001get Mike's attention on SATV. All right. I'll call to order a meeting of the a special meeting of the Salem School Committee taking place uh in person April 13th, 2026, 7:30 p.m. taking place in person at 29 Highland Avenue, room 227. You can also join via Zoom using the link posted in the meeting agenda. Uh the meeting is called to order. Uh we have no public comment section for the special meeting. Our next item of business is discussion of the FY27 budget. >> So, I think we're going to start with some slides. We anticipated uh a couple of um areas that we wanted to provide some more background on um based on some of the initial questions from last week. So, uh we are going to uh cover four areas. Uh the one is and
002you can go right to the next slide please Mark. Uh position reductions specifically those affecting the um thefts and the family engagement facilitators and ML the multilingual learning staffing. Um a few updates around the per pupil spending and adjustments made to the non-personnel allocations. I think member Scott had asked asked about um some of the energy upgrades uh that were have resulted in some savings and so we'll review those and then finally we'll outline the new positions um and we had questions about where those uh appear in the budget. So we'll do that. So next slide please. Um, so before I get into this, I I do want to um thank the staff and members of the community for sharing their perspectives during the public comment. I I absolutely hear the concern um particularly right
003now in this moment that multilingual learners and their families may be feeling vulnerable and uncertain and that any reduction to support can feel especially impactful right now and may be targeted. I think the testimony being presented was not only compelling um but authentic and um really important for us to hear as the climate in our country is real. I want to be clear that our commitment to serving multilingual learners and supporting all of our families, especially those who feel marginalized, remain strong and unwavering. The decisions in this budget, we've said this before, um have not been made lightly. They reflect a very difficult balancing process where we had to align resources with enrollment and programming needs and other financial constraints. And we also recognize that at this moment, however, um our work calls for more
004than just compliance. So that said, um we will obviously continue to be very intentional about our um support and services for multilingual learners and their families and how that those services are delivered. And our goal is to maintain the same level of service um even in the face of proposed changes. So that to that end I do want to provide some backdrop to some of the decisions specifically around the ML staffing. Um in the chart on the left hand side of the slide are some updated enrollment figures um for district-wide um ML enrollment. And you know, after a period when Salem experienced rising enrollment, we have now had two consecutive years of declining numbers in our multilingual student population. And enrollment fluctuates over the course of the year. So we did take um a recent
005point in time, March 1st, and compared that enrollment um at that specific date uh in the year for the past four years. And you can see between March 1st, 2024 and March 21st, 2026, ML enrollment has declined by 98 students. So, as part of this budget, two ML teachers um are being proposed to be eliminated through as a result of these enrollment trends. One position is due to the merger. The other position um is at the high school and was one of the uh elected positions by um principal Burns. And even with these staff reductions, we are still a able to maintain favorable ratios of approximately 25 to1 across our elementary and middle schools. When it comes to EL services, English language development services that our ML teachers provide. the um the numbers are slight
006the ratios are slightly higher at the high school but this is very typical um because students beca can be clustered across grade levels and the teachers teach five five classes there um so uh next year's high school ratios are in line with those from the past several years they're typical and there will be no variance in service for English language development um at the high school level we'll still maintain the newcomer academy which is where newcomers and new arrivals uh receive some content instruction in smaller self-contained classrooms. As far as the ML coaches, um the plan is to to go from four to one ML coach with the remaining coach being assigned to the Bentley and Collins schools to support the dual language programming and the expansion to the middle school. Uh, one of the
007ML coaches I think we've shared before has been vacant since midyear when the coach resigned. And I I think Cindy asked a really important la uh question last week where you know these are experienced educators. We want our students to have um access to these teachers and they will as the other two coaches will be returning to direct service to students so that their expertise will be more directly experienced by students in the classroom on a daily basis. And we do have plans for the ML director at the district level to pick up some of the administrative tra tasks um that have previously been done by the coaches. Um, next slide please. So, um, moving on to the family engagement facilitators. Um, we we talked a little bit about the last meeting that this has
008been a transition year, uh, with the thefts, um, being in schools only part-time this year. And I I know that Dr. Reich talked about this when he was here and I will restate it that we have been in conversation with the elementary principles and they've been very clear um that the part-time um assignment and model that we've been um implementing this year has not been um really in their um opinion working as well as it could. Um, while we may not have thefts in the school next year, I do want to point out that we do have a number of other staff um and structures that do similar work. So, every school has adjustment counselors. Every school has a city connects coordinator. We have APs in schools that are on, you know, some on the
009smaller side. And we have um student success advisors. Um we have been meeting with the principles um uh a couple of times. They've been meeting we met once with them and then they've meet been meeting um by themselves um to norm across schools about how to absorb some of the displace work. Um, and one of the things that they did, um, you know, say that they would need support with and has been raised here, and I think we even gotten some written, uh, feedback today, um, from a a parent, um, was uh, in the tours that are um, managed at the school level in January and March. And so we have met with Laura Assad and she believes that they could, you know, could work out um something where the um thefts are available at
010the school level to support that part of the welcoming process um for families. It tends to be a quieter time um in the um welcome center. So that feels um that that is doable. Um, so you know, these are I want to recognize that we we know that these are special people with special talents um in these positions and so they are valuable members of our community. We want to find a place for them to stay um in the Salem public schools. Um and so um what the plan was going forward um because we feel like at the school level as I said earlier there are staff members who do similar work and we really feel that um family engagement is something that every educator needs to do. In fact it is one of the
011four standards by which we are all evaluated on annually. Um and so we feel that at the school level we do have um multiple resources. We we have also built strong structures to support with interpretation. Um we have staff members who earn the bilingual stipend. Um and our and part of that work and part of receiving the stipend is to support interpretation at the school level. We do have bio uh Lionbridge as a as a service and Alexandra Fortitch has built a really strong system for um access accessing interpretation and transportation um at the the school level. So we do think we have a robust ecosystem um at the school level to support family engagement and if we add to that that every educator has a responsibility to make family engagement a part of what
012we do. Um, we have made a choice um in this budget proposal deliberately to um to build our systemwide structures um to support um f ongoing family engagement through a systemwide strategy. And so um the we envision the thefts working through the welcome center to welcome families um in that capacity, but they're also doing lots of um uh other types of family engagement. So we've been offering ESL classes this year that have been really well attended. Um we have reached out into the community um and done on-site enrollment. Um there is um we've done workshops on int attendance use of um parent square um and um also supporting um families and participating in the Latinos uh for education fellow fellowship where families are being um trained in in agency and advocacy. Um and so we
013see that as part of what would really complement what is happening at the school level. Um so we are the plan is to have two of the thefts remain full-time to work in the welcome center. Um we do have one that is expecting and and um likely to go out on on family leave somewhere around September. So, we would keep a third FE theft in um that position to help cover that parental leave. Um and we have talked before about having uh we have had a retirement and our parent child um plus manager position. We think that this could be a really um uh viable position for one of the thefts. And I know Laura has been talking to all of them and encouraging them to consider that and apply. Um and then we um
014believe that uh for the one remaining FE theft um and the other one that would need something after that parental leave um that we could um we would likely have parapositions um and or or supplemental um summer program work in our summer programs um for um those um for those uh um ladies. So, um I will leave it at that and send send it over to Elizabeth. >> Next slide, please. Um so, uh thank you, Superintendent Carboni. The in these slides, we've attempted to respond to your questions and to the questions we've received, um since we met last Monday. Um I shared this chart which is a chart from the budget book um because we have updated the number of staff that we believe are likely staying and by that I I mean that we
015think there are positions available for um some more of the people whose positions have been reduced and so we believe out of the 31.8 position reductions there are 15.8 eight uh staff members that there is a a clear path to staying for them. In the unknown category that leaves 12 positions because there are four vacancies among the position reductions. So um those people may also stay but that is not yet clear. Um there they would have to be a position available to them. Um and sometimes that becomes more clear as the school year goes on. I did get asked about the percentage of the people leaving what percentage of our overall FTEES is that and that 12 if it is 12 that that um end up leaving the district due to position reductions that's 1.3%
016of our overall FTEES. So that is um just an update of a chart that we shared with you last week. Next slide please. So uh after sharing the budget last week, one of the questions was what is our per pupil spending um by school? And so I have a few slides on that um that we have calculated and or share the calculations that we did in the budget. So this first slide only looks at non-personnel spending by school. So um this year and in fact this chart is actually non-personnel spending by elementary schools. So um in the first column is the enrollment which for Sarah Parker Rayund is estimated to be 475 next year witchcraft 466 Bates 412 Bentley 277 and Horus man 320. We in previous years have taken their non-personnel budgets which are
017like contracted services and instructional supplies um and library books um and we have just rolled it forward and they've been able to trade things as many of them have um but we felt like it was inequitable to just roll forward last year's budget and choices into next year's. So, we piloted, we propose in this budget piloting a new formula for the non-personnel that starts with all of the elementary schools receiving a $15,000 base for their non-personnel expenses. And then we added weighted categories, which some of which are here on this chart. It included total enrollment, special education enrollment, English learners, immigrants, um, and then special education programming. We also took into consideration additional extenduating circumstances. So Bentley for example being a a dual language school um the Sarah Parker Raymon being a merge school. And
018so in the um one two three fourth column that says proposed it says proposed FY26 but I believe that's proposed FY27. Um sorry about that. um is what we have included in the budget book. So if you looked at each of these schools budget pages, you would see these numbers in their non-personnel expenses. And so these numbers are the result of um of our applying that formula that weighted formula as opposed to just rolling for forward what they have. So if you look at the um 1 2 3 four fifth column that says current split that is what their um non-personnel budget is this year. So um it in the Sarah Parker Raymon school which of course will be the result of two schools that exist. If we put together their two non-personnel expense budgets
019it would be $81,000. So, the proposed formula actually is slightly less than um what it would just be if we just put their two non-personnel formulas together. But when considered with their stipens, which you can see in the budget book, but I have not included on this slide, when considered with their stipens, um which we kept the the Carlton stipens and the salt and cell stipens, we put them together. So that is a total of $41,000 that they'll have for stipens next year. So their discretionary spending when you consider stipens and non-personnel comes to $110,000 which makes them look more like the Collins budget than the other elementary schools. For comparison, Witchcraft will have $28,000 for stipens. So Sarah Parker will have 41,000. Witchcraft will have 28. So while their non-personnel while the formula didn't
020result in them having as much as if we just put the two schools together it does overall when considered with their stipens there is additional money there that other schools don't have for the existing elementary schools um you'll see that there um for three of the four schools their budgets are increasing significantly in uh the non-personnel side and that is a direct result of their programming and you know in many instances in the result of their special education programming. So for Bentley there's uh their budget is going down slightly but relative to the other schools it is still higher um and that is because of their dual language program their English language enrollment and their immigrant students. So that's just to show a glimpse of a first step we're taking to bring more equity to
021the non-personnel spending. This is a pilot year and so we assume that we will hone and refine this as we go on. But this we thought would be a way into looking at what we're spending at each school um as compared to their enrollment. >> Questions at the end. >> Okay. No, that's fine. >> Sure. Okay. Next slide, please. So then I took their total budget for next year to come up with a per pupil spending by school. Now I want to be cautious with this number because this number does not match the official number that DESIE calculates for us that is our official per pupil spending. So DESI's most recent per pupil spending that they calculate based on everything we spend including grants is $25,000 per student. So if you went on Desessie's website,
022you would see that is what Salem spends. What I did here was I took the individual budget. So all of their personnel, all of their non-personnel that I just shared with you, and I divided it by their number of students. So it is rudimentary and to compare it to the official per pupil spending really is apples to oranges. But if I just do that and look at the enrollment and the amount of the budget for each school, the average is $18,000. In elementary schools, the average is $12,41216. And that ranges from a low of 10,545 to a high of 13,441. I think this is something to look at, but again, I would say the elementary schools are staffed differently based on programming. Um, so intensive special education programs have more staff than um the less
023intensive special education programs. I also looked at um district-wide supports. So, you'll recall that um about 33% of our budget is not budgeted to schools. So, I just divided that um by the number of students we have and that appears to be $7,000 per student. So, that is things like utilities, transportation, special ed transportation. So, again, it's rudimentary, but it gives hopefully some way into an understanding of our budget. Next slide, please. Oh, that is the next slide. Sorry. Sorry. He changed it while I was thinking about something else. Um, and this slide I include for your information. So, this shows you um in the first column what their school budget is this year. And I just I did the elementary schools. Um, so Bates, for example, their FY26 budget is $4 million. Their per
024pupil is $9,862.91. So I used the same meth methodology. I divided that budget by the number of students. And that's how I came up with the $9,800. In FY27, their um budget will be $4.3 million and their per pupil spending will be $10,545. That is a 6.9 uh 2% increase. So that's just how you can read this chart going across the way. We did receive public comment um just today actually about it the equity in the Bates funding um in the funding for Bates. And so I would say that their non-personnel has not been equitable. Years ago they have they traded things using their non-personnel um dollars but then that became baked into the system and was a permanent um reduction for them. I think we can we can dive into whether their staffing um
025is equitable, but I would suggest that they have more staffing actually based on the number of programs that they have, in particular their TSP program. So, I do think it's worth looking at um and looking at the elementary schools according to program and enrollment. Um and I think the work is not done on on introducing that equity review across all of our schools. Um but I share this for your information. Okay. Now next slide. Thank you. Happy to come back to any of this. Um another question was about energy upgrades. And so we um I had mentioned that we had done approximately $5 million uh worth of energy upgrades. I've shown here $4.5 million um of energy upgrades just across school. I'm happy to get into the specifics of any of these if if you
026would like more information, but generally they fall into the category of lighting, um, energy management systems, which are controls, infiltration, which is like roofto-all air ceiling, weather stripping around exterior doors, installing weather stripping around garage doors. Um so basically making the buildings tighter so they can hold in warm air and or cool air depending on what the season is. Pipe insulation um and mechanical repairs which would be like new um hot and cold water valves, actuators which are the controls for the valves. Um univvents in the classrooms for heating and cooling. Um so the this list represents a combination of upgrades through our Amoresco partnership with the city, our capital investments um and our capital budget funded by the city and then internal repair work that we have done um in some of these for
027example at Bates the 1.5 million 1 million of that is new boilers. And so we believe that part of what is helping us is having more efficient equipment as well as weatherizing our buildings. So um happy to provide more information as um requested but that is our energy upgrades. Um next slide please. So then we looked at utilities and I I apologize for the small font. Um the first slide is that you're looking at now is electricity and we couldn't really compare um we couldn't really compare all year because we only had um as of right now we have paid June through March for most of our buildings but we haven't yet received the March bill for the high school and that's a big one. So we just looked June through February last year compared
028to this year. So this is FY25 compared to this year FY26. Um you'll see that Selm High School accounts for 49.3% of our electricity consumption and then Collins is um behind at um 14.27%. So Salem High School is far and away our largest energy or electricity consumer. It's also worth noting that our electricity bills are only slightly higher um this year than they were last year at this time about $30,000. So that is where we believe we are seeing some savings from these energy upgrades that we have made. Next slide please. Um so this is gas. Um I would note that our gas usage and costs are higher this year. So last year, June to February, we had paid $346,000 in gas bills. This year we have paid $513,000 in our gas bills. So it's
029a significant jump. Although when I talked to Z about why that might be, he did point out that we have had a colder winter and our gas um fuels our boilers. And so we think um boilers, uh rooftop units, and kitchen equipment are all fueled by gas and that's what's contributing to this. Next slide, please. Um we also had a question last week about where are the new positions being budgeted. So there'll be four new positions for FY27. Those are all being budgeted to schools. Um and then we're proposing uh or no in FY26 this year we've added 14 new positions um and those also have all been budgeted to schools and I I included the list of positions just as a reminder um to you. And then my last slide if you want to
030go to the next slide is just other questions that we received. So, since I I put this slide together, we have received comments on SPS uh budgetsk12.org. And thank you to everyone who has shared comments um or feedback um at that email address. We read all of them and share all of those comments with the school committee. So, it's very helpful. So, if anyone is watching, please keep the comments coming at spudgetsk12.org. the comments that we've received that don't appear here that we've just gotten in fact as recently as today um inquired about the equity of our non-personnel funding um in particular the non-personnel budgets um we've received uh emails about two emails about the thefts um and the theft positions. We've received an email that asked about screen time and the use of technology,
031particularly in the elementary grades, which came up several times at our public budget hearings. We've also had inquiries about our electricity usage and, you know, when we turn the lights off and are we doing the most um to conserve in our buildings. Um, and we'll continue to forward those to you as we get fe as we get um those questions. But these two questions I highlighted were just uh someone was took a close read of the budget and asked about the adjustment counselor lines which looked high given relative to the number of adjustment counselors. We budget city connects and adjustment counselors to the same line because in munis they have the same job code. So if you are doing a close read and looking at adjustment counselor lines it is more positions than just adjustment
032counselors. Um, and then this one I I think is especially important in the budget book. We report a teacherto student ratio and that is actually we took that right from DESIE. So if you go to DESIE's web page and you look at our individual schools, they'll report a teacher to student ratio. That is different from class size. That is comparing the number of adults to the number of students. So when we talk about class size, they that is different from and frankly higher than the the teacher to student ratio that we report in the budget book. So I'm happy to go into any more detail about any of those things, but that is my very last slide. Thank you. I will open it up to questions from committee members. I know Cornell >> tried to
033interrupt early. Um I was when you were talking about just in light of um that community members really thoughtful email about um our per people spending. Uh I I think I understand why we don't talk about salary in this regard and we need to talk about staffing versus salary, but I I just would can you explain a little bit more why you can't really include that that number um based I would assume it's because people are at different salary levels. So if we're talking about the reason that we're not talking about non-p about personnel spending is that it's difficult given the range of >> um >> in those roles. >> I would say that if we're looking at personnel spending, it really does vary depending on the programs in the school and not all of
034our programs have the same schools. So um we could do that. We could give you personnel numbers. We could I I would be glad to pull that for you. I have not. Um the we could look at the personnel budgets, but that would be I don't know how useful that would be because some schools would have more senior um you know people who've been here for longer. They would have a different salary. Some people would have a different mix of new um sort of seasoned and um highly experienced teachers. Um so but the reason we looked here at non-personnel is because that has felt particularly inequitable and so we wanted to um make sure schools had the resources they needed to buy library books to pay stipens to their teachers to run after school clubs
035whatever it is that they decide they need and um and and start to rightsize I'm not sure we're all the way there but start to right size on what those budgets look like. >> Thank you. Any further questions on this update from the committee? >> Member Miranda. >> So, I know that um we spoke about this at different points in terms of um making the cuts to a few of our ML coaches. And when I look at the presentation that I'm trying to pull up again and can't find, um, I see that under uh, sorry, I lost my place and I'm going to have to go back. Um, I see that under the section of the budget that says like ML uh, population, it looks like it was cut by 50%. Am I reading that
036correctly? It's It's the um the budget part. Yeah, the budget book. >> Um >> Am I reading that correctly to see? >> Could you point me to a page? >> Yes. >> Okay. I do think there was a difference in the numbers I pulled were from May 1st. The numbers in the budget book were October 1st. Right. >> Okay. It's showing up for me on page 74. >> Okay. So, I see the FY2026 adopted budget grand total 700,000 uh roughly and then for the FY2027 recommended 348,000 roughly for a change of 352,000 roughly. I do Okay, thank you. I do see that. Um I what Kate was um speaking about was just just now was the number of students. We used different numbers. I in the budget book had used October one um and she
037had added um March numbers um for this. This is their full budget to this cost center. So the um contracted services I mean the non-personnel actually went up. It's the personnel and I do think that is the result of four ML positions coming off the budget because three positions are cut and one is being moved onto a grant. And so I think that is the most significant cut there. And I think that's what that is. Um, so yes, I see that and I think that is the result of the ML coaches and their salaries. >> Okay. Thank you. That that does seem to be large to me. Um though I understand that we've had a reduction in the amount of uh multilingual learners um that were supporting here. I think the percentage um and this
038may be off a little bit was around 5% and I Elizabeth if I'm remembering correctly you had stated something around that percentage might actually be a little bit higher um in terms of the the reduction of students right because that was based on October not March and so the numbers that we shared tonight were the March numbers okay >> um so that is why it's higher >> yeah even with that percentage I think about a 50% reduction of the budget and when I when I looked at those numbers as opposed to hearing like reduction of three ML coaches um in in I was uh thinking about it a little bit differently um and so just uh is is there a another way that we can kind of make some of these cuts without um t
039like taking so much from that cost center >> and there are other ML teachers that are budgeted to the schools. So it isn't this isn't every staff position, but I hear you. In a very small cost center, removing four salaries is significant. You know, LA in this year, there was a vacant teacher position that we stipended. Um and so um but that would have been at New Liberty, so that that wouldn't be um contributing to it. I hear you. I'm not quite sure how to how to think about that. Cornell. >> Um I'm not sure where it is in the budget book now, but I do know that there's a decrease in special ed positions and so I just um was hoping that you could speak to that a little bit because I know that
040our students with disabilities continues to go up. So, you know, that reducing that step. I' just like to hear a little more about that. Yeah, thank you for the question. I think it's a good one and I luckily we have Jenduet Lee here who can um supplement with programmatic um insights. Um we did um see in the overall budget a reduction of 5.5 special education positions including 2.5 at the merge school. I would note that we did also add nine positions to special education this year. Um we added seven onetoone para profofessionals, one teacher and then a a classroom parah. So on net um we actually have added more positions than we have cut. However, every cut especially in a population that is growing is you know is a serious one. So um Jen, I
041don't know if you want to talk through each of the Okay. >> Hi. Uh so just some of the positions that we have cut. So we have the 1.5 uh special ed teachers that were cutting from the merge school and that comes from uh the number of students that are at each school. Carlton had had lower numbers of case load than they had at Salt and Stall. So with the merge school, we're able to eliminate 1.5 and uh teachers which will bring their case loads in line with the rest of the district and equal to what they have at every other school. um the reduction of the parah next year we have about five students that require parah support and inclusion uh so the two paras that we have planning for the merge school is
042going to be adequate they're not students that require para support for the entire day um so having two paras will adequately uh support those those students we have the change of the social skills teacher change to a behavior specialist that is the changing population that we're seeing in our rise program which is our ABA ASD program. Um the changing needs of the students in that program uh require more support with discrete trials and ABA. A behavior specialist is a more appropriate support uh for that program. Uh we have the reduction of a one-to-one nurse. That was a nurse that was assigned to one of our medically fragile students. Her circumstances have changed radically this year. So it made more sense to work with a contract nurse as her needs change on a daily basis. Um
043and we also have the reduction of one clerk in the central office. Um and that was uh realized through efficiencies in our workflow that we use um within the special ed department. So um especially after co before co we have we used to have to mail every single um piece of information to families and now we mostly communicate through email. I want to say probably about 99% of our families communicate with us through email and docuign and things like that. >> Thank you. >> Any questions about >> Okay. Further member Miranda, >> to that point, I am curious about the engagement with the CPAC around um this and my apologies if you stated that at another time, but um um while Jen comes back up here, we did engage with the CPAC in I think
044it was midFebruary. It might have been the end of February. February is a little bit of a blur. Um we did have a CPAC meeting. It was well attended. We had I think eight people um but eight like enthusiastic engaged people participating with us um and um sharing their questions and concerns. At that time we didn't have specific positions to share with them because it was still early um but we focused on what our practice has been which is shifting positions as needed based on student um student needs. So I don't know if you want to add anything else. >> Yeah, I mean um CPAC this year has been more um more vocal and more they've participated more um in this process and they did um send emails as well asking questions um but they
045understood that you know our population is changing and we have shifted a lot of the supports towards onetoone nurses and behav and behavior specialists and ABA type supports. And I I would just add we did get a number of questions. Um we spoke to the parent advisory group um as one of our engagement opportunities. We did get some questions from that group too um related to special education and expressing some real um I would say concerns about whether um whether we would maintain staffing that was tailored to student need. And so, you know, the questions were along the lines of, well, if if one of our students needs X and another student needs Y, does one of them win out? They they didn't say it quite like that, but that was kind of the vibe.
046Um, so, and what our response was was that we add positions based on student need. We shift classrooms. We shift positions. Um, and that is something that we have a practice of doing. And I think the new positions we've added this year have demonstrated like we will add or shift as needed based on what our students >> and and I think we have a good track record of as our student populations need making sure uh changes that we're supporting their needs. You know for in the last few years we've added a full-time uh teacher for the visually impaired. We've added a teacher of the teacher of the deaf and heart of hearing. So as as our students changes need trending more to the more intensive side we were always we've always added classrooms parap profofessionals
047and other support uh personnel and making sure that it is equitable across the district. So >> thank you. >> Good. >> Thank you. >> Further questions. Um, can I just ask the uh the ML coaches who are returning to classrooms, which schools are they going to be in? Do you >> uh one at the high school and one at Bentley? >> Right. >> Can I say something? I I'd like to I' I'd like to follow up, member Miranda, and I don't think that it will be tonight, but I'd like to think more about your question and sort of the question behind it around how are we ensuring well, this is one of the questions that you've prompted for me is how are we ensuring that we are demonstrating our commitment to multilingual students and families?
048And I' I'd like to follow up on that question and give it a little more thought. Sure. >> Thank you. All right, if there are no further questions from the committee on that update, we'll move on to the next item on our agenda, which is a uh declaration of surplus curriculum items. And is this >> of course >> I mean not. Um, typically we would bring this to subcommittee. Um, but we got a little bit of a late start and we were wanting to get this pulled together uh for uh before the break uh so that Z could work with his team to get rid, you know, get rid of the sur surplus materials. So, we put a memo in the packet that also includes um links to um some of the items wanting to
049be discarded, which gives you lots of detail. Um much of it is from our libraries. As you know, in our our elementary libraries, we did not have librarians for many many many years. And so, the weeding process has gone long overdue. And so there are a lot of books that are outdated, not aligned to our values um and um in poor repair and so need to be weeded and discarded. And so you have the list there. Um and then up above are just other materials that are just out very outdated aligned to um uh an instructional model that we no longer implement balanced literacy. And so the the benchmark assessment system, the bass materials and the leveled readers that um is all related to that. Um and so these are particularly uh Carlton and Sultan
050still they wanted to start uh cleaning house so that they can prepare for the move. There's more to be done. Um and we did instruct the schools that they can discard things that are broken. We did have boxes of supplies that were um that the um that were just had been damaged, you know, from just sitting around um so from water or what have you. And so they've been instructed to get rid of that if there are broken um desks and that sort of thing. But everything else we will bring to this body for review. And so we did link in the memo also the um protocol that the librarians use um to do their weeding which I think is really thoughtful. Um and I do want to um let the committee know that we
051have been investing in the libraries. We had some rollover title one money. So we have already purchased a significant um amount of books. We've been Mark has been working with the librarians to um sort of backfill um some of this. So those materials have not yet been received, but this will make way um for those materials, the new library books. So we submit that to you for your consideration and approval. Somebody want to make a motion. >> Motion to approve the um surplus curriculum. Sorry, think the words. >> Second. >> Motion made by member Hoffman, seconded by member Miranda. Under discussion, any discussion or questions? Seeing none, all in favor? Any opposed? None are opposed. The matter carries unanimous. Next item on our agenda is the charge to the superintendent screening committee. Don't know if
052members of the ad hoc committee want to offer anything on this or >> do what? Sorry. >> Would you like to say anything on the screening committee? Well, I think we're really proud of the the um success that uh there were over 90 applicants for the screening committee and um and we did we took a lot of time looking through the everyone and we I think made a really thoughtful choice and super inclusive and it reflects our uh community. So, uh, in your in your packets, you have a charge to the screening committee, their mission essentially, uh, with eight points. I'm not going to read the whole thing. This is in the backup material, uh, that's posted on the meeting, uh, on the website for the committee for today's meeting. Um, outlining the uh, the
053process and the protocols for the screening committee to follow. Uh, is there a motion to approve the charge of the screening committee? >> Motion, please. A second. >> Motion made by member Cornell, seconded by member Miranda. Under discussion, seeing none, all in favor? Any opposed? Matter carries unanimous. Uh, next we have the membership of the superintendent screening committee. I I just want to I think echo what member Hoffman said that you know there was a really incredible um um volume great volume of interest in serving on this on this important committee um from across the district and across the community. I think uh just the number of people who are interested is really phenomenal um and heartening and uh I want to thank the ad hoc committee for putting together uh the screening committee recommended
054member list that was been presented. This is also published in the uh meeting materials that are available on the website for today's meeting. Member Miranda, >> I just wanted to add it. I I wrote something down. Um this uh I I was felt really grateful to be able to work on this committee uh with Yamaly and AJ. It was um difficult at times with the amount of meetings that we have already. Uh but I feel that we put a lot of time and and effort into this and um so I just wrote something short here. um appreciating the mayor's trust in this ad hoc committee uh to create an initial list of screening committee members for this very important um process of screening through superintendent candidates. We combed through approximately 95 applications and made a
055collaborative effort uh to determine a screening committee that we felt reflected the values of our school community with special emphasis on voices that are often left out of such important decisions. We needed to prioritize uh scheduling availability because as you're you're all aware um we're on a tight timeline for this process. Um but just kind of wanted to highlight for for the the public um some of my thoughts on on what we prioritized here. Uh our staff all across our schools are working with all of our students and in this uh decision that we made um in this ad hoc committee. We prioritized staff working most closely with our multilingual students, staff working most closely with students with higher needs and disabilities. We wanted folks whose voices are often missing from these decisions and whose
056voices often go unheard. We prioritized caregivers and community members that wrote thoughtfully about why they wanted to be a part of the committee. And I feel that I can confidently say that all of the individuals on this list have a vested interest in our children and our schools here in Salem. Um, with that said, I understand that it is appropriate to have the teachers union uh president on the committee as they work extremely closely with the superintendent and are invaluable leaders in our district for um all of our educators uh whether they're in the union or not. Um, so I would be in favor of adding one additional member to this list to finalize this list. Um, and I would add the STU president, um, and Burman. So happy to have discussion around that if,
057uh, people choose. Um, but I just wanted to throw that out there for deliberation or discussion. >> Cornell, >> I just want to thank the members of the committee. I'm really impressed with the process that you went through to evaluate folks and to choose members who really are reflective of our student population. Um, particularly as you point out, member Miranda, our most vulnerable and also our populations who are often not heard. So, I really am so grateful uh to the three of you for putting this group together. I would also just make one um recommendation for an addition which is to add uh Yami Cruz as a member of the SAA and um and uh assistant principal at our dual language school so that we know that that school is fully represented. >> Somebody want
058to make a motion? >> I can make a motion. >> Okay. Uh, I would like to make a motion to accept uh the the screening committee uh member list with the addition of STU President Anne Burman and uh uh Bentley Innovation School assistant principal Yami Cruz. >> I'll second motion made by member Cornell, seconded by member bias. Under discussion, any further discussion? Member Miranda, >> I guess it would be worth um saying here. So I I know that the precedent was already set um you know pre in pre in the process um previously. So in 2019 where uh the SDU president was on the screening committee. So going forward, do we want to set the precedent that um the SAA will also have and I understand that Yalise Cruz wouldn't I don't think necessarily serve
059as an SAA representative unless she's an officer and that. But I'm I'm trying to figure out like what what exactly I just want to be thoughtful about like >> doing this pro going forward in this process. Um well hopefully we're not going to be doing this again for a very long time. >> Uh I I I think being able to preserve some degree of flexibility as the circumstances warrant with each with each occasion. Um I think it is important that the um you know the uh educators both the teachers and the administrators and the um you know the workforce of the district have some some important voice to share on on this on this process as do the caregivers. I don't know that we want to spell out anything like in terms of a policy,
060but we can have a conversation about that. Um I I do hope that we don't have to do this again for quite some time. So, >> yep. >> Sorry. I just I want to state very clearly that I am in full support um of Yamalise Cruz joining this committee and I'm very excited um to work with everybody that will be on this committee. Um I just my question was more about process than it is the individual. >> Yeah, for sure. I think that there in terms of process, you know, a different approach to the the screening committee would would have been for the this committee to identify certain categories of stakeholder groups that we'd want to make sure representative and assigning a number say to like x number of teachers, x number of caregivers, x
061number of administrators. Um a different approach was used this time. I think maybe if we want to have a conversation in policy about future hiring of at this level, setting up some kind of um more formalized process, I don't think that would hurt, especially if we're in if there's a future situation where a future school committee like this committee has not gone through this process before. Um it would be helpful to have something written down. Member Cornell, >> I I don't know if I would be in favor of setting up particular policies around hiring. I hope to not be here the next time that this happens. Um I mean I hope to be alive but not on school committee. And so, um, I think that this is the most important thing that a school committee
062does and each individual school committee member and body has to set their own priorities in the same way that we did. Um, and assigning you three rep to represent us. Um, and I wouldn't want to get in the way of the priorities of any given committee, you know, at a given time. So, um, this was, I think, a great process because you put together a list, as I said, that like reflects the community that we all represent and then we had the opportunity to say, "Oh, you know what? We it is appropriate to have, you know, the SGU president on there. Um, and it is appropriate to have, you know, uh, Yami Cruz in particular because the dual language program, we've said that this is such a priority for us and she's a leader there.
063So um if we if we are too prescriptive and then we say okay we we have to have Mon'nique on there we would I'm sure you would be wonderful but you know so it's like if we're not being so prescriptive it can be up to each individual body >> conversation for Yes. I just want to add to that. Um I agree fully and I I really did appreciate um the kind of like freedom even though that's terrifying in some ways. Um but the freedom that we had to kind of and I think we all took it really seriously and put a lot of like time and and energy into it. So I do like sincerely appreciate um the mayor kind of you know passing that off and and trusting us to do that. Well, thank
064you for the work that you did. Uh, if there are no further discussions, there is a motion to accept the recommended list with the addition uh of the two names, Anne Burman and Yamaly Cruz. Is there uh no further discussion? Motion's made and seconded. All in favor? Any opposed? None opposed. The matter carries unanimously. Next we have the appointment of the chair of the screening committee membership. >> Yeah. Member Cornell. >> May I ask if members of the ad hoc committee discussed this >> because I'm going to throw one of you under the bus. Not. >> I thought he was going to appoint somebody. somebody on the committee. >> I would like to make a motion to appoint uh member Hoffman as chair given how well they manage the process of the screening selecting the
065screening committee. >> I told you I was going to throw you under the bus. >> That was hard work. >> I'd second that. All right. >> Okay. >> Um All right. Appointment of member Hoffman as chair of the screening committee. Um motion was made by member Cornell, second by member Scott. Yeah. Under discussion. >> Thank you. Um I I guess I'll take this as the opportunity to thank the members of the school committee to help. Um I know my biggest fear is timeline and you guys did a great job. Um along with thanking the public and all the applicants and this is you know really exciting screening committee list. Um and I would like to take a second motion or a second opportunity to say thank you again for continuing the momentum that you guys
066have started um and with this new um now actual screening committee that we have going. Um so I just wanted to take the moment to say thanks and you have done an amazing job all of you. Um, and I'm looking forward to the continuation of the amazing job. Thanks. Um, and I wanted to ask too after we do this vote if we could just list the next steps for the dates that we're expecting. Um, I know that those were put out um, when we were requesting members of the committee, but just to kind of continue um, of noting for the public the the next steps in the process with dates. Any further discussion on the appointment of the chair? Seeing none, all in favor? Any opposed? >> Thanks. >> Got it. >> Uh, and uh
067we have a motion to dissolve the ad hoc, >> please. >> Superintendent Search Committee. >> I'll move to dissolve the ad hoc superintendent search committee subcommittee. Second. >> Okay, >> I was going to second it. >> Motion made by member Miranda, second by member Cornell. Under discussion, seeing none, all in favor? Any opposed? The matter carries unanimously. Um, so is in terms of dates, uh, next steps in the process, we have the, um, we have a date scheduled for the screening committee's first meeting. >> Wednesday, >> is it Wednesday? We have one Wednesday. Sorry, I was just going to look at the >> Yeah. >> Um the job application closes on the 16th. >> Um >> Maypril. >> Yeah. This week. So the screening committee is meeting Wednesday. The job application closes Thursday. >> Mhm.
068>> It's Wednesday on Zoom at 3:30. >> I mean 6:30. 6:30. Yeah. I'm like, what? >> No, that's me. >> So, no one's going to be there. >> All right. Right. >> Yep. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Is that what you're looking for? >> Yes, please. >> Okay. Second. >> Motion made by member Miranda, second by member Cornell. Under discussion, seeing none, all in favor? Any opposed? Matter carries unanimous.