001for the puppy picture. Okay. Calls to order the meeting of the Salem School Committee for July 28th, 2025 at 7 p.m. This meeting is taking place in person at 29 Highland Avenue, room 227. You can also join via Zoom using the link posted in the meeting agenda. Um, we do have one member participating remotely. So, all votes will be by roll call vote. Our first item on the agenda is approval of the agenda. >> Motion to approve the agenda as presented. >> Seconded. >> Motion made by member Miranda, seconded by member Campbell. A roll call vote. Member Campbell. >> Yes. >> Member Cruz. >> Yes. >> Member Hoffman. >> Yes. >> Member Miranda? >> Yes. >> And myself? Yes. The matter carries unanimous. Public comment. If you wish to um if you wish to participate
002in the public comment portion of the meeting, please approach the podium. The school committee would like to hear from the public on issues that affect the school district and are within the scope of the committee's responsibilities. Spanish interpretation is available for anyone who needs it. The members of the school committee would like to remind the public that Salem public school students regularly attend school committee meetings. We encourage all meeting participants to model respectful and productive public discourse for our young learners. Is there any public comment in the room? Any public comment on Zoom? Seeing none, we have approval of the consent agenda. This is the minutes from the school committee meeting of June 17th of the school committee retreat on June 21st. Approval of a field trip for the Carlton fifth graders to the farm
003school in September. Um, approval of the warrants of June 19th and June 26th. Approval of the warrants of July 9th, July 16th, July 17th, and July 23rd. Motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Seconded. >> Motion made by member Miranda. Seconded by member Campbell. A roll call vote. Member Cruz. >> Yes. >> Member Hoffman. >> Yes. >> Member Miranda. >> Yes. >> Member Campbell? >> Yes. >> Myself? Yes. The matter carries. Unanimous. We have no student representatives report unless you have a anything to share on behalf of our students. Uh just can I just share quickly that there are a group of students from my committee that are working uh as part of the student voice project over the summer in uh creating some materials and supports for newcomers at Salem High School. Um and
004I I'm hopeful that our new representative will be maybe not at the next meeting but at our first meeting in September. But uh I it is encouraging that there are five members of the group who are meeting over the summer uh with Taylor McDonald uh who runs our out of school time programming. Um and um so we're going to get a I will say this year I'm excited that we'll have a running start to the school year as opposed to waiting a couple weeks till we get settled or months before we get started. So, um, and my hope is that there's regular interaction between the school committee and the, um, the reps this year or the, um, student advisory committee. So, >> excuse me, >> that's, uh, my update. >> All right, >> superintendent report.
005>> Okay. Thank you, mayor. Um, happy summer to everyone. I did tell a group of students today that, uh, and I didn't get a round of applause, that school starts a month from today. So, um, we're very excited. Um, thank you. Thank you. I think there's some parents that might be clapping, but um >> so >> Member Cruz wanted to weigh in on a last thing about the student report. >> Oh, sure. >> Thank Thank you, Mayor. Um and superintendent, appreciate the update. Great to hear that the advisory council uh is meeting over the summer. Uh and I I'd certainly agree that it's going to be great to uh engage with them. And I'd just like to uh remind folks that last year around the same time uh we had set a goal of coming
006into compliance with the state law of hosting the bimonthly meeting uh between the school committee and the student advisory group. So I'm hopeful you know this year as we set the course we have a student representative in place uh that we can achieve that for the kiddos so that they have an opportunity to engage with us as a committee formally through a public meeting. So, if we could put that as one of their first charges is really organizing themselves around an introductory meeting with members of the school committee, uh, superintendent, I think that would be worthwhile. >> Duly noted. >> Thank you. Great. >> Okay. Um, a couple of things uh before I get into the state of the schools. I just want to note um that I just want to uh congratulate our new
007executive director of teaching learning, Sonia Lo, who's in the audience here. I'm really excited to work with her in her new capacity. Give her a little uh she's been a long stand long-standing educator in the Salem public school since 2014 and multiple roles including teacher, coach um and uh curriculum um director uh for the uh for the uh secondary uh schools and happy to have her in this new role. And uh I think when are you officially in your new role? >> Maybe like next week. >> Next week. Okay. Is that right? or now >> it was effective immediately. >> Effective immediately. Okay. >> Um and so we're looking forward to working with Sonia in that capacity. Um given her strong uh knowledge of the work happening in Salem and her strong understanding of our
008schools and and our staff. So uh looking forward to that. Um I do want to note um and uh that I have a flyer here for the mental makeover has a event this Sunday um August 3rd at Salem Common. Uh, I know the teachers union is actively involved with this organization, but the mayor and I are also involved because we'll be jumping into the lake or not the lake, sorry, it's an ocean. Wouldn't that be nice? Um, lake would be warmer in there. Um, >> uh, and, uh, but, uh, mental makeover started by graduates of the Salem public schools in support of um, increased mental health, uh, wellness and suicide prevention. Uh, the work they do is really inspirational. So, if anybody um is interested in supporting, they have a walk on the 3rd. What
009time is that, Ann? I don't see it here. >> I believe it starts at the introduction start at 9:30. >> 9:30. Okay. >> 9:45 on the if you want to get there early. >> Yes. Um so, hope to see uh folks there. And then the last thing is um I do want to just sh uh note that today we had a chance to say goodbye to the students from Ot Japan who come every I know the city also had a um event for them a lunchon for them uh I think last week. It is a truly a remarkable relationship that Salem has with OT. And it was um it was heartwarming to see the tears um from students from both Japan and from the Salem public schools as they were saying uh goodbye to um
010I thought they had been there for weeks and months, but it has is really just a week and the bonds they make with families and so many of our families, many of our staff welcomed uh these students into their homes as well. And um it's a remarkable relationship that I think goes back to or no maybe longer. >> 30 34 years. >> 34 years. And I I had a chance to connect with the Mr. Serno from the Solerno auto shop who um was the assistant superintendent at the time and he was there uh he was there as um as he was one of the uh folks that started the relationship with OT back in the day. So, it's a pretty uh remarkable relationship and appreciate the fact that the city of Salem um is um
011such a great supporter of that of that relationship with our sister city. Um with that, I do want to get um go into our state of the schools and every year I have given an update on where we stand um as a school district. So, I don't know if you want to cue that up um Mark. Um, and I just want to go before starting this, I do want to point out that we don't have all the data in from this school year. For instance, MCCAST scores from the spring are not uh publicly available. We have some indication but it's embargoed at this point as a school district but um we um so some of it is ba some of the data here is not yet um um has not yet been confirmed but I
012do want to give you a sense of where we are as we close the last school year and as we enter this upcoming school year. What's of particular note is that we are entering the last year of our strategic plan and so we've set goals and targets for three years and we're coming into our third year. This is a presentation that a version of this presentation I gave to our um executive or to our in our school leadership retreat at the end of June. And so this is the same information that I shared with our administrators. And um I want to make sure that the public and the school committee has this information. We'll be updating you as we go through um uh through the fall with uh some of this data. You know what
013our values are, so I'm not going to read them to you. Um I will note that um one of the things we want to elevate and you can see now on the walls of this room is the portra is our portrait of a graduate in three languages English, Spanish and Portuguese. And um we do want to elevate this portrait which has existed in Salem since 2020. But uh we are now um resurfacing um what we want to see um our students the skill sets we want our students to have as they leave us. Um and so you're going to see us as a district plan more towards these um these skills. Um a lot of our high school uh Salem High School and New Liberty in particular do a fair amount already with the portrait
014of graduate, but we want to start having conversations districtwide about that what that means as you map it all the way down to pre kindergarten. This was not developed by me alone. It wasn't developed by just a few people. There was a process um that that engaged uh staff members that engaged community members as the high school was going as the high schools were going through their redesign in uh 2018 to 2020. And what emerged was critical thinking, creative problem solving, collaboration, um communication, self self um awareness and c cultural competence as the po of the is as the skill sets and uh that we wanted our graduates to have as they crossed um the finish line or and and and um and received their diploma upon graduation. So, I just want to uh I
015you're going to hear me talk more about this in the coming year because we do think that this is an important way of uh moving beyond just like you know just the uh MCCAST scores or just the piece of paper that is a diploma. What are the real skills, knowledge and talents that we want our young people to have as they leave the Salem public schools? All right, so these are just some photos. These are real life Salem public schools photos from the last school year of different things that are happening and things that we should be proud of that we all should be proud of. And in this you can see uh pictures from graduation. Uh you can see a picture from our prek programming. You could see our school leaders who are now
016returning all returning for a second year in a row which is um or a third year in a row I should say which is unprecedented that we have everybody returning again. Um you have the fact that we had multiple schools of recognition um u labeled by the department last year. Uh we had a huge emphasis on writing um last year. You see the young man in the um on the top who's got pen to paper or pencil to paper which is something we're obviously committed to. We've done a lot. We're trying to turn over more agency and voice to students. You can see the group of students. Um those are middle school students who are talking about their learning and that picture of everybody uh around each other. In the bottom lefthand corner is our
017is the teacher prom um that the educator prom that's held every year which is uh is um which is many of our staff of color and the growing number of staff of color that we have as a school system. And of course you see the picture of the potential design for the new Salem High School. So, um, wanted to make sure, you know, we we celebrate a system that we think is moving, um, to pursue excellence and that that will continue to be our theme. That will be our theme as we head into the upcoming school year. Um, we still have our four core value core priorities, I should say, elevating learning, empowering educators, centering belonging, and strengthening our foundation. Um, okay. So, I just want to give you a quick update. You can read
018this on your own. Um, but this is on priority one. These are the goals that we've set out as a school system. Um, and we're well on our way. When it says where it says MCCAST in parenthesis, that's because the latest M data we have for that data point is the 2024 MCCAST. If it doesn't say MCCAST next to it under actual spring 25, that's our STAR data, which is our internal assessment data that is correlated to the MCCAST. So, you can see that our growth um you know, we're we we're progressing. Uh we we blew uh we had some of the highest growth I've ever seen at the high school level last year on the MCCAST. It'll be hard to replicate that two years in a row. Um but you can see that our
019growth has been pretty solid both in grades 3 to 8 but certainly in grade 10. If you look at the proficiency rates um our um our actual spring 2025 and ELA is based on STAR and the 32% in math is based also on STAR in grades 3 to 8. Um the ELA data and the math data for grade 10 are based on the MCCAST from last year. um access performance. Our preliminary data is very promising in on access which um and we think that we have met our three-year goal or that we will meet our three-year goal. Um advanced coursework is the percentage of students who are um enrolled in higher level courses in 11th and 12th grade that are college uh credit courses. They're advanced placement courses. And we believe this is a pretty
020uh Mark and his team just put the numbers together. We think we're in the low 70s. Uh so that means 70% of juniors and seniors in the Salem public schools across all three schools have engaged in some level of advanced coursework which is which is high and actually exceeds what our goal was from um uh you know from the strategic plan. Our graduation rates are on track but we're not where we want to be. We had set a goal for 88% um and um as of not this past school year because it lags one year behind because students have until October of the year to finish up. So we still have students finishing but last uh 2024 81.6% of our um students um uh graduated uh graduated from high school in four years. That's a
021four-year graduation, right? there are students that will finish in five years and some in six years. Um, uh, parent confidence, we don't have that data yet because our survey is has not closed yet. Uh, we we just distributed our parent survey for this school year. Um, under priority two, empowering educators, um, we are pleased with the fact that we, um, our retention rate dipped a little bit from the year before, but that was before we settled the contract. So many of staff have already made their decision. So I hope that our retention rate is um even higher going into this year. We we anticipate it will be. I can only go based on the number of openings that we've had um for this school year which are in my five years here have been the
022fewest number of openings we have going from one year to the next which is a good sign. Some of that's related to the economy. Some of that's related to um our contract. I think as well in terms of increasing the percentage of educators and staff who represent ethnic diversity um of our students. You'll hear a presentation about this right after I finish today. We have pretty much flatlined here even though we saw major increases over the last 5 years. Uh we um I am a little worried that this has stagnated and we're going to talk about that in our in the next presentation. Uh we did see improvements in staff well-being, but we're not um yet where we want to be. Um and same with staff belonging. And um we have seen over the last
0233 years um an increase in perception of the amount in quality of feedback that staff um uh you know that staff have received. We we're not again we're just below where we targeted but we've have made improvements from where we started under centering belonging for students. Um I'm really proud of the work we've done with chronic absenteeism and dropout. We have really smashed where I expected to be at this time. Um we're right on track for our chronic rates and our dropout rates um exceeded what our three-year goal was. I think the place that I'm most concerned about of all the data points is the percentage of students who feel valued is below where I would want to be right now. It has improved a little bit but not significantly. You know, some of it
024is it's hard. You know, I surveys are what it what they are and some students, you know, uh I I don't know that, you know, I don't know that all students take the surveys as seriously as as we want, but I will say it is directional in my opinion. And so the fact is not enough students are telling us that they feel valued in school. And I think that's a place we want to we have to double down as a school district. It it surprises me a little bit because all the other indicators are going in the right direction. It just I think um compels us to want to dig in deeper about understanding why that's the case. Um we did have more students surveyed on Panorama this year than we have had over the
025last three years. So I think this is a better indication. this 49% of students who say they feel valued of where our kids but that's still not I mean 50% of students who feel don't feel valued is something that we um we again we have to dig into >> can I ask a question about that so is that data available by by grade level >> it is >> okay >> and it's available by school um Ellen is the expert on that so if there's any specific questions um but it is available by grade level it's available by school >> yeah thanks y member Cruz >> I think when we've looked at panorama data in the past regarding um these types of questions. Um there were two data points that I remember we took a hard
026look at. One was around this students who feel valued, but then the other was whether or not students had like either a trusted adult uh in the building. And I know that relationships with educators is kind of central to how students um see themselves. I guess I would want to see those uh types of questions about uh culture, belonging for students broken out a little bit more cuz it's hard to discern what that 49% means. uh without looking at some of those other questions too. >> Yeah, we can definitely share that data with you. Yeah. Um the family's reporting that this child's school is a good fit. We don't have that yet for this year. Uh we will have that uh for you soon. We'll do a review of that data um in the fall.
027The risk ratio is trending in the right direction. This is uh looking at um referrals uh for students of color and students with disabilities. Um, and what our goal was to have a risk ratio waiting for me. >> Did Kate, did you want to add? >> Oh, sorry. >> I I was just going to say one of the things that we're planning on doing in the coming year is more regular um pulse checks around um things like belonging. so that we're not just doing a big survey at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year that we're collecting monthly data like five to six questions that center on some of the social emotional learning that we're doing at the school so that we can have more actionable data throughout the course
028of the year. So I just wanted to add that >> um we are seeing while we still have an over representation of students of color and students of with disabilities who are receiving discipline referrals the number is headed in the right direction for us as a district. I mean we really want to be as close to one as possible. Um and we have we did see an improvement over where we were the year before and we're ahead of where we targeted for this school year. Um again like that data is only as good as what gets entered into the system but it is directional in the sense that we are seeing um we're not see there's still over representation but it's not at the levels that we've seen historically. Um so there's an improvement there
029around strengthening the foundation. Uh we did survey um uh our school leaders uh administrators around our central office departments. We got a very favorable response. I don't know if people are just trying to be nice, but I do think there's some strong uh I think our departments do an excellent job of supporting our schools. Um and um you know, there was a lot of constructive feedback, but overall we saw favorable uh support for the work of our central office departments and how they support schools. It's something we work really hard to do is to provide stronger customer service to them and uh it does help us get better to get feedback from our school leaders around um the quality of support they get. There is a question in the Panorama, a survey to teachers around
030adequate access, staff access to materials and information. We had 65% of staff give a favorable rating around that, which again, I' I'd like to see it higher than that, but in my experience in school districts, that's pretty high in terms of having access to, you know, there's always going to be people that don't feel like they have everything they need. Um, we, you know, that's ahead of where we expected to be. We had 51% as our goal at the end of three years. Um we do the one area that I have really be honest we don't have good data on is how to measure um cross collaboration across departments and so I have nothing there. So, I'll just be honest like we just have struggled as a district. It's something I want to revisit in
031the next strategic plan because that was something that was important to us, but we've not found some a way of really we think there is more um collaboration across departments, but we don't have a good way of communicating that to all of you. Um the response to work orders within two days, it is 100% because we do respond to the email that we receive. That doesn't mean that we fix the issue. So we we're going to get more nuanced in the way we measure, but from a um people are getting a response. It doesn't mean that it's been fixed. So uh we um we have we don't really qu I don't know if you want to say anything more to that. Um Elizabeth, >> yeah. Um from a customer service standpoint, it is 100% of
032requests that get responded to um within two days, usually within less than that. We have been working with Operations Hero this summer to be able to run a report on how how long it takes to close, as the superintendent said, how long it takes to close a project and to be able to categorize them into things that we could close quickly, things that might take a little longer, things that are dependent on supplies coming in. So, we expect to be able to report on closing work orders um as soon as the year gets underway. >> All right. And just a couple of reflections. This is just uh high level reflections that I have about some of our successes and challenges. Um I'll just you know you can see I we are moving in the right
033direction around achievement in the district. I mean, we are we we um have moved out of the bottom 10% of districts in the state, which is a real credit to our educators and to our schools and the work that our academics team has done, um our special education team has done, our ML team um and so really proud of that work. Um and um we are really pleased that more staff are getting um quality feedback. That isn't true in every school, but we've seen a move for uh more um ongoing observation and feedback across the schools uh around I would say the majority of schools. There's still some schools that we have concerns about. Um and I'm really proud of the work that we've done around chronic absenteeism because it speaks to more than just
034like, you know, we're chasing down people, sending letters, you know, to homes. It means that kids want to come to school more. It it means that we have supports in place at school. It means that we have experiences that they want to be at. I do think it communicates a lot about um about kids interests and connection to school if they're coming to school on a more regular basis. And uh you know I in particular called I I look at Collins as a great example of that over the last two years around their chronic rates. Um kids want to be in school more uh than ever and and their rates are still better than most um uh suburban high schools um you know around Salem. So, I really proud of the work that our our
035schools are doing in that area. We still have a lot of work to do and um I'll say that until you know it that'll never change that we have work to do and um our MLS and students with disabilities are still achieving proficiency at lower rates and that's looking at any data points that we have. Um we we we obviously uh want to see that continue to improve. We've seen stagnation in English language arts data in pockets across the system. I'm hopeful for the MCCAST this year in English language arts, but we but have seen stagnation up until now. Um, I think we did a lot of really targeted work in writing, which I think is as important as anything we can do in schools is teach kids how to write and not because we
036want them to pass the MCCAST, but because we want them to be able to are um we want them to be able to present themselves in writing both for college and career. Um it's as important a skill as we all know AI nonwithstanding. Um it is important that kids know how to write. Um we are seeing and I think this is important for the committee. It's one of my goals is we are seeing a dip in per uh in outcomes on the met different metrics we use from prek into the kindergarten first and second grade. We have developed a really robust prek experience in the Salem public schools, but we are concerned that that hasn't um that that we what what's what happens after is sometimes pitched below what our kids are capable of doing.
037I think we're still teaching as if kids didn't have this amazing prek experience and we need to build from that um and uh continue to I think we've supported um and provided more resources to our prek teachers than we have to our K through two teachers and that is an important focus of ours and you again you saw it in my goals that I presented a few uh months back. Um I do worry about stagnation of teacher diversification and retention of teachers of color. Um I I'm not as worried about overall retention because I think we are headed in the right direction. Um you know again the contract helped us a lot. Um the fact is that I think conditions are um not perfect but better across schools. But I do worry about um you
038know with some of the cuts that we had to make sometime the some of the people that we lost were people that were on waiverss, people that were on emergency licensers and and disproportionately that can be staff of color and we know that and I think we have to own that. I mean I have to own that as part of our work and again we're going to hear about that in a moment here. Um I worry about student sense of belonging and well-being even though I I'm surprised by the data but the data is the is is the information we have. So, we have to um I I want to better understand how we can make sure that kids feel more connected to our schools even though the attendance data communicates that the survey data
039doesn't exactly tell us and we I I want to better understand that. Um and then the last bullet is I I do worry that our students are leaving while we're graduating more kids and we're giving them more rigorous experiences like advanced coursework, it doesn't mean that they have a defined and rigorous college or career plan. And I think that's as important as anything that we do. It's important as important as well, the passing the MCCAST, getting their diploma, but the diploma has to mean something. And it still doesn't yet mean that they have a strong plan about what they're doing. There's too many kids that are unknown when they leave us or unknown about their plans. Now, whether they go into career or college, I want them to feel strongly about their their plan, that
040we've uh prepared them to have a choice and that they are passionate about whatever plan they're going in. We're not there yet. And so, I have that here as a top challenge for us to continue to work on with our college and career going work. Um, not just at the high school level, starting all the way from when students enter middle school all the way through. member Miranda, >> can you get a little bit more specific on the pre um K to early childhood grade and and what you mean? >> Sure. I'm going to ask uh I'm going to turn that over to Kate. >> Can can you repeat your question? I'm sorry I couldn't hear you. >> I'm just looking for um a little bit more specific information around what Steve was highlighting. I'm
041sorry. Dr. was highlighting as a top challenge >> um when it comes to prek and some type of gap or something that's happening. >> Yeah, I think um you know we've just upped our game pretty significantly and it's not just in the Salem public schools but across the community because our work in prek which is so important and powerful is that we are partnering with um community- based organizations. So we have five community- based organizations in our we call it the Salem PreK Partnership. So our little network um so there are 180 kids in those classrooms that are getting um you know a boost around access to highquality curriculum um coaching from really expert um coaches from the Salem public schools to work with those educators um in the classroom. um we have better data
042on how kids are doing. So we're making datainformed um decisions and um providing interventions and so forth. So I think the experience more kids are have access to high quality prek. Um they're coming in with a higher level of readiness for kindergarten. Um and we just have to do some vertical alignment um with our teachers. Um, we, you know, from our schedule, uh, our preK and kindergarten teachers get out earlier than first grade through 12. And so we seized on the opportunity to bring them together for two half days in the spring uh, to do some professional development. We have that opportunity again in the fall. Um, so we want to do more joint professional development, more and and it wasn't it was part professional development and it was part allowing them to work together.
043um to talk about kids they're receiving, look at the data um so that they have a better understanding of what kids are able to do um in a way that we haven't really had good reads on on kids and their um both academic social emotional um development from prek. So, there's more work to be done, but um that's the hope that we can continue to do some vertical work uh with the educators both in the Salem public schools and in those partner programs um and sort of keep the a high bar for kids um and have a better understanding of what kids are coming into kindergarten ready to do. >> Can I ask a followup? Um, so do we have data on the differences between the kids that are in like the Salem public schools
044prek as opposed to partnership? >> So that's a great question and it's something that's part So we just finished a strategic planning process around early education and one of the things we know we need to do better is have a centralized data warehouse where we're collecting this data. So, we do the kids that are in the CPPI classrooms, which are the the classrooms um that are supported by the state grant um and supported by the work that I was just describing. Um those students are assigned a SASID and which is a state identifier and so we can follow and track their data better. We just have to work with our we have to get some data sharing agreements with the partner programs involve parents to let them know you know what we're doing and why
045so that we can better track the data of the kids in the partnership and then kids that are coming into Salem public schools who may have had a prek experience just not in our partner program so that we can better answer that very question as well as others. Um, and so that's work that we're going to start this fall. >> Thank you, >> Member Cruz. >> Uh, Steve, I appreciate you just going through some of these priorities. I know you said we're going to get to the pieces with educator uh, diversification and the challenges around just broader staff retention. Um, I think the one thing that I would just name for the committee and then our work as a district is, you know, DESIE has started implementing the educator diversity act. So, we know like
046alternative assessments are still coming down the uh the pipe pipeline for alternatives to MTEL. Some of those are available now. So, you know, I just wonder where are the opportunities for us to make sure that we're uh engaging with staff about what those alternative assessments look like as they get rolled out. There's a batch that got put out um at the end of May. Uh and there are more that are being developed. In my most recent conversation with Desi, um I know Dr. Mr. R, you had connected me with one of our educators here in Salem um who wasn't able to get um an extension on the emergency license and I had a good conversation with the folks at Desi. Uh but I do think we need to make a concerted effort to try to
047advocate uh for some of those educators that might not be able to get lenture. Um there's some other things in the law that I think are important, Steve, that we definitely need to get started. Um so, you know, one of the things that it calls for is an educator diversification plan. Uh so uh and that's supposed to come from either a diversity officer team uh or from your educator diversity council which we haven't formally appointed yet and that's an advisory council to both the school committee and the superintendent. So I think as we think about the talent that we have uh here in the district folks that are are hiring managers that have been working on um diversity, equity, and inclusion related initiatives regarding our staff. you know, this is the time to think about
048the formal governance supports that we could be providing as a committee to try to help reach the goal knowing that we're doing this in the context of we have a budget crisis. U the commission to study what's happening with chapter 70, it's not going to move fast enough to address our issue. So, um, the risk that we run is with things happening with the budget is that our educators of color are our more junior staff and that, you know, if we do have riffs, there's a likelihood that we're going to lose some folks that we've worked really hard to grow. Um, so and I just I say all that to mean that like I think you know getting the the council and the planning process up and running would be super important for us to
049understand you know what we're going to be able to do with a leaner workforce uh to be able to still work towards our goals uh around diversification. >> Yeah. And I think Veronica will touch on that in in the next presentation about the council about she poses that as a question in her presentation about like you know that that's that could be an important next step for the district to your point. I mean, I think we're we we've seen improvement. Um, but we're we're plateauing. Um, and that's, you know, that's important to acknowledge. And I think, um, I I do want to call out that the STU has been a great partner in this work. Uh, AFT Massachusetts in general has been, which I've appreciated. And the fact is if you look at some of
050the work that's helped turn around the culture again take the Col Collins school as an example it the staff has diversified tremendously over the the time that the school has started to turn around and that makes a huge difference in the experience of our students. So I I don't say this because well I mean it's not polit politically expedient anymore to say this but the reality is that it does make a difference in outcomes for kids when you have a more diverse staff. And so I do think uh that we we we have to uh con continue to see it as a lever for school improvement. Um and and uh and what we what if you look at this next slide, these priorities here, and I I'm calling out that if you look under priority
051two, the last bullet, each school in Salem for their school improvement plan has to set goals and action plans around these areas. We've identified and you can see that for the first time this year under priority 2, we're asking in their school improvement plans that they set a focus around retention and diversification of educators. Right? So, we're calling it out in their school improvement plans this year. And so, you can see under priority one, we're asking them to set goals for their uh regular data meetings. We we we're focusing on uh academic monitoring and lesson internalization which is like the preparation around ensuring that kids have more ownership over their learning and agency in their learning. As Kate just mentioned, early literacy is a goal that we want the elementary schools to set specific goals
052around their action plans for early literacy. Under priority two, we still think it's really important that our staff gets quality feedback, meaningful feedback, that they still have input around professional development. And finally around the conditions for retention and divers diversification. Finally in priority three we are making setting goals. Ellen and her team has have helped set goals around uh explicit social emotional learning to happen in schools that that schools have action plans around engagement so students are not chronically absent. And then finally as I mentioned for the high school and middle school what are their post-secary planning goals for the upcoming school year. And so you will see in their plans, their improvement plans, which they're in the midst of writing right now, that this is what we're asking them to to um center their
053plans on for this coming school year. And then finally, um the work ahead is these are just two quotes that um come from, um a text that we've read, uh teach like a champion. from the introduction of it, which is a book that's been around for a while, but the new the introduction uh to the to the new um ver the new iteration of the book is I I love this first quote about um operating as if the young people were capable of greatness in every classroom. I often think that um our kids are capable of so much more uh than what we um we asked them to do. And the fact is we've said in Salem public schools, kids can do hard things. We don't ask them to do hard things and they become
054disengaged when they know we're not actually asking them to reach their potential and we have to act like they are have the potential to be um doctors, lawyers, teachers, whatever whatever they want to be. But we have to push them with warmth, grace, and humanity to work harder than they may be may be inclined to. And kids respond to that. And I I I know that I think when I think back to my teachers, the only ones I remember are the ones that made me work harder than and who believe that I could be something more than what I believed in myself. And then finally, we when we start talking about equity, at the end of the day, it's about being able to achieve excellence in reading, writing, science, and math, right? In academics, and
055I don't mean MCCAST data. You can use any measure you want, but our kids, if we're really going to be an organization focused on equity and be anti-racist, then every kid should leave us with the skill set um to be excellent in school, right? And we're not always and equity does start with achievement. And again, by achievement, that's why I think the portrait of graduate is so important because it defines another way of looking at achievement than just taking a test. I do think that's part of it. I'm not going to say that I don't believe in the MCCAST and I know Ann will give me the looks about the MCCAST, but that's one part of it. But I also look if we look at the portrait of a graduate up there, that is another
056way of defining achievement for kids um and actually having uh a concrete skill set for them to excel. >> I'm going to stop there. That's the the current state of the schools. We will be updating you on the screen just went blank there. Um so I that was my special effect to end this presentation. Um other questions or comments? >> So member Cornell reaching out is like >> too many slides Steve it's over. >> Any questions for Dr. Zurich on the presentation. >> All right. >> Okay. So on the note of teacher diversification, um I am very pleased that um I'm joined uh from a galaxy far away by Veronica Salis who is uh was my our intern here um from the EDLD program at the Harvard School of Ed. And as part of her
057work um her project was to help organize our efforts to uh diversify the workforce um our pipeline work for teachers, for educators, for par profofessionals. and I wanted her to share with you as part of her change project uh information that she collected um and data um around our work. So I'm I think Veronica is there. So if we could put the presentation up. >> There she is. Okay. >> I am. Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> I've had the chance to meet many of you. Um but as Dr. Zeke mentioned, I had the chance to do my practicum in Salem public schools. Um, and one key body of work that he identified early on was teacher diversification efforts. Um, and so what you'll be hearing today in this presentation is the culmination of
058what I learned by working with the team on the ground to inventory different initiatives. Um, this is to the best of my knowledge based off of um, what I learned this year. So with that, I wanted to go to the next slide and we could talk about some of the headway that we made with priority 2. Um although there has been a bit of a dip in our teacher diversification percentages, um there is much to celebrate in terms of the work that the team in Salem is doing um to impact this area. For starters, um Salem is a three-time recipient of the teacher diversification grant award from Desi. Salem also this past year was one of seven districts selected for the Desi's new grant program um the registered teacher apprenticeship which will in the coming
059years allow folks in Salem to earn credits for their work experience in the special education field. Another cause for celebration is some of Salem's new partnerships. There's the work that's being done with Middle Sex Community College to support PAR professionals in earning their associates and also a new relationship with Universing uh which will next year uh allow two educators from the Dominican Republic to join the team in Salem. Next slide, please. So, in December, you all heard an HR update, and I know that we've talked a little bit about the dip. Um, but I do think that there is a lot to celebrate when we look at Salem's trajectory across the past 5 years. We see that the percentage of staff of color has doubled from 10 to to um over 20%. our percentage of
060pair professionals has tripled and we've also almost seen a three-fold increase in our percentage of teachers. Um although we have gone down a bit from 17 to 15 in the past school year. Um you'll see in one of the appendices that during that same time the percentage of diverse educators in the state has flatlined. And so while we still might not be where where we want to be uh per the strategic plan um there is room to celebrate um but one of the the challenges that Dr. Zich presented to me was to um get under the hood and to figure out um how how how we got here. And so on the next slide um you'll kind of see some of the ways that I approached the work. Um a key ask was to map
061out the different initiatives that are going on in Salem. this is work that spans multiple departments and different owners. And so I sat down with different teams um to get an understanding of the work that they're leading. Um and so one way to think about it is in terms of the stakeholders that each initiative is targeting. Um whether it's high school students, pair professionals, teachers, or leaders. And underneath each of those stakeholder groups, you'll see some examples, just examples of um different diversification initiatives um that are intended to move people along in the pipeline. Um and on the next slide um you'll see another way of of um making sense of of the current state in Salem. And this is by looking at diversification initiatives by institution, the institution that drives most of the work.
062And so obviously there's Salem public schools, our higher education partners, and then also different entities in the foundation and nonprofit space. And so um what you'll see on the next couple slides is just some highlights um to that end in using that organizational scheme. Some of the work that we wanted to draw attention to is our in district programming at the high school. This coming year, the early college education pathway um will now be reaching students in three different grades um 70 students, which is an accomplishment and that's growth. Um there's also the long-standing CTE early childhood program which um 49 students had the opportunity to engage in last year um with the hopes of graduating with an industry credential. Um, beyond that programming, there's also workshops that the team at the high school is
063working on to um, expand the pathways for students um, and different experiential learning opportunities. For example, next year the Salem High School students are going to have the chance to walk down the hill and work with um, kiddos at Horseman to get a feel for what it's like to um, have a career in teaching. When we think about our higher ed partners, I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you that Salem State is u prominent on this list. Beyond the practicum, which is the supervised teaching experience um that candidates complete, some of them in in Salem, um Salem State also has an inspire ed program that also places aspiring educators of color in Salem. That's a pre-practicum opportunity um where folks are hired uh as aspiring educators um students really are hired um by
064Salem and paid at a BA rate and they're placed at a single site um throughout the year. Um another uh initiative that's happening is the one that I mentioned earlier with Middle Sex. Um, next year three of Salem's paras are going to have the chance um to engage in this program um which has proved to be a promising strategy um historically in Salem in terms of boosting um the number of teachers of color. Next slide please. And then lastly, when we think about community- based organizations, we have Leap for Education providing college application support, interviewing prep, resume writing for our early college students. We have Latinos for Education. Um they have teacher and leader fellowships. Um they they con uh conduct advocacy trainings. And I've been on the call with a couple folks um who
065are also working to create communications materials um to really um change students mind about what a career in education can be and mean for them in the future. Beyond that, the Smith Family Foundation um has not only invested in the the TA pro uh pair professional program at Middle Sex, but they've also poured into the early college education pathway at Salem High, which allowed uh is allowing Dr. Kirby to do some of the work that she's doing next year. And then um while there is um Salem Public Schools is in the pipe for another grant with the bar Foundation, I did want to call the committee's attention to um the work that we did in uh 2021 with the new teacher project as a part of a bar foundation grant which really allowed us to
066um conduct an landscape analysis and might be relevant um to some of what member Cruz was mentioning earlier. So, what does this mean for our bottom line and our percentage of teachers of color? Um, on this graph, one of the things that was personally interesting to me, um, was what the numbers looked like at the school level. And so, you'll see the past four years by school in Salem, the percentage of teachers of color. The district average is in the dark gray that has the numbers pointing to it. We have Bentley at the top with nearly 45% of its staff um as teachers of color. As Dr. Zich mentioned, you have Collins in the light blue. Um and something that seemed promising to me was Horus man in the yellow, a straight upward trajectory in
067terms of percentage of um teachers of color. Um, but I think the most striking thing from this graph is the close correspondence um between that Salem High the light purple and the district average. And and that's because um Salem High has uh most of our teachers. And so when you take the average um we'll closely as a district likely follow um what we see at at the high school. And so next slide please. Here are a list of questions um that the district is thinking about, some of which we've already touched on in this meeting. Number one, first and foremost, is which of these initiatives have actually resulted in diverse hires? Um what's the efficacy of of some of this work? How diverse is our applicant pool? Does it vary by position or by school?
068And then at what rate are educators and staff of color leaving the district or transferring? Does it vary by school? How can we build the data infrastructure to have access to this information? And then when we're thinking about the 2026 strategic plan goals, how might we be more targeted in our approach? Thinking at the school level, if not going for the high school, um in one of the appendices, you'll see the the teacher distribution um from last year in the district. Um it might be a viable path um for the district to go after perhaps three middle schools. That would be like the same number of educators as the high school in terms of moving the district average. And then this is the the local educator diversity council that um member Cruz mentioned, but um
069how does the school committee want to continue to advise and be involved in the process? Um it seems like what will what might happen is um the the an educator diversification plan will be created, but um what are some of the things that seem more salient to you all? And then um lastly, how can we ensure that we have the infrastructure to circle back to some of our high school students who are engaged in programming and recruit them to come work in our schools. And so with that, um there's some data in the appendices. you'll see um teacher retention um not um I won't go through all of this but um teacher retention in general um for by school for the um last year and so this is just information for you all and this
070is the the stagnating state um teacher diversity numbers but um I just wanted to give a big thank you to you all u for letting me learn and to serve in Salem this year and with that I'm happy to answer questions talk about what I learned earned. >> Thanks. Thank you very much. This is very thorough. I appreciate it. Uh open up to questions from members. Member Cruz. And >> just first and foremost, thank you, Veronica, uh for your efforts here. It was a pleasure to meet you while you were with the district. Uh and it's always good to take a look underneath the hood to just see what progress has been made since the last time we really examined um that TNTP report. I remember we were already thinking, you know, what's the profession
071going to look like 5 years from now? Uh and whether or not we'd be able to actually reach this goal. So to know that we've made progress and um I know we've had a a slight dip um that I think that that's natural and that's what we're seeing throughout the rest of the state. Uh and there's a lot of different trends that explain kind of what's happening within the teaching profession with a lot of districts having to make uh cuts. Um and I think that the places where I see the most promise um it it continues to be para educator pipeline and I think that that's one place where um if we think about the charge of an educator diversity council and an educator diversification plan we do have to think about the supports that
072we provide to paras uh to make sure that you know if they're on the track for you know the partoteer pipeline that they understand you know what supports are available for MTEL alternative certification um and you know I think them being more experienced might lead to us being able to retain them uh a lot longer. Um the student to educator piece is I think the place where um I've spent the most energy over the last couple of years with you uh Dr. Reich. Um and I think the I think the things that we put in the contract are very strong. Um what I would just name is um in the same pilot that was being done with the Smith Family Foundation, Lynn and um both Lynn Public Schools and Lawrence Public Schools uh in their
073particular projects, they had more um early uh career exposure opportunities for the students. So I think that the shadowing at Horseman is great. Um, obviously with with Lynn, um, there's the opportunity for the LIN tech students to engage um in more hours that are tied to uh like different certifications uh, which I think is beneficial, but I know that the other two high schools were planning on um, going a little bit deeper uh, with career exposure opportunities and Lawrence uh, this summer is already offering uh, paraprofessional opportunities to their scoo to their students at their high school that are in the early college pathway. I got an update from their principal uh over the weekend and that was really powerful. So I just think you know as we think about the studentto educator pipeline I
074think the college credits early college is um is super important. Um but I think what what Lawrence in particular and Lynn have been doing uh in terms of providing those first job type of opportunities in education like that's what's going to keep the students hooked and really being able to make an informed decision about whether or not that's something that they want to do. So I think Steve as you think about like how we engage with partners in the community, those organizations that might have youth jobs. I know that like Leap for Education has talked about building community to educator kind of pipelines. Um it might be worth us thinking about like how do we convene the places in which we can be providing our students uh over the summer education-based experiences that really help
075them make informed decisions about whether or not this is something that they want to do long term. Um, so those are the two places that I I see the most promise without question. Uh, and then I do think from a a governance perspective, just double clicking on the fact that we just I think we need to start the work in earnest of, you know, putting together um the the diversity council and getting folks together to really talk about how they can support the the strategy. >> Member Campbell. >> Um, thanks and thanks Veronica. This was really helpful. Um, I think the only thing that I would flag is, um, and I think it's sort of a bit connected to what member Cruz was talking about in terms of the high school student to teacher pathway
076or to educator pathway. And I think it's making sure that we're collecting a lot of good data on it because it's one of those like slow burns in terms of its efficacy that you're not going to see the gains of it for, you know, if especially for some you're starting to engage them their freshman and sophomore year. And so you're talking about maybe a minimum of eight years until you ever see them work in your public schools. And I think that that can be really challenging to um kind of get the support to continue to dedicate the funding and the resources whether it's from the state or from the community. Um and so really keeping track of like how many SPS grads have you um engaged with that came as a result of it. How
077are you staying connected to them through college? um because it could very well not be working but I know from my personal experience we are starting to see some gains from it. We are staying connected with them to and through college um and having that information I think will just be really important um because paras and teachers who are already in the system it's a lot easier to track them but high school students it can be harder too. So, >> any further comments or reflections? >> Well, thank you again for for the report and for all the work you put into it while you're with us, Steve. >> Thank yep. Uh just next quickly, uh thank you, Veronica. I appreciate it. It's been a pleasure working with her this year. Um just uh I gave
078you an update, an MSBA update. This today's a written one. Um we I just want to note that we did have an important milestone in July 16th. I had a chance to present along with the design team to the facilities assessment subcommittee of the Massachusetts School Building Authority. It's a mouthful. And um we uh it was a very productive meeting. Um and it's a it's a key um milestone in the sense that they the subcommittee does ask us a series of questions about our preliminary design ideas, the educational program. Um and um they you know they pressure test or they have a number of questions and uh topics that were discussed and you can see the bullets in this memo that I I think you all have in front of you that lays out um
079you know the questions that they had and the ideas they had for the project. We we now expect the full board of the MSBA to vote on and approve this preferred sche schematic report on Wednesday, August 27th, which is again another step in the process uh to to moving towards a final design for the school. Um we also had a chance to meet with the MSBA staff on Friday uh and they uh just to go over timeline and next steps. What folks should know is the next uh step in the process is that we are um that the MSBA is continuing to review our schem schematic design submitt and this includes the basis of the project cost but it looks at like the actual design of the building. Um and between now and December we're
080going to have back and forth with the MSBA around what that final design is going to look like for the facility. So you're going to hear a lot of back and forth. uh they'll give us feedback. We'll have to make adjustments. Uh they'll look at the special education spaces or the department of ed will look at that. They'll look at the CTE spaces. Um and we hope that in December by by December we have to submit um the final design for the building. And then they're expected to vote on February 26th um or sorry February 2026 sometime in fe February 2026 on accepting our design. Um and then we'll go into the um the debt debt exclusion process. But between now and um then we are going to start engaging the community. Uh they're already
081going to do some tableabling at um community events. So the uh that um staff, not staff but community members, residents can understand the the project to the extent possible in the coming weeks and months. We have to start informing the public about what this building is going to look like. We'll also be taking feedback from them um in the coming weeks. But um the project is moving. Uh we did I did finally just hear that we uh in the meeting we had with the MSBA on Friday they have a scheduled opening of the building. Anybody want to guess when the scheduled opening of the new building is going to be >> the mayor's face right now >> they said they gave it fall of 2030 >> is when the building would open. would not be
082absolutely complete because there'd be site work that would have to continue to be done, but the building would open to students um and staff in uh 2030 in fall of 2030. So, um believe it or not, it's in sight even though that's 5 years away from now, it's still in sight. And that was the first I actually heard a a date for the new facility. I don't know if there's anything you want to add, mayor, to it, but a lot of progress has been made over the last couple weeks as we move this project forward. >> Um, I'll I'll just add, so you mentioned the debt exclusion vote. Our current plan is that we anticipate probably uh approaching the city council in January to schedule that vote for May uh and approve the bond order
083for the project costs that will be required from the city. Uh so the building would open in 2030 but construction if the timetable works out would start in 2028. >> Right. I think that concludes >> my comments. >> Is there a finance and operations report? >> Uh just to reiterate that the facilities team is working hard on our buildings and grounds this summer and if you would like to visit and see the before you are more than welcome to. I'm happy to schedule those visits. Y set. >> All right. Uh subcommittee reports. >> Any subcommittees? Nothing. Um I'm going to share a quick report out on the school committee retreat that took place last month. Uh we had a school committee retreat. Uh we were joined by Paul Mills from Canon Design who uh was
084the organization that the company that led the 2021 2022 facility master plan. Uh and the purpose of the retreat was really to discuss the continuation of charting a path forward for our students and educators and community to have uh the best possible school district to serve them. Um we are facing increasing costs uh as a district for student transportation, special education, employee health insurance, facilities maintenance and more along with um potential cuts in federal funding. The situation is extremely challenging. So the committee met uh as a retreat with the goals of reviewing the elementary school options that were outlined in that uh facility master plan to start a strategic discussion about the elementary school programs and facilities to review the current conditions projected enrollment school capacity in the facilities across our district and to explore
085future options or potential options for future implementation and setting goals for the next steps in this work. Um during the retreat, the committee and we did approve the minutes for that retreat at tonight's meeting. Um so this is information that's detailed in those minutes as well, but I'll just reiterate it for the public. Um the school committee identified a number of areas of consensus and next steps. Specifically, um we shared a commitment to invest in and expand where possible our most sought-after programs. So that's our programs like our dual language program, early childhood options, school programs, uh offering our innovative teaching and learning models. Uh we reviewed the immediate need to identify a new location for our alternative high schools, uh New Liberty Innovation and Salem Prep, which are currently renting space at the Witch
086City Mall. Um the committee prioritized strategies that will make the most efficient use of our facilities districtwide. For example, in some of the data that we looked at, right now only one of our schools is being used at capacity. Um and we also reviewed the facility conditions of our existing buildings. So all this prompted a larger discussion around exploring the learning, extracurricular and financial benefits of more uniformly sized elementary schools. Right now among Massachusetts uh districts that offer K through5 elementary exclusively, Salem has the second lowest student enrollment per elementary schools in the state. So operating six elementary schools of varying enrollments means that our resources and space are not distributed in a consistent or efficient manner which leads to unnecessary costs for the district. So in the coming months the school committee will engage
087with educators, the STU with members of our school community and the public in general further for discussions about how we can rightsize the elementary schools throughout our district. Uh and lastly, in light of the above topics, the committee revisited its ongoing deliberations around the current intist school choice system and how it might best be reformed to maintain districtwide socioeconomic balance and address the rapidly rising transportation costs that the district faces. So, more work and more opportunities for public engagement and input are still to come on this important discussion. Uh it's deeply connected to the actions that this committee's taken over the past years, including modifications of the Stalinaw School, the advancement of the new high school project, which we've just discussed, the expansion of the prek partnership, among many, many other steps and initiatives, all
088intended to ensure that our public school district is moving forward in a manner that's thoughtful and strategic, and that's fiscally responsible and sustainable, but above all that it's serving all of our kids to help them reach their full potential. Um, and that's the report on the retreat. I don't if anybody else wants to add anything further, but motions and resolutions. Our first item is a change in the school committee meeting date for September. Is this for >> That's Yeah. Uh, the date was to move the September um 22nd meeting to Wednesday, September 24th. Move to approve. >> I'll second. >> Motion made by member Cruz, seconded by member Miranda. All in favor? >> Any opposed? None opposed. The matter carries unanimously. Uh, next item is a resolution for July 4th, 2025. Member Cruz. >> Uh,
089thank you, Mayor. Um, this was a request that came from uh, councelor Davis uh, regarding a resolution um, that I believe was uh, taken from uh, the Boston City Council regarding July 4th. Um, the counselor had reached out uh, asking if this was something that school committee members had wanted us to sign on to. I had mentioned to him, you know, based on when he submitted the request um, that uh, we couldn't do so because of it would be a violation of the open meeting law. it would need to be on uh a regular school committee agenda and then we could vote to sign on collectively. I think at this point we've uh we've learned a good lesson earlier in the year. Uh just with respect to that. Um so my recommendation is that at
090this point um the letter isn't gerine. The timing was for July 4th and I've mentioned to the counselor that you know I think with more time the committee could have considered this uh in our June meeting. Um so I'm I'm assuming that he'll come back to us sometime in June. Uh, so I I suggested that we put it on the calendar just to bring it forth to committee members, just to flag it for you all if folks wanted to take an action on it. I wouldn't recommend it for today because I think it would have to be contextualized to uh what we do as a school district. Um, and to just ensure that, you know, it's what we want to communicate. Um, but you know, otherwise, you know, I I feel totally comfortable saying come
091back to us next year when it's germaine. Any further? Any further announcements from committee members? Alternate committee member blue. >> No further comments or announcements. >> All of us. >> Any further? >> Okay, that's a first. >> We're going to pass it. >> I'm going to chase the gavvel if I throw it. >> I don't want This is the best meeting I've ever done. I want to be passing. >> Okay. Is there another motion? >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> Seconded. >> All motion made by member Miranda, second by member Campbell. All in favor? Any opposed? We are journed. Thank you everyone.