001We'll open the regular meeting of the Salem School Committee. Notice is hereby given that SAM school committee will hold a regular school committee meeting June 8th, 2026 to 7 p.m. The meeting will take place in person at 29 Highland Avenue, room 227 Salem, Massachusetts. You can also join via Zoom using the link on the district website. Uh summary of participation policy. The Salem School Committee would like to hear from the public on issues that affect the school district and are within the scope of the committee's responsibilities. Spanish interpretation is available for anyone who needs it. The members of the school committee would like to remind the public that Salem public school students regularly attend school committee meetings. We encourage all meeting participants to model respectful and productive public discourse for our young learners. So we'll
002start with public comment. Is there any public comment in the room? nice and tall, so I got to get the mic up a little bit higher here. [snorts] Um, good evening. Um, my name is Lori Miranda and I've been a proud Salem High School history educator for 20 years. I'm also a very proud Salem resident. Standing alongside me tonight are my incredible colleagues um, and friends from Salem High School. I am speaking on the behalf of them and 62 other educators who signed a letter sent to this committee on May 30th, 2026 in support of Mr. Glenn Burns. Our letter outlined data showing that Salem High School has improved immensely under Mr. Burns's leadership. Whether looking at our AP scores, our MCCAST data, college acceptance rates, or rising student enrollment, every metric demonstrates massive improvement.
003Being told that, and I quote, "No one cares about the data except for him is a slap in the face." And I find it ironic that this is the same data that was mentioned numerous times at graduation on Friday evening, including our former superintendent and current Massachusetts Secretary of Education. If data doesn't matter, why mention it in speeches and press releases to the public? It dismisses his hard work and it devalues the dedication of every educator who works with our students daily to prepare them for the future. Prior to Mr. Burns's arrival, teacher morale was at the lowest point in my two decades at Salem High School. He immediately began the hard work of uniting our faculty and ensuring that we had the support needed to help our students to succeed. He provided professional development,
004overhauled failing programs, increased classroom rigor, and implemented grade level text. If we needed supplies to teach effectively, he found the funding. Most importantly, he treats us like the professionals that we are, something I can have rarely experienced during my tenure in this district. At the same time, Mr. Burns built deep roots with our students and their families. He met with every single student to build a positive relationship. I remember a time when students didn't even know what their principal looked like or even other administrators. Today, every student knows Mr. Burns. He attends nearly every SHS event. Families and our students notice his presence. I, as a former boys volleyball coach, vividly remember a student telling his teammates during a timeout, "Mr. Burns is here. We need to step up our game." It was a powerful
005acknowledgement that our leader supported them. I have personally witnessed Mr. Burns quietly and consistently give to our students. When a student couldn't afford a prom ticket, he paid for it out of his own pocket. When a student could not afford a class t-shirt at a football game, he bought it for them. He never wants to see our students, any of our students, do without. And he doesn't do these things for recognition. He has the heart of gold and does this simply because he wants every one of our students to feel included in our community. Glenn Burns is fully invested in Salem. He and his wife bought a house here. His two daughters attend Horus Man and his wife Kate works currently at the Salt which will soon to be called the Sarah Parker Raman School.
006They are a Salem family. We are sharing this information because my colleagues and I are shocked by the decision to exclude Mr. Burns from the second round of interviews for the superintendent position. This is a leader who is deeply invested in Salem and has a proven track record of not only improving Salem High, but also Collins Middle School. And he possesses a very strong vision for the entire district. In my tenure here, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in district leadership. I've I have also seen SHS thrive as a level one school, and I've seen it cycle through three principles in three years due to incompetent hiring. I have seen superintendent who lack investment in our community and others who arranged back room deals to hire administrators. I truly believe the
007days I truly believed that those days of the deals were over. I had faith that this hiring process would be fair, consistent, and focused entirely on what was best for our students and our community. Moving forward, the faculty and staff at SHS, we would like full transparency. A search committee was working with a consultant firm and then suddenly that firm is no longer involved. what happened. We feel that decisions were made before this process even began and our trust in this process is now severely damaged. As SHS educators, we will always continue to support our students, our families, and of course, our leader, Mr. Glenn Burns. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment in the room? Any public comment? comment online. Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to approval of minutes of the regular
008school committee meeting held on May 25th, 2026. And take a motion. Did I think we missed one agenda item approval of the agenda? >> I forgot the consent agenda. Thank you. Um I'll take a motion to approve the consult consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? All in favor? Uh everyone? Yes. Seeing none, we'll move on. I'm going to entertain a motion to take uh the approval of the Sarah Parker Raman school innovation plan and the new Liberty Innovation Plan out of order. >> Do the student student report first? >> I thought you wanted to do >> Yes. But Okay. >> Okay. >> I would do that first and then >> I'm going to do this first because I asked for it. >> Okay. >> So moved. Second. >> Second. >>
009All in favor? Okay. Opposed? Seeing none, uh, I'll take a motion to approve the Sarah Parker Raman school innovation plan. >> Motion to approve Sarah Parker Raman innovation plan. >> Second. I'll second. All in favor? Opposed? Seeing none. Uh, motion carries. I will take uh another motion to approve the new Liberty Innovation Plan uh renewal. >> I'll make a motion to for the new Liberty Innovation Plan renewal. >> Seconded. All in favor? Opposed? Seeing none, both carry. Thank you. So, all the folks from those two schools want to call it a day, [laughter] feel free. >> Okay, that was quick. >> Yeah. Um, and now I will pass it to our new student representative for the student representative report. And I am not the new student representative. However, I wanted to take this opportunity to
010introduce Mr. Finn Billings who is a rising senior at Salem High School who has been elected to be the new uh student representative here and the president or chair. the chair of the student advisory group um for Salem High School, New Liberty, and Salem Prep. >> So, um Finn has some an update to share with all of you. So, I will turn the floor over to him. >> All right. Uh hello, my name is Finn Billings, and I was recently elected by my peers to replace Cindy as the superintendent's advisory chair for the 2026 to 27 school year. Um, I'm finishing up my junior year and will have been on the superintendent council all four years at Salem High. [snorts] I was also recently reelected as vice president of the class of 2027 and will
011have been an officer for all four years as well. Uh, another one of my great interests is the Harvard Mold UN where I recently ran an event for rising nth graders as well as next year will be my fourth year of that and I plan to serve as president of that next year as well. Um, I was also chosen to represent Salem High as both its Hugh O'Brien leadership ambassador last year and its student government day at the state house in April this year. And I'm proud of the relationship I built with for former superintendent and current commissioner of ed education Dr. Dre and has been fortunate to begin to foster a relationship with Senator Joan Lovely. Um, I also serve as a mentor, take part in the robotics club, and I'm running for a
012leadership position in National Honor Society. Um, I act in independent films. I work at the arcade down at the Salem Willows the last two years. Uh, multiple years and involvement in athletics across four sports and a couple years in the music department as a percussionist in the band and as a pianist. Um, I'm a proud unified partner in basketball and strength and conditioning and recently advanced to round of 16 for the MIT Day of Climate Challenge and with my partner Ryland Workman, narrowly missing out on having our project funded by MIT. Um, I'm currently taking six AP classes, took three last year and plan on taking another another five next year. I also took part in the Harvard leadership program um, and ski club this past winter. So, I say all that to demonstrate my
013level of involvement in Salem High and give you a little bit of context on who I am. I look forward to contributing in um any ways that I can next year with the superintendence council um in my other leadership roles and here at the committee meetings as well. I'm very thankful to be to have given this opportunity. Um, as you can imagine, there's been a time of great transition on the superintendent council with students graduating and with Dr. Reich moving on to the department of education and of course with um interim superintendent Carbone stepping into the council. As much as we have not yet finalized our main objectives as a committee next year, as we are of the understanding that would be something to be formally discussed with the suit with the new superintendent and
014newly inducted members this fall. Um, with this being said, we are currently working on we are working hard to put the word out and make sure that the Salem High community is aware of the historically large number of spots that will be open for new members next year with somewhere around 10 spots as opposed to the usual four or so positions in recent years. Um, we also want to make sure it is a group that represents the diversity and dynamic programs of our school, especially in this time of great transition and with the new high school uh construction starting right around the corner. Along this along this line of thinking, we had speakers and visitors talked with us about ways to welcome new students to SHS both in terms of 9th graders and transfers to
015Salem High School. I'm confident that we'll have a formal plan in place come September, but as someone was someone that has been on the council for years, I can say that these are the rather unusual circumstances with Dr. Reich leaving. Superintendent Carbone and assistant superintendent Elizabeth Polly is stepping stepping in and then new superintendent next year. um the council member members and I felt that it would be best if we made certain that whoever whoever the new superintendent is that he she or she or they were involved in this direction and the same goes for immediately empowering and involving new members to the council as well. particularly since we feel strongly that having one area of focus and not trying to manage too many agendas at once is important to have success and that the
016new superintendent more likely than not will have something particularly that they want to focus on as well. I do want to thank superintendent Carbone and our assistant superintendent Paulie for their guidance these past few months and um I know I speak for all the council members when I say that you've made this transition as smooth as possible. We really appreciate your cander, commitment, and continued support of Salem High. I'm happy to answer any questions that any of you may have about the council or general thoughts. Thank you for your time. >> Okay. Uh before I ask the rest of the members if they have questions, we need to take a short recess because the audio is not working. So, um I'm Mark, is five minutes enough, you think? >> Okay. Uh I'll make a motion
017to have a fiveminute recess. So moved. Second. >> Uh, all in favor? Yes. Opposed? None. Okay. Five minute resess. >> Ask Laura. >> Lars. Yeah, they can hear. >> Yeah. Okay. I'm going to just redo the approval of the consent agenda. >> They can hear it now. >> Yeah. >> They can hear it. Awesome. >> Okay. Great. >> Perfect. >> All right. We are back in session. Um, just as an update for everybody, we were having audio problems. So hopefully this will uh resolve it. And I get a doover because I neglected to ask for approval of the agenda. So I'll take a motion. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? Opposed? Seeing none. It carries. Uh if there is public comment online um folks can put it in the chat and we'll
018give you a minute for that. >> Lori, do you want to do a doover since it sounds like they can hear you? >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> [laughter] >> Um, and we're going to take public comment in the room. >> This is an encore. >> Yeah. Well, if I pass out, it'll be good. [laughter] >> Well, I hope you don't. >> I hope I don't either. >> All right, round two. Um, good evening, members of the school committee. My name is Lori Miranda, and I have been a proud Salem High School history educator for 20 years. I'm also a Salem resident. Standing alongside of me tonight are my incredible colleagues and friends from SHS. I am speaking on behalf of them and the 62 other educators who signed a letter sent to this committee on
019May 30th, 2026 in support of Mr. Glenn Burns. Our letter outlined data showing that Salem High School has improved immensely under Mr. Burns's leadership. Whether looking at our AP scores, MCCAST data, college acceptance rates, or rising student enrollment, every metric demonstrates massive improvement. Being told that no one cares about the data except for him is a slap in the face. And I find it ironic that this is the same data that was mentioned numerous times at graduation on Friday evening, including our former superintendent and current Massachusetts Secretary of Education. If data doesn't matter, why mention it in speeches and press releases to the public? It dismisses his hard work, and it devalues the dedication of every educator who works with our students daily to prepare them for the future. Prior to Mr. Burns's arrival, teacher
020morale was at the lowest point in my two decades at SHS. He immediately began the hard work of uniting our faculty and ensuring we had the support needed to help our students succeed. He provided professional development, overhauled failing programs, increased classroom rigor, and implemented grade level texts. If we needed supplies to teach effectively, he found the funding. Most importantly, he treats us like the professionals we are, something I have rarely experienced during my career in this district. At this time, Mr. Burns built deep roots with our students and their families. He met with every single student to build a positive relationship. I remember a time when students did not even know what their principal looked like. Today, every student knows Mr. Burns. He attends nearly every SHS event. Families and students notice his presence. As
021a former boys volleyball coach, I vividly remember a student telling his teammates during a timeout, "Mr. Burns is here. We need to step up our game." It was a powerful acknowledgement that our leader supported them. I have personally witnessed Mr. Burns give quietly and consistently to our students. When a student could not afford a prom ticket, he paid for it out on he paid for it out of his own pocket. When a student could not afford a class t-shirt at a football game, Mr. Burns would would buy it for them. He never wants to see our students do without and he does not do these things for recognition. In fact, my guess is he probably doesn't even realize I've noticed that he does that these type of things. He has a heart of gold and
022does not and he does this simply because he wants every student to feel included in our community. He is fully invested in Salem. He and his wife bought a house here. His two daughters attend Horus man and his wife Kate works at the current Salt and soon to be called the Sarah Parker Raman School. They are a Salem family. The reason why we're sharing this tonight, this letter, is because my colleagues and I are shocked by the decision to exclude Mr. Burns from the second round of interviews for the superintendent position. This is a leader who is deeply invested in Salem, has a proven track record of improving Salem High School and Collins Middle School, and possesses a strong vision for the entire district. In my tenure, I have seen the good, the bad, and
023the ugly in district leadership. I have seen SHS thrive as a level one school, and I have seen it cycle through three principles in three years due to incompetent hiring. I have seen superintendents who lacked investment in our community community and others who arranged backroom deals to hire administrators. I truly believed the days of those deals were over. I had faith that this hiring process would be fair, consistent, and focused entirely on what is best for our students and our community. Moving forward, we would like full transparency. A search committee was working with a consultant firm and suddenly that firm is no longer involved. What happened? We feel that decisions were made before this process even began and our trust in this process is severely damaged. As SHS educators, we will always continue to support
024our students, our families, and our leader, Mr. Burns. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda. Again, motion to approve a consent agenda. >> Second. All in favor? Opposed? Seeing none. Matter carries. I'll just update uh folks at home who couldn't hear that uh previously we voted to approve uh the innovation plans for Sarah Parker Raman and New Liberty Innovations School. But I will ask for that again anyway. So, I'll take a motion to we'll lump them together. I'll take a motion to approve both. A >> motion to approve both Sandond and the New Liberty Innovation Plan and Renewal Plan. >> Second. All in favor? Oppose? Seeing none, the matter carries. We also heard uh from our new student representative, Finn Billings, who was great uh
025really wonderful representative of Salem High School. And so we will have him back at, you know, a future meeting to hear about all the wonderful things that he is doing. And now I will turn it over to interim superintendent Carboni who is going to give us the superintendent's report. >> Great. So, I'll start with um if Finn were still here um they did um their the student advisory group did their um elections and so he was uh as he said um he was voted in as the chair. The vice chair is Lyanna Galvin. The secretary is Fostina Isaguzo and communications rep is Annie Bednar. So, it's been a delight working with these students um and uh interim deputy superintendent Paulie over the past few months. Um Finn is um he you know he described all
026that he's doing um in his free time. U he's very involved um at the high school and beyond. And so it um will be really um I think great for this committee to um continue to have him represent the student body um at these meetings. Um so just um a couple of notes around um I think everyone knows we've had a flurry of activities the last couple of weeks um and continuing into this weekend next. Um I wish I could go to every single event um but it's not possible given the sheer volume of events. But um since our last meeting two weeks ago, I've had the honor and privilege of attending the following events. We I attended the senior recognition night at Salem High School. the senior solstice at Salem High School student advisory
027council meeting. Um recognition of our march marching and jaspians. Um the mayor and member Cornell and I went to um the high school to um to award those students who also were award-winning um uh students um the city seal. So that was really fun. um attended the rolling rally, the unified track and field banquet, the new teacher university graduation. A highlight last week were the three high school graduations which I know several members attended. They were heartfelt and really just beautiful um celebrations of students um and their the their end of their journey here um in the Salem public schools. That was Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. This past Saturday, we had the graduation of our two and three-year-olds who are participants in the par child plus home program and uh the mayor and senator Lovely
028and member Hoffman were um at that. And tonight um celebrated several students who were inducted into the Collins Middle School Junior National Honor Society. So each of these celebrations, you know, it's just wonderful to see the students smiling. We wanted to end the year strong and there's lots of evidence that that's happening. Um we, you know, are have families and friends brimming, uh with pride at these events and these endofear traditions are true testaments to the creativity, the endurance and the brilliance of our students. Um and we know the work their work is a reflection of all the amazing support and guidance that our educators um throughout the year provide. So hats off to all of them. We've got two and a half weeks left. There's much more to come. Uh so we're just going
029to lean in, enjoy uh every moment. Uh I will turn it over to Deputy Superintendent Paulie to give an update. Um as I mentioned at the last meeting, the um the Sarah Paka Ramand the transition and uh is going as planned and we're in really good shape with that. What is of the moment [snorts] is the um packing and the plans to move uh both um the Carlton over to um Salt and Stall and then the um the new Liberty and Salem Prep out of the mall. So, I'll hand it over to you to provide some updates on that. >> Great. Thank you so much. Um, I'm sure you'll recall that the um preparing for the physical moves started before April break, but during April break, after this committee declared um some old and broken
030materials surplus, we were able to remove three dumpsters worth of paper, broken furniture, outdated materials. So, we have been, as with any good move, um trying to clear up space by um disposing of things that are no longer needed. In May, um we sent a lengthy memo to the staff at New Liberty, Salem Prep, Carlton, and Salt Install. We in that memo, we outlined that there would be 10 boxes provided per classroom and five per office. our colleagues let us know that more boxes would be needed um to move all the schools and to move classrooms within Salt and Stall. And so we have since then since late May delivered more than 800 boxes to um Carlton Salt and Stall, New Liberty, and Salem Prep. [snorts] We hosted an online Q&A that you can watch
031um if you have specific questions about the move. But um teachers and staff are busy packing. They have received three paid hours or they will receive three paid hours of packing time. Their principles have also freed up at least three hours of packing time. So they have time to um take on this major undertaking. Um, and the goal is that by next Thursday, uh, June 18th, a week [clears throat] from Thursday, everyone who has a classroom or an office, will have shared with the buildings and grounds department a drawing of what they want their furniture to look like, where the boxes should go. They should be packed by the last day of school. Anything that is not labeled or packed, we'll assume is no longer needed. Um and the move for New Liberty and Salem
032Prep will happen first. So we have to be out of the mall by June 30th. Um we are planning to do a walkth through um on June 30th just to confirm um with our landlord that we have left it in good condition. So that means that the technology so any computers, touch screens, um any technology is being moved by professional movers. On the June 24th and 25th, we have another set of professional movers coming to move the furniture and boxes. On the 25th or the 26th, [snorts] the furniture and classroom belongings will be moved to Carlton and it will be stored in a staging area which will be the Carlton gym um because the Carlton move won't be happening until later in the summer. So the um everything from Carlton will be moved to the
033new Sarah Parker Raymon during the first week in August. And the reason for that delay is we are doing significant work this summer in the um Sarah Parker building including we're painting um the whole building. We're doing other interior upgrades including most notably to the auditorium. Um and then we're doing extensive work outside including new signage. Um we're moving the basketball court. We're um relining the parking lots. So, um, we want the school to be ready to receive all of the things that are coming to it. Uh, in the first week in August, teachers will receive time from their principles for unpacking. Um, so in addition to when they first come back to school, they'll have some time, they'll get an additional couple of hours to unpack um once they arrive. So, I was at
034Carlton this morning. Um, I think the teachers are making great progress with their packing. They're they're not done, but some of them are are are getting there. Um, our buildings and grounds crew is doing regular walkthroughs with the principles to make sure that everything is on track, that there is a space for what's being moved. And so I think at this point we are cautiously optimistic for a very smooth move from New Liberty and Selen Prep to Carlton and Carlton to Sarah Parker Raymond. >> Great. >> Thank you. All right. So, we'll move on to our presentation. We have only one presentation tonight. So, I'm going to call Dr. Jill Conrad, the director of our HR department, up to the podium. Um, I'll just by way of introduction just say one of the most important
035responsibilities collectively that we have as leaders in the district is ensuring that our work force reflects the strengths, experiences, cultures, cultures, and aspirations of the students and families that we serve. Building a diverse and talented workforce doesn't happen by chance. It requires intentional recruitment, strong partnerships, thoughtful pipeline development, and just as importantly, creating the conditions that encourage great people to stay and grow within our organization. So, tonight's presentation focuses on that important work uh that uh Dr. Conrad and her team and other members of um the district leadership team have been um working together on. And so I'm excited to turn the mic over to you and have you um share what's been happening. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Um members of the committee, interim superintendent Carboni, Deputy Superintendent, Paulie, and audience, I
036am so excited to be here tonight to talk about this topic. Uh this is something that I have become incredibly passionate about in the last couple of years. uh and could not be more excited to work on uh on behalf of the district. I want to just take a moment and introduce the members of my team who are here um who all work in the human resources office starting with Nancy Weiss who's our um HR manager, Stephanie Sanarpio who is our new Salem Pathways to Teaching coordinator and Kim Malionick who's our administrative assistant and we do work uh very collaboratively together. um as a team on this effort and many other things as well. Um so thank you for being here tonight. So um oops there we go. Um, so this really this work really
037grows out of the last strategic plan which I'm sure you're all very familiar with where we had um priority number two empower educators and this slide is bringing you back to the language that was there. As you may recall, there were some very um high level strategic talent goals built into that strategic plan which really focused on increasing uh the percentage of teachers of color that we have working in our district um in order to ensure that our teacher workforce was um as diverse as our student workforce or that we were getting closer to that. We also had a goal that was focused on retention of uh all teachers but also the teachers of color that we have working with us. Um so you can see that we have made good progress on that goal.
038Uh but we're you know we still have a lot of work to do but I'm very proud of the progress that we have made. Um, we have, for example, gone from in the last four years 9% teachers of color working in the district, and I'm talking about actually licensed teachers, not just staff members, but actually licensed teachers in our classrooms. Um, to now about 15%. Um, so that's that's a good progress, good trajectory. Um, and then in terms of retention, we went from about 70 uh.9% to uh 80%. I just want to make a note too as to why we care about this. I'm going to go back here. Um, why is this an important goal? And we did a lot of work when we were developing the last strategic plan to dig into this
039because the research does show us that when students have the opportunity to learn from a teacher uh that they identify with that they can relate to who share a similar background to them. Um academic achievement actually improves the sense of belonging improves. We see a shift in the culture within the school and so we see many benefits that is really uh it is there in the research and I think we have seen it with our own eyes in many of our schools and classrooms where we have been able to achieve this. So it's a goal worth continuing to invest in uh and we're continuing to work toward that. We've become so focused on this and uh done a lot of work to figure out the kinds of things we need to be doing that at
040this point in our trajectory, we're feeling a level of confidence to the point where we have as a team and and I should say that we have gathered um we kind of have a steering committee that's crossunctional that involves several partners now and we're building steam to do even more work and contribute contribute to the next round of strategic plan work. Um, and this team we have come to agree that we don't just want to see incremental improvements in this area. We want to put the stake in the ground for this bold vision that we want to be uh among the best in terms of the districts who do this work well building a pathway to teaching without leaky pipelines and all of that uh if not the best. So, we want to be the
041premier Massachusetts district building equitable, high impact pathways that empower educators of color to enter and succeed as licensed teachers in Salem and beyond. So, we're excited about this bold vision and we think that's something that we can all rally around and drive the next phase of work as we go forward. The next slide digs into our past so you can see where we've been in terms of our um the data around this. Uh and you've seen this slide before, but I just want to bring you back to it where we have a student body that has 60% students of color and currently our teachers are around 14 almost to 15%. Um and that's the red uh line at the bottom whereas the student line is uh the orange one at the top and then the
042other lines that we have there are all staff which is the blue line and uh our pair of professionals which is the green line. So I talked about the improvements we've made. You can see it there. That's all great. We celebrate that improvement and we continue to work at it. Uh but we're beginning to think that we need to really invest in a longer term deeper strategy. Um and let me just uh show you why. So the next slide is looking at similar data but splitting it across the schools. And um what we do see here is that the distribution of while we've improved at a district-wide average in terms of recruiting and retaining teachers of color, it's not particularly even across all of our schools. And so I think this really represents the next
043phase of work that we need to be focused on. the strategies that we've put in place um that I think have become almost routine expanding our visibility. Um we've as you may have heard we've engaged what we call talent finder fellows to help us with recruitment kind of extend our abilities to recruit and actually screen candidates as they come in supporting our schools with that process. Um conducting antibbiased hiring trainings. We have a toolkit available to our school leaders. Um we've increased the lensure supports um for our educators who may be still working on lensure. We've done a lot of things to kind of get the basics underway and again these are the results we've had in the recruitment and retention. Um, but one data point I want to point you to, which is that
044as we look at our actual applicants applying to our um, jobs, it's about an average of about 9% as teachers of color. So, I think what this begins to tell us is that recruitment alone may not be enough to really get us to our goals. And I know there are many other districts across the region, certainly across the nation who are striving to reach the same goals and many have also reached this same conclusion. So if we want to take things to the next level, we're going to need to think a little bit differently about I mean I don't mean throw out the baby with the bath water. [laughter] Uh we continue all these things, right? Keep those things in place. But I think um we really need to invest in the pathways to teaching
045if we want to continue to have these strategic goals. We have an even greater sense of urgency that we're beginning to realize as we've begun to look at uh where we might be seeing some of our vacancies in the coming years. Um we we do anticipate a pretty large you know percentage of retirements coming up in the next couple of years just based on sort of the ages of our teacher workforce on the whole. While we always have uh younger teachers who are coming in or newer teachers coming in um this is sort of representing a little bit of a a a bubble that will affect us if we don't start planning for it. And so as we think about our strategic talent goals, I've begun to think about how can we really plan ahead
046for this and leverage the opportunities that we have in order to not just fill the vacancies but really develop through the pathways to teaching through an intentional focused pipeline of thoughtfully developed educators to come into these roles as we have those vacancies. So, we're now very focused on Pathways to Teaching. We've always been involved with Pathways to Teaching in Salem for many, many years. Um, as many of you know, we've had a longstanding partnership with Salem State University. We uh host student teachers doing their practicum and observations from Salem State and other institutions and so on and so forth. We've developed other initiatives with fellow fellowships, inspired tutors and other programs. Uh and all of those things do still represent a form of pathways. But what h what has happened sometimes the program sort of
047operates over here and [snorts] then our schools are over here when it comes time for hiring. There's maybe sometimes a little disconnect. So what we really want to do is connect the dots a little more intentionally and be more strategic with how we are investing in some of these pathways programs in anticipation of the vacancies coming coming ahead. So we have as I mentioned a steering committee um and we are fortunate to be doing all of these things because in the recent year or two we have been able to get um some key uh grant money which you've probably heard about. Um we are one of seven districts that have piloted the registered teacher apprenticeship program. That program involves um full-time apprentices in the classroom working under a what they call a journey worker teacher.
048So these teachers are getting a very deeply jobmbed professional learning experience while they are completing their bachelor's degree and getting support to become licensed teachers. And we've been able to position these in some of our harder to staff areas, specifically special education in this case. And we'll have an opportunity to continue that program next year and hopefully expand it a little bit on some level. Uh we're still working out the details as to how much we'll be able to afford to expand and we'll get back to you on that. Um but it's something that uh seems to be going very well and I think we have a model that is stabilizing and looking like it's really working well. So we're very excited about that. We also have had a grant called the transforming diverse educator
049pathways program, formerly the teacher diversification grant which we've had in previous years. And that grant this year has been not only focused on helping us improve our international recruitment that we've done with the the um recruiting teachers from the uh DR on J1 visas for the Bentley school and others. Um but also to build out some of the system supports that we think we'll need to be able to do this work well. Um Mark and his team have been helping [clears throat] us with some data infrastructure. Um, and we're really hoping to by the fall have a day what I I'm calling it a data dashboard just for the pipeline work. And I'm I'll be excited to share all of that with you. Um, as we look to the year ahead, uh, we also have
050hired a a consultant, um, Pemma Laten who has been helping us to facilitate the steering committee meetings and we're working up toward um, a summit that we're going to have a convening this summer in June and another one later in August out of which we we would like to invite you uh, to come or to or any of you who wish to come to the summit to help us shape what the sort of strategic plan for this work looks like. Um, and of course, whoever the new superintendent would be, we'd love for them to be involved so that we can start the year um, next year, hit the ground running, and have a clear plan. Our goal with this strategic planning work is really we've got a lot going on. And if you look at
051the I'll just going to jump two slides ahead for a second. If you look at we did a SWAT analysis which is in here and we one of our strengths is that we have a lot going on. We have a lot of assets to work with in Salem which is one of the things that makes it very exciting. But one of the things that makes it very challenging is that sometimes we're all working kind of very busily in our separate initiatives and we're not making the strategic connections and we're not maybe seeing it as a coherent plan. So that's what we're looking to achieve as we do this planning work in the next couple of months is a more coherent plan so that we can very intentionally think about where you know in Salem we're
052we think we should have x number of whether it's apprentices that we call them or whatever in the pipeline that we are developing engage to think about the schools that we know uh both maybe could use some increased percentages of staff of uh teachers of color um and vacancies coming up, things like that. So, how can we be more strategic at connecting all of those dots? In addition, um I'll go backwards. Maybe I should have put these in a different order. This slide is looking at the entry points. So we our goal really is to have a a pathway system that's supported by the data infrastructure we talked about but also has entry points for multiple entry points along the way so that we have a mechanism to support uh whether it's an existing staff
053member who decides they want to be a teacher we can meet with them support them and guide them into one of the paths that makes sense. Um, I'm excited to share that Stephanie has already begun to do that in her capacity. Um, and people have found out where she is. She's very busy talking to lots of people. So, it's exciting to know that there are people out there in our district who want to be part of this. And I invite anyone out there who's interested in being a teacher to contact us so that we can uh we can get you into a pathway potentially. Um uh and you know at times it's it's a complex process to become a teacher and there's a lot of rules and regulations and different things. So we want to
054be in a position hopefully that we can really support people and guide people so they're not wasting time, you know, doing things that won't help get them there, you know, if they want to do it in a quick way. Um, we also have supports for leaders as well. As if you look on the last uh slide, we we're beginning to think about how can we develop more leaders. Um, and we have supported uh teacher leadership fellows at Salem State. We have some folks involved in the Lynch Leadership Academy and Influence 100 and things like that. So, um it's not quite as broad as the teacher work, but um but hopefully it will grow. So, as we move ahead, I invite you to take a look at this SWAT analysis in particular. And one of the
055things, of course, that we'll need to really think about in earnest is how do we sustain this work? Right now, it's really happening because of the grant money that we have and fortunately it's a multi-year grant. we'll have some more, but in a year or two, you know, that might run out. So, we're going to start to really ramp up our sustainability planning for that. Um, and I welcome an opportunity to to talk with you all about some creative ways that we could start thinking about that. I think that's pretty much it. Any questions? Sorry, my throat is dry. >> We're hoffman. >> I just want to say thank you. This is really great. I love all the inclusion that you're working on. I would just add one thing maybe also to think about in
056the strategic plan is um also how we can foster and grow our LGBTQ staff um with inclusion and feeling accepted in in the workforce as well. It's kind [clears throat] of multicultural. Um, but I think that these are all all great and I look forward to seeing um you at the summit. [laughter] >> Awesome. >> Member Miranda. >> Yeah. Thank you so much for this presentation um and and all of the time that you and your team and others have put into this. Um this is obviously really important work. Um, and there are some numbers here that um that are, you know, we're um I think we're all kind of hoping for some improvement on um and and it sounds like we're looking for a plan to get there. Um, one of the the things
057that I notice here um in this on this chart is I'm seeing 0% of the central office um as uh staff of color and just wondering I'm I'm wondering who is factored in into that. I was under the impression that um Laura Assad as an example is a part of the central office. >> Um she might be in the district >> 0% of teachers. >> Oh, I'm sorry. That says 0% of teachers. Okay. I'm I just saw the [laughter] zero and was like, whoa, what's happening? Um so >> the red one is teachers. So there's no red in that one. And so yeah, it it's there aren't any teachers in the central office. >> That is so but the blue is staff of color. >> Okay. [laughter] >> Amazing. Um and then just wanted to
058uh learn a little bit more about this SWAT analysis in terms of um like can you just explain was there anything um that was done to kind of assess culture uh amongst staff anonymously um hopefully. So the this uh SWAT analysis really grew out of the steering committee's own brainstorming you know and um the consultants review of the different documents and initiatives that we have um so it wasn't you know what do you mean exactly by assessing the culture? >> Uh look I think there's some some really strong strengths here and paths forward. Um I I appreciate um you know one of the bullets here is programs operating in silos um as you know a weakness in and an area for growth. Um but I'm I'm more so wondering about the interpersonal piece and and
059if that's been assessed in in any way. >> So I know that we do assess through our annual surveys the sense of belonging and those kinds of things. Um but in what you have here, we didn't really look at that level of things. It wasn't like a whole district study. Um what we've been looking at as a steering committee so far is, you know, the specific initiatives that we have that touch upon pathways work and how we can bring it together to bring about this coherent plan. Um but that being said, some of our members in our last meeting for example did bring up that we need to bring that piece a little more into the conversation not just you know the technical things about developing teachers you know lenture and things like that right
060so I think you know we we heard that feedback and you know we're certainly aware of it it's just we were not focused on it in that conversation but I think when we get to the whole you know certainly at the summit conversation absolutely has to be part of the conversation. >> Okay. Amazing. Um and then just one other thing. Um so when it comes to and I'm looking at what page am I on here? Uh page 25, staff and teachers of color by school. Um, is is there kind of a a sure explanation as to why some of these um schools have like much lower percentages of um teachers of color? Well, I I can just I can share with you what I know has happened in the last three years where we sort
061of gung-ho recruited a lot of a lot of teachers under emergency lenture for example and um some of them are still here and have become licensed but not all of them have you know so that's one I don't know if it's any one thing um but I also know too that Sometimes when we have a school that has um you know maybe it's a veteran staff or maybe it's just a cohesive staff where there's not a lot of vacancies. We do have a few schools witchcraft for example that really hasn't had very many actual teacher vacancies opening up you know in the elementary grades in special education. Yes. In the pair of professionals. Yes. So, we have to really think about this as a long-term type of goal for all those reasons, right? >> Yeah.
062>> And I I think to that question, it's a really good question. I think one of the things we have to look at is where have been the opportunities to hire and how many staff of color have been hired into those positions. So, that helps with that question. like so a place like Witchcraft may not have had many openings so there aren't uh many opportunities um to hire but how many have they had and and what are the what's the ratio and then that across schools would help us better understand the numbers um so to Jill's point we need better deeper data and that's part of this effort is really understanding and diagnosing the problem so that we can work with school leaders and hiring teams to really confront the data and see where um
063maybe opportunities haven't been capitalized on and how uh we need to do better going forward. >> I think that's true for every department and schools. It's not just the the schools, but districtwide. I mean we we have you know I will point out we we did a lot in the last two years in particular to really shore up teacher retention in general not the least of which is our new teacher contract and paraprofessional contract right with the new salaries and incentives built into that and so that's great that was our goal that right we we did that on purpose you did that on purpose right and uh and that's great and so the more we do have retention though the fewer opportunities there are for new hiring although We're we're doing plenty of hiring. Um
064[laughter] but as we look ahead, I think that's why if we continue to keep it as an annual cycle, I don't think we're going to get this strategic result to really meet the talent goals. It's a multi-year planning effort because of the work that it takes to have people into the pipeline. And at the end of it, the RTAP apprentices, for example, I'm sure, you know, we'll see, but I'm certain that when they're finished and they become teachers in our district, they are going to be so far better prepared, you know, than most others who are coming through the typical way of preparing to be a teacher. Um, and so that's that's some that's worth in my opinion, that's a worthy investment. Thank you very much, Joe. >> Thank you. Thank you. Well, I hope
065that this is just the first of many conversations that we'll have about this work and um I know I have become extremely passionate about it. Many all the members of my team are and you know, everyone keeps showing up to these steering committee meetings which is fabulous because it it shows that there's really interest in the work. So I I could not be more pleased and thank you all for for doing that. >> Thank you. >> We have finance and operations report. >> Oh, thank you. >> Um aside from the moving, the only note I would make is that um Superintendent Carboni and I will be joined by member Hoffman to present our budget to the Salem City Council on Wednesday night, June 10th. So that is the next and I believe last step in
066our FY27 budget process. >> Well, the council needs to vote on it so that doesn't happen. >> Okay. Not the last step. >> Thursday. Thursday will be the last step. I will be there as well. >> That's it. >> Uh subcommittee reports. Any reports from subcommittees? >> None. Superintendent search update. Member Hoffman, we'll start with the presentation of the finalists. >> First, I would like to thank um the screening committee, the superintendent screening committee. I um it was a very it was 15 diverse community members of our community. Um they donated their time. There was long hours. Um there was thoughtful conversation. Um the process was confidential but I can tell you that we were super excited to send forward the three that we have chosen. I feel well the committee feels um that they're
067going to make an impressive an impression on the school comms and help us move forward from prek all the way beyond. Um the first and I also like to thank you too um for helping with all of that and your support. Uh it really meant a lot and I'm really proud of the people that we had at the table and the voices that were heard. So the first one uh I have here is uh Dr. Jorge S. Allen. Dr. Allen has served as a director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for Welssley Public Schools since 2022. Prior to that, he he [clears throat] was a world language and English language learner coordinator for Andover Public Schools. Dr. Allen holds a PhD in Spanish American literature from Purdue University and MA in Latin American studies from Purdue
068University and a BA in education from Central D. Oh gosh, help me. You can say that. [laughter] >> She's beautiful when she says that. Um, the next candidate is Andrew Bot. Andrew Bot has been the head of schools for Brighton High School since 2020 and served as superintendent of Brooklyn Public Schools from 2016 to 2019. Earlier in his career, he had served as principal of the WH Lincoln School in Brooklyn and a principal of the Orchard Gardens K through8 school in Roxbury. The last candidate is Dr. Thomas M. Welch. Dr. Welch has been a regional school superintendent, associate superintendent for Boston public schools since 2015 and served as an academic superintendent for the district alternative schools network from 2018 to 2019. Prior to that, he w [cough and clears throat] he was the founding principal
069of the Nava College Preparatory High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. I look forward to all of you meeting them. looking forward to it as well. Um, we want to talk about the timeline from here and the process with the finalists going forward. Do >> Yeah. So, Heidi Gino is supporting the committee in this work and is going to walk through the time frame the timeline for the next steps of the process. >> Um, thank you. Hi everyone. >> Um, I had some slides. So there are some slides coming. So thank you for having me up here tonight. Um, I wanted to walk through quickly the timeline that we've mapped out and also talk about the upcoming community forums or or site visits which will be next week and then we can talk
070about some of the interview questions that have been um developed for the interviews. So if you go to the next slide. So, these are your finalists. Um, and um, I will say all I've spoken with all three of them and they're all very excited about this opportunity. They've been very responsive and are they're all three of them are all in. They're working with there. There's been some scheduling challenges as you'll see. Um, but everyone is doing what they can to be available and to um to accommodate everybody's schedule so we can get this wrapped up by July. So on the next slide you'll see the timeline. So that's really small. Um so here's the timeline. Um this week is um the city is conducting reference checks on the three finalists and tonight or over the
071next day or so we're going to finalize the interview questions which I will say um started with all of you. So, I asked each of you to submit two or in um Mike's case four questions. Um and so I've taken them all and consolidated them and we'll we'll talk through that in a few minutes. But so this week is really about sort of getting ready for the next step. Um next week we're um we're locked in for site visits for all three candidates. We'll be here on Monday. Jorge Allen will be coming to Salem. On Tuesday, Andrew Bot will be here. And on Wednesday, Tommy Welch will be here. All three will have an identical schedule for the day that will start at 8 a.m. um and go through a community forum that will wrap
072up at 7:30 p.m. So, very long day, but they'll get a great taste of the city and have an opportunity to see lots of things. So, we'll talk about that in a second. Um due to scheduling, calendars, vacations, holidays, and things, it's looking like um the school committee interviews will be happening probably the week of July 6th, so about a week or two after the original goal, but not too far not too far off. Um this will allow um the majority of the school committee to be physically present and so you don't have to have anyone um doing the interviews over Zoom. So all three of the candidates have um I checked with all of their schedules and it looks like that should not be a problem. So we'll be able to wrap it up
073that week. Uh from there the rest of July will be um after the interviews the school committee will need to set a special meeting in July to have final deliberations and a vote and then contract negotiations and the candidate will start uh the beginning of August in time for the new school year. Any questions on that that timeline? It's aggressive and this is an unusual time to be doing this kind of a search, but um it seems like it will work out. I think the biggest challenge has been um well the the the immediate goal was to make sure everyone could come before school closes. So, we're really happy to get everybody here next week. Um the next slide. So, the site visits, as I said, will be a full day um for each of
074them, and it's going to be broken up into really four parts. Um they're going to see four well, they'll see Collins, Bentley, the Early Childhood Center, and Salem High. At each of the schools, they'll have an opportunity to meet with the with the principal, do a tour, do some classroom observations, and really get a sense of the flavor of the school. um they will have lunch with the mayor every day. So um we're working out location for that. Um we're also scheduling focus groups um each day so they'll have an opportunity to meet with students, principles, the executive team and teachers and staff. So over the course of the day, they'll really get a good flavor of the community. And then um after a a well-deserved break, they'll um we'll have a community forum that
075will be broadcast over SATV um from 6:00 to 7:30 each day. So that's that's the plan. It'll be um I think due to scheduling the forum on Monday for Mr. Allen will be at Witchcraft Heights. Um but the other two forums will both happen here in this room. Um, so that that's the plan. And let me just I'm going to pause there before we get into the questions. >> Any [snorts] questions or >> where is the forum for Dr. Allen? >> So Dr. Allen's forum will be at Witchcraft Heights. Um because there's a conflict in at Collins on Monday. >> Okay. >> Um otherwise the schedule will be the same. And actually on the slides, do you all have the slides? >> Okay. So I linked at the top you can see the site visit
076schedule. >> Um and this this has also been shared with the three candidates so they know exactly where they're going and they can you know Google map everything and figure out distance. Um we are coordinating thanks to um thanks to the the district team. uh we're coordinating to have somebody with the candidate all day to just kind of drive them around and make sure they get places on time, they don't have to worry about parking. Um and to make sure that the [clears throat] day runs pretty smoothly and things stay on time. >> Other questions? >> Remember Miranda? >> I'm curious. I know um in some other uh districts and and some other processes that school committee members um are a part of the site visit. So just looking for some clarification around um how
077like what is expected um from school committee if if any type of commitment for the the site visits. >> Do you want to respond? I've been trying to talk uh help Kate and and Heidi with some of the process and and um I think Superintendent Carboni had some really good um input about like what would make the different constituents feel comfortable like in terms of answering questions honestly and having an open conversation. So um the thinking around the forum the um the focus groups was that school committee members would not be there. Um and this could certainly open for discussion. My instinct my my sort of initial thinking was I personally would not like it if other people had more access to a candidate than I would. Um so and I'm I'm actually not here
078all next week. So, um, but we my what we were talking about was that we can all go to the community forums um and any other sort of public um event, but if anybody has better, you know, other thoughts on that, we can talk about it. >> Miranda. >> Um, so then would we have a chance to hear from those stakeholders on like their thoughts that would come through the surveys? Um, >> member Cornell. >> Yes. So, what we what we've Heidi and I have discussed with the help of Ke who knows these processes better than than I do is um that each uh each focus group would have a distinct feedback form um that was specific to them. So like the students would have their own feedback form. Uh the teachers and staff would
079have their own feedback form. The executive team would have a feedback form. And then the good thing about stretching the process out is that we'll have two weeks to sit with that data. Um so Heidi will collect it um and you know put it together for us and then we'd all have it. Um so that that's the that's the process that we've come up with but we haven't we haven't started on the forms yet. >> The other thing I would add to that too is there would also be a form um for the people who participate in the community forum. So we can put up a QR code on the screen and people can respond in the moment and also if they're watching on on TV. >> Miranda, >> yeah, I don't feel strongly that
080I need to be there for any of that, but it does bring me comfort that we would at least be able to get some sense from stakeholders on like how they felt um the candidate uh was able to to interact. Um and so that's great to hear. Thank you. It feels pretty vital to us being able to make an informed decision is to hear from the stakeholders that'll be meeting with them. >> Other questions on the time uh on the plan for the site visits member Hoffman. >> I don't have a question, but make sure you take them to coffee time so we can loop them in to Salem. [laughter] >> Always. >> There's no time for that. >> Donuts. >> Um I just have a question on the community forum and I know we'll
081have more details around the format for it. Um, we'll have uh interpretation provided during the forums. >> Yep. Member Snot. >> Thanks. Um, just another question on the community forum. I that was my first initial thought was Monday and the event that's going to be here Monday night. I need to be at that one. So, that's why I knew I wouldn't be able to be at the forum. So, glad to hear it's going to be at Horse Man. But, will we be able to here? It's fairly easy to have remote participation if needed. Are we be able to have very similar type meeting at Horus man with remote participation? Yeah, >> I just got the nod from BA. >> Yeah, sorry. Um the so it's at witchcraft which Oh, sorry. U but yeah, Mike over
082there has done this for us in the past. Um, so when we were having community forums uh regarding the consolidation of Carlton and um and salts, he we had those forums at Salt Install and so he can get us all miked up, recorded um and then those will um be available on SATV also for the entire community. So if you couldn't make it, you could watch it and still provide feedback using the feedback form. >> Okay. So YouTube hopefully, right? In in essence, the Monday meeting, we just need to make sure we need to confirm that there's a strong internet connection at Witchcraft and I will it'll be streamed on YouTube on our education YouTube channel, which I'll give everyone the links for. And um and then Tuesday and Wednesday will be run just like
083>> not like tonight >> without any hiccups. We hope we'll figure but me and Mark will figure that out. Yeah. >> Yeah. Thank you. I guess that was my only concern is the remote edit school that we haven't done hybrid before at >> just one thing on on the forums. I think um we will we need to talk about this but generally with something like that questions are submitted um at in advance so that we have similar questions across the forums. So, um, the one thing about remote people dialing in remote is that they wouldn't really be able to submit questions. >> Did you have something? >> I was just going to say about the we'll have um interpreters both in the room at the forums and online. >> Thanks, member Bas. >> I'm guess
084I'm just curious why witchcraft and not other school that's more accessible to families. >> It's a good question. >> That is a good question. May I >> uh one of the things we were trying to control for was temperature. Um and uh you know it's they're going to be sweating anyway. Um, so one of the first suggestion was the high school and the high school the library just bakes in the afternoon and would not be comfortable. Um, so that's we you know the coolness is there but I think that's a factor and perhaps you want to discuss that. I mean, we have done the forums at Salt and Stall and it is close to walking distance and we know that it works. So, we haven't put anything out. So, that might be something you all
085want to discuss. >> Miranda. >> Yeah, I I had sent an email um about this uh to Heidi, but just wondering if there's any update on child care. I think um if if there's you know something in um you know for the community forums in the evening it would be great if we had child care. >> We can help with that. >> Okay. >> Can I just add >> Yeah. Member Cornell, >> I just want to add one thing about the discussion that we had about getting public in public questions ahead of time. Um, it just makes it just sort of like standard operating procedure for interviews. But, um, that way this the candidates would have them ahead of time because it wouldn't be fair if the first candidate, you know, Dr. Allen didn't know
086what he was getting into and everybody else did. So they'd have what if let's say if it's eight to 10 questions that we collect from the community what we were talking about was like the most commonly asked questions give them to each of the candidates then open up the last half hour or so for um you know spontaneous questions from people in attendance either online or in person that that Heidi would manage. >> Member stop. >> Thank you. Okay. So then I mean just to go back to the location item I would fully support salt and stall over that especially if we do want to do a hybrid if we're going to open it up to public like questions on the floor we should open it up to questions on the floor equitably and it's
087a very good point about child care. Um yeah I'm excited for these for watching them later. >> And if I may I just want to say thank you for helping figure out the schedule. [laughter] I mean, I'm sure everybody's June is as fun as mine. Um, so this timing is is hard. So, I appreciate figuring it out. And I I think the gap between is is really thoughtful. Actually, I know it kind of happened with the schedules, but I think it's very thoughtful to allow us the time to digest the information from those really heavy uh meaty site visits. Thank you. >> Bias. I >> just also want to thank Heidi and BA Bethanne for everything that you're doing. Any other comments or thoughts on the site visits? So, I'm hearing there's is there a
088preference for the salt and stall for the for the first forum? >> Yeah, member Cornell. >> Based on what um member Bayas just said, I think it makes sense to have all of the forums at at Sultan still um rather than forcing everybody to come over here. Um, it's a little bit more Mike just closed his eyes over there, but it's not, you know, it's a little harder for Mike, but we know we can do it. It's in a centrally located spot. The only thing is parking, but families figure it out. >> So, that would be my suggestion. It cuts >> salts have anything going on. >> Yeah, they might have like graduation. >> We don't know that. Yeah. >> TV day. >> I can look it up. We can check. >> All right. >>
089Give me a minute. >> Air conditioned. >> I think there's one the 18th. birthday >> this week. >> Yeah, we can fi we can finalize that. >> Okay. Anything else on the time on the site visits? >> No. Okay. >> All right. Um so if you go to the next slide. So as I mentioned earlier, I reached out to um all of you and invited you to come up with a couple of questions that you wanted to be considered for um for the school committee interviews. So now we do have a bit of time on this if since the interviews won't be until early July, but I wanted to just share with you where the questions landed. Um, in looking at them, I think there were 16 or 17 total. You can't ask 16 questions
090in an interview. It'll go on for a long time. So what I tried to do was roll them together, consolidate under some specific themes and um think about who specifically should ask each question and in what order. So on the slide I have linked um a document with the draft questions in the latest um order and suggested assignment. But I just wanted to share um here just kind of the themes that we landed on really does seem to cover the you know [clears throat] co cover the the major topics in the city and um very intentionally thinking about starting with vision and ending with communication and trust. really like landing on the the importance of having um being an effective communicator and building trust with the community. So um welcome your thoughts on that. I
091think all of the one one other thing I do want to mention um Yamaly had the wonderful suggestion of asking her question in Spanish. So I think that's [clears throat] you know something just to factor in in terms of interpretation and things like that. Um but open it up to all of you for discussion. >> Is everyone able to open the linked document for the questions? Okay. >> Are we able to open the questions on the presentation? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Um the the document is linked on the slide. >> And actually, while while he's opening it, I just want to I should say um I did move the questions a bit just to um starting with equity and opportunity instead of vision. We moved vision down a little bit. >> [clears throat] >>
092So, do you want to go through them or how would you to proceed. >> I I think if if members have questions or specific comments about these, I mean, they were provided to us, but if we want to have a discussion on any of these questions, I think they're great. I I mean, I appreciate a lot of the perspectives that members provided in their questions, I think having a question in Spanish is a great a great idea as well. Um I do yeah member Cornell >> um I think in terms of just what we what we're kind of legally responsible for with the open meeting process is that um we've you know is a kind of general agreement to these being you know um the questions that we're asking and then if folks have like
093you know I never want to look foolish so I always like practice everything ahead of time and so if if the wording is tripping you up or there's something that like it doesn't entirely capture exactly what you wanted but it's still sort of in this basic framework um changing the the language of it with Heidi is in bounds as long as the as long as the um substance of the question doesn't change. Um, so that's really what we're thinking about today is not like the wording of it necessarily, but the substance of the questions. If we can kind of get out of this meeting and say, "Okay, this is this is what we um this is these questions and and the themes of these questions feel right." >> I also want to make sure that
094in rolling your questions together, we didn't lose anything that you want to specifically state or name in in the interviews. So, as you read through it, just think about that. >> Member stop. >> Um, will we as a as a body be able to see the questions that will be asked during the forum >> prior to the forums? Okay. because I do feel like there were a few um community partnership I guess commu that would fall in the communication uh category of question. So I don't necessarily want to add to anything here but I feel like that topic of question um I'd like to see more of or a little differently. Um but I'm assuming the forum is probably going to cover a lot of those as well. So I don't want to necessarily add
095any duplication. So >> yeah, member Cornell, >> we are you are able to ask a follow-up question to as it relates to your to to the question you have in front of you. So if the if the candidate is sort of leading you in a particular way or ask, you know, mention something and you're like, "Oh, I would like to know more about that." You know, maybe somebody's done some work with a community partner somewhere and so we can we would want to limit it so we're not taking cutting into other people's question time. Um, but that's totally inbounds if if folks if you want to get a little bit more detail out of people. >> Can um another member ask a follow-up question to another member's question or is it followup only to your
096your own? >> That's a good question. We should we can find that out. check with Cole. >> Yeah, we got >> I also want to be just mindful of >> this will um Oh, well, I guess the interviews will be in a few weeks, but for the community forum, your question about questions there, I think we want to be just conscious of the time and the length of the day. >> And if a question is addressed in the community forum that is close to the one that the school committee intends to ask, do we still want to keep it on the list? >> We have to Well, we have to if we are asking every one of them of it. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> But we we could make a decision to say we're
097going to cut that question. >> Member Miranda. >> So then are we voting on these questions? >> No, this is not a vote. It's just a discussion. >> And then how would we determine if we wanted to like cut a question between after the community forums and before the >> interview? Well, the interview is a posted meeting, so we could decide at at that time, I imagine. >> Okay. >> Member stop. >> Um, well, we do have a meeting on the 22nd between the forums and our we're that might be the best time to I think really finalize these questions to see like what holes were. I know I will feel a little better to be like, yes, this is we'll put this on the agenda for that meeting. That's a good point. Thank you.
098>> [clears throat] >> All right. See no other questions about the questions. Yes. >> Sorry, just one more. Um, so when a question is asked in Spanish, which I I might try to practice um some Spanish and then ask mine in Spanish as well. Um, when that happens, uh, would we be in a position to allow the candidate to respond in Spanish as well? Okay. >> I I think that's the hope. Yeah. >> Okay. Cool. >> So, >> we'll need we'll need reverse. We'll need interpretation both English Spanish English. Yeah. >> Cornell. >> I think um when we did the um Spanish forum for the school consolidation, we all had the headphones. So, I think that's great for candidates to see that that's something that we do um in this district. So, we just have
099to plan for that to have them. >> Yeah. And then for the >> Well, for the public that's if they're in attendance, that might be a challenge. >> No, because when we had um when we had um consolidation meetings that were primarily in English, we had enough headphones for everybody. So I don't think it's that I I think we can give it to members of the community who come who are English only speakers. It should be fine. >> Member Hoffman. >> I would just have a clarifying question. So if we cut one of our questions, are we going to add another question or we just cut that question? >> Question. >> It's up I think it's up to the committee if they wanted to replace a question. So we're replacing it if someone asks it
100at the what >> are we replacing the question if someone asks it at the form the discussion on the 22nd you can decide >> okay >> right very good there's no vote here so this is just a discussion but thank you appreciate it >> you uh we do of under item nine, motions and resolutions. Two votes this evening. You did it already. >> Sorry. >> We did twice actually. [laughter] >> Good job, Vice Chair. Just keep me in the loop. >> Newsletter items. >> Just uh Okay. So, obviously I think uh updates on the questions for candidates. Um But the we'll be past the schedule of visits that won't be in the newsletter. We'll we can kind of uh do a reflection on those. Um and just now I have for important votes approval of
101Sarah Parker Roman and New Liberty Innovation School. >> Any other topics that folks would like to see added to the newsletter? No. Okay. Announcements. Yeah. Member Hoffman. >> Um I would just like to invite the Salem public schools to march in the pride parade on June Saturday June 27th. We have a spot. They'll be um we have a banner that we have every year and and uh we encourage you all to wear well wear whatever you like, but if you want to wear your shirts for your schools, um we march as one, so there's no differentiation between schools. Um it's just uh come out and march and learn a little history. Oh, and then the crosswalks everyone's asking me about. Um still working with the city to figure that out. Um but it I will
102as soon as I find out, let people know. And if you are wanting to be a part of it, you can reach out to me on my school committee email a Hoffman at K12.org. [laughter] That's it. Thanks. >> Um I meant to add under announcements, we've got um the information about the search uh process, the visit dates, everything will be on the on the school committee website, on the school district website. We'll also share it out on the city's website and through those news channels as well. So salemk12.org. >> Yes, member. Uh just wanted to add on um on the city's website and on their Facebook page uh to celebrate Junth, which is um June 19th, the Junth flag raising is at 1 p.m. Riley Plaza June 15th. And there's a party in the park
10311:30 a.m. um to 4 pm on June 19 at Charlotte Foreign Park. Um so everybody is welcome. Um there's also there's a bunch of uh there's a performance, there's a movie on the common. Um and I've attended the movie on the common uh before and it's really fun. So that's all. >> Is there a motion? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Motion made by member Cornell, seconded by member Bias. Under discussion, Hoffman. Sorry. See no discussion. All in favor? Any opposed? We're adjourned. Thank you, everyone.