's interesting it's actually being coordinated by um a high school student Men High student um who was an alumni from Lyndon Ezra Howard um who had decided to do this as part of um project 351 um and had wanted to though look back and um connect with Lynden and bring them into it. So, I like that sort of connection over the different years. Um, for that teasing for upcoming events that the PTO

156will be doing, the stuffy sleepover, which was really successful for them last year, where kids bring their stuffed animal who sleeps over at the school. So, that one will be coming back. And there also will be a cookie night where people will be um shown how to decorate cookies. Um, so they said similar to with the like a paint night if you get sort of that's that's the idea on that one. Um congratulations need to go out to the model UN students. Um again um some of them were invited to an invitational. This was only kids who had actually been awarded it and received any kind of um award at the previous um competitions that they were have been in. Um so a few of them weren't invited didn't they couldn't they weren't sure the

157complete numbers yet. Um but anyways, Ryan Brett who was in eighth grade, congratulations because Ryan got best delegate which actually in the world of Mun is um quite an honor um to get that. So congratulations and also just congratulations to that program. I think it's fantastic the opportunities that they're providing for those kids. Um and the holiday season, I know for some people it's a mix of emotions um and feelings for a lot of people um going into this time of year. And I just want to say that I hope that everybody does find some joy and peace during this holiday time. Um, and I wish you all well and we'll, you know, we'll be here in in for a new year and thank you very much. >> Thank you. Over to Miss Horty. >>

158Thank you, Mr. Chair. Not a lot for me. The Forestdale Winter Corral concert is coming up on Wednesday, December 17th at 1:15 in the auditorium. The concert will be recorded for for anyone who isn't able to attend. So, you can catch it after if that conflicts with your day. Um, everyone have a great winter break and we'll see you all next year. >> Okay, thank you. Now motion to go into executive session. Mr. Bernard, seconded by Miss Horty. Clerk will call the role. >> Mr. Drum, >> Miss McCarthy, >> Miss Fataphora, Miss Mlin, >> Miss Wordy, >> yes. >> Mr. Gray. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rosyberg. >> Yes. >> Mayor Christensen. >> Yes. School committee is now in executive session. >> Take those petitions. All right, everyone. The school committee

159is back from executive session. We'll now entertain any motions. >> Seconded by Miss Rose Zyberg. Any discussion? Any debate. Um so let's uh call the role. >> Mr. >> No. >> Mr. McCarthy. >> Yes. >> Mora. Miss Mlin. Missy. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gray Mr. Bernard. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rosberg. >> Yes. May >> Yes. Carries unanimously. School committee is now hereby adjourned.