001Okay, good evening everyone and welcome to the Malden School Committee. Today is Monday, October 6th. The time is 6:01 p.m. Our next meeting will take place on Monday, November 10th at 6 PM here. Tonight's agenda will consist of the following. We always first uh pledge allegiance to our flag. We then have a moment of silence for those who have served our country. We then take attendance to ensure that we have a sufficient quorum to allow us to come together legally. Then we go over tonight's agenda which consists of the following. First is the consent agenda which there are two items. First is approving last month's meeting minutes from September 8th and then we're going to take a look at the September 2025 warrants uh to approve them as well. Uh then we're going to hear
002from the public. Uh this will be an opportunity for members to address the school committee. We only ask that you state your name and address for the record and comments will be limited to three minutes per speaker. Uh from there we'll then hear from the school superintendent where there are three items under the report. First is there is proposed trip to Costa Rica led by the tornado travelers club for the spring of 2028. Uh we'll then also get into the 2025 uh MCCAST and accountability report and then finally we will hear where we are enrollment wise in the district. Then after that, we're going to go to my left, to your right, to hear from Mr. Gray and uh his recent technology subcommittee meeting on what happened there. And then we'll go down to motions
003and resolutions, of which there are two. Uh there's a donation that we need to take up and then there was also a middle school pathway exploration policy that Miss Rose Zyberg will speak to. Then after that, we'll take points of personal privilege. This is where members of the committee let us know what's going in their going on in their respective wards. And then after that, we're going to entertain a motion to go into executive session for four reasons. Uh the first is approving the September 8th minutes. Uh the second reason is to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining as it relates to SEIU Local 888. Number three is to discuss strategy sessions in preparation for contract negotiations with non-UN personnel. Specifically, the assistant superintendent of student services, the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning,
004assistant superintendent of human resources, director of finance and operations, executive assistant and school committee clerk, and then finally four building monitors. Then the final item in executive session, if it's voted by the school committee, would be to discuss strategy sessions in preparation for contract negotiations with non-UN personnel. This is the superintendent. That's the fourth item. Then we'll come back out front from executive session where we may act on one of these items or none of these items and then we will move adjournment until our next meeting which again takes place November 10th. So, are there any questions before we begin? Hearing none, let's pledge allegiance to our flag. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with
005liberty and justice for all. Again, this is where we ask that you 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. Okay, we're now going to have our clerk call the role. >> Mayor Christensen >> here. >> Mr. Drum. >> Second. >> Mr. Mr. Dummy, could you please unmute yourself? [snorts] >> Mr. McCarthy >> here. >> Miss Bataphora >> here. >> Miss Mlin here. >> Miss [clears throat] Hardy >> here. >> Mr. Gray >> here. >> Mr. Bernard >> here. >> Miss Rose Zyberg here. Superintendent. >> So, we have a quorum sufficient to allow us to come together. One other twist is uh we will be taking a roll call on all of our votes because we
006do have a member that is coming to us online and the rules require that when we have someone that's participating remotely, all the votes are taken by roll call. All right. So the first order of business is the approval of the September 8th, 2025 regular session minutes. >> motion by Mr. McCarthy, seconded by Mr. Bernard. Anybody have questions, queries, qualms about those hearing? None. Let's call the role. >> Mr. Show me >> that means yes. >> Okay, >> Mr. McCarthy. >> Yes, >> Miss Baphora. >> Yes. >> Miss Mlin, >> I'm abstaining. I actually was not here for the full meeting um last month. >> Miss Wordy? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gray? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard? >> Yes. >> Miss Roseberg? >> Yes. >> Mayor Christensen? >> Yes. That carries unanimously. Drum is just
007saying that he's unable to mute but he is >> here. >> Okay. >> He looks unmuted now. >> Mr. Drum, are you able? >> Can you hear me now? >> Yeah, >> there he is. >> Can you hear me now? >> Yes. >> Okay. Sorry about that, kid. >> All right, everyone. So, now the September 2025 warrants >> Motion by Miss Bataphor to approve, seconded by Mr. Gray. Any questions on those everyone? You've had a chance to look at them hearing none. Let's call the role. >> Mr. Drum, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarthy, >> yes. >> Miss Bapora, >> yes. >> Miss Mlin, >> yes. >> Miss Wordy? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gray? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernard? >> Yes. >> Miss Rosver? >> Yes. >> Mayor Christensen? >> Yes. That carries unanimously. All right,
008everyone. Uh we're just going to take one item or announcement uh out of order. I'm going to defer to Miss Spataphora to give you all some breaking news. >> Make it sound like it's >> this is big. >> All right. Well, he says it's big. It's big. >> Yep. >> So, uh we have a new member to the school committee and that's going to be our student representative. But in addition to that, um, according to Massachusetts general law, we also have to have a student advisory committee. And that's a group of Malden High School students that advise the school committee on all topics that pertain to um the high school. So it could be anything from test scores to what's served in the lunchroom. and um the superintendent chair and myself had the pleasure of
009meeting those students at the high school last week in which they voted amongst themselves um for a student representative that's going to sit with the school committee uh once a month on the stage. In addition, in case that student is unable to perform their duties for that month, there is an alternative or alternate rep um and uh they also voted for a secretary that will um take notes of their internal meetings. they will meet internally um and then meet with um the chair uh the superintendent myself also and um to bring forth any um good and bad going on in the high school. So I don't even want to say bad just uh you know something that they may they want to see fixed or done. So, if I could introduce the members and have
010you all come up to the podium so we can all get to meet you and I'm going to introduce you one by one. And please excuse me if I get your name um if I if I mispronounce it. So, the student rep is Jason Dutale Dutal Dutali, class of 2027. [applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> In add in addition to Jason, our alternate rep is Gabriella Pini Cordova, class of 2026. >> [applause] >> We have Kiara Cel Celicort. [applause] >> Stand up. >> Class of 27. Cameron Crawford who is returning to us from last year. [applause] Class of 27, Angela Lamb, [applause] class of 27, Sophia Chen, class of 27, [applause] and Naomi Johannes, class of 27. [applause] So, I'd like to welcome you all and um take it all in for the next eight months
011of school. And um can I have Jason just introduce yourself to all of us and um maybe what you're doing in school and what you plan to get out of this whole experience. >> Okay. Mic check. Testing. Testing. [laughter] Um, my name is Jason Dutali. I'm a junior at Molden High School and I'm going to be honest with you. I just wanted to join the student advisory committee because one, I heard that they can give their opinions as to what's going on at the school. And having come from Lynn in my elementary school, I know what it's like to see a neglectful school system and I didn't want that for Malden High School cuz, you know, I like it here so far. So, um, to be honest, that's about it for introductions, you know. >>
012What do you hope to do one day? >> What do I hope to do one day? >> Yeah. Do you have have you picked a career? >> Well, for the future, for now, you know, near future after graduation, I hope to get into Bentley to study business. >> And, you know, having spoken to my dentist who actually went there, she was like, I could get a double major, something like that. I'm really into psychology and business. >> Okay. All right. Great. One more time everyone. [applause] All right, I think we should probably move adjournment because that is the highlight of the night right there. All right, everyone. So, um, again, welcome on behalf of the committee. Now, we're at public comment. Anybody wishing to address the school committee can do so now. We only ask
013that you state your name and address for the record. >> Good evening. >> Hi. How you doing? >> So, we have it uh up to three minutes. Okay. >> Just cut me off if I go along. Now, uh my name is Chris Larson. Live at uh 98 Laurel Street. >> Sure. >> Um my kid started at Salemwood this year in kindergarten and they're about to cut the before school program that we rely on heavily. >> Uh my wife is a teacher in Everett or she works for the FM anyway. Um, I start in Boston at 6:00 a.m. every day. We already, you know, luckily I I start early. I'm able to get them. We have grandparents who are able to help out picking them up. But I just I want to know what we can
014do for the mornings because I don't know how that option can't be there for parents cuz people work and 8:00 start time is is tough to get there. I mean, I know everybody has different. I just want to know. I've reached out. They said they needed 10 kids to pretty much make it pay for itself. Y >> but um I just want to know if we can offer a teacher whatever we're paying that maybe can sit there in the morning. Can each parent right now they have five out of the 10. Can we at least be given the option to pay double because then the math still works out. I mean it's $50 a week. It's not crazy money. If it has to be 100 for now and then if more kids sign up the
015number can go back down. But it just feels like I've reached out and I've tried and I just every time it gets to the point of trying to come up with another answer, the emails stop coming back and it's, "Oh, I'm sorry." But that doesn't really work when you have a job to get to. Um, so I just want to know if there's another alternative option that we can talk about, who I can talk to. Um, because it just hasn't gotten me anywhere. >> Okay. Uh, this is an opportunity for you to present to us. We're going to take this back and see if there's anything that we can do. >> I guess >> if you have your uh phone, do you have your phone with you? I do. Yeah. Just type in uh mayor@c
016cityofmalden.org. You can email me. >> Okay, that would be wonderful. >> And we'll communicate back and forth. We'll do our very best and I'm going to >> I'm going to hold you to it on paying double. See if that's an option. >> I'll make it happen. >> All right. We'll do we'll circle back. Uh email me tomorrow and I'll circle back with you. >> Awesome. Thank you very much. [clears throat] Anybody else wishing to address the committee can do so now? Anybody online? >> So, if you're utilizing Microsoft Teams tonight and would like to participate in public comment, please use the raise hand function so I can um make sure that we acknowledge you. >> Please. Good evening. >> Good evening. My name is Shelene Title. I live in W five. Good to see you.
017Good to see you as well. And my son is a student at Lyndon. I um am part of a grassroots coalition of caregivers that are concerned about the influence of technology companies uh on our communities. I'm also an educator. I teach a graduate course on policy and regulation. And I appreciate the opportunity to offer public comment. First, I want to thank you, Dr. participle as well as the tech subcommittee for creating the upcoming process to take public input and develop an AI policy for the district and generally thank all of you uh for being responsive to our concerns. My comment today is about the use of AI not by students um but by uh but to grade MCCAST essays. According to news reports, an AI grading mishap was discovered by a teacher at one of
018our peer districts who was reading through her students MCCAST essays over the summer and found essays that were scored zero when they should have been scored six out of seven. Desi uh said that 145 districts were affected and the testing contractor has fixed the errors. I recognize, of course, that the school committee does not control how MCCAST essays are scored. However, I am coming to you as my elected officials and the experts on assessments to express my questions and concerns with the hope that if you share these concerns, you will use your power and expertise to address these issues where you can and highlight them otherwise. Unfortunately, there is a pattern developing where AIdriven automation is sold as money-saving technology and then implemented without being backed by scientific evidence. Especially given the diversity of our
019district, it is important to question consequential decisions that are being made by AI affecting the lives of people in our community. I urge you to ask the following questions uh which are spelled out more thoroughly in my written comments. First, before Jesse decided to have 90% of essays graded by an AI score without human oversight, was there any independent assessment that the AI score works as well as humans? Second, has there been any testing to ensure that the automated score is not biased against essays by students with disabilities, students who are English learners, or other groups, as many AIdriven tools are? And finally, what would the impact be if these scores are wrong? Would students and ELA teachers be unfairly assessed? Would our responsive strategies be misdirected? Are there other impacts? I understand the temptation
020to assume that AI is here to stay. I've said that myself. Um and we're stuck with the consequences forever. But this change was only made one year ago and this is our community. We have the power to examine one by one um last sentence how AI tools are being introduced in our own community and to resist them if they don't work or worse actively cause harm. And on the other hand, if we investigate the efficacy of this technology and demand scientific evidence, we will have success without regret. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Anybody else? Okay, we're going to close public comment and now we're going to drop down to the superintendent report. First up is the Tornado Travelers Club. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh just before I invite uh Miss Campbell up, I
021just want to take a quick moment to introduce our academic directors. Um seven of the eight of whom are in the audience tonight. Um and they are uh Christina Balkaran who is our director of STEM preK to 12. Uh Carmen Levy, our director of multilingual learners education. Uh Christina Scarados is our director of intervention and instructional support. Megan McCormack is our acting director for English language arts and literacy. Gerard Tanetta is our director of history, social science, and the arts. Heather Finuk is our other director of multilingual learner education. And last but not least here tonight we have Erin Craraven who is our director of school counseling and not in person here tonight is uh Mr. Charlie Confrey who is our director of athletics wellness and health. So just want to thank all of them.
022They've been working very hard [applause] and um just happy to introduce all of them to you tonight. Thank you. And now Chris, uh, Shauna Campbell, who's a teacher at the high school, is gonna speak about a proposed trip to the, um, Republic of Costa Rica. >> Costa. >> Good evening everyone. Um, like Dr. Civil said, my name is Sha Campbell Valad. I am one of the adviserss for the Tornado Travelers Club as well as a science teacher at Baldwin High. Um, I'm here standing asking for permission for our next location in 2028 to be Costa Rica. All right. Uh, we've done this before. Questions, queries, qualms. Let's go to Miss Spa for first. >> Hi, Miss Campbell. >> Hello. >> Welcome back. >> Thank you. >> Out of my own curiosity, where's class of 20
023where is what's the 27 trip? It is um the Mediterranean coast and the Alps. >> Fantastic. This is a few years out, but obviously lots of fundraising in between so on and so forth. The usual questions. I think my only question is does it come with insurance. Okay. Yes. Because it's like so far out and I feel like if we commit and then who knows what happens in the world and we need to back out. >> Totally understandable. So, we do have um an automatic insurance up to one year prior that is complete refund. We also include an insurance that um covers a couple of natural things that are out of our hand and then all parents and families have the opportunity to upgrade that insurance for being able to cancel without giving a reason
02424 hours before we depart. So, that part is not included or mandatory. That is something that they have the choice for, but we have added the initial insurance um already in the cost. Perfect. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Bedifer. Over to Miss Horty. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Hi. >> Thanks so much for doing this. I think you know my children are signed up for that trip that Miss Spaphora mentioned, and they are beyond excited even at this far ahead. Um, so I happen to have a lot of knowledge of the inner workings of this trip, having sat through some of the parent aspects of it. Um, but I did have a question about one piece that I think is the thing that sticks out to anybody as soon as they look
025at this is that it's 10 days and we know that we only have school breaks for a school week or work week. So, if we could just make sure that everybody knows how that works out for students who might miss a few days of school. >> Yeah, absolutely. So we have um meetings once a month, one year prior to departure um which is getting ready for specific things on the itinerary, students getting to know each other and preparing a project of their choice based off of our itinerary. They also have to present that project as kind of a school-based item that uh because they will be missing maximum two days of school. Usually it's only one. Um, and I send out a list to the entire school a couple months at a time to remind
026teachers that the trip is happening and what students might be on that tour. Um, so if they can plan ahead and getting work done or extending some deadlines and things like that because internet use is is limited. Our days are jam-packed. So there is internet at the hotel, but at 10 p.m. I'm hoping they're tired and they go to bed. Uh so there are sometimes like in the airport and on the buses where because we are teachers we will definitely work with them to get things done if that is possible. Um but there is a school component and it would be an excused absence with the completion of that project. >> Thank you so much and thank you so much for continuing to do this. I know that this is a trip that you plan
027many years in advance and it seems to be happening annually and I know that the students really appreciate the opportunity as well. >> Enjoy it as well. >> Thank you Miss Hoody. over to Miss Mlin. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good evening. Um, so just a couple of things. Well, first of all, I want to say that, um, I did go to Costa Rica probably three years ago and it's one of my favorite most favorite destinations. So, uh, the students are certainly in for a treat with this trip. Um my concern or um I guess wondering is about the fundraising and if that's taken into this 4279 total cost and what happens um if a student cannot afford these monthly payments. >> So that's why one of the reasons that we try to do it
028so far in advance to make up a plan to see if it is possible. Um so fundraising in reality would not cover the entire cost. um it can hopefully supplement at least a fourth of it based on participation. Some people choose not to participate in fundraising at all. Um but by planning so far in advance, we at least give time on our side to get as much as possible. Um, and that really comes into whether people want to embark on this, have this as a goal and kind of like an an adult experience of setting something, making a plan, whether it's a job or um there are some fundraising pages that they can send out, which could be something that they might do in the future as well. So, it's a big conversation in the
029beginning before actually signing up to make sure >> everyone understands what it's going to totally. >> So, thank you for that. So the fundraising piece um each student whatever they fund raise goes toward their costs. It's not an overall >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Mlin. Anyone else? >> I know uh I know Miss Horty said it, but we want to reiterate our gratitude to you for doing this. This is not something you're required to do. It's something that you want to do. How many years is this for you? um for teaching at Molden High. This is year 19. >> And how many years you've been doing the club? >> Um we've been doing the club since 2012 and this will actually be the fifth time to Costa Rica and our 12th tour for me personally.
030>> Unbelievable. Well, thank you. >> Got it. All right. Uh I think Miss Bataphor is going to make the motion to approve. Yep. >> And seconded by Miss Horty. So any further discussion, everyone? Uh hearing none, let's call the role. Mr. Drum. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy, >> yes. >> Miss Faphora, >> yes. >> Miss Mlin, >> yes. >> Miss Hordy, >> yes. >> Mr. Gray, >> yes. >> Mr. Bernard, >> yes. >> Miss Roseberg, >> yes. >> Mayor Christensen, >> yes. Cavs, unanimously. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate your time. >> All right, everyone. Next up, why don't we first um dispense with item three, the enrollment update. Can we do that? Oh, okay. Yeah, that's fine. All right, everybody scratch that. We're going to stay with the order. So,
031next up will be the MCCAST and accountability report. [clears throat] >> Then we'll do enrollment. Okay. All right. Well, good evening. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, members of the committee. Thank you members of the public and staff that are in audience tonight and all everyone who is um watching from home. Um as we always do just want to ground us in our core values as a district. Um everything that you will see tonight um is um speaks to how we uh always endeavor to include people in decisions that impact them to lead in a collaborative way so that um people actually can participate in these decisions. This is something very important uh that we really really really believe that none of us is stuck where we're we are. No student, no adult, no
032family, no school, all of us are capable of growing and we are focused on really embracing that growth and focusing on how things can change over time as they do. And lastly, uh, as you will always remember, our commitment to do right by all kids. Um, those that have every a lot of things going for them in terms of advantages outside of school and those who lack some of those advantages. And regardless of what background every student is from, we want to make sure that we do right by every single one. And this theme that we uh we touched on last time that alone of all each of us is strong, but together we are much stronger. And you'll hear tonight, especially as we get into some of the actions that we are already taking
033to address the data that we received from the state. Um, we're doing this work in a way that's collaborating with our families, collaborating with our educators, and making sure that our students are collaborating with one another. With that, I'm going to introduce our assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, um, Koma Basin. Um she's going to be speaking about our DESIE report card, specifically our accountability results, our MCCAST uh results, and our access scores uh for English learners. She'll also be speaking to our school improvement plans and our district improvement plans that are already in action. Um and then we'll probably pause there and allow for questions and then we'll have an opportunity to look at our enrollment and talk about our next steps more broadly. So with that I'm going to ask um Miss Bassine
034to kick us off. >> Great. And okay. All right. Well, thank you Dr. Sipple. Um I want to say good evening to all and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight. Last week, we shared a video and a memo with this committee and the public, providing a detailed analysis of our academic data from 2025, our MCAST scores and our access scores, which were released publicly as part of the state's accountability data release last Monday. So, today's presentation will speak to our district's plan to build on the strengths in this data to address our areas of growth as highlighted by the data. Similar to prior years, we'll return in November and speak to other indicators of our accountability such as our attendance and our high school indicators such as graduation rate. So, a few
035things before we jump in. As we shared in the video, we believe this data is really important for us to understand and to share publicly. But it's important to state that it doesn't tell the whole story of the Malden public schools, in particularly our engaged community, the relationships between our committed educators and our amazing students and the resilience and cultural richness of our families. And while it doesn't tell the whole story, it does tell a part of the story and a part that's very important for us to understand as we see how our students performed on a common assessment taken by peers across the state. We also want to be clear in analyzing the data that we have a deep belief that all of our students in Mal Malden are brilliant, are creative, and are
036capable of great things. And so naming any place in this presentation where our student performance might fall short of our aspirations. This is done to identify opportunities for us as a district to consider systemwide actions that we take in service of our young people's success. And we are very grateful for our educators in Malden who are talented, committed and hardworking. So again, the lens in analyzing this data is to really take a systemic or a district lens in uh thinking about the district actions that can provide educators with the resources that they need to support all of our students to be successful in school and the world beyond. So on the next slide, we'll see a quick recap of our performance in the accountability data release. So here are the trends in our K through8
037buildings. None of our K through8 schools are in need of state intervention and in fact all of our K through8 schools were listed as making progress towards targets with more Malden schools moving into the highest categories of target attainment despite a declining state trend. We're proud to say that our ELA English language arts performance was stable from prior years, reversing a historical downward trend. this we did meet our growth targets set by the state. In math, we had a slight decrease in performance, still above our 2022 and 2023 data and above our peer districts. Again, meeting growth targets set by the state. In science, similar to the state, we had flat performance from prior years, though we had a meaningful increase in fifth grade scores beyond what the state saw. At the high school, we
038were designated as requiring assistance or intervention from the state. This was based on the performance and participation rate of one or more student groups. We saw a decrease in English language arts achievement and growth beyond what the state saw. We saw a decrease in math achievement, though we did earn points for growth towards state targets. and we saw a slight decrease in science achievement comparable to the state. At both the K through eight and high school level, we saw double-digit gains in our access scores, which represent huge step forward in supporting our students learning English to make progress towards their individualized goals. So, in hearing this data, you might be asking, what are we planning to do to address the trends that we've just articulated? Although in many cases our performance may have been above
039peer districts, our aspiration to do right by all kids means that we aim well beyond the performance of our peer districts and the state. So in planning from this data, we took a multi-part approach. As we'll see on the next slide, first we wanted to dive into the bright spots and consider what worked last year. In addition to looking at what worked and what ideas could be spread across the district, we also wanted to look at the plans we had already made this year. In many cases, this data was not a surprise. It validated structural changes that we had already begun to plan for based on trends in our interim data. And finally, we had the opportunity to look at our current school improvement plans and consider where the data confirmed their direction and where
040we may want to make some incremental adjustments in light of what we saw in the in the MCCAST data to support our students. So, let's begin with thinking about what worked. In terms of what worked, we saw double-digit increases in our access performance across all of our schools, including the high school. In speaking with educators and our school leaders, some of the contributing factors included the use of all of our our district PD time to do meaningful data analysis and to do some district-wide training around the use of language objectives, which is an instructional strategy used to support our multilingual learners. We've expanded that work districtwide through our lesson study protocol so that all of our educators have the opportunity to participate in that activity regularly this year. and we're considering implications for our professional
041development time as we make plans for improvements across all contexts. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, in many cases, the DA data validated trends that we had seen in interim data and already had begun to plan for in terms of structural shifts for this year. So, one of those was an increase in student learning time this year. So, as you know, last spring as we were analyzing intram data, we did identify the need to increase structured learning time across grade levels to meet state requirements and to better serve our students. We're grateful to our partnership with the Malden Educators Association as we were able to negotiate a significant increase in structured learning time across all grade levels. As you see in this chart, the blue bars are last year's hours of structured learning time and
042the yellow bars are this year's hours of structured learning time for each grade span. So, as you can see, in all grade levels this year, we will be meeting or exceeding state requirements for time on learning, which we believe will have payoffs for academic performance this year. As we shared with the committee last year, another thing we were concerned with last spring was the large number of students at the high school who had one or more directed studies on their schedule. Now, looking at uh last spring's MCCAST data validated that concern, though we can't tell correlation or causation, you can see in this graph the MCCAST performance of students with no directed study. That's the performance in blue. The performance of students with one or more directed studies last year is in yellow. So what
043we see in this graph is that the blue bars are much higher than the yellow bars, showing that students with no directed study perform significantly better on the MCCAST than students with one or more directed studies in their schedule. As you know, we've eliminated directed study at the high school this year, and we believe firmly that the opportunity to experience a full schedule with access to more arts, world languages, and academic electives will also produce returns in academic performance. Although many of the courses that we are filling students schedules with are not tested subjects, we believe they're an important component of a school day. We believe that access to this coursework more deeply engages students in school, increasing their sense of belonging, having returns for their attendance while also building important academic skills. In addition
044to this work, as approved by this committee last spring, each school started the year with thoughtful school improvement plans designed to address the trends that we saw in school performance on intram data that was collected last spring. These plans were collaboratively designed, including leveraging educator and family voice. As you'll see on the next slide, districtwide, these plans focused on the overall quality of core instruction in both STEM and the humanities, a focus on providing math and early literacy intervention support, including supports for students receiving services related to language acquisition or a disability, and a focus on improving attendance. With the time that we've spent this fall analyzing MCCAST and access data, we've been able to identify small shifts in leveraging these school improvement plans as well as additional investments that address trends that we've seen.
045So through our school improvement plans, all of our schools have put the following systems in place to support instruction this year. First, dedicated professional learning time. These are blocks twice a month for educators separate from their prep time where they can do activities such as collaborative lesson study or have data meetings. Another uh place where we've placed a priority of our time is frequent leadership walkthroughs where administrators are providing non-evaluative coaching oriented feedback to our educators. And finally, we have a large number of very talented coaches in our district and we really want to uh support them to provide that support to educators. So, as we analyzed our MCCAST data and access data as a Malden leadership team, each of our schools is making plans to leverage these three systems that are central to their
046school improvement plans to support the trends in data that they saw. So, for example, some of our schools are noticing that students in explaining their thinking in math is really an area of growth and the monthly lesson study protocol allows them to dive in on this area with educators to support math instruction to try to raise that performance that we uh from this year. Another school is using that same time to really uh leverage data meetings um to make sure that we're targeting and effectively providing math intervention to students. Another example of our commitment to leadership walkthroughs um our middle school APs supported by our open SIED grant have begun feedback oriented science learning walks um with our STEM director. Another example of leadership walkthroughs that I want to highlight is that at Malden High
047School, uh the administrative leadership team, uh so principal Mr. Strangelo and all of our house principles conducted in the month of September 138 non-evaluative classroom observations with feedback provided to educators. That's just in the month of September, right? This shows their commitment to providing coaching support to educators across disciplines. And finally, just another example of how schools are using their school improvement plans to support coaching. Our coaches are meeting later this week to look at our MCCAST data, specifically the trends in specific group uh populations such as students with disabilities to consider implications for their coaching case loads. So, as you can see, the structures that we've put in place through building these school improvement plans are allowing us to respond to the data that we're seeing um on MCCAST, as well as respond flexibly
048and make adjustments throughout the year as we gather more intram data to support student success. I'll just say that all of this work takes time. There no sort of overnight quick fixes in education, though I I guess we all wish there were. Um, but we really believe that this is the right work. uh to support our students. As we'll see on this slide, another component of our school improvement plans involve dedicated time, training, and resources to support intervention block programming. So for students who need additional support, we're providing literacy support in the form of agnite tutoring grant from the department of education for students in grade 1. For students in grades K through eight, we're utilizing Project READ um and the UFly literacy intervention program. In math, we are also providing intervention support. We're in
049the process of launching our catalyst math intervention on top of the existing equip math resources that we've had in place since last year. And at the high school, it's worth remembering we do have the new extension block where students are receiving data informed support across content areas. And what's powerful here is due to strategic scheduling that our schools have done over the summer, our students learning English and students with disabilities are able to access this intervention support in addition to receiving service delivery minutes mandated by their individual plans. So although the focus of this presentation is not on attendance, we'll share more information in November on that topic. It is worth noting that the Department of Education showed a strong correlation uh from statewide data between school attendance and MCCAST passing rates. And so our
050we believe that all the energy we're putting into overall student engagement in school, we hope will lead to stronger attendance and lead to academic growth. So, we've spoken about how in many ways this data confirmed trends that we've seen in our intram data and that we've already planned for with structural shifts and school improvement plans that are in place for this year. However, based on the preliminary data that we saw this summer and that was confirmed when the uh Desi made this uh data public, we've also made some additional investments of time, resources, and training which I'll speak to now. The first of these is a decision to adopt a high quality English language arts curriculum for students in grades nine and 10 starting in the fall of 2026. This decision centers on the research
051and the strong recommendation from the department of education showing the impact of a knowledge building curriculum with a coherent progression from the elementary levels up through the transition to high school. We have launched a process this year where educators can join a committee and receive a stipend uh to support the selection of this curriculum and we look forward to welcoming school committee representation in this group. We also have made plans to incorporate educator, student and family voice in this decision process this fall. Our hope is to bring a recommendation from this group to the school committee in late winter um with the hopes of making a selection this spring and bringing of professional development in for educators during the spring uh before the summer begins. Again, with an explicit focus on supporting populations of students
052such as multilingual learners and students with disabilities. In addition to uh support for English language arts programming, we've also acknowledging feedback from this committee as well placed a focus on STEM education with the particular focus on math and science. At the elementary level, as we've mentioned, we're taking a more consistent approach to math intervention this year. And we are actually working to hire more math assistants than we anticipated last spring due to our ability to reallocate some grant funding towards these important roles. At the high school level, we're taking a deep look at the implementation of the high-quality materials that we adopted a few years ago during COVID. We have noted that perhaps because these materials were adopted during the pandemic, some of the professional development that is rec recommended to fully uh realize the
053results that were intended was not implemented fully. And so this is something that is really necessary to support educators with curriculum implementation. and we're taking that to heart as we plan for our English language arts curriculum roll out. So, as a result, we're really taking a deep look at the curriculum in math. Uh the pacing of the curriculum with our 80-minute blocks, the use of formative assessments, so quizzes, uh to provide students with real-time feedback, and supporting students to really explain their thinking. Um these are areas of curriculum embedded professional development that we'll have for educators at the math uh in math at the high school level this year. And we're really pleased to have time in our schedules, separate from prep time, in our lesson study blocks to invest in this collaborative professional professional
054learning in STEM. In science, we're pleased to scale some of the existing grant partnerships that we have, science from scientists, open sed and mass bioed at the high school level to support science education. And finally, with the new structure in central office this year, with the addition of a director of intervention, we're actually able to allocate more minutes per week of central office time to support our schools in all areas, but specifically in the science and math content areas um than we have in the past. So, we're really pleased to be able to partner with our schools to build on their areas of strength and support areas where they are seeking support. So, we thank you for the opportunity to address the committee tonight. We hope that what you take from this presentation is that
055we are deeply committed to supporting our students to address the trends that we've seen in this data in the humanities and in STEM with a focus on our overall scores as well as the needs of specific populations such as our multilingual learners and students with disabilities. This work takes time as I mentioned right there are no quick fixes uh in this work but we hope that our commitment to doing the work uh really comes through uh in this presentation um but again happy to take any questions that the committee may have. >> Okay, thank you. Let's open it up. Any questions on that? You've had it. Start with Miss Horty. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a lot of questions mostly because I have asked questions about this before and I feel like they're
056coming up again now that we have this data. Believe I sat here in the spring as did Miss Spataphora and I and I think we both said where's the math and the MCCAST has shown us that that apparently is a broad question. Where is the math? Um we sat here at the beginning of this meeting and Dr. principle introduced us to the leadership team and you have a STEM coordinator no math person K to8 you informed us that we will be having new math interventions in the classroom who's overseeing that you said that there's more central office time for math and science is this STEM quarter good STEM person going to be in charge of both aspects of that because that's a lot of work. I sit on the budget committee and I noticed and
057there have been discussions about reducing a science position in a K to8 building. I am very upset to look at this and to hear about everything that has happened because I think you all know my own children attend Malden High. They've gone through the K to8 system here. This is not what I want for them or anyone else. And it's quite upsetting when I talk to my neighbors who have sixth, seventh, and eighth graders who say, "I don't know about Malden High." It's really hard for me to go to them and say, "Malden High is doing great." Now I also want to point out the fact that I think we have focused very heavily on ELLL which I think we should and English language learning which I think is incredibly important because we all know
058reading is fundamental. When you can't read it is very apparent that you can't read properly. However, I think we've almost in some ways overfocused on that to the point that math is not getting the attention. I know that we have math coaches. I know that you mentioned that we're getting more math coaches, which I'm happy about. My concern is who is helping them? Who is overseeing them? I I'm asking you a lot of questions that you don't necessarily have the answers to, but and I agree with you, this is a process and this like things will be put into place. I just don't feel like when I mention that math is an issue, I don't feel like anyone is hearing me. I feel like I'm speaking into the void. Did you have >> I don't
059have anything else to say. >> Okay. [laughter] You're coming back in November, so you've heard Miss Horty. You'll be able to respond to some of that if you can't now or you can now. >> I can speak to certainly speak to it now. >> Um, all right. I've got a list. >> If there's ones I don't get, let me know and we'll come back in November. But I appreciate the question. I think it's really important to engage with these questions. Math is central to our students ability to be successful in the world beyond. Um so just in terms of speaking to central office leadership, Christina Valkran is our director of STEM. So that is both science and math. So she is overseeing our math interventionists um as well as our math coaches. Um and she
060is actually allocating weekly time to being in our buildings um and engaging with our math coaches um to support their work at the school level. Um the way that we've restructured sort of our central office support is actually allowing um for increased uh support to science and math relative to what we had last year. We didn't get more people. We're just deploying time differently with roles shifting. So for example with the direct direct uh addition of a director of intervention that's uh really overseeing a lot of our work with data analysis um and tracking progress to interventions that's um you know that provides content support to our schools and running intervention. These were things that were previously on our STEM director's case load um right so there's some balance and responsibilities here. Our ML directors
061are also providing support in English language arts and in math. Um so recently um I was in a lesson study protocol um with um Hannah Fintech, our dire one of our directors of ML. Um and Tess, if you don't mind putting up a slide, I can just speak to how our lesson protocol, lesson study protocol really helps support educators in math. Um so if we could put the slide up, the purpose of lesson study, right, is to support educators with curriculum implementation in a way that meets the needs of all of our students. So this is ex actually one of the examples of a lesson from our math curriculum. And as you can see here, right on the far left in the green, you see these like si uh seven different things that are supposed
062to be part of this lesson in 50 minutes, right? And so you might imagine educators saying, great, I'm so glad that I have all of these resources, but what's the most important thing to spend time on in this lesson? Where should students get real-time feedback? Right? and where are the moments where if students aren't with me that I should pause and give that feedback um to retach versus where do I keep going? These are the types of things that we discuss in lesson study. And so the power of having an ML director in that meeting with a group of educators so that we could all sit and talk about what an exemplar response look like and how we can support all of our populations of students to reach mastery right in this math content. Um
063so in really having this this new structure in central office we are able to provide that math and science support across all of our buildings. Um there was a question about math intervention. Um and I think just where is that happening in our schools? Um so our schools now at the K through8 level have both a literacy intervention block and what we're calling a wind block. And so students don't have to choose between do I need math more or do I need literacy intervention more. Students are able to get support in both of those blocks. In many of our K8 schools, you won't in some of our K8 schools, you won't see wind block on the schedule. But in those cases, we've actually added time to their math class so that they can get their
064tier one instruction and then get intervention time in add without missing any minutes of their core instruction. Um, in terms of just again the last piece that I just heard was in terms of thinking about the performance of our English learners. Um, and I just want to be really clear that our commitment to support all of our populations of students isn't just in language acquisition in one content area, right? The in order to support our students, we really need to think about what language acquisition looks like in science class, in math class, right? Literacy is interdisciplinary and that's been a huge focus for our district. Um, so as a matter of fact, we actually have middle school teachers in math, in science, in English, and social studies all coming together and saying, "What does it
065look like to explain our thinking?" Having English teachers consult with math teachers on the writing that students are doing in math because as you as we know, right, in the real world, you can't just memorize procedures or an algorithm. You have to be able to explain what you're doing. And this is really the area of growth that we're seeing for our students. Um and so it does it take to your point like it takes a cross team interdisciplinary approach. Um but our hope is that with um with this approach and the additional investments that we have made in math this year um that we will start to see some returns. >> Okay, next up was >> sorry can I just say one more thing? I I very much appreciate the idea that we're supporting the
066math teachers in the literacy component of math, especially when we're talking about higher level math like at Malden High, geometry and things like that where a lot of vocabulary is very important, but I still feel like we're missing a huge piece in the numerousy aspect. I think that there are many students who could adequately explain to you what they're doing and then when they're actually working through the problem, I I think that they're missing something. This is something that I keep hearing and seeing and I just don't know how we are supporting teachers who have a very specific role within math and numeracy when we don't have the higherup person that is doing that. I understand you have STEM. Please don't take this personally. Um, I'm just saying that I that to me as someone
067who works in education also feels like a giant job and feels like we are setting her up to be overworked and overburdened to put all of those together in a K to8 position. We'll see. And I have confidence that you will follow through with fidelity on this, but I'm worried. I appreciate the feedback. Um, and I I do want to echo one of the things that you said. You know, we talk a lot about the importance of basic phonics skills, right? And that it's very hard to read a passage if you can't decode, if you struggle to decode. Um, similarly, like basic numerousy skills, right, are sort of like the decoding of higher math, right? And it is really important to have fluency with these basic operations in order to be able to be successful
068um in the later grades. Um, and one of the things that um that uh director Balran is overseeing is the implementation and training of educators of using these modules we purchased called catalyst. And so if diagnostic assessments reveal that a student maybe in sixth grade, maybe in eighth grade might actually um need some more support with some foundational skills for each of those particular skills. It provides a concept guide for the educator or the math assistant or the interventionist, whoever might be working with them. It provides studentfriendly ways of explaining that content and then provides a wealth of practice problems that can be done individually or in groups. and then also provides a key. So if you are working with a student, it says look for this, right? Look for these. Um and provides tips
069on how to boost that student's conceptual understanding as well as their procedural fluency. So just really appreciate your continued feedback um and the push on this. It's really important. Um and we, you know, always take this in a way um that helps us embrace right to do right by all kids. >> Uh now Miss Spataphor was going to go next, but she saw that um A student representative has his light on, so she's going to defer to you. >> Okay. Excuse me. On the committee, >> what's your name? >> Miss Horty. Miss Woody. >> Hardy. >> And your name? >> Miss Bassim. Okay. Um, to add on to the math issue. Now, I'm going to admit first day on the job, guys. I'm not going to have all the fancy [laughter] I'm not going to
070have all the fancy lingo. you guys are doing numeracy. What y'all know about numerousy? [laughter] But um I am going to say that as a student that might not have went through the whole K through 8 process when I did get to Salemwood, I will admit that in the sixth and seventh grade the math was not so good. I'm going to be honest. Um we had to alternate through several teachers and now during our MCCAST results, I'm looking right here. Summary overview of 2025 performance. It says K through8 achievement math slight decrease in performance still above 2022 and 2023 data meeting growth targets. Then you go to Molden High School and it says decrease growth below targets. K through 8 is meant to be the preparation to high school no matter where it is. Or
071at least I'm not going to say in my opinion that's bad. That's bad. It needs to be the preparation for these students to understand what it's going to be like in the adult life. And as you were saying, Miss >> Cordy, you have students who you have children who go to Malda High School as students. And I myself am going to say that I was and still am finding difficulty with math and meeting that standard. And with all due respect to you, I'm hearing you, but I'm not understanding what you're trying to say right now. Because me, simply put, to put it bluntly, I do believe that there needs to be a strict level of guidance for ELA, science, mathematics, because at the end of the day, these students, every administrator is responsible for every
072student that goes to these schools within our district. And if they're not getting the proper, you know, guidance, the lessons that they need, if they're not meeting these standards, being below standards even, then who do you think the parents have to blame for all of that is going to be uproar? It's going to be crazy that the fact that these students aren't getting the proper support, the proper help that they need. And having seen like maybe five teachers go by, I recently just learned that after the MCCAST I had in sophomore year, all of the questions or at least a majority of the questions were set up to be the math three standard, almost every student who I ever spoke to, some of my peers are stuck at the math 2 standard. Specifically, those who
073have went to Salemwood because I went there as well. And again, who else do you think we have to blame for that? That's all I have to say. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh do you want to speak? You okay for we'll go to uh the superintendent then over to Miss Battle for then from there we're going to go to Mr. Bernard >> member. Thank you. Dutali tuttali. I'll get it. Um thank you very much and it's refreshing to have your voice and your perspective um here on the committee. Um what you expressed is something that uh all of us uh share in terms of the concern for our students achievement in every area as you said and um all of the the the fancy words that we used. um they're getting at uh helping
074our educators because let's just be clear uh your teachers every day they come with a desire to try to do right by you and by your classmates and it's not an easy job and it's not intended to be one that they do in isolation. Um and we're in what we're building together and building upon from years past is a system in which teachers can collaborate with each other to uh understand how they can improve what the students need and be able to deliver what they need over time. Um, but I just I just really want to thank you for just speaking from your heart and and sharing your concerns as bluntly as you did because um it keeps us all honest and keeps us all committed to what we're trying to do every day. >>
075Okay, over to Miss Bapora. >> I'm not quite sure how to follow up. Both of my peers up here. Um, I have two topics and one was math. So, I'm not going to relate it anymore, but in looking at the results, obviously, I will say as Miss Horty said, and we've both been very loud about this, we sat here and fought for keeping a STEM director because we felt the need for two, not one, across the district. Um, and as you can see from these results, specifically access testing actually shows that our multi- language learners are doing great and that's fantastic. Math not so much. So, I just think we need to, again, you said things don't happen overnight, and I get that. We're working on it. We have to do something. Um, I want
076to touch upon though and and I don't know if Miss McDonald's is here. Um, the results for um, students with disabilities was extremely extremely concerning. And I know that data is not in front of us right now. It was provided to us beforehand, but there was absolutely no growth whatsoever. That is really, really concerning. And I'm just what are we doing to tackle that? We talk about our math assistance, literacy assistance. What are we doing for our special needs students? >> Yeah, absolutely. And thank you. Um I want to just also contextualize our students are performing really well on access. It has not yet translated to performance on MCCAST. So in the ELA MCCAST in nth grade for example um 0% of our English learners pass the ELA MCCAST or in 10th grade. Um so
077just also want to contextualize excited to see that growth uh in students language proficiency and we fully take responsibility uh for the work ahead to support students um in meeting the expectations set by the state. Um so with regard to students with disabilities um I can speak to a bit and then we'll turn to my colleague uh assistant superintendent McDonald. Um I think part of this too as we work with our educators is to think about a couple things. One is to really break down the data by disability category. Um because you can imagine that a student um with autism might have different needs from a student with a specific learning disability where within specific learning disability. Is this a processing challenge? Do we have a student who needs more help with working memory? And
078so really thinking not just about a bucket of students but really getting down to the individual student level. I also think another piece that we're really thinking about in terms of our curriculum is our curriculum has a number of sort of because you know with our investment in high quality instructional materials it's routine based and so in an ELA English language arts class you might see times where you're reading a text there might be other times where you're using a specific way of engaging with peers and I think the work ahead for us is to really think about for student based on the specific disability categories that our students have how might we create accommodations to those particular rituals in class right to those buckets of activities that we do so that the work that
079students are engaged with is not just at grade level but also providing that high support to meet that high expectation and I think that is you know that is the work uh that we have ahead of us. um our lesson study protocol does provide an opportunity for educators to say what is the exemplar response right for example in a science lesson or a math lesson um but then what if a student gave a response that was far from that response what would you say and I'll say you know like for myself when I was a teacher like sometimes you have that moment of like oh my gosh that's not what I expected what do I do and this is where having educators collaborate with one another sharing those strategies can really build that collective expert
080in supporting our students. This worked for me. This, you know, oh, this this might work. Let's try this. And so, again, it is sort of this ongoing commitment to providing those resources to educators and then creating that space for them to collaboratively engage um to support student needs. The other thing I just want to say is that in the past we have taken kids out of core for their interventions and we've worked really collaboratively to make sure with our added time. Thank you to the committee for um with the new contract being able to make sure kids are getting the core instruction because for so long our special ed kids were really getting core minus and they need to get core plus instruction. And so that's what we're focusing on for this year because I
081do think that was a huge miss for us in the last few years that we were taking them from core instruction and we have really good core instruction now and working hard to make sure it's as the best that we can get and that's what they really need to be exposed to first and then their interventions. >> That's exactly what I wanted you to hear because core first and then if we're doing you know push in pull out whatever after because you need that base. >> Um We we had a period where we didn't really have wind blocks and things like that. And we're work really working hard together to make sure that every schedule K to8 and the high school has those blocks. The high school's a little easier because just the way a
082high school schedule is, but K to8 that those blocks do not conflict with the core instruction. And then we're giving time for professional development um in like our co-taught classrooms that you know I know not every classroom is co-taught but we do have a few where we have special ed teachers in there to collaborate um I'm assuming so for example at the high school um we have this year we really took on a lot of work around co-eing in English language arts and we were able to have our high school educators >> um if you teach English language arts and you have a co-teer, you have a common planning time with that educator, um on every sort of blue day, gold day cycle, right? It's not like one day is the blue day, one day
083is the gold period. So every seven periods you have a common planning >> section. That's actually their duty. So in place of covering a hallway or covering lunch, their responsibility is the co-planning. >> So important. I I I'd love to see us back here in a year and hopefully growth um knock on wood in in special needs and math. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Metaphor, Mr. Bernard. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh hopefully this will be a just a just a quick question and uh I do agree that you know hey we need to go and get some improvement on the mask scores but I also understand it's it's a process and uh to speak to Mr. Dutali it's it's frustrating when you're you're actually going through it. So I I I see
084you and I and uh I understand that it's it's it's hard to sit here and actually go and hear that. But we're working through that. Um, I did have a question about uh when you were talking about the uh the wind blocks. Um, and you said students could go and choose what they should go and concentrate on. When we go and we have a student that might be going and having some avoidance to towards something that they feel is harder, whether that is, you know, the literacy part or the math part. what do we do to kind of and we know that they really need to go and work on you know one over the other we know that they're having a problem with the math do we have any way of going and kind
085of guiding them when they say no no I just going to go do the literacy things >> um just to clarify uh when is called what I need and we do say there is a wide variety of activities students can participate in but students do not have choice as to which of those activities uh they participate in >> uh we look at we look at the data on student performance and so for example we try to create groups that are working on the same skill. >> Okay. >> Um and so you know from a literacy standpoint if I might need help um with you know particular sounds um then I would go with a group that's doing that. Whereas if I need more challenge um with reading complex texts then I might go into a
086reading group. Within that reading group I might have a choice of what book I read um just in during the intervention time. Um but I'm going to go to a group at my level. Um similarly uh in math um we we we know that students benefit from choice and we can create we create opportunities for student choice. Um but it is not >> the choice is not do I engage with the content and the standards. The choice might be um >> do I do this standards aligned assignment or this standards aligned assignment both within the topic that is at is that my needs dictate. >> All right. Thank you. And again, I mean, I I kind of had that feeling, but I just wanted to make sure that it was clear to the audience, uh,
087you know, both here and actually, uh, that may be watching remotely because, uh, having been on the doors, you know, on my campaign, it's been there have been some interesting discussions and some interesting, uh, beliefs that I've had to kind of redirect and say, you can always call me and I'll go and I'll introduce you to people. But, uh, I think that the more we can explain to parents and break it down into into a simpler concept, the easier it's going to be for them to to work with us. >> I appreciate the feedback and I'm grateful for the opportunity to clarify. >> Thank you, Mr. Bernard. Now, we're going to go to Miss Rose Zyberg, and then we'll move on to the next item in the docket. Miss Rose Zyberg. >> Thank you, Mr.
088Chair. um looking through notes that I've taken down. It said like at the high school and said you're looking at high quality materials and you saw that part of PDS were missing that you think was due to potentially because it was during COVID times. What are we doing to make sure to go back? Are you going back and doing those PDs? And then as new teachers are added into the system, how are we giving them that same access and that same instruction so that we get consistently get so it's if everybody's sitting there with the PD, they don't want to do it again. Um so can you go over that and just to see if we're revisiting that or you looking you said you're looking at pacing and quizzes, you're looking at everything. Um but
089interested in that if we're going to go back and reinforce what people were missing. >> That's a great point and thank you. Um so in the past uh high school PD took place during our professional development days and in the form of content meetings which were once a month after school. >> In our content meetings today uh we actually rolled out to educators that um the high school leadership team has actually created more opportunity in the schedule for professional learning. And so basically every eight days they will have sort of a professional learning block uh in their schedule which can be used you know content specific for lesson study for data meetings and for the topics uh that I mentioned that are sort of um allowing new educators to get up to speed with the
090curriculum um and the collective group um to really anchor in on you know the the assessments the form or the formative work so the quizzes giving students that feedback um and the other topics that you mentioned. >> Thank you. And I think you know again just going back to Mr. Dutali's comment. Did I say that right? >> Dutali. >> Thank you. Um I I think you know what I heard you say was that we all need to take responsibility for the work and to share responsibility uh for the work. And I I hope what you hear from our comments is that sort of collective uh responsibility uh to create spaces um where we can moving forward provide our educators with uh with the support they need so that they're not trying to create classroombased solutions
091to systemic challenges, right? But instead we can create a system that has no cracks, then educator work can be focused on trying to raise the floor rather than to plug the holes. Um so that's really the spirit in which we analyze the data of what can we do as a district to create that context. >> Okay. Thank you Miss Rose Eyeberg. So um I'll just end from the chair with a comment two questions. First a comment. We can't lose sight of the fact that this is year two of the SPLE administration. So I with some of the colleagues would expect to see something in year three. And um I guess the two questions I have is could you prepare uh a summary in a page or two of how we compare to other gateway cities
092in some fashion. you know, it doesn't have to be a full-on report, but I I just >> am curious to see, you know, where we stand. Uh, and the second question I have is you'll be here Monday, October 5th, 2026. I know it's hard to predict, but could you give us your best guess on what indicator or indicators have the best shot to go this way based on what you're doing with the Simple administration? What's the one area that you showed tonight that you believe based on all the um practices and programs you're putting in place and have in place will change next year? You want to take that, superintendent? Because I'm going to print that one sheet. I'm going to save it for next year, October 5th. What's What's Seriously? What's the one you
093think? >> Well, I'll tell you what. I in the month of November, November 10th, I plan to bring before the school committee my goals for this coming year. And so I'd like to think about this question very carefully because student learning goal is one of the areas that the state requires for superintendent evaluation and I could bring a more thoughtful response at that time. Um we would love to tell you and I would love to see improvement across the board. >> Right. early literacy, math, science, um every area that we students with disabilities across the board. Um I know that um sometimes our the best laid plans don't yield exactly what you were hoping for and we'll need to regroup and figure out how to make adjustments. But I I really believe in the power
094of our educators in this district. I really believe in the brilliance and potential of each of our young people and I really believe that if we can continue to put those two things together in a context in which collaboration's happening um I really believe that we can achieve surprising results next year. >> That's an answer I would give but [laughter] and a month from now Mr. Mayor, Mr. Chair, uh I will come with more specific uh student learning goals. >> Okay. Very good. Thank you. >> All right, everyone. Uh thank you very much for the presentation. Um in just to foreshadow uh November, what will you be presenting then? >> As a team, we'll provide uh more detail on the remainder of the accountability data. So that would be chronic absenteeism and some of the
095high school specific indicators such as graduation rate, extended engagement rate, dropout rate. And is that where you would compare us to like uh gateway cities then? >> Happy to do so. >> In our current uh presentation, we have the line for peer districts. Um but we're more than happy to provide additional context. >> I'd like to see it broken out by town, city, you know, uh like gateway cities. >> Absolutely. Um helpful. And if there's additional context, uh please feel free to let us know in advance of the meeting. We want to make sure that we come with the data that's most meaningful. >> Very good. All right, everybody. Let's take a look at enrollment. Superintendent, you want to present there? >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Miss Bassine. Miss McDonald. Get
096back up here again. All right. Well, as the committee is aware, we have been looking at enrollment um since the first day of school actually um week to week. I've been providing updates to the committee and uh we looked at this last uh last month. So, what I have to share with you, this is our uh initial uh October one enrollment. And uh I say initial because there's a process that our team has to go through uh in collaboration with DESIE to make sure that uh our numbers are 100% accurate. But our district-wide enrollment at this point is 6,192. Um, and you can see uh how those uh students break down by grade level and by uh school by and by or location because some of our students, this includes our students who are being
097educated out of district and students who are um only receiving special education services. As far as um by school compared to last year, um what you'll see here is um that several of our schools are consistent with what they were last year. We have uh three of our schools where we've seen a more significant drop relative to the enrollment last year and those include Forestdale, uh Salemwood, and Malden High. Um, all told, we have u approximately fewer students this year than we did last year. We have been looking at um trying to understand uh the change and try to understand um why the enrollment has declined from last year from a lot of different angles. I mean, we have uh anecdotal records from uh each of our schools where they have something uh of the
098nature of a of an exit interview with the family when they withdraw to find out where they're going and why. And there is just u innumerable reasons why people leave Malden. Um, many times it may involve uh finding a city, another city where they can afford the cost of housing or it may be a position um that as a job that's taking someone to a different place. We have a a number of u students whose families um or parents, caregivers are graduate students and when they finish their program there's a transition that happens then. Um there are just a lot of different reasons why people leave. We've tried especially hearing some of the the um the accounts from surrounding districts concern about families uh um depending on immigration status whether that might be a factor.
099Um, and we've looked at various uh metrics or various attributes of students, whether they're an English language learner when they were enrolled, whether they were born in the US or not, um whether their home language is English. Those are things not immigration status, but those other uh attributes we do um keep um records of. And uh there really isn't a clear trend um as far as where the students went. The students that withdrew in 2025 was actually less from January through September. The number of students who withdrew in this in this calendar year was less than withdrew during the same period in 2024. And those students who withdrew during that period uh there was a a almost identical percentage of students who were English language learner uh classified as English language learner who uh withdrew
100from us in 2024 as withdrew this year for example um we as far as the new students who've enrolled um we did have a uh a lot of the the decrease that we're seeing is the students who are new to the district we had fewer students enroll in the district from July through September this year than enrolled in July through September last year. And in those uh those data we are seeing um slight increase in students who were born in the US roughly the same uh percentage of students whose home language is English as last year. um there's not like a real clear picture in the data at this time. Um but we are we want to understand what's happening so that if there's anything that we can do to make sure that we're uh
101we have a stable enrollment going into next year that we can achieve that. Um and so with that I think yes I'll stop there for a moment please. >> Yeah questions from the team. Any questions? Okay, we'll place this on file. Um, now let's uh take a look at subcommittee reports. >> I'm sorry, I have a couple couple more things, Mr. Mayor. So, um, I guess one thing I just wanted to say is that all of the work we're doing to prepare our students academically and all the work that we're also doing to make sure that our students are supported and are in school every day and that we are making sure that um, we're not losing students for things that are within our control. I guess what I would just point out here is
102that building a district strength and stability, making sure that fiscally we're strong in the long term is something that's top of mind for me, for our team because as all of you know, um enrollment does have have a huge impact on funding from the state. And so as we prepare for the the months ahead, um we don't it's premature to think about exactly what it's going to mean budget-wise because the state hasn't even determined what the budget's going to be next year. Um, but I just want to make a commitment to the committee to lead through uh whatever clouds of uncertainty we might be um facing um and to engage in a process that is uh inclusive and collaborative to make any hard decisions that might be needed. Um and if with all of that
103said, we are um committed to high expectations for all, meeting diverse needs, making sure that we continue to offer fair access to opportunity, to partner with our families, and to continuing nurturing a strong workforce. All right. Lastly, um we are will be coming back into the committee um with more information about translating these visions for the future that we've been talking about and all the other work that we've been doing into a strategic plan. Um I want to mention one of these areas, digital literacy and computer science. And I won't steal any of Mr. member Graves Thunder, but I do want to um just mention that we will have two community forums coming up on October 21 and October 27th um specifically about the issue of AI and um and learning and um would strongly
104encourage uh members of the community to come out to BB school on the 21st or to join us online on the 27th. And with that, sir, thank you. >> Okay, Mr. Gray. >> Yeah. Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, could you please put up that last slide, superintendent slide from his report? >> Yes. Just a moment. [clears throat] Thank you. Um this is about um a new initiative we're starting in the Malden public school system. The technology subcommittee of the Malden public schools met to initiate a formal district-wide discussion on AI and learning. This took place on September 29th, 2025. I'm going to give um a summary from myself and then a summary of the subcommittee discussion. The discussion is on the possible implications of AI in the Malden school system and how we
105start addressing the issue. Like other technological advances such as automobiles, airplanes, cell phones, internet, web browsers, etc., AI is creating massive changes in our culture and education spaces. Literally trillions of dollars are being spent in the United States alone to shoehorn AI into our everyday lives. We as a school department will leverage the incredible organizational skills of Dr. Timothy Sipple to help us navigate a way forward into this AI world. The September 29th discussion was a roundt discussion focused on the committee's current understanding of the growing potential impact of AI. Discussion coalesed on an outlined plan presented by Dr. Sipple on how we will begin to address this as a school district. The superintendent with the backing of the technology subcommittee is resetting local expectations as DESIE works to provide statewide guidance. Desi will be
106providing highlevel technological guidance and advice as the Malden School District moves forward. Various topics were covered such as ongoing local testing of multiple teaching application platforms in the Malden school department. Some of these platforms come with various AI capabilities built in as outlined below on the screen. Dr. Principal will conduct multiple community forums inviting parents, students, and various stakeholders. School committee members are encouraged and invited to participate. That's basically the summary. If anyone has any questions about how we're moving forward with this, either myself or Dr. Sipple or members of the technology committee can answer questions. >> Thank you, Mr. Gray. Any questions? That's just for the committee. Uh stick around after we'll get the question. All right. Hearing none. Thank you, Mr. Gray. Now, let's take a look at uh motions and resolutions. Who
107is this donation from? >> I don't know who this guy is. Um, so our chair, if I can find it, it is here somewhere, has generously wrote a check to the Malden High School band. Oh, here it is. And we have to just formally accept it as a committee. >> So motion to accept. >> Motion by Miss Bataphor, seconded by Miss Rose Zyberg. Uh, questions of the committee. This was um in tribute to the performance they gave at uh opening day. Uh we had been collaborating with them uh two or three weeks leading up to that and I was so impressed with how the kids came in from their break to really work on the performance. So I thought it'd be fitting to uh make a donation to the program. So clerk will call the
108role. >> Mr. Drum. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCarthy, >> yes. >> Miss Betaphora, >> yes. >> Miss Mlin, >> yes. >> Miss Hordy, >> yes. >> Mr. Grace, >> yes. >> Mr. Bernard, >> yes. >> Miss Rose Zyberg, >> yes. >> Mayor Fishing, >> yes. That carries unanimously. Uh, the next item we're going to go to Miss Rose Zyberg to talk about the middle school pathway exploration policy. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. This comes via the superintendent uh motion to send the middle school pathway exploration policy to the policy and procedure subcommittee. This um I'll read a little bit from the overview that was provided by the by the super. This is a new um state requirement that has come out. Men public schools maintains this middle school pathway exploration policy to ensure all middle
109school students are informed of and gain exposure to career technical education programs available to them at local, regional, agricultural and other public high schools. Um, Superintendent Sipple can can address further um the feedback that I got originally this came came in. The very positive thing is that what we are already doing aligns with the state. So this just needs a motion to send it to um policy subcommittee. >> So you're making the motion seconded by Miss Mlin. Everybody clear? >> Clerk will call the role. >> Mr. Dummy? >> Yes. >> Miss McCarthy? >> Yes. >> Miss Betaphora? >> Yes. >> Miss Mlin? Yes, >> Miss Hordy. >> Yes, >> Mr. Gray. >> Yes, >> Mr. Bernard. >> Yes, >> Mr. Rosyberg. >> Yes, Mayor Christensen. >> Yes. That carries unanimously. All right, everyone. Personal privilege.
110Uh, let's go left to right. Uh, Mr. Gray. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm just going to go over a quick list of events taking place in Ward Six this season. Patrick's in Maplewood Square. October 25th, 8:00 PM costume party. Come for fun. 21 plus. The women of the moose at Malden's Moose Hall will be having a Halloween costume party October 25th. Free 700 p.m. Best costume prizes and you can dance the night away. St. Joseph Parish Halloween movie night October 17th at 700 p.m. They will be playing The Corpse Bride. St. Joseph Parish will also have a trunk or treat October 26th at 11:30 a.m. Sign up ahead of time. St. Joseph Parish will also have a turkey rama November 22nd at 5:00 pm. And last but not least, uh, Ward 6's own Maplewood
111Association will be having Halloween at the Salemwood School Gym October 26th at from noon to 3:00 p.m. Bring your children, bring your costumes, and get ready to get sugared up. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Gray. Mr. Bernard, >> thank you, Mr. Chair. uh from the Salemwood. Uh tomorrow, October 7th, there's and because this is fire prevention week, uh the Malden firefighters and their fire engine will be at the school at 7:45 to hand out pencils to the students. Uh, and then, uh, there's going to be a virtual on the same day, there's going to be a virtual district-wide kickoff for the school council at 6:30 p.m. Uh, Monday, of course, is no school because it's Indigenous People's Day. Uh, Tuesday, October 21, uh, there is a Title One overview and and Dibbles discussion at
1128:15 a.m. at the K through 4 cafe. Uh, Friday, October 24th is the uh is the PTO's fall festival from 6:00 to 8 in the K K through 4 cafe. That's PM October 27th. If your kid made a face in their pictures, you can go and get it retaken. Uh, as so often I did. Uh [laughter] October 27th through the 31st there's going to be the book fair. That's Monday and Thursday 8:30 to 2:30, Tuesday and Wednesday 8:30 to 5:30 and Friday from 8 to 12:30 p.m. And uh there will be a sign up being sent out by the PTO. Uh one other thing, there is a safe route to school uh walking groups that I believe is this Wednesday. Mhm. >> Um uh I know other schools and groups have been going and doing
113this. I do want to go and thank uh the war three counselor uh Amanda Lahan for going and being one of the spearheads of this. Also I think [sighs] Miss Zyberg Rose Zyberg and uh also Miss Horty were involved in that. If I missed anyone I apologize. Uh I will go and be uh there uh bright and bushy tailed at very way at uh at Lincoln Commons to go and walk any parents and and their students that want to go and participate. >> Okay, Mr. Bernard. Thank you, Miss Rose Zyberg. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the Lynden, the Tiger Trot, which is the their biggest fundraiser of the year, is off to a great start. And on October 18th, that will be their big event. They're going to have um sort of the different
114four different sections set up in addition to the kids doing the laps. Um and that is going to be at the school from 2 to 4. So that's October 18th. Um this Wednesday, just what you said, safe routes to school, walk, bike, and roll to school. For the Lynden, we are meeting at 7:40 at Hawkidge Delta, which is where um Beach Street and Lauren Street meet. Um or at Steve's Corner. So the two different locations, Steve's Corner on Salem Street meet at 7:40. and we'll be leaving at 7:45 um sharp. They have set up a little nice thing at London that when you get to school, there'll be a coffee truck there and uh 10% of all sales will go to the Tiger Trot. That's the traveling athary. Um and that's thanks to parent Michelle
115Murray who who owns and operates that business. Picture day, October 10th. Um October 15th, the PTO is sponsoring, it's an inschool um event, an anti-bullying program. Um the entire school will be going they're splitting that up into three different sessions. Um it's interesting. It's it's with BMX. I don't know that it is. Um but great that they they're bringing that in and I applaud that they're doing something with um anti-bullying for the entire school. Um October 20th from 6:00 to 7 over Zoom there's a parent meeting for Nature's Classroom and that is for seventh grade parents. And um a nice thing that the schools decided to do to help offset the overall cost of um students who want to go to nature's classroom, half of what grade seven raises from the tiger trop is going
116to go to work towards offsetting that trip. Um there is a middle school dance that will be coming up that's going to be in November, November 7th. Um I had to giggle because Y2K is the theme. Um some of us were actually here when that happened. Um and I want to give congratulations to their model UN 22 students participated on Saturday um in a competition. Uh they raised all the money to attend um those events which is pretty phenomenal um for 22 to get to go. Two students were named best negotiators and two students were also named best delegates. Um I know that I don't have the dates written down. I know the end of the month will be the book fair as well. >> That's it. Thank you, Miss Mlin. >> Thank you, Mr.
117Chair. Uh, from the ELC, um, oh, my phone 107 and 108 um, are picture days. So, that's tomorrow and Wednesday. Um, 10:13, as uh, Mr. Bernard mentioned, is Indigenous People's Day, so no school. 10:24 it's the PTO fall event from 5 to 7. It's the fall festival. Um on 11:4 it's election day. Everybody get out and vote. There are no there's no school for students on that day. Um in addition 1111 um Mr. Rock has said is Veterans Day. So there's no school on that day as well. from the high school. The Malden High School homecoming game is on Thursday, October 16th with the homecoming dance on Friday, October 17th. Um, get ahead day is a is October 15th. Uh, students will be participating in a number of activities by grade. PSAT for grades 10
118and 11, SAT for grade 12, and freshman Olympics for grade nine. That is it. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Hy. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, I'd like to start out by saying thank you to the Forcale PTO for their family fun night last Friday. Um, it was great to welcome everyone back to the building. Uh, on 108, everyone has mentioned the white walk, bike, roll, go to school event. Um 7:30 meet up time for Forestdale. Their two locations are Banebridge and Plymouth Street and Lebanon and Silvin if you would like to coordinate and meet up there. Uh picture day is the 20th and two community events that are worth mentioning. the ward to five Halloween party from 3 to 5 on the 26th in the Forestell cafeteria and one that's not necessarily geared to
119our youngest students um because when I took this walk last year I was very scared as an adult so I just want to warn you all ahead of time but the haunted woods sponsored by myself and W five counselor Ari Taylor and a lot of really creative volunteers years will be hosting the haunted woods again at Pine Banks on the 18th beginning at 5:00. Um, if you're interested in being a little bit scared or maybe a lot scared, I highly recommend coming through and it was incredibly fun last year and it's just gotten bigger and better this year. >> Thanks. >> Great, Miss Hody. One more time on the farale. That was the 26th. >> The 26th. >> What time? >> Three. >> 3 to 5. >> Yes. Okay, over to Mike Drummy. >> Thank
120you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, just a big thank you for the fundraiser that the PTO had at Chuck-E-Cheese last Thursday. I guess it was a good turnout. Everything went well. Tomorrow, uh, progress reports are going home from grades 1 through eight. Keep an eye out for them. first quarter reports. Uh PTO and the SSC meeting is tomorrow at 6:30 on Zoom. Go to the PT uh Ferryway PTO page uh for the link. Also, tomorrow starts the uh Scholastic Bookf Fair and that'll run through the 10th. Uh 14th through the 28th, they're having a PI fundraiser. Um, again, if you go to the Feedway PTO page, uh, it'll give you a little bit more information and I believe they're sending it also home with the students. Um, the 22nd is the trunk or treat for the Ferryway
121school that will be in their parking lot like they had last year. That'll be at 5:30. Uh, in addition to the white uh, walk, bike, and roll, there will be uh, PTO will be meeting at 72 Ashlin Street. I wonder why. Uh to march from there down to the school. Uh and also on the 20 I knew uh the 25th from 3:00 to 5:00 uh Council Peg Crow is going to be hosting the annual uh trunk or treat on the bike path. That's down by National Grid. If you would like to enter a car, uh her number is 781-248-4386. Just give her a call. let her know if you'd be interested in in doing it. Uh picture day again, the 17th. And last but not least, uh November is election day. There will be a
122uh bagg sale from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Uh come and get some cookies. And again, their uh uh school site council meeting and PTO meeting for November is the 6th. Since we won't be meeting till the 10th, we'll do it now. And that is it. Thank you very much, sir. >> Thank you. And lastly, Miss Betaphor. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, BBPTO is currently hosting their uh annual walk-athon right now. Information went home with students um and also on Parents Square. So, sign your kids up because all money raised helps offset um our um like busing and field trip costs. So, Wednesday, walk, bike, roll. Um I will be leading a group of um students from city hall right here at 7:30 in the morning going to BBE. Councelor Lahan will be um
123meeting students at Ambridge Park at the corner of Highland A and Savin at 7:30 and uh hopefully we can get the whole group together for a photo in the BB Plaza. Friday is Bulldog Friday, so wear your Bulldog gear. October 22nd is a title one breakfast at BB 8:15 a.m. And on the same day that evening will be the school site council meeting on Zoom at 5:00 p.m. And lastly, not BB related, but the Malden Public Library is doing their 140th birthday party on October 8th. That's this Wednesday. Oh, I did not write down the time. I think it's 6 to 9. 6 to 8. Hey, did I take that from you, Magna? Um, >> perfect. And that's all I have. >> All right. Thank you, uh, Miss Better for I wish you had left
124that for me because what I have to announce is, um, not meant to be a downer, but if you haven't heard, uh, we did go before the city council last Tuesday night to talk about the need of an override uh, come 2026. So, for more information, I would encourage all of you to go to city of malden.org/override. There you'll find a description of where we are and where we need to go to keep the good work going. So, if you have any questions, uh, please follow up with me and we'll be back before the city council tomorrow night at, uh, 6 pm here in the chamber. All right, let's make a motion to go into executive session. Motion by uh Miss Rose Zyberg, seconded by Miss Spaphora. Clerk will call the role. >> Mr. Drum,
125>> yes. >> Mr. McCarthy, >> yes. >> Miss Bataphora, >> yes. >> Miss Max, >> yes. >> Miss Hardy, >> yes. >> Mr. Gray, >> yes. >> Mr. Bernard, >> yes. >> Mr. Rosyberg, >> yes. Mayor Christensen, >> yes. School committee is now in executive session. Okay, the school committee is back. Entertain a motion to stay overnight. >> Motion by Miss Hoody to adjourn. Seconded by Mr. Bernard. Do we Is Mike still on there? >> All right. So, all those in favor say I. >> Anybody opposed? The eyes have it. School committee is hereby journ. I'm losing it, too. [laughter]