001uh call to order the meeting of the Salem School Committee of February 9th, 2026 at 7 p.m. This meeting is taking place on uh in school committee chambers at Collins Middle School and on Zoom via you can join via the link posted in the meeting agenda. The first item on the agenda is approval of the agenda. Motion to approve. >> I'll second. >> A motion made by member Cornell, seconded by member Miranda. Under discussion, seeing none. All in favor? Any opposed? The matter carries. 6. 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 of the school committee would like to remind the public that
002Salem public school students regularly attend school committee meetings. We encourage all meeting participants to model respectful and productive public discourse for our young learners. There any public comment in the chambers? You can approach the uh the podium and the microphone here. Seeing none, is there any public comment on Zoom? Please use the raise hand function on Zoom. >> There is not. >> Okay. The next item on our agenda is approval of the consent agenda. This is the minutes of the school committee meeting of January 26th, the minutes of the school committee retreat of February 2nd, and the warrants of January 22nd and I'm sorry, January 22nd and January 29th. >> So moved. >> I'll second. >> Motion made by member Cornell, seconded by member Miranda. Under discussion, seeing no discussion, all in favor? Any opposed?
003Matter carry 6. Student representatives report. Cindy's on Zoom. >> Yeah. Good evening everyone. >> Um my report tonight was mostly going to be on the new opportunities that have been introduced at Salem High as of February. We just restarted the C program for any high school student that wants to get an opportunity at the science experimental learning opportunities. We also started a podcast with some of the staff at the school where students can participate with the staff and talking about the different opportunities offered. It's also CTE month at the high school. So, we're seeing a lot of panels and very helpful um members of unions that are coming to talk to students about possible future careers that they might explore after high school. And I've been very surprised to see how successful it's been and
004the amount of student turnout. Um I also wanted to talk about the student advisory meetings. The student advisory will be meeting again tomorrow and we will be discussing on the plan moving forward with our agenda for the year which was how we would create a new inclusive space for any incoming students throughout the middle of the year and how to better accommodate them to getting used to the high school experience. Thank you so much everyone. >> Thank you Cindy. Any questions from committee for the student representative? Yep. Dr. >> Just one thing I want to add. Thank you, Sydney, for um and I'm sorry that you had some card troubles, but thank you for being on tonight. Um, one of the things I'm excited that we're rolling out of the high school through JOTC, but
005also Taylor McDonald who runs our afterchool uh, programs is we have a leadership seminar that's being offered uh, with a through a professor from the Harvard School of Education who's going to be taking our um, interested students. And I think we had almost 20 applicants for 15 slots to be in this leadership seminar that he offers around um developing and fine-tuning young people's um leadership skills. He does it mostly for young adults at the school of ed, but he's offering it to um he's a resident of Salem and he he we're working with him and uh we offered it to the um student advisory group and other student leaders throughout Salem High School. So we're really and New Liberty and Salem Prep. So, we're really excited about this uh this first um this first um
006opportunity to give our young people some leadership um uh um training uh that I think we can't take for granted that there's actually uh you know, you don't we don't give our young people enough opportunity. Although, we do have some we're going to get to these young leaders right here in a moment. Uh but uh we're excited about um this offering um that we're we're doing for the first time at Salem High School. Thank you very much. Superintendence report. >> All right. Well, we're we're really excited to have some guests here tonight. And um I um I was contacted by Mr. Collins from Witchcraft School. And uh look at all these wonderful faces in the front row. This is the best front row group we've had, I think, ever. Um filled with young faces. So
007Mr. Collins, you want to explain why you're all here tonight so the committee knows. Do you want to just come up to the microphone? Yeah. And I think we have third, fourth, and a lot of fifth graders. Is that right? >> We do. We have um um and and Mayor Pangalo do Dr. Thank you for this opportunity. Um in preparation for a field trip to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for its um senator for a day, it's is what they call it. We wanted to come here in preparation to give them firsthand experience of how a committee or a council operates, the protocols, the policies that are involved here and how the individuals actually behave um with decorum and respect with towards each other and so that they can carry these um principles into their
008their field trip when they uh when they become senators for a day in the Senate chamber over in the Edward Kennedy. But um yeah, we have a council of about uh 23. We have 11 fifth graders, 11 fourth graders, and one third grader. We meet once a week and we discuss anything from um school policies, school issues to um a plethora of uh of topics um personal and and public. So, uh we greatly appreciate the opportunity. Thank you. >> Thank you. And as I mentioned to some of you, we have a seat right here for you as a student representative when you get into high school. You can be on the school committee and then one day you can actually be elected to join the school committee or be elected to be mayor or be
009the superintendent, right? I don't know how exciting all those jobs sound for you, but we would we would love to have some new faces up here. So, uh thank you for joining us and we love uh seeing all of you here. Okay? And if you have questions, we can I'll we I can comment. Any of these school committee members, I think, would be happy to answer questions if you would want to invite them as a follow-up, too, Mr. Collins. Um, all right. So, we're going to get into my report. Um, first of all, it's very sad that we had a Patriots loss yesterday. Um, and >> well, I didn't want to talk about it, but I do I do I do have to pay up with some lobster that I have to send to the
010Pacific Northwest to a friend of mine who's a superintendent in Washington State. Uh, but don't worry, I'm not charging it to the city of Salem. That'll be on my dime. Um, so we'll, uh, I was hoping to get some nice salmon from Seattle, but that didn't happen. So, um, but we move on to, um, all the great things that are happening in the Salem public schools. Um, next week is vacation week. Um, which I'm sure you guys didn't know that it's vacation week next week, right? Okay. Um and uh so we have vacation week next week and we are running some programs u uh some ummies for some students at the elementary and middle school level and pre-k level too I think right uh deputy superintendent Carboni but mostly our schools are closed um as
011we um take the February vacation. I have a few updates here tonight if we could put the first presentation um up. Um actually the first item before that is the calendars uh for New Liberty and the Sarah Parker Raman elementary school calendar. Um as you know those are both innovation schools. The staff is able to vote on the calendar um and and it can deviate from the district's calendar but the schools like to wait until the district uh or the school committee approves the district calendar. And um since our last meeting they have both approved their calendar. staff has approved the calendar and you have a copy of that in your packet and we'll be asking for a vote on that later tonight. Um, so next Mark if we could put up the presentation. I
012will note that uh the Sarah Parker Raman school has chosen to have a two-eek break it looks like during uh they like the fact that we had a two-eek break this year during um December and so I think uh they opted to go a little differently than our schedule. Um so Carlton and Sultenstall the new Sarah Parker Raymon Elementary School. Um as promised we plan to uh have an update every other meeting and I wanted to share some updates on where the planning was for the merging of the two schools. Uh, as you know, I shared at the beginning of January, our goal is to create a unified school community that's based on four key strategic priorities which are aligned to our strategic plan uh around student achievement, staff empowerment, culture, um, and operational excellence.
013So, um, that are those are our goals to ensure a smooth transition for the new school. A couple of updates. Um, we have a new school name as we've talked about. Um, and the school committee will be discussing uh the second reading or we'll be taking it up for a second reading. Uh, we had somebody do a pronunciation for us. Uh, actually Laura Assad Laura Assad's daughter did the pronunciation for us. Um, and so we've been trying to share that with the community. Um, and we're trying to also, um, uh, share more information on who Sarah Parker Raman was. Um, don't want to just do it because it's Black History Month. It's something we should be discussing all the time, but this is a fitting time that we have a potential new school name and
014we're trying to, uh, ensure that not just the students at this school, but across the district know that know who this um, very impressive individual is. So, we'll be we'll be our curriculum and instruction team is sharing information and gathering more information. What's remarkable is if you Google her, there's a lot of information out there about her. So, um it's not hard to find. Um the I do think one question that's come up is should innovation be in the name of the school and I'll let you all decide and discuss that because it is a um you know the plan we have an innovation team meeting around continuing the school as an innovation school and there are questions about innovate whether the uh innovation should continue in the name of the school. Uh the transfer
015request window has now closed for families that were interested in transferring to other schools in the district. Um we uh as of Friday there were 16 requests but one came in after this presentation was complete. So there were there are now 17 requests for transfers from both Carlton and Salt and Stall to other elementary schools in the system. And so we'll be processing those um in the coming weeks. Um staffing where we had promised to tell staff uh to the extent possible what opportunities were available to them at the newly merged school. Um, we did have a couple of staff requests to transfer to other schools in the system and we're going to try to honor those, but by and large I think 98% of the staff want to stay with the schools, which we
016think is great and most of the students and families want to stay with the merge school. Um, but we plan on sharing with staff as much as we can share by this Friday as we had promised on February 13th. We have a meeting with the Salem teachers union tomorrow to uh finalize hopefully all the lists that we have so we can communicate to the staff. We plan on walking through the building uh with our facilities team and our operations team to look at what whether um you know to look at all the spaces to make sure that we have um all the classroom spaces identified. If there is additional work that we need to do to the building, we want to make sure we're planning well ahead of the summer. And so we have a
017walkthrough um scheduled for the week of February 23rd. Um we are checking in every two weeks as an executive team. So um my team of the different departments meets every two weeks because I'm telling you all that in the front row and as part of our agenda, we talk about this merger every single time we meet. And so it's a standing agenda item. We have another meeting Thursday and we have a project plan um that we are working from to make sure that we're meeting all the milestones that we've set out for this plan. Uh the recommendation was made to have anformational meeting for Spanish-sp speakaking families. Uh we do not have a date yet, but Laura Assad and her team are organizing so that we can meet with just Spanish-sp speakaking families so they
018can have their questions answered about um the merger. Families from both Carlton and Salt and Saul. And there was an open house on February 5th. We had to um we had to uh postpone it initially because of the snowstorm from a couple weeks ago and then they had a great turnout. It sounded like they have had about a hundred or more people there from Carlton especially who were going to Salt who were wanted to see the Salt and Stall building. Um and uh they gave tours. They had uh opportunities for students to ask questions and families to ask questions. So it was I think a very positive night by all accounts. So that was last Thursday. Um, as you know, we have two committees that are meeting that are made up of uh families um
019and uh staff and community members. Uh the transition committee is really focused on making sure that we take care of the emotional well-being of every student, caregiver, and staff member. That is led by Principal Weaver and Miss Ellen Windgard, who's in the back. If you want to wave over there. Um and their mission is to make make sure that there is a um again a seamless transition that students feel connected to the transition both from from both schools. Uh that staff are feeling included in important decisions as much as possible and families and caregivers are well informed about what's happening as the two schools come together. Um they in their first meeting they established common agreements uh for the committee to have um to ensure that they have a positive open mindset and that equity
020which is one of our core values is at the center of their work um and that they um you know are working together closely uh to ensure a smooth transition. I believe um uh school committee member is on that committee. Um also about the transition committee they're they've established working groups of students, staff, caregivers, and families um focused on the specific needs of each of those groups. Um they have uh the next meeting is scheduled for the 25th of February and then you can see there's a meeting on March 18th and March 25th around uh planning um a whole series of events and uh communications to the the community so that again that the transition is happening as we intended. I don't know if Miss Windgard or Miss you want to add anything to anything
021I just said. >> Okay. All right, great. Uh, the innovation team which is uh led by principal jellison and deputy superintendent Carboni. Um, they had their first meeting and I'm sorry, school committee member Miranda is on that team uh representing uh first meeting happening on January 29th and then there's meetings uh this week and uh on the 10th and then the 26th of February and March 10th. They started to look at the data for Carlton and salt install both demographics um MCCAST performance uh and as you know as many indicators as publicly available um they did an activity around noticing and wonder highlighting the differences at the both schools but there there's also many similarities across the two schools as well. Um they started talking about curriculum and the use of curriculum. Um, one school
022uh, Salt and Stall uses the district curriculum in Carlton which is an innovation school has more flexibility in the uh, curriculum that they use. So they were starting to talk about what are some of the shared resources that they would be using across the merge school and they started discussing um, this specifically for English language arts which they will continue to review and then they'll ultimately move into math and other content areas. >> Sure. So when they're talking about the the using the district's curriculum or using the innovation curriculum, is it possible that they could differentiate between like one for ELA, one for math or is it going to be all >> meaning do you want me to answer that? >> I definitely want to answer that. >> Um they so they could use the
023district curriculum um my view for ELA and choose to do something different for math or vice versa. Okay? or they could do something different for both. >> The team is also planning um they're working closely with the department of education around what we need to do around the current innovation plan. Um the school does need to set uh submit a prospective prospectus and ultimately we'll need to get approval but from the superintendent uh the school committee and uh a member of the union which would be the union president who is in the audience here as well. You want to wave union president. Okay. Um and then there's a twothirds required vote of that screening team um or of the team of the superintendent school committee and union rep um or union president which will then
024go to the department of education for submission. Uh and then the second stage is about the development of the innovation plan. Uh where the plan needs to be developed by the team uh get a signature from all team members and then the school committee all of you needs to approve and that ultimately gets appro uh forwarded to the department of education. I don't know if uh member Miranda or deputy superintendent wants to add to anything I just said regarding the innovation team. >> Okay. And in the future, I would I I may allow you to steal the show and take this the the presentation about the innovation team because I'm not a member of the team. >> So, all y can I ask a question about the so the timing of this >> is it
025does this need to be completed before the start of school in September? >> Yes. >> Does what the innovation >> before the start start of school >> finalized approved? >> Absolutely. I mean, we'd like to have it done before we end school because part of the plan would be for the school to have some working teams over the summer that we would stipen teachers um and other educators at the school to work together to bring that plan to to life. Um, and there are going to be because the schools use different curricula um across the grade levels, they're going to be shifts for teachers. We want to get that into teachers hands early on. Give them time to have some guided um you know facilitation through that um you know in the summer if they
026choose to. It will all be voluntary but we would um pay teachers to do that and I know principal jellison and principal Weaver are very interested in doing that. >> Yeah. >> From the committee. Yeah. Um I just had a question about we talked about this a little bit in the last meeting just how um inclusion and representation are going on those two committees that are working to bring the two schools together. >> Do you want me to take that or you want to go ahead? >> Uh I can speak for our team. We we did um you know get some feedback on that and our team has you know done some work um specifically principal jellison in inviting um more inclusive diversity on the team. Um and I think that will um you know
027serve us well. Um so we'll have some additional members um at our meeting tomorrow. It's just Timber Corner. >> Um, and the transition team is that I forget who's in in >> Yeah, that's Alan Windgard and Principal Weaver. They did the same thing based on the feedback that we received. They looked at the representation and made sure that they had a stronger representation of the entire community. Um, I also think just it's not just about the team. They're going to have both teams are going to have to be aggressive in making sure that they get the message out to all members of the community because just obviously the majority of people are not on the committee and we want to make sure on the committees and we want to make sure that they get information
028about what's happening related to transition and related to innovation. So, we're going to have to work hard to make sure that uh all families um not just the families that show up at the PTO meetings get the information about um what's happening at the school. member Miranda. Um, I just wanted to add that some feedback that I that I got personally um at the end of last week was uh that the outreach could have been done um there could have been like a little bit more lead time. uh though I know that we're you know this process is it's kind of urgent um and in like deeper outreach um is what I heard from a parent uh that is you know they consider themselves to be pretty engaged but um feel kind of excluded by
029the process. >> Yeah, I appreciate that feedback. Obviously, we want to I think we're we got to balance the how quickly we're moving with the idea that like we don't want to leave people behind and we don't want people to feel excluded. This is a big deal. This is a really important transition to do well. So, we we appreciate the feedback we've gotten. We've got to do better than we did in terms of trying to um make sure we get as many voices as possible. >> Deputy Superintendent. >> Yeah. And I would just add that I think there was over reliance on putting out the Google form and the invitation and then just working with the people there. We should, you know, there should have been a review of who's on there and said, "O,
030you know, the deadline has passed, but we need to do some more outreach into the two two communities um to make sure this is more inclusive." >> Cornell, >> I think it's really even though This didn't launch perfectly. I think it's really good that we're having these conversations because this is sort of an ongoing conver an ongo it's an ongoing issue for any kind of bureaucratic body right to say like we want inclusion and representation but it's not just like doors open come on in you know you have to go out recruit speak to people individually ask them to come and participate so I think it's an important lesson for all of us as school committee members and and district leadership and um we all have and I think the community plays plays a role
031in that too. Uh really looking around and saying who can we who can we bring in and not just leaving the door open and hoping hoping somebody wanders through. >> Yeah. I would I just add I think you're right uh count um school committee not counselor but school committee member uh Cornell um people need to be tapped too. People need to be approached. they need to have in the relationships need to be forged for people to feel comfortable joining teams. Not everybody will just under even understands um what the commitment is or or how they can contribute when in fact every single member of the community can contribute on these teams. So um I I really do appreciate the push from the committee and from other members in the community. So thank you for that.
032Any other questions about the merger. Okay. Um so next on the um agenda is a discussion about New Liberty and Salem Prep, the location of the school of the schools. Um I'm not we're not asking for a vote here tonight, but I think ultimately we will be asking for a vote about potential location changes for the two schools. Um, many of the members of the committee know that there have been significant concerns about the conditions at the mall which they're located, the Witch City Mall. Um, and I would say from the day I arrived here almost 6 years ago, we've been talking about this very issue. Um, there have been concerns about maintenance, cleanliness, and safety and security in the mall. Uh, obviously we have wonderful students, so it's not our students. it is. Um,
033and it's not really the space uh that they're in. It's the space leading up to the mall. It's the extern, you know, the external space outside of where the schools are located. And I I do believe that the uh conditions have gotten worse over time. Um, and we've worked very closely with the city of Salem, with Salem Police. Um, and it's been hard. There's they're limited. a lot all of us have I think our hands tied because we don't own the facility unlike it's the only obviously building that our schools are housing that the city or the school system does not own. Um and so really we've been exploring new spaces for the last four years. We've um seen a lot of interesting things, but we haven't really been able to land a location um
034that we think is suitable, that we can afford um and that is uh manageable given our cost constraints, especially since many of the spaces need buildout uh from from the district. So, if we look at New Liberty uh Innovation School first, there is interest we've we've had and thanks to the mayor has been very supportive in looking at moving New Liberty to Salem State to the Enterprise Center, which we think is a great location to have a high school. We'd be the first high school in the state, we believe, although I I I I'm just guessing, but I'll just keep throwing it out there until somebody corrects me that I'm wrong. uh first high school on a four-year college campus, which I think is really exciting for our young people. Um and there's a lot
035of excitement about that space. The challenge is that there's a cost element to it. We have fiscal constraints um that are uh tied to the buildout of the space. And right now, while we've been looking at different funding sources and um we're looking at grants, we're looking at uh foundations to help us, we don't have the necessary resources to build that space out given our uh financial challenges that are not new um to the community. Um but again, we do want to continue to pursue that space uh at Salem State. it is aligned to our commitment to higher education and workforce development and would be a real win for the school and I think for the city. Um what I am proposing at this point is uh a temporary location to move to Carlton School
036that is now vacated because of the merger. uh that would get New Liberty out of the mall um and would allow for um you know a ve you know what is a very nice space that we don't pay a lease for. We own Carlton School and we could use the space at least temporarily um for as long as the school committee wanted to um uh for uh New Liberty. Uh but again, I think there's an urgency to get out of the mall and this allow this does give us a location for as early as next year. Um just want to shift over to Salem Prep High School. Uh we continue to look at Salem Prep High School. Um it is a school that is very unique that a a public school system runs a public
037day school. Um and we're but at this point we still think that the school should remain in our portfolio. Uh we there is some overlap with existing programs, but there is uh there is obviously tuition savings that we uh that we realize with students who are not um tuitioned out of the system and out of district placements. Um and so we've been having a lot of internal discussions about uh Salem Prep. Uh we're also trying to understand what the regulations are from the department of education for public day school working very closely with our special education director um Jen Ducet Lee as well as with the principal Lisa O'Neal. Uh but right now we are ex we're exploring the option or I'm proposing that we look at two options for the move of the program.
038either to join New Liberty at Carlton School uh for next year uh where we could potentially have two different entrances for them and we could say it's a Carlton would be a big space for both schools and they could easily fit in there or there's the possibility of moving Salem Prep to Salem High School. Uh which uh there is a space at Salem High School that's a separate portion of the building. They would have a separate entrance. the there are pros and cons to both and I think uh I'm just putting it on the table. There's no decisions to be made um regarding that and we certainly want to have more conversations with the staff uh with families. We did notify families today and staff that we were at least putting this on the table
039here tonight. Um but the the advantages to going to Carlton would be that they would stay with their partner um in New Liberty. It's a space that's, you know, a beautiful space. You don't have to contend with the mall. Um, and it, um, and it gives them, um, you know, I think a better learning environment than they have now. Um, and it does keep them, there's some some students that chose to leave Salem High School and it's uh, for different reasons. It didn't work for them at Salem High School. So, it does keep them separate uh, be uh, really separate because it's not on the same campus or in the same school. The advantages to being at Salem High School is about access to programs is is the access to the CTE programs. It's access
040to the early college programs, to sports programs, all the the music, the art program. I mean, Salem High offers everything under the sun for for uh for young people. And so, um, while New Liberty students have been taking advantage of that, um, you know, Salem Prep students and and New Liberty offers a lot of things already as a high school. One of the concerns I have personally about Salem Prep is that students that go to Salem Prep um, I worry don't have access to the kinds of things that programs and experiences that we would want all high schoolers to have. So, um, at this moment, I'm just suggesting that this be a discussion and, um, I think at some point we I would want the school committee to take a vote about the future locations
041of these schools. Um, and, uh, I certainly want to hear from the community in the coming weeks. Um, while the communities are not large, they care deeply about their schools. There's a lot of, uh, pride in both schools. Uh, and we want to make sure that we're supporting the needs of every student that attends. um those two campuses. So that is my update for tonight. I will um stop there um and turn it back over to you, Mayor. >> So uh before on this topic, >> yeah, on this topic, are there questions from the committee this time? >> Oh, member Miranda, >> is this the proper time to to ask questions about this or do we plan on having a separate >> This will be we'll have a separate meeting. We'll have this will be
042on a future agenda for further discussion and a vote. But if there's initial questions, it's it's posted so we can ask them now. >> Okay. Awesome. Um, my first question is, and I don't know that you need to answer this right now, but uh, why should it remain in the portfolio >> Salem Prep? >> Well, I think we're getting to a point where in the year that I don't want to be disruptive to the experience for young people and the staff. Um I think we have talked a lot but we haven't um I don't feel like we have a strong yet um um you know a strong decision about a recommendation around um keeping or or dissolving the school um or merging the school for that matter. And I don't want to do something that's
043reckless um on behalf of the children you know who are there. It's 27 students there and they just as important as any student in the system. So, I want to be careful. Um, I think we have to have some healthier conversations about the types of programs we offer. Um, and to make sure that we're not eliminating something that, you know, we would be regret eliminating in the system. And these students have very specific IEPs that uh would need to be honored. Um, and in some cases we could honor them in the school system. In some cases, we couldn't. And I'm not sure that we're not sure. I'm not convinced yet that uh it would be financially in our best interest also to um to to somehow dissolve the school. >> Member Miranda. >> Sorry, I
044have one more thing. Um, in terms of New Liberty, >> uh, I know that we saw some data some time ago telling us like where, um, kids lived in the city and then the respective schools that they go to, but I'm wondering if we can see some of that data for New Liberty as well, >> meaning where the students live that attend New Liberty. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Sure. Yep. >> Shirley, do you have that down over there? >> Okay. Thank you, >> members. thought. >> Thank you. I'm just curious with the current situation of New Liberty and Prep together, do their spaces co-mingle a lot currently at the mall or are they like physically pretty separate that it would be a different situation at Carlton? >> Um they they don't they don't really
045co-mingle although they have the same entrance to the build to the facility. Uh they don't share teachers, they don't share resources um for the most part. I mean they they're cooperative with one another and they collaborate. there's not tension between the schools. Uh but um they do serve different population. Um and um you know I think we would work to work with the school leaders and the staff to figure out what the best way is to give them their own spaces, but you could do that in a building as big. I mean Carlton's not a huge school, but for two small programs you could um you could certainly do that. Um, you'd have to talk about how whether it's one floor is one school, the other floor is another school. I would leave it up
046to the staff that know best to to guide us on that. >> It's a quick followup to that. So, you said Salem Prep currently is 27 students. What's new? >> New Liberty, I think, is up to 60. >> 60. Thanks. >> Their their numbers fluctuate during the year. they they tend to get more students um throughout the year, but they're yeah, they're about as high as they've been um which is 60 now. >> Any further questions on this topic? Again, this will be on a future agenda, so this is not the last opportunity to have this discussion. Member Stock, >> I just had one other question similar to the new Liberty School and like location of students for sale prep. um maybe polling of interest of participating in the programs that are available at the
047high school that if if that would be one reason, you know, is it something that's even of interest, you know, students? >> Yeah. >> I do know that there's um like internally we're not like we there's differing opinions from the Salem about Salem Prep. Some people do think that Salem Prep would be better off being at Salem High School and some people think that no that that's not the best option for the school, but I think it's a good suggestion to to have conversations with the families and the kids. Uh there may be um yeah and and again they have very specific IEPs that we have to look at very carefully. >> Okay. Um let's see on the agenda. >> Yes. So you do actually have my evaluation or the first part of it here.
048Um so the in the packet or you were it was emailed you to you later today. It's the uh the largest part of my my evaluation which by the way for the students is the only person in the school system that has a public evaluation is the superintendent. Right? So I have to submit my evidence um of the work I did in the last year. Um and so what I gave you tonight is um around the um state standards for um school district leadership. Uh standard one is instructional leadership. Standard two is management and operations. Three is um family and community engagement. And four is professional culture. So you have that document in here for your review. Um I do have to finish my uh the goals, the three goals that I set and the
049evidence that um I have for um either not achieving not achieving or um um or making progress uh towards my goals. Um this uh my evaluation will be up on the website after tonight's meeting for the public to see as well because it's required to be up there for review from the public. Um, and the school committee now has it for their uh, review and I'll send you my uh, goal assessment as soon as I complete that part of it. Is there any questions about the evaluation? >> Yeah, member Cornell. >> Um, it is my exciting new job as vice chair to coordinate the evaluation of the superintendent. So, um I I think the mayor and I will probably set a date that seems reasonable for us all to evaluate it. Um but in the
050meantime, I'll do what member Cruz did and send out um templates and maybe I'll give you one of my old examples just so you can sort of see um people are always interested in how much or how little or if you could do bullets and all of that stuff. So, um I'll try to get that out probably by the beginning of next week. Uh uh member Cornell, there's also on the website is all the um the uh evaluations completed by the committee from last year. They're all publicly available. So uh I think we shared one with you. >> Yeah. >> Um so you can see what members rated me last year in the comments as examples um for uh you know for for those that are completing it for the first time. >> Can I
051just also >> I think the students should also know that we are very tough on the superintendent. We are we read all of his stuff really carefully and we give him really hard grades. >> Okay. Uh well on my um still finance and operations so I'm going to pass it over to uh assistant superintendent Paulie. >> Uh good evening. I I wanted to remind everyone that we are officially in budget season and so we have spent um the last few weeks preparing for and starting to engage with public uh stakeholder groups. We did a lot of analysis preparation during the school reconfiguration process and we've begun talking with different stakeholder groups um including the public. So, our first public forum is this Wednesday from 6:30 to 7:30. It is online. Um, and so we hope
052that many people will join us to hear our preliminary budget priorities, how we're thinking about next year and to give us feedback and input. We're we're hoping both for a transparent process, but also one that engages um the whole community. So the first forum uh for the public is Wednesday the 11th. There is a second uh that is online. There is a second uh forum after February break uh that is February 25th also at 6:30 that is at Salem High School Library. Students are invited as well. Um and then on Thursday there is one that is um specifically for Salem Public School staff. So we hope our staff colleagues will join that is online. uh that is from 3:45 to 4:45. So in addition to the forums, we are also reaching out to different advisory
053groups. Um we have met with the English learner um parent advisory committee. We will be meeting with the special education parent advisory committee and we are also looking we'll plan to meet with the superintendent's parent advisory committee and the student uh advisory group. In the meantime, we have an email address that is spbudgetsalemk12.org and we invite all comments, questions, and reminders um from the public. So that is my report. >> Um and prior to this meeting, we did have a special meeting to do some uh some setting of the groundwork around the current fiscal year. um budget process, chapter 70, and uh just the context of this of the school department's budget relative to the entire city's budget. So, appreciate your your efforts on that as well. Any subcommittee reports? Any subcommittes? No reports on
054the subcommittees. All right. Motions and resolutions. Our first item is the 2026 2027 New Liberty Innovation School and proposed Sarah Parker Rammon Elementary School calendar. Uh there any discussion? >> Okay, take a motion. >> Motion to approve. >> I was going to discuss. >> I had a question. >> Oh, we have a motion, so I'll take a second. >> Sure. >> Okay. Motion made by member Cornell, seconded by member Scott. under discussion. Questions and discussion. >> Thanks. >> Forgetting the rules already. Um, two questions. Um, Salem Prep, did are they on the other calendar that we approved at the previous meeting? Okay. And then the the Syrac Syra Parker Raman school. Um, I understand innovation schools, they can have their own calendar. I still I'm I'm trying to understand the benefit because I'm looking at
055it and I'm seeing additional costs for different days for primarily transportation. So I'm wondering if I I don't necessarily think this year is probably not the best one to change it. But I I do think that it's something that should be part of that conversation of what is the benefit of having a separate calendar? How is that related to the like what what is the relation to the innovation plan to have autonomy with the school calendar? Um having a student there for six years I never quite understood it. I did like the earlier year in the earlier start but now on this side I don't necessarily like the additional days of like transportation the it's just definitely confusing I think to have one school that's outside. So, um, I would just like that to be
056a continued conversation topic. >> Guess who wants to respond? Member Miranda. >> I don't know if anybody. >> Um, yeah, I similarly had some concerns and also there are some aspects of this calendar that I actually like more than ours. No offense to all the work that went into the rest of the other calendar for the rest of the district. Uh but curious about um like the cost and the benefits here. And then also question in terms of the rest of the district, how are those calendars produced? Um like are we soliciting feedback from staff when we're creating that? >> Yeah, we do submit we do get feedback from staff. I I do have a conversation with the union president um and I meet with a teacher advisory group. So I get feedback from them
057around it. um we haven't gotten a lot of feedback from families because when we do that we get about 30 different um versions and um we tried that one time and it didn't go great um because just everybody has their own schedules um and so um I have gotten feedback from the parent advisory group though on calendars just uh but it's hard to like make you know there's always somebody that doesn't like some aspect of the calendar but staff have had a lot of input put or have weighed in um on the calendar. It's it's it's one of my least favorite exercises because um you know some people like to start early, some people like to get out early, right? So or and some people like to start after Labor Day. Um but um so
058but I do think the question about like keeping the whole district on the same calendar I would propo promote that because I do think that does add to not only cost some costs it's also a lot of confusion um because there are days where I'm like I wake up in the morning wait does Carlton have school today and then you know does the um and that can be you know the last thing we want is like the buses not to show up because we forgot that Carlton's the only school in the district that has um school on a given day and it's just hard for messaging and continuity and there are families that have many families have kids in multiple schools especially at the middle and the high school. So I do think I you
059know I think we're in the midst of the innovation plan. We're obviously adjusting it but I think the probably the time to do it is when the innovation plan expires um which is I think what two more years Kate >> the current one. >> Yeah the current one. Yeah. Yeah. A member Hoffman, >> there seem to be a lot of half days um in in a lot of months. Like is that normal for every month to have a half day? >> Oh, the New Liberty. >> Oh, New Liberty. That's the model that New Liberty has had for a long >> Sorry, I'm on the wrong one. Thanks. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> All right. I was just confused. Oh my god. >> That's part of their been their innovation model that they have every Wednesday as
060a half day. >> That makes sense. That makes sense. Sorry, I was on the wrong calendar. >> Member Cornell. I'm wondering um everybody the other calendar has us has students getting out having a half day the day before Halloween. So I'm wondering if there was any feedback about why they have a full day off on the 30th unless I'm misreading the calendar. >> New liberty or Carlton >> uh uh Sarah Parker Ramon closed. >> They have no school on the 30th, right? I'm wondering why >> they just historically >> they they have done that historically. They can they can do that because they can they their year is going longer. They have to do 180 days. They've just chosen to use their spread their 180 days out. They've done that. Uh they've always had that
061day off even when the district had school on that day. >> Is that correct? >> I mean the reason they can is part of their innovation plan they can they can do their own. I'm not sure I understand your question because they are they set their own calendar. So that's >> No, I know. I'm just wondering. I I was just wondering why that's a it's a it's an odd day if it's not Salem and everybody else is doing a half day. So I was just curious. >> Member Scott, >> it makes me think it's a a carryover from Carlton not being used as a voting location. They were able to be open on voting day and they kind of took that as they were open on voting day and they always took Halloween out. >>
062Sure. >> Historically, so I don't know if that's part of the reasoning I wasn't there when they this one. But >> any further discussion or questions on the calendars? There's a motion to approve both the New Liberty and Sarah Parker Raone calendar for the 2026 2027 school year. >> Yep. Member Miranda. So, do we have an understanding of the the costs and yeah, the additional costs to these types of I I understand I understand and value like the democratic process of of having our staff um vote on these things and I I'm I'm concerned about um passing this calendar. Okay. >> So, uh I don't have that that data, but I could get you that if you chose not to vote on the calendar. I we could get that for you and then um you
063would have that before you made a decision. >> I mean, right, Elizabeth, we could get that information to them. >> Cornell, >> just to that point, I'm wondering what the is this a time-sensitive issue? like what are the implications of us waiting a couple of weeks to see what the financial impact is? >> Uh well I think uh I mean it's just in giving parents clarity on the schedule. I think parents really and many I mean I think everybody on this committee is a parent. Um they just want to really know what the first day of school is going to be. So I think that's important. Um that's the question I get the most is when the first day of school is. Uh but you know it's it is uh certainly the committee's prerogative to
064wait a couple weeks until we get you that information and then you can vote on the calendar. I mean it's part of the deal with an innovation school. So we have a motion to approve both calendars. You wish to modify the motion? Okay. On on the motion to approve both calendars. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay. Matter carries 51. Member Miranda opposed. >> I can still get you that data. >> Um, let me just write that down here. Second motion is on the naming of the Salt and Stall Carlton building to the Sarah Parker Rammon Elementary School. This is a second reading of three readings. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion made by member Cornell, seconded by member Scott. Under discussion. Member Scott. >> I I did bring up that innovation question because
065I am curious and I think it it might be helpful to have some context to um when Bentley became an innovation, was it renamed Bentley Academy? innovation was there. So, I don't know if any other members have thoughts about adding innovation into the name. Personally, I'm not I think it's a mouthful already, but I also like acknowledging that it's an innovation school. member Miranda. >> I think if if some of the um some of the parts of the plan that we really love and appreciate and would like to spread to other schools, I I think I I don't know like would it make sense to still have that school named as like have innovation in the name if we then take some of those aspects and spread it um over the district? Does that make
066sense? >> Can you explain again? Yeah. >> Like we've talked about as a body um bringing some of the aspects from the Carlton innovation plan to other schools uh throughout the district. And so that is the part that I'm struggling with like how will families differentiate at that point if that's what we decide to do as a body and also acknowledge like it is it does still have an innovation plan. So I don't know and maybe that would make the name too long. I'm not sure. >> So are you suggesting that it should have the it should have the word innovation in there? No, I'm suggesting we just leave the name. >> Okay. >> Any other discussion on this point? And Cornell? >> Um I don't I don't feel strongly either way about whether or
067not it should have the word innovation in the title. I do I get the um you know about this being a mouthful and I and I've taken I think some of the feedback that we've gotten from community members um really made me think about how we approach the entire process. like I don't want to get into a situation where the school is called, you know, SPR or Sarah Parker, you know, where it's shortened. So, I think we have to be really intentional as a district about how we roll this out for the community like this is what we are going to say all the time. We are going to say Sarah Parker Ramand and h like having a real campaign to make that happen um is is I think incredibly important. So then if we
068do have innovation tacked on there um to designate that for incoming parents and families um we're we still have this other campaign like this is how we talk about our school. We we say these three things. Um and I also did want to acknowledge too I think that uh some folks are worried about kind of the pronunciation or how long it is and and that that can be difficult for some of our younger learners. But I I also think this is a really great opportunity for not just our students but for the entire community to learn how to be, you know, respectful and honor people's names and how we pronounce them. And we live in a really diverse city with folks from all over the place. And my name's super easy to pres to to
069pronounce. Bethany and Cornell is not hard, but I bet you some of you here have names that might be a little might be a little tricky for me and I'd have to work really hard, but I should do it because that's your name. Um, and I feel the same way about uh about Sarah Parker Ramon. It it's we can we can get everybody there and it's a good lesson. Uh, so I just wanted to share that. >> Member Hoffman. >> Um, I agree with that. I also think you can think of it as in terms of pronouns. When you make a mistake, just fix it. It's not a big deal. You mispronounce it, get corrected, whatever, move on. But I also um think in a general practice for all of our schools, we go to
070abbreviations all the time. And maybe it's time to stop doing that and start calling all our schools by their name. You have horse man that you call HMLS, you have um New Liberty, which goes by initials. So, I think it's a good time to start um using full names for things and stop shortening just because it's convenient or comfortable. >> Advice. >> I was just going to say I'm a Carlton parent and my son's in P2 and he's been coming home kind of practicing the pronunciation and talking about it. So, I think the school's doing a good job about that. >> Great. >> Never stop. >> Thank you. Um, for the I agree it's a long name. Um, but we can choose which which portions of the name like we we won't say elementary school
071each time when we're naming the school. >> I like I do like the indication of an innovation school mostly because it it it provides information when new incoming families are looking at the list of schools. And while we will be sprinkling pieces of the innovation parts that work throughout the city which is the goal and great Sarah Park or Raymon school will be kind of the designated incubator school for the innovation plan and and to know that um that is the school that works on the you know the building out that plan reviewing it every 5 years the actual modeling of it before moving out I think indicating that similar to how Bentley is innovative the innovation plan for dual language. Um just kind of giving that indicator. I I like having that name in
072there. Sorry to add another word. Um but I think again just to be able to properly reflect it out for those that are looking at the list of our schools. It gives a good indicator. I don't know how that would work if we've already had one reading of the name though. amend it. >> That's why we have multiple readings is so we can have opportunities to >> I'll just keep changing it. >> Member Cornell. >> Uh I'll make a motion with an amendment uh to um designate it as Sarah Parker Raman Innovation School. >> Wait, do you So I'll second that. >> Okay. All right. So the uh amended motion is second reading for Sarah Parker Rimmon Innovation School. Motion made by member Cornell, second by member Miranda. Any further discussion or questions? All in
073favor of second reading? Any opposed? The matter carry 6. school committee norms. >> I'll make a motion make a motion that the school committee adopt uh the norms established at our school committee retreat. >> I'll second. >> Motion made by member Cornell on adoption of the proposed norms for the SM school committee. Seconded by member Miranda. under discussion. >> Uh I don't know if Bethanne if you'd like to I don't know if you want to kind of take over or briefly describe or No. Okay. >> You know anyways want to take careful. >> Okay, I'll do it. Um so during our retreat we came up with some proposed school committee norms um that this body would like to adhere to. Um and so for people um members of the public, our students, I'm just going
074to uh briefly go through them. We have six here. Um so we talked about in our retreat we talked about as a collective group leading with respect and civility, ensuring equitable participation, communicating transparently and preparing thoughtfully. Um practicing humility and accountability, building trust through clear processes and strengthening uh collaboration with the administration which is you know Dr. Zich and his team. Um, and there's some, you know, a couple sentences under each one here. Um, and I'm curious. I don't know if anybody has any any thoughts on these, uh, before we, uh, you know, accept them. Um, but hopefully, uh, I was able to collect all of the information in a way that, um, honors the conversation that we had. >> Member Cornell I'm not going to take over. I just wanted to say thank you
075to member Miranda for organizing this and for proposing that we come up with these norms. Um, and again for our students here, this might be something for you all to get a hold of because it's really interesting. It's just sort of a list of ways that we're all supposed to treat each other. Um, so it's a really great way to start meetings and think about the way we talk to each other. And thank you >> Scott. >> I'd also just like to say thanks. I think it's a great start to the year to the term to service to have these norms in front of us. I wish every committee and body did something of this sort. Um and I am grateful and thankful that we have these in place and looking forward to working with
076everyone under these norms. So, I would also like to say thank you for for raising this topic and and to all the committee members for taking that time at the retreat to have a really I think thoughtful and deep conversation about establishing these. Uh to your point, member Scott, I tend to send a copy of these to all the staff that staff different boards and commissions in the city and suggest they consider the same, including our our friends on the city council at their dis discretion, their separate and co-equal branch of government. Um, but again, I appreciate I think this is really fantastic and we should be sure that these are also reflected up on the website for the committee so that the public can see them and understand them as well. On the motion
077and second, no further discussion. All in favor? Any opposed? Seeing none, the matter carries 6. Uh final item under motions and resolutions is the school committee calendar of topics for the 2026 calendar year. >> Make a motion to adopt uh the proposed school committee topics for the calendar year. >> Second. >> Motion by member Cornell, seconded by member Scott. Under discussion. Member Sto. Again, thank you for the effort and work put into organizing this. Um, again, think it's great. I think that's something that everybody should do um to really plan out the year understanding that coming together and meeting is a lot of work. We ask for a lot of people to be here and help and present the topics. Um I my one comment on this is things will come up though and as
078long as we enter this schedule knowing that there will need to be some flexibility with items that ad hoc appear or we might not be able to get to everything. Um I haven't really reviewed this breakdown but I will just to make sure that like I'm probably going to star the ones that I want to like make sure don't get dropped and I would recommend everyone does that. Um but yeah, just going into it with with grace that we will do the best we can. >> We're Hoffman. >> I agree too. Thank you for doing this. I have one concern. Um the SRO's I feel that discussion needs to be earlier in the year, not in November. I feel like that's too late. And if it would be possible to maybe um move it to
079a closer date, if that would be acceptable. Yeah, member Cornell. >> Um, then I would make a motion with with an amendment to uh adopt the calendar as written with the understanding that items may be shifted or prioritized or, you know, as we go along or as school committee members have continuing conversations. So, I'm sorry, Shirley, that's a really long motion, but Miranda, >> do we have to second that? Okay, I'll second that. >> Okay, amended motion seconded by member Miranda. I I agree. flexibility I think is really going to be important cuz things change pretty quickly and but having this also again for the public's sake will also help I think understand you know which the top what are the topics that we'll be talking about when in the calendar year that people may
080have an interest in and plan to show up for any further discussion seeing none on the motion to approve as amended all in favor any opposed the matter carries 6 uh announcements, school committee announcements. >> We're doing this here. >> Sure. >> Okay. Um we agreed in our uh retreat that we would uh kind of come to a conclusion about what goes in our new newsletter that will be put out by the school committee at the end of each month. We haven't done that. So, we're going to put our own uh newsletter out for folks to kind of help improve transparency and communication. Um, and so I sort of just was generating a list while we're sitting here. We agreed at our retreat that this wouldn't be um overly detailed. We have minutes that we
081can link to so we don't need to go uh into really granular detail but um I did just note a few things that we might want to highlight which is just uh initial conversation about moving uh New Liberty and Salem Prep innovation plan preparation and process uh note about school uh Salem public school budget our norms and the calendar of school committee topics. Um, and I think we said that at the end of each month, we would know what the big topics were coming for the next month so that we could really improve outreach to the community so folks could show up when they um, you know, were particularly interested in a subject, but I will I don't know if I can entertain other things to add to this list, but any further announcements? I
082just have two quick items. Uh we didn't have an update on the high school building project, but we do have the meeting with the Massachusetts School Building Authority on the 25th for the uh finalization of the reimbursement rate and the construction costs. We do expect to have the uh MSBA the state's funding increase uh to about 46% of the project. So, it's a $28 million grant from the state. And the road show continues. Um, I spoke to the Salem Common Neighborhood Association this weekend and will be at the Collins PTO uh in the next month, I think, for a presentation. Uh, and then the other update I have to share is that while you all are on vacation, I thank you for opening up Witchcraft Heights Elementary School to the mobile mayor's office, which will
083be there on Tuesday, uh, February 17th from 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the community to come and say hi to the mayor staff. We'll be working out of your cafeteria. So, thank you for for your hospitality and welcoming us. >> Yep. Dr. >> Am I allowed to do an announcement? Okay. Two two quick things I forgot. >> One is our design day unfortunately was snowed out uh with uh all the snow that Salem got um on Saturday. I'm glad we postponed it. We'll be uh sending out a new date um a sometime after February break and we hope students and uh families and staff will attend. Uh so stay tuned for that. Um and um trying to remember what my other one was. I think I'll just leave it at that. Yeah, we'll just
084leave it at that. Mayor, uh so we'll we'll let folks know when design day is rescheduled. >> Thank you, >> member Miranda. >> Very short announcement. Uh happy Black History Month. >> Any further motions? >> Motion to second. Motion made by member Cornell, second by member Miranda. Under discussion, seeing none. All in favor? >> Any opposed? >> She just matter carry 6. We're ajourned. Thank you everybody.