001Good evening everyone. We'll call to order meeting at the Salem School Committee for September 24th. This meeting is being held at 7 p.m. in uh in person of room 227 at 29 Highland Avenue. You can join via Zoom using the link posted in the meeting agenda. Is member uh member Manning on remotely? All right, we have one member participating remotely, so all votes will be by roll call vote. First item is approval of the agenda. >> Move to approve the regular school committee agenda. >> Second. >> A motion made by member Cruz, seconded by member Campbell. A roll >> what? >> Cornell. >> Oh, that's what I get for not looking up. Member Cornell. >> Uh, roll call vote. Member Campbell. >> Yes. >> Member Cornell. >> Yes. >> Member Cruz? >> Yes. >> Member
002Manning? >> Yes. >> And myself? Yes. 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 Salem public school students regularly attend school committee meetings. We encourage all meeting participants to model respectful and p productive public discourse for our young learners. Is there any public comment in the chambers? Is there any public comment on Zoom? Seeing none, next item on the agenda is approval of the items of the consent agenda. These are the minutes of the school committee of August 18th, the minutes of the school committee meeting of September 8th, approval of a field
003trip for the new Liberty Innovation School students and approval of uh four warrants for FY25 and five warrants for FY26. >> Move to approve uh the consent agenda. Second. >> Motion made by member Cruz, second by member Cornell. Roll call vote. Member Cornell. >> Yes. >> Member Cruz. >> Yes. >> Member Manning. >> Um, could I ask what the other two items are? Or are the are the items all together for four days? You understand what I'm saying? >> These are the items for the field trip. Yeah, the the the approval of minutes of regular school committee meeting held on August 18th and then approval of minutes for the the ones held on September 8th and approval of a field trip to Cardigan Mountain and Large Alexandra for two more days. So is that a
004total of four days or is that all the day? Is that you see what I'm saying? >> Uh the field trip to Cardian Mountain is for October 21st to October 22nd. >> Okay. So all of those days a total of four. >> Uh it's two days. It's an overnight trip. >> It's just What about the first two days though? >> Yeah. >> Like the minutes of >> member Manning. Um the the first two items are separate from the field chart trip request. So although two dates are listed uh format on the format there, they're not related to the trip. So the the days are uh October 21st through the 22nd. So it's only two days for the trip. >> Okay. So what are the other days then? >> Those are meeting minute dates. >> Oh,
005all right. Okay. Thank you. Yep. >> Um yes, I approve. >> Thank you. Uh member Campbell. Yes. >> And myself. Yes. Consent agenda is approved. Student representatives report. >> Uh Sydney had emailed me that she was unable to make it at the last minute. There was a a last minute family uh scheduling thing and um but I can just report out quickly for the student. Uh we did meet um and had a great meeting. We had about 20 students there all returning. Um and um Sydney did a great job in leading the group in her first meeting. um as the um as the chair of the student advisory. Just a couple things. The students really want to focus on establishing a way to support students who arrive mid year to Salem High School and New
006Liberty. As we have representatives from New Liberty, they're concerned that we don't have good enough systems to or we don't have systems in place to welcome new students and make them feel connected to the school and show them what the school has to offer. We do that with mentoring in ninth grade, but then there isn't anything later on. And uh that's hard when there's a lot of offerings and you come in new and you don't know what's available to you. So that's something we want to work on as a way to create an ambassador structure for new students at the school and um the students had a lot to say and are very committed and interested in in focusing on that. They also shared concerns with us about um some of the things we've heard
007in the past, but these are new. They they um some new um items. Uh they would like to see more gluten-free options in the cafeteria. Um they had questions about bathroom access um like when they're allowed to use the bathroom or how often and and the school for safety reasons does at different times close off bathroom access, but they had feedback. These are conversations that I think are better suited for talking to Mr. Burns and the leadership team there. Um, and they also just had general concerns about that the school has bad smells, which I explained that like we talked about how it's an old school and the old school has bad smells uh everywhere. Uh, and so we had a long conversation about the smells of the high school. Um, uh, which I wish
008all of you could have listened to the conversation. Um, I'm good. >> Yeah, you're good with that. Um, and then, uh, lastly, there were two members that had expressed interest in being in the statewide advisory, which I don't think Salem has had a representative on the statewide advisory in recent years, um, at least in my time here. And so, two students volunteered to join uh, the Department of Education's uh, team, and I I sent their names forward. I'm waiting to hear back to see if they can still get admitted for the year. Each high school in the state has allowed two representatives. So, two of our seniors, Cindy being one, had asked if they could participate in that, which I think is great. It will give us representation in the statewide student advisory. Um, and
009then the last thing I'll say is I am interested in doing some leadership work with them. Uh, part of what I think our responsibility is also to help them and foster their leadership skills. And so, I wanted to do think about doing some training for them and with them related to like adaptive leadership as they move on, not just as leaders in the high school, but as they move on in their careers. um hopefully to be civic-minded leaders in Salem and beyond. >> Cruz, >> thank you, Dr. Dre, for the update. I think um on my end, this will come as no surprise. I I would love to uh just come into compliance with the law around um the students being able to actually engage directly with the committee beyond having the student representative here.
010So, I recognize the need for training and capacity. Member Campbell and I have done that with the adviserss uh multiple times. uh but it still hasn't led to them coming to the committee and I think there's ways for us to create spaces through the committee the whole structure uh or even special meetings where we could connect directly with the students and just hear from them on their perspective on major decisions within the district uh and things that are priorities for them. So, you know, I'd love to just stress the importance of setting that uh expectation um and hoping that um the students recognize their role in advising us, especially when I think about, you know, what's in front of them as they talk about issues with facilities. Uh I think we need student voice when
011it comes to the high school project. There's a lot of adult-based conversations with respect to that project. So I think it would be great as we think about um your superintendence report and whether you've highlighted student voice in the past, you know, what can we do to prepare them and backwards map from a meeting in which they would come to this meeting uh to this school committee prepared to do some advocacy around district-wide priorities related to students. So that's my charge. Um and happy to be supportive superintendent uh and provide resources, but I just think it would be um really important especially in the years to come where we know there's going to be a lot of big budgetary shifts. We're having conversations around uh configuration, you know, the schools, um facilities, playgrounds, you name
012it. And it would just be great to have those students a part of the dialogue aside from, you know, our engagement with the student representative directly. >> Yeah. And I think the challenge with that, Mr. cruises that like the time how to get their schedules are they have the most diff challenging schedules of them all of all I mean I've told them I'm flexible whenever they I it's hard for me to line them all up on a schedule. I think a Zoom would be the best way to do it if we could get everybody get get a meeting with the school committee on Zoom. >> Yeah, I I certainly agree. We've done that in the past when we wanted to engage more broadly with the student advisory council. Zoom is equitable. It gives access to
013kids that may not have transportation or work obligations. So uh I'm not suggesting a particular format or that even them coming to uh this particular chamber as it's not always the most welcoming and inviting of places. Um we could even meet them where they are >> uh with respect to you know thinking about meetings that could happen earlier in the day and we can offer hybrid options. Um, so you know, I'm just I I think it's really important for us as we think about everything that's happening within the district to really get that advice directly from the students aside from the reports and to be able to ask them things as well about our thinking and where they think uh as a committee when it comes to the strategic plan where we need to make
014adjustments to take into account their their voices as well. >> Agreed. Uh and we'll work on that. I know that we've fallen short on that the last couple years, but now that I we have a strong group of um student advisory that I think we can certainly make that happen. And I'll work with uh Miss Wilkins on uh scheduling as she's the uh faculty representative. >> Thank you. >> Anything else on the student representatives report? All right, superintendent report. >> Uh yeah, good evening. I think we're just going to jump right into uh the topics um for the evening which are college and career counseling and then we have a presentation about playgrounds which we're excited to receive. Um I'll just say that uh our enrollment is um will be certified next week. Um and
015it looks like we're about 80 to 90 students above where we were last year at this time which is a really really good news. uh but we'll know officially um on September 30th which is again uh in a week and uh but the trends are moving in the right direction. Sadly, we're welcoming fewer newcomers to the district which is not a good thing and long-term presents a problem will present problems for us because we benefit from newcomers coming for obvious reasons, but it helps our enrollment, enriches our community. But those numbers have declined, especially at the high school level. We've seen while our high school numbers have gone up, our numbers overall, our numbers of newcomers have not gone up. We've seen a decline and Mr. Burns and Miss Susa Susa can speak to that.
016Um they know that. Well, um the other thing I'd just say is um our MCAST data will be the embargo is lifted on Monday at noon. Uh so that at that point I'll be sending out a letter to the community regarding um our performance across the schools. Uh we'll be presenting to the school committee on October 6th uh our annual MCCAST uh um presentation. I promise it won't be 99 slides. Um but there's a lot of information. We'll try to synthesize it. Kate and I got the message. Um but uh and we'll we'll be sharing, you know, the tren our our trends uh with you on that date. So you should know that that's coming um coming out. We're also um be we'll be sending out a correspondence to families regarding some of the re
017reconfiguration process that's upcoming uh at the elementary school level. I'll be checking in with school committee members about the um about that process, but uh we want to make sure that our families are aware and our staff are aware of of the information gathering that we're going to be doing in the next couple weeks. uh with the hope to have a school committee presentation in November where we detail uh some recommendations for the school committee for consideration, not decision, but for consideration at that point. So, I'll be in touch with um school committee members about that and you'll be seeing uh the community will be seeing a letter very soon in the next couple days laying out um or providing an overview of that process. Um with that, I would ask uh our high school
018team very happy to have uh Mr. Burns here and I know he's got to get back to his spirit fire. Um, and Miss Sus Sosa who's here to present about our college and career counseling work. Um, I will say, you know, you you heard a presentation, I guess it was over a year ago now. We had a study done from Attuned about um our college and career work. I think um there's I think the presentation will speak for itself, but a lot of work has been done um in the last year and this is an opportunity to provide you with an update and allow you to ask questions from of Mr. Burns and Miss Susa of the work that they've done um to improve. We all knew we had work to do in terms of
019improving um our our systems for kids to be well prepared for their future beyond Salem High School. So, Mr. Burns. >> Well, thank you for having us um to give provide this update. It was not last school year. It was the spring of the school year before where we met with a consultant and we kind of went through all the data of where Salem High was. um generated a plan and then um some of it was continuation of some things we put in place and some of it was um really creating new structures in in our school to engage families um students and our faculty. Uh and we're still working on some of those. Um, but really our our story is around students identity, creating agency or aic behaviors and providing them a purpose as
020soon as they walk through our doors. Um, and with that we're at a place now where we have more kids exploring where they want to be and what they want to do, whether that's college or career. And where what I mean by where is are they going to be are they going right off into the workforce with certifications um through one of our CTE programs. Are they going off to the are they taking a gap year? And a lot of our kids that are taking a gap year are intentional about what they're doing during that time which is great. Um and then we have a larger group of kids that are going to college and university and we want to make sure that that's the right fit. Um, and they're getting on on top of
021that well in advance of their senior year. So, my first year, we had way too many seniors deciding in the spring of their senior year, I'm going to college. That doesn't leave a lot of time for planning, for preparation, um, or even connect them to what they want to do. Um, so after my first year and with the help of Miss Soua and the team, um, we've kind of cleaned that up and kids are more intentional about where they're going. So today, as we stand in front of you, and I'm going to have Miss Souza explain all of the things that we're doing, um, we have 459 applications to colleges already to 25 different states and two international. And that's a huge difference than from 5 years ago. Um, and we're going to continue on
022that on that track and making sure that our kids have everything they need and that all of the adults in the building and all the adults connected to our building understand what the options and opportunities are for our kids. And that's really our biggest barrier right now is finding better ways to connect to our families and giving them the information um to support their kid co on the college or career path or both. And that's one of the great things about Salem High is that you can take AP classes, early college classes, and be in a CTE program. I don't know very many I don't know of technically of any other school that allows all of that stuff to happen that's a comprehensive public high school. Um, so that's what we're we're really proud of.
023And Miss Souza, who's our director of college and career, >> good evening y'all. Uh so uh first I just want to address a few changes and impacts uh from the school year of 2025. So last school year um there is a lot of data uh in information on all these slides. It's a pretty expansive slide deck. So I'll be doing an overview but wanted to ensure make sure that all of the information was accessible uh in detail. So, I'll be doing an overview of these slides, but they um they're all in very detail about what um we have accomplished and then also where we're going and where our goals are for this year. Uh so, this past year, uh we've made some significant and important shifts. Uh every school, every student now has access to
024onetoone post-secondary planning that's tied directly to their course selection and post-secary plan. So rather than just a meeting with their counselor to ensure that they're up to date on credits, uh significant shift to tie it to their course selection and post-secondary planning, uh launching workshops, uh aligned with the MYAP framework, uh leveraged Naviance for planning and course request uh and strengthen our part partnerships with local universities and community organizations uh so our students can get real experiences in advanced coursework and work-based learning. Uh, and this is what all of these slides and information are going to identify and talk a bit about tonight and some of our kids doing great things. Uh, so before uh we dive into where we're going in 2026, just to take a very brief look back and where we've come
025uh that these were the key initiatives that were identified through the attuned assessment. Um and uh the six priorities or six uh key initiatives. Uh the first one was around tier one counseling and curriculum. Uh so now we have a structured researchbased curriculum uh that is uh for every student and all experiences. Uh it's embedded both in crew and pushing workshops uh that are directed by counselors. uh so the access is consistent for all and not those um who are in the right classes at the right time. Uh so in nth grade for example this is embedded through their electives or their exploratory experience for a comprehensive uh 7-day period along with advisories and crews um to a push-in model that's also supp uh in their core classes uh that is supplemented through crew. Uh
026so there's been a very heavy shift to have direct instruction from counselors uh on this curriculum that is aligned with the scope and sequence of my cap through the state. Uh for information sharing uh outcome data is not is no longer siloed. Uh we share it with the full staff uh so everyone understands where our students are thriving uh and where gaps remain. And so this really is to shift the culture of post-secondary readiness across the school. So it's something that's being discussed uh with students not only with their counselor or in small areas in AP courses or early college but throughout uh the school and their educators. uh metrics and monitoring. Uh we shifted from anecdotal data uh to really uh tracking inputs uh like meetings, outputs in applications and FASA completion uh outcomes
027and college enrollment. Uh and we're doing this through Naviance and Aspen primarily. Uh so cleaning up how we are tracking uh d what data are we looking at? How are we tracking that so our uh information is correct and we can make shifts in the moment. Uh and uh work with key um work with students and do interventions early instead of waiting for senior year. Uh so that is tracked regularly and looked at regularly. Uh the professional learning admissions world changes constantly. Uh our team has prioritized professional learning. Uh we also have partnered with one goal um to for the college and career team to receive structured PD uh focus on on equity and best practices so the counselors are better prepared to guide every pathway. So from four-year colleges to apprentice apprenticeships gap years
028um and then family engagement. We've expanded our programming uh and that's even more so this year. But we have expanded our programming with FASA completion nights uh affordability sessions uh multilingual workshops. Uh and so this is to continue to bridge that gap so parents and guardians can are uh true partners in the post-secondary planning process. Um and the last is uh collaboration across um C3 uh college career and the adjustment counselors. Um yeah, and this uh this this point go this part goes to the point of making sure that everybody um understands what's going on. So, we've added um we've structured our our meeting time so that um our school adjustment counselors are in tier one team meetings um communicating with the teachers um constantly and looking at and speaking to the teachers about interventions
029that they're they're exercising or what kids goals are as teachers are sometimes talking about or asking for what supports can we put in place for this for this child and our SAC have a fuller picture of that child. Um, as well as our C3 counselors who are at our risk review, making sure that we're building plans that are helping kids reach their goals. And that is something that we weren't necessarily doing when I first started. It was more of we're graduating students. Now, we're not graduate. It's not about graduation. And and our goal has been and is in our plan that every kid graduates with um credits or credentials. and the school adjustment counselors and our C3 counselors working together and at those different levels in those meetings are making sure that we're able to
030support the kids to make sure they're they're able to obtain their goals. And we can see that in a few pieces of data that aren't in the slides of 75% of 11th and 12th graders are all taking advanced coursework and passing. That means they are on track to meet their goals and that that's a big deal and that's up from um five years ago when it was for I believe it was 42%. Um so that's a big shift in in demographics every demographic has jumped um in those numbers. Um >> uh so just uh to bridge on that evidence of impact um the first one is advanced coursework. Uh so this data as Mr. Burns has said has uh started to move pretty dramatically. Uh so the enrollment in advanced coursework is up across the
031board especially for Hispanic students, students of color, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities. Um this is also we're seeing more students applying to multiple colleges or multiple workforce pathways. uh and uh stu more students significantly more students are completing their career teched programs with certification. Uh significantly fewer students are leaving uh Salem without a plan. Uh so that was the number that jumped out the most uh during my first year of how high the data was of students that were leaving uh un without a plan that were um unknown. uh and how we've closed that significantly um over the past four years. Uh FASTA completion and post-secary enrollment are also in climbing. Uh so showing the impacts that uh the changes are making a difference in student outcomes. Uh the other uh key part in
032outputs for applications, FASA and post-graduation. Uh so this is the MYAP work and it's been the backbone. Uh we've aligned all of the workshops workshops to the mycap scope in sequence uh built structured workshop models um and we have put that into atlas uh as a full unit planner uh that we built rubrics on uh and evaluate consistently uh this so in school year of 2025 74% of students demonstrated mastery of tier one skills and over 90% of students received direct instruction from counselors in these these workshops um which is a significant step forward. Uh the prior uh model had been through crew only uh so just those 20 minutes on Friday that were uh counselor supported but teacher led so counselor uh curriculum but led by in teachers uh that has shifted to that
033being a support and supplemental rather than the direct instruction. Direct instruction is now given straight through the counselors uh through a five-hour workshop model for the exception of freshmen who receive seven hours. So that leads us into uh what are our priorities for uh this school year. Uh so where we have where we've been, where we are, and how are we going to continue to move forward. Um so we have four uh main priorities for this school year. Uh and like I said, these are pretty significantly or are laid out in details with interm uh measurements uh to build in interventions with action steps. So I'm going to just do a quick review over the four, but they are all are here uh in detail. Um, so we want to, so we're ensuring that 95%
034of 9th and 12th graders have a one-to-one counseling meeting that are aligned with their post-secary planning and course selection goals. Um, this is to raise also raise the percentage of seniors applying to at least three schools from 39% to 75%. making sure that 90% of students spend at least five hours exploring post-secondary pathways and that is through our workshop model and crew and then increase our FASA completion to 75%. Um, like I said, we've built interim checkpoints throughout the year and comprehensive action steps to ensure the interventions can happen quickly, uh, as a way to meet these goals by the end of 2026. Uh, and we are already well on our way. Um, our 9th grade workshops have started since the beginning of the year. Uh, counselors are completing the senior workshops now. Uh, we've
035already had our first, uh, guardian caregiver evening uh, for early action, early decision. Um so these plans started in August uh and are already um are already on the path to completion. So to make this work sustainable, we've invested in some new structures and systems. Um with the case load shift um in the college and career department um we've created a dedicated 9th grade counselor uh to do targeted uh targeted class um workshops and interventions with nth grade to set up post-secary planning uh and achievement early. Um also with onboarding a new multi-ingual school counselor um who is uh multilingual. He uh speaks three languages. Uh shifting to small groupoup workshops uh that are targeted for student support and needs to ensure all students are receiving uh equitable post-secondary planning. We've expanded family workshops uh
036and also expanded our weekly common planning time for counselors to look and to work within our data so we can adjust curriculum and create interventions, build stronger collaborations with assistant principles, looking at our ontrack conferencing and doing that work very early so we can make shifts where needed quickly um to look at to heighten student outcomes. And then our partnerships are a huge driver of our success. Um we continue to work with LEAP. Uh we've started to work with college affordable for um for FAFSA completion um and financial aid for students. Uh and then our college of Salem State and Northshore. Uh we now are also partnering with one goal. Uh so they're helping us build the capacity on our counseling team specifically. Um so they're working with researchbased strategies and equitydriven practices uh to
037our professional development. Uh and so we are ensuring that our counselors have the high level tools and trainings that they need in order to deliver um quality content uh and guide students in best practices for their post-secary outcomes. And that is our portrait of a graduate. Any questions? Thank you. Questions from the committee. Member Cornell. >> Uh I don't have a question. Um I just want to say that I think you know we had a lot of work to do from last year to this year and um I was saying to me that I know it's slower than you want it to be. Um but it's really been a lot of measurable progress and you know the getting kids to understand the pathway to college getting them to understand the significance of transcripts of course
038selection giving more kids access to AP courses and talking to families as I told you earlier um they really understand more than they have in past cohorts of students particularly um the rising the current juniors and the rising seniors like definitely more than in the past two years. So, um I know it's it's been a lot. I just want to recognize that it has been a lot of work. Um but you know, you've got a lot of excellent outcomes. I think those AP scores really demonstrate a lot. the fact that we have so many students taking those courses that they seem to understand their schedules a little bit better, um understand their the grading system a little bit better, how to use Naviance, all of those kinds of things. Like it's still not where we're
039where, you know, we can be better. Um but the idea of just creating a culture of high expectation and the expectation of um post-secary success, which I don't think we, as you said, we weren't there, you know, even three years ago. So, um, yeah, I think this is great and I commend you for all this work. >> Thank you, >> Member Cruz. >> Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, uh, for the presentation. Thought it was really thorough. Uh, echo the sentiments of member Cornell. It's great to see the progress that's been made. I remember when you all came to us first four years ago about some of the work that was happening uh, with college and career counseling and to just see the gains that have been made post pandemic. I think the story of Salem
040High is a unique one. So, Mr. Burns, I totally agree with you. I don't think there are other comprehensive high schools that operate in a similar fashion. Uh so we can definitely give ourselves a pat on the back for that. With respect to my cap, uh I'm curious. Um I know that there are some um districts I'm working on legislation around statewide mandate around having some type of advising system, preferably my cap just because of the research around it, its efficacy and tools. Uh I know some districts are having conversations around u rolling back my cap's use to the middle school level. I think we've heard a little bit about that with the redesign process. What does the conversation look like with your counterparts at Collins around career college counseling? >> I'm going to hand
041it over to Magg because she's actually having those conversations. But yes, um we are trying to roll a bunch of things down to the middle school so that there's a stronger connection between the middle and high school. I meet with uh Gavin um Softic and uh Sonia Lo. there is a meeting um on the books that happens frequently and we talk about how at the high school we have preap um starting in 9th grade and how do we get those skills down into into the middle school so that they're preparing but as far as counseling um Meg has been working on on that. >> I I completely agree that um to see the best outcomes and gains is that this work starts in sixth grade the way that the um that the state has rolled
042out its scope and sequence. Uh so looking at the eighth grade pilot uh last year um we tal I was working with Morishio uh a bit and talking at how we can take incorporate in their advisory and crew the my cap lessons they have now have access to Naviance we actually use NViance in 8th grade for them to do their course selection the same as the high school and our high school counselors went down to explain that process and start their post-secary planning based on what they were doing in 8th grade uh to transition to the high Uh so uh there definitely is conversations that have started but that is absolutely one of the next steps is how are we rolling this down uh now that they have the tools to use that as part
043of their common vocabulary and use uh and using that scope and sequence as well. >> Okay. Can I just jump in there? I I mean the state is also requiring that the middle schools submit a p uh pathway plan which is going to come before the uh committee in just a matter of weeks. Um and part of that is what their advising advisory plan is. Uh and that's an expectation the department has for all middle schools both in terms of so both um you know college higher education path but also career uh path. And on the uh October 20th meeting I think it is the middle school will be here to talk about their work um around this because you're also going to be taking a vote uh that night around the um policy which
044has to be submitted to the state by November 1st. Um I do think Collins is pretty well we got a lot of work to do but they're further ahead than most middle schools because they've started that work in earnest with um the and Kate I should turn to you see if there's anything you would add to that um about the work that the middle school is doing. >> Yeah. So I think they um you know with Chelsea and uh Mia and through the pilot they've been um we we sol solicited money from the Reed Trust to really explore the use of myap and um really focusing on um the career exploration and doing some of the early work with kids at the middle school. It's too honestly it's kind of late to do it at
045high school. We want kids really thinking about um you what their interests are um who they are, what they want to be, um you know, what courses um are of interest to them, what content areas, and so pushing that down to the middle school has been a priority. Um so I think they've um been building that out and integrating it into um their um social emotional learning blocks that they have um during the school day. And then uh my other questions or first a comment on the fast piece. It's a herculean effort. Really appreciate all the work that's going into this. I'm pleased that uh we remain district that partners with a lot of the community based organizations that are in the college access and completion space. Um, I know that, uh, when we had
046done a visit to, uh, Salem Academy together, uh, we were learning a little bit about their, uh, how they're working with their alumni on persistence, uh, related pieces and just figuring out how folks are doing. Uh, I'm just wondering, you know, since that conversation, you know, what's been the thought process around figuring out exactly what happens with our kids once they leave here? Um cuz I I do think that you know it's one thing to set up the system uh and to you know get folks to the place where you're tackling these issues of college career access completion but then um if you don't have the persistence in the end it's like there's some learning that should be happening at the district level about you know what were the gaps that led to that. So
047I'm just curious about you know that side of the work and I know that the state needs a longitudinal data system also working on that but just first and foremost just want to hear your perspective. Uh so one of the first things we did is that uh we expanded our Navvian to the alumni tracker which allows uh to gather a lot more data around persistence. Uh and then one of the main priorities of one goal in that partnership this year is to work on uh summer melt uh and alumni um and alumni support as they're moving into college. So we're now getting much better data about where our students uh are going and within their first year. Uh and then also that is one of the main priorities of one goal uh through that professional
048development of assisting students more than through um our we do have a multi- there's one right at the end of the year and then multi- uh staff a multi-system survey uh of how students are doing so that we can do some outreach. uh but looking to expand that further especially for our firstgen students. >> Great. Thank you. >> Also to follow up in CTE they do do um a sixmon 18month and fiveyear survey outreach to the students to track their persistence and what they're doing. >> Great. Thank you. >> Member Cornell. >> I just want to note two other things. Um, one is that, and I'm a broken record about this, with, you know, we have because of the district that we're in with firstgen >> students and first generation families, you know, and immigrant
049families and and ML speakers that we have a responsibility, and I think this is sort of at the district level, to to figure out how we're going, you know, we're pushing into the middle school now, which is great, and we have to push into those younger grades. I say that all the time. If your parents did not go to college, you're not having conversations around the kitchen table about college. That doesn't come up until you're in high school. So figuring out how to do age appropriate college introduction conversations with our youngest learners is the best way to get them prepared and to get them to understand like this is why I'm here, right? Like this is what I'm doing here is that eventually I'm not going to be in school anymore and I'm going to
050be doing something else. So, um I just at some point would like an update about how how we can start implementing that into the curriculum for for our littlest guys. Um and the other thing that I also wanted to mention and this is like you know my parent hat also uh I know that Gavin and and everybody the entire team at the middle school is working incredibly hard to to really raise expectations for students. Um, I think we probably still have a long way to go. I know just because I have a 10th grader now, that transition from eighth grade of doing no homework to 9th grade and doing homework all the time. I don't know if your 10th grader had that experience going into nth grade, it was rough. And so really having that
051accountability in the middle school of like preparing them to do homework to that they should have high expect their teacher should have high expectations of them and they should have high expectations of themselves. Um, you know, I think that's a that's a key to the that transition because I think it's clear we are setting really high expectations at the high school. Thank you. That that's one of the the items that I I'm most proud of is the expectations that our teachers are holding in that starting in ninth grade in particular this year because there it was our second year of offering AP classes for 9th graders. There was a lot more discussion with parents and with with children on should they take two, should they take one, what's what's right? And there are more academic
052conversations around course selection versus well I really like this thing so that's what I'm going to do. It's well what's your there's more around what do you want to do after high school and let's get classes that align to that and and kids are they're benefiting from those conversations but they're also really engaged with them. >> Dr. Sh. >> Yeah. Can I I mean I I think the work at the high school is been very impressive over the last few years. Um and you can see it in the results and I particularly love seeing the fact that his students who haven't historically had the opportunities to take advanced course work um are getting access to that. We have more kids in early college. We have more kids taking AP courses who are not the uh
053traditional students who um have you know students whose parents had previously gone to college. um the high achie achievers coming in that are having access. I still think we have more work to do uh as Meg talked about in terms of kids being clear about what their plans are for the future. Um it really is refreshing when I talk to a high schooler and they they can talk with clarity and purpose about what they don't need to know what they want to do for the rest of our their life because none of us do and now we know people have many different careers. But um but it's it's good that they have an idea of what they're interested in. So, that'd be the first thing I want to see. We need to see more of.
054The second is, you know, I I it's not okay, and Glenn and I talk about this a lot. It's not okay to just have the diploma um and graduate. Like, we can't pat ourselves on the back for our graduation rates going up because that's not a competitive advantage in Massachusetts. We're one of the most competitive states in the country. And we need our graduates, as Glenn mentioned at one point, it's it's about diploma plus. It's diploma plus the credentials, uh high school credentials. I mean the uh college credits, uh the workplace certificates, AP courses. I mean, we want our students to leave the seal of biiteracy with all of those things that are going to make them competitive once they leave us. It's not okay that to just be satisfied with them crossing the stage,
055but it's that they're actually going to be outpacing and doing better than kids in other and and and we do have a high school. I I I can say that having worked in other high schools. I have a child that goes to another high school, public high school, but we offer more than almost any high school I've ever seen, public high school I should say, in the state. It's amazing what we offer. And I do I want to make sure that as many of our kids take advantage of that. Um, and they don't look back and say, I we regret that I didn't take these courses or didn't uh, you know, engage in these opportunities, especially kids who are as as has been mentioned, firstgen college students. So I think we we we have more
056work to do. I think our kids could be even more competitive leaving us. And then the final thing that I want to continue to push is we have to look at persistence. We have to look at how kids do once they leave us. Um because it's not again okay. They may start in college or they may start in a career but if they if they a lot of them don't persist and so that persistence is something we've got to do a better job of tracking. There are schools in the state, public schools, mainly charters, that do a better job of following kids once they leave. And obviously, we'll have to think about how the resources are used for that. But I do think that's something I want to make sure we can continue to do
057because it's not enough to again to graduate them to do well in this economy and in in our state. You have to college is important and having and and uh and persisting through is what we want to see. not just starting, taking a few courses and then leaving because as we know it's very hard to get back into college uh and get back into higher ed if they um if if we don't support them to persist and thrive throughout college. So those are just I mean the the foundation is there there's but there's obviously more work to do and I think I'm excited about the direction that the team that you have a new team there Meg. Um the work with one goal I think is something that I think we should be reporting back
058on to this um body. I mean, uh, a lot of, uh, one goal has a good track record with first generation collegegoers. So, I'd love to see where we are with that work at the end of the school year. >> Member Cruz, >> can I just make a request on that one goal presentation? It would be great if the staff would be willing to come. I I know the folks over there, um, Amanda and her team are are excellent. I think it would be great given that we have some members that are newer to the committee that may not be familiar with some of the work that they do. So anytime we can get our partners here as well so that they can engage and um obviously we're going to have some new committee members
059come um come January. So want to make sure that they get the opportunity to have that kind of stakeholder engagement uh with respect to the strategic plan and these types of initiatives. So um I just put that out there as like as a committee it's always important for us to have that professional learning. >> Any further questions? Great. Thank you very much. >> Thanks. >> Enjoy Spirit Fire. >> Okay. Um, next on the agenda, I'm really pleased that uh we have a group of uh parents here, real life parents. We're happy to have them. Um, well, so we got some real life parents up here, too. But um uh who are here to talk about um some playground recommendations. If you remember last year, we uh launched the playground committee. Um it was a superintendent
060advisory committee and uh we're very thankful that Kate Matern took up I I didn't know if she knew what she was signing herself up to for but really pleased that she jumped in to uh convene a group of parents. Folks volunteered through you know our communication channels. They reached out to Kate and um you know we've been engaging with this committee uh through the spring but in the summer and I thought it would be good for uh for the committee to hear some of the thoughts that they have. Um, I know playgrounds, we know playgrounds are very important to this community, to our families, to our kids. Um, and while we've done a lot of work on playgrounds over the last few years, uh, we know that there's more work to do. And, uh, I
061think it's always helpful to have the perspective of our families, uh, who utilize these playgrounds with their kids. Um, and, um, some of them have had kids in multiple schools, so they can speak about their experiences. And uh so I thought it would be helpful to have their perspective especially much earlier than during the budget season because we know in the spring it's too late to get things uh for consideration to the budget process. So we thought this was the right time to do that. So I also want to call out that principal Weaver here is here from Carlton. Appreciate that uh she's here supporting this conversation. Um and uh with that I'll turn it over to uh Kate and the team that is the power team across three schools I think right >> three
062schools >> uh that are here tonight. >> Okay. Thank you so much for your time tonight. We really appreciate you having us. Um my name is Kate Matter. I have a first grader at Bentley. Um and previous to that he was at the ECC. Um we want to talk to you tonight about the state of the district's early childhood play spaces. at Carlton ECC and Horseman Lab School. Um, can I get my Oh, here we go. Okay. Um, in preparing for this, I drove around and looked at all of our playgrounds this summer. I'm so impressed with the new playgrounds. I hope that they all look as beautiful as this someday. Thank you for your work on that. Um, so I want to start by acknowledging that this is a difficult time to be talking
063about playgrounds. Um, we understand that the school committee has an extraordinarily long list of things on your plate right now. Um, this is a heavy time. You're protecting our immigrant students. You're grappling with budget cuts. Um, and we understand the play might seem like a nice extra that could maybe take a backseat for a moment. Um, and while I really do wish we could shorten the list of demands that we're making on the district, um, as parents, we do feel like the state of play for Salem's public school kids is both a serious and a time-sensitive issue. Um, as we'll review site by sight, our early childhood playgrounds right now range from mostly empty to potentially dangerous um to inaccessible with kids with physical disabilities. Um, and while no play is or even necessarily should
064be risk-f free, um, we do think that parents have a reasonable expectation that the playgrounds being provided for their kids are age appropriate. Um, we also think the kids have a reasonable expectation that they'll have opportunities to run and climb in playgrounds that look inviting and well cared for. Um, I'm also concerned that the district is currently in a vulnerable position for lawsuits because the playgrounds are not necessarily um, age appropriate and they're not ADA compatible in all cases. Um, so to start us off, I'm going to hand this over to Melinda, our Carlton representative. >> Hi. So, I'm Melinda Baker. I have a um a second grader at Carlton and I also act as the co-president of the PTO. Um and we just kind of want to sort of like level set what Carlton
065has available to it right now. So we have one play area that's for our kindergarten students that's um connected to the school. It's essentially um um an asphalt area that's right outside of their instruction room. Um it doesn't have any shade. They have limited um physical things to play with. So, it's mostly just like an open area to run around, which the kids do love, but we would just like to, you know, consider that that is their play option. Um, the other students for grades 1 through five actually go to a nearby playground that's part of the parks and recreations space. Um, and it is close and it but it is technically not managed them by the school district. So if anything happens there, there's no recourse that the school district is able to sort
066of help to guarantee time on the playground or things like that. Um and then part of the reason why our younger kids are at the place adjacent to the school is that in some cases the parks and recreation facility is not completely age appropriate for all the kids to to be there. Um, we are excited that we learned that the construction of the March Street playground is going to start very soon. Um, we're excited for what that's going to look like afterwards, but it is going to take our playground offline for the rest of the school year. Um, and so we are actively trying to think about other ways where the kids will still get active play time and space in a safe environment. Um, but this is just kind of like what we are
067um, adapting to right now. Um, we do like that some toys or loose structures have been added to our um to our P1 area and we're adapting to bring in things like some more um movable things like basketball courts and things like that to accommodate um then the rest of the school year. Okay, so this image on the screen um this is most of the Salem Early Childhood Cent's playground. Um, not pictured is a swing setat, which is great and age appropriate. Um, ECC playground is also a space that's managed by parks and rack and not by the school district. So, this is a public playground. Um, it's used every day by 130 3 to 5year-olds at the ECC as well as now the prek classes at Bentley. Um, there's really almost no usable equipment
068for that age range. Um, only the swings and a short climbing tube. The spinner is not age appropriate um but has been allowed to stay because this is a public playground and not a school playground. Um the ECC is an inclusive school where about half of the student body has some type of special needs. Opportunities to safely climb um are very important to young kids generally, but especially to those with disabilities that affect muscle tone and balance. Um the only solution the school has at this moment um is that small backyard um type climbing structure that does not have a sufficient fall zone. Um an educator at the ECC provided an anonymous comment about the playground. They said, "Every day at the ECC, I see how our playground just doesn't have what our youngest and
069most vulnerable students really need. There aren't enough permanent age appropriate play structures, and there's no barrier to keep them safe from flying baseballs. Um, the children deserve a safe, welcoming place to play and grow. And I hope we can work together to make our playground truly meet their needs. >> Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Erica Clifford. I'm the PTC president at Horusman Lab School and my daughters attend there. I have one in kindergarten and one in the fourth grade and both of them started at the ECC. Um, Horseman has two playgrounds. Uh, the pathways playground is pictured, but our rear playground is also um in disrepair. So, the problem with our front playground is the structures are not age appropriate and the wood chips are not accessible for our um for all of our students.
070We have now three developmental classrooms and we have children who have mobility uh restrictions that can't access play along with their peers. We have children who um tend to mouth the uh the mulch. And though our repairs are fantastic and thus far have kept everybody safe, they're doing their jobs. They're wonderful. Still, the children feel the pressure to put the mulch in their mouths. If that was removed, they could play. We have a lack of inclusive play elements and the rear playground is almost worse because there's no fencing and it's adjacent to the road of that the um high school goes past. If the ECC relocates to Horus man, the space may also be used by all of their children. I'm not sure if that'll happen, but those kids do have special needs that need
071to be taken into consideration as well. The Pathways playground also doesn't have accessible servants surfacing and contains no commercial play equipment. Right now, we have really no place play spaces that will work for all of our students and are accessible for all of them. There are gaps in the structure that some of our that some of our kids could fall through. And if you look at that, right now we have preschoolers using that struct using using that structure. It's inappropriate. >> Do you want to take the slide or do >> Sure. I'll do this one. Thanks. Um, we were approached with the option of loose toys as a lowcost option. And though that's definitely cost-saving, it's significantly less expensive than installing new surfacing. Um, it's appealing, it's affordable, it requires much less work. But high
072quality equipment encourages more physical play than toys alone. A 2023 study, for instance, found that higher playability scores for playground amenities and play structures were associated with 28% and 15% higher levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity, respectively, and higher scores for playground amenities were associated with increased energy expenditure. That result appears to be longasting. A 2018 study measured stu student activity levels on a Colorado playground before installation of high-quality equipment, then for one year afterward. At one year, students demonstrated an increase of 17.2% for moderate to to vigorous physical activity and 33.1% for vigorous physical activity from baseline. It's our belief that the district needs a fully equipped, permanently installed playground with ADA surfacing and climbing structure at all its school buildings. So, I know what you're probably thinking is there just not money
073to solve this problem, and we understand that. Um, so what do we suggest? As the district considers the shuffling of students between buildings, we want playgrounds to be part of that conversation. Um, new students with new abilities may require new play structures. Uh moving forward, we hope the city and the committee will take care to consider whether it makes sense for schools to reply uh rely on public playgrounds as their primary school playground. Um we are of the position that our schools should have on-site playgrounds managed by the school district whenever possible. Um and if there aren't funds to give our kids safe and accessible place fun play spaces, we need to find those funds. Um, we believe that finding funding for even a part-time development professional could help speed up the rate at which
074Salem public schools can realistically tackle this kind of major capital project. Funds may exist that we currently have neither the expertise nor the staffing bandwidth to pursue. I think having a development person on staff, even part-time, might be hugely beneficial to the district, not just for playgrounds, but for a variety of projects. So, that's all we got. Um, any questions? We welcome them. Thank you. >> Thank you. I'll open up to members of the committee. Member Cruz. >> First start with a comment. Thank you so much for coming in for your advocacy and for the time. You got to be careful. You never know what happens when you start giving time to the district. You get roped into things. So appreciate the the efforts that have gone into this. And um as a committee, you
075know, what I can say is that we've spent I think the last eight years really hearing from parents in a non-structured way with respect to the the playgrounds and that the impetus for the big shifts that we've seen was related to our master facility plan and then a playground um safety study that was in conjunction with what the city was leading. So I'm sure you all had a chance to take a look at those materials. So um you know I think we recognize like this is an issue and part of it is what can we do as a committee? what happens on the capital side on the city and then how we can get creative. So appreciate having this advisory. I think on my end what would be most helpful you know superintendent is to
076understand um in terms of the priorities that come up from buildings and grounds what we've submitted for capital you know where are the opportunities for some more interactive conversation with this committee now that it's up and established and officially now making recommendations to the full body which is great because I do think um there was prioritization that took place based on previous advocacy uh that we wanted to honor with some of the other school communities that had brought forward um these same exact concerns. But I I do think um the good news is like some of this is um uh some of this is achievable I think with some of the recommendations that you've mentioned um and it's the priority um in terms of the accessibility those are the things that we've discussed the safety
077age appropriateness and I just think where we need to fine-tune is like as we're having conversations about reconfiguration it would be great if we could have um the support of the committee and getting the word out to members of the community when we have those conversations uh and that folks are really talking about that as part of, you know, what we're thinking about when we might be moving elementary school aged and early learners across the districts. So, we would welcome the support because I do think there's going to be a lot of tough conversations with the uh the budget deficit that we have in the upcoming budget cycle uh in the next two. And then additionally, uh just with respect to uh some of the shifts that we're looking at. So, we would welcome I
078think the partnership would be super important uh in order to get folks thinking like even though we're going to make a lot of monumental shifts, yes, we're budget constrained, you know, I think that there's some opportunities for you all to, you know, convince some of your fellow parents to help us uh with the advocacy we need to do um here as a community to make sure that certain things move forward. Uh and then the last piece that I would just ask is um it'd be great on my end um to just know like what are the um uh that research if you all could just share that with me. What are the opportunities to have this conversation more broadly uh with folks across the state? Because I do think this is like one of the
079things I hear about all the time about safe play, inclusive play. I just joined the the board of Tower, the Tower Foundation that does a lot of great work around uh inclusion. Uh, and so certainly something I care personally about and know that every year that a kid doesn't have a place to play, um, that's a lot of pain and suffering for families and for those students. So, just would welcome the partnership on some other advocacy that we could be doing together. >> Thank you, >> members. Member Cornell. >> Um, I just have a couple things. Thank you so much. I love, you know, I love a task force. I love a I love a committee. I love all the stuff. And so, having parents on it, we I know it takes a lot of
080time and effort. And so, thank you. Um, one thing I, you know, I was sort of thinking about this because my kids are old. So, um, is that prior to COVID, any kind of playground, uh, rebuild in Salem was ex like an exclusively parent driven process, right? So, like the Salts playground was parent driven, parent fundraised. Um, my husband helped like he like did the common playground. That place was I came and it was bananas. So um but that was entirely fundraised and literally built by parents. So the post this sort of postcoid era where the city and the district is putting effort into you know making these these investments in our play spaces is actually new in Salem. And so I just want to like recognize that like we have put in one point
081oh a little over$ 1.6 million dollars in the past three years. And so what we're going by is or what the district is going by is that facilities that playground plan like what are the most urgent sort of needs that we have like that we have to from a legal perspective a safety perspective deal with first. So, um, I do think to member Cruz's point, it would be good for us to be more communicative about how that process happens so that folks understand that this isn't sort of like, you know, this isn't like whoever shouts the loudest gets a playground. You know, that that plan is pretty comprehensive and gives us a blueprint for how to make things happen. Um, you know, the I do want to reiterate like we do not have any money
082and it's not temporary. This is diminishing funds from here on out in public schools all over the United States. So like I would I want a grant I want a person like exactly that role that you're talking about. Um, it's difficult it's difficult for me honestly it's difficult for me to look at $1.6 $6 million that we could be putting into our classrooms and it as a school committee member to say like I understand that play is important but I I would love to be able to tap into parents to talk about how we can rethink this effort. So, like in Europe, they hire landscape designers to do playgrounds because they're not spending money on environmentally uh, you know, irresponsible play structures that aren't going to last, right? I mean, we're you can spend hundreds
083of thousands of dollars on it and you'll have to replace it and it's plastic and it's, you know, rubber. Um, as a school committee member, I just want to be totally transparent. I do not want to invest in those materials anymore. Um, so but that but I do want to I do think it's worth investing in landscape designers who can say how do we use natural materials that are going to last a little bit longer that we're not going to spend $35 million $35,000 on to replace a slide, right? Um, and do exactly the kind of gross and fine motor skill development that children deserve when they're in our care. So, um, that that for me is like that's the direction and I've said this before to this body. I would like a more philosophical
084approach to how we think about children and play and what their needs are when they're in those spaces because we cannot afford to continue building these playgrounds like we're not going to be able to. >> So, a couple notes on that. >> Use the um thing so that everybody at home can hear you. Um, I would just say one I think one difference between the time when PTAs were handling fundraising for playgrounds and now is that the laws around surfacing have changed and with that the price has gone up in expon exponentially. So, as you know, a playground now costs a million dollars. I don't think it's realistic to expect our PTAs to raise a million dollars for a playground. >> Um, two, I would be happy to have a landscape designer come in. I've
085met with a landscape designer about the ECC playground. You're still talking about a very high price tag to get a landscaped nature playground. It still has to be ADA compliant. You can't have grass that's not compliant surfacing. Um, so I don't think that's the lowcost solution. It might seem like it is. >> I think it is. It is in fact a lowcost solution over the long term. Like these materials, we're going to replace them. I won't be on school committee, but we're going to replace him in five years, in 10 years. It will be a constant cycle of and it's >> it's environmentally irresponsible. That is my feeling about it. I don't I don't mean to have a debate. I know that's not appropriate in it in school committee, but what I'm just trying to
086and I'm totally happy to come to your meeting because you have done more research on this than I have and just have a conversation about it. I just want to be as like transparent as possible about where I'm coming from because the committee does know because I've talked about it in public before. Um I just feel really strongly this is not it's not sustainable financially or um environmentally. So that those are my two concerns. So but if I like I said I I'd love to come to one of your meetings and then you could tell me why I'm shortsighted. I think a beautifully designed landscaped playground sounds great. I just think um there's accessibility issues around that and I don't think it's it might be lower cost over the long term. It's it's still going
087to be a significant upfront investment. From my perspective, a playground at a school, particularly an early childhood school, is basic infrastructure. I don't set set a distinction between that and classroom learning because for young kids, play is their work. um my background in developmental behavioral pediatric research. Kids need this. This is not an extra. So I I shudder a little bit at the implication that this is, you know, either or. Are we going to put this money into the classrooms or are we going to put money into play? The play is important. It's not a frivolous thing for the kids. >> Um I also would say that's why we're suggesting that you might have to spend some money to make some money. think it would make a lot of sense to invest in even a
088part-time person who might be able to find pockets of money to make this more doable. I understand that the district doesn't have the money in hand. >> Yeah. Can I add to that? >> Um, and this group did sort of look to see, you know, what grants are out there and I think that is a is not a solution for parents to be driving the like looking for grants and out there fundraising because we're doing so much already. A lot of us are are participating in, you know, in the PTO and raising money there to help the school with with other enrichment activities. A lot of us are full-time parents and caregivers. and to miss out on on a grant simply because we thought of it a week after or a week late, but to
089have an actual like resource within the district who has it as their mission and their job to be constantly sourcing where this funding could come from. That alone will make it more productive and return on investment compared to parents having to drive that. And then additionally to add to at least from my own experience with my son when he got to Carlton, a lot of his advancement in his first two years was about playground getting that bravery and that willingness and confidence to try different things comes from being in the playground and getting stronger and show, you know, growing muscles and showing that he's making progress every day on the monkey bars. like it seems like a small thing but it leads to general confidence and being willing to try new things. So we can't
090discount what play is able to contribute you know than the learning environment. >> So I just want to make sure that we're all clear and then also to think about a lot of our kids particularly at Carlton are using the playground after school ends due to the aftercare programs through the Y. So this is more than just their development during the school hours. It's also in the after school hours where they're using that as space to continue to learn and and interact with their playmates. >> So these playgrounds are more than just the recess like the recess time that's planned into the schedule. So just keep that in mind. >> Can I just clarify something that I I think I I think I misspoke. I think it's a terrible idea for parents to >> crowdsource
091money for a playground. Yeah. Yeah. What what I was pointing out was that we don't do that anymore, which is good. So I like I didn't want to I didn't mean to say why don't you guys go out and do a bake sale like that's not what I meant. Sorry. >> Chris, >> thank you mayor and appreciate that clarification because I think it was a really I think important move not to put that onus on folks that we know are incredibly busy committees fortunate I think to have had a major shift of having folks that are closer and proximate to education serving but then also a lot more parents that have been through the experiences that you're all uh laying out. My question is around um just the work that the advisory has done because
092I think Kate, you and I talked about this briefly was like the shade structures. Have you all kind of just like evaluated like what that looks like? Because that is like my biggest gripe every weekend in the summer when I take my kiddos out to the playground is like you can't find any place that has shade structure. >> Yes. So the ECC um and parks and wreck collaborated on a CPA grant which they did receive for $60,000 for a play for shade structure. It's really like astounding how expensive this all is and I appreciate that. That was supposed to go in last fall. It has not yet been installed. I don't know what the holdup is, but there is money there. >> Okay. And then uh with respect to the other early kind of learning
093spaces, have you all uh have you all heard about any efforts around shade structures there as well? Because I imagine you know I saw in the Carlton note there that could have used a shade structure or are folks exploring that districtwide. Okay. That would just be one of my flags is as we think about um just our kiddos across the district as the temperatures go up and they're out there on those playgrounds. I mean some of the slides uh some of the plastics do get uh I think to dangerous levels and then you know just knowing that um we've had in the past uh members of the public who um have succumbed to heat uh in the district uh at public events. You know, I just think um there's a conversation that should be had
094about, you know, what the impact of the uh of the heat is on the kiddos as well. So, um if we can look at that districtwide, that's just something that I would just flag for us. >> Yep. >> Um just a Well, I mean, it sounds like this committee people are expecting this committee for you to not leave to to continue. It's uh they've already like anointed you as like a standing committee, but that's totally your call. I appreciate the work you've already done and happy to continue to engage with the committee. Uh so I just want to call that out first. Um because I know it's an immense amount of work. Um just a couple thoughts um that that I wanted to comment on. One is Elizabeth and I have had conversations from the
095meeting we had in the summer about the development person. We thought that was a a really good suggestion uh if we could figure out a way to fund it. We don't have to to uh um committee member um Cornell's comments. we don't have any money to hire. But if there's a way for us to be creative about it, uh the good news is we have an assistant superintendent who has a development background. And so I will rely on her expertise to um and I think she does have some thoughts and I won't speak for her but um she can comment after I'm done but uh we you know these are some preliminary conversations because we do think it's a good idea not just for playgrounds but because as times are you know as as uh
096resources are thinning out um our grants person is just really focused on our entitlement grants and doesn't have the bandwidth to do the more proactive aggressive work that you guys are talking about and yeah PTO's there's there's no way can be raising. I I mean I wish uh but a million dollars is not you know is not in the card. So I I it was a point well taken that we are are very much considering and I'll let Elizabeth comment on that and in one second. The other thing um I would say is be clear about is like horse man is next on our list. I mean, and that can change depending on what the committee's input is during the budget process, but for the capital uh request, like our on our mind had been,
097you know, we we focused on witchcraft. The first day I arrived here, I remember committee member Manning taking me to witchcraft and saying, "You have to do something about this playground." And I I didn't know I mean I there had been a lot of discussion and the truth is it's the was the biggest elementary school. We have a huge special education population. and that became a monumental focus and that became the big playground that was necessary there. Uh and then Bates had some real safety issues in that playground and then um you know Bertram Field became the next outdoor space because we had concerns about the track and so forth. Horseman in our mind is next. Not trying to diminish the needs of other schools. Carlton is obviously getting a playground from the with the
098city support and, you know, I I get your points about, you know, ownership of playgrounds and that, but at the end of the day, the Carlton kids will have access to uh, you know, at least some of, you know, most of the kids there will have access to a state-of-the-art um, playground there. Um, and so Horse Man is on our list as obviously there's a lot of little kids at Horus Man there. You know, there's the potential of more kids coming to Horus Man. Um, as you noted, we don't know what's going to happen, but there's obviously two big playground, two, sorry, two playgrounds. Um, and there are a lot of little kids on that campus right now that could use them more. Um, I do think we can look at the accessibility um, with
099the wood chips on the small playground. I mean, we've done things already at uh, salt and stall. We installed mats because they not ideal like it's not the rubber surface but it does um it it is it does meet ADA accessibility concerns that you raised with the wood chips um at uh horse man. So we can look into that you know even now I just have to look at what the pricing will be. I had spoken to Z about that possibility when he was at the playground taking a look at it and he said that it wasn't something that he was particularly thrilled at because the cost of the mats on a playground that may be repaired quick um or replaced >> uh sooner rather than later isn't worth spending the money on them. Well,
100I think that's something to have have a discussion with we'll talk to Z more about I know he wasn't thrilled about the other. >> We're not thrilled about it because it's not as as good a solution as um the more costly one of the port in place, but I mean it's a small playground and if there's a way that we can enhance the accessibility, we'll talk about that in the short term. >> Another problem is we don't actually have any accessible structures there or any accessible play equipment. >> Mhm. There is a window that the kids sometimes use as an ice cream shop and that is it >> that's creative >> for it's mostly my daughter honestly but but um that's the only thing that really could be accessed by a child who is mobility
101impaired. >> Okay. Well, I mean I I'm not d there's needs there and that's why I think we feel strongly that that's the place that we were hoping to allocate you know pending the school committee's approval. Our recommendation was going to be Horus man for capital funds for ne for the for the budget process this year. >> Okay. >> Um I don't know if you want to add to any of what I just said. >> Uh I would just add a few things. I Z and I were looking back in anticipation of this conversation at the work um that the district has been doing with its playgrounds since 2000. So over the last five years. And I would say as others have that the work has really evolved over those last five years. In 2020,
102I think there was a push to install the ADA accessible mats um at Salt Install. And then very quickly, as you may recall, it was about installing outdoor classrooms um and making sure that the play spaces can be used as learning spaces for um for children. Uh each elementary school with parent fundraising support actually installed outdoor classes. Um, in 2021 it was mostly about repairing and beginning repairing broken parts and we're beginning to think about what the next chapter would be. And so in 21-22 the district partnered with M3 land studios who are designers, landscape architects and engineers to create a comprehensive playground study that was presented to this body in 22 23. At the same time, um I think there were there was a parent movement really to really focus on the witchcraft playground
103and uh not surprisingly the playground study identified that as the first place to start. And so that is that was with thanks to the generosity of the city and the capital budget that was the first place that we leaned in. Even while we were doing that, we were addressing all of the life safety issues. So the playground study did identify things that were dangerous for children. And so we addressed those alongside the witchcraft playground as our first priority. We can't have broken slides, broken equipment, things that could hurt children. So as we work to improve the conditions for our playgrounds, um we have been ticking through that playground study. Next was the Bates early childhood playground. And if you haven't visited it, I urge you to do so. It is so nice and it has
104shade. Um so it is really just a terrific playground um with port in place and and different kinds of learning opportunities for kids. Our process in both places has been to engage with the parent community, the school leaders to and the designers, the landscape architects, the engineers to say what what's possible in this space that would be safe, joyful um and well-maintained for children. And so next up on the list is horse man because to your point the the report did say the equipment isn't of it isn't age appropriate and it isn't safe. Um but now I think we're in a very strong place to start a the next new chapter. We have a playground committee that is apparently a standing committee. Thanks >> volunt. Um, and we have a a plan, a playground plan.
105And so I think those are powerful ways to start a development campaign that we are being strategic, that we have community engagement, and that our focus is on accessibility, safety, and um, learning through play. So I think we are well positioned to start um looking for external resources to supplement what the city has been able to do through its capital budget what we've received in state earmarks and what we have spent um sadly no longer available to us but through ARPA. So that's what I would add. >> I just want to make it clear that we're very grateful for all the work the school district and the city have done for the playgrounds. I understand that a lot has happened in a short period of time. This is not to blame you for not going
106faster. It's just to say one that playground study I think there are some limitations to it. The Carlton P1 playgrounds not included at all because it was totally empty. So that's not factored in. The ECC was rated I believe as fair because there was not actively broken equipment. But when you look at that image I think you can see that there still are issues there. Right. So having one piece of commercial playground equipment that's age appropriate is to me not a fair quality level playground. So it might not be actively dangerous, but it's still not a good play space. >> And just to add on, I'm in violent agreement with you. Um it actually was there was some serious concerns with the ECC playground in the study. And so those were among the first life
107safety issues. >> I appreciate that. I'm aware of those. I appreciate that. Um, but there is still age appropriate equipment that's there because it's a public playground. >> Um, so thank you for all the work you've done. I think we're suggesting seeking other pockets of money because we understand you're doing all you possibly can with the resources you have. >> Go to member Campbell. >> Yeah. Um, thank you all. This is really wonderful. And as an early childhood teacher and educator, very passionate about play, so you're speaking my my language here. One thing that I'm seeing over and over and over again is almost like um a I think we need to have maybe more clear communication. One about the long-term plan so that we can show like we obviously don't and I know that
108you're not advocating for it like lose the strategic methodical approach that's very thoughtful and allows us to consider lots of different approaches. Um but also recognizing that there are some short-term things that we could be putting into place. And so I think maybe kind of demonstrating this multi-pronged approach where we can show these are some of our immediate things that are on our radar that we're working to address and especially if it's in collaboration with um really involved um good advocates at each school so that we can really identify not just visually or from the perspective of the experts but from the people who know the little humans who use the playgrounds the most what the actual biggest issues would be. So that we kind of almost have a punch list of like these are
109our immediate goals and and we can all be clear like these are like clearly there are lots of plans in play and it would be great for folks to know that that's in process so that it's not just every time you go to the playground there's this sense of frustration about the lack of shade about the this about the that but to know that there is a plan in place and so I think we've spent a lot of time talking about the long-term plan and the immediate fixes that we needed to do but there are also some small upgrades that I think you already have on your radar that I think are are really important to share with the stakeholders as well. So, that's kind of what I'm thinking is um and then in addition,
110I think the development person if we can find the money would be hugely helpful and probably would eventually pay for themselves um time time and time again. >> Um but I think >> we have this massive playground plan that has been super helpful. Um but it is massive and it is a little bit outdated so it's not at the top of everybody's minds. And so I think the more that we can clearly and concisely communicate this is what we're working on now. This is why it matters to us. And then these are also the long-term plans. So like the conversation about the mats is a great one. Maybe it is worth getting the mats. Maybe it's not. I don't know. I can see both arguments for it. But as long as people know that, hey,
111it's on the table. It's being considered. We're really being thoughtful about it. Um we're trying to be good stewards of our public funds, but also good stewards of the humans we have um playing on our playgrounds. Like trying to balance those two things, I think would be really helpful. >> Yeah. Thanks. Member Cruz, >> I just wanted to again express my gratitude to you all. Uh it's not often that as a committee, you can see that we get to engage with parents formally through the committee process. It's mostly parents will come during public comment. So to have the opportunity for this to occur during the superintendent's report, um I think we we're all just really grateful for the engagement because I think that this is what it should look like at a district level that
112we can have uh conversations that are rooted in the substance of the the strategy. Uh and then also just like genuinely hearing your concerns. So, just wanted to give you that affirmation that this is the the space and the time for that. So, really appreciate the two-way dialogue and the way that you've informed our thinking tonight. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thanks so much. >> Okay. Um >> continuing report. >> Yes. Uh there is also an update in here regarding um the building um the new the school building committee. Um, and the new high school project. I just want to call your attention to that. Um, and see if folks have any questions or uh, comments. Um, I did I'm just trying to find
113where the update is in here. >> Right after the playgrounds. >> Okay. Thank you. After the playgrounds. Um, so just to quickly summarize, there was a new construction man. A construction manager has been selected for the new building which is very exciting. uh Shamit and Rich are a combo of those two firms have been awarded the construction manager um uh designation for the new project. Uh we did get a chance to present to the city council last week, the mayor, myself, the committee chairs to update city council about the design plans um and the timelines and deadlines um and then some of the projected project costs. Um I'm pleased to say we're making progress on the design plans every day. We are talking about uh adjustments every day. There's emails flying back and forth. Uh
114the designers are meeting with the high school um staff, the department heads to really dig deeper into um specific aspects of the designs for the new um the new school. We have to have a final design recommendation to the MSBA by December. Um and we have been revealing uh initial designs at uh different community events. I want to thank Miss Miranda who's on the building committee who was um braving the wins of the football game with um um the um the the boards uh of the design plans, but there were a lot of people who were interested in engaging with her there. Uh and we will now have boards. We're waiting for some easels to come in to finalize all to have every school will have a few boards up of the new plan so
115parents can see it, students can get excited about it and staff um can ask questions about it and engage with the with uh uh what what the school is likely to look like. Um and then um other members of the building committee will be tableabling at different community events in the coming weeks and months. Uh and we do have a building committee meeting here tomorrow night uh right here in these chambers from 6:00 to 8:15. I do want to remind the public that everybody is invited to those meetings. Those are not secretive clandestine meetings. They are open to anybody. Folks can comment. They can come just like a school committee meeting. And we hope as we get closer to the project that we'll get more and more engagement um with um the um with this
116with this exciting building. Um it is coming. It is real and uh we can't wait for it. So, I don't know if there's anything anybody else wants to add to that. Mayor, I don't know if you want to add it. >> Um, I I'll just share that the tableabling hasn't actually is not actually just coming up. It's been going on at Farmers Market, the Community of Life Center, at the schools, in the football games. Um, I had the opportunity to go to the Derby Street Neighborhood Association and the Salem Wills Neighborhood Association meetings to present on it recently. Lots of great questions and enthusiasm for the project. Will uh Dr. Strike and I will be at the Point Neighborhood Association, downtown neighborhood association, Salem Rotary. Um, and I have had some engagement with uh Salem
117State University about going to the center for civic engagement to talk with the university students about the project as well. So, um, if there are other entities and organizations interested in uh, hearing our road show, we're happy to stop by. Cruz, >> I just wanted to express my gratitude to the members of this committee uh and the building committee for the work that they've done uh to get us to this point. Uh it's a major milestone within the project. Uh and recognize that there's been uh a lot of attention on this project as of late. Uh but I I recognize that the communication around this project has been transparent. We've been receiving regular updates and um I know that uh for those that are non-elected that are serving on those committees um you all signed
118up uh as a labor of love uh for this particular project. So uh if we can on behalf of the committee just send our thanks uh to the building committee and I recognize uh from some of the feedback that I've received uh from you mayor from member Cornell and others u that there that the state does need to look at some of the elements of this process uh for MSBA again. So, I'm taking copious notes on the things that I've heard thus far that have been pain points uh from a policy perspective in terms of moving forward the project. So, just wanted to express my gratitude to you all for being uh in the mix and for uh the leg work that it's taken to get to this place, which is really exciting. >> That
119that concludes my comments. >> There's a no finance and operations report. Do you want to talk about the surplus? No, that's actually uh Kate um about the surplus items and that'll be on the >> just for motion. Okay. So, any finance update? >> No, no update. >> Okay. Any subcommittee reports from subcommittee chairs that are with us? >> N all right. Motions, resolutions, disposal of surplus materials. >> Let me take it. Yeah. Um so, this is a list of materials um science equipment for the most part and some technology. um and opted to bring it to the full committee because it's not curricular materials to be reviewed. So, felt it made more sense to bring it to the full committee for review. Um they're all um either outdated or broken, mostly broken. Um and so
120they would like to not have broken things in their schools anymore. So, um I support it and um so yeah, that's why it's on here for a vote because our policy requires it. >> Any questions? >> Yeah, just I'd also there's a little urgency because I know Mr. Burns is trying to get some of the equipment out of his school because he wants to use the space for I'm not exactly sure, but he wants to use the space that is being um there's a lot of material and Mark is ready to move it out. It's just we needed a vote. We needed the vote from the school committee before we could do that. Um so that's why we're here. >> Y >> I would add that that's true here too. Um so the the science
121materials um are here and so >> we've had a couple hundred new kids here in the school and so spaces of um a commodity here as well. So it's just it it as member Campbell said it's broken materials many of which have been replaced. We have state-of-the-art science materials in our classrooms um through the um Amplify kits. So, I don't want people to think they're broken and we're getting rid of them and we haven't replaced them. We have far better materials and kids have access um and teachers have access to what they need. Uh it's just time to go. >> Is the uh is the technology equipment also broken? It doesn't specify what the reason is for surplusing it. Good evening. Uh I would say about 90% of it is broken. Um beyond we we
122repair what we can, but there does come to a point where it's just not cost effective to repair it anymore because the parts just outweigh what the value of the unit is. Um there's a few of the units uh mostly the IMAXs that are just outside of the um they no longer get security updates. So they're just a risk to have on the network. So we're really not usable anymore. IMAX. Okay. >> We got some dinosaurs. Definitely if you want to see a museum little trip, it's pretty fun. >> All right. Is there a motion? >> Uh motion to approve the disposal of surplus materials. >> Seconded. >> Motion made by member Cornell, seconded by member Campbell. Under discussion, further discussion. Seeing none, roll call vote. Member Cruz. >> Yes. >> Member Manning. >> Yes.
123>> Member Campbell. >> Yes. >> Member Cornell? >> Yes. >> And myself? Yes. >> The matter carries unanimous. Any announcements from committee members. >> Member Cruz. >> Move to adjourn. >> Oh, look at him. >> Oh, second. >> Got me. Sorry. You are surprised. Got me, Manny. You really threw us a curveball, Manny. >> Motion made by member Cruz, seconded by member Cornell. Roll call vote. Member Manning. >> Yes. Member Campbell. Yes. >> Member Cornell? Yes. >> Member Cruz? >> Yes. >> Myself? Yes. We're ajourned. Thank you, everybody. >> I love an announcement. I know. I really