001[Music] from idea to submission. Empower students Good evening. The school committee business session of May 12, 2025 will now come to order. This meeting is being recorded and will be made available for viewing on the Mthuan public schools website. Secretary, would you please call the role? Member Daglio. Member Dunovan here. Member Keegan here. Member Maxwell here. Member Shabilia here. Member Wlette here. Mayor Boragod here. We need a motion and a second to accept the amended agenda for tonight's meeting as presented. So moved. Second. Motion is from member Shabilia. The second is from the vice chair. Any discussion? There's no discussion. Will vote. All those in favor? I opposed. The eyes have it. Superintendent, I'll invite you to introduce our student for tonight's flag salute. My pleasure. I'd like to call up Amanda Goyette Langis, who
002is the lower school associate principal at the Tenny, and our flag salute student tonight, Caleb Bhanu. [Applause] What do I do? Well, first I'm gonna read, but do you want to grab a copy of the pledge? Good evening everyone. I'd like to introduce Caleb Bernanu. He is a fourth grader in Mr. Blomgrren's class at the Tenny. And tonight he's here with um some special teachers from both the Tenny and the Marsh and his mother. Um and a little bit about Caleb. Caleb's favorite subjects are PE and art. He says in both classes, we always do fun things. Caleb likes to read. Currently, his favorite books are the Dog Man series, and he's super excited about the upcoming fourth grade field trip to Legoland, which was today. Caleb explained that he has been there before, however,
003not since the $12 million renovation was completed, and he cannot wait to share the experience with his classmates. Caleb said the best thing about the tenny is all of his teachers and friends. He gave a special shout out to Miss Nicole, Miss Azbar, and Mr. B. And a proud moment was being nominated as a tenny rockstar. Miss Asmar shared, "Caleb shows respect towards all of his teachers and is a great friend to all of his peers. He consistently puts his best effort into all of his schoolwork and demonstrates ownership and cooperation in and out of the classroom. Caleb is one of the most loving and kindest students that I've ever had the honor of working with. He truly brightens everyone's day with his smiles and greetings every day. Caleb embodies all of the characteristics of
004a tenny rockstar. During our conversation, Caleb reported that when he grows up, he thinks he would like to be a second grade teacher. He wants to teach students all about adding and subtracting, number bonds, and character traits. His mother revealed Caleb recently decided he was going to become an actor, and she sees engineering in his future. Mr. Mr. Blomgrren says, "Caleb is joy personified. Since the first day of school, Caleb has brought a boatload of kindness in our classroom. Every day he greets the class with a high, hello, or a compliment. This greeting has expanded to the surrounding teachers, too, who enjoy starting their day with such positivity." Caleb has worked hard implementing one of our class into his everyday routine. Mistakes are proof you're trying. He forms great friendships and cares deeply for those
005around him. I'm so grateful Caleb has allowed the whole school to share in his kindness and joy. And thank you, Caleb, for being my bucket filler every day. When Caleb is not at school, he likes to play basketball outside and ride his bike. He also likes to draw, be creative, and use his imagination. His mom said as a family, they all like to go to the park and ride bikes on the rail trail. Caleb reported that he likes to spend time with his dad, getting McDonald's for lunch when his mom is at work, and going to lunch with his mom. When asked what makes Caleb special, his mother stated, "He is kind, he is smart, he likes to help others, and wants to be friends with everyone." I asked Caleb the same question, and he
006stated, "I'm autistic, and that means you care about everyone. You try your best. You're creative, and you're a rock star." We could not agree more, Caleb. You're a rock star. Thank you. Want to say that? Yep. Say please. Huh? Okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Applause] Nicely done. Now, at this point, uh, superintendent, I'll invite you to introduce our Soore award winner as well. Right. So, we have a couple of few tonight. Um, I'm first going to call up Miss Elizabeth Folks, who I believe is here. I know I saw her. She is, right? Yes, she is. Fabulous. Um, and Alexa Champi. I hope I say that correctly. I'm
007sorry if I didn't. Alexa, Champ with my first Thank you. Hard work, kindness, and the skill to do what is right. When I asked her teachers to share their experience with the recipient of the wellness sore award, Miss Ramshaw put it perfectly. The student honored with the Soore Award in the wellness department exemplifies compassion, understanding, and kindness. beyond that of her peers. She has a remarkable ability to connect with students with intellectual disabilities, making them feel fully included and valued as a classmate. With her patience and excellent listening skills, she consistently treats her intellectually disabled peers with the highest level of respect and care. Whether in a unified class, the hallway, or a special education setting, she is always willing to offer assistance when needed, ensuring that everyone feels supported. Working with students with a
008variety of disabilities is not only a skill, it's a gift. Alexa Champy, you were born with this gift and have honed your skill throughout the years at Methuan High, working with the students in multiple areas, including unified health. Mr. Hudon praised your presence in his class. He says, "Alexa is truly a model student and leader in the unified health classroom. She's a very bright, articulate, and empathetic young woman who has patience and foresight beyond her years. She certainly is a pleasure to work with. Alexa successfully completed her CPR and first aid certification through the wellness department and is now registered through the American Heart Association to perform life-saving skills. She successfully completed early childhood explan exploration as well as honors early childhood education and care. Her teacher, Miss Suza, shared that Alexa continues to check
009in and is definitely committed to a career in early childhood. She also complimented Alexa's attention to detail in creating and implementing lesson plans in the preschool classroom. In addition to unified health, Alexa has increased uh has immersed herself in unified art and unified physical education and has b been working with Rangers Club for over a year. Alexa, you are truly built for this. Maya Angelo said, "People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Alexa, you have made your teachers feel proud and your peers feel loved and accepted. It is my honor on behalf of Methuan High School to recognize your gifts by awarding you the wellness sore award. Thank you. She does not want to say Keep going. Okay. All right.
010Our next Soore award, I'd like to call up Christine Stoler, our department head for our English learner education, and Osmya St. Huban. Good evening. It is my pleasure to introduce Esmea St. Huben as the soore recipient for the English learner education department. Esmea has demonstrated academic persistence and excellence since enrolling at Methuan High School in the fall of 2023. As Smeirna's desire to be successful is evident in her challenging academic course load, which currently includes British literature, honors geometry, honors legal studies, and anatomy and physiology. Upon graduation, Asmeir also qualified for the Massachusetts State Seal of Biiteracy in French, Haitian Creole, and English. Born in Haiti, Asmeir moved to the United States in the fall of 2023. While in Haiti, Asmina worked hard in school and was a top student. As Mina brought this work
011ethic with her to Methuan High School and has pushed herself to learn the English language at an at an accelerated rate. She started with an emerging knowledge of English and by the end of her first year had moved through developing English skills to expanding those skills which allowed her to skip an English language development class level. Her determination and hard work has led her to gain a level of English language mastery that typically takes many more years of study to achieve. As Mirina's ELD2 teacher, Mr. Roman, had this comment regarding her work in class last year. By the second quarter, I had to create special assignments for Asmera because she finished her work so quickly. By the second semester, she was so far ahead that it was like I was teaching two classes, one for
012Asmeirina and one for everyone else. As Mirina's teachers were delighted to hear that she was chosen as the Soore award recipient. The immediate response time and time again was, "What an awesome choice." Miss Pakquette, Asmir's ELD4 teacher, responded with, "Smir brings light and confidence into the classroom. Her ambitious drive to learn as much as possible has allowed her to make leaps forward in her education within the ELD classroom and in her other core classes. As Miraa never shies away from asking questions and seeking help when needed, providing a solid example of self- advocacy to her fellow classmates. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to help us MirNA grow this past year and I know this is only the beginning for her. Mr. Rebecca as Mirina's legal studies teacher said, "This kid is awesome." Never
013afraid to ask for clarification or if she doesn't understand something, ask for it to be reiterated. Diligent worker, but unlike many students, wants to understand it rather than just get the assignment done. In her free time, Asmeir likes to listen to music, dance, and work out. Following high school, Asmeir plans to enter college to study biomedical sciences with the aspiration of one day becoming a doctor. She has been accepted to Middle Sex Community College, Salem State, and UMass Boston, and will be finalizing her decision on where she will attend in the coming days. Once again, congratulations on being selected as the Soore Award recipient for the English Learner Education Department. [Applause] Um, thank you so much. Um, I am truly honored and humbled to receive this award and I'm truly grateful for this recognition. I'd
014like to thank um some of my teachers, Miss Mr. Mano, Miss James, Miss Pette, Miss Corey, Miss Kimberly, Miss Porter, and I'd also like to thank um the committee for choosing me and everyone who has supported me along the way. Thank you. Okay, we have one more SOAR award for tonight. So, I'd like to call up Mike Tagert, uh, teacher, special education teacher at Mthun High School, and our Soore award recipient, Elijah Lia. All right. Uh, thank you, Madam Superintendent. Mr. Chairman, good evening. Uh, we are pleased to introduce Elijah Liela is this year's SOAR award recipient. Elijah is the son of Chrissy Cosra and the late Jeffrey Lillia. Since arriving at Mthuan High School near the end of his freshman year, Elijah has overcome personal adversity, including the loss of his father. And he
015has demonstrated significant social, intellectual, and personal growth. He has earned the appreciation of his teachers, fellow students, and community members alike with his hard work, his quick wit, his reliability, and his genuine desire to improve the lives of those around him. Many people know Elijah through his ubiquitous presence at Mthuan High School's athletic events. Anyone who has attended a Methooan High School athletic competition over the past three years has likely bought a ticket from Elijah, received clarification from Elijah on where something was located or who the next opponent would be in a tournament, or chatted with Elijah about either the team's performance or something else altogether. Teacher Britney Caprio writes, "What I admire is his ability to connect with anyone. Many times I witness him shake the hands of older couples with great respect, show
016continuous kindness to younger siblings coming to watch a game and display immense compassion for parents attempting to see their child play. I've seen Elijah often affectionately called the mayor, the governor, or the superintendent, the principal, what have you, given his popularity. My favorite, however, was at a football game on the road this past fall when a Bill Rickop asked Elijah if he was Mthuan school resource officer. And and he was serious. Uh this is this is all in addition to Elijah's work behi behind the scenes which according to athletic director Tom Ryan. He does all the little things that make our athletic department a first class operation. Associate principal and previous athletic director Matt Curran adds Elijah has consistently demonstrated exceptional responsibility and professionalism. He plays a crucial role in promoting our athletes, effectively engaging
017with the community to build enthusiasm during our our athletic events. His meticulous attention to detail in collecting payment cards and managing cash flow showcased a strong sense of integrity and trustworthiness. Elijah's ability to work under pressure coupled with his dedication to supporting our program made a significant impact on both our athletes and the overall success of our events. His work with the athletic department may be the most visible, but it is only one area in which Elijah demonstrates his passion for helping others. Elijah has consistently volunteered to help out with with our students with some of the most significant special needs, including serving as a mentor during elective classes and often helping to get them settled during the school day. Matt Curran also notes he approached every interaction with empathy and enthusiasm, making it clear
018that they are not only driven to succeed, but committed to uplifting those around them. As Elijah has assumed more responsibility around the school, he has also grown academically and personally as his teachers have noted. Writes teacher Nicole Delmeda, "I have had the honor to have known and seen Elijah grow from sophomore to senior year and truly become a leader and familiar face across the building. Even on the toughest days, he brings positive energy to everything he does." Teacher Cara Brooks writes, "Elijah's participation in daily activities and the overall movement of the course was essential to the success of the class. Leadership came naturally to Elijah. These qualities encouraged his peers to participate in the activities or discussions as well. He is positive, charismatic, and passionate about any job or task he attacks inside or outside
019the classroom. According to teacher Zeba Kalahi Shams, he approaches his classwork with focus and determination, and he's always willing to put in the extra effort to succeed. And teacher Caitlyn Mahoney adds succinctly, "He is a bright light that greets me with a smile every morning." Next year, Elijah will attend Northern Essex Community College. He is seeking to earn a degree in special education and eventually pursue license as a school principal. Elijah's determination, reliability, and professionalism, often under pressure, will continue to make him an exceptional worker. His affability, conviviality, and empathy, will continue making working with him an uplifting experience. Several teachers have commented that Elijah is ranger pride personified. We are proud and honored to recognize a young man who who exemplifies the phrase Arashtra Paraspera or through adversity to the stars. Elijah Lia as
020our sore award winner for 2025. I want Are we ready? We're ready. I want to begin by sincerely thanking Mr. Tagert, Mr. and Mr. Giri and the entire special education department. Your nomination means more to me than I can fully express. You've been a con consistent source of support, encouragement, and guidance, and I am truly honored that you believed in me for this recognition throughout my four years as a ranger. I would like to acknowledge Principal Caret. Your leadership and commitment to every student success helped create an environment where we can grow, challenge ourselves, and achieve more than we thought possible. Your dedication does not go unnoticed and I am grateful to be part of a school that reflects your high standards. To athletic director Tom Ryan, thank you for always encouraging me to lead
021with character, discipline, and integrity. And especially to Matt Curran, your support has been exceptional. You've gone above and beyond, and your mentorship has had a lasting and meaningful impact on me. You've changed the way I view my future. I also want to take a moment to thank my friends who have been by my side through the highs and the lows. always offering encouragement, laughter, and motivation when I needed it most. And above all, my f And above all to my family, thank you for your constant love, patience, and support. You have always believed in me, even when I doubted myself, and that belief has carried me further than I ever imagined. To be chosen for this award is incredibly humbling. It reminds me that effort, perseverance, and support from others truly make a difference. I
022will carry this award with pride and continue to strive to represent the values of what it means to be a ranger. Thank you. At this point, we'll move on to the update from our student representative. Oh, I have the students. On April 17th, the multicultural club hosted the multicultural fair in the Methuan High School cafeteria. Volunteers representing 19 cultures and countries came together to highlight their various cultures through music, art, and history. The event acted as a powerful reminder of their diversity within the school. MHS on Monday. On Monday, April 14th, members of the National Honor Society, His History Honor Society, and National Junior Honor Society participated in a community cleanup. students cleaned up MHS um and Timny parking lots, the Timony and Tiny playground, the front lawn at MHS and the stadium. It was
023a perfect day to clean the community as they clean the campus, filling up the bags full of trash. Over spring break, five members of the Methuan Deca chapter competed at the DECA International Career Development Conference in Orlando, Florida. The international event brought together over 26,000 students from around the world, offering opportunities for learning, networking, and professional growth. Our senior scholars, Ella Benson and Taylor Brokov, showcased their business knowledge by writing and presenting a comprehensive 20page paper on business solutions for a local business. Meanwhile, a team of three talented sophomores, Lily Gard, Maya Turenis, and Cali Ryan, created and presented a 20page business growth plan for a business they developed. All students competed against over 250 people in each categories, and their efforts were truly commendable. Starting Monday, May 5th through Friday, May 16th, MHS students
024are taking their advanced placement exams. They have worked hard all year learning the various AP courses MHS offers and are taking their subject exams. Scoring a three or above will allow our students to possibly gain a college credit for their course. We wish our MHS AP students and especially Tai above all the best in their testing. The girls 4x200 team had broken the school record this outdoor track season at New Balance Nationals indoor at the track at New Balance in Boston. The team consisted of Alicia Santana, Isabelle Fior, Kara Fitzpatrick, and Lauren Korm. Seniors have their prom May 22nd at the Atinson Country Club. Thank you. Thank you for the update. And now we'll return to the superintendent for her introduction of the outstanding MHS athletes being recognized tonight. Yes. I'd like to call up
025uh interim athletic director Tom Brian. And I'd like to call up our uh MVC champs, the girls hockey team. I think there's a whole bunch back here. Almost all of them, I think, are with us tonight. and coaches. Do we have the other coaches? And the coaches that are here, please kind of come on up. All right. The uh the girls hockey team. All right. Obviously behind us, the girls hockey team made the final four in the division one state tournament. They had a regular season record of 16-1 and three. Every game was very intense and the team finished with a final record of 192 and three. Uh which is the second best record in program history. Over the course of the season they won 10 games by one goal. And you can notice the
026t-shirts we have. There's a Kodiac symbol for a reason because it's it was 10 games. It felt like every single game. It was crazy. Uh but we won basically all of them. It was awesome. Uh overall the team scored 53 goals and allowed 26 in 24 games. If you do the math, every game was basically 2 to one. The team was known for its elite goalending and the defense as well as the efforts of the offensive forwards to back check in the defensive zone. Uh there were some memorable moments for the team from a win perspective. The victories over Central Catholic in the first round of the playoffs and then favored Malden Catholic in the Elite 8 were the most satisfying. as the athletic director. The player led teacher appreciation game was very memorable. Each
027girl took a picture with a teacher uh that inspired them over the years and then invited them to the game and the amount of teachers that came out was was incredible. Uh goalie Lydia Barnes and MJ Pati were recognized by the Boston Papers as all Scholastics. We had several other members of the team get recognized by the Eagle Tribune and the LOL Sun for their all-star teams. Coach Dave Hearn was the Eagle Tribune and Boston Globe Division One Coach of the Year. We have several players here. Uh, you know, obviously it's a it's a co-op team, so we have a mixture of of Tukbury and Mthuan. Um, but there really wasn't a lot of kids on the team, but they only had uh 15 kids on the team with like 14 skaters or 13 skaters.
028Um, so B, it was incredible uh what these girls were able to do. Uh, we had Livia Lawrence Good again. No, it turned it turned red on me. Sorry. All right. Sorry. Yeah. Olivia Lawrence, Emily Babosa, Sammy Ryan, Sarah Morano, Sarah Dar, Lauren Ryan, Ella Duffy, Lydia Barnes, Bina Lawrence, Llaya Chapman, Megan Patron, Sophia Babosa, Alli Morrison, MJ Pati, Taylor Nickerson, and the team managers, Alexa Rabs, and Claudia Melo. The assistant coaches were Ryan Shehy, and Kelly Galini. And the head coach was, of course, Dave O'Harn. So, I'd like to introduce you to the NBC champions in the uh final four uh participants, uh the Mthuan, uh Red Ranger, Matthuan Tukbury Red Rangers, and the and the goalie. And the goalie, Lydia Barnes, is going to speak. We would just like to say thank you
029to everyone. Um whether you supported us coming to our games or in the classroom, we all really appreciate it. And the season would have been possible without you guys. Thank you. [Applause] for you guys. You guys Next on the agenda is the CPAC presentation. Awesome. Um, hi everybody. My name is Nicole Pereira. I am the president of the CPAC. Um, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to come and present to you guys tonight and just share with you guys a little bit about our purpose, our mission, our um, priorities and accomplishments for this year and um, what we're looking forward to moving ahead. The purpose of the CPAC is codified in Massachusetts general law to advise the school committee on matters that pertain to the education and safety of students with disabilities
030and to meet regularly with school officials to participate in the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of the school committee's special education programs. Our mission is to ensure an appropriate education for children with disabilities and to foster and support a collaborative and inclusive culture in our schools and community that values diversity. We work in partnership with the school administration and the school committee to support students and further their goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We provide outreach, support, and education. Sorry. We provide outreach, support, and education to inform and empower families and members of the community through events, workshops, and communication via email, newsletters, and social media. We welcome and encourage all members of the community to engage and take parts in these efforts. Right now, currently, we have me, the president, and Amanda Smith, who
031is the vice president. Um, but we do have some vacancies. We are looking for a communications chair, a secretary, and then we're also looking for school PTO liaison at all of the schools. These schools include the CGS, the Tim, the Marsh, the Tenny, and Branch Street. We um are representative to children from age three to adults to 22. So we are working with um children at the preschool at all of the with all of the kids and families at the elementary and middle schools and the high school as well as transitions. Some workshops that we were able to complete this year uh was a bullying workshop through the federation of children with special needs. We held a basic rights workshop on eligibility and evaluation through the federation. We met with the super the assistant superintendent
032of student services. um for a kind of question and overview night. She put on a lovely presentation about um what all the special education programs are that are offered through Methuan public schools as well as what the IEP process looks like. There was some conflict with the original date. So, we are um going to be hosting that meeting again. It's going to be happening on May 20th at 6 o'clock p.m. at the Timn. And we also just had a supporting friendship workshop. It was a presentation for families. Um sometimes families can often struggle with how to help their children with disabilities to form meaningful relationships with peers um with and without disabilities. And that presentation really highlighted the importance of friendship for all and provided concrete suggestions, tools, and handouts to help parents and other
033caregivers connect with their children. um and to help their children connect with other children in deep and meaningful ways. Some upcoming CPAC workshops that we're hoping to provide. Um we are looking at holding a appreciating diversity and disability presentation for students. This would be like an assembly type workshop. Um this presentation would help students understand disability as part of natural human diversity. The training explains the terms disability and inclusion and also highlights how we're all more alike than we are dissimilar and emphasizes the benefits that come from friendships with all different types of people. Another thing that we're looking to um hopefully provide is a building friendships at school professional development training that would be for our teachers. Um, this training explains the importance of friendship between students with and without disabilities and introduces strategies
034that can be used by teachers, paraprofessionals, and parents to promote and support these relationships. Some CPAC CPAC accomplishments that we um had this year. We were um were able to collaborate with Gina Bozac, the assistant superintendent of student services on various projects to enhance communication and provide more information about special education programs. This included organizing a meeting and presentation for parents to help them become more informed about the special education process um and the available programs as well as um making a spot for us on the Midthone Public Schools website um which is we're still in the works on that but it's just again another way um to make us more visible. We developed surveys to raise CPAC visibility and get parent feedback to plan future workshops, meetings, and events. We have monthly meetings with
035the assistant superintendent of student services to go over concerns um and also, you know, our plans with workshops and education. We provided or developed brochures. I left one for all of you guys um to take a look at, but we created brochures and um flyers with CPAC information and resources available for parents that will be available at school, hopefully be available at school meetings, um the public library, and anywhere else that you think it would be a good spot for those to be. Um, and we also created a QR code available at all of the schools for parents to complete our survey and so that way we can gain as much feed feedback for planning um, future CPAC and MTH public schools workshops. Looking ahead, um we are still just looking to maintain a focus
036on inclusion and belonging and continue to collaborate with individual school PTOs to maintain inclusion opportunities within planned events and work with administration and the school committee to develop inclusive program activity options. Increase family engagement. So continuing to offer regular meetings, workshops, and share resources and events throughout surrounding communities. fill our CPAC board positions for anyone listening. Um, and continued collaboration and partnership with the school committee and administration, including on the infrastructure and communications, um, and just the continuum of special education services and advocate for budgetary support of continued buildout of special education infrastructure within the district. And just this is my last thing. Um, a CPAC or a special education parent advisory council is a group of form is a group formed to advise on special education programs and services within a school district. It
037typically includes parents and guardians of children with disabilities, teachers, administrators, and sometimes community members. The primary purpose of a CPAC is to ensure that parents have a voice in the development, implementation, and improvement of special education services. Parent involvement in a CPAC is crucial for several reasons. Advocacy. Parents can advocate for the needs of all students, ensuring that the unique challenges and requirements of students and disabilities are addressed. Collaborating and involving parents fosters collaboration between families and school staff, which can lead to better communication and understanding of the special education process. Knowledge sharing. Parents bring valuable firsthand experience and knowledge about what works and what doesn't and special education which can help the council make informed recommendations. Community building cex create a supportive community for parents allowing them to share resources, strategies and emotional support
038which can especially be helpful in navigating the educational system and policy influence. parents involvement can influ in influence policies and practices at the district level ensuring that they align with students needs. So really, I know that we all have so many things to do with our time and our time is precious and important, but if special education is something that is impactful to you or something that is important to you and you'd like to be more involved, the only way for the CPAC to advocate for the for the things that you're looking for change is by you using your voice and being making sure your voice is heard and represented. Um, so come be involved and we'd love to have you. Thank [Applause] you. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to public participation. Uh, first
039we have Shantel Lucas, sorry. I'm Chantel Lucas. I'm the reading specialist at the CGS and I've been a teacher in Methuan for 21 years. Beside me are my fellow reading specialists across the district. We also have an upper school reading specialist not here with us tonight whose position is not being filled after her retirement. To say that we are feeling disheartened and undervalued as a reading department would be an understatement. We want to start with a simple powerful truth. Children who struggle to read struggle to learn across all subjects across all grades and often for life. Reading is not a privilege. It's a right. And yet in classrooms across our district, there are students bright, curious, full of potential who are falling behind, not because they aren't smart, but because they haven't received the support
040that they need. We would like to reiterate that prior to the pandemic, Mthuan had a combination of 33 reading specialists and reading tutors. Today, we have nine. With these proposed cuts, the district would be down to five reading specialists. two at the Tenny, two at the Timn, no support at the marsh, and one life reading specialist at the CGS who only works with students with limited or interrupted formal education. The truth is, we need more reading specialists, not less. The nine of us are unable to support all the students who may need our help. The need is greater than what we can offer. Four years ago, a district-wide initiative was put in place to improve reading instruction. The district hired literacy PAs and literacy supervisors. Four years later, the PAs are gone, reading specialists are
041being cut, and literacy supervisors are being reduced. So, that's it. Are all of our students reading at grade level in this district? From what we see daily, the answer is no. We still have a long way to go to ensure all of our students are reading on grade level. To us, it sounds like as a district, we're just giving up. Reading specialists are more than instructors. We are lifelines. We fill the gap for students who would otherwise slip through the cracks. Some are students with reading difficulties. Some are English learners. Some are kids from homes with few books. And some are children carrying invisible burdens. We are highly qualified educators with advanced training in literacy development and intervention. We use data to identify students who are struggling. We design targeted evidence-based instruction to meet those
042students specific needs. We deliver small groupoup support with the science of reading at the core. We support, guide, and offer our expertise as members of many tiered support teams. Reading specialist positions are on the chopping block because budgets are tight. Cutting literacy support to save money is like refusing to fix the foundation of a house because you're trying to save on maintenance. The problems only grow and the cost to repair them multiplies. And while classroom teachers are heroes, they cannot do it all. They cannot give every struggling reader the time and specialized instruction that reading specialists are trained to provide. In a typical classroom of 22 students, a teacher might have five or six different levels of need. Without a reading specialist to partner with, how can that teacher possibly support all of those needs?
043Cutting reading specialist roles may seem like a budget decision on paper, but in reality, it's a decision that changes children's lives. It's a decision that tells the students of Mthuan, "We're sorry. We just couldn't afford to help you." And so, we ask you, who will help those students if we don't protect these positions? We are asking on behalf of teachers who are overwhelmed, on behalf of students who are falling through the cracks and behalf of families who want their children to succeed. We are asking all of you to protect and prioritize all the reading specialist positions. Fund them fully. Thank you for listening, for caring, and for fighting for the future of Mthuan. [Applause] Thank you, Cara Black. Good evening. I just wanted to thank the mayor and Dr. Kang for today at the state
044house. I literally just came back from there to speak about the very important chapter 70 glitch um budget bill that's going to be hopefully passed. We are speaking passionately. But I also implore all of you on this committee. I sat through four hours of testimony today and there were several different city districts with school committee members with their state reps and state senators. There were city council people fighting for these bills that you have been talking about for weeks. I am asking you to take action and show up to the next budget hearing either virtually or in person. It was amazing to go and be a part of it and to fight for our district and I'm asking all of you to do the same. Senator Paval uh Payano was there and spoke passionately about
045the bill that could save our district and save the funding that we need to keep our staff. So, please don't just talk about those bills. Start fighting for them and showing up. Also, thank you for the progress in this, but we're not even close to being done and we're going to keep coming. I appreciate a lot of the collaboration we've seen on different points, but we need to stick together and do more. Please do this budget without the layoffs and please continue to fight. We're not done yet. Those city budget hearings are so important and we're all coming. So, please continue to fight and do the budget. That's right. We are, like I told the city and the state today, we are starving and we can't do one cut more. Safety needs to be a
046priority. Social emotional learning needs to be a priority. And we need to educate our children. They're not asking for anything extra in life, but just to be educated and feel safe. And any of these cuts are detrimental to our schools. So, please keep fighting. [Applause] Bryce Henderson. Hi, my name is Bryce Henderson and I'm a lower school counselor at the Comprehensive Grammar School. I wanted to start by thanking the members of the school committee, Dr. Kuang and the members of the Methuan public schools community for your time. I also want to acknowledge what many have already mentioned that every position cut is a significant loss and disservice to our students. Um in my line of work I spent a lot of time teaching my students about the size of a problem versus the size of
047their reaction. Um well in this particular case looking at the current budget and cuts presented. This is a big problem that constitutes a big reaction and that's why I'm standing in front of you today. My main focus in speaking today is to provide you the school committee with additional information through the lens of a school counselor to be taken into consideration when advocating for additional funds to support our schools. As a school counselor, my role can be pretty well split into two vital pieces. The reactive piece. Uh this is responding to students in crisis who may be physical aloping from class and exhibiting signs of suicidal ideiation or self harm among many other things. This work is important, demanding, and crucial to the physical and mental well-being to our students here in Mthuan and sometimes
048can take up the majority of any given day. The second side of my role and the side I want to emphasize the importance of here today is the proactive side. Skill not will is a is a phrase commonly associated with the intervention method that we've been using increasingly in Methuan called collaborative problem solving. Skill not will is the proven concept that students will do their best if they can. No student comes to school wanting to feel emotionally dregulated. No student comes to school wanting to get in a verbal argument over whose seat is in the cafeteria. But these things happen because our students may simply not yet have the skills to navigate the problems in front of them in a way that's effective and appropriate. It's a matter of not having the skills to navigate
049these situations, not a matter of will. According to a 2019 study done by the National Alliance of Mental Health Illness, one in every six children between the ages of six and 17 experience a mental health disorder each year. Additionally, half of all mental health conditions begin before the age of 14. I want to emphasize this because the most effective way to appropriately address these needs as well as decreasing the affforementioned incidences of students in crisis is by building up our student skills through multi-tered proactive intervention. As of now, the proposed cuts heavily reduce our ability to provide a significant portion of this multi-ter proactive skill building that I've seen so many of my students flourish with. Our lower school health classes are a vital form of early intervention, normalizing, addressing, and teaching emotional regulation and
050mental health awareness to every student. Our school counselors provide individualized and smallroup interventions through creative and datadriven therapy, providing quality mental health access to every student in Methuan. No wait list. This is done while delicately handling and prioritizing students in crisis as it comes up. With these supports in place, my students have reached new heights and needed new and gained new abilities in these ways I have always dreamed of for them. I know what my students are capable of. Yet the ability to provide them with intervention in a way that's datadriven and meaningful is only possible because my case load numbers are manageable on a good day. I'm able to teach skills proactively rather than reacting to problems as they arise. And our students need the opportunity and patience to build and practice skills. That
051brings me to the increased class sizes. In listening to the school committee's discussions the past few weeks, I appreciate that the majority seem to recognize a class of 27 students today is vastly different than a class of 27 students 20 or even 10 years ago. Take into account the data that I just provided, data from 2019 that does not take into account the global pandemic, one in six students will have a mental health crisis. That's 4.6 students on average in each of the proposed 27 student classrooms. Smaller class sizes allow not just for students to have more individualized education, but greater opportunity to proactively build up students lagging social emotional skills rather than place the unrealistic expectations on our teachers to support multiple students on the verge of crisis simultaneously. Our teachers and counselors can't
052teach to those deficits if we're spending every moment of the day playing catch-up and reacting. My main takeaway is that I ask you all to please find value in the proactive as that is where the work is done. Do the hard work now so that success can come later otherwise the uphill battle may just be too steep. Thank you for your time. David Bennett Hello. Um, superintendent, school committee. Thank you for the opportunity for me to speak. Uh, again, I'm speaking here as member of the public. Uh, first time actually at a school committee meeting and first time speaking at a school committee meeting. Um, with that said, I I think shame on me. I'm a 16-year resident of Mthuan. Um, I've had I've have a couple kids coming through the system. Uh my son
053is now at the Marsh seventh grade. My daughter uh has gone through Marsh as well and at a different high school now. Um but given what I know as uh the potential budget cuts, I thought it was important to voice my opinion here tonight. Um so let me let me speak from here. Again, I speak as a 16-year resident of the city. Um my daughter again has completed her time in Marsh and my son is in the seventh grade. Speaking as a resident, um, like anyone else, I don't really look forward to the potential my property taxes going up. Um, however, if they must go up, so be it. I'm fully supportive. If that increase is allocated towards our schools, there's no other part of our city I'd rather see supported by my tax dollars
054in our school, our school system. Secondly, as a former teacher at the high school, I have witnessed firsthand how much our students really need support and how much more more resources our schools require. This is not the time, in my opinion, and I think as we've heard from others, to make cuts to resources or staffing. These children are literally our future and we should be acting accordingly by adding resources to our schools, not taking them away. So, I implore the committee and anyone involved in these budget decisions. Please reconsider any potential cuts to the school systems budget. instead find a way to increase resources and add teachers, staff, and administration as needed to ensure a better future for the children we educate here in Mthuan. Thank you for your time, John Drew. Okay. Hopefully she'll
055stay there. Uh, yeah. Good evening. My name is John Drew. I've lived in Mthuan for four years. I'm a father of two children, one who's 11, one who's three and a half. Both are in the Methan public school system. Um, I'm a homeowner, a taxpayer, a voter, and somebody who came to this city with the belief that this would be a great place to raise my family. I'm here tonight because I'm frustrated and I'm angry. But I'm also here because I care deeply about this city and our schools, and I believe we can do better than this. 76 proposed layoffs and staff reductions is not a tight budget. It's a catastrophe. It's not just lines on a spreadsheet. It's human beings. Educators, counselors, support staff. They're who make the impact on our children every single
056day. And when you cut them, you're not just saving money. You're tearing away trust, relationships, and the stability of our kids that they need to thrive and our ability as a community to attract good talent to teach them. And yes, I've heard over the heard several of you say that this budget is not acceptable, and I agree with you on that. But saying it's unacceptable isn't enough. I haven't heard a serious plan. I haven't heard any real alternatives. What I have heard is vague language about probables, possibles, and hypotheticals. That's not action. That's just kicking the can. I know what it's like to have hard decisions. I've had to lay off hundreds of people in my career. And I know it's very painful to do. And I don't say this lightly. I know you guys
057are not doing this easily. But when you find yourself in the same position year after year with no long-term plan and no real strategy, you're not solving a crisis. You're managing failure. That's what's happening here. This cannot keep being the springtime tradition in Mthuan. Another, "Oh no, we're short again." We need real fiscal planning. We need a roadmap that doesn't triage the problem, but actually charts a path towards growth, sustainability, and the pride in our school system. While I applaud a few of you who've had the courage to offer hard suggestions, real ones, even those suggestions recognize the complexity of this problem. As Dr. Kuang has pointed out, she still needs a team to run a district. Cutting off her ability to do that doesn't solve anything. It just shifts chaos around. So, here's what
058I'm asking tonight. Substance. No more wait and see. No more half measures. I want the school committee to show some backbone and send a properly funded budget to the city council. Let them vote on it. Let them tell the community that they where they stand. That's their responsibility. Your responsibility is to ensure that our schools are properly funded for our kids. Protect our children. Don't preemptively cave for them. and to the city council, and I hope they're listening. I really do. Mr. Mayor, when the budget arrives, step up. If we need to look at new revenue sources, even taxes, then have that conversation honestly and publicly. I'm not someone who wants to pay more in taxes, and I don't think anybody else here is. But I'm also not someone who wants to watch my kids'
059education collapse because no one in city government wanted to have a tough conversation. I moved to Mthun with hope. I still have that hope, but I need to see it reflected in the back reflected back in the leadership of this community. I need to see that our kids are the priority. Not just your words, but in your actions, your votes, and your budgets because our kids only get one shot at this education thing. And they deserve better than a school system that's in constant crisis mode. Let's not keep managing decline and failure. Let's build something that we can all be proud of. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Cassandra Pratt. Hey everybody, I'm gonna level with you. I had something prepared, but then I got here and a lot of things have changed since last time.
060So, you know, um there I've been told a lot of things by various different people and a lot of it is he said, she said. I've been told by city counselors that it's the school committee's fault. I've been told by the school committee that it's the school committee's fault. I've been told by various other people that it's principal's faults, that it's teachers faults. And to be honest, I don't think it matters whose fault it is that the budget is weird. I really don't think it matters, right? Because it's your job to fix it. No. To make it work for us. And cutting reading specialists and parent bilingual liaison is not the way to do this. I've also heard that there is a $20 million sum that the city is sitting on that was given to
061us during the pandemic. Where why are we using that money to fund people? I mean like I just I don't I don't get it. And and maybe it's like something with me. Maybe it's like I I just I do Do you understand why this feels crazy to me that we're like saying that kids needing how to read is like on the chopping block. And and I get it. You have a very very difficult job. And I I can't imagine what it's like to have to say these people need to be fired. These people need to be fired. But I see that every day when I go to school, every single day I see how my teachers react to the news that comes out of these meetings, out of the city council meetings. And it is
062it's painful because I've lived in Methuan for eight years. You know, I went to the Marsh from the fifth grade. I'm graduating in like two weeks. And to know that my siblings who are going to class of 2028 are dealing with this horrible budget is not like filling me with confidence there. So many of my friends from like class of 23, class of 2024 are here to talk to you about how much how how important the money is to running a school. And I know you all know that, but I just there are ways to fix this. And when Ryan Hamilton said a couple meetings ago that the city has only increased since the pandemic, this could be wrong, I don't remember it exactly, by $21,700,000 and that the the state of Massachusetts had increased
063it by $4.8 million. I know that the state obviously has much more money than we do, but $21700,000 in five years. And I understand that you may have been dealt a bad hand and that you didn't control the budget before anybody got here and I understand that. But I've seen budget cuts here before when I was in like fifth or sixth grade. And it never ends well. Nothing gets better after budget cuts. So I I am begging you find a way to make it work. Like please. That's that's all we want is to be able to go to school and not worried if our teachers are going to be have a job next year. Some of the people who I respect most have been teacher. Dr. Gowski was my English teacher for a little bit
064in ninth grade. They are the backbone of society. We can't just I I know it's a difficult decision and I know it's hard to fire people, but I just I feel like like this is monumental. Cutting reading specialists, English language teach like what are we doing genuinely? And maybe I'm out of line. I don't know. But I I'm just tired. I'm tired of seeing the looks on my teachers faces after the union meetings. It's It makes me and my friends and my parents unbelievably upset that this is what we're doing, right? Massachusetts is supposed to have the best public education in the country. And this is and this is like I don't m I'm sorry I'm coming off like if I'm like coming off mean or whatever, but I'm I'm just tired and I know
065you're tired too of having to look people in the eyes and and talk about all these budget cuts, but like I don't I don't know. I just Yeah. Uh, thank you for your time. [Applause] I apologize in advance if I mispronounce any names. Uh, Emily Lindvite. [Applause] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Emily Lindvite and I am a graduate of the class of 2023. Today I'm here because of proposed cuts to the Nthun High Fine Arts Program, something I hoped I'd never have to do despite budget cuts being a constant since I was a student at the Marsh 10 years ago. Coming to high school was hard, as it is for every other 14-year-old. I decided to join Stage Door 22, this high school's theater guild. And because of that, I always had
066someone there for me because of the theater program. The atmosphere gave me something to look forward to, a group of people I could count on, and new friends to make. I was not just a theater kid. I was also a band kid and a visual arts student in photography. I wanted to try it all before going into college, and I wanted to see what I enjoyed doing. Now that I am in college, I am not majoring in theater, music performance, or any other visual arts. And that's why these programs are so valuable to me and every other person behind me who has graduated. The arts I studied at Methuan High have done so much for me in my future career. I learned how to do something important. Speak. I always had been a talker, but
067the theater program taught me about intention using words in specific ways. Speaking and projecting in order to present what I needed to. critical to so many vocations today. I know that that importance is a sentiment echoed by many people I have met, not only here but in other area schools close to us with thriving theater and arts programs, including Haveril, LOL, and North Andover. I am a pre-law student, a plan I have had since my junior year of high school. I study psychology and history. I knew my professional calling was never going to be in the performing arts, but that's why these programs are so important to me. I loved theater, singing, doing it all. These programs let me do what I enjoy with a lower pressure. I could do it all because of the
068support these programs gave me, an outlet for feelings that cannot be contained. That is what art is. And to take it away from these young people will hurt them. Every performance I did in my years at Mthuan public schools gave me pride in the art I was able to create. From the band Jamberee in fifth grade to my final performance at the in theater in 2023. Every performance always ended with praises of how important the arts were. From city councilors, from school committee members, from administrators at the high school and the middle school. These budget cuts removing such a fundamental part of social well-being for so many young students. Does that make every ending performance congratulations and praise for the arts a lie? An empty promise for the future of our students. I hope not.
069For the young girl in me who always wanted to sing and be musical and for every other young kid in this district with the same love and passion in their hearts that I had. Thank you. Bell. [Applause] Hello. Um to the members of the Methuan School Committee, my name is Diana Bell and I am a proud graduate of Mthuan High School 2023. Similar to most of my peers here tonight, I was an active and dedicated member of the theater program, Stage Door 22. During my four years at Mthune High School, I am now a M I am now pursuing a minor in theater technologies at the University of Maine, working as a stage hand at a convention center, and hoping for a costume shop position this fall. This is not just a hobby for me.
070This is a career path, and it began here at the Methan Public Schools District. I am here to express my deep concern and strong objection to the proposed budget cuts targeting the theater program, the theater teaching position, and the fine arts director role. These decisions don't just remove the resources. They send a clear message to everyone that the arts and the students who depend on them are not important. I would like to be crystal clear. During my time at Methun High, theater classes were rarely treated as legitimate fine arts courses. More often than not, they were used to manage class sizes, to absorb scheduling overflow. And yet, despite being filled with students who didn't really care to be there, those classes still made a lasting impact on them. I have personally seen students discover self-confidence,
071communication skills, and creativity that they never knew that they had. And as cheesy as it may sound, that is the power of theater. Even though it is underfunded and undervalued, eliminating these classes will not just erase opportunities for theater students, it will overload other classrooms, strain general educational students and teachers, and strip away one of the few places in school where students feel comfortable to express themselves freely. Now, as someone that never enjoyed AP statistics in high school, I would love to share with you some numbers that I've researched. According to Americans for the Arts, students involved in the arts are 20% more likely to attend school regularly, twice as likely to graduate from college, and score on average 96 96 points higher on the SATs. Additionally, the Arts Education Partnership reports that lowincome students
072highly involved in the arts are five times more likely to stay in school. This is not speculation and this is proven data that highlights the direct academic and social benefits from an arts education. To cut these programs is not balancing a budget. It is abandoning students like me that relied on creative spaces and outlets to find purpose, direction, and future careers. Budgets are tight. Money will always be an issue in any school district, in any country, in any state. But if the first place that we cut is the arts, then I have to question what we truly value in this district. I urge you to reconsider these cuts and stand up for the programs that foster leadership, discipline, and emotional growth, which are skills that these students will actually be using in their entire lives.
073Thank you for your time and your consideration. Ryan Copa Mr. Copa. Hello. Good evening all of you. How are you doing? Okay. I came tonight to propose that something be added into the curriculum for future years as a graduation requirement. What I would like to see done is disability awareness training courses course as a graduation requirement preferably in the junior or senior year of high school. Why? Because there are people like me out who are going to always be out in your society. Budget cuts or budget cuts or not. And we and we depend on certain things. For instance, let's say a a blind person goes into a store, okay? And um they go up to a customer service desk and they say, "Okay, I need assistance with finding something. I'm visually impaired." So, but
074the reason the disability awareness training needs to be done and as a graduation requirement is so that so that children so that the students grow more tolerant of disabled people being out in the society instead of the old instead of the old all well or the old let's get distracted. So what I'm suggesting that you do for this requirement is that you have it for one year as I said in the junior or senior year of high school. Now what I suggest you do for this requirement is you put in you talk about disability education the history of disability education the issue the history of how they used to have disabled people shunned away from society and locked into institutions. The other idea, the other idea for having this curriculum is of course you test
075the students on these ideas to see what on these things to see what they're learning. And the other the other part of the curriculum I think should be is you have the students work work with a disabled student. see what it's like for a day, what they have to do. Write a paper on it and have them and have them present themsel and the disabled student in class to make sure that the work is genuine and that something is being learned. Not just attitude, but learned. And I suggest that for this course as well as all other graduation requirements courses that the grade B a C or better to graduate because there are thing there are there are things that kids that our children really need to learn a lot about today and that are
076more important than getting distracted in the in the classroom. room by cell phones. They need to be paying attention to the teacher because there is a lot happening around out here. Not only budget cuts, but our democracy is also being under un is being tested. Screen time is not going to do anything about that. education is because we need educated people at the voting box and we also need and we also need educated people working in our stores. Therefore, we need a solid course of curriculum and I'm also and I'm emphasizing there disability awareness training. I'd like to come back at another time and talk about what I think should be more added into a curriculum that would give a quality education. Thank you very much. Thank you, Andrew Lee. [Applause] Good evening committee. My
077name is Andrew and I'm a graduate of the class of 2023. Like many speaking today, I have been heavily impacted by Methuan stage 22 and the performing arts program. I myself was an actor, a set crew chief, and on the executive board for Methuan stage 22 during my time here, as well as a member of the symphonic and marching band. I've met longtime friends through theater and I continue to act in college. I'm a philosophy and political science student, but I'm still heavily involved in my college's theater arts program. Regardless of it not being my main vocation, theater has given me the opportunity I needed to succeed and the skills to succeed outside the theater world, most importantly to speak. By removing theater classes, you're effectively stifling the potential of students who may not even
078realize their passion lies within theater. Students who may not feel at home within themselves or within their own homes are being stripped of a shelter that protected them from the stresses of classes and their lives. Not every kid is an athlete. I certainly wasn't. And not every kid knows what they want to do with their future. But by redirecting their paths and limiting their exploration to only what is deemed essential to to the school's curriculum is not just for the students personal autonomy. Being able to perform on stage, work behind the scenes, run front of house, and work together on a common goal is what keeps many of us growing as a community. These daytime classes introduce many of us to theater and serve both as solace and a way to further our own experience
079in the performing arts. The stories that the productions tell engenders what society is. I myself recently was in a production of Cabaret, a story about the rise of fascism and what choosing ignorance does to an individual on the individual and societal scale. Empathy and understanding is at the core of each and every production. And as a community, we must understand how these cuts will impact the afterchool stage 22 and how we view these issues as a community. I urge you to reconsider where these cuts lie and to recognize how theater has affected us, the alumni, and the student body. I urge you to recognize the importance in the performing arts and the growth lost from ripping these opportunities away. Thank you. Next, we have Brian. And I believe it says pier. Hello school committee. My
080name is Ryan Deep and I was the saludiatoran for the class of 2023. I was heavily disappointed when I heard about the current plan to cut the various fine arts positions in the theater classes at Mthune High. Fine arts as a discipline is an integral way for students to find or continue their self-expression as well as provide a safe haven for those that either need a break from academics or are looking for something that can provide them fulfillment. Oftentimes, it is what allows them to be who they are and be comfortable during stressful times. Whether it stems from school or even their own home, stage door 22 and high for me was arguably the most important experience throughout my high school career. I was a lighting crew chief for three years from my sophomore year
081to my senior year. And during this time, I was able to find my personal interest in lighting design, make lifelong friends, and experience what it was to be a leader. Theater was not just a place for leisure, but rather an opportunity to find an identity that suits me, find a community that understands me, and find interests that fulfill me. Even in college, I pursue these pillars and even found a job that pays me to continue learning and producing laying designs. The removal of theater classes closes many doors that could potentially lead students to their hidden passions. I witnessed firsthand a student that found their interest in theater unknowingly simply by taking technical theater with the current theater teacher. This student did not choose to take the course but then found himself involved with stage door
08222 and was one of the hardest working members of my lighting crew. The multitude of courses of course options in Methun High is one of the things that makes the school so diverse and welcoming. By limiting the choices students have lessens their horizons of opportunity to what they can explore. Without the theater program as a whole, many other students like him would not be able to find the thing that fits them. And without the fine arts director, there is no longer a solid foundation that the current fine arts teachers could stand on. This would create stress for other teachers on top of their already difficult responsibilities. Stage door was more than just an extracurricular. Theater classes are more than just another fine arts class. and the fine arts department is an integral part of any
083student's learning that requires the meticulous care of a director. I ask this committee to understand the impact this cut will have on the student body and the students capabilities to explore. I ask you to understand the importance of arts in our curriculum and how it has grown and shaped your students, your alumni and your school. Thank you. Thank you, Raphael Madha. Good evening, members of the committee, teachers and students, and everyone else listening. I spoke at the last city hall meeting about the budget cuts and today I stand before you as a voice for the importance of arts educations in our school. Fine arts are not a luxury. They are essential. Students have studies have shown time and time again that students who participate in the arts perform better academically and are more engaged in
084their communities and develop skills that are crucial for the modern workforce. skills like creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. When we cut funds to our arts programs, we are not just taking away paint brushes and sheet music. We are taking away pathways for expression and community building. The arts connects us to our history, helps us understand diverse perspectives, and allows us to imagine and build a better future. The arts are a part of our cultural identity and community pride. In Methuan, our fine arts department has done more than just teach music, theater, and visual arts. It has helped students have a sense of belonging and inspired countless students to pursue their passions. The consequences of these cuts extend far beyond the classroom. They ripple into our community, affecting local events, community projects, and the town in
085general. Without strong support for the arts, we risk silencing the voices that inspire and and creativity in our community. We should all look beyond the immediate cost savings and consider the long-term costs of losing what makes our schools not just a place of learning, but a place of inspiration and growth. Let us work together to ensure that the fine arts department in Mthuan not only survives but thrives for the benefit of our students, our community, and their collective future. Thank you, Honor Denovan. Uh, good evening everybody. Um, I just I'm just going to jump right into it. Uh, it seems like every few few years our schools find themselves in the same unfortunate position where we're stretched too thin and we're underfunded. In 2018, 50 uh, staff members were laid off due to the exorbitant
086police contracts. Uh, as noted in Desessie's review in 2019, during the COVID pandemic, we endured a hiring freeze, a pay freeze, no hazard pay, even though our teachers worked directly with one of our most vulnerable positions uh population, sorry. For years, we've been underpaid compared uh to our educators and surrounding communities up until this past year with our current contract. Last year, around 40 positions were left unfilled. This year, based off last week's um proposals, we're facing anywhere between 40 to 76 potential uh job cuts. Over the past seven years, that amounts to 132 to about 168 positions either cut, unfilled, or eliminated, which is roughly 20 to 24% of our workforce. Meanwhile, our school buildings are in poor condition and have been uh neglected for years. a fact well documented by news coverage and
087the city's own creation of multiple task force and uh budget commitments to address the crisis over the past year. These repeated cuts do not just stabilize the lives of teachers, they hurt our students and our community. Clearly, with all these students showing up and showing their support, you can see how it impacts them. Uh how often have we made headlines for budget shortfalls, wage freezes, staffing cuts, and school maintenance issues? How can we hope to attract or retain quality educators when every few years they're faced with the threat of losing their job? Two of the teachers currently uh proposed for layoffs are from my department. They're beloved by students. One was even voted by students as teacher of the month earlier this year. How can we expect students to take pride in their schools when
088the city itself appears not to value education? How can we expect to grow a strong teaching staff and expect literacy rates to go up when talented teachers are forced to leave? We've seen our city invest in buildings like the Surl's property only to turn around and sell them six months later. Why not invest in the people who make our schools run? As a social studies teacher, I know it's important to care about our history. But we cannot invest in our past while we neglect our future. We must invest in the people who make our schools run. Now, I know a lot of potential solutions aren't being thrown around. So, I have a actual potential solution. Why don't we use the free cash fund to cover up the um current shortfall and when that sir's building
089finally sells again, you can put that back into the free cash flow. That money um at least this would buy us a year in our jobs. It buys everybody here a year to find a real long-term solution. It's time for Mthun to finally prioriti prioritize education. [Applause] Nicole Pereira. I'm back again as a parent this time. Um Nicole Pereira, Three Boys at the Marsh. Um, if you can't tell, I'm just very passionate about this. I'm very passionate about making sure that my children and all of our children, our staff, our schools, our administrators, all of us have what we need to be successful. Successful does not mean surviving. And honestly, I just I'm disappointed. And I hate to use that word because I don't like it when I feel like someone is disappointed in me,
090but I am disappointed. What I expect to hear when I'm listening to school committee meetings is that you guys are coming up with solutions. You guys are coming up with suggestions. You're having a conversation about what needs to be done and what can be done. Working together to find out what those solutions are. I am watching and I'm listening and I'm waiting to hear some direction as to where we can go and what is going to be done. And I don't feel like the best that we can come up with is to increase class sizes to 27. That's just not the best solution. That is not creative. That is neglectful. It's not thoughtful. It is neglectful to only push that that forward. We need to hear more. There needs to be more conversation. Making cuts.
091I know it's hard to plan a budget. There's a lot of moving pieces. I get that. But the only way to get to a space where we're not having cuts is to talk. And I'm just not hearing it. And I know other people are feeling the same way. You need to talk. You need to be working together. And we need to be sharing ideas. We don't just want to keep hearing this is a crappy situation. We don't We know we are all on the same page. I know you guys agree. I know the people sitting here watching agree. We know this isn't a good situation to be in. There just isn't enough money. We get it. What are we doing? Besides laying off 76 people because we are also in agreement, the reading specialists matter,
092the theater programs matter, our teachers matter. The students that are in these classes of 27 proposed, half of them, it's possible are on an IEP or 504. We are suggesting that a teacher is responsible for making sure that every one of those students accommodations and modifications are being met while also teaching their gen educ general education students while also teaching them their social emotional learning while also picking up and giving the students who need extra reading support. that that is a huge burden to put on one person's back and thank you to the to to those of you who are doing that. But that is nobody can be expected to do that and do it effectively and efficiently so that our children are surviving so that they're thriving not just surviving in school. school is
093not a daycare and we expect them to be educated properly and these proposed cuts at this moment it is not proper. It is not acceptable. I want to hear more. I want to hear more discussion and I want to hear more ideas. Thank you. Kalissa Alba. Good evening, school committee members. My name is Kalissa Alba. I am a graduate of the Mthuan High School class of 2024 and I'm currently a rising sophomore at Emerson College. I'm here to discuss my concerns with the proposed budget for the upcoming school year, but I'm sure you guys would already know that. Um, specifically the cuts to the director of fine arts position and the theater teacher positions at the high school. A sentiment that was repeated uh that has been repeated the past few meetings and still holds
094true is that budget cuts are valued decisions. cutting vital positions within the arts department instead of taking the time to understand the necessity of these positions or re-evaluating instead of re-evaluating where our current funding is going ultimately tells the Mthuan community that the school committee does not value the arts enough to prioritize them in discussions like these. Mthuan High School prides itself on prioritizing social and emotional learning in their classrooms primarily through what we call connections lessons. These lessons are designed to focus on student support including selfcheck-ins, excuse me, selfcheck-in activities and lessons on academic, social, emotional, and life skills. When I was in high school, to be honest, these class these lessons were often overlooked and structured poorly, creating low retention and student engagement rates. Where I found I learned social emotional learning best
095was in my theater classroom. Introduction to theater taught me about how to process and discuss more complex topics like rebuilding after suffering tragedy as a community, racism in the schoolto prison pipeline and apartheid among other ideas which yes are discussed in our English and history classrooms. However, we are seeing these ideas put into conversation within these classes. Acting taught me how to communicate effectively with both my peers and professionals like you guys, and most importantly, how to have empathy and understanding for others that have experiences difference different from my own. No class at Matuan High School has left lasting impacts on how I navigate the world as much as these theater classes. Furthermore, by saying our students can just enjoy theater in our afterchool program, Stage Door 22, you are completely dismissing the opportunity for
096exploration students are able to have by allowing theater programming during the school day. And while Stage Door 22 is not directly at risk in our current budgeting discussions, removing director of fine arts Cheryl Mancini and theater teacher and club adviser Joanie Walsh is putting our program at risk by eliminating the entire structure that the program is built upon. Furthermore, by elimmiting by eliminating the director of fine arts position, you are putting more work on our teachers and administrators as well as leaving teachers specifically vulnerable and without direct administrative report uh support, excuse me. By eliminating the this position, do you have plans on how Cheryl Mancini's tasks are going to be delegated? Do you know how who these tasks are going to be delegated to? How do you plan to support all of those that
097will be affected by this position decision? Excuse me. Please reconsider your budget proposals to pres preserve the integrity of our arts programs and students. You cannot create an inclusive learning environment by not valuing all educational endeavors. I would also like to take a moment to remind the school committee that you guys are a team that needs to work together. when I uh I could not uh be at the April 16th meeting, but I was watching virtually. Um and like uh the previous person before me had just said, I'm quite frankly I was really disappointed by how the school committee was in conversation with each other. It was very not open in order. I understand that you guys are in a difficult situation. And I understand that budget discussions are stressful and are not pretty discussions
098to be having especially at this time. However, in order to create a budget a budget plan that in order to create a budget plan period, there needs to be open dialogue, open communication and patience with one another and kindness with one another. When I was at that April 16th meeting, there was a lack of kindness, a lack of grace given to each of the members here today. So, I am just reminding you, you are a team and you need to work together, not only for the community at large, but for your students, for your teachers who are all here tonight, for your administrators who are working hard every day, who have so much on their plates. Thank you. Thank you, Olivia Wells. Good evening, school committee. My name is Olivia Wells and I'm the current
099a current senior at MHS and the current president of the MHS theater club, stage door 22. When I was elected to this position, I was specifically instructed that the main part of my jurisdiction would be advocating for the students in our club. And the overwhelming majority of what I have I'm speaking off script here of what I think must be said in order to speak for all of my students that I care about and my friends is that they're mad. They're mad because they don't feel properly represented and cared for. They feel ignored and forsaken. Going back on script here now, theater knowledge for you. During my time at MHS, it cannot be understated the overwhelming impact MHS fine arts department has had on my life. However, beyond my own experiences, I've had the privilege
100to witness the impact MHS's theater programs uh and classes have had on my peers. During my block four theater classes, which are currently at risk of being cut, I've had met a plethora of students whom I otherwise would have never had the opportunity to know. From student athletes to English language learners, daytime theater classes have allowed myself and my peers the opportunity to collectively to collaborate creatively in ways no other classes can provide and have given me the connections that I hadn't even realized I was missing in the after school club. While I have only been in these theater classes for a year, they have provided me with a greater insight into myself and the connections with students incredibly different for myself more than so than any other courses I have taken. When there are
101kids who are working every day to speak in a language that they aren't comfortable with and pushing themselves out of their comfort comfort zones, I think we all need to push ourselves out of our comfort zones, which for you, I believe, must entail fighting the good fight to protect our students in programs for the good of the students, which might I remind you is the exact purpose our taxpayers elected you for. Additionally, while I'm aware the MHS drama club stage of 22 is not at risk of being cut, to say that the choice to remove the theater classes would be damaging damaging to it is an understatement. Just as varsity sports and athletes train off the field, dedicated performance need support from beyond the stage. This fall, I will be attending Emerson College to pursue
102a degree in theater education and performance. I choose I chose to pursue this degree because I have seen the difference that theater education can make in a student's life. I easily could have pursued just a performance degree, but when faced with the sheer lack of attention theater education receives in schools that I have unfortunately had to witness firsthand, I felt obligated to fight back against this. And though I don't anticipate most to fight for theater in schools the same way I wish to, I request on behalf of the club in which I represent all those sitting here, if you don't plan to fight for us, please don't work against us. Thank you. Thank you. That's the end of the list of individuals who signed up to speak. Uh is there anybody else in the audience?
103Uh feel free to approach the podium. Good morning every or goodness. You see I was just backtracking how I got here truthfully. Um this isn't at all what I expected or wanted to be at, but it seems I'm coming to a therapy session. So I'm here to let it out. little bit about who I am and my heart breaks when I walk to this stage right now. I'm not a resident of Maduan. My family is that okay for me to keep speaking? All right. My family did come through the Muan High system. So, I've heard stories of generations and generations and we continue talking about diversity, equity, inclusion. You can call it whatever you want to call it. I like using the word representation. I like seeing these students all represented by themselves. I love
104seeing the teachers union here and I'm an athlete. I'm going to school and I was actually just chosen as one of 16 athletes to fight for why the NCAA needs a player union. So now I know a little bit when it comes to these conversations about organizing collective bargaining and things of that nature. So you know it it really does break my heart that I'm standing in front of here because I'm from the city of Lawrence and the city of Lawrence doesn't have control of their school system. they don't have the opportunity to sit here and engage and create this conversation to look at each other and have different perspectives presented to the table and that's actually what I am here to do not only at this p at this podium right now but I
105think it's my life calling truthfully so as I sit back and I you know look at and reminisce on some of these beautiful devastating heartbreaking stories and the fact that we want to eliminate the education You see, I was one of those students that slipped through the cracks. So, you see, reading is so powerful. Being an artistic student, learning how to express myself. You see, I'm not just an athlete. I always thought I was. I'm a lot more. I'm a poet. I'm a speaker. I'm a mentor. I'm a coach. I'm a businessman. I'm an entrepreneur. I believe I can do it all. And so can all these kids. And you see, it's tough. I'm an athlete, so I think team work is means everything to me. So, it's tough when I see people not working
106together when it comes to creative goals because listen, I know you guys all got here. We are all smart. We are all here to push the same thing and it's to hopefully find a common solution. I don't want to see more kicking of this can. You guys have the pro the ability to solve this together and I believe you guys can and I hope you guys will. There shouldn't be no removing resources and there should be more community collab collaboration. Once again, I'm sorry that this may be a little spinned all over the place, but education and reading and all of this is a blur. You guys need to understand this is these students lives that are being formed. This communication and all these things are what makes us who we are and understanding and
107having places like theater and being able to to read. Like I always thought I had such a insane imagination, but when I first had the opportunity to pick up a book in high school and it was a poetry book, I started listening and I had the opportunity to view my life in in the shoes of different authors and I was able to step in their shoes and put myself in these different cool perspectives that I never had the chance to. And you know, I used to always think growing up Lawrence and Mthun was so different, but hearing every single one of these kids here, they're exactly the same. We're all trying to figure it out. We're all trying to learn. We're all trying to best equip oursel with the skills to become competent, to become
108to reach our goals. So, I hope you guys collectively sit here and discuss things to help make their goals and their dreams possible. Thank you. [Applause] Are there any other members of the audience who wish to speak? Thank you. Thank you, school committee and members. I appreciate it. Uh my name is Edward Bell. you heard earlier from my daughter Diana who went through the uh the school system here. I've actually raised three children through the school system. Um all of which have been in the arts programs. Um I recognize many of you and I hope somebody recognizes me even though I didn't go to school here. Um, but I just want to let you know that um I work for a very large software company um uh based in Texas and um we've laid off
109over the last couple of years some 40,000 people. Um many of which have come from my department running education services for the last 30 years for software companies. Um it is one of the most difficult decisions that you'll ever have to make in your life. And if you've never had the pleasure of doing it, it isn't a pleasure at all. Um, but the one thing I will tell you is in every single company I've ever worked for, the easiest decision was getting rid of people. You don't have to think about it. You just look at the number on the wall. You figure out how many people you need to get rid of based on that number, and it's easy math. The companies that I've been with that have been most successful are the companies that
110sat back and said, "Where's the money going? What are we spending our money on?" I saw the beautiful patio outside. It's beautiful. We live in the state of Massachusetts. You don't go outside from November to January, February and March. What are you going to do outside? What's it used for? Where are we spending our money? I pay taxes in this state. I send my children here. Excuse me. I send my children here. U I hosted the school people at my house numerous times over the years for the plays. I've brought pizzas in for the kids, brought them dinner, brought them lunch, had them stay at my house because of inclement weather so they can get back and forth to school. At the end of the day, you've got to look at where your budget is.
111Don't look at the names on the walls. Don't look at the teachers and just do simple math. Make the hard decision. What are you going to get rid of in the school that you need to get rid of? Where are you wasting your money? We've got a beautiful electric charging system over at the I live right across the street from city hall. I've only seen three cars in there in the last two years putting plugging it in. What are we putting it in for? The city cut down a tree in front of my house. Why? because they had to make room for the wires. I talked to the person at the lighting company that fixed the wires. He said, "This is the greatest city in of all. You guys don't take care of your trees.
112They knock down the power lines. I just bring my truck in and charge you $10,000 a day to fix your wires. You got to look at where the money's going. Don't look at the people. Don't make the easy decision. Make the hard decision. Focus. That's what you're getting paid to do. That's why you're here. If you need help, give us a call. We'll be happy to sit down with you every day, but don't make the easy decision. Make the hard decision. Look at the budget. Find out where the money's going. Where are you wasting it? We all know we are. I implore you to make the right decision. Keep the fine arts programs. Keep the teachers. Keep the reading people. Keep them all. But make the easy decision by looking at the budget. That's what
113I want you to do as a resident of this city and the resident of this state. And by the way, I'm a Pittsburgh transplant and I shouldn't be talking to anybody in Massachusetts about anything, but that's why I'm here. And yes, my family's given up on me, but I'm a Patriots fan. Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak? If not, I'll pass it off to the vice chair to to share some written correspondence. Dear members of the Mthuan School Committee, I am writing to you not just as a former student, but as someone whose educational path and life was profound profoundly changed by a reading specialist. Growing up, I struggled as a reader. This was wasn't due to the lack of support at home. My mom is a first grade teacher and encouraged reading
114passionately. But no matter how hard I tried, reading didn't come naturally to me. I remember feeling embarrassed, frustrated, and like I was somehow falling behind the other kids, even at a young age. I began to see the school as a place where I couldn't keep up. That all changed when I was given a chance to work with a reading specialist, Mrs. Lucas. For the first time, someone took the time to meet me where I was. The reading intervention wasn't just about decoding words or reading aloud. It was about building confidence, finding strategies that worked for me, and beginning to believe that I could actually learn to read well. What might seem like just a support service from the outside was for me a turning point. It shifted how I saw myself as a learner. It
115gave me the courage to engage in the classroom again, to raise my hand, to read without shame. It's not an exaggeration to say that it opened the door to the rest of my education. I understand difficult budget decisions have to be made. But cutting reading specialist positions means cutting the very lifeline that many students, not unlike me, need in order to thrive. These roles don't just help kids read better. They change the way students see themselves and what they believe they're capable of. Please consider what truly at stake. Reading intervention changed my life and afforded me the opportunity and skill set to thrive through high school and obtain a bachelor's degree. And I hope the students of Methuan continue to be given the same chance. Sincerely, Ryan [Applause] Shepard, fifth grader against two and a
116half. To the editor, ever since two and a half got in, teachers got worried and mothers got nervous. My teacher, Mr. Blomgrren, Mr. Perry, and Mrs. Edelstein are the newest teachers to the Oakland school. Mr. Blomgrren is so nice. I don't see why he should lose his job as a teacher. Mr. Perry is nice and so is Mrs. Edelstein. Just because us kids are littleer than you, why are you closing the school on us? The three schools that would close down are the Glenn Forest, How, and the Oakland. If that happens, us kids will have to be busted to the Steven Barker School. Why do we always have to have something happen to us over in the west district of town? This article is what all our teachers and parents are asking themselves. Why? Jimmy
117Carson, Oakland School, grade five, Mthuan. I am a lifelong resident of Mthuan. I have been an educator in this city for 21 years. I attached a letter that I wrote 44 years ago. Please excuse the fifth grade grammar. My mom actually kept this. 44 years ago, as a 10-year-old fifth grader, I was fighting for our schools. Few things in this world are ever guaranteed. Death, taxes, and fighting for the support of education in the city of Methuan. Growing up and being an educator in this city is not something unique to me, as many others have been able to experience wonderful similar trajectories. Watching the proceedings over the last several months has been anything but wonderful. In fact, it's been demoralizing. It's been more demoralizing than anything else. In that time, educators first had to defend
118their position profession while negotiating new contracts. Now, we as an industry are fighting for funding to keep our schools functioning. 44 years is a long time to be having this conversation. Civil service positions are difficult to finance. Schools in many communities, including our own, seem to be the one often overlooked. Last school committee meeting was a moment that I felt I needed to say something. It is one thing to debate and discuss constructively to address needs. It is another to have those conversations with misinformation or misunderstanding of details vital to making decisions regarding the most important resources in our community, our students. Questioning the validity of data and the persons reporting that data is absolutely uncalled for. Education and its funding is not linear. It is at best fluid and changes year to year, month
119to month, day to day, and hour to hour. The resources we need to make the system work fluctuates much in the same way. People discussing these needs have been in this field for decades and are constantly certifying and reertifying to try to keep up the system moving to meet the students needs. persons in our communities are all there for the right reasons. Looking from afar, it's easy to make assumptions on how things can be done. I welcome any and all of you to personally visit my classroom and see what we do every day. Education has changed. The students have changed and their needs have most certainly changed. The typical student that we see each day is vastly different than any student members on the committee or the general public have seen in their day. What
120is being suggested by some is that we do more with less. This is uns sustainable. Again, I and I assume and I am assuming my colleagues welcome you all to see what exactly we do on a day-to-day hour and minute-to-minute basis. The school personnel in this community work extremely hard for the children in it. An equally important factor is that the community's view of education, as in many other places nationally, has shifted. Again, it's easy to look at and misinterpret data. Students needs and learning styles are enormously different today from when I started 21 years ago. The education department in this district has and will continue to work to meet the needs of all our students. To do this, we need funding. We need to use facts and true understanding of our needs of our
121schools. No position is expendable. This is a necessity to meet the needs of our stu students and by default the future of this city. 44 years is a long time to be discussing this. I don't want my next correspondents to be as a 98-year-old. Jim Carson. [Applause] Dear school committee, as a resident grandmother of former Mthuan public school students and a former teacher in Mthuan, I am writing to express my pure disgust with member Maxwell's misinformation and attacks on our teachers and administrators. First, member Maxwell attacked the dedicated and hardworking staff and administration of the Tim by publicly posting on social media that a family should look elsewhere to buy a house. Then, she claims people don't want to live in Methuan. Actually, she is an ed elected public official actively lobbies for the people
122not to move into our district, not the other way around. Second, she lies about Malden spending less money than we do in Mthuan. To begin with, they spend $10 million more than Mthuan on education last year. as can clearly be seen on the DESIE website. However, for her to lobby publicly that we should do more with less money than is even being offered by the city this year is completely counter to what a school committee member should be doing for our district. Why would a school committee member actively advocate for less money which means more layoffs. Third, to publicly state that preschool in our district is not required and we shouldn't be spending money on the Paris in that program is dumbfounding. For her to claim that that program is not required by law shows
123that either she complete her complete ignorance and lack of paying attention to every monthly meeting that discusses this. Maybe she should stop texting through the meetings and actually pay attention or her desire to lie to the public about what is required and attempt to blame special education for the budget crisis. Either way, it's not acceptable. Additionally, at the last meeting, she stated that larger class sizes and budget cuts are going to cause more special needs students. How can she state such a blatantly false statement with a straight face? Learning disabilities are not caused by the lack of staffing, large class sizes, and the lack of money. Such ignorance has no place on our school committee. Further, for her to state that we need to bring students back from outofd placements again show her complete ignorance
124of the team process and parents roles in placement decisions. The district can't just decide to bring a student back. Additionally, by not funding programs such as Constellations program proposed this year, we will have more students out of district. The talking out of both sides of her mouth is not lost on the public. Try supporting programs that keep kids in district and stop blaming special education for the budget issues. We are required by law to educate special education students. I would suggest member Maxwell support all students in Mthuan, not just the students at the Timn. Finally, and the most egregious statements are the lies she spews about our teachers and administration falsifying reading scores with no proof, goes above and beyond irresponsible to a point of complete dereliction of duty. The fact that member Maxwell doesn't
125understand scores presented to her during meetings, and doesn't understand the difference between a quarterly reading screener and an MCCAST shows how unqualified and uneducated she is to be representing our community on the school committee. Our teachers and administrators do not deserve to be slandered by a member of the school committee. It is clear that member Maxwell has a personal vendetta and she is using her elected position as a smear campaign against our hardworking, dedicated staff, and it needs to stop. The job as an elected school committee member is to support our schools, not to tear them apart, as member Maxwell appears to be doing. Enough damage has been done with member Maxwell's ignorant words and purposeful lies. Sincerely, Barbara Lucier. I am writing as a kindergarten and reading teacher who works every day to help
126our youngest learners build the foundation they need to become lifelong readers. I also write as someone who believes deeply in modeling integrity, honesty, and respect. Values we teach in our classrooms and should expect from everyone in our school community, including those in leadership. In a recent school committee me meeting, member Maxwell stated that staff had provided false literacy data to the school committee. Member Maxwell has not shared publicly any evidence to back up her comments. While the accusations seemed to be aimed at Dr. Kuang and Dr. Gobsky, ultimately reflects a broader disregard for everyone involved in the teaching of reading, our humanities supervisors, classroom teachers like myself, and most importantly, our students. It sends the message that the hard work we do every day is not trusted or valued. We all agree that literacy outcomes
127should be stronger. That's why we work relentlessly to support improvement. But suggesting dis honesty without evidence undermines the collective effort of the dedicated professionals who are doing the work with care and seriousness. In my classroom, I teach children to back up their words with facts, to speak kindly, and to show respect even when they disagree. I believe those same expectations should apply to public officials. Our students are always watching and learning from how our adults treat one another. As educators, we welcome questions and are committed to accountability, but we also deserve to be treated with dignity. I hope this com committee will move forward with the renewed focus on respectful dialogue, facts over assumptions, and shared commitment to the truth. Thank you, Lisa. Foli Picket. That's it. If you're unable to make a meeting in
128person for public participation in the future, you can send an email to Martha Soy atmasir ois mthuan.k12.mma. us before 3 p.m. on the day of the school committee meeting. Uh we're going to move on now to the approval of minutes. We need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of April 14th, 2025. So moved. Motion from the uh vice chair, second from member Shabilia. Any discussion? There's no discussion. We'll vote. All those in favor? I opposed. The eyes have it. Uh, next on the agenda, we have staff reports. Uh, superintendent, uh, we'll begin with an update from you. Uh, this is just an opportunity to discuss the fiscal year 26 budget. Thank you. So, I passed out um a memo with some attached information for uh an update at this point. Uh as
129of last Tuesday, there has been some additional conversation with uh city administration, our leadership team, school committee members. Uh so, there's a couple of things and I might be going out of order, but we're going to talk about both of them. So, it's my understanding and the mayor can confirm that our public hearing dates are confirmed. they are not going to change. Um so with that information there's some you know important tasks and actions that do have to take place in a timely manner uh tomorrow and the next day and in the next few days. So, uh what I am showing you is yet another update and my recommendation to the committee at this time uh of what we should post for tomorrow in the media. Um and uh begin to prepare budget workbooks uh
130for all of you. It's it's timely. Uh it is something that Mr. Gosslin and myself and Miss McCarthy just we need the rest of this week to prepare those budget books for you so you have them by Friday afternoon uh in enough time to make sure that it re represents all the conversations we've had. So what you have in front of you are some adjustments and changes uh based on again some conversation. Uh I'm trying uh to do what I can with the the conversations that we're having. uh it is a challenge a little bit because there's not a sort of a one cohesive direction, but I'm really trying hard to uh read and understand each one of your um you know commitments and uh recommendations. So uh again and the mayor and I spoke
131I think more in depth on Thursday about sort of what we could look at. So, uh, the most important thing and I wanted to share my screen just so people who are here could see the memo because it's not posted. So, if you wouldn't mind just giving me one moment. While you pull that up, can I ask a quick clarifying question? Sure. If this is posted tomorrow, does that create any binding obligation for us or are we still able to work through it, make changes, continue the conversation? The requirements to have a posting for the public hearing certain number of days in advance. And so by posting uh that meeting date officially, uh that will satisfy the requirements in terms of the public hearing. But as far as I think I'm concerned and I know
132the superintendent and her team are concerned, this is a living breathing document. Perfect. Thank you. Look at my pretty little school picture up there. It's cute, isn't it? All right. Should be able to share your screen. Yeah. So, you should be able to share your screen here, right? And then choose which window you want. Oh god, that's like the whole world's going to see it, right? Um, okay. But I can change it, right? Can I change it? I don't see the tab. It be whatever's for because I don't see my um but that's not what we want that we want technical diff. We're good. Okay. Can you guys see that on the screen? Tiny. Too tiny. big lint. How's that? A little better. Okay, there are some copies out around the tables, but um Okay,
133so uh thank you for that and I apologize. So, some of the things that uh were again stated clearly uh asked of me and my team to do uh are the bulleted list that you see here. So we sort of reversed some of the things that we showed at the last meeting. Uh and I think we did that uh based on sort of the tenor of sort of how everybody was feeling when we presented that. Uh and we were in uh pretty good agreement about most of these items. So we res we restored classroom teachers so that class sizes for grades three through eight were 25 or below. We restored classroom teachers, so class sizes for grades K and two is still between 18 and 22 districtwide. We restored uh the additional custodian at Tenny
134and Tim. We restored the LPN position at the CGS. We restored the reading specialist at each grammar school. Uh and with that, we accounted for the grant funding. So, there's some adjustment there that we had to do. Um, we restored the district-wide behavioral support specialists also accounted for grant funding and we restored two additional core teachers at Mthan High School in English and history. So, that's like a general bulleted list of sort of what was restored based on the conversations and the asks from uh again members of the committee, us working with the leadership team. What we actually have for you tonight are is two things. And I'm actually going to ask which you know how much she loves this. Uh I am going to ask Miss McCarthy just to join us so that if
135there's questions or explanations um she can just be here because this really has been a team effort. Uh and some of the things we were able to work through today was pretty remarkable. Um, and so I just want to work through that so I explain it uh carefully. So in this memo you have the original staffing sheets with the changes to date. So the the staffing sheets attached for each school, the grid for class sizes as presented for each school uh hopefully look familiar to all the school committee members and folks who have been paying attention uh from the get-go that these are the original staffing sheets the principles used in our original presentation for the budget. So with all of these changes, right, so we had restored positions, right? back in. Um we uh
136Colleen and I very delicately went through the remaining positions and captured uh the details. We've talked about the fact that there are so many moving parts when it comes to give me the exact number of layoffs and who they are, which is still incredibly challenging to do. Uh when we're talking about lensure, uh resignations, non-renewals, where everybody can and multiple lenses, we have plenty of staff who have multiple license licenses as well. So this chart that we're showing uh was what where we and I say estimated uh but we're pretty close and so you know we just we wanted to make sure that it's really publicly stated that this could change right because we've we've had a resignation or two people are moving out of state like we we it's constant changes in our staff.
137Um, so we're just putting that out there that this is a really good estimate at this point, but it could fluctuate that with the restoration of what we're looking at and the any retirement fills, additional for class sizes, uh, you know, dual lensure. Um, we're looking at 19 unit A layoffs compared to where we were last week, which was significantly higher than that. uh unit B uh is looking at two uh full layoffs. One of the layoffs uh and it's all contractual would be bumped uh into a unit A position. So that has an impact um because the person was originally hired in unit A and there's contract language for that. uh unit C we we do have uh a lot of unit C o you know vacancies right now still unfilled so anything that
138has been reduced or moved um we have more openings than we do anything that has been reduced or moved right so there's no layoffs and unit C um folks might get moved I think Miss Bozac and Colleen uh spent some time today the the folks putting their jobs up to bid uh requesting changes has started. That cycle has started. Bless you. The 16 BBEEs that uh we are still uh planning to reduce uh we will offer all of them a program assistant position. There are still more than that available. if anybody's listening for program assistant positions for next year. Uh but we will be able to offer all of the BBEs a full-time program assistant position if they should to so uh desire that and it would be higher pay than their BBE at this
139point. uh there will be a parent leaison and one health office employee the CNA and uh unit D which is our secretary unit uh the reduction in the F FRC specialist would actually uh fill a retirement in another location. So this gives you a little bit of a picture of where we are. And then the next slide is the the money part. So I think you know we've we've I stressed last time that some of the concern is that we uh are not it would not be responsible of me to recommend a budget to you with money that we don't have at this time. Right. So there was some uh circuit breaker funding adjustments we that we I still feel very strongly about those at this point in the supplemental budget, but we don't have
140it. It's not part of consideration right now, but we know uh you know there's some potential there and that would be fantastic, right? Um but that is not included in this because that's not again responsible of me to recommend that going forward to you. Uh the other part uh that isn't in this uh is the $100,000 earmark from rep representative representative Hamilton uh simp not because I don't believe he didn't get it for us but that is not real money right now it's not in the bank right so we're not going to consider that until it is the whole budget process at the state is completed and we have notification of those funds what is included in the number in this chart that you're looking at is the uh additional 1.5 million of of money
141that we are hoping the city council will consider as one-time fees or onetime costs, excuse me. Uh and I I did put that in there because that is money that we have have and I say have a little loosely, right? not ours school department money, but it is real money that the city uh we're really hoping that they consider uh those one-time costs to be able to account for in this budget. So what you are looking at here is uh not us meeting the number that the city has proposed uh but it is higher and again this is somewhat of the conversation that we've all had and that we the mayor and I have had very openly about having this conversation tonight. uh it is not the uh you know the requested budget and again
142we realize that there was a lot that is is requested that just is not feasible. Um but we want to um and hope that we can work towards the numbers you see here. So, uh, net school spending for operating would be 3.7 above what the city is proposing and our non-net school spending is 1.6 above. I'll pause there. Are there questions about this before we go through each school? Member Daglio. So, I I have a few questions because like I said, I was just handed this. Nope. Everybody was this was part of our discussion. The mayor and I have been working on this. I mean we had three days last week to try to put this together. I that's so the question is we went from 76 from when I was here to now if
143if I'm correct 20 21. So how many layoffs are we now facing? So this the chart above. Yeah. So it's 19 21 22 23. And then we'll fill retirement. So just hit me with a number. 23 right layers again estimated. Yes. But that's is pretty good estimate at this point. Oh, and the 16 be Oh, we're adding we're adding the 16 BBEs, but they will be offered a program assistant position in the district. So that'll be 39. So we went like So we're only losing We're at 16 BB. Yeah. When did this drastic number just take place? Because all week we heard 76 76 including myself. This is this is the work that we've done and the mayor has asked very clearly as had the school committee over the course of the three days last
144week for us to restore positions to reduce layoffs which is that's what the whole list up top is. We restored those classroom positions from what we presented last week to you. member Daglio to add some clarity. Um the original discussion about all of those layoffs as 76 number was totally unacceptable. We we can't be okay with that and we can't accept that. And so what we've been working to do is identify other opportunities uh to establish some extra capacity when it comes to the ability that we have to adequately fund our schools and we're still working on doing that. So uh we're getting a little closer on this side of things. Uh and um going to keep looking for more. So, so also member Jagli, I would say that what we presented last week is
145also we were getting to uh very close to the city proposed number. Right. So, so this is there's no we're working I'm working on what I am being given and I have to come back to recommend a budget to you the school committee and the school committee absolutely is going to have to make a final decision on the budget. that is uh I don't actually vote on a budget. I can recommend based on the work that we do and the school committee has to vote on that budget and make that decision. That is the job and the role of the committee. Um so I'm trying to present something that again is presenting what our conversations have been what the mayor and I have been having conversations about to restore positions to reduce what we presented
146last week. But you'll notice that on this grid, uh, right, we're not at 99 million where the city has proposed our net school spending. What what what I'm showing you right now is this is what it looks like because this is what we've been asked to do. We have to move forward with posting a budget tomorrow. And so I'm recommending uh that we move forward with this as posting and again that member Shabilia asked right that doesn't hold us to uh this but it has to be done right has to be posted tomorrow. So, quick question. If that's the case, if we were to send a full budget to the the city council, then we don't need to hold to to us as well, and then we will make the cuts if necessary if we
147were if they were to vote no. Correct. If we send a full budget to them tonight, which most of our constituents and teachers and everybody in the city of Mthuran is asking us to do because that's what we're basing it on. That's what we are elected by is our constituents. We send it to the city council. They vote on it. They vote yes. We get fully funded. No, we come back. We have a plan. All right. At the end of the day, it comes down to sending a full budget to like we heard our students tonight. They said, "Send a budget that is going to benefit our students and teachers." At the end of the day, I know we're trying, Mr. Mayor, like I said it to Neil um me uh Mayor Perry last year,
148but we're in the same spot, which I then said to everybody, we will be back in this position next year. Watch the tape from last year. That's what I'm afraid of. And look where we are. I The students have asked us to do it. Our teachers have asked us to do it. A constituent here has asked us to do it. Let's pass a full budget. Let them take their vote up there and then we'll have we have a plan in place. That's all I'm going to say. We keep playing games all day with the different things. And member um Dr. Kong, I'm not holding this against you. I I think you guys and your team is doing a good job, but at the end of the day, let's stop. Our job is to fund our
149schools. So, we're going to fund our schools. If not, you guys can vote for it because if not, I'm voting no matter what tonight. So, that's all I got to say. Thank you. There's no vote. There's no vote tonight. This is for discussion. Yeah. No, we're not voting tonight. No. No. I'm voting no on the budget. So that's great. We don't need to vote tonight. But I'm voting no on the budget. Okay. Member Dagio. Congratulations. You're done. First of all, I have five minutes. You talk all the time for five minutes. No, no, no, no, no. We're going to have order. Member Shabilia. Miss McCarthy, welcome to the table. I know how much you love being here with us. um operating under member Daglio's assertion which I think at baseline we all agree with everyone
150wants to send a full budget I just I don't know how real that is if we were to do that not saying we will what position does that put you in because I know you have deadlines where you need to issue notices by law we have to notify everybody by June 15th which happens to be on a So it would have to be by June 13th. Problem becomes is this isn't straightforward. It's going to be it could possibly be a bump to a bump to a bump. So there's we're going to need hours actually to to know who if any. And the budget hearings are set for what what date again, Mr. Mayor? 21st. The 21st. So if the budget hearings are the 21st, they're usually two days a next Wednesday. The city's is the
15127th 28th for first read, which means the second read will be a week later. 27th and 28th will be the city council workshop. There won't be any votes then either. But those workshop is what's going to provide us the feedback. We need to know what to to feel confident what's going to happen with our budget when it gets to the table for a vote. If it were to be a full budget and it was to come back the morning of the 29th or whatever that next day is, next business day, would that give you enough time to do your equation? I I I know it's it's it's tough to work through because I'm putting you on the spot. That's kind of a loaded question because then it becomes to is this the budget that we're
152going to go with? Are you going to make other decisions? That's you. you guys would have to come back and tell us what those decisions are in order for us to do the next step of work because I I think that and I know that I've had this conversation. I've had it with John. He stood up here and said it earlier. We've had it publicly online. I think that there's some misunderstanding that we can solve this problem. We are given an allowance essentially that says here go make this work. And the mayor has quite literally done cartwheels to try to free up more cash from our overall piggy bank to a lot to the schools. And I will say that probably every single person at this table has advocated with him and worked with him
153to make that happen. The problem is we don't control funding. We don't control the surls. don't control. Our job is by design to cut, which is an atrocious position to be in. And no matter how Mayor Bo regard contorts his body and budget, he is not going to fix 30 years of colossal screw-ups in this city in the first what, nine months of his term as mayor. So, I guess I I love the idea of sending a full budget to the council, but I don't I don't know if that's realistic. I I like this. This gets us a whole lot closer to where I think is sustainable for education. Is it ideal? No. But it's a lot better than we were yesterday. I would like to see and understand, and hopefully you'll tell us when
154we we get to all these pretty little charts. I know how I like to jump ahead of you. um kind of why some of these negatives are here. Yeah. So, definitely I'll hold that. It gets complicated, but yes, this is part of why this is hard to interpret on first read, but important that we have the conversation so people know how to interpret. Thank you. I'll hold those for later. Willlette, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I I think what the problem is is that uh at the state house the numbers are still in flux and I think we'd be doing a disservice to the community to the school district to our teachers to automatically assume certain levels of funding. Now, if we receive an influx of additional millions of dollars, whether it be through chapter 70
155or through the transportation circuit breaker or any additional levy to the community, that not only will reduce the number of layoffs, but also consequently reduce the cost of unemployment insurance. So, it's a dual uh package. You're reducing the number of layoffs and reducing the cost overall unemployment insurance. And again, I concur with member Shabilia. No one feels that this is an ideal budget by any stretch of the imagination. And last year, I identified as a barebones budget. Um, and this one is is more damaging to us as a a community. And I appreciate the teachers that spoke at Beacon Hill. I think we're on the same page because I've been very favorable in my rocks to Senator Pyeno. Um he's been an advocate for us on the gateway communities. He directly filed an amendment. Um
156he has hosted people from the Haveril school committee regarding the uh archaic nature of the um chapter 70 formula and that needs a massive revision. We've talked about mass budget of a massive disparity for gateway communities of almost $300 million when we're talking about inflation. I think we're on the same page because if you are at Beacon Hill giving a speech or giving remarks, if you're making a phone call to the respective offices, if you're sending an email, if you're having a conversation at Market Basket, I know member Shabilia has had conversations with parents on negotiations and on the budget. I have done the same thing. We're listening. It's just that we're getting closer to a finishing line. Collectively, we're not happy with the budget, but that's the nature of a compromise is that you
157work with the current mayor to try to get as much as an acceptable package as possible and then you approve that package. So to go from 76 down to the 20s and that again emphasize does not include any additional monies that might be finalized through the supplemental budget and the FY26 state budget. So we might be able to recall certain layoffs by the time they pass the budget uh by July in a supplemental budget which I think hopefully will be finalized and I might give us some greater clarity. uh we continue to listen to uh the residents and obviously for instance I've been an advocate for the teachers to join the GIC for decades that's a reform measure that would save us millions of dollars um they're not in favor of that so if someone
158says to me well member Wlette or city council wlette at the time what are your reforms and I would be like yeah energy efficiency and join the GIC see and that would save us millions of dollars. And I I talked about that in in recent remarks. Um and if someone else wants to come forward with reform measures, I think we are willing to listen to those reform measures. I think again it's it's healthy to have people even if you're diametrically opposed to what I'm saying. That's the hallmark of what we live in this country is that they come to the podium and they give their remarks and it's comes from the heart. and I I appreciate that. So, at this stage, this is a compromised package. We're going to still work on it. Uh but
159we got to get close to the finish line soon. Thank you. Other discussion. Um I just wanted to say that I um I want to keep the um dialogue open and I want to continue conversations. They're really difficult for us to have. I think that um maybe sometimes they're misunderstood. Um but I do want to say that I support a a full budget going to the city council. I know um that may not happen, but I am I am behind cutting no one. I don't want to see any positions cut. I am not blaming anyone for anything. I am not um I am not calling anybody out. I'm not saying this is anybody's fault. Um, what I am saying is is that I don't want to see any of these positions go. And at the
160end of the day, I think that that's really the message, the only message that matters. Um, and and I just want to say that that's where I stand with this budget proposal. I I don't want um I don't want to cut anybody. I want to stand behind everybody. I want to support everybody no matter how I you know what that looks like. And um this just isn't a good one. This isn't a good position. So that's all. Thank you. I don't want to cut anyone either. I don't think anyone sitting at this table wants to cut anyone. But on the other hand, we're dealing with real lives and real people, and we need to be realistic about the expectations. And we've gone from being $750,000 close to the city number to now 5.3 million away.
161Right? So, we've added a lot of positions back that have brought us up $5 million above what the city is offering us for money. To say that we're going to go to the city with a full budget is fantastic. It's a great pipe dream, but we are giving unrealistic expectations to people and we're dealing with people's real lives. And it's not fair. It's not fair to say to people, you know what, we're going to go to the city council. We're going to give them a full budget because we know that the city can't afford it. And so to to do that is unfair to the people that work for us. We need to be fair to them. And I don't think that sending a full budget to the city council knowing that it's not going
162to get um approved and it's just theatrics at this point. and we're just pushing the hard decisions down the line. I just don't think it's fair. So, um I'd like to suggest something that now we have two different options. We've presented what last week looked like with a whole bunch of cuts trying to get to that number. We've presented tonight uh and again, we still have to post something. So, but there may be work to do. Um, Miss McCarthy and I could go through the same exercise we went through today for a few hours to uh, and I'm I guess I'm I'm just I want to I want us to be on the same page when people are saying full budget. So, I'm interpreting full budget right now as just zero layoffs, right? Not the
163budget we presented on March 24th with additional positions. I think right now we're at a point we want to level service and keep the positions that we have. Is that my understanding? Because if that is what we want, we can sit and do one more layer of what would that be with no layoffs period but no additional. I just want the committee to operate here with eyes wide open. what that would mean. It would mean an increase year-over-year in the school department budget from 104.7 million in 2020 fiscal year 2025 to over 100 and 24 million. That was the original discussion regarding a full budget um without any cuts at all. So, that would be a $20 million year-over-year increase, that would be what we'd be discussing when we say full budget. And what I
164will say in response to that, just so that we are grounded in reality, in order to get that, think of it like a seessaw, right? If we go up 20 million, right? We need to find on the city side, whether that be with uh potentially firefighters, cops, public works employees, etc. we need to find the equilibrium. And so I just want us to be cognizant of what that discussion entails. Conversely, if there isn't say a desire on any side for that equilibrium, then someone here or perhaps in the community would have to call for what they call a Proposition 2 and a half override, which has never been approved in the city's history. That would have to be done at the ballot box. So, I just want all of us to have our eyes wide
165open when we say full budget, no reductions to anything initially proposed. Looking at over a $20 million year-over-year increase. So, superintendent, you can continue. I that's helps the explanation. I think that's what I'm looking for. Are we think we just if we stop using the term full budget that we presented on the 24th, but no layoffs? Is that am I making a little bit of sense or no? Because if I look at what we have up in that chart here and again it's going to take Colleen and I sitting to actually see who we're talking about and where they're going. I just it's time and if that's not what the committee uh wants as a consensus then I don't I don't want to move forward with that. But I we can certainly provide that as
166we work with the mayor. So no layoffs means an increase of 30 specialed positions still. Is that correct? Because your your zero funding like the no layoffs, the original budget that you proposed had 30 new special ed positions that we had to fund. So those have already been accounted for, right? So anything that I need for compliance is has not been reduced. So, we've already done that, right? I didn't take away all of the new requests. There are new requests in this budget package that's in front of you because there has to be, right? But what what you had said was no layoffs and new no new positions, but there are new positions. You're absolutely right. You're right. Right. No layoffs and the and the must haves. Yes. Which are already accounted for in this
167package, I guess, is what I'm saying. Right. Those are included in what you are seeing here right now. Robert Donovan. Yeah, just a clarifying question. You know, you brought up an interesting point. I happened to be with a whole bunch of school committee members from across the state last weekend and um everyone was talking about the overrides in their communities and I don't think any community passed their override the pretend I don't know of one but say in an effort to get this budget the first budget What's the first budget? The one where we had additions. Okay. I feel like we should title it something so we're not saying pull. Um say first preliminary budget. Okay. First preliminary. Say there was a decision to go for an override. Take it to our voters. How like
168how does that how long would that take? And that would totally It would certainly take some time and I would imagine that in Methuan it would probably fail 90% to 10% something like that. So I think we I think we need to think very realistically and purposely about what we're going to bring forward because we're not even thinking about the other side of our community, you know, the non-schools part with the needs that have to be met. and add some clarity. That really is the objective that we're aiming for. Myself and the CAFO and the superintendent and her team trying to find that uh compromise as member Wlette has said that we can limit the impact to the district and do so in a way that you know allows us to certainly accounting for all
169the reductions that I'm making on the city side uh being able to find that equilibrium. So we're aiming for that now. Do we have other questions or you can continue superintendent? Keep going. So, uh, the two charts you see here with the colored, uh, rows, uh, that would be the lines that Mr. Goslin would have to send to the Eagle Tribune tomorrow and post. It's by category is my understanding. Um, so just so we're aware, right, that's what's gets gets posted. So the staffing sheets uh what you are seeing here when you see a a box that is highlighted that means that it is counting as an actual layoff in that number that you see in the grid on the page above. Right? If it's not in that box, if it's not highlighted, that means
170that that I mean, we looked by grade level, by school, by license, by all of that to see if they would would move to a position in the building. We have uh some staff who have a reading license. Would they move into the retired reading license position? So, we did all of that today. So what you see in yellow for each of the schools is where those um reductions the layoffs are actually coming from. So I don't know um member Shabilia like you know by school and then each school has a class size. So what's highlighted in yellow is what the class size represents on the staff sheet. Right? So again, we removed everything uh that was over 25 for grades 3 through 8 and kept uh K through two between 18 and 22. So,
171there are some very interesting like detailed questions here that I'm sure are going through your heads about this. Um, but again, as you see, for example, Marsh grade 8 has a minus two, but it's not highlighted. That means there are two spots for those staff members, whether they're at the Marsh or potentially another school. We have accounted for positions for those two layoffs. Huh. Oh, and one of those is a resignation. So, we have one resignation in one spot. So, again, Miss McCarthy and I took detailed notes on the column that you don't see that, you know, has names and things. So, that wasn't something we wanted to share publicly. just as we went through this exercise to make sure that we had accounted for uh staff moving preferably first within their own building. Sometimes
172it gets a little harder at the upper school with lensure but that is our first uh priority is to keep staff in the buildings that they're currently in. Uh that may not be 100% uh always possible but that would be our goal and has been Same thing class size for Marsh. Everything highlighted is the adjusted what you see in the staff list above. All four grammar schools look exactly the same. So um the tenny there was a lot of movement there. Uh so we are able to um make sure that the grade two, the four, the five, the added eight, the minus one, we we have school or district positions for those folks. Class size at 10. Again, it looks really consistent across the district uh with what we restored uh or made those changes.
173And then Tim Grammar School, I think there are three uh total that we had that didn't have spots uh immediately class size for Timony adjusted. It's a challenge if if folks look at the enrollment numbers. I think this tells an interesting story about our challenges. It's not just like every class in the district is about 130 kids in every school at every grade level. I mean the timony uh is fascinating to us because you have a class of 149 153 and then you have a class of 10 107 and and 125. So uh it's just that makes a lot of what we do very challenging as well. We see that some of the other schools high school I don't have class sizes for but in the departments that we are losing those class sizes or
174uh electives may change. So in the high school the top one that says fine arts band. So, that one is a little bit trickier because that was one of the teachers. Uh, if you recall on the original sheet, Brian Wilkins uh has been in the fine arts group. Uh, but he's really moving to CTE down below. So, kind of funky. Um, and the theater position that we talked about uh still remains a layoff because she will bump a English teacher and teach both theater and English. So that we had to account for that box. But that is still the plan moving forward. Mr. Caret understands that as well that it would be a split position of theater and English sections. And then last two, uh, the EEC mostly had reductions, but they were, um, vacant,
175not unfilled. And then last, the central office has pretty much stayed stable. Uh, we haven't added any of the positions requested. Reduction in a couple of areas, resignation, grant funding. We're not filling a senior bookkeeper. Uh we are keeping in this budget and this is again part of our ongoing conversations for the past two months uh the maintenance person and fulfilling our maintenance staff to five instead of 4.5. Um and then we have we do have a reduction in our family resource center uh at central office. uh that is a position that there is a retirement that that person will be able to fill. So it's not highlighted. I think that's the end of that budget. So again the recommendation would be that this is what we post. Uh the mayor and I will continue.
176We have some work to do I think tomorrow. Um, but again is the I don't want to do it if the committee doesn't want to see it. Am I creating a another one more layer of not full budget but no layoffs? So we're not going to take a vote tonight? No, I just need like a nod. So at this point, again, as I mentioned at the outset, work through it. This is still very much a living, breathing document. uh this satisfies our posting requirement uh and of course as we learn more about especially uh hopefully some additional assistance from the state uh but also uh continued adjustments on the city side uh to free up some room as well. Um this is not final far from it. So I would recommend simply going ahead and
177posting and we'll go from there. Okay. Do we have discussion? So, is the offer to submit the not full budget, but the uncuts, is that off the table? Are we not going to work that up and present that? I would I mean, I would like to see that. I don't know if anybody else on the committee would like to see that, but I would like to see that happen. Yes. No. Vice Chair, does that have to be a motion? So, this is just what we're going to post to the We We just need something to put in the newspaper tomorrow. This isn't going anywhere other than the newspaper. That's fine. I just I don't necessarily I would I would rather not put this in the newspaper if so why can't we put in no cuts?
178Why can't we put that proposal in there? I think this is generating a little more confusion than we need right now. We're going to proceed with posting this and then we're going to do everything that we can to balance this out. Wlette, I mean ultimately you're going to vote for a compromised package or you're not. So that's basic. So again, I understand the logic of having no cuts, but also we're talking about Proposition 2 and a half override, finite resources, and if you drain your cash reserves, look at Habil as a example. They drain their cash reserves, then they escalated their taxes the next year. So, we're postponing something. If we have additional resources from the state, we'll use that to save positions. Other than that, we're going to have as much of a compromised
179package, continue to advocate behind the scenes, but we're not an advisory committee. I'm prepared to make a final decision soon, and I'll take that vote, and I've done it in the past. I'm fiscally conservative. I'm not going to give a budget that's full that's $20 million out of whack or $10 million out of whack. I think this is going to be a good compromise package and between this year and next year all the suggestions from people all the reform ideas I gave two tonight we can work on it as elected officials working with the community members but we have a responsibility as elected officials to make the difficult decisions and that's what I'm prepared to do So regardless of a posting in a publication of a newspaper, I'm going to make that final decision on
180the compromised package. I've done it in the past and I voted against uh tax increases in the past. I know on the municipal side, we had to cut 10% of salaries for uh police and fire and DPW when they had the great recession in order to save jobs and not whack the taxpayers that were losing their homes. So, I remember that in the past and I know corporations lay off hundreds of thousands of people. I would imagine they have the same uh angst when they go home at night as we do. I I don't consider these to be numbers. I know these people. So again, we will work on a compromised package and you vote for it, you vote against it. We we're going to the finish line. Thank you. Uh two points. Um my
181my my plea to all of us around the table is we keep talking about a two and a half override. Let's let's not perpetuate the fairongering. Just because we pass a budget that is not at the floor in which the city gives us does not dictate a Prop 2 and a half. City council can still go out and do their job and mitigate a city budget. It's not a one or the other type thing. So this this constant threat of Prop 2 and a half is just working people up. There's other stuff to be worked up about. Otherwise, to member Wlette's point. And to the the gentleman who was here earlier who says he's had to lay people off, this is nothing like a m a corporate budget. Those are strictly numbers. And if you
182lay off half your sales force or half your marketing team, you just burn the candle at the other end for those rest of those people and you watch them suffer and then they move on. Here, our kids won't read. We won't have theater. It'll be a whole slew of different problems. Comparing them is apples and onions or whatever cliche you want to throw at it. So, I I do support just putting this in the paper. Let's get something in the paper. It doesn't matter because it's not the final product. That being said, we have to vote to go past nine. Sorry. Misunderstood. So, yeah, we're four minutes out. Let's have a motion in a second to go past nine. Some moved. All right. All those in favor? I All right, we're going past nine. All
183right, we'll move on uh superintendent to uh remainder of your presentation. I think that wraps it up. All right. Uh so next on the agenda we have uh discussion obviously we were to talk about the public hearing. I'm going to stick with the date. Um at this point uh we'll have uh update regarding student enrollment data. Any questions? Just one point of uh clarification. The narrative over the last couple of months has been declining enrollment. Um, I spent an inordinate amount of time pulling numbers off the DESIE website just to learn this afternoon when the superintendent clarified me that I didn't know what I was doing. Um, you didn't say that, but that was what I took away from that because when you look at the Desi site and it says total enrollment, that takes
184into account charter schools and other at home and public all these other things. But even when you just look at our building enrollment, it has not gone down. It has progressively gone up since co since 2020. Not only has our enrollment gone up, but our special needs has gone up. In district, out of district, English language learners, preschool students, Mckin Vento, the the whole totality has all gone up. So this narrative that keep people keep spewing and I that I just haven't until this week had a chance to really get into is false. So when our friends at the uh great wooden table say that our enrollment is down, that is a patently inaccurate statement and now the public uh the record has been set clear. Thank you. Any other questions or discussion regarding student
185en excuse me student enrollment? Okay, we'll move on to the assistant superintendent of student services report. Any questions or comments from the committee? Now that we have this new way of presenting the data that member Donovan and I assume Miss Bozac and others have come up with other than the total expenditure for expenses. Do we need to continue with this data because it's duplicative of what we have? Just food for thought and we can maybe make one administrative task a little bit lighter. Thank you. Who's that question for? Did you did you want us not to provide this moving forward? I think you're giving it to us twice and I just heard me let say I like data. Data is cool and that's kind of but like and then we already got it. I don't
186need it twice. So as far as I'm concerned, no thank you. Thank you. But no, thank you. Is that an agreement? So you're talking about the enrollment stat sheet being the data we're sharing with you on a monthly basis. Yes. I mean the special education, the mental health, the school health services, that's all great, but the breakdown of McKin Vento, where they're coming and where they're going. Okay. It's all I'm all I'm really interested in and all I think we need to keep an eye on is the year-to- date transportation expense. Okay. any interest of solidarity. I will concur with that and say we can do away with that. It streamline the process. Absolutely. Kumbaya building bridges. Thank you. Yes. All righty. Any other questions, discussion? All right, we'll move on to the HR report.
187Any questions, comments, concerns from the committee? Save everybody. No change from previous month. All right. Uh lastly under uh staff reports we have the out of school suspensions and other disciplinary actions report. Any questions, comments from the committee? All right. Next on the agenda we have old business and other pending matters. We have the amended uh 2025 uh 2026 school calendar. Uh we need a motion and a second to approve. So just Yep. So just Draft two. Yep. I've provided both. So you have a copy of both. The draft one is what we presented uh in the April business meeting and then based on conversation I we adjusted it to include a two week uh vacation at Christmas or at the winter break to last for the two full weeks adjusted. Um so draft two
188is my understanding of what the committee is looking at tonight. We've provided both so if there's any discussion or change in thought. Um but I will just say that uh if June is the most important month to look at, the good news is we are right on the cusp of those two days. The graduation is tenatively still June 5th regardless of the two weeks or not. Um and when I say on the cusp like we have like a one day uh wiggle room with the two weeks of vacation to keep it on June 5th. From a parliamentary standpoint, let's uh simply have a motion and a second if we could to approve draft two and then we'll go from there. So moved. Second. Motion is from member Shibilia. The second is from member Maxwell discussion.
189Memberilia. So I spent a inordinate amount of time talking to people about the calendar which kind of gotten you know a little bit of a reprieve from budget. Um, the majority of folks that I heard from were not swayed one way or another, whether we started before or after Labor Day, whether we had an extra two week vacation or whether we got out June 15th or June 17th. The one piece of information that stuck with me throughout the entire conversation was from a retired member of our faculty that said, "Everyone is better behaved in December than they are in June." There might be truth to that and that that one that one hit home for me. So I I I we're going to aggravate 50% of the people no matter how this vote goes. So
190I think my opinion would be my vote is going to be to keep the calendar as is. Vice chair. Um so the number of people that I spoke with um the people who were like yes it would be great to have two weeks the people who were against it had hardships. It was food for the low-income kids. It was special education kids needing their services and and going 16 days without services is a long time. And it was the parents who don't have child care because Ranger Club isn't open those two weeks and there's no one to watch their kids and they don't have the time to take off. And so I feel like because I have to side with the parents who have hardships than the parents who just want a twoe vacation. So
191I'm going to say I'm prefer the original calendar. Also, member Daglio, I'm just going off of uh the other members, the same here, the hardship um which I would I there are benefits of that for but going with my constituents, I will be voting the same way as everybody the uh memberia and um member Geon other discussion. So, we're going to take a vote on draft two. This is on the agenda. And so, we'll have a roll call on draft two. And I'm assuming uh given how the discussion is going, we're going to have discussion regarding draft one, but let's proceed with a vote on draft two. Secretary, member Daglio, no. Member Donovan, no. Member Keegan, no. Member Maxwell, yes. Member Shabilia, no. Member Wlette, no. Mayor Borggon, no. Draft two fails. We need a
192motion and a second to approve draft one. So moved. Is not on our agenda though. Is that a problem? We have a general discussion here on the agenda regarding the calendar. So I think that will suffice in terms of open meeting. Second. I'm sorry. Who with the Ryan? Okay. Motion from member Dagio. The second from member Shibilia. Discussion. This is relative to draft one of course on the agenda regarding the calendar. Discussion. All right. Uh, we'll take a vote. Excuse me, member Maxwell. Hi. Good. Okay. All right. We'll take a vote regarding the calendar. Uh, all those in favor regarding draft one. Just going to say I opposed. No. All right. So, we have a no vote from member Maxwell. Otherwise, all others are in favor. So, we've adopted the uh first draft of the
1932025 2026 uh school year calendar. We now need a motion and a second to approve the 2526 school committee meeting calendar. So moved. Second. Motion is from member Shabilia. The second is from member Daglio. Discussion. All those in favor? I opposed. The eyes have it. That calendar is approved. We now need a motion and a second. Next on the agenda is to approve the creation of the budget finance subcommittee. So moved. Second. Motion is for member Dagler. The second is from the vice chair. Discussion. I nominate member Dunovan. We're going to create jump the gun. My bad. First nomination. I'm trying to do this in order. Yeah. So we do horse first then the cart. Uh listen. Yeah. Sometimes the cat needs its moment too. So this is regarding a discussion regarding the creation of
194the subcommittee. So this was a brilliant idea for member Donovan during a recent meeting. Uh we have a similar uh committee uh on the city council side and this will allow us to engage in discussion regarding the budget uh throughout uh the year. Yep. Member Dunovan. I I just want to throw out um something. You know, I think it's really important that we address the budget challenges not in that that three-w week three weeks we tend to be hyperfocused on it, but all year long. Maybe, mayor, we can talk about where that cable money that I've been griping about has gone um at these meetings. Maybe talk about that chargebacks. But um in a very informal discussion with the chair of the finance committee on the city side, there was a suggestion that wouldn't it
195be nice if we could come out of our respective silos and have conversations now and then school city together so we avoid some of these inaccuracies, misunderstandings, hurt feelings. So, I look forward to see what our friends on the school committee will might be coming up with. I speak specifically to councelor Ferretra who was chair of that committee. See what he's going to present. We still would have our subcommittee, but I sure hope if we get an invitation from them, we accept it. I mean, that would be unheralded in this city, right? We talk to each other. We're working together. It's a novel idea, right? What are we going to do? Something different. I know. So, I just wanted to share that. and a shout out and a shout out to um you know people
196on the city side who are like yeah let's talk. Okay. All right. Thank you. So we'll take a vote on the establishment of the committee. All those in favor I opposed. The eyes have it. So the committee's been subcommittee has been created. We now need uh nominations for uh the budget finance subcommittee. So uh typically three members would be on the committee. Um member Shabilia. So I nominate member Donovan and Mayor Bogard. Uh since this is a subcommittee on finance, you being the mayor and kind of in charge of the finance. I think it might be necessary for you to be a functioning member of this committee. That makes sense. Understood. Yep. Agreed. So I accept. Member Donovan. Do you accept? Okay. So, we have uh myself, member Dunovan so far for nominations. Do we
197have any others? I nominate member Keegan. The vice chair. Okay. You accept? Yes. Okay. All right. Floor is still open. Any others? All right. All right, we'll take a vote on the membership proposed of three. All those in favor? I opposed. You guys have it. So that will be the composition of the budget finance subcommittee. Uh we now need uh a motion in a second to approve the creation of the redistricting subcommittee. This is on the agenda uh tonight. So moved. Second. Motion from the vice chair. Second is for member Daglio. discussion regarding the establishment of the subcommittee. Yeah. Um so we were talking about this a while back and in that meeting it seemed like people were you know like looking at it and saying yes there might be a time of looking at
198a plan. I've talked to city councilors um they are agreement that they are in support of it of actually the depending on what we present to them but they were like yes I think it's time I know since I've been on school committee for the last 5 years there's been talks when my brother was on it for four years there were talks and it's finally maybe we're with all the budgets and everything included maybe it's time that we should hire some type of consultant um to come in and look at our district um like transportation etc. Um so by forming this committee I was told the best to do that is to form a subcommittee and then go through the process. So but before we could do that we need to form the subcommittee. So
199that's why member vice chair. So I have no problems um creating the subcommittee. However, um I don't see that we have any funds whatsoever to hire a consultant to be looking at this right now or in the next year or even two years. So I I don't know what necessarily that it's going to be able to do anything, but I'm fine if you want to have a subcommittee and talk about it and figure out that we don't have any money to do that with. So So like I said, I've talked to the city council and they are for for up for proposing the city side to pay for it by talking to city council. I think one one member formally agree to that. Actually, I have four. Well, you'll need f you'll need uh more
200than But again, if we can't bring it forth, they can't vote on it. Understood. So, I I'll just state briefly that I'm not opposed to the creation of a subcommittee. Um, however, again, I use this phrase a lot tonight, eyes wide open. This would be a very extensive process. it would take a long time. We wouldn't be snapping our fingers and having uh the process but nevertheless the subcommittee would simply uh begin the discussion on the school committee side. So at this point uh we will take a vote on simply creating the subcommittee. All those in favor? I opposed. All right, the eyes have it. So we'll have the subcommittee going forward. And now at this point uh we need to have nominations for membership of said subcommittee. Again aiming for three. I would nominate
201myself. Okay. All right. We need two more. Any others? I would try and nominate you, Mayor Bard, because you are the city side. Any other nominations? May I'd like to nominate Mr. Shabilia. Member Shabilia. Okay. All right. Do you I'm going to volunte. All righty. Uh do we have any others? All right. That'll be three. All those in favor of the composition of the redistricting subcommittee. I I All right. Any opposed? The eyes have it. So the subcommittee has been created. uh superintendent will now begin the discussion regarding the K through4 ELA curriculum. So I'm I'm also putting this on the screen. This is a handout that you have as well. So I apologize. We were waiting for a few things today before we brought this uh for discussion. So I'm actually going to turn
202this over to Dr. Golski. um you know we've been talking about um the pilot that we've been doing as part of our quarterly reviews. We have come to a conclusion and we're moving forward with that um that process. So it's it's you know imperative that you all understand that and what it means and that we've accounted for finances. Uh, and it's it's we're not in a position where we can we can just uh not purchase anything because our six-year lease for Wonders is actually up. So, if we didn't do anything uh for next year, our students would not have uh the consumable products, the workbooks, the some of the foundation stuff uh and they wouldn't have the software licenses and the staff wouldn't have the software licenses for next year. So, we knew this was,
203you know, part of the process. And again, the good news is you'll see in one of the slides that that uh she presents. Uh we're not looking at uh costs that were vastly different than what we have been paying over the course of the six years for Wonders, which was part of our goal and plan to maintain that. So, I'll turn it over to her. Thank you. Uh like Dr. Kong said just a brief update on where we've landed in terms of our K through4 literacy program selection. Um and as I've been updating you throughout uh teachers and administrators have reviewed uh contents and ratings of each program, their grade level samples in each school. teachers were all offered uh an opportunity to pilot 19 of which took us up on that opportunity which was
204excellent because we got to visit classrooms and see the programs at work. We had a convening in the superintendent's office to get direct feedback from teachers. Um, and in our we had the publishers come in and present to teachers and at our most recent PD day in April, those teachers who are piloting served as panelists and provided feedback to their peers. Um, and I was also able to share some feedback that I got from neighboring districts who are using um, the current programs. So, we had we had narrowed the field down to Amplify, CKLA, Wonders, the newer version of what we've been using in EL education. Um, we had since learned that Wonders um will be um suns setting their program in a couple years and coming out with something brand new. Um so brand
205new that they're they couldn't really speak to the components of the program yet. However, knowing that we go into agreements for typically six years, um we felt more comfortable going in potentially the CKLA or EL education direction as did the teachers. Um so when we presented um the teachers with the the question the big question at the culmination of all these steps of program review um we found that 39.3% of K through4 teachers said they were strongly in favor of moving forward with CKLA. Another 24.3% were in favor of CKLA. Um 16.8% 8% believe that either program CKLA or EEL would be sufficient. Um and the remaining uh favored EEL. Um so I would consider that uh overwhelmingly in favor of CKLA um which is a a program that we believe in as well. And
206I will mention that both CKLA and EL education have brand new versions that come out next year. we had been piloting that brand new version which was um nice to hear and know about. The feedback I received from other districts about um some of the shortcomings about um CKLA and also EEL um have been addressed in the new program. So we've already seen those changes reflected. So we're excited about that. Um so just a little bit of information for you. Um CKLA's CKLA is known um for being grounded in the science of reading also in the science of writing. So there's daily um writing pieces. Reading and writing are intertwined. Um there are two main strands of CKLA. So it's the knowledge strand um and also the skills strand. So they're separate in K through
207two and three and four. Those strands are interwoven. Um there's decodable texts for K through two and novel studies in three and four. There are research units in every grade. And the strategies for multilingual learners are embedded in the curriculum which teachers enjoyed. Um and just through our observations of CKLA and action um the difference in student engagement was notable. Um in terms of how hard student teachers we saw teachers working very hard to try to engage students with other programs to try to keep and retain their interest while moving through the tasks. Um and in CKLA we saw a remarkable difference in students um raising their hand, communicating, bringing in their knowledge from home. Um we've heard from teachers that students are talking about the program and what they're learning at home. Um and
208so we're really excited about that piece there. So obviously in our in our current um state of talking about the budget, we wanted to make sure this was feasible for us as a district. Um, and so I received uh the quote from Amplify, who produces CKLA. Um, and we found that our yearly cost would be approximately $181,000. I say approximately because I gave a teacher and student count based on what we currently have. Um, because there is a student a teacher count uh price for that. So depending on where we end up put the budget, that may fluctuate just a bit. Um but what we're currently using is wonders and then foundations which would be our skills or phonics program which comes at a cost lexia which also comes at a separate cost and then
209our dibbles data system. So alto together that adds up to $177,000 in the new program. Amplify um really bundles all those pieces together. So dibbles would still be our assessment. we would able be able to get McLass in this package which is the dashboard which we talked about making the administration of the test more seamless. Um, Amplify offers Boost, which we've been piloting um, as a replacement for Lexia. Um, and it's nice because it integrates with the program and also the assessment. Um, and foundations materials. We did account for understanding that um we've had some discussion with supervisors about um teachers and students seeing some success with foundations that students who have already started the path of foundations K through two, it might make sense for us to continue on that path and then phase
210in with our brand new kindergarten students um the skills version of CKLA. So, we're going to have more conversations with the teachers about what they believe is best. Um but our new package would also account for um ample professional development directly from Amplify for the teachers um beginning next year and continuing into the following year. So, as far as selection of a program, if the teachers say that CKLA is the way to go, I mean, you've I I don't think this is up for a vote, but you've got my vote. My concern is the Amplity Boost, Amplify Boost replacing Lexia because Lexia is big business in the first and second and third grade world. Yes, Boost. Boost operates in a similar fashion of um game-like practice opportunities where you can achieve levels, but we do
211still have Lexia for one more year because we're in a multi-year deal with Lexia. So, we would not be pulling the rug out from anyone there because that that was my question is is it the same engagement model that that certificate that you get at the end of a level is like Wonka's golden ticket. Yeah. Yes. The kids do love Boost, I'll have to say as well. Okay. Thank you, Member Donovan. I'm just curious. Um, first of all, I thank the teachers who offered to pilot this program. I think we need to say big thank you because that's that's a huge sea change. Um, and I appreciate it. And, um, I can't remember, did you say these teachers were piloting across the district? They were. So, we had a teacher um in every grade K
212through four in every program um except K. We only had wonders um in K. And and my next question, I'm wondering if there's any way, and I don't know where the assessments fall to see if the people who piloted this see any change in their literacy scores. Does that make sense? Like I'm just wondering if you can already see something and I don't know what our schedule is. Is it worth a look? I'm just really curious. It may be worth a look. I think the the pace at which they're piloting Yeah. is different. It might not be the full authenticity of of the program quite yet. Although they have received some PD, they haven't had as much as they would, but we could definitely look at that and see. Okay. We do have another administration.
213Okay. That would I would just be really intrigued by that. And my next question is where are we with the subsparate classrooms? Are they going to be accessing this material? And we'll see that. I know that was a discussion there. Yeah. In the past. So um like we have done uh they will have access to all the grade levels. We don't give the grade level subseppparate teacher that because the kids aren't accessing that grade level, but they may need materials from various grade levels. So they'll have access to all those materials. We have made sure that the tenny and the marsh uh have the kits that they need so that the subsearate teachers have access to okay this the whole span K through four. Okay. And I will say the EL supervisors are looking at
214language studio from Amplify, which is the ELD package that um intertwines with CKLA. Um so they feel like that might be a year out before we move to that as well because that's brand new as well. That's a nice option to have. Any other questions, discussion? Right. Thank you. Thank you. move on to uh finance and operations. On the agenda, we have the monthly expenditure report. Any questions from the committee? Vice Chair, um I noticed that we still have 2 million in professional salaries. Um have the teachers gotten their back pays and is that what that money is? No, they've received their retro and have adjusted their incumbrances for the remainder of the year. Um, a lot of that would be end of the year stipens, coaching salaries. Um, there will be, like I've said
215before, there will be some leftover at the end that I'll be be wanting to transfer to contracted services. Um, so when we did the last transfer, I was very conservative. Um, so there will be some extra. It won't be 2 million. You're welcome. Other questions? Next we have the revolving funds reports. We'll point out on the revolving account um circuit breaker we did receive another payment. However, my bookkeeper resigned um not to be replaced apparently. Um so we're working on figuring how to do that deposit in Muna so that it shows. Um so I do want to point out that we do have $2.4 million $2.25 million more than is listed there in our circuit breaker. We'll get on that though. By next month, it'll be fine. I want to take this opportunity to just
216uh call attention to the lack of business continuity, which we should uh just keep in our foresight. Your person quit. No one else knows how to post the payment. We brought back a retired person to work part-time who who who knows how to do it. Yes. And now she's going to have to train someone else. But that that being my point is things if if this budget goes in a nonfavorable way, our business continuity becomes even more important. Just putting it out there food for thought. Other questions, comments, concerns? Member Daglio. Um in in honor of uh former member Pesh, are we getting ready for summer ice rink use? Yes. All right. We are ready for summer ice rentals. Um it's a little slow during May and June. It'll pick up again in July. I
217believe they are reaching out to area high schools to form a summer summer league. Um so we're in the process of uh signing teams up for summer high school league. And um we'll be rocking and rolling July and August. Anybody wants to rent some ice time, give us a call. Vice Chair. Um I noticed that there's $4,027.35 in the 21st century account that was there at the beginning of the year. Correct. Um I can tell you that's been there for about four years. I did have a conversation with the girl who oversees that and um we're going to use that up. It's actually in a line for nurses. Okay. So, uh there are some nurses that um working overtime for the program, etc. We're We're just going to pay it out of there and get
218rid of that account. Okay. I just don't want to see money hanging around when we need money everywhere. Yeah. Thanks. On wheel. So, I I brought this up uh way way back. Um there is still $677.89 in the Marsh school PTO playground. Is what is that? Where are we doing with that? We under grants, are we? Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just That's all right. Um, we'll use that up. That up. Every time there's something that has to be repaired in the playground or whatever, we try to use those funds. A lot of times they're a lot more than $600, you know, but we'll use it up as soon as possible. Speaking of the grants report, any other Yeah. questions. Vice Chair, there are a lot of grants that have the same remaining balance as
219they had the starting balance. Um, why aren't we using them? Lisa, do you want to try that one? Sure. I'm trying to find a good example to reference. Um, a lot of the grants that are just for FY25 required our partnership with the consulting partner and their work might not have been finished. So, we haven't paid them out their payment yet. Um, the same thing with um teachers or staff members who are working in those programs, their stipens wouldn't be paid till work is concluded in the program. Um, and same thing with um some of our busing that's included in the grant as well. Okay, I'll just randomly The federal IEP grant for 2024 still has money in it and 2025 hasn't been touched. So, what is that? I'm gonna I'm gonna pass that off
220to my friend Gina. I see. I was ready. I knew you were going to pick that one. So, the FY25 grant just came to fruition like within the past couple of months and that grant runs through the end of September. So, we are right now I'm currently working on um carrying over some licenses into next school year for professional development for teachers around assistance with goal writing, benchmarks, things like that that they have found to be helpful this past year. Um so, we're just solidifying those pieces. Okay. I just don't want any penny to go unspent and we lost our chair. Yeah. No, I just realized I just I because you guys were talking about grants, I just wanted to add uh a little tidbit to our uh ELA curriculum that Dr. Gowski is also
221applying for a grant that continues our ELA work that um again, it's not going to come to fruition until probably late July, early August. I mean, late June, early August. Um but we're really hopeful that we'll actually uh some of that those funds if not all of it would come from a grant. So uh we just wanted to say that we are in the process of applying for that. So that might be additional funds that we don't have to put in the operating budget. member Daglio. What's the number in the first column? Because I know there's a couple homeless grants. Top one. Yeah. Now, that's the one that we've been getting because of the shelter over on Pelum Street. Um, we offset about $500,000 off last year's budget and we paid for $500,000 for devices,
222um, electronics, etc. We're also using it for homeless transportation. So, any other questions, comments, discussion regarding the grants report? If not, move on to the student activity accounts. Look at that. Vice Chair. Um, I just want to point out that the CGS is getting dangerously close to that $25,000 mark that they need to transfer money. Okay. They need to spend it. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Any other questions, comments, discussion? All right. Move on to the food services report. All right. Contract awards, we have none. Uh, next on the agenda, notification of appointments and other personnel matters. We have none. Uh, other business from the community. Member Dunovan, I'll invite you to share some discussion regarding the reading scores. Thank you. Um, member Maxwell, I just want to address a claim you made at our meeting on
223May 6th regarding the district's literacy data. Around 1 hour and 20 minutes into the meeting, and it's available on demand. I went back to check on it. It's on the Mthuan website. You stated, quote, "The numbers you have presented for literacy have been false since the beginning, and I will stand by that." I believe your comments were directed at the leadership team here and maybe perhaps to others involved in our literacy scores. Following that meeting, I reached out to member Maxwell and asked her to share the evidence bes behind such a serious accusation. Falsifying student data, whether by central office staff or building educators, is educational malpractice. It warrants a full investigation and could result in the termination and loss of a lensure. This is something we as a committee should never take lightly. So
224she referred me to a March 20 24 school committee meeting which I watched twice. Um that presentation covered our literacy screening, MCCAST, AP data and subgroup performance. At no point was there any indication any let alone discussion that would make one think that data was being fabricated or presented falsely. I asked again for specific evidence and received none, only a suggestion to rewatch the meeting. I am confident there is no evidence that any literacy data has been misrepresented or falsified. Parents, staff, and very importantly, the agencies that fund our literacy initiatives need to know that our work here is built on accurate, transparent data. I hope you all know I do value working with you. Your perspectives, we all want better literacy scores. Every superintendent and school committee in this country would say the same
225thing, and we each bring important questions and ideas to the table. But accusing our staff of falsifying data undermines the integrity of our entire literacy team. Dr. Kuang, Dr. Galopski, our humanity supervisors who oversee our literacy work, principles, the reading specialists who are all here today. It discredits their hard work and the challenges and the progress of our students. Similar claims have been made previously and I deeply regret and I apologize for not speaking up sooner. Public accusations without evidence, especially during one of the most difficult budget seasons our community will ever face when data and knowledge should guide our decisions, not emotion and conjecture, only erodess the trust and the collaboration we need to serve our schools. I hope we can recommmit and move forward to professionalism, transparency, and a shared focus on what
226truly matters, the success and well-being of our students and staff. Thank you, member Donovan. Member Shibilia, charter commission discussion. So, for the charter commission, my understanding is Ian was the lucky recipient of representing us at that committee. I was just hoping for an update. There's been a lot of rumblings coming out of that group. Um, things they're going to make us do and how it's going to change the chair position. Looking for some actual clarity. Let's start with the fact that no decisions have been made. Let's start there. We've had um Good start. eight or nine meetings um meet pretty much every other Thursday. Um we have one this Thursday. We have done a full read, first read through the charter as well as um the document that was recommended back in 2019 I believe
227it was. We went through and we suggested we suggested some tweaks to it. Um again first read we left we had a lot of questions for the solicitor as well as um we're contracting with the callin center who who do government. So um this meeting I believe the solicitor as well as the callin center is going to be coming and addressing some of our questions. Um after that we were g going to do a second read and go through. There was a there was one public participation or public hearing on April 10th I believe. Don't quote me. It might have been the 11th. Um a couple people did come and show did speak. Um and I'm sure there'll be another one before it's over and nothing will pass until it's passed by the people of
228Mthorne. So um because we're well at least this is my understanding of the legality of it because this group was not an elected group then we can't force a change in government. It has to come from a vote of the people either representative or directly. So we're going to do that document and hopefully get it out to the people to vote for them to vote. So it'll go on a ballot. Yes. when it's a long way down the road, but no decisions have been made and nothing will be forced down without everybody being well aware what's in it. And I can say I haven't seen anything drastic. Uh we are going to fix the typo in the school committee uh section. I know that has pained member Keegan for quite some time. Yeah. So is
229there any discussion about removing the mayor as chair of the school committee? There has been plenty of discussion. Not this mayor, just there has been plenty of discussion. Um I don't think that was one of the recommended changes at this point. But again, this is first street. Um I can tell you the seven member committee was pretty much split three with me in the middle saying I could see both sides. So it's um it was discussed. No decisions been made what we're going to recommend. We also want to recommend something that's going to pass. Otherwise, this is for not. You know, we don't want to put anything too crazy in there. That's it's a no vote right off the bat. Then we just wasted, you know, two years of our lives. Agreed. Thank you. Right.
230Do we have any other any other business from the committee? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Member Davo, the member Maxwell. Yeah. So, um I was approached by a parent. Um I didn't know we had gaming club here. Um they came second in the state. Um yeah and and I guess it's supported by the MIAA, right? So they were asking why weren't their kids funded as a sport. And so with that being said, I was like, well, give me information because I didn't even know we had a club here. Um and they came second in the state. They've been bringing their own controllers. They've been bring Yeah. Um, luckily they were able to get a bus um to their their competition and me being an athlete for the longest time and a gamer um and in support of
231that um if they are representing meth we and they are supported by the MIAA they should be Yeah. Oh, she got it. Wow. Remember Keegan's all excited. Yes. So, it's funny you say this. I literally just talked to the um the staff member that um is in charge of the gaming club. The kids have to practice at home online with their own stuff. Um and they're asking for a room this year uh coming in the fall to be able to come together and actually practice together as a team in the building. Um, and so this was like on my list of things to to talk about like and get information about and try to get supported because yes, they did come in second in the state. Um, and they have a fantastic Mario Kart team.
232Yeah. Um, and so yes, they are looking for um a place to meet and actually be a inerson club and instead of a virtual club. So that's great. I would I would killed it. So, um I'm just saying I think because the that was brought to my attention and they are supported, we should consider looking at that and making them a sport. All right, Mthun. Uh yeah, we have public participation during each meeting for the public, but feel free to come next time for that. And and since we're, you know, it's nice to end with something positive, I was at the Neans Library and our students artwork is on display. I wasn't aware of that. So, every area is devoted to the different schools and our artists. And I I don't know how long it's
233going to be there, but I really recommend people go visit because it's pretty impressive. Yeah. And I think Mr. Shabilia, you have a somebody there on display. It's up for the week. It's for the week. It's terrific. It's the annual art show. Okay. Well, I'll go look. Superintendent over here. I have one thing if I may. I didn't know if that discussion was over. I'm very Oh, so well actually I have one other thing just this is something that is I think relevant in the context you mentioned art. So, and I want to mention this for any uh teachers and students who might still be watching. Uh so um back when I was a student uh at Mthuan High, I had the opportunity back at that time to intern for then Mayor Manzy. That was
234my first uh experience in city hall. And he had started a program called Artist of the Month. I'll never forget when he set that up originally. And uh he would highlight in the building one local artist each month. And uh it's something that continued from what I understand up until right around the time that CO came to be and we haven't had it since. So I'm going to be bringing that back. Uh so of course there's a lot of artists out there who are probably going to be interested in that. But if there are any students uh who are artistically inclined, I'd love to showcase them. Uh so member Maxwell wanted to mention something and then superintendent. Um so two things. Uh the first thing I wanted to mention was um potentially at a future
235meeting talking about a scholarship night with families um for the donors that have donated. Um I think it would be a nice um chance for them to give their scholarships to the students directly, maybe have an event. I think that that would be a special night. Um and the other thing I wanted to address is just that I ask the difficult questions. I don't claim to um know everything. I just claim I just put the information out there as it is. I am happy to be educated. If I am illinformed on something and I I have taken the criticism and um I I do my best u and I I don't mean any harm in anything that I say. um uh as far as the um you know the the reading scores and all of
236that there there's nothing I'm not I'm not addressing the teachers when I talk about the reading scores. I'm not addressing the students. I'm not addressing anything other than just the numbers are um slightly inaccurate based off of the um informations that we've had in previous meetings. That that is that is all it comes down to. It is when I have said that things are inaccurate or when I have said things about the superintendent not meeting her goal of 65% that has nothing to do with the literacy rates as as far as the literacy rates are concerned. Um all of the information that I have shared with member Dunovan is public record. it's, you know, on the Desi website and um I just I stand by what I say and and and I don't mean that
237in any ill will against anybody. I I'm here to support everybody. I want to see better just like everybody else sitting here. If I am not informed on something, I encourage people to um reach out to me personally and maybe not personally attack me in a public forum. But um I respect the difference of opinions of people. I like to have open discussions on things. I like to understand what we're talking about. Um this is my first term. Um maybe my last, but this is an elected position. So, I encourage everyone in November to get to those polls because it matters. Your voice matters more than you know. So, um otherwise, you know, I I just I would encourage all the other school committee members to kind of be supportive of each other and um
238really get to a place where we can talk things out and understand what's going on behind closed doors. So, I appreciate it. Thank you, Superintendent. Yeah. I just wanted to share um I'll send some more detailed information but Mthun High School uh and um unfortunately Tayab has left but uh Tayab volunteered Mthun High School at one of his state uh council advisory groups that he is part of and we're thrilled that he did it to host the board of elementary and secondary education's board meeting on May 20th. Uh so Mr. Caret and I met with the associate commissioner for Desessie uh last week to go through uh what that board needs. So we're excited to have the commissioneracting secretary uh secretary acting commissioner uh Patrick Tutweiler in the board of education here. So we'll be
239in the auditorium. It is a lengthy meeting. Uh we're not required to stay. Uh I already asked that question if Mr. Trett and I had to stay for the whole thing. Uh but just so that you are aware, uh we will have sort of a welcome um presenting of the flags, you know, showcasing some of our students. Um so we're excited that we'll be able to host the board of elementary and secondary education here at Mthoon High School and showcase our school and some of our students while they're here. So again, I'll send you some details of times and spaces. Uh and again, nobody's obligated to come, but it would certainly be great if any of you could come for at least the welcome part. It is a regular board meeting. So that's why they
240said we don't have to stay for the whole thing uh if we don't want to. May 20th. No, not the new it's so it's Patrick Tutweiler. He's the secretary of education acting commissioner for a little bit. Yeah. It's 9 to1 school day. Yes. I'm sorry. Yes, it's during the school day. So, we have all the plans for that security. Thank you, superintendent. So, at this point, uh with no other business to discuss, we need a motion and a second to adjourn the business session of the school committee for May 12, 2025 and enter into executive session. Great. We had an amended agenda that includes an executive session. Need a motion and a second. So moved. All right. Second. Uh so uh pursuant to Massachusetts general laws chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with
241respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares this is regarding unit B. We will not reconvene an open session at the conclusion of the executive session. We'll take a roll call. Member Daglio. Yes. Member Donovan. Yes, member Keegan. Yes, member Maxwell. Yes, member Shabilia. Yes, member Wlette. Yes, Mayor Borg. Yes. The time is 9:50 p.m. and we're adjourning open session, going into executive session. Good night, Mthun. [Music]