Methuen School Committee 3-9-2026

001Good evening. I'd like to call tonight's uh special meeting of the school committee uh here in Methuan to order. The date is March 9th, 2026. We're meeting in the media center at the high school. This meeting is being recorded and will be made available for viewing on the Mthuan public schools website. I'll ask member Dunovan to call the role. >> Member >> here. Uh we now need a motion and a second to accept our agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. Motion's from member Keegan. Second is from member Donovan. Any discussion about the agenda? If not, we'll vote. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. The eyes have it. uh will now rise for the flag salute. I believe we have public participation on tonight's agenda for the special meeting, but uh no one is

002here from the public and we haven't received anything in writing. So, we'll move on to the presentation from the representative from MASC. >> Hi, everyone. It's nice to be back. Um, I've been working with you guys on your policy project, but it I've been remote, so I haven't been here in quite a while. So, for those of us who haven't met, and for the audience at home, my name is Alicia Malin. I'm a field director for the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. I'm the field director for the Northeast. Um, and I am also, as you are, I am also a committee member. I serve on the Nohoba Tech School Committee. I've been there for three years. I'm starting my ninth year. Actually, no, I'm Yes, I'm starting my ninth year as a school committee member.

003I was on my town as well. So, I've been out with you guys a couple of times. Um, what we have gathered here tonight to talk about is um I had you all do a self-evaluation so that we could kind of take a temperature on where it is you feel like you might need a little bit of help, where you might want to adjust some of your processes, your procedures, things like that. So, we're going to start um with the slideshow I have. It is in your packet. There are two slideshows in your packet. There's also a whole bunch of um sample agendas, sample operating protocols, sample school committee goals. Um and then there's some a handy reference on executive session and ethics and things like that. I just gave you everything I could so

004we could start all in the same place. And we're going to start with some roles and responsibilities as a refresher and then we'll get into um what I gleaned from your self-evaluation. I can tell you from the beginning your self-evaluation revealed you want more help with communication. You want more help with how you do things operating protocols. Um knowing ahead of time how those operating protocols are going to work and um how your information sharing. You also identified in your um in your self-evaluation that you want to think about some school committee goals as well, some self-improvement goals for yourself that you can align with your superintendent goals uh process. So, first up, what we're going to cover today. So, like I said, we're going to start with some basics. I'm going to walk around

005a little bit with this because that's how my brain works. We're going to start with your role as a committee member. Um I know you have some new people this year. We're also going to talk about your responsibilities as a municipal legislature. We're going to talk about your communication guidelines for committee members and then some best practices on agendas, operating protocols, and goal setting and monitoring. We do not stand on formality when we have workshops. By all means, interrupt me at any point. So, this will look very familiar to some of you. This is your basic understanding and respect for roles and responsibilities. So when we're talking about the school committee and the superintendent's roles and responsibilities on one side of the house we have the school committee. The school committee is governance. You are

006the mission and vision, the goals, the policy, the budget. You are the what, the why, and the how much. Um you will authorize you are the bridge between the excuse me superintendent and the community. Not that the superintendent doesn't also hear from the community, but you are the community's representatives at the table when decisions are being made. Um, and you authorize by a vote and then you monitor moving forward. On the other side of the house, we have the superintendent. So, if you are the governance, your superintendent is your chief everything officer. They are kids on buses, kids off buses, in classrooms, learning, fed, safe, home at the end of the day. They are responsible for the personnel in the district. They are the strategies, actions, plans, regulations, and procedures. So, they are the how,

007the who, the when, and the where. And if you've taken charting the course with me, my example is usually, you know, that your students need to communicate through the written word. You know why that's important, so they can be on par with their peers and that they can make advancements in their coursework. You then all lot the superintendent an amount in the budget. we'll call it $100. The superintendent then takes over and says, "Okay, this is the curriculum we're going to use. These are the teachers that are going to teach it at this grade level." Halfway through the year, we find out maybe pens wasn't a great idea. We might want to jump back to pencils. Those are all the decisions the superintendent makes. So, the superintendent um is the bridge between the staff and

008the committee, and that's for all of the things the staff does. They are not only um the staff's direct report, but they are also all of the procedures, the curriculum, the evaluations, things like that. The superintendent will recommend and then we go back to the school committee and they authorize by a vote and then it goes back to the superintendent and their staff to implement and then it comes back to you to monitor. And if we do it right, hopefully we have trust and respect. I want to pause here for one second and um there's something we very often tell our charting the course classes and our workshops. As a school committee, you have one employee. Your only employee is the superintendent. And as the superintendent, your superintendent only has one boss. This body at

009a properly posted meeting according to open meeting law in this room in a deliberative way. So everything that happens between the superintendent and personnel is the superintendent and personnel and you as a group are not individually responsible for the superintendent's actions. You as a body are representative for the are responsible for the superintendent's actions. So when we're thinking a little deeper on respect for roles uh understanding and respect for roles as the committee as an IND I'm going to go from the opposite side first. As an individual member, you have no authority. Your only authority is exercised at this table in a properly posted meeting or an executive session, something to that effect. Um, you have no greater authority than any other person at the table. Even the chair does not outweigh any other member.

010Um, sorry. Um, you as a an an individual, you are responsible to communicate not just with the public but with each other. Um, we very often say we like our committees to operate on what's called no surprises. That does not mean that we're not asking critical questions. That means that you as a member are communicating, I'm going to want this information. Please bring it to the meeting. Um, and communication was one of the things you all identified as something you really want to work on. When we're talking later on about operating protocols, I really want you to think about how you get information, how you seek information, who the point of contacts are because as an individual member, you may be con you may be, you know, wanting to know something, but I guarantee you

011that will help the discussion with all of the rest of the members. So, as a an individual member, you support committee decisions. This one is tough for some people because I'm not telling you you have to just go along with everything. Nobody gets to the end of budget season and they're like, "Yay, we have all the money we need. We're so good. Everyone gets a puppy." Um, no. But when the decision is made by the body, when a majority is reached, it is the committee's job then to step forward into policies, further budget, review, etc. in support of the decision that was made. Keep advocating for the things that are important to you, but don't throw sand in the gears. So when we talk about supporting the committee's decisions, it doesn't mean that you don't

012keep advocating for something. It just means that you keep moving the district forward. You keep doing the work of the district. Um and we always tell you to be dedicated on behalf of the students. I would argue that school committees um they are the one elected position where your primary constituency can't vote for you because yes you are here to represent Mthoan but first and foremost every decision should be for the benefit of your students. Does it benefit the students? How does it benefit the students? What are the outcomes we're looking for? So you are here as an individual member to represent Mthuan but primarily with the goal of student achievement and well-being in mind. Um, and then when we're talking about the committee, the only way the committee can exercise their official actions is

013through the properly posted meeting. We hear about OML all the time. You have to properly post things. They must be noticed on your agenda. Um, you can't discuss things that are not on your agenda in a way that is deliberative because you haven't noticed the public that you're going to discuss those things. So the whole reason behind open meeting law is so that the public has faith in their elected officials and the elected officials are discussing the the um the benefits and not benefits of the public um in a public way. So the other things you do are you govern through policy and policy should always be the 30,000 foot overview from which procedure hangs. Those of you who have been working with me on your policy manual, I just said that, but then there

014are policies that look like procedures because the state and the federal government say they have to. But for the most part, policy is where the administration starts to develop procedures. Um, you're also the stewards of the financial resources. You are ultimately responsible for the budget. Even though the process starts in the administration, you're ultimately responsible for the budget. And then you have certain fiduciary monitoring responsibilities as your year goes on. uh you engage the community, you sustain the school committee superintendent relationship. That's another one where you're not always going to agree, but you need to have a respectful relationship that is conducive to sharing information so that when you get to this room, you're making the best decisions possible for the students. And you are the employer of record on all collective bargaining agreements. So,

015this will be very familiar to the mayor, and I know you've heard me say this before, um, but the school committee is the municipal legislature for the school district, much like city council is the municipal legislature for the city. Um, you determine your operating protocols. You establish the rules for the district, which for a school committee, that's your policies. It can also be language that gets translated into your handbooks. Um, you are the you are responsible for hiring your chief executive. that would be your superintendent. Um, you originate and set the budget. The budget technically good budget practices originate with the administration because it should always involve a look back and an assessment of needs and then it comes to you. But you set the budget for the district. The ultimate um arbiter of the

016budget number is the school committee. Yes, there are multiple other processes that happen with the city council, with the mayor, etc. But in the end, you are responsible for your budget. Um, you also have other duties as assigned by state law. And you're a public figure both legally and publicly. Every communication you make on behalf of items before you for deliberation is a public communication. It's why we recommend that members use district email, never personal email, and why you don't communicate in a way outside of the meeting that can be deliberative. Um when we talk a little bit more about communication, we can talk about electronic quorums and things like that. But the idea is again the public expects to hear what it is you're doing on their behalf in this room. So you keep

017all the deliberations here. Um you are also your meetings are usually in public with the exception of executive session for a few reasons and you maintain the balance of power with the municipality. your other duties which are including but not limited to you ser serve your constituents. That's why they elected you all of your constituents. Uh you have limited additional hiring responsibilities. We call this the advise and consent part. You have advising consent on your school business official, your um director of student services, your truency officer if you have one, the head nurse, your legal counsel, the assistant superintendent. This does not mean you can say when someone is hired, this person is I don't like this person. We're not going to hire them. What the advising consent means is there's usually a hiring committee

018that happens and you may or may not have one or two school committee members on that hiring committee. The hiring committee will do their due diligence in going through applicants, etc. And then they will bring someone to you and you can't unduly withhold your consent for someone to be hired if they are a qualified individual. But you should have a conversation about all of that. Um, again, you're the employee of record and you retain the district's legal counsel. It can sometimes be a sticking point, but district legal counsel works for the school committee. You contract directly with them. Um, the superintendent very often avails themselves of that support. And sometimes there'll be an additional legal counsel that comes in, especially during negotiations and things like that, who has more of a a familiarity with um

019employment law, etc. they would help, but the actual district legal council works for the school committee. And then you have approval of including but not limited to handbooks because that should reflect your policy, fees, grants, and gifts. Anything that has a monetary value, you need to approve. That does not mean you're going into rooms and counting copier paper. That means you approve things at the cost center level and you approve transfers. But you have to approve all gifts and grants because essentially a gift or a grant to the district is a contract. I the group that is giving you this money am giving you this money with the expectation that you are going to do this thing. So you need to as the school committee approve it because it should be part of your budget

020process, your budget oversight. Um you also have um you have input on the strategic plans. School improvement plans you don't have to approve but the strategic plan for the district should include district goals and you should approve that overall plan. Those are long processes and they usually or uh originate with the administration but they do eventually come to the public. You also have to approve any overnight or state field trip or outofstate field trips. you approve the calendar um and you when there is a new or substantially different job description that comes before you as well. So, if you have an assistant superintendent of curriculum and you turn them into an assistant superintendent of learning, that may not be a substantial difference. But if you have a director of transportation and you turn them into

021an assistant superintendent of equity and inclusion, that's a sub substantial difference. That should that job description change should come before you. So before we go on by any other name, um there's a lot of edge speak that happens surrounding policies and mission and vision. Um this flowchart, you know, we're not going to go through the whole thing, but it just gives you an idea of when we're talking about some of these things, where do we start? Where do they flow in? The idea is that every level feeds the next and everyone is rowing in the same direction. So where do we start? You already did it. You did the self-evaluation. Um there's also the superintendent's evaluation. I would advise that as we move forward um beyond tonight developing goals and developing operating protocols. I would

022start with the operating protocols but I think you should also work on goals based on your self-evaluation. And I would say you want your um your school committee goals that evaluation cycle to align with the superintendent's evaluation cycle. So, when you have that formative check-in and then the summit of at the end, either in a one-year or a two-year cycle, evaluate your goals. Check in on your operating protocols. How are we doing? Are we making progress on our goals? Do our operating protocols need to be tweaked? Is everyone clear on them? Aligning your goal evaluation to the superintendent goal evaluation is a really effective way to again make sure everyone's rowing in the right direction. Um, you also want to take a look at your strategic and district improvement plan. Um, and any mission, vision,

023core values that you have and your portrait of a graduate. Not every district has a portrait of a graduate, but I have to say they are one of my favorite things because when you think about the mission of your district, the graduate you produce, for me it's May 30th. I have a senior. Graduation is May 30th. We can see it. The person you produce at the end of the line should dictate what your policies and your goals and your mission and your vision are. At Nishoba Techch, I will brag on them for a second. Our portrait of a graduate is five words. Resourceful, resilient, responsible, respectful, ready, and ready is the last one because we want them to be those four things. And then ready to enter the world. So, a portrait of a graduate

024can really help you with that reverse engineering, starting with what are the students we want to be turning out on May 30th and how do we support that? How do we work backwards from that? So, then what do you do with all of that information? Well, meeting as a committee with your superintendent for your superintendent goals. We're not going to get into goals tonight just because there were other things that popped up as more important in your self-evaluation. But I will remind you that NASC will send out completely free of charge field directors to do workshops on whatever you need us to do. We work year round. If you want to do something over the summer, we can do superintendent evaluation, etc. Then protocols, goals, whatever you want to do. Um, again, align it to

025the superintendent cycle. You're going to want to vote to adopt your goals and do it in a very public way. Same for operating protocols. You want to vote to adopt them and make it clear to the public. This is how we work. this is what our values are. This is how we get the job done. And then create a year-long agenda. I so sorry this is the self evaluation which you've all seen. Um six of the seven of you completed it. I don't know who was the person who didn't because it's anonymous but six of the seven of you completed it. But this is a self-evaluation um that we run pretty much we can run it every year for you. we can check in. And that's what told me that you wanted to talk about

026communication and goals and operating protocols most. There are definitely other things we can follow up on. So before we start talking about communication guidelines, does anyone have any questions about roles and responsibilities? Okay. So again, we can come back out and do I am your field director and we say very often we have territories, but we are not territorial. There are four field directors in the office, plus Glenn likes to get into the field every once in a while, too. Um, we can come out and do workshops with you on pretty much anything that has to do with governance. And I know you have some new members, too. And whether or not you've taken charting the course, I'm still your field director. You can drop me an email. That really is my phone number on

027the website. Um, you can call, you can ask questions. Before you get into charting the course, if there's something that we can help you with, please let us know. >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Maybe the maybe not so much our goals and or our roles and responsibilities, but what about our partnerships that we have with like city council? >> Yes. >> I'm not sure if you're going to go through that. So, we're we're going to talk about some communication guidelines and we're going to talk about operating protocols and I think >> once I would recommend we're going to do this workshop tonight and then I would recommend you all take back the information on the operating protocols and the communication guidelines and really think about what kind of operating

028protocols you want. You can work on those yourselves. You can bring me back in for another workshop. We can do that remotely. You can designate the policy subcommittee to do that because they're already working on things anyway. Um, but I would say we're going to talk a little bit about how you communicate with partners, but my goal tonight was to talk about what your roles and responsibilities are and how you communicate with each other first. And then yes, you need to work on how you get information to the city. Every city is different. Um, some cities the mayor is the chair, some cities the mayor is not the chair. Some cities actually don't even put the mayor on the school committee. Some cities just have just elected members. I'm in a town and I'm on

029a regional vote. So, there are 16 of us sitting at the table. That's terrifying, right? Eight towns. Um, but yes, it is something that we will need to We're probably not going to get to that tonight, but it is definitely something that was identified that we want to work on going forward. >> Thank you. >> So, communication guidelines. Um, when we're talking about communication for school committee members, that thing I said about how you're a public figure both legally and publicly, you will get people stopping you everywhere. You will have someone stop you in is it market basket up here? Yes. Uh, for those of you have who have not met me and have not heard me say this, I grew up in Dorchester and every once in a while it comes back out of

030my mouth. So you will run into people everywhere and you would not have taken this job if you didn't care. But you need to be really careful about how you communicate because you as an individual member have zero power to affect anything. You shouldn't be promising anything. Everything should be happening here. So when we're thinking about um your communication as a school committee member, if you're making statements, always be clear that you're only speaking for yourself. Voice an opinion, sure, but don't promise action on something because you can't promise that. And I will tell you, as someone who is entering their ninth year, there are plenty of times I get to the table thinking I know exactly where I'm going and it changes at the table because the body is smarter than the individual. That's

031why we do these things by committee and I know I should be wearing a unicorn horn when I say that. But I really do believe that. So, one of the other things we also want to talk about, we touched on this with roles and responsibilities, is making sure we don't violate the open meeting law. Um, again, the idea of the open meeting law, though it feels kind of stuffy and restrictive sometimes, is it's how the public knows the work of the district is getting done. It's the only way they really know that the work of the district is getting done. You want to be very careful with um electronic quorums, electronic chain deliberation. Um it is very easy to express an opinion online. You express an opinion. You like it. You tag the mayor. The

032mayor likes it again. You chime in. You just created a quorum. You didn't mean to. Not at all. No ill intention at all. But you've created a situation where you are voicing an opinion as a quorum of the body. So we really want to make sure that any communication you do online, social media, etc. your own or otherwise is always only fact-based. If someone wants to know something, here's when our budget hearing is. It starts at 6 PM. We hope you can join us either in person or online and save the deliberations for the room. And again, be very careful that you're not doing that chain deliberation. And there's been a couple of districts who have gotten kind of into the weeds on that one. Um there is in our policy manual, it's in yours

033as well, the MASC code of ethics. This is not the ethics training that you do with the state. Um this is the the MASC code of ethics. And it does remind you that you shouldn't make decisions or statements based on um things that will come before you. If you want to have an opinion online about the fact that your town just went to pay as you go, pay as you throw trash, and it's really confusing. That's my town. Um, it's really confusing. Oh yeah, we're paying per bag at this point and it's so complicated. But I can express that opinion online. If I then say, and you better turn that revenue back into the school district, I have now crossed the line. You do not lose your first amendment rights as a citizen to express

034yourself about your local government. But as a government official, you need to make sure you're not expressing an opinion that needs to be determined in this room or promising something. Um, you make your decisions in the meeting. Hopefully, the input that you gather here, um, I don't know about you all, but I am not an educational professional. I play one on TV, but I am not an educational professional at all. My background is in communication and music theory and composition. I happened into this. I could not tell you what the right curriculum for reading is. God help me if you had to ask me that for math. We rely on the educational experts within the district to bring the information to us in this room and then base our decisions based on the best information

035we have. um it you can you can have opinions about certain things in education without having all of the facts but again what is in the best interest of the students. Um we talk about when we talk about goal setting I very often say you can have a goal that says I want to have happy second graders. Well when my kids were little happy second graders would all have puppies and now you have angry parents. when you're thinking about what the best thing is for the students, you need to be leaning on your educational professionals and then making the informed decisions. So after that um when you take charting the course with us, we tell you that there are three basic roles of a school committee. Budget, policy, superintendent, there's actually four. The super secret

036fourth role is knowing where to send someone when it is not you. because it's almost always going to be not you. Um there's some districts that do this really effectively where they have my kids um elementary school used to have a graphic and it said who you going to call and it had an old school rotary phone in the middle and it said my kid's bus was late for the third time this week. Call the transportation director. Um the pizza was burnt for the fourth Friday in a row. Call food services. My kid has too much homework. Call their classroom teacher. Knowing where to send someone where it's not you, where they can get their problem solved more efficiently and more satisfactorily is literally the underpinning of everything you do. So knowing where to direct

037complaints um all personnel things should go to the superintendent. You are not a part of personnel unless we're talking about a level three grievance and those should be very rare and those have all sorts of rules that rules and laws that apply to them. personnel should always go to the superintendent. Um, there should hopefully be a chain of command somewhere on a piece of paper where you can see it, download it so that you understand who does what in the district. And if you don't have one of those, I would really recommend it. Um, other things about communications, we should keep privileged information private. Usually this u most people think this is just about executive session and that is executive session has rules by which you enter it and there's confidential confidentiality for it but

038let's be completely honest just by virtue of having access to some of this information. You may or may not hear things or see things that should be kept confidential. Never violate a student's privacy or their due process rights. Never violate a staff member's privacy or due process rights. You will, for better or for worse, occasionally come across information. Maybe you're on a tour and you see a kid you recognize. You don't leave the tour and then talk about what happened in that classroom. Um, the idea is the standard of what's learned here leaves here and what's said here stays here. Always respect the privacy and confidentiality of your students and staff. Um, and then you need to observe all other applicable laws. There's we've extended the remote participation until I think 2027, but I'll be

039honest, we don't see that going away. Um there's actually a bill that makes it permanent that's floating through the uh legislature right now. But make sure that you are following all of the other laws and regulations about communication. Anything on communication before we jump to agendas? I go ahead. There's no way around the remote participation law, is there? >> Do you mean do you have to offer it? >> Yes. >> You are legally not required to offer it. However, if the idea is that you get to as many constituents as possible, it has become something that a lot of people when you're talking about um parents and guardians with very young children, working families who want to, you know, participate but can't be there, um when you're talking about someone who may or may not

040need pallet of care for a family member, you do not legally have to have remote participation. If you do, it needs to be accessible to everyone. But again, it's one of those things that I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon. >> And does that also go for members? >> Um, you if a member needs to participate remotely, so that's a whole other story. Um, and there's usually a vote that needs to be taken to allow a member to participate remotely if you don't already have a remote option on your agenda. If the remote option is on your agenda, it's open for members to participate remotely. And I'm gonna say the H word, hybrid. Um, cohort will make everyone scared again. >> I just know the city council is not watching this, but this would

041be something that the city council should probably be watching. >> Well, and they're recorded, too. >> Yeah, >> they're on they're on your website. They're recorded. You can when you're talking about communication, that may be one of the things that you start to think about for effective communication with your city partners is maybe there's um a superintendent's newsletter that could go to the city side. um once every two weeks or so. That includes some of the things you've been doing, maybe a recording. One of the very effective things that I see in towns, and I don't know how it would work in cities, you guys are bigger, but in towns, we very often see what's called a joint chairs meeting. And you'll have the superintendent, the chair of the school committee, the town manager, the

042chair of the select board, the chair of the fincom, the town moderator, and the town business official, and sometimes the school business official. and they will have meetings, leadership meetings where they share what's going on. They're not making decisions. They're not outside of OML. They're saying, "Hey, we just got the numbers from the state. Here's what your required school spending looks like this year. What does your tax revenue look like? Okay, I'm going to go back and start developing the budget." Those things to be able to communicate back and forth can be really, really useful. >> Thank you. >> You are welcome. So, agendas. Um, I have agendas in this presentation because a lot of what you were talking about was communication in your self-evaluation which I will send you after this. I just didn't

043want everyone sitting there looking at the bar graphs while we were talking. Um communication was one of the things you identified as a group as being very important. When we talk about operating protocols, how you do your agendas is one of the best ways to make sure that everyone's getting the same information at the same time. So, agenda best practices, you should always have a consistent process. Be clear about what the timelines are, and you can do that in your operating protocols. Um, I very often recommend, and I've seen this work very well in a lot of districts, that the superintendent and maybe the assistant superintendent or the business official or whoever is um coming before you the most at that time. We're all in budget season. And then the chair and the vice chair

044sit down and have an agenda setting meeting. and you reverse engineer that. You know, you need to post at least 48 hours in advance. When do you need documents? When do you need to tell the administration that you need those documents? When do you need to talk to the um city about posting your meetings? Reverse engineer from that 48 hour window and have agenda setting meetings where it's very clear that you're talking about things. Um other agenda um the format must haves you have to have the name of the committee which seems silly to say but you do if it's a subcommittee you have to have the name of the subcommittee um date and starting time of the meeting. It's nice to have time estimates. We all know that doesn't always work. The location of

045the meeting whether it's in person or remote um that needs to be on there. Remote access instructions as needed. a list of topics that the chair reasonably anticipates. Now, when we say reasonably anticipates, things start feeling a little fuzzy. You cannot deliberate and vote on something that is not on your agenda. That is a violation of open meeting law. You can ask in a meeting to have something put on a subsequent agenda. Don't deliberate on it, but you can ask to have something put on a subsequent agenda. my agenda at Nishobate. We have a section that says um other items not anticipated within 48 hours. And I was able meetings ago to say, "Hi, I know Day on the Hill got moved up this year. It's not in May anymore. It's at the end of

046March. I'd like the legislative subcommittee to meet. Can you put that on our next agenda?" I'm the chair of the legislative subcommittee. I said it. No one deliberated. We talked about it on the next agenda. You can bring things up, but you shouldn't be deliberating on them. Um, and if you're having an executive session, always, always, always finish that motion with either the cha the committee will return to public session or the committee will not be returning to public session. That has to be on your agenda. When we talk about optional items, um, I know you guys have started using a consent agenda because that came up in a couple years ago in one of our workshops. Um, time estimates, bestlaid plans of school committees, we have time estimates. Do you guys have rules where

047it says you have to stop the meeting at a certain time? Good and bad. Um, relationship to goals. One of the optional things you can do to your on your agenda, and I find this very effective, is if you're talking about something that relates back to the superintendent goals, tag that item with relates to goal number three, superintendent's goals. If it's one of your goals, tag it with that. Not only does it help the public understand what it is you're doing in these meetings, but it helps you later on when you go back to evaluate whether or not you were effective. It's already on your agendas. You don't have to go hunting around for it. um and subcommittee reports. However you choose to do that, be consistent, but you should be hearing from your subcommittees

048beyond just when they're bringing things to you. So, a quick subcommittee check-in. Um we have many subcommittees at NOVAC because again, we're an eight member town district and we stand alone as the municipality. We're not going back to the towns for absolutely everything. So, we have a warrant subcommittee. We have a um facilities and equipment subcommittee. We have a lot of subcommittees that a lot of other districts don't have. But at every meeting, the chair of the school committee checks in. Um, warrant subcommittee, did you meet this week? Yes, we met. And you the item is on our agenda. We approved it a few minutes ago. Just a quick check-in. How are your subcommittees doing? Because that's an opportunity for um the committee to see whether or not you have adequate staffing on your subcommittees.

049Subcommittees are there to help you do your work. they can't do your work for you, but if you have check-ins with them, they can tell you, "These are the things we're working on." It gives everyone an idea of what's coming next. Um, policy subcommittee. We just finished this section. We know we're about to f we're about to start the section on say we were starting section D, which is all the finance things. That starts to click people's brains into, okay, we're going to see some finance policies. We might need to see this the business official. They might want to have input on this. So, subcommittee reports are an optional thing, but they can be really helpful. Um, oh, and at the bottom, the superintendent and chair should discuss guidelines for student and staff presentations. I

050always think about the kindergarten teachers who are sitting there in the audience until 9:30 and they have to get up with the kindergarteners the next morning. If you know you're going to have a presentation from staff, tell them realistically what it is you're looking for so that they don't spend their time putting together presentations on what you don't need. Um, that should be part of your agenda setting meetings. What is it we're looking for on this MCCAST report? Tell the staff what it is you're looking for so that their time can be more effectively spent. Um, we don't really need to go through the consent agenda basics. I know you guys know this already because you're starting to do it. Um, we can definitely cover that a little bit more in depth another time. This

051is just an example of where um, this is my committee where they've put the superintendent's goals on the agenda. I brag on them a lot. I had nothing to do with that. They did that before me. But when we're talking about the superintendent's goals at the end of the cycle, we can see all along throughout the year what agenda items relate back to direct superintendent goals. And then there's just an example of some uh of an uh year-long agenda. Um this one should not scare anyone. This committee cheats because their chair is the president of MASBO, which is the school business official association. It's the school business official version of us. So her year-long agenda is the most detailed year-long agenda I've ever seen. The idea for a year-long agenda is to know budget season

052starts around the same time every year. Um, you know, you're going to get MCCAST scores around the same time every year. Your enrollment numbers are always due on October 1st. Um, depending on whether or not we have a new governor or not, you kind of know when the governor's budget's coming out. Plotting those things into your year-long agenda can help you address other things as they come up. So, this is the big one for you all, and I think it's where we should probably start. I would suggest you start by developing operating protocols. I know we're working on your policy manual now and there's a whole section in your policy manual about committee governance. It's section B, but there's more you can do to help support an efficient um committee, an effective committee, and operating

053protocols are really a place to start with that. So, what I would recommend is we can talk a little bit about operating protocols, but before we run out of time, I want you all to brainstorm with me some things you think should be in your operating protocols. So operating protocols are literally your rules of engagement. How do we get information? How do things get on our agendas? When are our agendas filed? How do I get information from the administrator that I need to get information from? How do I send questions to my chair? Operating protocols, though they can feel a little restrictive, are actually a lot more freeing because you're not answering five emails with the same question. Everyone gets the same rules of the road. So, it's also a self-evaluating document that if you

054had operating protocols, we could be going over them now, but in the future you can. operating protocols are not a way to stifle dissent or to stop debate or to limit communication beyond the limits that you need with the open meeting law. If anything, it actually is more freeing because you know you don't go have to go hunting and pecking for things. You know how the information is going to come to you. Um they should always include a statement of purpose and objectives. I'm going to brag on my committee again. Our operating protocols start with those five words from our portrait of a graduate. Our operating protocols say responsible, resourceful, resilient, respectful, ready. And then under each of those things, because we're trying to align everyone, the students, the staff, the school committee, we talk

055about how we do things. So under resourceful, I will do my work. I will do my research before I get to the committee room. I will have my questions prepared by the date that I am asked to have them prepared by. our operating protocols fit into that. I gave you guys some examples of operating protocols and there's some a little further on where it just it doesn't quite go into that much detail, but they open with this is our statement of values and here's how we operate. Your operating protocol should talk about your conduct of business and the scope of your responsibilities. One of the biggest things operating protocols can do for you other than make it easier for you is make it easier for the public to understand what you do. We get you

056guys for workshops like this. You guys come to charting the course. Hopefully we have other workshops and other like our convention and the summer institute and we get to talk to you guys a lot about what your job is. The public doesn't get that. The public doesn't really know what's within your scope of responsibilities and what isn't within your scope of responsibilities. So one of the very effective ways to set up your operating protocols is to say policy we do this. Budget we do this. evaluate the superintendent. We do this. So, it explains to the public what it is you actually have control over and what you don't. Um, it should include standards of conduct. We are all adults, but it should say things like we um allow every member time to speak. We operate

057by Robert's rules. Um, I didn't give you guys the Robert's rules booklets because we're actually almost out of them. I will get you guys some Robert's rules booklets. Ah, but we have the quick reference one where literally you go down the page and the pages are shorter than they need to be in certain places. Love it. Um, and they keep you on track. Operating protocols do. Again, um, some considerations around communication pathways. You can talk about your chain of command. You can talk about whether or not you want to have a chair as a spokesperson for the committee only. The superintendent is always the spokesperson for the district. You guys are only the spokesperson for the committee. um social media posts, you can have operating protocols in there. We have a great one-pager on social

058media for committee members. I can also send you um and then being very clear about your board member role in public that you do not as an individual member have any more um influence than any other committee member. So, I'm going to pause right there because the next one is just about next steps and there's an example. Um, but while we're there and there's still some slides as we get closer to six o'clock, um, there's still some slides on goal setting, but I really do think that based on your self-evaluation, let's start with the operating protocols. And I'm going to give you your first goal anyway. Your first goal is we need to have operating protocols. It's like write it's writing write a to-do list at the top of the to-do list. So, if you

059guys want to share some things you think you might want to have in your operating protocols, I'm opening the floor to you now because I've just given you a fire hose of information for like 45 minutes. >> Mr. Mayor through um I'm not sure if Well, first of all, I'm Alejandro. Nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you. >> I just joined the committee. >> We met actually. You were on some of our remote policy meetings. >> That's correct. I publicly participated. Um, I don't know if we have a protocol already set in place for putting things on the agenda, but I think that if if we don't, we should have uh a procedure to uh either communicate with the vice chair or with the chair directly or with the superintendent about um or

060specifically the superintendent about agenda items that could be put on next agendas or agendas moving forward. >> Thank you. And if I may, you have a policy in section B which is your governance on agendas but then that next step much like the protocols of the district or the next step from the policies your operating protocols for you would be the next step from that as well. So, any other thoughts on things you might want to have in your operating protocols you have here staying on track and I think that's a challenge for myself but in discuss on an agenda item focusing on that item because I I think sometimes our meetings go on longer than they need to. Um, and I'll I'll be the first one to say I'm guilty. Um, but staying very

061focused on the agenda item, which can be challenging >> 100%. >> So, how do we do that? Like, how do we operate so that happens? We >> do a lot of the committees you work with um have a time limitation. >> Um, not necessarily a time limitation on how long the meeting can last. They usually follow Robert's rules where it says that everyone gets a chance to speak once before anyone gets a chance to speak again. Robert's rules leans really heavily into the chair is the servant of the body. So the chair needs to conclude sort of the chair needs to be the conductor up there. Concluding discussion when it needs to conclude when you're sort of circling and saying you know you're having the same discussion over and over again. It's the chair's responsibility

062to stop that and move people forward. So, it's not so much that they have limits on agenda items, it's that they more closely adhere to Robert's rules to make sure they're staying within time frames. >> Thank you. >> I'm not going to say Mthuan does this or or doesn't do it, but how many cities do you work with send everything to subcommittee and then bring it back as a lesser of two evil conversations? So I can I can't speak to it from the city perspective, but I can tell you at Nohobate Tech the majority of the work is done in subcommittees. >> Yeah. >> Um we have some subcommittees that do struggle for numbers. We're talking about eight member towns and the closest town is the one I live in. That's where the school is.

063But then we go all the way out to Peril. A subcommittee should help you do work and it should bring you their recommendation. That doesn't mean the committee can't do something else, but it does mean that the majority of the work happens in the subcommittee so they can bring you the best recommendations. So you're not sitting around the table. I have done this. I'm telling on myself debating the word shall versus may for 20 minutes. That should happen in a subcommittee. The recommendation comes forward. It doesn't mean that you can't choose something different. It doesn't mean that you can't send something back to subcommittee. But there are some larger committees where most of the work is done in subcommittee. >> Yeah. And I think that's something that we don't we're guilty of not doing a

064lot of. >> So here's something else about subcommittees. They need to have minutes. And any member who is not on the subcommittee should be able to look at the subcommittee's minutes and know what happened in that meeting. So you may not necessarily be getting as much information as you would like from the subcommittee in the full committee meeting, but you could go back and look at their minutes and see, oh, somebody asked that question. Here's why they did that. What about recording subcommittees? I know that's a topic right now. >> It's possible. Um, depending on when the subcommittee is held and where it's held and how it's held. I think remote meetings are a little easier to record just because they are remote meetings. There are some subcommittees that record some committees that record all

065of their subcommittee meetings. I do a lot of work. I have eight member district. Nope, I'm up to 11 now. I have 11 member districts who are doing policy projects right now. Almost all of them are fully remote and I would say about three or four of them are recording the meetings. >> Yeah. >> So it's not all of them but it's possible. >> It's possible. Thank you. Thank you. >> I saw you had a question. >> Is the limit twice to speak on a subject? >> So here's the thing. School committees operate on what's called Robert's rules with exceptions. So, under Robert's rules, I believe it says everyone has two bites at the apple, but then the chair can decide if there are other things that need to happen. That's where we get into

066chairs being the servant of the body. Um, you can adjust things as needed. There may be questions. You may have three questions, you may have one. You're not necessarily yielding your time, but if there's a pertinent question on the floor, the chair can decide what to do. It's a Robert's rules with exceptions. The idea is to use it as your foundation. Um, when we're talking about voting, you should adhere very close to Robert's rules. Um, because there are laws behind that, how vote how votes happen, that they're in public. Certain votes need to be two-thirds majority. Um, that's usually your suspension of policies, things like that. But for the most part, it's it's scaffolding. And and just a point as a second time to speaking if possible through you is we also have the abilities

067to motion things which I would highly recommend new members looking at because I could motion to move a question. I could motion to suspend debate. I could motion to uh appeal. like there's a lot of things that you have the power as an elected official as a quorum to be able to do and some bodies of our government don't actually look into that sometimes. So I would highly recommend um doing that but you know we do have something in Methuan which is a charter. >> Are the rules of the charter also acceptable here on the school board? So, the charter of the city of Methuan will influence things like when your budget season is um how things get reported to the city. The charter of the city can't override the state laws though and open

068meeting laws a state law. And when you you're very right about motioning things, but you have to be very careful about one, you can't make an illegal motion. And two, some motions require more than just a majority. So, if you're looking at those motions within Robert's rules, the motion to reconsider requires a twothirds majority of the W and it needs to be brought forth by the winning side, not the losing side. So, there's all these Robert man. Um, there's all these little bits and pieces that you need to check. But your city charter is mostly for your city. The things you're talking about, motions, uh, quorums, things like that, that's basic Massachusetts general law. The reason why I ask is we have a a funny tool called, and I know we're almost at time, mayor,

069so I apologize, a term called charter object. >> Charter objection does not function in a school committee. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. We get that question a lot. >> I just want to make it clear. >> Yes, >> absolutely. So, >> I've asked that question probably every time I've sat in the seat. So, I I just it's never >> as we are at time and you need to get on with the business of your district because something else we like to say is the school committee meeting is a business meeting of the school committee in public, not a public meeting of the school committee. That's what public hearings are for. Um, you need to get on with the business of the district. I would suggest let's have everyone think about the operating protocols. There's

070some things in the slides about goal setting and I provided you with a whole bunch of other printouts. I will send everything electronically so you can also include it in your packet after the fact. Um, but after you've had a little while, maybe get beyond budget season, let's come back together and talk about operating protocols and talk about um, we can go over some very effective operating protocols from other districts. I included some examples in your folder. There are some really great ones out there. Um, Reading has some fantastic operating protocols. Those are in there. I think Westfords and maybe Chumsfords are in there. Um, but if you have any questions, especially the new members, um, my contact information is in there. We are all on the website. You can talk to me. You can

071talk to any of the other field directors by all means. And thanks for having me out. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> So, at this point, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motions from member Keegan, seconds from member Soy. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. The eyes have it. Time is 6:01 p.m. and our special meeting is adjourned. Good evening. The school committee business session of March 9, 2026 will now come to order. This meeting is being recorded and will be made available for viewing on the Methuan public schools website. I'll ask member Donovan to take the roll call. Yes. >> Yes. Present. >> Yeah. >> Here. Everyone is here. We need a motion and a second to accept tonight's agenda. So move. >> Second. >>

072Motion's for member Bayz. The second is for member Keegan. Any discussion? There's no discussion. We'll vote. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. The eyes have it. We will now hear from the student who'll be take care of the flag salute. >> Sure. I'd like to invite supervising principal of the Marsh Grammar School, Rebecca Gordon, up to introduce our flag salute student, Madison Henry. There we go. All right. Perfect. So, I can talk all about you. I'm proud to present tonight's Marsh Star student, Madison Henry, to lead the flag salute. Madison exemplifies safety, respect, and responsibility every single day. She is a role model for all of our students. Madison's teacher, Mrs. Lee, shares that she always demonstrates safety for herself and others, whether in the classroom, hallways of or other school areas. She

073is responsible for her work, always comes to class prepared, and always do what is being asked of her. She puts forth best effort every single day. Above all, Madison is respectful to both peers and adults. She embodies kindness. She is caring and compassionate to all. She will go out of her way to help those in need and is never looking for praise or reward. She She strives to her best each and every day. Science is her favorite subject in school as she likes to explore things. Also shared by fourth grade staff, Madison has been and continues to be an inclusive student. She goes out of her way to include students with diverse learning needs by supporting not only their academics but their social emotional needs. She is kind, understanding, and supportive of her peers and

074staff. Madison has two siblings. Her younger brother, Mason, enjoys playing soccer with Madison and feels like she always makes time for him. Madison's older sister thinks she is creative and funny. Outside of school, Madison plays soccer and flag football. She has traveled with her flag football team, winning the World Championship in the Junior Olympics last year. Mom and dad also noticed that Madison is very responsible and notes she works hard in school and during sports. Madison exemplifies a Marsh star student. She works hard to do well and is always willing to help others to do and be their very best. She demonstrates respect for herself and others. Madison is an impressive person, demonstrating maturity beyond her years and is a true role model for all. We believe Madison will achieve success in any goal she

075sets for herself. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And now I'll invite the superintendent to introduce our soore award student. >> Sure. Um Laura Enright, department chair of the world language department at Mthuan High School will present our award this evening. Good evening. Good evening. The World Language Department is extremely proud to present Dia Demir as our 2026 Soore Award winner for her commitment to and achievements in French and the school community. Over her four years at MHS, Dia has tackled the challenge of a demanding honors and AP course load across the curriculum. She has maintained a 4.463 GPA overall and a 4.5 GPA in French coursework. She is currently

076ranked 24th in her class. Her wide- ranging academic achievements have been recognized with the St. Anselm's Junior Book Award, the Massachusetts Student Achievement Award for MCCAST performance, and her status as an AP scholar with distinction. Her French for honors teacher, Lucy Ojeron, says that Dia is an amazing student with an exceptional language skills. Her level of French is truly outstanding. She was not raised learning speaking French and only started learning the language freshman year. She is now in French 4 and already demonstrates a remarkable proficiency in the language. This March, this week, Dia will have the opportunity to qualify for the seal of biiteracy in French. Following graduation, Dia plans to attend a four-year college or university with a focus in psychiatry or neurology and to study abroad in a franophhone country. Beyond her academic

077achievements, Dia is committed to enriching the Methuan High School community while balancing her demanding schedule. She leads the French club as co-president is a member of the National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society, and Mock Trial. In 2025, her French 3 teacher, Aaron Madison, nominated her as a student member of our local world language advisory team, where she continues to demonstrate her leadership through meaningful contributions and participation. Dia is held in the highest regard by Methuan High School faculty for her genuine passion and commitment to learning, global awareness, and the MHS community. And it is with great pleasure that we honor her as our Soore Award recipient tonight. Um, hello. I'd like to say thank you to my parents who raised me and although they didn't use the French language, they were always there to

078help if I needed it. Um, my two French teachers, Madame Ojon and Madame Madison, who's not here today, but I still very thankful. And, um, all my teachers that have helped me support and have helped support me throughout the years. Thank you. Congratulations. Oops. Say cheese. >> You're welcome. Next on the agenda, we have updates from our student representative. I don't think we have uh any tonight. Uh if I'm mistaken, let me know. Um next on the agenda, I'll invite the superintendent to present tonight's staff recognition award. Vanessa Guthrie, media specialist, Mthuan High School. Would you please come up? It's my pleasure to introduce Miss Vanessa Guthrie, our high school media specialist. Miss Guthrie joined Methuan public schools as a high school English teacher in 2004 and remained in that position for 14 years do

079during which time she taught a variety of English courses largely centering on AP English literature and British literature. She was also an adviser to the blue and white our school newspaper. In 2018, Miss Guthrie um changed roles, became our high school media specialist, a role in which she maintains the collection, educates, and assists students research, and serves as a trusted adult for many students seeking a good book and a confidant. When we began our grammar school library revitalization process last year, Miss Guthrie jumped at the opportunity to help work with fallout librarians and volunteers to refresh our collections. This year, Miss Guthrie extended herself by working extra hours after school to meet with grammar school administration and PTO's to drive to drive the grand reopenings. Miss Guthrie set up selfch checkout stations and instructions for

080staff and students. Whereas Miss Miss Guthrie has been developing eye-catching and engaging displays at the high school for several years, her talents have truly been on display with her wonderful creations at the grammar schools. Miss Guthrie has helped breathe life into our library spaces and most importantly get books into the hands of eager students. I thank Miss Guthrie for her commitment and energy she has brought to this project. She has helped make a large and dynamic project feel truly magical. >> Thank you so much. I'm so grateful for this recognition and to be here tonight. Um, I'm so proud of the work that we've done so far on the libraries and even prouder when I see all the kids with books in their hands now. Um, I'd like to say thank you to Lisa for

081this opportunity and your support throughout this whole process. And I'd also like to give a special shout out to Marilyn, Judy, and Barbara for their help from the very beginning. They were amazing. Thank you. What affect. I remember writing for the blue and white when Miss Guthrie was I think the uh advisor behind that uh project at the high school and and thank you Miss Guthrie for bringing our school libraries back to life. >> It's awesome. Yeah. Next on the agenda, we have public participation. Uh, three individuals have signed up and I'll open it up to anyone else who would like to speak as well. Uh, first on the list is Tracy Swinarski. It's on, right? Okay. Good evening, Mayor Bora Godard and school committee members. I'd first like to thank the members who attended

082the forum on Saturday the 28th in Haveril. It shows your commitment to listening to all of the stakeholders in the need for an increased funding from both the local and federal government. I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself and my experience as a longtime educator within the Mthuan public schools. I am a proud graduate of Mthuan High School. I began my education in kindergarten at the House Street School. So now you all know how old I am. I now teach at the Donald P. Timin School from where I was a student from 1982 to 1986. To say that it has come full circle is an understatement. I have worked in four Mthuan schools in a variety of roles. I have taught grades three and five, been a library media specialist and now

083currently a STEM specialist. Honestly, being the library media specialist was the highlight of my career. Gave me the most joy. Not that I'm not happy now. am um when our libraries were closed. It was personally devastating to me. Libraries were not just about checking out books. I truly loved reading to children and teaching them about calicott and newberry award winners. Each class included a lesson to go along with the li with a book or a library skill. Libraries are the hub of a school and thank you Miss Guthrie for bringing them back. Losing libraries was not just losing a specialist. It was the beginning of a slippery slope. We have a member on our committee now who can speak firsthand of all that was done within our libraries. I'd like to quote Dr. Brad Johnson.

084Some of you may be familiar with him. He's a widely followed principal. He has a wonderful perspective on education. He's the son of Wally Lamb, the author. This quote resonated with me and I begin. If you don't think PE, art, music, health, and similar classes are just as important as any other class, try explaining that to musicians, athletes, singers, actors, dancers, designers, artists, directors, coaches, and photographers. There are millions of people in these positions. Millions. And for many of them, it started in a school class that all too often gets treated like it's less important. These classes aren't specials, extras, or electives. They are just as important to learning, development, and keeping many students connected to school as any other classes that we offer. Sometimes they're where students discover where what they are capable of

085and sometimes they are the reason that a student wants to come to school at all. End quote. This brings to me the devastating cut of health in our lower schools last spring. Our students need health education. After COVID, the number of students suffering from both from social emotional struggles significantly increased. At the Tim, we have both the pathway and the choices programs. These are some of our most vulnerable populations. This also increases the number of disregulated students who desperately need the tools to manage their behavior. These programs are underst staffed and desperately need more support. I'm saying desperately a lot here. Um, now I'd like to address the class size. The elimination of health adds approximately five students to each remaining specialist. Since we have lost a specialist, the remaining students are split, making our

086class sizes up to 29 in some classes. The regular classrooms, for perspective, average 25 students. It may not seem like a big deal adding five additional students because again we're just specialists, but it is simply unmanageable. It's a safety and space challenge. Having 29 fourth graders, it's nearly impossible for me to circulate around the room. They're big kids. I don't fit between the tables. The very nature of STEM is collaboration. 29 kids collaborating is loud yet purposeful. When it comes to my co-workers who teach PE, they have up to 60 students in the small gym. They don't feel comfortable taking that many students outside. That many students in a gym put students at risk for collisions due to the gym size. We all recognize that classroom educators are and should be the priority. However, the

087effect of cutting a specialist has made an impact that I feel was overlooked when decisions were made or maybe just simply misunderstood. Every educator and position in the building is critical. The loss has a direct impact on our current scheduling. Currently, I have at least two days of classes, Mondays and Tuesdays specifically, that are four classes behind. The Tenny and the Timony follow a day of the week schedule. The Marsh and the CGS follow a four-day letter schedule. This leads to inconsistency in both the buildings and the districts. There is a significant loss of learning because of this schedule and the classes that I've missed. Health should not have just been cut. It is my hope that restoring health education will be reconsidered and it will return for the next school year. Thank you for

088your time and your consideration. >> Deb Burch Hi, I'm Deb Burch, 16 1st Avenue, and I want to thank you all for supporting the Methuan public schools. While not a parent of a Mthuan student, I am the proud aunt of a Mthuan graduate, and I taught science for 30 years in a neighboring high school. I want to thank member Don Donovan Grassi for developing the media center classroom library procedure. It's very very well done. I do have several points to make. This procedure is not about textbooks or curricular books as they have their own policy and opt out procedure. Member Donovan Grassy's procedure is written for books that are selected by the students either in media centers or in classroom collections. They may also be used for book reports, diaramas, other assignments that are open

089to individual choice or for free reading in and out of the classroom. The second point, the first step of the procedure starts with parental concerns being brought to the attention of the teacher. At the last school committee meeting, it was stated that this was understood and therefore didn't need to be included. As an experienced teacher, I can tell you that it doesn't always happen in that order. Parents often prepare prefer to go to some level of the administration first. By having this written in the procedure, it gives the administrators the directive to send the complaintant to the teacher once they established that that step was missed. Third point, at the last meeting, another suggestion was made to allow all Methuan taxpayers to be complaintants instead of parents only. This opens the process to political attacks

090on books. And most books currently being questioned nationwide involve LGBTQIA subjects and/or people of color. If anyone can challenge a book, it will increase the number of books needing to be reviewed and will quickly become unmanageable. There are multiple districts on record where this has happened. The Massachusetts Senate passed state law 2696 on November 6th of 2025 that promotes freedom of information and thought in Massachusetts public schools and libraries. It ensures students free and open access to books and materials that have met standards for their selection. They must be age appropriate and serve an educational purpose based on the teachers or employees professional training. Since we have a diverse population of students and families, we need a diverse selection of books representing all members of our school's community. So possible book removal must be carefully

091thought out as outlined in the procedure. Finally, unrelated to the book review procedure, the members discuss the possibility of sending parents a list of books that their child signed out from the media center and I believe from classroom libraries. This may ca counter the law for students freedom of information and thought if the parents object to the books their child signed out. Furthermore, as a high school GSA faculty co-sponsor from 1992 until my official retirement, I became very familiar with the mass general law chapter 76 section five. This anti-discrimination law prohibits forced disclosure of a student's LGBTQIA status. If a questioning youth, an out youth or an ally seeks books on these issues, sending that book list home may break this law. Not to mention that the student then might be physically or emotionally harmed,

092become unhoused, or they may decide not to use the quality resources here out of fear of disclosure. Thank you for listening and considering my points. Kristen Maxwell Hold on. I'm going to drop everything. Okay. Uh, my name is Kristen Maxwell. I live at 5 East Prospect Street. Um, I didn't plan on speaking here again ever, but silence clearly makes people more comfortable and I've never been very good at staying quiet. Um, especially when something isn't right. Before I get to the bigger reason I'm speaking tonight, I want to comment on the procedure that you have in front of you and will be voting on tonight. For two years, I was repeatedly told that the school committee does not deal with procedures and day-to-day operations, only policy. that was made very clear to me any time

093that I tried to raise questions about how things were being done or being handled. And it sounds like Alicia addressed that um during the training. So um I also want to remind everyone that back in October, I brought forward a concern about a parent um that a parent brought forward about a book. I wasn't asking to ban anything. I simply wanted to have a conversation. I wanted to know what options existed in this district for an opt- out policy. For that, I was labeled a book banner and heavily criticized. I was told that even asking those questions was the first step towards banning books. Those were your words, not mine. Yet tonight, you are considering a procedure that formally creates a book challenge process. The reality is that this is going to create more challenges

094within the district than it has before. And the irony is that this process already exists within a current policy. So, I genuinely question the intention behind this and the inconsistency and how this community uh committee chooses when rules apply and when rules don't. Which brings me to my next point. Back in December, I publicly stated at a city council meeting that I had no confidence in the school committee. Unfortunately, nothing has happened since then that has restored that confidence. In fact, it's only reinforced it. There's a significant issue involving the conduct and culture of this body. It was serious. It was witnessed. It was documented. And instead of addressing it directly, most of you chose silence. Minimizing something doesn't make it disappear. What happened didn't just affect a meeting. It revealed the standard of this

095body and what it's willing to accept. You don't get to smile at me, say hello, and act like we're fine. We're not. You wanted me gone. I'm gone. But let's not rewrite rewrite what happened to make it easier to live with. Leadership isn't about a title. It's about accountability. It's about having the courage to address hard things even when they involve your colleagues. We talk about bullying task forces and student well-being. But culture starts here. Adults set the tone. If we can't hold ourselves to the highest standard of professionalism and respect, then those initiatives mean very little. Some of you have served in this district for decades. You know what I know. You know the literacy data. You know the gaps. And you know the families who are struggling. So when those same struggles lead

096to outside programs being presented as solutions instead of accountability for how we got here, it raises concerns about priorities. Our students deserve urgency, transparency, and results, not politics and not self-p protection. Good intentions aren't enough. Experience isn't enough. Saying the right words isn't enough. You don't owe me anything. But you do owe the students in this district everything. Our kids deserve better. And the people who put you in these seats expect more from you. They deserve to feel safe, have fun, and get a real education. You need to listen to the parents and staff. They're telling you where the shortfalls are. But those concerns are often dismissed. We need real actionable change. We're losing staff and students because this district is struggling. Acknowledging problems is not a sign of failure. It's a sign of leadership.

097You cannot improve student outcomes if you're unwilling to admit where things are falling short. I may not be sitting at this table anymore, but I am still a parent in this district. I still care deeply about these schools and the people in them. Our schools need need real leadership. So, please do something to help save them. The community is watching. Parents are paying attention. Leadership will always be judged not by what is said, but why, but by what is being done. Our kids deserve adults who are willing to stand up, tell the truth, and do the right thing even when it's uncomfortable. I hope someday this committee proves that it understands that because that's when the real change can start to begin. Thank you. Is there anybody else in the audience who wishes to speak?

098I'm coming. I don't even need a microphone. Is this on? >> Hi, my name is Heather Plunkett. I live at 115 East Street and I would like to speak tonight. I'm a parent. I'm a senior here at Methuan High School and um my daughter was actually given the SOAR award recently. So when the first SP uh speaker of the evening talked about the arts, I can speak from personal experience how important they are. Um they even invented a class for Lydia because she had pretty much aged out of all of them because she had gone through every class. So she does APR now. And um our program is really awesome. The teachers are amazing and I'm glad that we're we have that resource for kids that aren't sports kids or you know math elites. None

099of my kids are math elites. Um the other thing I wanted to speak on tonight is uh our community's had a lot of drama um city council, school committee, what have you. But um watching the last meeting, watching the meeting tonight, hearing what people have to say, I actually feel optimistic about the committee that we have. I think there are different opinions. I think people can speak intelligently to their opinions uh without it getting ugly, and I like that. I'm excited about that. I also wanted to clarify that what Mary Beth had discussed uh at the last meeting wasn't about a book ban on books that are in the curriculum. It was a procedure if somebody brought a challenge against a book in a library. So that is different than curriculum. There is an opt

100out for curriculum. It was because there are communities in Massachusetts where library books and classroom library books are being challenged. So to have a procedure in place before we experience that would be the reason she brought this forward. And if I'm misunderstanding that it can be clarified uh later when you guys discuss. Um my only other comment is I think that the school committee is you get as much out of it as you put into it. Uh most of you have children that have either gone through the system or currently going through the system or will go through the system. Um so everybody has a vested interest here. Everybody wants good things to happen, right? Nobody is sitting here hoping for the worst and and wanting to act crazy. Um and so I think it's

101important that lessons are learned from past behavior. Um and we move forward in a positive way. Um my only other comment is um I I am curious to see what Member Wlette brings forth with the par parental bill of rights. Um I don't know if that's something the public will get to review before it's something you vote on, but I really hope it is. Um, I I'm very curious to see what that entails. Other than that, thank you guys for all being here. I know it isn't easy uh to be here, but you do, you know, choose to run and you're in office and you take the good with the bad and you get a really thick skin. So, thank you all for being here. Thank you for letting us speak. >> Is there anybody

102else who wishes to speak? If not, I will close public participation. Uh if you were not able to meet make a meeting in person for public participation, you can send an email to Susan Shanti at snsc n ti mthuan.k12 uh excuse me, mthuan.k12.mma. us before 3M on the day of the school committee meeting. Next on the agenda, we have approval of minutes. We need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of January 28th, 2026. >> So move. >> Second. Motion is from the vice chair. Second is for member Keegan. Any discussion, >> Mr. Mayor? >> Yes. >> Uh since I didn't participate in those meetings, I'll just be voting present. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion? If not, we'll vote. All those in favor? >> I opposed. The eyes have it with

103member Bayas voting present. Next, we have approval of the minutes from February 9th, 2026. So, >> second. >> Motions from the vice chair, seconds from member Keegan. Any discussion? There's no discussion. We'll vote. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. >> Present. >> We'll have uh member Bayas marked as voting present. Otherwise, the minutes have been approved. Uh next on the agenda, we have staff reports. I'll invite Dr. Golovski to present your your update. >> Thank you. Two two main notes for you this evening in the update report. Um the first regarding federal funding, specifically title one. The commissioner um gave a a webinar the other day uh where a significant amount of time was dedicated to warning districts about the the funding of title one this year. So although uh on February 3rd,

104Congress appropriated FY27 federal education funds to be level funded, the point was made that the funding for title one is dependent upon poverty levels. The federal poverty levels different than how we consider those um in Massachusetts. So the funding that will be allocated to Massachusetts um is anticipated as being at least 10% less than had been last year. So although we would be um expecting the same amount of funding that our numbers may warrant receiving less than uh also it was it was recommended that districts consider that um we could potentially be in the hold harmless category indicating that um you would not be allowed to receive 85 less than 85% of what you had received in the previous year from title one. So to be safe, we should anticipate receiving 85% and hope that

105the way the numbers shake out between the federal and state um definitions that we may get slightly more. I mentioned that as we're heading into budget season because we do have a significant amount of salaries in title one currently and we have to consider that people with those salaries will be getting horizontal and vertical raises for the most part. Um and so those numbers will be higher coupled with um an anticipated lower allocation for title one. So more on that to come. Um the final uh allocations won't be shared until June, but that's just a cautionary u message to share there. And then secondly, I heard U. Member Daglio or Vice Chair Daglio's recommendation last meeting about um potentially onboarding an assistant superintendent for the remainder of the year. I do agree the deeper that

106we get into um balancing both roles. I had some concerns about u maintaining the momentum of the projects from the office of teaching and learning. I took some time to list out the number of projects that are currently underway and are necessary for the district. Um I got over 50 uh projects listed and moving along. So what I did was I prioritized the top 21 that I felt as though I needed an extra set of hands in terms of oversight of those projects and looked within our district to see which members of the administrative or leadership team already had a role in those plans potentially had the capacity to onboard additional work considering their their current workload. Um and I arrived at um John Crocker, the director of mental health and behavioral services, Christine Dumont,

107our English chair, and Meredith Moore, our math chair. Um all parties were willing to help drive um and execute the plans through the remainder of the year. So again, these are all projects that are underway. Um, but I think that that having this direct point of contact for the individuals working on these projects will expedite the work um because they no longer have to wait on me for responses and I will continue to work on those. The other projects um I will continue to work on as well. I would have gone your way um vice chair Daglio with someone in that role but I thought the timing was tricky seeming seeing as it's March on boarding someone new it's April and then um my position would end in June so it worked out in different

108way last last go around because I believe it was the fall so all parties are on board I shared that at the quarterly leadership meeting today um and I worked with uh Meredith Moore today specifically on developing doing some um project um monitoring spreadsheets so I can keep track of the timelines and who's in charge of which roles within those projects. Um and I look forward to seeing the results of that work there. >> Member Keegan, >> are we offering them the these three people stipens of any sort? Um because I feel like we need if we're giving them more responsibilities and taking an assistant superintendent role and giving them something, we we need to financially support them. >> Yes, I did offer them all a flat stipen for for the projects um that they'll

109be working on. >> Thank you. >> Other questions for the acting superintendent? >> If not, we'll move on. Uh, next on the agenda we have maintenance and custodial updates. Any questions for Mr. Garzelyn regarding custodial update? >> As you see, there was a memo in there about um change of titles as well as slightly. So I had talked to you guys previously about having a person on first shift who we have Willie Hernandez overseeing both maintenance and custodial and then having a counterpart supervising uh second shift as well maintenance and custodial um positions already in the budget. Um second shift would report to the first shift position um in that hierarchy. Uh, but we would have somebody on second shift who um on Friday night I got calls about the elevator in this building, other

110things in this building. Willie had to come back and take care of it. If we had a second shift person on, you know, that would have been my call. But, um, it's simply a change of a slight change of job description and title. Um, like I said, they're already in the budget, but we'll have coverage first and second shift. if you approve it. >> Any follow-up questions for Mr. Gosler? >> If not, we'll move on to uh student enrollment reports. Any questions, comments from the committee regarding the student enrollment report. >> Member Keegan, >> do I think we need to vote on the change and I don't think it's on the agenda. Um, but we need to vote that job change. >> So, it's something I'll follow up with Dr. Gabsky regarding >> point of

111information. If it's >> point of information, if the job title changed, then that would have been what would have come in front of us. The job description just altered a few additional tasks from the night shift over, right? Or >> well, both job >> both jobs >> description uh titles changed, >> but but the budget didn't change. >> No, not at all. No, no money involved here. Actually, it probably be a little bit of a cost savings. >> And the titles changed to align to the job description, >> correct? >> Which was approved >> in the budget. Originally, there was one for strictly custodial and one strictly for maintenance. >> Now, they're both both one rule. >> So, the job descriptions did change slightly. I kind of merged maintenance and custodial first shift and then

112maintenance custodial second shift. >> I mean, as both positions were passed, I don't see why we would need to hold it up. It's merging the two unless it was a complete rewrite, >> and I don't think we would need to vote on it. it was both approved. >> Um, since it's not on the agenda, I mean, my point I'd hope for it to be approved and voted on, and I really think you should. Okay. >> Um, if I have consensus that there's nobody who's really drastically against it, I'd like the okay to at least post it and then at the next meeting, we can officially vote on it. I won't do any interviews or anything like that prior to approval of the school committee. Is that if that's fair? I believe Miss Melon spoke about

113that earlier in the training where if it's a significant change to the description and she gave it a dramatic shift between the two or it's a renaming >> um with the same >> responsibilities then that would need approval. >> Either way, we don't have anything on the agenda for tonight, but you know, we could follow up on that. >> Okay, I'm going to post unless anyone screams right now. >> Okay. Next on the agenda, we have the student enrollment report. Any questions or comments from the committee? Member Donovan. >> Um Dr. Gopsky, I know we have kindergarten information night coming up, >> right? Is that March? >> March 18th. >> Have we opened kindergarten registration? >> April 1st. April 1st. Wait, April 6th. Whatever that Monday is, is when registration for the 2627 school year

114is opening. I'm just curious if I I was hoping we'd have some guesstimates about what enrollment would look like given how our numbers have been declining as they are in just about every community. Okay. So, we'll wait until then. It's going to be hard to prognosticate for the budget. >> That'll be a challenge. >> Yeah. Typically for the budget, we um consider the same number of kindergarteners as we had this current year. >> Okay. Thank you. Mr. Chair, through you. Uh, have we looked at alternatives uh to the kindergarten program if we're going to need less teachers, more teachers, or I guess consolidating? We we've done that in years past as numbers have trended down when we needed to um for budgetary reasons. We've maybe moved a teacher to a different grade level or consolidated

115rooms. Um, at at this point we would ideally not not need to do that. Going through the classes, they're at a very reasonable number. All students seem to be getting the support they're needing. Um, especially in K12, we really prioritize keeping those sizes small um, for that reason. So, um, depending on how we're looking with registration, if it's drastically different, um, I would anticipate if it is declining, it's not at a drastic rate, but we'll we'll have to see what that looks like as we get deeper into the year. >> Again, correct me if I'm wrong. I I'm looking at this as like a title wave. The title wave is in like fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, and the lower numbers are the remnants of it smoothing out. I mean, are we looking at how

116we're going to reallocate teachers in like fourth, fifth, sixth once the numbers are bottoming bottoming out? >> So, we have we have moved the grade levels um in our books up to the next year and looked at how many teachers and class sizes. Uh in grade one, we typically do get more registrations. Um and so it's not just that K smaller K bubble moving through but we do get a slight increase into one. There are some classes I think it's the grade eight class for next year potentially that is large. So we have a couple very large bubbles um and a couple that are are relatively small. Um but we do we do look at moving teachers between grade levels when necessary. We understand sometimes that isn't the preference of the teaching staff, but that

117is a regular practice. >> Now, I'm also noticing that bubble is also probably because of private prek and K programs coming into public schools, but I have noticed that it's really only at two schools that see that big burst, which is the Tenny and the Tim. And I'm looking at numbers from last year where it's drastically dropped at CGS by almost 40 students. And then another uh drastic uh I wouldn't say drastic but 20 students over at the marsh. But I'm looking at the Timony and that increased by 29 students and then we are looking at the Tenny where it it it went by 10 students from the year prior. So those schools are trending the other two are not. So are we looking at and again I know the redistricting committee has to get

118together and discuss it >> but we need to look at how we can share the wealth between the CGS and the marsh. I do feel the classroom sizes and again the the um the the first speaker tonight uh from the Tim is saying classroom sizes those are at the Tim those classroom sizes we're not having the specialists aren't at the Martian CGS seeing 30 students are they because I feel like it's the Tim and the Tenny where we've done the tours >> where those groups have had significant increases whereas as the Marsh and the CGS had minimal increases to the drop in specials. So, I just want to be mindful that what was said tonight was really pinpointing to one school, not all four. >> And the the drop in the specialist did create a

119bit of a challenge with the schedules. Um in the lower school, the uh the speaker referenced uh the four rotations for the CGS and the Marsh um because they did they did lose a PE teacher whereas the others did not and the coupling of the lower school health um being absent from from our budget this year. Um and then also losing the upper school Spanish through a little bit of of u a wrench in the plans in terms of scheduling the upper school students. um while still offering a vast array of fine arts um particularly the musical um offerings creates some imbalance in terms of the classes. So that's something that that's one of the projects I mentioned on the spreadsheet um that Miss Moore is going to be helping us with with her analytical

120mind. >> Yeah. >> Um but for sure and that's and you did note that two of the schools have larger enrollment than the others. we have when um times necessitate move teachers between schools only when it's necessary to help alleviate those class sizes. >> And now I am also following the numbers too and we're we're again like that title wave >> is following year-over-year. So like the numbers of students going from first to second like from 24 25 to 25 26 >> we're only losing like three or four students based off the numbers. So in that school, so it's it's or we're losing 15 and gaining 12, whatever it is. But the the wave is is following year after year. It's the K. >> Yeah. >> So I'm I'm just paying attention to that that

121preKK one, two are following the trends of the years past of three, four, and five. So as they move up, >> but it's bottoming out andor declining for the ones that are coming in from years going on from K onward. So I just want to be mindful that we are looking at one population density and two making sure all schools are not I want to make sure we're not overcrowding certain schools. And I think that's a problem we're going to continue to see, especially when new development is coming into >> Methuan. >> And we have two big projects coming into Methuan with housing, which could end up being Tenny and CGS, depending on where the line is, or the marsh in the Tenny. So, I just want to put that in people's minds, too. Thank

122you. I I just want to emphasize that we have to be very careful what we're doing because the trend lines are not positive. I think 15,000 students have been recorded of leaving public schools in Massachusetts, 3,000 alone in Boston. We've experienced a decrease and we've had fluctuations. I think the preschool is something we should definitely monitor and I understand what the vice chair is saying. I think we have to be very cognizant of the fact that we should not be engaging in any type of redistricting dialogue until we have a sense of the trend line for the decline in enrollment and trying to pinpoint what's the cause of it. Some people say because it's out migration. It could be because of tax policy. It could be because of national policy. We don't know. And until

123we have a firm grasp of what's happening, I'm not going to entertain any type of redistricting. I have confidence in the superintendent and her staff to do realignments and present those realignments to us which have been done in the past. >> Um so the day-to-day operations I'll defer to you. I'm personally very concerned if we do anything of a grand scale um that we're going to continue to see a trend line downward. I hope it reverses and obviously there should be like you mentioned with the federal funding they should be uh hold harmless. Mhm. >> Because we need to have some type of stabilization of grants and any funding that comes into the district. I think one of the speakers tonight hit the nail right on the head. We are we're cutting not only to

124the bone, but through the bone. Um and again, we're going to sacrifice literacy and the arts and so many things under the sun. So, I'm very cognizant of that, but I'm also very aware of the global picture. Mhm. >> Uh I'm not liking what I'm seeing at the Massachusetts level. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um just to change subjects a little bit back to the enrollment statistics. Um, this page to me is a little bit confusing because the August data shows the enrollment of kindergarten students, but it we don't capture here the leaving of the senior class in June. And so it's very misleading that it says we have 752 new students and we've only have 246 withdrawals, but we're not. But that doesn't actually show us how many new students we have in

125the district and what the actual impact is. And if I'm doing my math correctly, it looks like the net gain is really only 56 students after you subtract the number of seniors that had graduated. So, I'm just wondering if we can capture that somehow to make it reflect better. I I understand that these are real numbers. It's just that it's not really giving us a good picture of how many new students we have in the district versus how many we're losing. >> Um, and so I'm just wondering if we can somehow capture that information so that it's more clear what our fluctuation really is. I think the the original idea for this report was we are curious about the breakdown of students who are coming to us and maybe their additional needs that might have

126a budgetary impact and over time to see if our trends are or u hunches are accurate in terms of is there a time of year when we typically see upticks in enrollment. I prefer the um arrangement of the data on the DESIE website where it has from the October sims by grade how many students with the total and then from there we could decipher if we're trending upward or downward within those grades. Um, I could potentially rearrange that this report to do something like that with maybe just blanket categories in the bottom as to how many students um would be English learners or in district students with disabilities to kind of give us a sense of where we're heading that way too. if we if we don't necessarily need the monthby-month breakdown by um demographic

127information about the student if we want to try it that way next time. I think that might be useful and then we can see any other questions or comments before we uh go to a second round. >> If not, I'll open it up for the vice chair. >> Thank you. Just just for clarification though, acting superintendent, >> the reason why the numbers are the way they are is because we have to report them by October. >> So technically, our enrollment is really from October to September or se or November to October. So even if we have graduating seniors in a new number come in, it's really not net new or or or exiting because we don't base it off of the school year. So, it's based off the numbers we are reporting in October. So,

128I just want I just don't want to confuse yourself or anyone here with new reporting because the October numbers is what we really care about. It's not the beginning of the school year or the end of the school year. It is October. So, I just want to be clear on that. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments regarding the enrollment report? If not, next on the agenda, we have the report from the assistant superintendent of student services. Any questions, comments? Member So, um I just wanted to thank the FRC. I know they're in the middle of doing their um fourth and eighth grade verifications of um residency checks. Do you know what the numbers are that? So we um we complete well we're almost complete with Timin and CGS um we have 33 right

129now outstanding um out of 526 that were um in process um and out of that whole thing we only had one withdrawal due to residency um the letters for Tenny and Marsh went out today. >> Thank you. And I just had one more question. The LPAC when is their next meeting? Do you know? I'm going to defer to acting superintendent. >> You can just you can just let me know. I just would like to attend that in one of the CPAC meetings and I see that the CPAC meeting is coming up, but I didn't see anything for the LPAC. >> I'll keep you updated on that. I can't recall off the top of my head. >> Thank you. >> Member Bayas, >> when will the CPAC and LPAC be presenting to us again or giving

130us updates again? I know one of them came by, but I believe the LPAC didn't. So, do they are they plan to come in and give us an update? >> The LPAC was the one that was recently here. The CPAC is scheduled um to come at the April workshop meeting and I also extended the invitation to PTO's um and we have um some PTO's signing up too for the remainder of the year. I'm trying to spread them throughout the workshops. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments regarding the student services report? If not, we'll move on to the HR report. >> HR staffing report. Any questions, comments? >> I have one. >> Member Donovan, >> Miss Bozac, maybe you can help me out with this. As we look at the openings, the positions that

131are open, you know, I ask all the time, the school sites, is there anything we can do differently for next year? Because some of these have been these positions have been vacant for a long time. Is there anything we can do differently? >> I know. I I'm just hoping there's some >> right now >> some way around it right now. Probably not, but as we look forward to the new school year, >> potentially. And again, those would be budget impact conversations um just in terms of um stipens or anything like that that we could add to um just because the idea of contracting as a school psych um serves a different financial purpose than um working as part of a unit. >> I'm sure it's very frustrating to you and to the staff um you

132know when you you're trying to get things done. So, um, thank you. >> You're welcome, >> vice chair. >> I could tell you why we're not filling these positions, but then, uh, I'll probably be in the news tomorrow. Ultimately, what we need to do is do a better job, not you guys, in general, on going after cities that are going to be laying off teachers. And it doesn't help when certain people in our city do things that are in the press that regularly reflect positions of leadership. So I did have a call with a teacher that I know that's losing their job in Lel and I said, "Would you want to come to Methoo?" And she goes, "Not after what I saw what they did to that superintendent again." So again, I understand why and

133I think money people know why we're not getting these positions filled. So the narrative needs to change and hopefully that will in the coming year. But I do know that there is a huge huge shortfall coming out of Lel and and they're not the only one. Chelmsford is about to do a two two and a half override. Andover and North Andover are voting on theirs too. Um, so there's a good chance that and I actually do think in Arlington too is also for the third year out of four third time in four years they're going for Prop 2 and a half. This is the first time that probably won't pass. We We need to go after some of these communities that are letting great teachers go. And I hate to say it, we're the alternative.

134Maybe we get them to build a good career here. Maybe we start thinking about better programs. I know we spoke about master programs and or or CAG programs. Um I don't think I we asked for an update, but I know we were talking about what we can do for our teachers and and professional development. Offering more within professional development will bring I think teachers even just right out of college wanting to experience Mthuan first. Um but we need to change the narrative. the narrative from, you know, how we treat our employees versus to how we act as officials needs to change. And I think that is going in the right direction now. So, um, I'm not blaming anyone on the administration on not filming the filling these jobs. I'm not. So, I I think going

135into next year, we partner with better universities or more universities. I think we look at those positions that are being eliminated at other school districts heavily ELLL um lower school type of princip uh positions and then also what type of leaders we want to bring into our schools in the long run. So I appreciate Thank you. Mayor, can I Oh, sorry. Um, I just wanted to add that to answer a little bit more to the um efforts that Miss McCarthy continues to make by posting, reposting um does prove fruitful at times as we are getting inquiries about these positions and we're interviewing now to solidify them for next school year. So that's happened with um some special education teachers and uh most recently a school psychologist. So the conversations are happening if we continue. So

136even though you see it every month, it's >> next time lead with you hired a school psych because that's >> not confirmed yet where it's in process. >> Okay. Oh, good luck. That's wonderful news. >> Member Bayas through you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to clarify um obviously uh we as a district have had a tough time in the media. However, the fact that uh these positions are vacant or we're not able to hire them, I don't think reflects a the community's efforts to bring transparency and accountability which reflects positively on the community when staff members feel we are supported by our leaders. our truth are being told by our leaders. And I don't think that that's a reflection on why we're not uh seeing uh vacancies being filled, but I think it's a reflection

137on our community's commitment to transparency, but more specifically to accountability. Thank you. >> Any other questions, Member Keegan? Um, so my concern about the vacant positions in particular, um, the contract positions, all of the positions on this page are special education, right? And that means that they are all required by an IEP. And so the fact that we have these vacant positions, is that causing us to be out of compliance with IEPs? where we are out of compliance, we are communicating with families um and we are tracking those compensatory and coming up with the compensatory plans. Um in terms of testing um because again our school psychologists that you see on here are testing only. They are not providing services. Um we are actually through use of contracted school psychologists. We are, I'm going to

138knock on wood, um, almost caught up with where, um, the gap was quite large before. So, we are almost fully in compliance with our evaluations. Almost not quite there yet. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Member Bayas. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Through you, uh, member Keegan raised a great point and, um, so I just had a question on these contracted services. um a student is in um the sub uh separate group and classroom. Do parents have access to communicate with those uh teachers per se and and have conversations because I'm sure that they don't have a district email because they're contracted, right? So, how are parents able to communicate with contracted services? So, the contracted special education teachers actually do get a Methuan public schools email address and once

139they are on the schedule in Infinite Campus, they're tied to talking points so that those families will have the same access to their teacher to the teacher as would they if it was a Methan public school employee. >> Are there any contracted services um personnel that don't have a district email? I think it's only the school psychologists at this time, but I would have to double check. Um, but like I said, if they're in a teaching position, um, our program assistants, um, and any related service providers, they all have Methan public schools email addresses. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions or comments? >> If not, we'll move on to the discipline report. >> Any questions or comments from the committee? Going once, going twice. All right, we'll move on to old

140business. We have >> Mr. >> Yep. >> Coming to back to the school committee. I love this. This has been such a blessing to have the links, the clicks, to be able to go to all the data and your memo. I know it was said last week, but I'm going through all the memos again, and it is a huge, huge crutch for us. So, I appreciate the hard work that you and your team are doing on getting this data in front of us. It's it's handheld. I'm not losing papers. I'm not fumbling papers. It has been very helpful. So, thank you very much. That's all I wanted to add. >> Thank you. >> Next on the agenda, we have old business and other pending matters. We have the proposed Mthun Public Schools reconsideration of classroom,

141library, and media center materials. Uh, this was offered by member Donovan. I believe it was amended during the last meeting. Uh so we need a motion and a second to uh approve for a second read and of course this will trigger discussion in a subsequent vote. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion from member Soy, second from member Keegan. Uh discussion. Not sure if member Donovan would like to lead it off. >> Yeah, I would just brief I want to make sure that we clear up any misconceptions that um have been presented in the last few days. This procedure would go in our handbook which is the purview of our school committee. This procedure is in response to legislation legislation that was overwhelmingly passed by our house and senate that simply promotes creating guidelines for

142how schools and libraries review challenge books, specifically books that are in our media centers that children have access to and specifically to classroom libraries. Um there were references to the events of um I think at the end of this end of the last calendar year. I forget when we had the discussion but that was related to curriculum and we have things in place. This is strictly about books in our media center and our classroom libraries. So I want to make that clear. Um it ensures that materials just can't be removed. simply because people disagree with the ideas and it provides a formal review process that involves the community, you know, teachers, the librarian, parents, a student if necessary. I would like to add an amendment um after doing additional research. If you think this is

143the appropriate time, be happy to read it out loud. Mayor, is that okay with you? Okay. I'd like to add to this. If a challenged book is reviewed and the decision is made to retain it, the same title may not be reconsidered for review for a period of three years. >> So, that's a proposed amendment from member Donovan. Uh, >> I'll second it. >> She's making that motion. So, the second is from >> member Keegan. Uh discussion regarding the amendment. >> Member So Royce, >> I just wanted to um there was something in here about the a challenge for the same book cannot be brought up again. Are you adding that to that piece? Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry. I just had one more question. You mentioned this is going in the handbook. Is it

144going in the current handbook or the handbook for September? >> That was just something I thought of when you said that. >> Dr. Gopsky, what would be the time frame to be able to get this um accessible to parents or anyone who would um need this information? On the technical side, I don't think it would take long to the to add to the handbook and make it digitally available. Um I know typically decisions are made regarding the handbook over the summer um and then solidified in the fall. >> Um but this would be considered a late addition amendment to it. >> Other discussion regarding the amendment, vice chair? So just clarification, it's going under recordkeeping section six. Is that That's a question. Member Dunovan. >> Oh, sorry. You were talking >> in general if that's

145where it's going. Is it going in section six recordkeeping? Is that where you're putting it? >> That would be my recommendation. So I would recommend restating the motion >> to have it placed in section six recordkeeping >> of the handbook. So I'll make a friendly amendment on putting it there, but I also think three years is a little out there. I would I would agree to 12 months, but three years the world changes overnight. And I just you I mean I'm fine with what you have too to be fair. >> Title may be declined unless new concerns emerge. >> That could be a year, that could be three years, it could be five years. I I putting a time limit to it. If you're going to put it out, I I'm fine with 12 months,

146but I'm not going to support three years. But I'll I'm going to put a friendly amendment first on stating um recordkeeping section six and I'm going to break it up just because I know it's two different very different topics. So I'm going to motion friendly amendment record uh to place that motion under section six recordkeeping. >> You accept that member D. Okay. Other discussion regarding the proposed amendment >> right here. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> So, I would recommend that we vote on the proposed amendment, then if there are other amendments, then we can >> entertain those. >> Yeah. >> Um, I'll just speak from myself. I I I'm I'm content with how it was written originally. Is there >> Yeah. >> any other logic to share? >> Yes. In my research over

147the last few, um, since our last meeting, um, I found that in some communities when a book was determined to be something that the library, the school would keep, there would be repeated attempts to challenge the book. Um and that certainly is a drain on any a school you know because you begin the process again and typically with the same outcome and the three years when you say a lot of things change in the world um I understand what you're saying member Daglio but we are looking at the book not the world around it. So, but I certainly I certainly appreciate that um contribution. >> Well, this is just the first amendment to section six. So, >> that makes sense. Thank you, member Donovan. Member will >> just want to emphasize for the record and

148this acting superintendent can reinforce it. Since the enactment of our main policy on this matter back in 2016, we've had zero book challenges. So, this is a solution in search of a problem. And I just want to say for the record because we're going to go through a process as a school committee, as an elected body, we should never be in the business of banning books. Ideology should never override academic intellectual freedom. And the specialist that came before us from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, even in her background experience, she says she defers to the educational experts. And that's something I would do too regardless of the content of the book. I would never vote as a part of a school committee. I represent one voice and one vote for a book ban. This

149envisions a book ban where there's not a problem to begin with. And I just want to emphasize the language for the record so we're all on the same page. Part of the propos the procedure here the process entails the school committee as part of the decision and appeals process. The school committee will review the book and the record and issue a final district-wide decision as to whether the texts will be retained, restricted, or removed from the classroom or the school libraries. So whether you say we establish a firewall or if that's the classroom versus a curriculum versus the library or crosspollinization of books, which does happen regardless, there's language here that would implement a book ban. At this juncture, I don't think it's warranted, and as a conservative, I'm going to be voting against it.

150I respect the member. I understand where she's coming from, but we also have to take into account that parents have rights and it's been affirmed through a Supreme Court decision and we also have the supremacy clause of the Constitution. But at the end of the day, I still have confidence in the administration to work through any issues as a result of Supreme Court decisions and closing up loopholes and working with parents. And I think that's what we need to do as a body and day-to-day operations. We should not be involved in that. And I think this is a dangerous business because eventually this board might be controlled by a conservative school committee and someone might present a book on Charlie Kirk. Let's say the same theory applies. I would not vote to ban a book.

151And sometimes the material is something that is controversial. Um it could be a letter from a a slave owner back in the 1860s and something that we should be reading and certain materials that we should be reading. And I read uh Howard Zen and the people's history of the of uh US history. I read that a people's history and I I I gained knowledge from that book. Right. Academic freedom should not be curtailed by ideology and it shouldn't be curtailed by an elected body. What we should be focusing on is the Supreme Court decision and also protecting their parents' rights. And that's where the parents bill of rights came into play. That's where the proper notification and an opt out process came into play. and had nothing to do about a book ban or a

152book challenge. But it's interesting that all of a sudden months later, we have language that's already encapsulated in a policy that was approved back in 10 years ago. We've had zero book challenges. So, I'm not going to belver the point. I appreciate uh the sentiments of the body. Thank you. >> Other discussion? This is regarding the proposed amendment from member Donovan to add some clarity to the language here. If there's no other discussion about the amendment, we'll vote on the amendment, but we'll return to the main question after that. This is just regarding member Donovan's amendment. Let's take a roll call >> section six. >> Vice Chair Daglio, >> yes. >> Just bear with me. >> Donovan Grassi, yes. Bayz, >> yes. >> Keegan, >> yes. McCathy So, >> yes. >> Wlette, >> no. >>

153And Mayor Bogart, >> yes. >> So, the amendment passed. >> Uh, what I'm going to do to keep this procedurally clean, I'm going to ask for a motion and a second to uh approve as amended and then we can entertain additional amendments. Uh, but I just want to keep it clear what we're doing. Uh, let's have a motion and a second to approve as amended with >> second. >> A motion from member Keegan, second from member Soy. Uh this is the main question again. Uh we can entertain further discussion. Uh I understand that the vice chair wants to propose another amendment. Um I would recommend that if any individual member wants to propose further amendments that we try to encompass it all into one motion if we could. Uh so I'll pass it off to

154the vice chair. >> Thank you. And the reason why I did not is because I think section six is where it needs to go. And then the next part here is that I would like to make another amendment under section six to your three-year to 12 months. Again, I I I can't support three years on this. Again, that's you're putting a time limit on it. Mhm. >> Um I don't think it's going to pass, but I also I also like it the way it is the language right now too as what the mayor and the chair said. So I'm going to motion to move it to 12 months. >> Okay. >> Second >> motion from the vice chair, second from member Bayz to further amend >> three years to 12 months. Uh discussion regarding that

155proposed amendment. Amber Keegan, >> I feel like 12 months is too short because the same book is going to keep coming up and the same group of people is going to we're overburdening the teachers with it the same thing coming up over and over and over again. So I I feel like 12 months is too short. >> It's also a school year. You're basing it off of if if it's curriculum based or it's not curriculum based, but it's in the student library for that grade. >> Three years, you're looking at three classes. >> Every 12 months, a different class, a different generation, a different group of students come in. Different opinions, different everything. I mean, that's why a different parents like that's where I'm getting at. Three years is just a big gap here. And

156and I just think, you know, you're looking at censoring potentially a population here if they have an a concern about a book. Now, again, I'm not talking about banning books here. I am not against it. But if we're No one is. I get that. >> No one is. >> But we're putting a policy out there and now I can't be and moan about a book for three years if I'm a parent. All right. If I'm looking at something here and if you want to get rid of the year piece, maybe you say school year, you can't bring it up again in this school year. I don't want to do that either. I think 12 months if I is a is a timeline that passes and goes to a next group of students. Three years, you're

157looking at a very big gap of of different type of students that could be coming in and out of your classroom. So, I'll leave it at that. Okay, >> member Donovan, any other thoughts about member Bayas? >> Uh, so as in its totality, I am against this policy and we'll be voting against it, though I presume I'll be in the minority, but if God go God willing, if this passes, I want to make sure it passes with the best possible language. So, I support um this amendment. I think that I am amendable to a school year. um member Keegan, but I like the 12 months because as uh Vice Chair Dugglio mentioned, it is a new wave of kids every single year. So, >> member Donovan, >> I mean, excuse me. >> Yeah, I just

158want to emphasize again for the rocket because we're talking about facts, uh repeated challenges to the same title may be declined unless new concerns emerge. >> I agree. So if you want to do May versus Shell, we had that conversation. So what's the necessity of having three years versus two years versus 10 years versus a ice age? Again, you already have the language in place if someone keeps on going back to the well. And mind you, in 10 years, we've had zero book challenges under an existing policy, which I thought was more comprehensive to what we're doing here tonight. So again, I will vote for the amendment just to try to curtail the damage that I perceive. Thank you. >> Chair, could I respond to the statement as it's my amendment? >> Thank you. I'm

159reading the room. >> That's why I'm I I changed the number. So as what member Bay has stated, I'm looking at how we make this feasible for everyone >> and I'm reading the room. >> So I just want to be clear on that. Thank you. >> And I I'll just state I understand where member Dunovan's coming from. Uh and that is reflective in my vote. We'll take a roll call on the amendment uh for 12 months from member the vice chair. >> Okay. This is for the 12 month amendment. Um vice chair Daglio. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Donovan Grassi. No. >> Member Bayz. >> Yes. >> Member Keegan. >> No. >> Member McCarthy So >> no. >> Member Wlette. >> Yes. >> And Mayor Bogard? >> No. Okay, >> the amendment fails. We're back

160now to the main motion. Do we have any other discussion regarding the main motion? >> May I member John? >> I just want to be clear. This is not about book banning. This is about creating a procedure so parents can be heard so political beliefs will not determine and limit the intellectual freedom of our students. parents will have a say. We'll have a group of educators who are well-versed in grade level reading what's appropriate. So, um I hate to see this which was inspired by a piece of legislature legislation endorsed unanimously by our local reps turn into anything but what it is creating a formal review process and we all know what is going on in the world today and to say this isn't going to happen in Mthuan is probably a little naive. So

161that said, I hope we can move the question forward and move on to other business. >> Mr. Chair, >> just have a statement. So moving a question requires a second. We'll hear from the vice chair. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Wait a minute. >> I I just want to state that what you had member or secretary Dunovan, I was behind. >> Great. Okay. But now that we put three years to this, it it changes the whole concept of this. If I told you you can't complain about your taxes for three years on the floor, you you would be out there complaining about it. We had a process here. You had a great alignment here. And we've now added a time frame to when I can complain as a parent again. And I say complaint, we're

162literally telling parents that you have a three-year limit on this book now that you can't talk about it coming to me for us to judge it, to review it. You that am I correct in that statement? I'm >> No. No. Am I correct in that statement? We are literally telling parents that they cannot formally complain to the Methan public schools about this book for three years. the challen because the book was determined to be >> okay >> appropriate or inappropriate whatever >> on that date. >> Yeah. And this is based on my research and what is being done in other communities and libraries. So you're correct. >> I appreciate Thank you, >> Mr. Mayor. We'll hear from member Keegan and member Bayas. >> So I just want to be clear on this. This is about

163whether or not a parent can request a book to be removed for every student from the library, >> the school library or the the right. So, so a parent complains and requests that not only their child doesn't have access to this, but every child has doesn't have access. And so, we go through this process and it's determined whether it it should be available to students or it shouldn't be available to students. So, and students are in our buildings for eight, nine years. So, three years seems reasonable because like, you know, if if a student has access to it in first grade, then they still have access to it in eighth grade, right? Because it's in the library. It's not, you know, >> it's in the catalog for that grade, the teacher catalog for that grade.

164It's not like if I'm a freshman in high school or first grader >> looking at books at freshman year. Like that's what we're saying here is like you're now saying this the opposite of what this purpose is. It's for grade appropriate. >> No. >> Well, it is. You are saying the teacher catalog in library. Okay. If I'm a freshman complaining about a parent complaining about something that they're reading, it's not a first grade parent because a first grader is not looking at that book. All right. What you're do, what we are now doing is putting a time limit to when anyone can have an opinion on this book. Again, again, times change pretty rapidly. For us to sit here and say now we have a three-year limit when you have it in here today as

165declined declined unless new concerns emerge is erasing that idea. Because if you now have three years on this and new things emerge, your policy literally states that you're not going to review it for three years. >> So if things emerge today after declining or after pretty much saying the request was declined or agreed to yesterday and something emerges today, you're now saying three years from now we can have that conversation. that that to me is is limit you're limiting the access of the parent to come to you and I just that's not what the point of this was and I get your research I get your but the way you had it was perfect and I just I can't agree to three-year term I can't that's why I limit it to the school year I

166I'm a no if we continue with the three years >> Mr. Mayor >> member bias. >> Um, so there's an active motion to call a question. >> Yeah. >> And but however, however, >> before member Dunovan was uh was called upon to be able to speak. I hadn't had my first round of discussion, but she started off the discussion um with her synopsis and then did her amendment and then was able to speak again before I was able to speak and I when I had my hand up. So I would kindly ask uh member Dunovan to withdraw her motion to call the question so that I could have my first >> Absolutely. So >> point of information, there's no second. >> No, no, no, no, no, no. Listen, I'm let me be the chair. So

167there there is no active motion to call the question on the table unless it's been seconded and there was not a second. Um and I apologize if I had seen that your hand was raised, I certainly would have recognized you. My apologies. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> Um so >> this is a point of information, Mr. Chair. Once a person makes that motion to uh call the question and is seconded that stifles any further debate. >> So that's that's a nuclear weapon. So I just want to realize once we have all discussion all amendments then we should have that you know. Thank you. >> Right. Great. >> Member Donovan any >> Yeah. May I continue? >> Of course. Yes. >> Okay. So, we're back on the main on the main motion and I just

168want to clarify for the community that we as member Wlette was stating, we have a current policy that covers this and if the committee will entertain me for a second, it for references only. It is called the Methuan public schools selection policy for media resources and materials. And under section five of that policy, there's uh it is called reconsideration. Now that policy number for the reference of the comm of the committee and the community is file ifab. Now there are steep differences between the policy that is currently existing and the policy that we are entertaining now. If we pass this we will have active contradictions in our policy book um in our manual or wherever this goes. For example, the policy that we're entertaining now will call for only parents to be able to bring

169up complaints about the books that are in uh the classrooms of the grade level and of the of the class that they are enrolled. The policy that that exists shows or states that any resident of Methuan can create a complaint. So what would happen and maybe this is to the acting superintendent if we passed this policy but have acting policy that already that that contradicts what we're passing now which one's which one is enforceable because again as member Wlette was stating we've had zero book challenges while having an active policy so I I don't see what we're doing here so to to to that end um which policy would would be enforceable Um well I am happy to say our council happens to be in the room and might be useful in this in this

170moment. Mike would you mind giving your expertise on this? So the situation is that in our um media center resource and book selection policy and I know you're going off the cuff here um but we're happy to have you. Um the the last piece of that policy outlines um uh a procedure for if uh an individual wishes to challenge a text or re or resource, which I believe is also a difference um in the media center. And right now we have on the table a procedure proposed by member Dunovan um to theoretically be added to the handbook which outlines uh a a different process um beginning with who would be able to challenge the text. So, uh, member Bayas's question is if this were to pass tonight and would live in the handbook, but then

171there's this policy with contradictory procedure language in the policy um that was previously um adopted. Where would we stand? Or third question to you, would this need to be brought to policy subcommittee to entertain the marriage or intertwining there then bring it back? I I think probably >> I think I think the cleanest thing to do so you don't have conflicts between your policy and your handbook right there and you don't know where to go is to have it clear in your policy. All right. And your policy that you have right now is is currently contradictory from your handbook. >> There's nothing in the handbook currently. This is a new procedure that's being proposed. >> So you have no conflict would be in conflict with what's in the existing policy >> in the media selection

172policy. It lives now in a different form than what's being proposed >> to be added to the handbook. There's nothing in the handbook right now. >> So there's no conflict of the handbook. >> Handbook's just a place for it to live. >> Okay. So where So you have a draft policy in front of you right now? >> Draft procedure. All right. And that's going to live in your policy manual. >> In the handbook. In the student handbook. I don't I don't know why I'm following that. I think you'd want to have it in your policy. Is >> They're at odds. >> Exactly. So, we have a policy in our policy manual. >> Yeah. >> That would contradict this procedure that would live in the handbook. >> Yeah. I I think you would want to if

173you're drafting a policy, you would want your policy to be clear about that right there. I mean, that's the where you're going to point to. Often times when we're looking for questions, we say, "What does the policy say?" So, I think I would try to be as clear about that as possible. >> So, the policy would be um the supreme law of the land over this procedure. >> I I like you. I like the supreme law of the land. Uh, I don't know if that is exactly how I would say it, but yes, I would I would say a policy would trump your or the policy might set the procedure. >> Mhm. But then what if the policy and the procedure contradict? That's where I'm at. >> Yeah. Um, well, generally you might want to

174look to like when what was adopted like in time, >> you know. So, if you're adopting something now and you are aware that it is going to trump something that was done in 2015, then what you adopt now would be what trumps. Okay. >> Does that make sense? >> Thank you. >> This is a procedure for the handbook. It's not actually designed to be a policy at the moment. >> Okay. >> Yeah. But policy a guides procedure. >> It should be a policy. Whatever whatever I'm hearing, I think you'd want to make this a policy. >> Exactly. So we would what we would point of information again we would want to say that this is the new policy >> taking out policy number ifab I I I would recommend that brand whatever you're whatever you're

175doing make it a policy >> but okay so thank thank you that makes sense >> yes thank you so >> with that with with that being said >> and um given the recommendation of council I am a no vote on this because we have an existing policy that hasn't there hasn't been a need to be enforced that works that has different language that has been agreed to that even includes the library bill of rights the freedom of information statements. It has it is quite comprehensive more comprehensive than this policy and can even be considered procedural with the way that it is um written. So, I am in no vote. However, I'm going to offer a friendly amendment um because I'm reading the room as vice chair has mentioned and so if I could direct your

176attention to section two formal request for uh reconsideration. Um I amend to strike the first sent the a parent/guardian student or staff member may submit a completed request um or just strike a parent, guardian, student or staff member and add any resident of Methuan and then subsequently strike where it starts. A parent guardian may submit a book challenge uh only for materials assigned to or available within the grade level in which that their child is uh currently enrolled and just strike that sentence. >> Does that make sense to everybody? >> Yeah. >> So, we have another proposed amendment from member Bayz. Is there a second to his proposed amendment? >> Second. >> All right. seconded by member Wlette. Um we can enter uh some discussion regarding the amendment. Member So um I just don't believe

177that any community member should be able to come forward about a book in a classroom or in a library. Um I I like the wording that's in there, a parent, guardian, student or staff member. Um, so I disagree with having any community member buyers. >> Member will. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's amazing. I'll listen to people come to that podium and I don't know where they live. Sometimes I don't know their occupation. I don't know if they're transplants from New Hampshire or Massachusetts. A lot of them pay taxes and they have an opportunity to go to that podium and sometimes they will attack me personally and I'll accept that because under the constitution within boundaries I'll I'll take that heat and I was reelected by a vote as a Mthuan but at times I

178don't know if a person at that podium is a Mthun resident or not, a taxpayer or not, or if they're of age consent or not. We've had younger students come to that podium. I think when you dilute an opportunity to question the process, it weakens our constitutional system as a whole. And I'll say that for the record. I'm not understanding if we have an existing policy that's close to what 12 14 pages that went into a deep analysis that focuses on a bill of rights and academic freedom and uh review process is pretty strenuous and we've had zero book challenges over the course of 10 years and you've had Republican administrations and Democratic administrations during that time frame. I'm not witnessing the urgency. Again, look at the language itself. It envisions the possibility of removing

179removing a book from a classroom or a school library. Tell me how that's not identified as a book ban. You can say book challenge, book ban, removal, sending it to space. It's the same concept. I'm not in favor of it. I wasn't in favor of it last year. But it's amazing how people will come to that podium and talk about a book ban, right, last year. But then we're all celebrating like we're the protective shield as a community. On record, I'm not in favor of a a book ban. If tomorrow I donated Charlie Kirk books, will the other side and say, "Yeah, we embrace Charlie Kirk." I don't know. But I will defend a person's right to read a book and have a discussion about a book. The only thing I ever said was we

180should notify the parents in advance and that we should be in compliance with the Supreme Court decision before we subject ourselves to lawsuits and civil rights complaints. And that covers everything. So, it's amazing how there's a par game of no, it's not the classroom we're talking we're not talking about the library. We're not talking about the curriculum. At the end of the day, it's still banning books. I can't see it any other way. But maybe that's why we have an ideological divide in this country. We can't have a sensible conversation about something. I don't see the urgency of this. If someone eventually down the line, if I'm still able to serve on a school committee and something's presented to my attention to remove a book, I will be voting against that because that is contrary

181to the Constitution of the United States and how we have fought for liberties over centuries. Be careful that pendulum, that pendulum will swing back and forth. That's Marxism, socialism, fascism, conservative, liberal. It goes all over the place. Be careful. The guiding document is our Constitution of the United States. Let's not forget that. Thank you. >> So, we have an amendment on the table from member Bayz to vote on. I'm just going to state for the record that my focus here is on involving parents. And I think there is something to be said for futurep proofing our district from some of the things that we're seeing in other parts of the country. That's just my opinion. Uh if there's no other discussion on the amendment, we'll take >> Mr. Mayor. Can I just respond to members?

182>> Sure. Thank you. So the reason why I um decided to put this amendment on the floor is because we just passed an amendment for a three-year uh reconsideration time frame. So, I like to comp I compromise with both sides. And I would say that if we're going to restrict parents from raising concerns over three years, we should at least be inclusive as a district and allow residents to create complaints because either way, it can't come back for three years now. So, that was that was the logic behind that. members Royce. Thank you for your for your concerns and and I understand your position. >> Thank you for your explanation. >> So, we'll take a vote on the proposed amendment from member >> Bayas. Sorry, >> Vice Chair Daglio. >> No. >> Donovan Graassy. No

183>> member Bayz. >> Yes. >> Keegan, >> no. >> McCarthy So, >> no. >> Member Wlette, >> yes. >> And Mayor Bogard, >> no. >> We're back to the main motion, >> Mr. Chair. >> Okay. Yeah. Um, given the discussion, I'm going to recommend that we table this and I am going to ask that the policy committee, given that we have new legislation that directs us to take these actions, I am going to ask that the policy committee takes this on if that's feasible. I know we're going in groups, but I think it's very important that we address this and we don't let this slide. And once again, I appreciate it was so good to hear you say that you don't believe in book bands. >> Okay, he said it. We'll write that down. I

184appreciate that, Member Wlette. Um, but I think it's very important that we continue to protect Yeah, I'm going to embroider it on a pillow for you. Um, so I think it's very important that we continue to protect the intellectual freedom of our It's a It's a terrible balancing act. We have to listen to our families. We also have to protect the intellectual freedom of our students and make sure that all our school community members are are represented. So that's I'm done. And I'm going to ask that we table this um and we come back to it. I'll second that. Is is it going to be >> the measure has been the measure has been tabled and seconded. So at that point that ceases uh the uh deliberation. So with that we will vote on a

185table. Let's take a roll call as we've been doing regarding this item. >> Okay. Member Daglio. >> Yes. >> Donovan Grassi. Yes. >> Bayz. >> Yes. >> McCarthy So yes. Wlette. >> Nope. and Bogard. >> Yes, >> I'm also Yes. Did I skip you? I apologize. >> It's okay. >> I apologize. Member Keegan. Yes. >> Next, we're on to new business. Uh we have no new business on the agenda. Uh next on the agenda would be finance and operations. Uh do we have any questions or comments from the committee regarding the expenditure report? I I do want to point out the um the sums the available funds for both professional and and other salaries um on this sheet because at the end of this agenda I do ask to transfer some money out of those

186um and as you can see there's a healthy healthy available funds due to vacancies etc. So just wanted to point that out. >> Any other questions comments from the committee? If not, we'll move on to the revolving funds report. Any questions or comments from the committee? >> We are due for another uh circuit breaker deposit to be coming in um any time now. It's usually early March. Um so that's due to come in about $2.5 million. And um I do want to point out with the heavy plowing, etc., I did use a little bit of the uh parking lot funds to offset some of the plowing at Methone High School. Uh we just used I paid one invoice for $9,000 $9,210 um on one of the smaller storms. Just want to point that out. Any

187questions, comments? All right, we'll move on to the grants report. Any questions, comments from the committee? I will say briefly that on the city side, the RFP for grant writing services recently closed and so we're in the process of evaluating the responses that we received. Uh and so that's something that would certainly be put to use to help the schools as well. So we can discuss that further uh once we uh put a contract in front of the city council. Uh next on the agenda, we have the student activity accounts. Any questions, comments regarding student activity accounts? I am I sure I mean I'm I'm just looking at the the marsh the band there had $10,000 and their and their funding whereas everyone else is below 5,000 in the grammar schools. Do we know like

188where that money is coming from? >> Yep. That's money that's usually raised. It's raised by the students. Um if it's Which one did you say? >> The marsh. >> The band. >> Yeah. >> Chances are they ran a concert or something and sold tickets. Um stuff like that. Um so groups raised their own money and then and spend it on supplies for that group. All right. I can double check to see if there was something big that they did, but it could just be um accumulating over years. So maybe this year we do a a free concert or something like that. >> Well, I'm just looking at the marsh and the numbers are ballooning there compared to CGS, Tim, and the tenny. That's the only thing that I would like to point out. It's now

189over $50,000 where the average is between 29 and 39. I mean, I know the marsh um the tenny is at 43, but we had that conversation last week about the student deficit account. So, if you don't mind looking into what we're doing, >> I I can look into it, but again, this is money raised by students. I get it. >> So, apparently they're doing a a pretty good job. >> Spend it, too. They need to spend it. >> We're raising it and I would like, >> but it's not spent by the time they leave eighth grade. It gets sent to them in ninth grade. >> So, it does transfer to the high school. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments regarding student activities? If not, we'll move on to the food services

190report. questions, comments? >> Uh, >> I don't know if any of you had a chance to take a peek in the cafeteria. Um, it's been painted. They put the stencils up. They even put above the stairs on your way up Mthan High School. Looks great. Um, the brand new furniture will be coming in April vacation. And the furniture we have here, which is in really good shape, will be going to the grammar schools to get rid of some of the um the older equipment we have there. We'll hear from member Keegan and member Wlette. >> Um the serving lines at the the upgraded new energy efficient serving lines will optimize speed and service at the grammar schools. >> Um is that going to cut down the amount of time that kids are waiting to get

191their lunches? Because I've heard that that's a huge problem for kids getting lunches and not having enough time to eat. >> That's the goal. Efficiency getting them through there as quick as possible. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> And those that's currently out to bid for all those that all that equipment at all the grammar schools. So we should get that bid back soon. >> Great. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Member will. >> Yeah. Just quickly uh through the chair to Ian, I just want to convey to yourself and to the uh the food service director. So thank you for reaching out to the students and soliciting feedback from them and that was incorporated as part of these ongoing projects. Um I appreciate the survey. I appreciate the detail on the the cafeteria. There's

192a lot of enthusiasm and energy to that department and I'm grateful for that. I just want to convey that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Bob does a I can't take credit for that. Bob does a great job. >> Bob does a great job. >> Any other questions or comments regarding food services? >> If not, we'll move on to the warrant reports. Any questions from the committee regarding the warrant reports? If not, We'll move on to contract awards. There are none tonight. Uh next on the agenda, we have the transfer of fiscal year 26 funds that Mr. Goslin had referenced earlier. We need a motion and a second to approve that. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motions from the vice chair, seconds from member Keegan. Discussion. I don't know, Mr. Gome, you want to add

193to that? >> I won't talk about what's here because um but at the last meeting, I did mention also utilities. I'm still going through the utilities to come up with uh how far I think we are behind. So I did not include that in this. Um so I may be coming to you again in maybe a month once I get all that a little bit under once we're done with winter a little bit and I have a better handle on where we're going. But I don't I don't want you to forget about that. >> I just I have one question just because he brought up utilities. Where are we with the RFP for solar? >> It's in the legal department right now waiting to go out. >> Can we get an ETA on the legal

194department's approval on it? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we take a >> Any other discussion? If not, uh we'll take a roll call. >> Okay. Vice Chair Duglio, >> yes. >> Donovan Grassi, yes. Whoops. Yes. Bayas, >> yes. >> Keegan, >> yes. >> McCarthy So, >> yes. >> Wlette, >> yes. >> And Bogard, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> Uh, next on the agenda, we have notification of appointments and other personnel matters. There are none right now. Uh, do we have any other business from the committee? >> Yes, Mr. Chair. >> Vice Chair, >> I just want to commend the and I and I don't do this often, but they're going to the championship at the Gardens. So, the girls hockey team this Sunday at 5:30 will be playing at the Garden for

195their uh the championship. The last time they went, I was there. I didn't have any kids, wasn't married yet. Bringing the whole family this time. So, looking forward to to going. So, congratulations to the Lady Reds. >> Absolutely. Any other business from the committee? Uh member D >> on um March 24th, Tuesday, at the Timny, our Methooan Literacy Partnership, we'll be having our first community meeting. Um we're we'll be starting our campaign. We'll be looking for people to get involved in um different committees. We believe that it takes a village to raise a reader and it would be very fitting if all the members of the school committee came. I I hope to see you all there. six o'clock. You can go online and register if you follow www.mthuanreads.org or we're on Facebook and we're

196on Instagram. So, um we ask that people sign up. There will be some babysitting services. We're going to have a reading program for the kids who do come. Um we'll hear from a few speakers and um it's time for us to step up and support literacy in Mthoan. So looking forward to seeing everyone there. >> Absolutely. Members, >> just mentioning my backpack program again. Um for food donations, vacations, February has already passed. April vacations coming up. Um we send home extra food with the students for those vacation weeks. So we really need to stock up now. Thank you. >> Is there any other business from the committee? Uh I will say lastly, just to plug again, the St. Patrick's Day parade coming up on Saturday the 21st of March. I've been in touch with counselor

197Drew who is one of the primary organizers of the parade and they are uh clamoring for uh some participation from uh our local school groups whether they're PTO's uh anything along those lines. They're not looking for uh floats necessarily. They're looking for folks who might be willing to put on a green uh sweatshirt and and hop in the parade, maybe carry a banner for the school group. So, I just want to reiterate that they are uh hoping for some involvement. So, uh wanted to pass the word along. Uh on tonight's agenda, uh we have two executive sessions. Uh this is a little more complicated than other executive sessions where uh given the fact that one would involve potentially a vote, um we're going to split them up. And so what we're going to do is

198I'm going to first uh call for us to enter executive session regarding the acting superintendent's contract. I'm going to read the statement for the record. Uh we may end up uh in open session to vote and then we'll have to go into executive session again. We will not reconvene after that. But I'll I'll begin in any event with the first executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 38 section 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-UN personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-UN personnel. Uh this is relative to the acting superintendent's contract. We will uh reconvene after the executive session to take a vote on the contract if needed. So at this point I will entertain a motion to enter uh this first executive session.

199>> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion's for me member Bayz. The second is for member Keegan. We'll take a roll call vote on entering the first executive session. >> Okay. Daglio. >> Yes. >> Donovan Graassy. Yes. Bayz. >> Yes. >> Keegan. >> Yes. So >> yes. Yes. And Bogard. Yes. All right. So, at this point, we will enter executive session. The time is 8:09 and uh we will see the other side when we reconvene in open session. open session following our first executive session. Uh the time is 9:23 p.m. Uh I want to point out that during the executive session, the committee did vote to uh extend the meeting past 9:00, which we required to do per our rules. Uh however, uh we will not be taking a vote tonight on the acting superintendent's contract.

200Uh we now at this point will be entering into a second executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating or litigation position of the public body and the chair so declares this is relative to custodial negotiations. I want to point out that we will not reconvene into open session after the executive session now. So with no further business to discuss at tonight's business session, we need a motion and a second to enter executive session. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion's from the vice chair. Seconds from member Bayz. We'll take a roll call vote to enter executive session. >> Dagriio, >> yes. Yes. >> Kegan, >> yes.

201>> McCarthy, >> yes. >> And >> yes. Uh so we will now uh enter into executive session. The time is 9:25 p.m. As I mentioned, we will not reconvene uh into open session. So that'll do it for us publicly tonight.