001Thank you. Good evening everyone. We're going to call this special meeting of the Malden School Committee to order. Today is Monday, June 23rd, 2025, and the time is 6:00 p.m. This evening's agenda will consist of the following. First, we will pledge allegiance to our flag. will then have a moment of silence in honor of all those who have fought and continue to fight for our country. We'll then take attendance to ensure that we have a sufficient quorum to allow us to come together. Uh we will then get into three items. The first is the superintendent evaluation followed by the approval of the handbook and program of studies that will be led by Miss Rose Zyberg. And then we will entertain a motion to go into executive session. If successful, that will be to discuss collective
002bargaining relative to the Malden Education Association units A, B, and C. Then we will come back out. We will move adjournment. Are there any questions? Hearing none, let's pledge allegiance to our flag. First, as always, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of all those who have fought for our country and continue to do so today. Thank you. Now let's take attendance. Mayor Christensen here. Mr. Drum. Mccarthy here. Miss Bataphora here. Miss Mlin here. Miss Hordy here. Mr. Gray here. Mr. Bernard. Miss Rose Zyberg. Superintendent Tippa. All right, we have a quorum sufficient to allow us to come together. Now, let's
003take a look at the superintendent evaluation. Um, so I'm going to go over to our vice chair to explain where we are and where we're going. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, um the superintendent provided a set of goals to this committee back in November of 2024 for uh and that it passed um unanimously for approval. Those goals would then direct the superintendent on what the first year of his employment here in the BM public schools would look like. um he provided a self ass self evaluation to the committee members and each committee member was asked to evaluate the superintendent based off of those goals and the self assessment provided. So I'm just going to share with the committee what that looked like. Okay, hold on. I have to to this. Okay, there we go. I
004can move this out of the way. So, the evaluation process consisted of the superintendent establishing goals and his focus indicators. The school committee then voted to approve said goals. At the beginning of June, the superintendent provided a self-evaluation on those goals. The school committee members then submitted completed individual a uh evaluations and the compiler created a composite evaluation of um those evaluations and then we are here tonight for committee approval. Let's do this the moment of truth. So just a a quick review of the superintendent's goal. Uh goal one was effective entry and direction setting and this was uh the superintendent's district improvement goal. So by late spring of 2025, the district will have a broad agreement from key stakeholder groups about the district's most critical needs for improvement, the strategies and goals that will
005address them most effectively, and the measures that will be used to assess progress. This goal number two is maintaining focus on continuous improvement during the transition. And this is the student learning goal. So through the collaborative development of a common vision of effective instruction, keep the district moving forward during the year's transition by working with the district-wide leadership team to ensure that meaningful improvement is underway in the classroom, school, and district levels. And then his third goal was uh goal number three, new superintendent induction program. And this was his professional practice goal. and that was to develop skills in strategy development, data analysis, and instructional leadership by completing the first year of the new superintendent induction program and earning at least proficient ratings on each major assignment. Before we get to how everybody voted, I
006just compiled some of the comments that each member put together um that highlighted how they felt uh the superintendent was doing. So, I won't read through all of them. Um but I will note a few. Um Miss Hordy mentioned that Dr. Dr. has made a concerted effort to understand the tradition and culture of the Malden public schools while also examining areas that need to be addressed in uncovering needs. Throughout his first year, Dr. Sipple has attended multiple community events, almost all school related activities, and otherwise became a member of the Malden community. He believes in transparency and is always available to answer questions. Mr. Drum said Dr. Sipple hit the ground running. He came in, set up his entry plan, and proceeded to accomplish what he started. He straightforward, calls it as he sees it,
007lets the staff do their jobs, and only interjects when asked or required. The district has a much more relaxed and harmonious feel to it, which it hasn't had in a long time. Good effort year one, first year. Mayor Christensen said said, "I've been mayor now for 13 years, and I've never seen a stronger start for a firstear superintendent than I have for Tim Sipple. From instructional leadership to community engagement to working well with the school committee, I believe Superintendent Sipple has all the makings of being one of the best to pass through our community. I look forward to year two, especially now that he is he was able to help lead us to a three-year agreement with the MEA. um many more comments that you'll see there. All of them were positive um and reinforcing
008the evaluations that each person submitted. Okay. I'm sorry this is not bigger and I will give a little background on the color coding. So I wonder if I can make this bigger actually for those at home. Let's get out of that for a second. Everywhere I want to move, everything else moves. But so step one in your evaluation was to assess progress towards the goals. There was three goals. A professional practice goal, a student learning goal, and the district improvement goal. Most everybody gave the superintendent a met expectation. Um, the items that I highlighted in red kind of meant a stop for a moment because we had some progress on that goal. A yellow indicated we're moving slowly just because we saw some significant progress but it wasn't quite met. And green was beyond met
009and that was exceed. We're full steam ahead. We're we're moving forward. So, um I wish I Oh, this little thing keeps hide. There we go. So, you can see uh the member across the top, Mr. Drum, McCarthy, Spatterfor, Mlin, Hordy, Gray, Bernard, Zyberg, and Christensen. And the ratings for those four uh three goals. The second item we had to do was assess performance on the standards. Each one of these standards had what's called focus indicators aligned with them. Instructional leadership, management and operations, family and community engagement, and professional culture. Um, of the superintendent's goals, there is an indicator that aligned to each one, and we then evaluated to see if he met those focus indicators. the committee wholeheartedly um evaluated that the superintendent was proficient or I missed a green exemplary right there under Miss
010Mlin, but that he uh has no nothing below met expectations. Let me stop you there. We just got a text that they can't hear you. I'm so sorry. I'll try to be a little bit closer. said there's a slide on the screen, but they can't hear. Okay. Okay. I'm going to talk. It sounds like we may have some technical difficulty and people not hearing us at home. Um, please let us know if you can. Now, so again, the second step was to assess performance on those standards which were aligned to the focus indicators um aligned to the superintendent's goals. Finally, the third step was to rate the overall summitative performance. So overall each member of the committee uh evaluated the superintendent at proficient or exemplary. So based on all of the evaluations, everything submitted, the
011school committee overall rating equals out to a proficient. Any questions? All right, let's uh open it up to questions. Everybody um knows where we're at. Let's go to Mr. McCarthy first. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Um the only question that I actually have when it comes to the student um can you Yeah. Can you go back? Yeah. Yeah. So, when it comes to the um the district improvement goal, um the only thing that I didn't really see in there when I was looking at obviously the three goals that he sent to us and you know, we voted on and approved. Um I didn't see anything there about student attendance. So, does he have an explanation for that? Might be more. I'm not sure. I just just curious overall like district improvement goal when it comes
012to student attendance, making sure kids are coming to school um consistently and and understanding what um you know what the district's going to be doing moving forward. And Mr. Vicat, are you saying that should have been a standalone goal or Well, at least it should have been highlighted more having a little information in there when it when it comes to that. Yeah. Do you want to or should he So, I mean, I think that's important. Yeah. Gotcha. agreed that it's very important. I think when this committee was presented with his goals back in November that we approved, right? That's when we say, can you please add that to your goal? But I think also because his goals tie very tightly to his entry planning. Um, and I know he's been working on that. I think
013the superintendent could answer, yeah, you know, to it, but it wasn't a standalone goal and therefore not necessarily a standalone goal to evaluate to. Right. Um yeah, I mean I think that um not a standalone goal as as having that highlighted, but at least having some information in there when it comes to, you know, I mean, attendance obviously is an overall district, you know, thing. So, I just didn't know if that was something he could, you know, kind of maybe explain. So, before we go to the superintendent, Mr. McCarthy. Uh, year two, we should maybe make that. I think that's an important thing. Yeah. So, make a mental note there for that. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Superintendent. Well, first of all, I just want to thank the committee for your support um since day one.
014Um, you've been extremely welcoming to me and a great collaborative partner as a group and as individuals. And I just really thank you for a wonderful first year from me too. Um and thank you for the feedback and um even even if it were exemplary across the board, we know that there's still work to do and um that's why I came here and that's why you brought me here and I'm excited to continue that work in my second year. Um to respond to you Mr. McCarthy, I think um one of the standards that was that was included in the um in the ratings was under um standard one instructional leadership and it refers to data informed decision-m um which includes uh evidence and data on district and school culture and climate which includes attendance and
015do students are students there? Do they enjoy being there? Are they do they feel welcome? Do they feel like they belong? And are they excited about being in school? And um we definitely presented data on on areas where we have to grow in that a lot. Um we discussed that as a part of the um the state data accountability data last last winter and it will definitely be a part of our focus going forward. Yeah, I mean thank you for that. that's, you know, extremely important. I think that going into year to, as the mayor just said, um, it's got to be a focus. Um, you know, I've heard a loud and clear from, you know, from community members and, um, I think it has to be looked into. Okay. Thank you for that. So,
016Mr. McCathy, make a note of that. I will. When we get to year two, we'll I will make a note of that. All right. Uh, anybody else? Any other questions? Everybody understands we have to accept this. We have to vote on it. We have to vote on it. We have to vote on it. All right, everyone. So, that's our next step. We have to vote on it. Um, any other questions? So, you want to make the motion? I presume? I will make the motion. Seconded by approve, seconded by Miss Hoody. All right. Any other questions? All right. Let's have the clerk call the role. Mr. Mr. Drum. Mr. McCarthy, yes. Miss Paphora, yes. Miss Mlin, yes. Miss Hordy, yes. Mr. Gray, yes. Mr. Bernard, yes. Mr. Rosyberg, yes. Mayor Christensen, yes. All right, that carries
017unanimously. All right. Uh, thank you, Miss Bataphor. Now, let's take a look at this handbook, shall we? Um, so we're going to go to Miss Rose Zyberg for that. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh we've all received copies with the um handbook and program of studies. They are lengthy. Um I know I have been going through I had actually some questions that were answered um and changed um I mean addressed um before this. I don't know we have to make a a motion now to approve it and then open it up for questions. So a motion can we take them together? Yes. Motion to approve the handbook and program of studies. Is there a second for purposes of discussion? Mr. Bernard. All right everybody. So, now it's properly up before us. Let's see if there's any
018questions. Let's go to Miss Horty first. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, maybe hold Can you shut that Here we go. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I I just had a question. There there are a lot of pages here, Miss Roseberg. Um, one of the things that stuck out to me, uh, and I think a lot of it has to do with my own experience with enforcement of things like dress code at middle school and high school and being very careful as to not, um, impede on students ability to express themsel. Um, also recognizing that sometimes dress codes have a tendency to skew very gendered when we uh tend to pick out clothes that we are going to put in our dress code violation that more often than not um female students are wearing. Um, one of
019the things that I noticed on this bulleted list on page in the handbook is strapless top or halter tops. Um, that to me felt hard to enforce. Um, I also when I was reviewing all of the other um bullet points listed under here, I noticed that there were very specific reasons why they weren't there. Um, I can read some to you if if that would be helpful. Um, like chains and wallet belts because they can be dangerous or, you know, used inappropriately. spiked collars, spiked bracelets, things like that that again can be used as a weapon. Um, but when we list strapless tops and halter tops, there's nothing there. So, I' I'd like to see if anyone else would consider possibly removing that one bullet. All right, let's hear from the chair. Miss Rose Zuckerberg,
020do you want to [Laughter] You hit the button on the one next to you. Actually, There you go. Press it again. Let me try. Let me try your to your right. Oh, there we go. Yay. You did it. All right. Sorry about that. That's fine. Um I as I think we've made it clear this whole year I'm always welcome to have things come back for discussion um into policy and also just knowing I had wanted to mention earlier some of the items um particularly in the handbook are I know they're at the state level right now we have a cell phone policy but they right now are debating issues at the state level u so why we would pass this it's obviously a document that we will be having to look at all year u
021especially so when things come in from other levels that we they have to incorporate. So, I'm always happy to look. I'm assuming that is actually one. We had actually talked to um superintendent earlier. We have some things in the books that it's sort of the pre-existing um so to try to go back and find out why there were you know what what was the rationale for that. Um I'm always open to looking. Is that good, Miss Hy? Anybody else? Let's go to Miss Mlin hopefully. Do you have your light on? I really didn't, but I did ask it. See if it works. I know I have. Wait a second. How about now? There. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um to Miss Rose Zyberg, I was just wondering if you can highlight um any of the changes
022for school year 26, any of the main or or I guess they're all important, but um if there's anything that we should be aware of without actually reading through the whole handbook and comparing it to school year 25. Give me five minutes to turn her mic on. There we go. Um, for this I would actually like to turn it over to Superintendent Sipple who is largely in charge of of especially for programmatic uh the programmatic um portion of this and some changes in um in that. Does that work? Miss Mlin we'll go to the super. Okay. Thank you Mr. Chair. Um, so there one I'd say overall, believe it or not, at a 100 pages for the handbook and almost 200 pages for the program of studies, we actually did cut out a lot. There
023was a lot of content that we didn't feel was necessary and I we still have more work to do over the next year to identify additional content that I don't think families are typically looking for in this document because they can find it in other places whether on the website or at the school site. Um, so I I do I do acknowledge that these documents are very long and too long and we'll continue to refine them as over the not just next year but over the course of the year. Um, one thing that uh, one thing I was happy to to clarify for M. Rosberg when we spoke earlier is just that the course of study, all the courses, the course catalog rather in the in the program of studies, the the fact that a
024course is there does not necessarily mean that that course is being offered this year. Um, because um, for example, we uh are doing something a little bit different with 11th grade English. Um we and we were happy to achieve a compromise with the English department at the high school to to make this happen. But we had five different or four different um genres of 11th grade English that were being offered this past year. And we found that that may have unintentionally complicated the master schedule in such ways that um students may not have been able to get the course that they wanted and then they were then knocked out of other courses that they wanted to take and um that didn't contribute alone to directed studies being a problem, but it didn't help. And so,
025um, we asked all the rising 11th graders to identify three of the genres that they were interested in studying as 11th graders. And then we guaranteed that they would get at least one uh of those choices. And then instead of five genres which were in the they were asked to choose among they we are offering three of them. But those two that are not being offered for next year, um those are still in the in the program of study because those may be more highly favored or more highly uh sought by students next year. So those kinds of things, that's one reason why the the the document is longer than it might need to be because those courses, we don't um remove them completely when they're not being offered in a given year. Um I
026think on the handbook uh we I think another thing we we did discover some sections that were at variance with school committee policy. Um and and we were careful to remove those sections that I think had mistakenly been included in years past that were at variance with school committee policy to make sure that um that what we were doing was consistent with school committee policy. So those were the big the big some of the examples of the changes that we made. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Anybody else? All right. Hearing none. The motion's been made. It's been seconded. So, Miss Horty, just to clarify, you'll work with Miss Rose Eyeberg offline and potentially come back with Okay. All right. Very good. Um, you ready to rock? All right. Let's um call the roll. Mr.
027Drum, Mr. Mr. McCarthy, yes. Miss Bataphora, yes. Miss Mlin, yes. Miss Hardy, yes. Mr. Gray, yes. Mr. Bernard, yes. Miss Rose Zyberg, superintendent of Oh, excuse me, Christian. If you want to let him vote, that's fine with me. The way I'm going lately, that wouldn't be a bad thing. Yes. Uh, okay. So, that carries uh unanimously. And uh just for the public who have been asking, this now gets hoisted up on our website. Is that how it gets disseminated? Yeah, within the next uh within the next couple of days, it'll be up on the website. Okay. And clearly delineated, right? School year 2526. Okay. Very good. All right. Now, we're at item number six. So, we'll entertain a motion to go into executive session. Uh Mr. Bernard made it. It's been seconded by Mr. McCarthy.
028Everybody clear? Okay. Let's have the clerk call the role. Mr. Drum. Mr. McCarthy. Yes. Miss Baphora. Yes. Miss Mlin? Yes. Miss Hordy? Yes. Mr. Gray? Yes. Mr. Bernard? Yes. Miss Rose Zyberg? Yes. Mayor Christensen? Yes. That carries unanimously. School committee will now be in executive session. Mhm. I just join back and it'll pop back up. I am sorry, Mr. Mayor. Okay, the school committee is back. We'll entertain any motions from the members. Motion. Motion to adjurnn. Seconded by Miss Horty. All those in favor say I. Anybody opposed? The eyes have it. Food committee is hereby adjourned.