001Good evening. Uh, call to order meeting of the Salem School Committee of May 11th, 2026, 7 p.m. This meeting is taking place in person at 29 Highland Avenue, room 227 in Salem. And you can also join via Zoom using the link posted in the meeting agenda. I'd like to start this meeting by asking for a moment of silence. Um, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Kevin Trainer was a graduate of Salem High School, class of 2013, and was uh, tragically killed in the line of duty protecting others on May 6th and will be laid to rest tomorrow on Wednesday here in Salem. Thank you. Uh so is there a motion to take out of order? I'll take a motion to approve the agenda. >> So moved. Uh so at that point do I amend or >> no
002let's just approve it and then you take a motion order. >> Motion made by member Miranda, seconded by member bias. All under discussion seeing none. All in favor? Any opposed? The agenda is approved unanimously. Is there a motion to take out of order? >> Motion to take out of order to hear uh from the students. >> Yep. We're taking out of order item one under the superintendent's report for student recognition. >> Um motion made >> second. >> Motion made by member Miranda, second by member Hoffman. Under discussion, seeing none. All in favor? Any opposed? None opposed. The matter carries unanimously. >> Turn over toend. >> Good evening everyone. Um tonight's a special meeting. We have lots of students in the house and um that makes for um a special meeting for us. We um enjoy
003hearing from our colleagues, but there's nothing like hearing from our students. So, we're so grateful to have the eighth grade team here. They're going to present their civics project tonight. And we have three high school students that we are excited to recognize um their accomplishments and their achievements that they've amassed in their portfolio this year. These students represent the very best of what Salem public schools um is about and they really embody the essence and the characteristics of a portrait of a graduate. All three students uh that we are going to recognize tonight um have attended the Salem public schools from elementary school to middle school and through high school. In addition to the incredible family support and personal networks that have surrounded these exceptional students, we'd like to believe that they have experienced access
004and opportunity in the Salem public in their Salem public schools journey that has helped in some ways uh helped pave the way uh to the incredible things that they have accomplished. So, I'm going to um go through um recognizing each student and then we have some swag for them. We the mayor is going to present them with uh city seals and we'll take some photo opportunities with the families um and members of the committee. Okay. Um so the first person I'm going to recognize first student is Alexia Coleman. Alexia, can you sort of stand and just be recognized? There's Alexia. Okay. Yay, Alexia. Um you're really going to want to clap when you hear um what this amazing student has done. Um, Alexia is a she's a senior at Salem High School and she attended
005Nathaniel Bowich and um, witchcraft and Collins middle schools before she made her way to the high school. And Alexia has been a standout on the witch's wrestling program and is one of the most decorated athletes, male or female. and uh in doing so she opened doors for the next generation of female wrestlers all over the Northshore. Alexia is one of the first ever girls state champions for uh from the region and for the second year in a row won the division 2 state title at the 132 pound uh girls bracket. She was runner up at the girls all state meet and then made even more history when she captured three matches at the New England Championship in Providence to reach the finals. Though she dropped a tight decision, being runner up in the New England's
006uh competition makes Alexia the most accomplished female wrestler in Northshore history. Alexi. Yes. Alexia went three and 0 at the Philips Andover Girls Tournament and 4-0 in girls competition at the Brandon Grant Tournament, which hosts 24 teams and over 650 athletes. As if that wasn't enough, Alexia won her decision at the AllGirl Massachusetts Wrestling Association kickoff Classic and finished fifth at the George Bossy tournament and defeated a fair number of boys um in the dual meet matches over the course of the season. In addition to being an elite athlete, Alexia is also an ace in the classroom and she'll be attending George Washington University in Washington uh DC this fall which is an excellent school and we know that she will continue to excel and rise to high levels. Congratulations. Um, our next honore is
007Johan Palano, who is in back with his family. JOHAN. And Johan is also a senior at Salem High School. Um, and earlier in his educational journey, he attended Nathaniel Buch also and then went to Bates and Collins before he went to the high school. This year, Yo Han was the proud recipient of the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators Outstanding Student Award. This award, which encompasses all schools in the Commonwealth that offer career technical education programming, is presented to a senior who maintains a minimum of a B average or higher, demonstrates excellence and accomplishment in their career area through internships, and has ex outstanding attendance. As a junior, Johan represented Salem High School at the district and state state levels in Skills USA, Massachusetts. This is an annual event that empowers students through leadership, career development,
008and technical skill competitions. At the district competition, Johan placed second and moved on to the state level at which he placed third among 500 students. Johan works in the early education center at Salem High School and has spent the second half of the year working with kindergarten students at Bates Elementary School for three blocks during the school day. Um, and um, experience an experience that not only has strengthened his commitment to working with children, but has really helped to shape what he plans to do in the future. Upon graduation, we're so excited that Johan plans to attend Northshore Community College to study health sciences and then he plans to transfer to Salem uh State University to earn his pediatric nursing um degree. And I've had a chance to interact with Yuan a couple of times
009this year. He is a truly delightful young man and he's going to really make the world a better place as he moves on. So, CONGRATULATIONS. And last but not least is Grant Dwire, who is right here. Uh, and Grant is a junior swimming superstar who is also a student at Salem High School and he attended Carlton and Collins Middle School previously. Grant's swimming resume is super impressive. He has won uh a two He is a two-time Northeastern Conference swimmer of the year in addition to a twotime Salem News Boys swimmer of the year. Grant made history as the first Salem High School male swimmer to win two individual state championships, swimming the 200 IM, which is the individual medley, as well as the 500 freestyle um at the division 2 state championship. Grant is the
010owner of nine school records at Salem High School. And incredibly, he rebroke six of those this winter. He owns uh the Northeast Confer Conference records in several events. the 200 IM, the 500 freestyle, the 100 back, the 200 freestyle, and he took two event titles at this year's New England Conference Championship. The runner up at uh in two events at the North Sectionals, Grant is undefeated with a 44 and0 record in dual meet races, including a 14-0 mark this season. This year, Grant led the witches in points and was named his team's most valuable swimmer. And like Johan and Alexia, Grant is also a gifted student as he currently has a 4.30 GPA average. Grant, you are truly an amazing student athlete and it's an honor to recognize you tonight. All right. So, we're going
011to have you all come come up >> give you some swag. That was so well done. >> All right, look at me. Don't be wing. Beautiful. Going to take a few. One, two, three. One, two, three. Couple more. >> Awesome. >> Should we have their parents come up? >> Sure. >> Yeah. >> Moms. Oh. Oh. Oh. >> Yeah. >> We know you guys had something to do with this. Figure we'll have you come up too. >> No. Yeah. We'll have everybody come up. And this little guy >> brother everybody look at me. >> Excellent. One, two, three. >> Great. >> Congratulations. So happy for you. a hoodie. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> And I know that they have um AP exams, so they might want to scoot out while you can.
012Okay. >> Thank you. You want to >> uh so the other student presentation out of order we have is students from our colleges. >> Yeah. So, we have eighth grade Collins Middle School um students um from Miss Jaw's um social studies class, and they're here to present their civics project um and to solicit support from this body for an issue that they think is really important that they want to uplift um that is re relevant to the health and well-being of our community. I've heard this presentation already and they're um did some amazing research um and uh I'm excited for them to present to you at just for a little context um all eighth grade students in Massachusetts are required to complete a studentled civics action project. Um so this was part of that. Um
013but you can really feel the students passion and ownership uh for the topic. So, we're excited to they they did present to Representative um Manny Cruz earlier and he suggested that uh they come here and they were eager to do that. So, we're excited to have you. Perhaps maybe Miss Joel, you want to come up to the microphone and give a little more um intro and then we'll turn it over to the students. Um sure. So, this is something that they've been working on. They're going to tell you in their presentation, but they've been working on this since September. Um, this is a full year um of project that we work on. We start with brainstorming ideas and they do some general research and then they start honing down something that they're very interested in.
014Um, what was great was our presentation that we presented to Representative Cruz that you were able to see as well. um that actually did make an impact and we were able to update our slideshow for you guys which was great because time has passed and it has a lot to do with the the budget for the state. Um and they through their efforts as well as obviously the efforts of our representatives in the Massachusetts House um were able to secure funding for something that we believe is really important. But now it is facing the Senate. So this is where you all come in. This is our big moment. All right. So, we're just going to share our presentation with you all >> and we do have uh Mr. McCarthy who's here. Bob McCarthy who works
015in is Joan Lovely's >> I emailed you. >> Chief of staff, >> you're here. >> Guys, this is a big moment. >> I just wanted to like recognize that. So, thank you for being here. >> Thank you for being here. >> This is so exciting, guys. I did not realize. >> Yeah. So, this is the real deal, guys. >> Great. Okay, let's go. >> There should be a mic. >> We move the mic. Can we move the mic? >> Can that mic move? >> Can we move the mic? >> No. >> Uh, you can we can try to Oh, perfect. >> Thank you, Mike. >> Yeah, >> a little bit. >> You just kind of got like hold it dumb there. >> Okay, you can do it. >> Okay, I I'll try. >> Hold it
016by the >> Okay. >> Um, this is the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program. This is our action civics project. >> Can I put this way? Yes. Okay. >> There you go. >> Thanks, Dan. >> This is our action civics project and we are Miss J's BB block. Excellent. >> I can't switch. >> We started this project in September 2025. We researched many problems that were impacting Salem. >> Some of these issues were food insecurity, homelessness, affordable housing, racism, and the lack of public school options. >> As a class, we voted on the topic that we felt was impacting our our community the most. After we researched our options, we narrowed it down to food insecurity and homelessness. Interviewing a stakeholder. After much discussion and research, we decided on food donation sites at grocery stores, hoping
017this would make the biggest impact. To narrow down our ideas, we decided to interview the director of the Salem Food Pantry, Mike Lily. During his interview, we learned the Salem Pantry or the pantry supports cities all over the Northshore. Many families and individuals use the Salem Pantry with 25% of Salem residents visiting every year. They mainly need money and volunteers to keep it running while also relying heavily on advocacy. Currently, as a whole, food banks are receiving less funding than needed. >> He mentioned an important bill that we that would be voted on shortly in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. >> What we learned about the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program, MEFAP. We learned that the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program is a program that allows food banks all across Massachusetts to continuously purchase food
018products to provide families with healthy diets at no cost. This program helps food helps people help helps feed people in every town of Massachusetts. And in 2025, it provided 600,000 meals per fam per month for families. This program makes a difference a difference and significantly impacts our communities. Here are some factors that negatively impact MIAP. Federal cuts, food inflation, and SNAP reduction. >> I can't really see. Um, federal funding cuts that nonprofits and food banks. Um this is an article from CBS News that um cancels well shows the cancel in1 billion dollars in funding for schools and food banks. Um the mood cancel move cancels about $660 million in funding this year for the local food for schools program which is active in 40 US states as well as about $420 million for a second
019program called the local food purchase assistance cooperative agreement which helps food banks and other local groups provide provide food to their communities. >> The federal government is cutting funding that will affect the children in Salem and their families. In Massachusetts, we need to make up this difference. >> Here is another article that talks about government funding cuts. The one big beautiful bill reduces SNAP funding around $186 billion over 10 years. A 20% cut that marks the largest reduction in the history of the program. >> This means tons of families won't get fed and children will not be getting the nutrition that they need. >> Okay. So average average and number of SNAP recipients in M said this graph shows the increase of recipients in M said that receive SNAP benefit increasing increasing significantly from 99
020years to 2025s. So local food banks impacted sen food pantry. This sen food punches is an organization located in Massachusett. This helps provide food to families and individuals who struggle with food insecurity. Over all the food pantries has provided freshlymade meals to individuals and concerns improving lives. The Greater Boston Food Bank. The Greater F Boston Boston Food Bank is an organization started in 1974 to combat hunger throughout Massachusetts. This issue is getting worse under the economic climate. According to the article from GBH, a report from the Greater Boston Food Bank released Tuesday shows an estimate 40% of Massachusetts households experienced food insecurity in 2025. This massive increase is a huge problem in our community showing that now is the time we need to give more support to these vital organizations. What we have done, we
021have done research about how MIFAB works and helps people in need of food assistance. We have spoken to Mike Lily who is a stakeholder and research about different food pantries in Salem. >> We contacted every state representative. We received emails back from a few of them. We created this presentation to be sent to representative and presented in to representative Manny Cruz. >> So um these are some >> Yep. >> Oh, these are some emails we received back from stakeholders. Mhm. >> The current status, the House Ways and Means Committee increase the amount of money going to MIEFAP. They were asking to increase the amount to $60 million. The House just passed the budget in April and now it is going to the Massachusetts state senate and this is part of the bill. >> Uh budget
022>> budget. What we are asking for, we need you to write a resolution from the Salem School Committee asking for the Massachusetts State Senate to pass the budget with this funding. The current budget that is going through the Senate Ways and Means Committee is asking for $55.15 million. We want the $60 million budget that the House passed to go through. This will increase funding for food banks and ser to serve people in families in need. We contacted state representatives. We presented to Rep. Cruz and now we are asking for more support. Please write a resolution to send to our senators and make sure hungry families get fed. >> Thank you for listening to our presentation. Any questions? >> Yes. >> Um is there any other way other than writing the resolution that we can help
023out? whether it's like posting about it on social media, anything that you might want us to do to help spread the word a lot more. >> You want me to answer it? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, this was a recommendation from Representative Manny Cruz. When they presented to him, he specifically was saying, "You should go to the school committee and they should write a resolution." So then we looked into what resolutions are. So that this is mostly a recommendation from our representative. >> Mhm. >> Um posting through social media has been done quite a bit which is great. Um the Greater Boston Food Bank has been really vocal about this. Um so that's happening but these guys are doing the government research. So now it's resolution time. >> Other questions from committee members? Can I
024ask so what was it about food security that you why you selected that over the other topics? What was it that drew you to it? >> Anyone want to answer? Sophie can come up. >> We felt that. >> Come on. Yeah, come on. >> We felt that it was affecting like the community the most out of all the topics we looked at. >> Can I Yeah. And how did you come to the decision? Like did because it was like a class project, right? You did it together. I asked this the other day the other time too, but I'm just curious for others to know how you what was the process that you used to narrow in on that. Did you come to consensus? Did you vote? What what was the process? >> Um, we researched
025a lot about each of the topics and then decided as a class which one we should work on. Miranda, >> I'm curious. Um, and this question is for anybody who would be interested in answering it, but what is, um, like something that stood out to you, one of the most impactful things that you took away from this project? Go ahead. Come up. Come up. Come up. >> Um I think was like exciting cuz got to do like a lot of research. >> Yeah, it >> was just exciting. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um I think it made like a really outstanding and good difference in our community and that's why um we focused on it so much. Yeah. Not being a member of the committee, Mr. McCarthy. >> If I could, I just uh on behalf
026of Senator Lovely, I want to send her regrets. She couldn't be here, so I came in her behalf. I've longtime city councelor actually sat on school committee for a little bit myself. And I just want to say how impressed I am with the group and the research you've done. And I will say the budget process is a complicated budget. Mayor Pang Galla could testify. He was up on the hill for a while. He understands how that works. Um, right now it's the perfect time to send a resolution to the Senate. The Senate takes up the budget next week. And I will say that um, all the amendments to the budget were filed Friday at 3:00 by Friday 3. And Senator Dminico has included in that in his amendments a line item to increase the funding
027for that uh item in the budget by the $5 million to get it up to the $60 million mark. Sen Senator D. Dominico represents the area where the food pantry is located. So he's u he's he would be the go-to senator for the um that kind of information. So, um I would say to make a recommendation to this body in great haste that they get this resolution passed and sent in some sort of electronic form and then I if you reach out back up to our office obviously I'll bring it to Senator Loy's attention. We'll make sure that Senator Dminico and anybody anybody else that you want to send it to is aware of the budget amendment and uh the budget process is complicated and but uh we'll see what we can do. Yeah, member
028Hoffman, >> I just want to say thank you so much and I can't wait to see what you guys do with the rest of your lives. This is really impressive. Thank you. >> There's nothing further. So, I appreciate the context around the timeliness of this question cuz I was going to ask if we wanted to take it up for a vote at the next meeting, but given the fact that the amendment's been filed and we're not meeting again till the 26th, I think um I I would entertain a motion for a a vote of to endorse the amendment to increase MIFFAP up to the full $60 million and um that we'd send a correspondence to that effect to Senator Lovely. >> Some moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Motion made by member Miranda, seconded by member
029Hoffman. We do have member Manning participating remotely now. So we will vote by roll call vote. Member Miranda. >> Yes. >> Member Bayas. >> Yes. >> Member Hoffman. >> Yes. >> Member Manning. >> Mute. >> Oh, all right. Myself. Okay. Uh myself. Yes. The resolution passes >> and uh thank you all so much for the time and effort and for bringing this to our attention. You know, it is a a critical need. We are um I think we we experienced it firsthand when the one big beautiful bill hit our SNAP benefits for our community and the pantry was vital in in stepping up and um it's not possible without meap. So, thank you for for ringing the alarm bell and bringing this to our attention. >> Thank you so much. >> Can can I ask
030you a question? I think maybe it's a question that some of the students have. So, what happens now? So, you passed a resolution. What's the next step? >> I heard you say you write something up. Is that in the form of a letter or memo? And just curious if the students would be able to get a copy of that. >> Yes. So, I'll take the motion that was approved with the secretary from the school committee and put it into a letter that I'll send to the senator on behalf of the school committee as the chair and I'll see that that your class receives a copy of it. >> Yay. >> Awesome. Um, could my vote come in now? >> No, I'm talking to the >> motion to take a two-minute recess. >> All right. Motion
031made, seconded. Under discussion, seeing none. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. We'll give a short recess so you guys can exit. >> Good job. Be kind. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. is phenomenal. >> Good vote. >> Okay, I think my vote could count now. >> 1939. >> What is the screen actor's guild? >> You got nonfiction for 400. Oh, >> the most engaging read is a book for number nerds. Mistake one. space. >> Okay. What I need to start now talking Would our regular scheduled program here. Thank you, gentlemen. Uh, our next item is public comment. 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
032of 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. Is there any public comment in the chambers? Any public comment on Zoom? Please use the raise hand function. >> Nothing. Okay. Our next item is approval of the consent agenda. These are the minutes of the school committee meeting of April 27th. uh approval of a field trip to New York City for Collins grade 8 students from May 28th to 29th and the warrants of April 23rd and uh April 30th. >> Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Motion made by member Miranda, seconded by member Hoffman. Under discussion, seeing none, uh roll call vote. Member Miranda,
033>> yes. >> Member Bayas, >> yes. >> Member Hoffman, >> yes. Member Manning, >> no. >> And myself, yes. The matter passes with one no vote. >> Uh, next item is student representatives report. >> All right. Um, good evening everyone. Um, my report for this week is going to be pretty short because there is a lot of academic um, things going on at Salem High School like AP testing. I myself am on my third test, so I'm very tired. Um um so yeah, there's we're on the second week of AP testing. Sophomores recently took their SATs. Um MCCAST is happening for the underassmen. Um I think the math MCCAST is happening soon. Um the biology MCCAST is also coming up in June. Um, and I wanted to talk a little bit about some of the
034outside of academics activities that are happening at Salem High. Um, seniors are preparing to leave. Um, we are also preparing to host the elections for the next um, student advisory rep. So, the student rep like myself, um, the vice chair, um, first officer, secretary. So, all of the office positions will be open because they're all currently occupied by seniors. Um, and the medical assisting class of CTE also recently just started their Salem Hospital internship as of last week. We had the inter the Oh my gosh, sorry, I'm losing my words. Um, we had the um orientation and they have split everyone up on the different floors. So, if you hopefully you don't, but if you do end up at Salem Hospital, you might see us there. Um, and you might see us on the floors.
035But yeah, that was my report for this week. Very, very short. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Cindy. Any questions? >> All right, seeing none, we'll move on to the superintendent's report. >> Okay. Yes. Um, so I did just want to from the top I I thought before we began the meeting, but now that we're in the middle of the meeting, I did want to just take a a moment to acknowledge Mother's Day and recognize all the mothers, the grandmothers, the caregivers, and anyone who fills that role in the lives of our students and families. And just express on behalf of our team how grateful we are for what you do. Um, and hope that your day was a special one. Yesterday there was sunshine out and the flowers were blooming, so that that
036was great. Um, we also last week had um a great time and fun celebrating our committed and exceptional educators in observance of educator appreciation week. And um I want to thank all of the students and family and community members who sent in reflections. Uh we pushed those out via social media. So they were able to say um you know this teacher made a difference for me or how special this um educator was um to their experience and those served as daily affirmations of the positive impact that our educators make every day. So that was really nice. If you follow Instagram, you would have seen those rolling. Um and it was really nice to see them. We also raffled off $475 worth of gift cards. Um each day we did a raffle and we had um
037lots of they were pretty much in increments of $25 but to local businesses um and that went to it was just a whole variety of different educators from our custodier custodians to our par profofessionals to our classroom teachers um and everything in between. So um we had 19 recipients of those gift cards. Um 25 other members of our staff um were able to get some swag. So, we gave they were able to pick um a hoodie or a hat and t-shirt combo. Um so, that was nice too as part of the raffle. And then on Friday, we delivered a cookie platter to every uh school as a sweet treat to say thank you. It was just a small token of our appreciation for all they do. So, it was a really nice week. Um and
038we are grateful for each and every one of our educators. So, we hope they had a good week as well. Um, and so I think that brings us to the next presentation, which I'm going to ask um, Glenn Burns, the principal of Salem High School, and Megan Souza, who is the director of the college and career center at the high school, and they are on deck to give us an update on the college application process, which is very relevant at this time. So, I will turn things over to them. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you all for having us again. Um and this is a continuation from the September uh presentation. So in September, I believe it was uh we came in front of this body to uh discuss what our goals are and
039that those have been set in conjunction with uh this body a few years ago as well as um a few partnerships with uh some some of our partnerships that we have uh to make sure that we're aligned and moving forward. Um so in September we set some clear targets around increased access to advanced coursework, expanded post-secary applications, improving our FAFSA uh completion rate and uh strengthening our post-secary outcomes. So through a variety of activities um we've done this but these are just some shots of some of the things that we we've been celebrating which are our kids and all of their achievements that lead to them to opportunities that help them dream bigger. I'm going to turn it over to Miss Susa. So these priorities uh and areas uh of focus are coming straight uh
040out of the attuned assessment uh and the key initiatives that were developed uh two years ago now. So we're two years into this work uh under uh these set of priorities that were presented uh to this body two years ago uh that we've been working under and then building um our key objectives each year from there. uh and relative to the inputs and outputs uh specifically around uh advanced coursework um access to opportunities for alignment in course selection to post-secary pathways college applications uh and three or more college applications for uh collegebound students uh and then also applications to workforce three or more for students that are going into workforce development and then the percentage of students uh who began in the career teched pathway and completed with certification. So we have been setting targets
041each year uh since we've created since we've started this work uh going back a few years with a baseline of 2021 uh and then setting targets. So last year uh targets are here in the 2024 2025 which we presented and then we also presented where our targets were for this school year and in green is where we're at now. Uh so we have surpassed uh our targets across the board. The ones that are missing uh career ticketed pathway will receive that upon graduation and our post uh survey. Uh but based on where we are in uh the school year and looking at grades in each one of the career tech pathways, we're on target to exceed the 90% as well. Um and then as far as looking at applications for workforce, that's also something that
042we will gather within that last exit survey of seniors. Uh however, one of the things that career teched and the college and career counseling team have worked together for for students that are interested in going into trade or the workforce is to have those opportunities set up before they leave high school. So many students didn't need three or more applications because they were either working with partnerships uh and businesses and communities through high school or working on a direct union pathway uh and applications with the college and career counseling center and their career teched teacher. Uh so we will have the data at the end in the exit survey but that number I'm expecting to be much lower but that's because of direct entry into their pathway through our partnerships. And again just to represent
043uh the work that our students are doing and aligned with those pathways uh through uh different act career panels um direct entry uh and celebration to uh admissions uh and uh the work that they're doing in career tech programs. So based on the it's report and then earlier in September uh the slide that principal Burns uh presented on uh our key priorities for the 2526 school year which we presented in the fall uh were around student counselor engagement um with a goal a target of 95% specifically targeting this year of 9th and 12th graders the 95% of students will have met for their post-secary plan individual counseling meeting session with their counselor uh college application rate to improve that from the 39% to 79% of students who are collegebound to apply to three or more
044colleges. uh pathway awareness. So uh that 90% of students would spend at least five hours on college and career my cap oriented curriculum through pushins uh crew advisory uh college panels careerfare uh supported work uh and then a FASA massa completion rate um looking to uh increase to 75% by the end of the year. Right now for our counselor student engagement, 95% of seniors have met with their counselors more than once. They've all 95% have met twice uh at minimum with their school counselors to prepare for the end of year uh and the end of their term. Um 99% of freshmen have met with their school counselor to begin their post-secary planning work. uh we far surpassed our college application rate uh at students that were collegebound. 88% of those students applied to three or
045more colleges. Uh and the acceptance rate shows that as well. uh pathway awareness. We also exceeded that target at 93% of students were in attendance and completed exit surveys and reflection um assignments based on the five hours of direct curriculum instruction through pushins advisory college and career panels as well and the career fair. Uh and then our FASA master completion rate uh FASA reports at 50% through the DESIE portal. However, there is some factors uh that are not represented there. Over a dozen students uh are not reporting as matched that have completed the FASA that are not matching with um with that portal. We have been in contact with Desi and this is a common problem that we've been facing over the past couple years. Uh but we do know that they've completed them. And
046then we have a large handful of students that have completed the MASSA that will not show up on the DESI portal for a FASA completion rate that have completed that for their next steps as well. >> All right, I get to do the fun part. >> You do. >> All right. Um, so what we're we're really excited and I can't really see see those numbers. That's too small. But um, great. uh there is a there is been a large increase of our students exploring and going to college um in different avenues. So, what you can see is 23.5% um were accepted into uh 4-year private. Um out of that 23.5%, I believe it's closer to 24 almost 25% were accepted into highly selective colleges this year, which means a college that accepts less than 11%
047of applicants. Um, we also have four-year public at 27.5% and then two-year colleges at 25%. And that number is growing just as we were sitting at um at in my office uh today discussing this presentation. Kids were uh making other decisions now that are in uh that 24%. And that 24% isn't a percentage that we can give you exactly what they're doing until really around graduation when they start when they get uh start going on their job interviews. Uh some of the students decide I'm going to Northshore that's in that 24% even today. Um so that number will be in flux really until the end of the year. All right. So this is just a an image of the types of uh colleges that our students have been accepted to this year. Uh just to
048give you an idea of what we mean by highly selective, moderately selective, and four-year public universities. The four-year public universities that our kids are going to has has greatly expanded this year to across our our uh country, but also um uh across the world. as a student uh just notified us that they were selected into a a college in in Germany um and that's where they're attending. Um so those are those lists are vastly different than previous school years too. So what's not on this? This is just to give you uh an idea of what the outcomes have been at Salem High School and because students haven't metriculated there yet, there is no 2026. Um but that is something next fall uh that can be presented on as to where our students uh actually go
049to. Um but the key takeaway is more students are enrolling in post-secary pathways, particularly four-year private and two-year public institutions. Our focus is closing the gap between district and state averages. Um, and by one of the big pushes for having kids fill out three college applications was really to diversify what their opportunities were to find better college matches, but also to see who was going to give the better financial package. And that's a big piece that that we've learned this year through this process. We have to do a lot more work in supporting our families is around financial packages and we do have some partnerships with that but there needs to be more outgoing communication with our community on that and then our next focus and closing the gap. Um, so we have more we
050have more offers to more selective and private institutions than we've ever had before at Salem High School. Um, we're looking our outcome students still enroll in more affordable and familiar pathways. Um, which is key. We want our students to be enrolling in more affordable pathways, which means we have to do a better job of matching our our families with those pathways, but also student interests and and we're working towards that. Um, that's where we're at. More opportunities for more opportunities opening for students. We see that. And again, the affordability, financial aid, and decision-m influences the final choice. And that's some of the communication pieces that we need we need to up our game at. Um, and expanding access across all institution types. And our focus is closing the gap between what students can access and
051where they ultimately go. So our next area of focus um which is around the financial literacy part also in the like in the direct now is our focus is on summer melt. Um so through doing the research we know that summer melt is a real thing which is students get accepted they fill out some of the paperwork in the spring and then they never metriculate uh to these colleges and universities. So that's a real problem. in Fort Worth, I believe it was upwards to 59% of uh Latino students that got into college did not actually metriculate to that college and that was through a Harvard study. Um so that's a real concern of ours. Um so some of the things that we plan on doing uh this school year and into the summer is uh
052stipening some of our our counselors to electronically communicate with students on their college which is tailored to their college choice. um and some of the things that each college is asking them to do and that's around you know making sure uh their financial aid is all in order uh courses are selected making sure they've met with their uh college adviserss connecting them there even little things as did you check your colleg's Instagram for all incoming um students because they're all posting and sharing just building that community with our students. So, we're working on currently uh a nice spreadsheet that has every college that the student has actually committed to and all of their deadlines for things so that we can send out an email blast and a text message directly to that um to that
053student over the summer to make sure that they're not missing any deadlines as well as if there becomes a hardship, how can we support that student? And hardships include things such as, you know, I know I'm supposed to be at college next next week. I don't have a ride there. How am I going to get there? Because that becomes a huge barrier. So, that's things that we can help our students and our families make sure that they're getting transportation, that they end up on campus, and that they feel supported. Um, so those are things that we're in the me right in the now working on making sure that we're all set for the summer and that we'll be doing a better job of tracking who's actually metic uh metriculating and what are some of the
054barriers that families are coming up with um to actually starting this process off so that we're ready to support them and make sure that um those don't become reasons why their their student their child doesn't end up uh in their first choice or where where they want to Um, any questions? >> Yes. >> Um, I wanted to ask about the process with the guidance counselors that you just said. Um, so how is that going to work? Is it going to be like we have to approach the guidance counselors to set up appointments or is it going to be like the guidance counselors are going to reach out straight to every student throughout the summer? >> Yes. So, you will not have to reach out once they have uh the guidance counselors going to be collecting
055cell phone. We have many of your cell phone numbers. Um but for those of you that we don't the cell phones and your personal email because >> yeah the school emails >> you're going to move on by from the school email. Um, and there's a whole process that was in the newsletter. >> Yeah, I know. I did that. >> All right. Did >> that this morning? >> Um, but then you'll you're just going to get text messages. Now, the thing is there will be a person. They will not be like automated text messages. So, if you respond and go, >> "Hey, I don't know how to do this." Then you'll be reached out with a phone call from a live from one of our counselors who says, "Let me help you with this >> to
056make sure that that you're in a good place and that your family is in a good place." Um because we feel like a lot of times once you graduate high school, you've been off on your own. >> Um and that and nationwide that's a problem. um it doesn't work for a lot of our families and we want to make sure you've all worked really hard to and a lot of work has gone into how do kids get into these highly selective schools? How do they get into programs that they chose this time which is hasn't been the norm and that's because your GPA are really high. You've put in a lot of work like yourself. I got three AP CL tests going and we don't we want to take advantage of all of those things
057you've done and really put you in a good spot in the fall and we don't want this to be a stressful summer and for too many of our families it's a stressful summer. They're not sure how to navigate that. So we we've have some ways that we can navigate that and um make sure that you're receiving the text messages and that you have people checking in on you. Um, in that, like I said, it could be something like from transportation to, >> you know, um, I I haven't met with my adviser. I don't know how to get my course schedule. >> Yeah. >> And that if if you know, school starts in a week and you don't have that, you might just say, "This is just too much. I'm not doing this." >> Even though
058your financial aid package is all in place. And um, so we want to make sure that that doesn't happen this year. >> Yeah. >> And then we'll do some feedback. Hopefully you you all once you get into college and you're there, you'll give us you'll answer one of our emails with a little survey on did this help you and what were gaps in our support process so that we can close those for the next group of of kids that we're supporting. member Miranda. >> I I love that idea and had it written down here like I would love to see exit um surveys from our alumni um cohorts. Uh I do have a a few questions here. Um in terms of electronically connecting with students, I I'm hearing that uh the we would be reaching
059out by text or email. What happens if the counselors get ghosted um by students? Like is is there a plan to um to to follow up in a more aggressive manner? >> Absolutely. Um we we know that the our kids are going to be doing wonderful things this summer. Uh so we will we'll reach out, pick up the phone, and make sure that we we know that they're in a good place uh talking to the parents as well as the student. Um we don't want to miss this boat. Like I said, so many kids have put in so much so much work and we know that for a lot of our kids, they've gotten really good financial packages um to go to schools and that's because of the work that they've put in and uh
060we want to make sure that we we can support them in making this happen. >> Great. Um one of the other things that I heard and I'm I'm curious here, so these priorities that are listed, it sounds like it was developed several years ago. Mhm. >> Um, and I see here that one of the focuses was student counselor engagement, and I heard one of you say, um, that the goal was to to meet with the counselor at all. And I'm just wondering, uh, like two times doesn't really seem like enough to to to understand a student and to kind of get a feel for what it is that they want and need. And so I'm just curious around like, do we plan on increasing that? Absolutely. >> So that is a specific post-secondary planning meeting
061that is not the only time that students are going to meet their counselor. Some students will meet their counselor multiple times throughout the year throughout their four years. Uh those are specific to longer meetings 30 to 45 minutes uh around post-secondary planning and the next steps for course selection um in possible internships college application process uh depending on where they are uh years 1 through 12 or grades 1 through 12. So that was around that alignment uh rather than either through uh workshops or before it was that all that work was being done in small group or in larger group and workshop and really it was to tailor to a personalized experience one full session minimum a year per grade to go through all of the work that's been done through the curriculum and then
062follow through the next steps for each year. So that's what those uh specific uh meetings were about or recorded for. >> Cindy, >> um one last question. Um I was wondering if the meetings were going to be set up with the students counselors that they've had through high school or if it was going to be like random assignment of counselor with student. Like I don't know how that's going to work. >> Oh. For the summer. >> Yeah. Because my only concern is I mean me personally I've built a very good relationship with Miss Kazlowski and I feel like if I had any questions following up I could reach out to her because I did build that relationship whereas I don't know if I'd feel as comfortable reaching out to a different um counselor if I
063were to have like some sort of struggle that I need to talk about related to college. So I don't know if that's something that's gone into the thought process as well regarding the program. it has and we're going to try to set up we're going to give the opportunity for all counselors to work with students on as their schedule permits. >> Um and hopefully they'll all take us up on this. Um and if they can't then it will be Miss Soua will take on some I'll take on some um to make sure that and if there is a struggle that might get escalated to my level um anyway or Miss Soua so that we can make sure that we we can mobilize and get the right supports in place. >> Right. >> I'm bias. >>
064So I'm wondering like what's the communication like for parents to kind of reinforce those pathways at home? Um, so I I mean there there's been not as well as we need to because a lot of this is about education and some face to face and there needs to be a lot more community outreach. Um, so our pathways have been through uh different workshops that we've done. We we've asked parents to come in not at the rate that we want to see our families or connect with our families. And that's something that most most certainly has to shift. Um we need to be in the community uh more meeting families where they are having some of these meetings. Like one of the things that we've switched out or we've offered at the high school is when
065your child is doing their course selection, you can come in and do it with the counselor as a as a parent. Uh you can schedule it or you can schedule a Zoom so that you can be part of that process. Um, and that's particular just so that we have the whole family and and the schools on board with what is this child's goals and that we all know that we're we're all rowing in the same direction. Um, and that's something that we're going to have to do for a lot of these workshops or when the student is coming in to meet is say as a parent would you like to be there because we can do a Zoom meeting. Um because we're not seeing on a lot of our other college and career readiness stuff,
066we're not seeing parents as much and rightfully so. Everybody's busy. Um when we're doing the one-on-one meetings, we already have the student. We can pop open the computer and have a Zoom. The parent can be wherever they are um and just pop on for 10, 15, 20 minutes if they're available and be part of that conversation. Um and that will be a shift that you'll see going into next year. and we we've done it for the past two years, I believe, with core selection. Um, and we'll continue to to make that shift. >> Member Hoffman, >> um, how are do you think some of that is also because of language barriers that they're not comfortable coming into our schools? And um especially you had mentioned Fort Worth and um >> I was wondering if that
067was with the new administration in the ICE if that was some of also the reasons that kids aren't wanting to leave the states to go to like where you don't know you you're a different culture you your skin is different you're still American but like >> so with with the Fort Worth the reason why I mentioned that was that was through a Harvard study that was done a few years back as they were implementing and they were saying one of the things that they did do was um having counselors. So the model that we're using is based off of theirs because what they did was this was years back. So they did um they said this is our problem of practice. Um they did they tried out a few different practices and this is one
068that that really stuck out um which was having counselors connecting with kids throughout the summer. Um and that's what Harvard um printed out. that's what they put out there as as their research model. So that's what we're thinking about how to support kids is based off of that model. Um why our kids aren't don't metriculate. We'll have that we'll be collecting that information now because we'll have constant communication. A lot of times we weren't finding out that a student didn't metriculate unless a we had a really strong relationship with them and we personally talk to them. Um like some of the kids and and we can't do that by happen stance is that you know kids that had strong relationships with people in the building. They're the ones that would say, "Hey, so and so
069didn't go." I I can think of three kids who I called up the first week of school and like, "Hey, why aren't you there over the time?" And we get we end up getting them there. But that was through happen stance. That was communication with a staff member who then communicated with me. Um, and I don't want that to happen. So this year we'll be tracking better data of who doesn't who doesn't end up making it why they didn't end up making it and making sure that it was a choice that they consciously made because they can't make make choices. Our kids are leaving with you know college credits. They're also leaving with certifications in many of the shops and some of them may go I'm going I'm going right into the trade now. Like
070I thought this is what I wanted to do. Upon review I've been off for a couple weeks reflection. I I set up I'm going into the carpenters union. and I have a a job interview and that's what I want to do and that'll be great. Um, but we haven't really been collecting that data or engaged throughout the summer process and that's where our shift is. So, a lot of the numbers that you see that you've seen in the past years is they look great because they're they're optimistic. there's like here's what all the kids said that they were doing and now we're actually going to be following up and supporting them through that process to say here's what they actually did and we we know that for sure that they actually because the other number
071we're getting is just from the clearing house um which is kind of a postmortem. This is what everybody did and we didn't really once they left graduation we didn't support them. They kind of just landed here or they had a support system that got them there. We want to make sure every kid has that support system now >> to get there. >> And then the financial piece like with parents, I know that um money makes me anxious. Um >> and uh >> could some of that be the parents like um kind of ostriches like I would do that. I would hide my head and be like somebody figure this out for me. But are we teaching our kids too about finances like when they these are big checks like um >> so we've worked with
072we've partnered with college affordable which is a free resource for our families um and we've connected a lot of them. We've also uh used partnerships uh people in our community that have certifications to do this type of work and they've worked with uh many of our families. We need to institutionalize that at Salem High School so our families come up and not just start that senior year either. Like a lot of this work why so many kids um ended up in a really good place. We started their jun their college essays junior year. Like most of them walked into their senior year with a at least a draft, but some of them with it totally complete. So that wasn't a stressful situation. Um because it's stressful when you have all of this stuff due and
073you're starting a new school year. >> Yeah. Um I mean at this point of the school year most of the seniors you know they have senioritis. Um they're not stressed out in in the same way they were when they started the school year. But so this is another thing with >> the college finances is we have to start earlier with our families and and building the relationships and mentoring. So tomorrow um night I'm actually um I have a meeting with the Latino coalition to speak just about this which is a mentoring program and the pilot will focus on um firstgen um collegegoing students and families. So, we're looking for mentors within our community um that can help support our families and we'll do the training that they can be connected and have that one-on-one support.
074And when that mentor gets in a jam or it doesn't know how to answer the question, that's where we'll come in. So, we want to provide the training up front so that they can answer the basic questions in a really timely manner. Keep our family, all of our families engaged. Um and then when something hard comes up, that's when our counseling system can be like, "Hey, we we can meet. let's meet for a cup of coffee. You can come in or we can go to you. Um so we we are trying uh different things. I I do I do truly believe like the stronger our community is, the stronger our schools are. So the more informed people are um and how we get information to them in their household is going to make this this
075really stressful situation better, especially around finances. But we have connected with um we even had for financial aid some of the local um individuals that run um tax companies like doing FAFSAs for our families for nothing. They were they were working with our families um and do helping them with all the paperwork. So we've reached out to uh many stakeholders across our city to make sure we're doing this. Um we're we're getting it done right and well. uh we need to to kind of scale up a little bit because we have many more kids as you can see in this position. Um, and we want to make sure that the families feel confident because that is something that as more kids have gone, we've heard families, well, I don't want to take a loan out.
076And there are some based on profession and there are some loans that are good loans and there are some loans that we we would say that probably isn't some like let's look at different colleges, let's look at different programs, something that's more affordable. Um, so those are conversations that we're having. Well, we're not going to make that decision for the family. We want to make sure they have all of that information on the table. And that takes somebody who knows what they're doing or somebody who's been through that before. And that's why we want to build out this mentoring program uh for other families in Salem so that they have somebody who's been through this process who has some training in this world and can sit there and just be a thought partner with what's
077a really good what's a really good uh choice and decision. And that's going to be our pilot uh going into next year that we're excited about. Um, I just Oh, I'm sorry. Were you gonna say something? I'm sorry. Do you want to go first? >> Yeah. Thank you so much. All of that information um is in incredibly helpful uh for me to hear and and this specifically like career counseling is um something that is really important to me as somebody who went through high school high uh class of 2010. not feeling very encouraged by um the the counseling that I received and not feeling like um the guidance counselor kind of like pushed me to dream bigger. And so like that graduate school um as an idea like didn't come to me until I was
078at the tail end of my undergraduate degree. Um and a professor really like encouraged me and pushed me. And so I'm curious, how are we keeping track of of where we're steering our kids? Like are are we do we have an idea now of like are we pushing certain kids towards certain careers? Um and how how can we uh keep data? Maybe the idea, and you guys know far more than I do on this, but maybe the idea could be um similar to the concept of like having a reach school where counselors can have like what they imagine as like a reach career that they encourage um as an example. So, I'm just curious, are are we keeping those stats yet? Um and if not, so excited to see all that that we are keeping.
079And yeah, >> so I'm going to let me jump in because she's really excited. I can and Cindy and they're connecting. Um, but I will say you that we we're working on a partnership actually right now to create a whole data dashboard with a lot of these things because this data is all over the place and we want to bring it all together. So, yes, we are working on collecting a lot of data, including we put out in our weekend newsletter to for people to fill in uh a spreadsheet if if they're available of what financial aid packages different schools offered our kids because that's really important um because we can set up profiles for our kids and go, "Hey, you have a really good chance at this school to get this financial aid package
080and they're they're offering this major, which is exactly what your child wants. So this would be a great place to apply to. So we're we're doing that internally. Um some of that work, but I'll let >> uh so that's a big uh goal of the college and career counseling department uh is to look at what students are interested in uh where their values are, what their goals are, and then help them dream big. Uh it's for all those students that you saw, the 88% that filled out three or more, there were plenty of reach schools on there. uh that they themselves may not have thought of at the time uh they could possibly get into and they did. Um I'm pointing I'm I'm going to look at someone in particular for a moment but lots
081of students uh in the same boat uh that even students that are and an example of this across the board uh students that are career teched uh for example uh one of the fears or beliefs uh for students in comprehensive schools is that if you're in career teched you're tracked in a certain way and that is certainly not the case at Salem High CT teachers and counselors work very closely for what students interests are and students are interested in construction. uh we're not only looking at Union, but we're looking to make sure that you're in advanced coursework in math and sciences that you're you're expanding those options and opportunities to include construction management programs, engineering programs. And whether or not you may not choose that, student may not choose that, they have the option to
082and they've heard of those options. They've explored those options with their counselors. And a lot of the students have put applications out uh for this class. They may not have taken advantage of them. they ultimately have may decide to go into a union, but all of the options have been presented and they've been situated in a position to where they could take advantage of those. Uh we are fortunate enough fortunate enough to have a schedule that allows students to have be full-time in a career tech ed or in early college and still make sure that we get three to four years of a world language in without sacrificing those other opportunities which allow them to go to moderately and highly selective schools. So counselors are not looking at students saying, "Oh, well, you started in
083vocational, so you don't need that graduation requirement. Move on." It's okay. You can fit it in. We just have to be mindful of how we how we do that, and we're going to make sure that we do. So you have the opportunity as we're exploring what it is you're interested in across the board. So you're you're aiming high. Uh one of the workshops that our counselors do is to go over all of the different options. Uh what does each school mean? What is a four-year public versus a four-year private? What is a trade school versus a community school? Uh what do the certifications or degrees get you? What does graduate school mean? Um and that is an entire unit. Uh that's part of the that fivehour curriculum that students do and that goes into their
084that reflection piece uh and their presentations. they we group them to present to each other and that goes into their portfolio for their MY cap work uh that they have by the end of the year or the end of their four years. So we do a lot of work around that to make sure that students understand what all their opportunities are but they're also poised to take advantage of whatever opportunity they would like. >> Amazing. >> Do you want to share? >> Um I just wanted to talk a little bit about um member by Oh my gosh. No. member Hoffman's point and member Miranda's points as well as like the student. Um, regarding the financial aid, I actually used college affordable because Miss Susa and Miss Kuzlowski pushed me to use it because I was
085going through some unrelated issues that initially kept me from applying for FAFSA. So, I had to apply for FAFSA and then I could apply for FAFSA, but it was also December and there's like this thing where like if you don't apply for FAFSA fast enough, then you don't get enough money. So, I had to fill out the FAFSA in 2 days or less so that I could like still make the deadline. Um, College Affordable is really helpful and um I don't know if it was Mr. Burns or Miss Susa that said it, but it's free, so nobody is paying anything to use it. And my mom is from Albania and she has no clue about FAFSA. She was actually really scared when we opened it. Um I was really scared too. But um it was
086definitely like on the student perspective. I think they do a lot with financial aid and it's something that my counselor at least has talked to me about since like the beginning of junior year. like she has made that very clear that this is something that needs to get done and this is what it's going to look like and this is how you do it and this is who you can turn to if not me. This is like some other organization that will work with you outside of school hours. Um, and then for the careers and college since freshman year, I think my our first meeting was freshman year and we were asked what we wanted to do like where we saw ourselves, what we wish to do like in the future and I was actually
087one of those very indecisive students. Like I was always switching back and forth, especially sophomore, junior year, I was really switching it up. Um, but my counselor never really turned me away from anything or pushed me towards anything. And I was the CT student too. So I was sort of I was doing a lot of things and I never really felt like she was pushing me towards one path or the other. And I really feel like they try to let you come in with an open mind about everything. She always pushed me to take advanced course work, always pushed me to go for like early college, PLTW, continue with CTE, even though it was two blocks, and I wanted to do so many things, but she made it so that I could do those other
088classes while also still in CT because she knew I like the class. So, yeah, I think there's a lot of I think the counselors really care about the students. And it shows cuz a lot of us feel comfortable enough to go talk to our counselors. At least my friends and I, we really feel like we can turn to them. Miss Kazlowski sees me at least once a week. Um, not for meetings every time, but she does see me. Um, but yeah, that's that's really like one I wanted to bring from like the student perspective of it cuz obviously you do hear Mr. Burns and Miss Susa talking about it, but I also feel like the student point of view is very valuable because this is the students that it's about. So, >> thank you. Um,
089yeah. I I mean to your point, our philosophy has been and the real shift is we want every it's about keeping doors open and even when I talk to kids, we make sure right away like even as freshmen like it don't put a price tag on this. You're going to apply to lots of places and they're going to give you a financial aid package. I always go there's a thing called FAFSA and you're going to learn a lot about that over the four years and you're going to see what packages different colleges give you and then you make a choice. But just be prepared if you keep your GPA up. If you're doing all of the things that you need to do to reach your goals, there will be lots of doors open to help
090you get there and we'll make sure. And that that's really the the biggest. So, I'm glad to hear like that. I mean, you've sensed that through all of your the actions that have been taken, but that's really the philosophy at at Salem High is everything is possible. And and this year, I think that we've we've uh demonstrated our kids have worked really hard. They've ended up in some great places. Um, and we're still not done yet. So, we're now going on our next level of journey, which is how do we make sure they end up there, right? And it's not just a photo op. Like we don't give them the Well, I'll be taking your picture anyway. I know you're going to end up at UMass. Uh we give them the t-shirts, the photo ops,
091and they come in for uh a college uh signing or career signing. So even if they're going off into a trade or union, they're going to sit at the table and we're going to do their career signing. Um reach out to their employers to make sure that they're all set up with their their employment too after school. So, uh, we typically we do what we call # I applied um, which is college apps and employment applications so that every kid has a place to go um, after school and that's really important for our counseling team. We have to get better at those things and and the tracking is a huge piece. So, we're working with um community partner to develop this whole new dashboard that's going to help us collect all of the data that
092we want and give our councils a place to to populate the data that they're they're tracking when they make these phone calls for our kids. >> Yeah. >> Member off. One last thing I have to say I I did appreciate um I got to do my my son chose his sophomore classes and the counselor reached out and I was like he doesn't like pressure so I'll just let you guys handle it and then she was like do you want to come and see what he did like talk about it. It was very um I really loved it. Um I was really proud of him for what he chose and that he was able to choose a schedule that he's going to enjoy going to school every day as opposed to me going you have to
093go to school today. Um, so that is refreshing that they actually are able to build in hands-on and academic all in one year and the counselor was very um informational for me as a parent like he's on a good track. Don't worry. So that was I hope people will take up do that. I hope all parents take the opportunity to do that because it was super helpful. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much for the update. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh back to superintendent's report. The calendar. >> Okay. The calendar we have um so principal jellison brought to my attention that there was an error in the um the calendar that was approved for Sarah Parker Ramand School. there was a missing professional
094development day. Um, and so we fixed that and put the draft into um the packet that you have. And so uh it it's actually the September 23rd um professional development day wasn't there. And so that just makes it even with the number of days that the other elementary schools have um and Collins Middle School as well. So, um it's just a technical fix, but I would ask that um I think it's in under votes. >> We'll be here. >> Yeah. Um that we approve that. And then lastly, it well, no, not lastly. Um just the MSBA update. I think um we're all still riding a high from the vote. It seems like a long time ago, but it was just last week. Um that ensures that we will be building a new Salem High School.
095um and that will be moving forward. It's just, you know, it's a a project that represents a powerful investment in our city um and in the future of the city. We have the first uh building committee meeting since the vote uh tomorrow at 6:00. It'll be here at Collins Middle School in the chamber. And there are three things uh on the agenda, three major things. Um one is the mile to go back to the milestone review and make sure um the project is on t on task on target um and uh to propose future meeting dates and then to up uh receive an update from the finance working group. So, if anyone's interested in attending that, uh, that's happening. And then over to you, um, Deputy Superintendent Paulie for the finance. Um, and I, uh,
096I offered on Cindy's behalf to give her regrets. She has another AP exam tomorrow morning first thing. So, um, she was going to head home. She took one today as well. Um so as we are in the um throws of this school year, we are looking towards um finishing this school year strong and starting the summer strong. And so I wanted to preview for you something that will be um coming out to families uh very soon, which is about our summer eats program. Um, last summer the Salem public schools summer eats program served 29,591 meals to children across 22 community sites. And this year we are excited to continue that. Um, and we will be providing free meals to children um throughout Salem beginning Monday, June 29th and concluding Friday, August 21st. The program will
097operate at 11 open sites and provide meals at 22 partner locations including the Boys and Girls Club, Parks and Recreation, and YMCA programs. And we'll be sending all of this to you. Um, our lunch locations this year will be at Witchcraft Playground, Bates Playground, Luring Towers, the Salem Public Library, Gallows Hill, Mary Jane Lee, Rainbow Terrace, and Forest River Pool. So, those will be our lunch sites. And we have new dinner locations which will include Collins Cove, Palmer Cove, and Peekquat Highlands. So, we will be sharing this widely um with the school committee and with families very soon, but wanted to be sure to invite you all to come to a kickoff event on Monday, June 29th from 4 to 6. And those email invitations will be appearing in your inboxes this week. And that
098is my update. Thank you. Uh about that. >> All right. Subcommittee reports. Any of the subcommittees have reports to share? Member Hoffman. >> Um the superintendent screening committee met last week and we finalized all the questions and we will start interviews this week and hopefully end next week and send it on to the next level. Right. >> Any other subcommittees have information or updates to share? Right. We have one item under motions and resolutions. Um, this is the approval of the corrected calendar for the Sarah Parker Raymon School. >> A question. Do you want me to wait >> um for discussion? >> Yeah, we can take a motion first. >> Okay. Uh, I just don't know if it will impact the motion at all. Um, but I'll make a motion to accept the revised calendar
099for the Sarah Parker Raymon School. >> Right. Motion made by member Miranda, seconded by member Hoffman. Under discussion? Yep. memb >> uh just noticing um here actually I'm not sure if I'm if I'm looking at the right date for the last day of school. That does look like an error. >> Yeah, I didn't notice that. It should be the 22nd. >> Okay. >> Like the Yeah. >> And then do you Kate, do you know off the top of your head if um what the last day of school is for the regular calendar? >> Yes. So I I I'm sorry I'm looking between two things. So the 22nd is the same end date for the Sire Parker Raman. Nothing changed except adding the half day which does doesn't change the end date. The last day for
100other schools is the 18th. >> Okay. Okay. So, um Junth, which falls on June 19th, >> which is a Saturday. >> Saturday. I don't know if that's typically observed on the day before. Um, and so just wanted to highlight that as well. >> It doesn't impact I think there there's language in the contract that it does if it's on the weekend it doesn't impact the day off of school. >> Okay. Okay. And then um there was one more thing that just escaped me. Oh, um I just I I don't know where we are in the process of um creating the draft for the plan. Uh but just wanted to highlight as it relates to the calendar. Uh I don't know if the group had any thoughts around if if we're going to continue to have
101a different calendar or not. >> I think they want to reserve the right to have some autonomy around that. Um, but I think they've acknowledged that there's less of a significant need for that because of the way the before it was like the trimester transitions were the reason for that and they're approaching that in a different way. Um, so I don't think there's as a significant need. Um but I think they do want to reserve the right to have um some autonomy over that acknowledging that it has to be like a significant um reason because it can have an impact on budget in terms of transportation. Um so I think the two principles acknowledge that and don't want to do that frivolously for you know no good reason. Um, so that's what I would say.
102Thank you. You're welcome. >> Any other discussion or questions on the motion? To the calendar. >> Seeing none. Um, on the motion, all in favor? Any opposed? None. The calendar is approved. Um, the vice chair is not here on newsletter items, so we'll table that. Any announcements from committee members. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Motion made by member Miranda, second by member Hoffman. Under discussion, seeing none. All in favor? Any opposed? None opposed. The matter carries unanimously. Thank you everyone.