001Right. Not with the gapple, but I will call to order uh Mconomic Regional School District School Committee meeting at 7:07 p.m. on February 9th. I will immediately hand it over to my partner in crime, Adrian. >> Okay. Um so we are here tonight to interview one of our finalist candidates, Heather Galante. Um happy to have you here with us. Um we have 90 minutes of questions and discussion plans. We have about 20 questions. Um so we're doing this in 15 minute blocks with a few questions per block. Um so similar to previous discussions, we're asking you to keep responses to about 2 to 3 minutes. Um and that will allow room for all the questions and some follow-ups potentially as well. Um, so as we begin, the school committee members will give you a quick
002intro before their first question so you get a chance to hear from all of us. Um, and everyone will be participating tonight. Um, so to get us started, we would love it if you would share your journey to educational leadership, what draws you specifically to Mascow at this point in your career, and what your priorities would be for first 90 days. And if you need me to repeat anything at any point, just let me know. So my [clears throat] hello everyone. Thank you for joining. Am I hearing in the back? Good. I do I just wanted to start really quickly by thanking uh whomever planned today. I spent the day with students, faculty, staff, got a tour of the building and it was a a really special place and hopefully there's an opportunity for me
003to incorporate that in some of my answers as we go along. So, Heather Galante, I have had this is my 28th year in education. So, almost three decades. I have been a teacher, a counselor. I was a dean for almost a decade, which is like an assistant principal, principal hybrid, um, principal of a small house in Chelmsford, Mass. And for the past decade, I've been the principal of Bedford High School. I also reside there. My children both attended Bedford High School. I currently have a junior in high school. Um, I joked with the first round that he's really rooting for me. Would love to have a senior year. He loves his mom, but would like to her for her not to be his principal. And my daughter's a sophomore in college. I I will say
004living in town and being the principal has really allowed me to wear, you know, that parent hat, the community member hat, and the principal hat. Um, and it's been really helpful in keeping my choices and decisions full of integrity. um and definitely student centered. Last year, fiscal year 24, so 2425, our assistant superintendent left for another position and we didn't post for the position. So I had an opportunity to take on some of those responsibilities and I worked with the district while simultaneously still being the high school principal around restorative practices, datawise, so some data cycles um and also instructional rounds. I really enjoyed it. So, I had my sort of foot at the at the district level um and was able to be a systems level thinker. It was work that really fed my
005soul. I had always pictured myself being a superintendent or assistant superintendent sort of ending my career at the central office level and now feels like the right time. You know, I'm closing in on a decade and I will have 8 to 10 years left. I am a person who likes a long-term commitment. I spend a lot of time in districts. I am a relational leader, also a data informed leader. And so, Masco feels like a good fit. It's a marriage between the two. What attracted me to Masco? I have a strong secondary experience both curriculum-wise and operationwise. So the 7 to2 district is really appealing to me. I also started my career in a regional high school. So Minute Man Regional High School and although Bedford is not technically a regional district, we do have
006students that reside in Bedford Boston and on Hanscom Air Force Base. I love the vibrancy of our school community. All the different perspectives that really converge to create a very full student and faculty experience. I also read through the strategic plan and for me I'm at a point in my career where I really need to be value aligned and I saw belonging, community, I saw integrity, personalized instruction, um a commitment to students but also a commitment to faculty and staff which was really beautifully woven in there and it spoke to me and so I feel as if Masco is value aligned as well. After seeing the schools today and meeting with the students and faculty and staff, I feel further convinced that it would be a really good fit. I had a really nice time.
007I learned a whole lot more. Your faculty had very good questions for me and so I'm excited to be here this evening. In terms of priorities for the first 90 days, I mean, and there's be some challenges for that. Um, you know, I've been watching school committee meetings, so the budget is front and center, really sort of managing the budget. And again, budget are pretty tight and tense across many districts in the Commonwealth. And that's not to minimize what's happening here. It's to really normalize that that's the reality that a lot of districts are facing. I am also neck deep in budget discussions in my own district. And so with declining enrollment, you know, post esser climate, those funds are getting taken away, but also not declining need, it's really finding that balance with being
008fiscal stewards and also sustainability for your students and their outcomes. And I think that's going to be a priority area. I also think a priority is the upcoming contract. So it expires at the end of next year. contract negotiations with the unions would really start very soon. So, it would really be starting in October, November of next year to really lay the foundation for that. The first 90 days, um, if I'm am I going to be asked about an entry plan because I can >> you can do that here. Yeah, >> I can do that here. So, really, I would chunk it in the first 30 days. So let's say now say I'm offered the job in a few weeks. I would say even before July 1, some of that work is going to begin.
009There'll be this introductory letter to the three communities to faculty, staff, and students as well. Um I wouldn't want to step on any toes, but I also would want to learn as much as possible. Continue continuing to watch the school committee meetings, going to events either within the towns or within the school. again, just not stepping on toes, but really trying to get more of that flavor of Masco and and what it's like, and you can do a lot by attending events, really paying attention to town meeting happening in May. Um, and seeing what's going to happen with the budget and which positions may be eliminated. I'm going to be really aware of that. I also think a [clears throat] meeting, if he were amendable to it with Dr. Harvey before he leaves, would be
010helpful for me. um and really learning sort of what his past six years are like, you know, what he thinks some of the challenges I will face and having a real heartto-he heart again if he's willing and able. He's been here and and has a lot of experience. So that would be I think helpful for me. You know, starting July 1, I think the first priority is really working on our relationship. The health of the school committee and the superintendent relationship really does sort of influence the health of the district. So I would envision us planning either with mask Massachusetts Association of School Committee which you all know but I don't like to use abbreviations for those watching or or mass Massachusetts Association of School Superintendent. They run orientations they run retreats. We could sort
011of align you know what our roles and responsibilities are. Review the strategic plan. Do some sort of a state of affairs. Where are we with this? um [clears throat] really talk about our norms, how we're going to communicate as a team, and what that public facing looks like. I think that's really important, um what disagreement looks like for this group. Again, just an orientation in getting us to get to know one another and and that is allowed. I also envision Jackie, I met her today, she's the administrative or executive assistant um for the superintendent, really setting up oneto ones and opening that up to the entire community. So, could be with school committee, could be with teachers, faculty, staff, anyone from any of the three towns. Just open access to me. And I'd want to
012know sort of what you want to keep, what you want to go, what we want to refine, knowing that we're in the middle of the strategic plan, you know, are there any edits that we want to make or additions? Was there something that wasn't included here where we might need to pivot because the needs of the students really do shift from year to year. We want to be paying attention to that. I would want to meet with the union leadership, union president and vice president and get that relationship started as soon as possible. I would want to be visible within all three communities. I would want to establish uh a relationship with the building based leadership and also the executive leadership team. Typically, there's some sort of retreat in the summer for the leadership teams.
013I'd want to know if that's already been scheduled. I'd want to I'd want to preserve those dates and and think about what that retreat is going to look like and what we're going to accomplish with the strategic plan. So, at the center of that, I'd want to establish probably for the beginning of the year a superintendent students advisory that might already exist. I'm not sure about that where I'm meeting monthly with students and getting their feedback. I am pouring over data. I am looking at scores. I am looking at the strategic plan. I am looking at student climate service if that exists. I'm listening to the stories of the people in the communities, the faculty, staff and the students and really sort of taking that all in to then report back what are my findings
014in the first 30 days which will then inform the next 60 days. You asked about the 90-day plan. So listening, learning, gaining trust, being highly visible, meeting with any pre-established groups that are already in existence, I wouldn't want to add to anyone's plate. So if there are parent associations, um, cultural committees, if I could just be a presence there, introduce myself. I do think that trust is the foundation and that is proven through visibility. Um, I also think a clear communication plan with the community. How do we want to communicate this out? Um, if we do survey data, how is that being communicated out? Is there a newsletter? Do we want Instagram? So, getting those preferences from not only the school community, but the three communities that we serve and being regular and consistent with
015that communication will be really, really important. I think also opening group access to me paired with one or maybe some of the school committee members, not a quorum, but um so you know meeting where they're at at their coffee shop, town libraries, pizza shops um so you know and giving them open access to share what they would be change, keep or revise. There's something called thought exchange where it's an app and it's AI generated but in real time you can pose an open-ended question and get lots of feedback. You can see everyone's answers. There are lots of apps like this by the way. Um and as people chime in, it's confidential. You're you're not revealed, but you can see the responses. And as a superintendent, that's a very quick way for me to see what's
016resonating with the community and what might be some hot topics. You can also rate one to five. This is not a big deal for me. This is a big deal for me. So it's a again very transparent. I think transparent communication with any community is very important and seeing sort of what in addition to this the strategic plan my priority areas would be. Um again 30 days will inform the 90-day plan and I would have that by the end of the summer agreed upon by all of you and hope to step through that throughout the course of the year. But again, listening, learning, gaining trust, mean being an impeccable community communicator and open access to me would kind of be the priority areas for me. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> All right, Matt has
017our first question. >> All right, our first section is going to focus on educational vision and instructional leadership. Uh the first question is strategic vision mask uh strategic vision maskomic has developed uh a portrait of learner that emphasizes [clears throat] competencies for college career and civic readiness. How would you approach ensuring this vision translates into translates into tangible outcomes across grades 7 to 12? What would success look like in your three year uh in year three of your tenure? So in terms of the portrait of a learner competencies, what [clears throat] what they would look like? Can repeat what tangible outcomes and what would success look like? >> Tangible outcomes across grades seven and 7 to 12 and what success looks like >> right >> in in year three of your tenure. So if memory
018serves me, the competencies of for MASCO that were agreed upon in in the strategic plan are collaboration, critical thinking, um, perseverance, communication, and social emotional learning. So that's a lot right there. And I there was a, you know, it's over 30 pages. So what I would say is tangible evidence is when I'm walking through the school community and school classrooms, students and educators are engaged in their work. They're excited. Um we can talk about what supervision evaluation would look like, but they're again up and moving, engaged. The cognitive lift is on students. They're thinking critically. they're asking questions and they're excited to come to school and really engage in that. I think social emotional competencies what we're seeing sometimes now is you know this productive struggle with students and and the sometimes a lack of
019perseverance. So what that means is, you know, sustaining and finishing a project straight through when times get hard. They're really able to work through that pro maybe with a counselor or the teacher and return to class. Um, they're able to self-regulate their emotions and be productive members of not only the school community, but also the classroom communities. I think it looks like an engaged school community where they're applying what they're learning in class and at Masco Regional High School to the outside world. So, they're making those connections um pretty naturally and they're also being thoughtful reflectors of their learning experiences and again applying that to the outside world. so they're able to be productive, informed, and engaged citizens of the world. And the three-year benchmark, I mean, I'm going to be looking at sort of
020student climate surveys. I'm going to be looking at any standardized test scores. I know that's not necessarily experiential learning, but if we're meeting those frameworks, we're going to see increased outcomes across the board through all student groups. We're also going to see an excitement for the future and some joy. And I I know that's hard to capture in a survey, but I'm going to be meeting with students and seeing what they're excited about learning. We're going to see what classes they they take and are signing up for and which ones are prevailing, especially in the noncore academic areas. Um, and just a in 3 years I would hope to see like a really vibrant engaged community where adults are excited to be here and come to work and students are excited to be here but
021also thinking about their next steps and excited about that broad answer. Sorry, >> Maggie. >> Hi, I'm Maggie Gyver. I am a Boxford representative. Nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you. >> My question is also pertaining to curriculum instruction. It's a three-parter. How do you define HQIM, high-quality instructional material? How do you ensure alignment primarily between curriculum, instruction, and assessment and professional development? And three, how do you how would you measure that? So, how do you define it? How do you ensure alignment? And how are you going to measure? So high quality instructional materials are those that are attached to the math core, your graduation requirements um and standardsbased across all content areas. So um they're engaging materials, they're relevant, and they can be relatable to what's happening also in the real world.
022But again, they're standardsbased and content area based. And you know, department heads, I would think my department heads definitely have a good handle on that. In terms of alignment, you know, MCCAST is no longer a graduation requirement, but it is standardsbased. And so high-quality instructional materials are aligned to the MCCAST. It is a pretty high quality test and you are able to see through those outcomes which benchmarks our students or your students are achieving. In terms of professional development, professional development needs to be aligned with the strategic plan. It also needs to be aligned with the curriculum that is being covered at the building level. I find that professional development is best when it's not a one-off. So again, lots of initiatives happening in school districts being persistent and continuous with that professional development when
023there's voice and choice for educators. uh and when [clears throat] they feel like they have voice and choice and it's relevant, it'll be sustainable over time. I think when you offer professional development, getting that feedback, how was this for you? Did it feel relevant? Is this something that we want to continue with and being willing to pivot if it it's not something that we're working toward or at or is not embraced and encompassed in the strategic plan. I think how it's measurable. It's again engagement in classroom. You're looking at student outcome data that that's increasing. You're looking at your student climate data and they're feeling more motivated and you know better and more connected at school. Um and that's how I'll answer that because I'm I'm watching my time so I'm trying to shorten and
024then I'll elongate as we go along. >> Doing great. Any follow-ups, Maggie? No. Okay. Bill, you're up. >> Awesome. Hi, I'm Bill Hodes. Um um representing Topsfield uh since uh the fall of 2014. So I think by far I'm the longest tenure member of the school committee. And again, my apologies for not being there in person. Um, so I guess I'd ask, how do you define datadriven instruction and how does it influence decision making at the classroom, school, and district level? And please share an example of when you use data uh to lead a shift in growth for all students, not just those near proficiency. So data driven instruction is is something I'm very adept at. Um I think you need to use lots of data not only just to inform instruction for any decision
025that is being made at the district level and definitely at the school level. What it looks like to me is taking both qualitative and quantitative de data and making sure that all students have access to highly qualif highly quality materials and that is evident in the outcomes both numerical and metric outcomes and also the qualitative outcomes. So for me, I mean, there's a number of datadriven initiatives. I'm looking at him um that I've been part of. I'm trying to think about which one to choose. So I when I started in Bedford, it wasn't a school that really utilized data to inform instruction or outcomes. It's a wonderful district. I live there. I love it there. But what they were sort of proposing in their strategic and district improvement plan did not match student outcomes. So
026I'm going to talk about one just for concise reasons. When I started, I poured over data. I did a lot of reading, had a ton of entry meetings, and what wasn't matching up for me was the student experience. It was a rigorous school with high expectations, but the students felt a little bit disconnected from the school community. And when I looked through the data and had some entry meetings with students, it felt a little formal for them. And so that is the qualitative piece. They were sharing that they liked school, but they really didn't feel connected. that was further supported by the youth risk and survey data where in that particular year 16 or 17% of students felt that they had a trusted adult. It was a 98% participation rate. So that is that's a
027that's a piece of data that for me as a principal was really important. [gasps] What we did with that was essentially my whole first year was around student experiences, making sure that adults knew that we can teach at a high level, but if students don't feel connected to an adult, outcomes will not improve. So really connecting the content with the climate piece um was really important. We as a faculty and staff did a lot of ice breakers. We actually went to Bodaborg that year and we did some real team building because I wanted the faculty to model that togetherness for students. I also wanted our faculty, myself included, to be visible outside of the school, attending events, really connecting with kids beyond the school day and our students love that. All students love that. We
028also started to talk about an advisory program. Um, and we did making caring common through Harvard. I don't know if it still exists. It was called the star exercise and for professional development having all our students names on the wall and seeing which adults felt connected to which kids and then looking at sort of those empty spots and it was that was really illuminating for us as a faculty and [clears throat] it was I think for the first time in my first year where they were like oh we get why we're doing this now because all the empty spots were really alarming and actually our high need students had a lot of stars and our highf flyers had a lot of stars. we were missing so many kids in the middle. And so that gave
029way to a really beautiful partnership between me and the faculty with this very clear focus around not only student outcomes as they pertain to academics but really engaging students on a personal level and now 90%. I mean this is fast forward. It was nine years the last time or at my eighth year actually. That's a huge leap. And yes, we still are missing a population of students. But we are [clears throat] working toward that. We are aligned. Outcomes have improved. And kids definitely feel more connected. And if you talk to any students at Bedford High School, I'm sure many of them would say just what your kids said today. We love our teachers. We love our educators. And we feel connected to the school community. Great. Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> Okay.
030Um, next question. What does continuous improvement mean to you in practice? And how do you foster a culture of accountability where both students and staff are challenged to grow while maintaining high morale? >> Um, so sorry I'm writing. I'm such a visual I'm a visual person. Um so continuous learning is fostering a culture of risk-taking. Um to tell you the truth, educators h typically have high standards for themselves. And I find that sometimes they are reluctant to take those risks, try something new in their classroom to make it more engaging because they're worried about how they'll be how they'll be evaluated or what it will look like or what if it fails. And I think sort of modeling that risk- takingaking, sometimes lessons don't work out, sometimes programs don't work out. And what we do
031in the face of that, we bounce back. We tweak those programs. We tweak that lesson. And we go back at it. And I think when adults can model that, that's a great reflection for our students. So continuous improvement means continuing to grow and be reflective as a learner. This is my 10th year as a principal. I haven't always gotten it right. And I've been really transparent about that. Like this was not a good idea. How do we make this right? Let's do give me some feedback and let's move forward and pivot. I think when I can do that as a building principal, I would do that as a superintendent. That gives permission to faculty, staff and students to also take some risks. Also understand that things can get kind of messy sometimes. But we can
032be okay. We can be reflective and we can make changes. In terms of accountability, I do think that's where evaluation and supervision come into play. I think it's really important obviously to honor the contract but for our department heads, our principles certainly central office as well to be very visible doing walkthroughs be in classrooms and really looking at what's happening at that ground level. The other pieces we're continuing to look at those student outcomes and that student climate data and that student feedback data that's kind of always at the table with us and when you're working with your program administrators, department heads here, the executive leadership team. I do think I'm willing and often have the courageous conversations I've used. I'm I choose courage over comfort. And I think it's a real disservice to students
033and to our educators when something hasn't been going right for a while and then I pull their evaluations and they've been proficient across the board. That's not fair to them and then we're getting this feedback around improvements that need to be made and the teacher really has no idea. So I think having those conversations early on about, hey, this isn't really working. what can we do to pivot and what support do you need? So really leaning into that growth culture, not in a threatening way, but in a bless you, in a really supportive way. I think if someone knows that you're willing to allow them to not be perfect and allow them to course correct with the right support, that is really where accountability happens. And then in the face of new information support, if
034that's not changing, that's when you have to sort of make some of those courageous decisions around helping educators improve even more. >> Thank you. >> Sure, Lisa. >> So, we are going to move on to regional governance and community relations. My question is regional dynamics. Um, Mascow serves three distinct towns, Oxford, Middleton, and Topsfield, each with its own character, priorities, and resources. How would you approach honoring each community's identity while maintaining educational equity and unified district vision? So for me it would be first getting to know the different communities, being really visible in those communities, learning from all of you who represent those three communities. So you're an incredible resource to the new superintendent once they're selected. I don't quite know all the politics and the preferences involved just yet, but I know they exist.
035they exist in a singular town. So of course they're going to exist in a tri county district in a regional district. So really getting to know and making myself available to hearing from the different constituents groups will be really really important and also I think again using you the principal team who is highly versed in this and the executive leadership team for feedback around those three distinct communities. I think the unifier is really your strategic plan and your school improvement plans. Your priority areas are very much outlined in the strategic plan. And we're sticking to these priorities or if you're editing them, that's fine as well. But this is the great unifier. These are the priorities for all of our students. We are committed to all students. We want them to have the same access
036when they get here in 6th through 12 or 7th through 12th grades. Um I think too trying to think was there a question in there about equity as well getting feedback not only from the different adult constituency groups bless you but also from the various student groups. So again having this advisory council maybe visiting with the principal's advisory or already pre-established student groups and really understanding what their onboarding here was maybe how we can make improvements to that do they all feel heard do they all feel challenged and what is their experience kind of traveling through the maskomic regional district so again taking regular quantitative outcome data and marrying that with the qualitative feedback and be being willing to pivot and and edit as we see fit and as we go through the years together.
037>> Okay. Next. >> Yes. Uh I'm Chris Bzanne. I'm representative from the Boxford community. Um you would work closely with the Tritown Union Superintendent, Dr. Scott Morrison, whom I think you met earlier today. Um he oversees elementary education in our member communities. How do you envision this very important relationship and what strategies would you employ to ensure seamless transitions for students moving from elementary to middle school? I know you've touched on a little bit of that, but as you can hear, it's it's a area of great importance to all of us. Yes. So, I did meet Scott earlier. He was great. Um really forthcoming and helpful to meet. So, the transition to seventh grade incredibly important. Um, I would have I would envision having regular meetings with Scott, you know, at least monthly to really
038secure that foundation of trust and really have that open dialogue back and forth. I also would want our department heads and instructional team to really understand which programs, literacy programs, math programs are happening in those three different districts and so we can when they on board here be able to teach. So, I don't know if they use all the same literacy programs. I would want to know that from Scott, all the same math programs, but what are their academic experiences in the three different communities? And how do we best make that transition a seamless one through using our own instructional team certainly um you the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning would be involved in that as well. I think as much as we can join our leadership team, so maybe that's quarterly. I'm sure
039he has some sort of instructional team. So, if we could get our department heads, Kevin, myself with them and meeting and having that dialogue about their instructional programming, how that marries well with our instructional programming that can make for a really seamless transition. They might already be in place, but I would envision those at least happening quarterly. And then also really talking about those students and the transitions. you know, what is Scott, what is his counseling staff, what are his teachers seeing as important issues that are emerging on that in that particular year in the transition? Are there mental health issues? Are there literacy issues? Is math really kind of problematic? Is it a combination of such? So, I know what professional development to offer that that middle school team and so that I can
040work with Kevin and also the department heads on that curriculum and instruction and what that looks like. The other part is really the emotional transition and working with Scott and the executive leadership team on helping the community members, parents and caregivers feel really comfortable about that transition. So offering with Scott these collaborative coffees, you know, maybe they're, you know, night events, but open access where we're engaging all three populations of elementary parents and giving them access. So if they see us as a unified front getting along um and see us really working in the best interest on behalf of that kids that temperature comes way way down. So some of the things that's a great plan and a good strategy. Um could you pos if I could ask a follow- on question, could you give
041us an example of a time when you led a um multifunctional team maybe with differing priorities? How did you bring alignment and what did you learn from that experience? >> Yes. So yes, I have led a multifunctional team with different priority areas. Um I'm trying to pick which topic. So it was when I first started around MCCAST assessment and so students I think I already said that we have definitely transitioned to being a data informed district definitely at the high school we use it well and it's self- sustaining within each of the departments and each of our educators. What we were struggling with were our ELA, math, and science scores. And to take that alone feels like a huge responsibility for those departments. We were seeing huge gaps in our high needs groups. Um, and
042we were a district in our district that really stands on the platform of equity. So, I meet with the instructional team regularly. They don't just work at the high school. They are either 6 through 12, 3 through 12, or K through 12. And when we first started meeting around data sweeps, data wise, the process, the people or the leaders at the time that didn't teach in those three departments really thought that wasn't their responsibility, but it was. There's a huge responsibility and a collective responsibility. So, you know, the health teachers can help with that sense of belonging, can help with that stress level when they're approaching test taking. Um, the counseling department can certainly help with that. social studies, non-fiction text, you know, that's all over the English MCCAST. So, there can be a partnership
043there. It was really me. I met individually with all of them and sort of outlined their responsibility collectively in this really increasing MCCAST scores and specifically for our high needs groups. The vision and the center of all of this is always students and student outcomes. And so what I will say is through the years I'm always looking at change through the lens of student outcomes and experiences. That doesn't mean always making them happy. We have certainly made changes and they have not been happy, but it's been for their best interest. And so getting this team all on the same page and saying, "Hey, we've got some real gaps here. We stand on the platform of equity. We've got to fix this. we've got to roll up our sleeves, assist one another, and work in teams,
044and let's see what we can do. And and we did. It took I'm I'm really minimizing the amount of work that I think it took longitudinally. Um and we also in the interim were able to hire different department heads. We had some retirements and we really hired curriculum leaders. And what I would say is prior some of the curriculum leaders were really trained as managers but they had real capacity to be instructional leaders. So giving them the training and building their capacity and giving them permission to really be instructional leaders made all of the difference. We are a very connected team. We have a a very clear vision every time we meet with a very clear agenda. Um, and if I do secure a superintendency, I will absolutely miss that instructional team. We've come a
045long way together. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> My question is on school committee relationships. I'm Melissa Ogden. Um, describe your philosophy regarding the superintendent school committee relationship. How do you establish clear roles and boundaries while maintaining a collaborative partnership? I think I touched upon this early on in my first 30 or 90 degree answer. Again, how we operate as a team and the health of how we operate as a team directly correlates and impacts the district. And so I envision us again doing some planning and training together. I I approach any time I'm meeting I've met with school committee members it should be a no surprises relationship. So for me the communication will be clear. I already talked about maybe how we would form a team. I would envision I'm sure you already get those
046school committee packets that are pretty full with lots of information every week with some consistency. They are filled with current information. You were looking for enrollment data the other day at your last meeting. Filled with that. Anything you need for that meeting. What I would ask and hope for is if there is any confusion after those packets going out, offering and availing myself um onetoone or I think we can meet a couple at a time just as long as it's not a quorum and answering those clarifying questions for you in advance of the meeting. and I'm like willing to put that time in because we can disagree publicly that's perfectly fine but we want to do that respectfully and I want to do everything I can and give all of you access to equal information.
047So if that means meeting with you because you have questions giving you access and then I would envision you know if a couple of you come with me for questions sharing out those answers to all of you as an addendum to that packet. I think as often as we can communicate and be on the same page on behalf of all of our students, which I know why we're all here. I mean, you're public servants. You're not getting paid for this. So, I know that you are invested in this. The better the outcomes will be. And I'm not just talking quantitatively for for our district. The other piece is our teachers and educators will feel more reassured if we are also in unison and on the same page. And if our faculty and staff see that
048relationship just as much as our three towns do, that that creates a sense of safety for them as if we've got this and we've got their best interest at hand. Kids are really influenced by how the adults feel. And if they don't feel like we're being transparent and giving them the information they need to do their jobs, they don't feel like we are celebrating them as a group. If they don't feel valued and like they matter, that's that's not great for our district or your district. So, I would envision open lines of communication. I would want to know if there's an emergency, what's the agreed upon format? I don't want you to be surprised if there's a community crisis and my a letter goes out and you're caught off guard. That would not be great.
049So again, there are many of you. So is there a text? It's all public record as well. We want to be careful of that. But text, is it an email? Is it something? So you were in the know before that communication hits because a lot of times communities are reaching out to all of you. And I would not want you to be caught off guard by that. So again, open lines of communication and then also being willing to share, hey, this didn't really work. How can we how can we make this better? I think for me, I'm a really reflective leader. I'm just a reflective person. So, if we have a meeting and something doesn't feel right, I envision like follow-ups with oneto ones like what that didn't feel right. So, was there something that
050I didn't give you? Was there information you didn't have or did I misstep? So, let's kind of correct that and restore so we can do better moving forward on behalf of the district. Um, Kendrick Patroni, I'm one of the Middleton representatives. Um, so you kind of touched on communications a little bit. Um, what specific strategies would you use to engage families and community members who may feel disconnected um, from the district's decisions? I know we've had some of that happen in the last few years. How would you handle vocal opposition when making necessary but unpopular decisions, which happen a lot? sometimes >> yeah happens in happens in the principal ship um I'm also very involved with the district team you know we meet as a district team as well I do think the more information
051in various formats that you can offer the better and so yes a superintendent can send out a weekly newsletter maybe people's inboxes are inundated is there a video message format that we can do again thought exchange is is an incredible app. We don't have it in Bedford. I've lobbied for it. But it's also a very kind of non-confrontational way for more of the introverts who want to engage in that dialogue, want to remain confidential, and kind of want to have a pulse as to what's going on. What I want to avoid, I'm not on Facebook, is that Facebook conversation and narrative that happens that's very public. We are we want to attract educators to our district. So we don't want this discontent happening publicly as much as we can bring that not necessarily to school
052committee but front and center. So courageous conversations I'd rather someone come and meet with me share their grievances share their opposition listen not wait to answer but really listen. You know, I've had this as a principle where at times I'm like, I hadn't I haven't thought of that. I don't have an answer right now, but I'm let me get some more information and come back to you. Uh I think anytime you can take down those barriers and have the hard conversation, even if you're in disagreement, when people feel heard, it goes a long way. Again, once you feel heard, once we've had that opportunity, we could still disagree and make that different decision. But at least those that person or or people can't say, "Well, she wouldn't even talk to me. She wouldn't even let
053me in. I had to go through these three steps to even meet with her, or she referred me to this person. That doesn't feel good." As a superintendent, much like a principal, I'm a public ambassador. I'm a public person. PR is part of the job. And so it does not necessarily just meeting with people that are happy. It's actually mostly meeting with the people that are unhappy so I can make life easier for the educators who are in front of kids. >> You up Jeff. I'm in Boxbridge as well. Nice to meet you. Question. I'm going to read it from the get it wrong. [clears throat] See? So um we're my topic is equity and practice. So um >> what was the beginning? >> What do you mean? Yes. >> Yes. Sorry. Um >> thought
054you said MBA. I was like I don't >> we can talk about that next. >> Was a math major when I started college but yes. >> Um so in your application you mentioned commitment to equity. So can you tell us an example you know a single example of a specific initiative that you led um you know that eliminated barriers for some underserved students? Um and what kind of resistance did you face and how did you surmount that? So, we had an override process. So, an override process is, and this is recent for us at Bedford High School, where students are recommended, we're in the midst of scheduling. I think this is why it's sillient. Students um are recommended for certain levels for certain subject areas by their educators. And students do, this is two years
055ago, have an option to override. so they can move up or even down a level to get that override moved up. There were a lot of barriers in place. It was a paper form. You had to meet with the our program administrators. I know you call them department heads here. You had to have a conversation. Your parent or caregiver also had to sign off and have a conversation. I would say there were four or five steps. And when we were looking at our AP and high honors classes, I know your leveling might be a little different here. It was not a representative group. Um, we did not have black and brown students. Students with disabilities were not on IEPs were not represented in these groups. Our students, you know, identified as low SCES, socioeconomics were
056not identified. And we were finding a pattern of kids who were overriding and it was really students who had a motivated parent who really would help them go through that process. Um, but then we were looking at a lot of the data like, oh my gosh, this kid got exceeds in math or exceeds in ELA and is not really high in the level. So when we met, we did a little case studies. We pulled certain students and just did some it's called street data. These sort of anecdotal conversations the kid was like I wasn't going through all those barriers. So we worked with a phase I would say three of a data wise group. I worked with a teacher group at this point and we were going over the data. We identified our problem as
057under representation in our high level higher level classes and the teachers said why let's get rid of the override process eliminate it let's see what happens meaning teachers can recommend if students want to override they can do it in Aspen they can have a conversation with their parent and then just a an email will go home saying your student overrode this class but there aren't any barriers and we are now in the midst of that data anal analysis. We have an override working group. I can say there was high success rate with kids overriding and removing those barriers. Um especially I would say in the humanities in math they didn't override as much because you know what we said to teachers teach you know there was meetings with teachers faculty meetings focus groups open access
058to the main office and curriculum team. They were really worried the kids were going to jump up all of these levels and that actually it didn't happen and we had a high success rate with kids who did choose to move up against the teacher recommendation. So we are now following that data and seeing if the outcomes that we wanted resulted. Um so we're pulling that demographic data. We're doing some walkthroughs right now in some of those classes. meeting with the instructional team regularly and so we'll be ready to report out. We are going to keep with that override process for next year because it wasn't a clean way to extract that information. Those who are data people, lots of spreadsheets. Um so now we have a system in place where we can collect that data,
059look at it over the course of two years and then really refine that process. We've gotten some teacher feedback about differentiating. So that was a missing piece. Did you ask the question? So teachers were really pleased to have students in their class, but we needed to do more work about maybe universal design for learning or differentiation and giving them supports. The other piece is when kids overrode and went up a level, we were offering support through our academic achievement class. Some kids denied that. And so in absence of that support, we did see some kids not do well. So we were thinking as a group, how do we message out to parents that that's a real help that they can be highly successful with the addition of that academic achievement class. And so it's really
060kind of communicating with our parents and caregivers and students to make informed decisions, but also to access that support. So we're still in the midst of evaluating the override process. did not get the backlash that I had anticipated from our educators. A lot of them were for it because they are for equity. We're now seeing did it meet sort of our expected outcomes and we're figuring that out now. Do >> you have an example where someone was elevated and had to come back down? Is that >> Yeah. >> Evidence? >> Yes. So that did happen. I mean it happened in a few cases where they moved up a level. I would say mostly in the STEM areas, not necessarily in the humanities are areas. However, before that happened, there was a support offered. However, the
061student [clears throat] I think the other piece is we've become a culture of A's. And when I say the student was struggling, it might have not been a D or F, but maybe struggling with a C with the teacher who was really supportive like come to Flex Block, come to extra help. But again with our ad drop period, it's up until the mid of October, they do have kind of free choice to drop. But teachers really did try to encourage those students to be in, hey, it's only first term. We have lots of support to offer. But again, if they drop within that time frame, they are absolutely allowed to do so. >> Yes. My question was more um well I probably didn't ask right but were people were students who didn't agree and were
062they pushed down if they weren't achieving or did was that sort of hard conversation of people didn't realize that they needed to be reset at the right level >> you so the teacher at the beginning of the year >> the student the parents disagreed that that you know I think the student was wasn't appropriate at that time >> and they had to move down that that yes that definitely did happen in a couple of cases and I'm not sure that it was a a hard conver meaning the student didn't agree with moving down >> or parents you know or yes >> or the parents no because we we did have that and we gave the student the option like you can stay in it may still be a struggle here are the supports the student
063probably in three cases that I can recall um our counselors may have more examples, but but overall our teachers really will help with that success rate. Um, so maybe they were hard conversations because they overroated multiple classes, which is something we fixed for this upcoming scheduling cycle, but overall I would say highly successful if it's just a handful of students. >> Sorry, I just one last followup and I'll be done. Um so in this instance you said that the teachers were very supportive of this initiative. You know a lot of times that can be a challenge when management has a different idea than the teacher class or even you principles. >> You have examples where you had to go against teacher recommendations and really go against the you know the culture and really put your
064foot down. >> Yeah. Can I switch the example? >> Yeah. So I will so cell phone culture a few years ago post pandemic was huge and you know my the main office team assistant principles and myself counseling included we often work very closely together there were teachers in a couple of departments that wanted a policy in place. They wanted cell phones taken away, not allowed at all through the day. Get rid of them. um and they wanted us to collect them. That would be our only job. And so having and so it was a note for that first year. We came back from the summer, had a faculty focus group. We want you, me and the two assistant principles. I'm like, "Oh my god, I'm already heading into budget meetings. Um we don't want to
065deal with it. We want you to take them and we want a policy." Well, we can't do the policy right now because we already had the handbook approved, but let's explore this. uh because I was really adamant that my and the two assistant principal was not going to be cell phone police and we have students that are driving, they're on the cusp of graduating. And so we were really trying to promote responsibility, responsible use and giving autonomy to teachers. Like if you want to take them away, we are going to support you. You can put do that cell phone tower in your class. If you are okay with having them in, we we will support you. But there was a lot going on post pandemic mental healthwise, academic wise, getting students back, gaining the trust
066of the community again where cell phones were not a priority for the main office and and I shared that openly at a faculty meeting. We are up to our eyeballs as are all of you. We cannot make cell phones a priority this year. Fast forward still was an issue. We were seeing engagement issues. We were now seeing a little bit of a disconnect, some isolation. And I was able to write a grant and put together a teacher committee. So they were paid for their time. And that gave way to a year of planning. And yes, there was not a cell phone policy in place, but teacher-led committee really focusing on the why, me liazing with them because I was going to have to get buy in from the parent community. There was definitely some push
067back. you are not taking my kid's cell phone. There were school shootings. I want access to my kid period. So I shared that with the faculty like I need to do that part here. I need to meet with the community. I need to meet with my parent association. I need to get goodwill and I need to be very clear about what this plan is and I need to get buy in so this can fly. And it was a full year of planning. Um we ended up students were involved in the committee, educators were involved in the committee. We had specialists come in. Um the author of the big disconnect for this communitywide conversation. I had town halls where I met with parents who were really concerned. You are not doing this. I gave the rationale.
068I had people from the teachers committee with me. We had students with us. Um it was processed at school sites council. So there was continuity. I didn't want this to be a surprise to anyone. I met with, believe it or not, town pediatricians who were writing notes for students to be able to hold their cell phones because of anxiety reasons. We have to adhere to medical notes and I was like, "Please help us." So, credit to them, you know, they listened. I have a pediatrician on my parent committee and so she it was her idea, meet with the pediatricians. Like, they don't know what they're writing. They don't know what your charge is. They will support you. So there was a lot of I think conversations and education that I and the assistant principles were
069doing in tandem with the teachers because we did see it. We wanted to be supportive and we wanted to write [clears throat] a policy that honored engagement and less distractability because you know what that impacts morale. When you plan your lesson when you're planning kids are disengaged and on their phones that's annoying. You don't want to be the phone police as an educator either. Um, so we have a policy in place where they're away during class in the garage. We wrote scripts for teachers to say, you know, have the conversation with the student in the hallway. We wrote a script for the email home and on the third offense, it comes to the main office and we're having that conversation with both the student and the parent. They have to pick it up. And it's
070gone really well. They do have access during break and lunch. And what you would maybe think is during lunch they'd all be on there. They're not because adults are we're walking around. They want to engage and flex these skills and hone these skills. So our teachers felt supported after that. But for a full year the administration was really like we don't have the bandwidth for this and it did create some friction and tension um in in that year before we started the committee. But now it's really working. Teachers feel like they're supporting one another and it's a schoolwide buyin. again, student assemblies, there was a whole communication plan around that. Um, and to the community's credit, zero emails in my inbox this year, but there was a ton of work layered into that. >> Thank
071you, >> Trevor. >> Hi, uh, Trevor Courier. I represent Middleton as well. This is my second term. So my question similar to Jeff's on diverse learners needs um how do you ensure that students with disabilities English learners and students requiring interventions receive appropriate support while still having access to rigorous academic opportunities. I think that oh it's an inclusion model for inappropriate education least restrictive environment for even for students on IEPs and not I think really that comes back to teacher capacity and professional development and teachers want an inclusive classroom they are very skilled they also want to feel competent and confident with meeting the needs of all kids so really different PD professional development around differentiated instruction, universal design to learn and learning, you know, SEAL practices. What is good for students who may have
072significant need ends up being good for most students in that class. Um, I would say most of these students fall sometimes on the tier 2, but tightening up tier one instruction and really having an understanding of what that looks like within the classroom, having some common language, some common training and common agreement around the department heads with regards to what that instruction looks like and what inclusion looks like. We're not removing a kid for this part of the lesson. How do we keep this kid in class? give that instruction, make sure that it's rigorous, make sure it's differentiated, and make sure all students are bene benefiting from that. So, I would say how to really address that is through professional development and teacher capacity and making sure that they have the tools to teach the
073students in front of them and really listening to them. If they're complaining, that's not I don't want to do this, that's I don't really feel like I have the skills to do this. So, let's get them the help they need. Maybe there's a teacher in the department that's really using effective practices and modeling that and having someone go in sub so that teacher can do a peer observation and learn from one another and sharing best practices. But I really do think educators want to do right by kids by and large. I have found that to be true in my own district. I am pretty sure that would be true here. It's really giving them the tools, the courage, and the confidence to meet those needs. >> Melissa, before your question, I just want to We
074have about 30 minutes left because we started a little bit late. So, just a time check. >> Can I ask what question out of 20? >> It says number 11. >> 11. Okay. >> Going to give you 11. Okay. [laughter] >> Post pandemic students face increasing mental health challenges. What is your approach to balancing academic rigor with social emotional support? What systems would you implement or evaluate here at Masanomit? >> So mental health issues for students, adults really nationwide, you know, not just within the the school district. It's, you know, it's definitely emerging as a as a crisis [clears throat] currently. I would go back to for mental health MTSS, so your tiered intervention systems of support. I don't know what that looks like yet here. I would have to work with, you know, Brad,
075I'm envisioning Kevin Sier, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. Um, any support services that are in place, but really getting that team together to have a clear MTSS or SST, not sure what you call it here, student support team in place. So, essentially, we want students in class. We want them to be able to access their academics and we also want them to have sort of a balanced approach. So part of this it's kind of three- tiered is helping students with perseverance. It's it's part of your strategic plan portrait of a learner and helping them with frustration tolerance. You know we work in 30 secondond chunks with Tik Tok. We need need need we want to understand but sometimes a highle math concept takes a little bit of time and you really need to stay
076with it and at the end result is really really the where the victory comes but in that middle when you don't know and you're struggling and taking risks and learn that's where the real learning happens. So really helping students understand that it's okay not to get certain concepts and it's okay to maybe struggle academically, but we have the supports in place. I don't know what those supports here are yet. Um, and when a student isn't making effective progress, is there an academic support team or student support team that we're talking about this? you know, teachers at the table, counselors at the table, nurse, assistant principles, student support team, special educator, troubleshooting those tier one, potentially some tier 2 interventions for that student and making sure a lot a lot of times the missing piece, not
077for us, we've tightened this up, is engaging the parent or caregiver in that conversation. So sometimes students are struggling in school. No one's connected with home and they are a huge part of this. So bringing them into that conversation and saying, "Hey, Melissa is struggling across a few grade levels. She's spending a lot of time in the nurse. She's spending a lot of time in our counseling suite. Have you noticed anything? Like how can we help?" And the parents like, "I had no idea." Or, "Yeah, really school avoidant. I've been struggling with her at home. I'm so glad you called." because there's sometimes this shame attached to that. So again, using your MTSS, SST, AST teams to address those needs to make sure that we can help that student, get them the services that they
078need so that they can then get back into class and access their curriculum and instruction. I do think there's also a national narrative around balance and competitiveness and sometimes peers are their own worst enemies and you know you'll hear students say you I'm not getting it from home and I'm not getting it from teachers but I feel this sort of internal competition happening from peer-to-peer and really kind of addressing that and getting feedback from students and doing some education with parents and caregivers around how they can combat about that at home and opening the dialogue around that. We did a book group years ago. It it was oh my gosh, the dean of Stanford, she wrote a book. Why am I drawing a blank? I led the book group, but it's all about adultting, like
079how to be an adult. Maybe that's what it's called, how to be an adult. So, we ran this book group at the high school. The elementary principles, hey, can you do this districtwide? I said, sure. We did this evite which was this online thing. So parents read the book and then I was going to engage them in dialogue. I thought it would be a little circle. people signed up and I thought I said to the principles I said do they think the author's coming? Do they know it's just us presenting sort of our shared stories? We were I called my parent association. I was like do they think it's the other? They said no. Everyone's just so excited to see all of the principles and the counseling team together presenting. You've got a big turnout.
080I was like, "Oh, thank go Judith Lycott Hayes." I think that's that was the author. But it really came >> How to raise an adult. >> How Thank you. How to raise an adult. It was >> the conversations here. [laughter] >> I do too. Thank you. The conversation >> too actually. >> See, we could run it again. you could resurface that book. It's still pretty salient. >> But what I really thought was beautiful about that night, each of us shared, we were vulnerable. We shared our complexity as not only an educator, but as a parent and we shared our stories. They saw us working together. Um, and we did. We debriefed the book. parents shared about how much of a challenge it was to have different kids within their own family and different expectations and
081this pressure cooker of a society that they're in. And I thought it was really really wonderful and it it created a relationship that I didn't think existed. It was probably my second year and then the pandemic hit shortly after. So there has been a a wanting to return to book groups like that. But I do think engaging the community um engaging the parent and caregiver population around bless you what they're struggling with and how we can partner with them. So it doesn't feel like this is your responsibility or this is your with the finger pointing instead it's our collective responsibility. These kids are all of our responsibility. >> Thank you. I think my question also kind of touches a little bit on that culture you created with community. Um, so I'm going to I'll edit
082it a little bit um to give you a chance to talk about something slightly different. The topic is really school climate and culture. What do you person how do you personally shape the culture of your organization and what's a decision that you've made that best reflects the culture you want to build. So maybe talking about leadership with the teachers and the educators um [clears throat] since you just gave us a really nice example of creating culture within the community. >> So how I create the culture that I want to build was at the first part. >> Yeah. So for me, the culture I want to build is one that is collaborative, one where the adults and the students feel valued and add value. Mattering is really important to both adults and students. And so wanting
083to really ensure that voices, all voices are important, that everyone has an important contribution to making this school district a really healthy place. And so how I do that is really [cough and clears throat] through listening. Again, I mentioned it a couple of times, through visibility. you know, being in the schools, being in the classrooms, meeting with those instructional teams, meeting with your administrative teams, um, and really having a pulse on what's happening in the districts because or in the district because I don't ever want for me to be at a school committee meeting where you're asking a question, how did the educators feel about X and me not be able to answer that. I should know how they're going to feel about X. I should know how our administrators are struggling. That should be
084a daily interaction that they have with me. They they should have open access. I should know what the school climate is. I should know that amidst this budget situation, how the educators are feeling about that. Um, and that means if it's through the principles, if it's through the instructional team, if it's through the executive leadership team, or if it's just me talking to teachers, I should have a pulse on what's going on. I think for me I am a culture builder. I am a community builder. That is very important to me. That is clearly evident in the work I've done as a principal. It's in the work I've done as a dean. Um and so I learned this very early on that being invested in the district beyond the school walls is completely and entirely
085important and gains you a lot of goodwill when you are visible, when you are at games, when you are at events, when you are in parades. um they see you as someone who's relatable and someone who cares about the community or the communities that we're serving. And so again, visibility, collaboration, and being open to feedback, being open to making changes in the face of new information is really important in terms of the second part of that was a decision I've made. Can you repeat that? I didn't write it. >> Yeah. decision that you've made that reflects how you build culture. >> So I will say advisory is a decision that I made that reflects culture. So the advisory program implementing at Bedford High School was not easy. It was a challenge. I actually evaded it
086for a few years. Students were asking for it in the school climate surveys. Students on our school council [clears throat] were definitely asking it. There was an advisory model that was part of the middle school model and when students made the transition, it felt like a missing piece for them. We want advisory here. We want to connect with adults during the day or at some point during the week. We want what we had in middle school and the high school. Some of the teachers were not on board. They didn't want to impact the instructional time. We already had a break. We already had flex block. Um there was a little bit of resistance to creating an advisory model. Teachers were having advisories in their own way like lunch munches. So they did exist informally but
087other students that needed them didn't have access to that. And so the pandemic hit. We had a reorganization and a re-entry team. And so community members, teachers, and students were on this Zoom. There were 20 of them. And we had students say, "We miss our teachers. And one of the teachers said, "Maybe this is a good time to introduce advisory. Maybe we do it virtually. Maybe we do a hybrid model." And I was sitting in my seat and I was like, [sighs] "This is going to happen." And so we did, we wrote a grant um we got virtual training, Rachel Polliner, who's the guru uh on advisory and we piloted it during the pandemic year. The students really liked it and they responded to it. Teachers were still really concerned. We had a teacher committee
088again paid um in a planning committee and I had no direction. I wanted them to really spearhead this. And I'll give you the short of it. What ended up resulting was teachers could pair up. They could choose their partner. It wasn't just a single person running advisory. We gave them training. Brooklyn Rainey, one trusted adult, Rachel Polliner. We wrote a curriculum week by week guide for them. I had an advisory, so I was modeling that for them. Our whole main office team had advisory. So, everyone in the school with the exception of the nurse who needed to be available for emergencies had advisory and it was a no movement. And students were connecting with adults. It was for a 20-minute period every Wednesday. It's a shortened day for us. Um, and students were able to
089select because it was important for us to have a grade 9 through 12 model and we wanted the students to feel connected to an adult. So, our 10th through 12th graders were actually able to list which pairs they wanted. So, up to five pairs and we paired those students with one of those pairs of educators and it worked really, really well. The ninth graders didn't have a lot of voice and choice in that because they didn't have access to our educators. So at the end of their 9th grade year, we reopened it up for everyone to rechoose. Maybe you were feeling differently connected to a teacher. It's a lot of work, but it's really had a lot of value. What I will say is it didn't enter the last contract. So teachers are still doing
090this in exchange for duty minutes and after school time and out of goodwill and it needs to enter the next contract negotiations for it to really take hold and and continue. It's been highly successful. In fact, we do you do signs of suicide here? It's a screener for mental health and in the signs of suicide, we had a student at risk and he was needing to name his trusted adult as part of the suicide screener and I had this feverish knock on my door and it was the adjustment [clears throat] counselor and he said, "Hi." I said, "Hey, Charles, how are you?" I go, "I'm sorry. I'm on the phone. Is everything okay?" He goes, "We have a kid that needs to meet with you immediately." He listed you as his trusted adult and I
091was like, "Oh, I mean I say hi to kids. I'm very visible and it was a kid in my advisory that year and I thought I actually took a moment where I was like I need oh my gosh of course I can meet with him but it was like a beautiful moment and a lot of our faculty members are that trusted adult for students but really being able to share like this is working." So >> thank you. >> Sure. So I just want to follow up real quickly. You said you mentioned adjustment counselor. How many adjustment counselors do you have in your high school? >> So we have five. [cough] Yeah. Some are attached full disclosure to certain programs. So we have special education programs that we now house internally and they are attached to
092our set program or to our sale program. So servicing and they do have other students but servicing the entire we had two but we just eliminated one with the retirement so one general ed counselor. >> Okay. All right. So sorry um Joe Mlan. I'm from Oxford as well. Um we're moving over to operations finance and personnel related questions. >> Sorry. Um, Masco has been facing increasing expenses which exceed our members town's abilities to fund us without property tax overrides or significant budget cuts. In difficult budget years, cuts may be required. And when that happens, it's a challenge to balance the competing interests of student services, special education, facilities maintenance, contractual salary increases, and other factors. Can you tell us about a time in your past where you faced a shortfall in funding that forced you
093to make a similar and difficult decision and how you went about making that decision? >> Yes. So I am part of the district team which is response collectively responsible for the district's budget and a few years back been there 10 years so my years are blending together there was what I would call a literacy crisis. We were having students enter in the ninth grade, maybe this was pre- pandemic, six years ago, [sighs and gasps] and they were well below grade level and it was a it was a shock to our nth grade team and they had a lot of worries and met with um the nth grade ELA social studies team and our kids are not reading on grade level. As we know literacy, you're reading you're learning to read at the elementary levels and
094you're reading to learn. So if you are behind, it definitely impacts your ability to absorb and retain that content. And these are highly qualified teachers and and they felt like it was a crisis. Like Heather, we did our STARS assessment. They're reading at the fifth and fourth grade level. Essentially, what's going on? We need help. We need a reading specialist. That year, the budget was really, really tight. My faculty wanted me to advocate for reading specialists. And the the the issue was real by the way. Um these students were not making effective progress. It was really hard to get them on grade level. We do have interventions in place but they weren't reading specialists. So that year we al we also had in third grade over 50% of the kids were not reading on grade
095level. 54% actually. And so as a district, I was sitting there listening to this daily angst and worry and frustration of my teachers balanced with the literacy needs at the elementary level. And we had to make a choice like we couldn't fund reading specialists at the high school and reading interventions at the elementary school. And I made a decision to support the elementary funding for that programming because I know that that has huge dividends once they get to the high school 54. It's a colossal amount. That is that's not okay. And so I rather invest it there and work with my team on what we could do. We have highly qualified teachers. So, I went back to that team, the instructional team and the teachers and said, "We're not getting the funding. However, let's try
096to think and reimagine what supports could look like in our academic achievement center." And you are all highly qualified. I know you're not reading specialists, but you teach reading skills and strategies. And so, what we did that year is we freed up a couple of English teachers, a couple of their sections who worked exclusively with the nth grade. They were really talented and they were veteran teachers and we pushed them into the AAC and those students with reading struggles had that one-on-one intervention through a general ed curriculum. They were not special education students. Some of them were not identified as such. So, we found a creative way to utilize in-house talent. No, they weren't reading specialists. However, they did get some training from the reading specialists. We're able to push that through the AAC as
097a stop gap measure. As a result, literacy scores have gone up. Our teachers are much happier now. Um, but there were a couple of years of real frustration with me for not advocating even though I was really transparent with the why. >> Thank you. Uh, we'll jump over to facilities and capital planning. What experience do you have with facilities management and capital projects? uh how would you approach long-term planning for aging infrastructure while managing current operational needs? >> So, I have experience as a community member. I have experience as a principal with facilities and operations management and capital projects. Um I was on a committee that implemented the turf. This is probably 14 years ago. I was not the principal. I was a community member and it was a highly charged uh very expensive project
098for our town. Originally I believe three turf fields were on the docket. we ended up with one and that took a lot of advocating for um it and again I was not the principal so I didn't have that community but I was on the committee that wholly supported this turf field or our community and again really with the messaging it's not just for the high school it's a community it's open to the entire community the track and field I led a major renovation project at the high school um with a team of people I work very closely facilities management. My athletic director and I work very closely together. That same turf field required a turf and track renovation, which again took a lot of community buy in. Me at town meeting, working with Keith, working
099with our facilities management on the why. Having our students bring the community in and advocate for themselves. Like, let's look at the track. This is a community track. It's not working. We're getting injured. It's 2 years overdue. So it's the advocacy and then also the funding through right advocating through the town and fincom and having everyone come together and here it's times three so it's not just a singular town you're really advocating in three different communities for capital improvements it's applying through MASBA through grants it's looking at your capital projects and prioritizing safety I would say first that could be for athletic facilities ities. That could mean a new roof. I mean, that's really important. That could be heating and ventilation and that that does impact morale and people are cold. It's not good. We
100I hear about climate in my classrooms all the time. Our HVAC is going down. It's not on the docket. We pushed it a year out and we're sorry for my face. We are regretting that. um because now it is cold and we have some complaints coming from teachers and from our students. Um we did not expect we thought we had a little bit of time with that but I do think it's working with the capital budget. It is working with the three towns. It is making a case for the need. It is making a case for prioritizing safety of of the infrastructure and also whenever we can do it as a collective buyin from the town, a collective use of the town. It's not just a school project, but this can be kind of I
101mean this building I was in is used all day and so it's open access and so keeping it up and running and safe benefits all three communities. So I would say I have experience as a community member as a principal and I work very closely with pincom and >> follow to that which is um how do you see your role in terms of interfacing or or what do you think the optimal way is to interface with the town government officials? Is it working directly with them or is it working through school committee members to the towns? >> What do you think is more effective? I would I would that would be something we would predetermine honestly here if you're >> what are you doing in Bedford is is a question >> in Bedford I would
102go through my superintendent right now my superintendent who would go through school committee >> I wouldn't inter I could as a community member because I live there but I have to separate those roles I would definitely need to and he has leveraged sort of that at certain points from me um if I were in the superintendent role principal. There's definitely definitely a hierarchy there and I wouldn't ever want to step on that um chain of command. As a superintendent, I would work with this group. If you think it's better that I interface directly, we've worked it out here. You trust me to do so. Absolutely. Like, let me present. Let me co-present with some of you. I think whenever they can see us as a unified front, I don't think all of us would need
103to go and co-present, but a couple of us to select board, a couple of us to FinCom, at least one from each community and me to show that we've hashed this out. We are in agreement. Um, and we are advocating for this and we don't come here lightly. You know, we are really fiscal stewards. We are being really responsible, but here are the needs of the districts and we fleshed this out as a team. >> Okay, we have one, two, three, four, five questions left. Technically, we've only got about five minutes left, so um we're going to try and be quick with these. Um, describe your approach to recruiting and retaining excellent, diverse teachers and administrators. Yeah. So we're I mean there's a national shortage I think in education right now and so this is
104on the minds of all [clears throat] superintendants, principles, you know, human resources. I would say first of all a competitive benefits package, you know, face value. They're they're looking at salary benefits, you know, mentorship, induction programs. New educators have a lot of choice now. Actually, current educators have a lot of choice now. So, you want to make sure that we're regionally competitive. Now, we know that gets teachers through the door, educators through the door. What keeps them is the culture and climate and feeling supported and feeling like they matter. So, really meeting them where they're at, continuing to offer mentor programs, continuing to offer professional development that is relevant and meaningful to them. Are there opportunities for advancement, you know, advanced degrees, masters, CAGS, or professional opportunities outside of our school and strategic improvement plan
105that they're interested in so that they can bring back some of those creative ideas. Is there a healthy collaboration between colleagues? So, what is the treatment of teacher to teacher? Are we inclusive? Are we collaborative? That matters to someone. You know, you have portrait of a learner competency outlined and a lot of those competencies do relate to teachers when they feel socially emotionally supported. when they feel like they have an avenue of communication, when they feel like we're a collaborative and connected community, when they feel like they can take risks and persevere and that's going to be okay and they're going to be supported through that growth process. All of that relates also to the adults in the community. I think finding joy and celebrating, you know, educators for what they're bringing and and really
106being loud and proud about that at school committee and in in various ways. Again, those sort of technical face value will attract. I also think pipeline you might already have it with local universities. You know, Endicott is nearby, Marramac is nearby. keeping a list of your graduates that are going into education and recruiting them back if you have an opening like you loved it here when you were a student let's bring you back to our family I think that's also really important and I found that I do that in Bedford I recruit back I have that list still at the ready and I've recruited back several um students who are now graduates uh and they're really excited and proud to be back so again. Okay, I'll just leave it at that. >> Yeah, sorry that's
107not a smooth closing, but I know I have four more. >> That's okay. Maggie, >> you've talked a bit. [clears throat] It's about teacher evaluation, which you've talked a bit about with compliance. So, I'm going to just focus on the second part about how what administrator evaluation would look like to you and um give us example of how you supported struggling administrators since you've already addressed the teacher compliance. So you're not eval I'm evaluating the administrative. So I do want to say that just as I think attracting highly qualified teachers because teachers have a lot of options being an administrator in current climate is really really hard. I mean I'm living it right now. I've been there 10 years and in a lot of cases that's like three principal ships. A lot of principles assistant
108principles aren't staying for more than 3 to four years because of the pressures that they're facing. So, you know, administrator evaluation for me, there's a rubric attached. I'm sure we've adopted that. Um, and and we follow that. If not, I would be following the administrator rubric. I would be meeting individually with each of the administrators to sort of outline their goals for the year, but also, if I were selected for the this position, I'd be new. I want to hear how I can best support them. you have some long-standing administrators um that have been [clears throat] in the district a while and I'd want to know what sort of you know they think they're doing well, what they're really proud of and where their struggles are without feeling like their jobs are in jeopardy. And
109so I want to really be able to partner with them and support them through that process um and allowing areas and avenues for growth. I also would like to have an open door when they are struggling because this crisis management. There's crisis nearly every day. I think for a building administrator, I want them to be able to call and troubleshoot me without feeling like it's going to land in their evaluation because when there's no trust there, that is not going to be beneficial for the district at all. I have had to have some growth conversations with administrators. I I I evaluate many administrators both instructionally and um in the main office I have assistant principles and it was years ago with an administrator who had been there for a very long time and the teacher
110evaluation piece I sign off on all of them. There were a fair amount of complaints about certain teachers within this department and I don't want to reveal too much because I know that this will end up being public and I was wondering because we had collaborated throughout the year along with the assistant principles and our special ed program administrator with some real concerns why that wasn't reflected in this particular teacher's evaluation. You know, we've received an onslaught of complaints. We've all been in the classes. We have seen some real changes and challenges and we thought we were all aligned and when I looked and signed off all professions with some really glowing feedback so that's not the teacher's fault and so I had to have a really hard conversation with that administrator. We put a
111lot of work into this feedback. We put a lot of work into this improvement plan. As a principal I was really present in that classroom and then that was the end result. And so that can't happen. We need to be aligned and we're having the courageous conversation. So I really need you to have that courageous conversation. So the fact that the teacher received all proficient wasn't his fault. I was more really sort of I think frustrated with the program administrator for agreeing with us through a lot of those planning meetings and then what felt like an easy out. Um and so still there we meaning the administrator we have a really good relationship and I do think he will reference that you know as a missed opportunity and so again when he is struggling with
112someone in his department really having that open door policy like how are we going to address this as an area of growth and what support do you need from me because what that signaled to me was he was afraid and maybe didn't feel supported. Bill. >> Yes. Um, so tell us about a challenging collective bargaining situation or labor relations issue you've navigated. Um, and briefly briefly describe your approach and what did you learn. So I am in the room I would say where it happens. The superintendent and school committee do the collective bargaining. What I can offer is the principles and I'm not sure how it works here. We do offer things that we would like to see reflected in the contract. First of all, how I would approach collective bargaining is by building the
113relationship with union leadership and really having that open dialogue before you enter actual collective bargaining. So making sure that there's mutually agreed upon norms, making sure that we know the state of affairs fiscally, and making sure that we're looking at the needs of our students and what I and maybe the instructional and executive leadership team would be advocating for with students at the center of all of these decisions. And then sort of on the educator side, they would be looking honestly for maybe something in return for what we're asking. What I will say is advisory and I I will it is a sticking point for the high school faculty now because when we piloted it in its first couple of years, it was with the understanding that it would make it into the next contract
114and the previous superintendent was ready. It was going in there. um it was going to be attached to a pretty significant raise over a period of three years. So, it was a great opportunity to get it in there. um we were not fiscally struggling during this time and he retired and then we had a new superintendent and it didn't make the cut and I knew that when and again I'm not at the collective bargaining table but that was an ask for me and I knew when it didn't make the cut it was going to be problematic. So, I've really traded out duty minutes and some other things in the contract with the side letter mutually agreed upon with the union leadership and the union president. But my worry is now that it has become such
115a part of our culture at the high school students really like it. I have a legion of faculty that are really responding to it that it now needs to make it into the contract during a really fiscally challenging climate. And so for me, that's a worry and I do wish that it had made it into the next contract. Again, as a superintendent, I think you're in a really tough spot. So, I want to honor that where you ha you want to close the deal. You don't want your teachers on strike. You want to make sure that this is done as amicably as possible. But I will say that that not making it in, it may not sound like a big deal, was a pretty big deal for the high school. And so we'll be grappling
116with that in the next contract. >> Right. Thank you, [clears throat] >> Kendra. For 18, I think we're going to skip because it's it's been covered pretty >> I was going to say covered. So drop that for the next the next discussion as well. >> Uh so Trevor, >> sure. Um describe a crisis situation that you've managed. It could be safety related, personnel related or reputational. Uh what was your immediate response and how did you manage communication and recovery? >> Yes, crisis. There's lots to choose from. I think I'll choose one from this year. Um I mean we live in principles live in operations in crisis and I know that's a sad state but we do and so we manage that well. Um and we need to manage that well in order to survive and
117thrive. What I will share is at the beginning of this school year, I'll try to be brief, but know that as I'm being brief, I'm probably leaving out a lot of work went into this, some major components. There was a situation in our JV football team where we played an opponent. We traveled there. The opposing team called this particular player a racial slur repeatedly. Um, [clears throat] and it was not brought immediately to our coach's attention. This player thought that the refs had heard. He thought that the refs ignored him. Went and reported it to his mom. This is, remember, on a weekend. Uh, and so by the time it came to me and my athletic director, mom had already hit Facebook live, posted several videos, named the number of the player who she had
118thought was responsible for the racial slur by looking up. So, it was out there and I get hold of it on Sunday. The school again, it's just coming to us trying to talk. It was one of our students from Boston, the METCO director, our athletic director, superintendent triaging before we've even hit hit school, letting my assistant principles know, hey, we're starting with this in the morning. Get there quick meeting. I needed them there early to kind of plan for this situation. So, what I probably am not going to I'm a very tight communicator. I'm a clear communicator and so and I'm a communication plan and I'm a planner. So met in the morning athletic director metco director two assistant principles myself and planned the communication plan and the investigatory plan who's doing what divide and
119conquer assistant principles were going to meet with the student. We wanted the counselor present who was going to talk to that counselor who was calling mom me. Um who was going to be in touch with the other school athletic director was going to call that athletic director and I was going to call that principal. Um, so really [clears throat] and letting the superintendent know we got this. What do you want to know or as needed or and you know as needed I don't need to know every step of the way. Had an open Google spreadsheet with who was doing what? Marked is done. Marked is done. Marked is done. He was responsible for communicating with the school committee. Um, so handled that thinking about what we were going to communicate with our faculty, potentially the
120community at large, while also honoring the student and parent wishes. What made this complicated is the student wanted nothing. He w he was mortified by the Facebook post. We were managing that family dynamic. Mom meant well. I had the two older kids and so thankfully I was able to leverage that already positive relationship. this is a traumatic thing that happened to this kid. So wrapping support around him. What we ended up doing was really really I mean a beautiful partnership with this other district. The principal was wonderful. Assistant principal was amazing and the athletic director. Constant communication. So long hours well into the night. What are we doing? What are you communicating? Getting the program together that afternoon. So, this is all happening within a 6-hour period, meeting with the football players, letting them know
121what we are going to do. We were going to approach this with some restorative practices. So, we have an adjustment counselor who's really well trained. She joined me in addressing the football program with the athletic director. We've got this. We are going to handle this. If any of you would like to be involved in the restorative sessions, let me know. But we are planning as we go and we will keep you updated. The letter actually only ended up going out to the faculty and to the football program. The student and parent did not want it going out to the community at large. As we know, people find out anyway, but we really wanted to honor that communication and do that when it felt right for them. The other thing was repairing on our part because
122the wrong student was identified. The jersey that this particular player was wearing was an extra jersey. So, it was the wrong name attached and mom had presented. So, there's another kid now who's been harmed. Mom is going through her own trauma with her student, her child, and this other parent is now going through this trauma. His [clears throat] name's been announced. So, working with our SRO's to get those videos down. Um, I worked with mom to actually do an apology video that went out. She garnered a lot of support from both our community and the other community. And we really asked her to go public with this. And that was a a big ask. I understand. But again, meeting with her face to face, helping her prep for that and letting her know that this
123was the right thing to do. Fast forward, our player did not want to be involved with the restorative practices. He felt really well supported and he was really thankful for that. But we really did feel like it was important for these two programs to come together. We were going to continue to play them. So, at the varsity level, even though this happened at the JB level, there were representatives from their varsity program and our varsity program that came together and met at Bedford High School and they worked in a circle format through restorative practices, sharing the harm, sharing how they want to repair and having a real conversation around how we want to be viewed as an athletic program, how they want to be viewed as an athletic program. There were tears. I was not
124in there. We left it to the adjustment counselors from each school to be with them, but their administration came and sat with me and we had dialogue while they were in the restorative session. Um, we emerged stronger, they emerged stronger. I have a beautiful partnership now with the nondcl principal. Um, and we've remained really close. And I think what we modeled for our students is in the face of trauma and this really hateful and hurtful incident that we can repair and move forward. And when we know better, we do better. So that's one example of a really challenging time. >> Thank you. >> Last question. >> Well, I think we'll hand the mic to you a bit. Uh >> all right. What what questions do you have about maskit uh the school committee or the
125the towns that we serve? >> So thank you for having me. I know this has been a long session with me this evening. I do want to just say right off the bat that being here for the day was really rewarding. I really had a great time on the student tour listening to the student music. I learned a lot from the faculty and staff and from the the administrative team. Everyone's been really generous with their time and I've really appreciated getting to know Maser on a deeper level. I I do have a question for all of you that would be helpful. I asked this in the first round or maybe second round. So, fast forward, you're doing my evaluation in June of of 2027, if I'm hired. What does success look like for you in
126this position as a superintendent? >> Is there anyone that's >> you can always >> Yeah, I answered it first time around. So, [laughter] different voices. I feel like >> so success for me in this position is seeing um is seeing the staff, the faculty, the administration, the school committee, and our community come together to support our new superintendent um at the end of the year in a way that's meaningful, that brings restoration to our morale, um that makes us feel like a community again. >> Thank you. We have maybe one more person that wants to offer a perspective. >> I'll I'll throw something out. >> Please go. >> I unmute [clears throat] myself. >> You're good. >> Now you guys are frozen. >> Sorry, I can't see far, so I have to put these on.
127>> Okay. Can you hear me? >> I can. >> All right, great. Um well hopefully you have heard about the uh large uh project that we're hoping to get underway with uh MSBA support. Um, so certainly for me it's it's it's one thing, but it's a very very very important thing that at the end of your first year that we have continued to make progress um on on that project and that we whatever whatever the next steps are in that process. um that uh that we're meeting that that timeline and that it's not getting uh delayed um in in going to subsequent town meetings or special town meetings to get uh town approval for the next steps. This is this has been something that's been you know long delayed and changes in superintendence have not
128helped that process. Um, so to me it'd be very important that we're making continue to make the progress we need to make on that. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Can I add? >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> So I think um building a level of community trust is important uh especially with respect to town government officials. um if they're feeling good after this year, you would have done a tremendous job because they're they can be very critical. Um second thing for me would be having a strategy for you know how the school should be structured moving forward. Um we've gone from I forget 1,800 kids in high school down to 1,200 or so. I I forget it's a 20% reduction or more but it's it's come down quite a bit. And the question that
129sits out there is whether our structure makes sense for the size of our student population now and how you would structure um the executive leadership team. Um just the way that our our instruction is is being um managed overall. Um, and I know it's going to take time to take a look and see how everything's working or not working and and what ideas you might have, but I would love to see um, you know, a good clear understanding of this is what we should have for a leadership team. These are the positions we need or don't need. Um, this is the best people to put in those roles. You know, to me, that would be fantastic. ask one more. I know you've been here. What does a successful relationship between the new superintendent and school
130committee look like? What would you like to see happen in order to ensure that trust and that that collaboration again is successful? >> Okay. I I'll build off of you mentioned it earlier that you don't like to be surprised or you wouldn't want to be surprised. the same would go on this end. And I think, you know, if we hone in and focus on that communicate those communication strategies that you had mentioned and we level set at the beginning and have a clear plan on how we're going to communicate with each other so that by the time we get to here on a Wednesday night, we can have a productive meeting um and walk away, you know, having done something. I I'll share a quick perspective on maybe organizationally or from a mindset perspective. You
131have idiosyncratic mindsets, you have democratic mindsets, you have bureaucratic mindsets amongst others. You know, I think that for this to be successful, we really have to be an integrated team. We have to have open lines of communication. We have to have partnerships across the organization with our administration team. Um, and I think one of the questions earlier was about barriers. Um, I think we have to work on ways to break down barriers that have been established. >> So, it's helpful. >> Really helpful. Thank you. Yes. >> Just a quick one. I think um we've been lucky for the last few years to have the same school committee for the same for the last few years. So, we're very tight group right now. Next year is not going to be the same. I think there's going
132to be a lot of new faces here. And as you're aware, you know, always school community members tend to be amateurs, you know, the professional. >> So, it's um I think that leadership and then that that partnership is going to go a long way. So, able to get us to understand why things make sense when the talents are screaming at us. It's going to be a really good partnership. And I think, you know, we're all looking to make this a strong partnership and, you know, hold hands together moving forward. But, uh that's this is my second year here. The first year was a lot coming in not knowing anything about anything. So just that having a superintendent administration really help kind of explain the rules of the road and get us there is really useful.
133>> I'd like to end with one. So this is a big hire for all of you. School committee is charged with right policy and hiring the superintendent. It's a big big charge. If you were in your respective towns and again we've talked a lot about data and quantitative data which I'm a big proponent of. Let's think about the qualitative piece. So your home and your neighborhoods of you know Boxford, Toppsfield, and Middleton. And what are the stories or sentiments that your neighbors are sharing with you where you thought like we got it right? We hired the right person. >> I'll answer that. Um there are a lot of feelings in the communities for people who have lived here for more than two decades that this the schools were the very reason they moved to the
134tri town. And there is a sentiment amongst certain pockets of our communities that they are the schools are not what they used to be. And there's a real and people love to stay age in place here. >> When people have moved to these towns, there's a very high percentage of families that find a way to uh long after their children are gone to stay in town, which creates a really really nice community that's engaged in committees and running the town. People want to see the schools return to what they once were. and what that was. I think it would be really helpful to meet with community members and hear like what did you love about it? What what do you think has declined? Um there's always been a trend of students going uh to private
135school and those percentages haven't actually changed significantly. There's a perception that they have, but the numbers percentage- wise are pretty flat. But that's a percentage. That's a perception that needs to also be met. We don't have a newspaper for the tri town anymore. So finding other ways for the entire community, whether they're parents of current school children or not, to really be a part of what this school district has to offer everyone, you know, athletic facilities that all the communities can access, arts, entertainment, there's so many continuous learning. There are ways to bring everyone into these buildings into what we have to offer and that has really frayed over the last decade. We want to bring that back. That's what I hear in box. >> Something really quick. I think um two things that that
136you said that stuck out to me is that you said that you should know, you know, in meetings or in conversations that, you know, if we ask questions or we're looking for information that you should you should be able to answer certain things. And another piece that you mentioned to me that I think is really important that I think has been lacking what it feels like the last couple years is being there, being present. You can't be in a million places at once. you can't be in all three towns all the time. But I think just the just even saying that out loud to be aware of what's going on in the towns and connecting with, you know, elderly the elderly population in our towns that feel like maybe what's left for them. You know,
137we we offer a great holiday concert here at school, but just to even make an effort to be visual and to be there and just to be seen by them and just to show that you are a part of their community as much as they want to feel like they're a part of the school even though maybe their kids have grown and they're not actively here. I think those two pieces for me would say that we did the right thing and we chose the right person. somebody that it's not like you would even have to be trying hard and that when we ask you something, you know, not to not have a defensive um tone or or body language if we're just looking for information. It's it's part of the job. It's why we're all
138here. So, I think those two simple things are not very hard to do and I think most people could do it and I think that would be a big sign that we did the right thing. just just that alone, just being there, showing up, making the effort to want to say, "Hi, how are you? Who are you? This is who I am." And and we're a part of your community even though, you know, your kids have long been graduated. And um yeah, I think that would I think that'd go a long way. So >> that's called a quick win. >> No, I'm serious. That would that's intel for a quick win. Yeah. Sorry. >> Thank you. So I'm going to take what Chris said and kind of steer in a little bit different direction which
139is you said qualitative but I think there's a need to understand how you communicate quantitatively how things are doing are >> things are quantitatively going well quantitatively getting better perhaps but at least being able to describe these are the things that we're doing because what we see is you know you talked about Facebook earlier every time somebody's rankings of high school comes out you get the, "Oh, we used to be a good school and now we're terrible." You know? I mean, I'm exaggerating, of course, but but I think there's a a need to set expectations almost. And I don't think we've really been setting expectations because everything's just been kind of qualitative. You know, been school, kids do really well. We've got great students. But how do you quantitatively show the public that things are
140moving in a good direction? and that they're getting good value for their tax money. You know, that's that's it for me. >> A KPIs. >> Mhm. >> KPIs. Yeah. >> Ranking matters. We I mean, we've in Bedford been able through some really hard intentional work and it's a we, you know, leadership is a we [gasps] definitely. But we were in the 30s and we've 15 we're and the community notices and they are celebrating that. And so I know it's part of a bigger picture, but people are looking at their house values. They're looking, they want us to be competitive. And so I don't think that we can dismiss that. If people are asking for that, let's look at how we can manage that and maybe do better and be better. So we can sort of
141appease that population and they'll be more supportive. So again, some of those rankings are based on some strange metrics. depends on which ones you're looking at. Um, and some of them are not as reliable. I [clears throat] do know that it matters to the community. I do. >> Thank you all. Thank you all to the audience, >> to those who are eventually going to be. I appreciate it. Great. I would typically be at a sporting event anyhow. So, thank you so so much. I appreciate all of your questions, your intel. Um it's been a really meaningful experience and I and thank you. >> Um so we do have to adjourn but before we do um I just want to thank uh the administration today. I want to thank the students who who participated today. I
142want to thank the teachers who participated today and a real special thank you to the school committee members who spent their day uh helping to guide the process and to everybody tonight for of course your time. And last but not least, thank you for this great day with us and um we uh I certainly enjoyed the interview discussion. >> Thank you. >> With that, do we have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Bill. You're killing me, Bill. >> All right. >> That's an That's an I >> Maggie >> for my dog. Kendra, >> yes. >> Joe, >> yes. >> Jeff, >> Yes. Chris, >> yes. >> Adrien, >> yes. >> Thank you all. >> Good night, everybody. >> Thank you. >> Care. Take care.