001A call to order the Salem School Committee meeting, our regular committee meeting of June 2nd, 2025 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. Our first item of business is approval of the agenda. Move you to approve. I'll second. A motion made by member Campbell, seconded by member Miranda. Under discussion, seeing none, all in favor? Any opposed? The matter carries. The agenda is approved. 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
002public school students regularly attend school committee meetings. We encourage all meeting participants to model respectful and productive public discourse for our young learners. Any public comment in the chambers the hi [Music] Good evening, Mayor Pangalo, Dr. Zich, and members of the school committee. I am pleased to announce the recipients of the Salem Teachers Union scholarships for the 2425 school year. Uh, we presented four $1,000 awards to the following students from Salem High School. Um, I'm going to hope I don't butcher these names. Uh, Marangela Diaz, Lionus Owen, uh, Mark Qualcombush, who is not here this evening, and Isaiah Roger Romero. Um, to qualify, the students had to take the AFL CIO labor exam, and the top four scorers for Salem earned the scholarship from Salem Teachers Union. Uh this year nine students sat for the
003exam. Uh many thanks to the public who purchased raffle tickets to support the fundraising for the program and a special thanks to Mrs. Miranda for overseeing this at the high school. So um for those of you who don't know, the AFL CIO labor exam is a really hard exam. Um I took it and I did not score well. Um I have since studied and I scored better the second and third time I took it, but it is really hard. If anybody ever wants to look at it, I can get it to you. And uh these students um certainly earn the money. And the scholarship is unlimited for whatever they need for um it's not just for college. If they're going into a trade, for tools, for uniforms, for whatever they need to move forward in
004their career. So, um I just wanted to let the public know. Um I always hold this until after senior awards night so that they can get their award and be surprised. So, that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations to the students. [Applause] Additional public comment in chambers. Is there good evening members, students, everyone here available? My name is Richard Hyatt. I'm actually a pastor of House of Promise Church. I came just to discuss uh the uh voting on whether we should have religious organizations be a part of the schools or not. Um I was here last the last time for the last meeting. And the one thing that I just was convicted by was just maybe a misunderstanding on what we do and what the school does. we're very similar in what we're trying to
005present to the students, which is having an opportunity or an outlet to express what's going on with them, right? Uh when we were here, I was sitting here listening to all the students that were doing these having great achievements. And the one thing that we all have in common was we're trying to look for the best interests of the students. So when I found out that ah we might not be here no more though I was like man what what what can I say or at least do to present that we are united right we might not have the same beliefs but that's not what this world is about this world is about us uniting for the betterment of these beautiful kids all right so they don't have to live maybe some of the bad
006or rough childhoods that we had and they can be better or have a better step forward to be able to take on Right? We all know it's not easy. We all know it's difficult. Right? But like I said, what I wanted to extend to everyone here is we are not against anybody, right? No matter our religious beliefs, there's no one against anyone. What we're here for is to unite so we can have the one common goal of helping these students. The reason why I actually even wanted to come into the schools was because of that. A lot of the students don't know how to express themselves at home and they don't know how to express themselves at school. So I told my wife, what better opportunity than actually do it in a school and give
007these students an opportunity to express themselves in a way that they normally don't. That's why I look like this, right? If you see, I have my church members here. Most of them are from this community. When I say most, I mean all, okay? And they all had their, you know, their trials, their tribulations, their, you know, for the lack of a better term, issues when it comes to that specific thing of being able to express what they're dealing with. And my goal in life is to make sure that we continue to give an outlet for them to do that. They get the education, right? And they sometimes even get the emotional support, but I know you know and I know that emotionally we don't want to talk about that with certain people in school, right?
008So, we're just another outlet that we can help do that. So, I want us to just have a different perspective on us working together rather than us combating each other. All right, that's it. All right, my name is Richard. It was I appreciate the time. Thank you. Any further public comment? Yep. Hello to the school committee and everyone. My name is Kendra Key and um I was a Salem resident back in 2012. Um moved to Connecticut for a few years, just moved back. Um and I am a pastor as well and I'm a pastor at Calvary in Lynfield. We have some of our congregant members here as well. And we currently meet um in the Salem High School on Wednesday nights. We have a community group there. It's been an awesome experience working with Z
009and the facility staff there. They're amazing. Um I love the city of Salem. I love everything about Salem. So much in fact that I actually named my firstborn son Salem. He just turned three in December. And I also have a one-year-old. So I'm a mom, which is like my favorite thing about life. But uh my family truly loves Salem. And our church loves Salem. We actually have 300 uh or more people active members of our church who are Salem residents and they travel from Salem to Lynfield um to Calvary Christian Church. And so this coming fall, our hope is to launch a Salem campus for our church. Um we've done many launches before in other communities as well that have gone really successfully. And um our heart and our desire is truly just to partner
010with the city because we love the city and um we would just love that opportunity to still come and be a part. Um we we're already doing a lot with the city. We work with LifeBridge, with the Northshore Community Development Coalition, with the Salem Food Pantry. All just have been incredible, incredible experiences. We love serving um this community and so we would love to be here and be a part. And so we're truly excited to to do that. And our hope would be to be at the high school. Um it's just an awesome facility as you all know. It's a beautiful space and we would just love the opportunity to be there on Sundays with our church. Our hope is to launch with about 250 people. And so, um, that's going to be hopefully we
011can get, um, just everything in order. And again, like we've looked at other rental facilities, other places to go, but, um, when we saw the high school, we just thought this would be such an amazing partnership. And so, when I met with Z and Pat and some of his staff and, um, talked to or send an email to Principal Burns, we said, listen, we just think this could be an awesome partnership opportunity. Of course, number one, you'd be getting the the thousands and thousands of financial dollars, you know, benefit of us renting, but then also, we don't want to just be here and use the school. We want to partner and serve the students. So, we would love to buy a sound system for the auditorium, a light system because um we happen to see
012the drama teacher there, and she was saying, "Well, we rent this stuff for like two weeks. The students don't really get a lot of time to work with it and learn the systems." and we were like, "Wow, that's off the bat an awesome way that we could serve this community and the students in purchasing that." Um, if we're using the space, we might as well leave it there, let them learn and grow from it. So, again, just another example of how we just hope to come in and love the community. We were part of a church in 2012, uh, Remix Church in Salem. We were met at Bentley Elementary, had an awesome experience there, uh, for many years. We were there. We did the Boo Bash annually. So again, just looking for ways to serve
013the community and to just be a part um of what the community is doing. Um I think that I would just hope that you could consider and just think on that before making a decision on the proposed change to the policy. The thing that I love about Salem the most is that Salem has worked very hard as a city to be a place that is accepting and loving and inclusive of all people from every walk of life, from every belief system, free to express themselves. And so we want to be a part of that and we just want to be um something in the city that can bring hope and serve the community. So I hope you would consider that tonight. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any further public comment from the chambers? Good
014evening. My name is Alicia De Pñena. I am a Salem resident. I'm a parent of a senate students and I'm also a pastor in the city of Salem. And I'm going to go with my pastor. My brother says that we have a common goal. And the goal is for the children. I'm I'm actually testimony of not being able to have that relationship to talk to my mom, not have teachers understand me. But yet, I found a relationship with God. And it's not that we're going to push anyone into that, but it is a way out. We have to give the children nowadays the options. I mean, the conflicts, the fights in the city, the things that students are going through, we just want to give them another option. We just don't want the doors to
015be closed where we can come in and just be relaxed and say, "Hey, how you doing today? How's it going? Let me talk to you about my testimony. Let me talk to about you, who I was in the city, how I grew up in the point, and today who I am today." So, we would love for you guys to consider that before any decisions. Um, because there's a transformation for these kids that needs to happen. And I'm not saying we're the only solution, but I am saying we are one of the solutions. You have a good night. Thank you. Oh, thank you. [Applause] Any further public comment from the chambers? Any public comment on Zoom? Nope. All right. Thank you very much. Next item on the agenda is approval of the consent agenda. This is
016the minutes from the school committee meeting of May 19th. Approval of a field trip to Cany Lake Park um on June 20th. Approval of the field trip to Walt Disney World um on August 21st to the 25th. And approval of the warrants of May 22nd and May 29th. Move to approve the consent agenda. Seconded. Motion made by member Cruz, seconded by member Campbell. All in f in favor? Any opposed? Seeing none, the matter carries. Mayor, I just I just wanted to note that we uh approved those uh field trips. So, for anyone that was uh in the public waiting to see if those would get approved, that's all set. Thanks. Okay. Student representatives report. None. Well, I can I can I can Yeah, I can just update. Um we had a um guess I'm the
017student representative for tonight, but the students we had a great meeting today. Uh we had the students from Salem High and the stu uh superintendent advisory committee went to New Liberty and got a tour of the school. It was the coolest field trip to watch. Uh having high school students leading other high school students. They were nervous giving tours to one another, but the new Liberty crew did a great job of showing off their school. We had pizza and we talked about uh next year. We had uh speeches for the vice the chair and the vice chair. We had two students who wanted to be considered for vice chair, two students for chair. And so we will have a school committee. They're going to vote over the next week and a half. So we'll have
018somebody for the student rep um as soon as before the end of the school year. Uh, one of the things that the students did which I really appreciated is they decided to select um automatically select a new Liberty student to serve as the vice chair. So that there would be um um and that's going to be uh Nevin Lebron who um is an excellent young man. Well, I think he's a Sultan Stall grad, right? Excellent um representative and he will be uh they wanted to have somebody who would represent the views of New Liberty. still trying to work on getting a Salem Prep student to be active. Um trying to do some recruitment there. Um but the group has really um strengthening this year. They are they want to do more next year. They want
019to meet with the school committee more regularly. Um and they want to make their they by the end of the meeting they were telling me what I we I needed to do to make sure that it was more productive uh next year. But um I I feel like we're going to be off to a strong start. We already have about 15 returning students for next year and they will want to open up to incoming freshmen um across the campuses um for for next year. Um I will just say they feel very strongly that they want to talk about supporting newcomer students and how we have stronger orientation for newcomer students. They're very interested in still talking about um they want more flexibility at lunch periods. They left very jealous that um new Liberty students can
020leave for lunch if they're 16. So there was a whole discussion about that. There was a lot of discussion about the yonder pouches as there always are um and their concerns about the the enforcement um across the high schools. And they also want and I really appreciated this. They want to make sure that the opportunities that are exist at each campus are available to all students. So they want to continue to open up the Salem High opportunities to all of New Liberty and Salem Prep. And there are some really unique opportunities that New Liberty has that um Salem High doesn't have and they want to try to um figure out ways for for students to take advantage of that as well. But it's really cool to see how proud each all the students are of
021their schools and also their constructive critique of what we can do better as a school system. So, um I look forward to letting you know who the new um student rep will be on the school committee. hope these people in the front row who'll be speaking to us shortly will join the student advisory committee when they come to high school and maybe one day they'll be the student rep and maybe one day they'll also be the state rep um for um for Salem. So uh with that's the the update from the um student advisory group. Any questions for our student representative or surrogate student representative superintendent report? Okay. Uh switching hands quick quickly. Um before we have the main event here, um I just want to note that the baseball team won their playoff game
02211 to1 today, uh which was a big win over Manchester Essex. We don't know when the next game is. Tomorrow night there's a uh really uh there's a number of girls flag football games, the playoffs. Salem High is playing in that. I think this is the second year of girls flag football and we have a good shot to do well. I think they play at least two or three games tomorrow. The first is against Barnstable, I think, at six o'clock here at Bertram. And there's a whole bunch of teams that will be here. It's a very cool event to watch. If you make it to the state championships in girls flag football, you get to play at Gillette Field. So, hoping that, you know, we'll all get a pass to Gillette Field here because Salem
023is going to be there. Um, graduations this week, it's a very busy week. We have three graduations on Wednesday night, uh, New Liberty. Thursday night, the prep, which is will be at root. New liberty will be at um the PEM and Salem High is graduating on Friday at uh Bertram Field. And so this is a very busy but exciting week for all of our students. I'd also like to note, not just because we can't leave Tuesday out, tomorrow night, we have a forum on the new high school building at Salem High School. It is at the uh community life center. Um, and you'll hear from um, many of our members of the building committee um, who will talk about the project so you can learn about the timeline and the design of the new building.
024And we're also going to take comments and questions and feedback from the uh, from the community. So that's tomorrow night. Is it 6:30, Miss Cornell? 6 I think it's 6:30. 6:30 to 8:00 tomorrow night at the senior uh, center. Um, okay. Without further ado, I've talked way too much. You've all heard me talk for the last 15 20 minutes. So, they're all saying yes over here. So, I I'm very happy that we have real life students here. I had the chance two weeks ago or a week and a half ago to hear from eighth grade group from Miss Jaw's class at Salt Salt and Stall who did their civic actions project and they came they walked all the way here to present to me in this very room uh their project which I was blown
025away by. I was so impressed by the thoughtfulness and normally I hear about these projects but there's no solution to the concern that they've identified. I thought they had a very thoughtful and creative solution and I wanted the school committee I wanted the mayor to hear from all of um your ideas because it's going to take more than just me to help you make your solution come um to fruition but others on the committee can help as well. Um and so I'll turn it over to you uh Miss Jaw and your um wonderful students who are all eighth graders, right? Yes. Okay. Um, are we able to look up? Yeah. So, we're going to Well, they're going to put it up on the um on the screen. There you go. All right. Is that And
026there's a clicker, right? Yes. Okay. On the Wow. Okay. Will that work for you or That's great. Okay. Let's go. This is going to be right. I'm going to stand over here for you guys. Okay. When you're ready. How can we share this with that? I can't hear him at all. They want Is that Can they go one at a time at the microphone? That's the only thing. I just can't. Does this one connected? I I don't I don't know. I just have to bring the podium. Yeah, I think you guys have to do it from the podium. They got to come over here. Sorry. Oh, that's fine. Yeah. And then come on over here. Yeah. People at home can't hear you on TV. So, we got it up on my computer, too. Microphone. Yeah.
027Yes. You guys can actually read it closer. Okay. Go over here. We just don't want to miss anything. No. No. We want to hear them. Yeah. We want the public to hear them. All right. You guys have to stand there. Okay. You guys have to stand close to this talking. Oh, you guys right in front of us. This is our action civics project. How CTE can help with food insecurity in Salem, Massachusetts. This is the agenda for our project and we'll have time to answer questions after. What is Action Civics? Action Civics is a class project Miss Jaw organized that we have been working on since January in our social studies class. Action Civics is about finding a problem in our community that we as a home room found together. The goal of a action
028civ is to find a way to fix that problem and to be able to accomplish that by the end of the school year. In our action civ project, we found a problem in our community and we tried to find something that we can do to try and make an impact on this big issue in our community. What were some of the issues we brainstormed? We started by writing down issues that we have noticed in our community on poster paper all around the room. Um we then took all of our ideas and wrote them on the whiteboard to narrow down our some of our ideas. Some issues we brainstormed issues with the unhoused population. Cost of living in Salem. Parking within Salem. Access for handicapped people. Issues facing the elderly population. Our class after brainstorming for
029a couple of days decided to focus on helping the unhoused population but didn't decide didn't decide to really focus on food insecurity yet. Will we narrow down um what we narrow our project down to? We we decided to narrow down our project to in food insecurity among the unhoused population. We needed help with not only getting them good and fresh food, but also getting them places to live and cars so they can move around where they need to. We realized that we would not be able to fix each of these issues because they are so complex. Where did we get stuck? trying to figure out a long lasting solution to the issue that was not just a canned food drive and raising money where was where we got stuck. We already knew that a canned
030food drive wouldn't work well to fix an issue this big. We would need something that is permanent to fix this systemic issue. We needed to figure out things like how we would get the funds for whatever the final idea would be, how we would be able to have a variety of different foods and transportation for the food. We needed to get some advice. I'm going to read the title. Who did we reach out to? We reached out to three organizations, but only two responded. We reached out to Witch City Action, Salem Pantry, and LifeBridge. One of the people we met was Skyler Clark from Witch City Action. We spoke to her on April 10th. She met with us virtually and took time out of her busy schedule to talk to us about food insecurity problems
031facing the unhoused population in Salem Massachusetts. One of the things she had mentioned was that this community would like to have access to kitchens so that they could cook. If they did not have access to kitchens, then they would need ready-made meals that were consistent during the week. We also communicated to Mike Lily from Salem Pantry on April 17th. He had the time to come into our classroom and talk to us about how the Salem pantry is able to bring food to a good majority in Salem and parts of Lyn. However, an issue they face was that they can't help as much as they would like to because usually the unhoused population tend to have poor dental hygiene. So, there isn't much food to give them. He also made the point that this population wants
032kitchens, but they can't be provided and that it would be a better option to provide ready-made meals instead of kitchen. However, it couldn't just be any kitchen. It would have to be safe and sanitary sometimes or something that could safely make food to be sent to out to people. So, what did we learn? Scholar Clark explained that the biggest reason why there's so many unhoused people that the rent is going up and people are losing their homes. She also talked about how when people lose their homes, they struggle to get food. She told us that the Salem Pantry helps the unhoused people, but they can't cook the food. We learned churches have kitchens, so we had the idea to have a meeting with you, Dr. Reky, and the school committee to see if we can
033use Salem High High School kitchens because it's up to code and has a lot of space. Mike Willy was our guest from the Salem Pantry. He told us that the Salem Pantry helps the unhoused population often. The Salem Pantry gives lots of can canned foods and frozen meals, but the unhoused population has many different people and many different needs. Some people who are unhoused cannot eat certain foods. This information we learned from Skyla Car and Mike Lily made us realize that having access to kitchens in Salem High can help the unhoused population in so many ways. The Salem High Culinary Department gives a clean and up to- place place for the food and meals to be prepared. What became the focus of our project? Figuring out how we are going to make and package pre-made
034meals and to send them out to the unhoused. And our class then realized that the main issue was trying to solve food insecurity in the unhoused community. was how the food gets provided, if they like it or not, or if they like the food, and the variety of different food. With that, we hope we can use the kitchens and the culinary shop at Salem High to make all the ready-made meals for unhoused people. What are we asking for? We would love for the uh culinary department to start an internal program to make ready meals for the unhoused population. We're hoping for we're hoping that part of the culinary department's budget and time can be set aside to run this program. It might be possible to partner with Salem Pantry or which city action for food
035and distri distribution. We're asking for the Salem High School's CTE program too. A leary student use their utilities utilities and kitchens to help us give or get food to the homeless on house on house population give Salem High student community service hours for the student that help us out. The culinary art s st CTE program could help could help make the these meals because they use a professional kitchen that follows all health department requirements. F find a partnership like um wish city action to help with meal dis distribution distribution for people who are unable to get to Salem High School easily. The unhoused population is rising. There has been over 1600 16,000 1600 1600 homeless incidents in Salem, Massachusetts recorded in 2023 by Salem police. These incidents are proof that the organizations providing help to
036the unhoused population in Salem need more resources. This is because this data is from 2023. This does mean that the number of incidents are likely increasing as the unhoused population has also increased significantly. Recent data from 2007 to 2024, the overall h the overall unhoused population percentage in Massachusetts went up by 94.1%. Federal funding cuts to the food banks. Unfortunately, there have been funding cuts to the Greater Boston Food Bank. approximately 2.3 to 3.3 million dollars. Food banks provide food to other pantries across Massachusetts, also providing it to unhoused people across the state. But with these federal cuts, it's going to be much harder for the unhoused to get access to food sources. This is one reason why we must take action to help the unhoused with their search for food. Now that we know
037about these funding cuts, we must get creative with these ideas to help this issue. Because we have fundings going to the culinary department, we might be able to help our student our students learn cooking while also providing meals to the population that needs access. Where you come in? What we need from you is approval to create a program like this within the culinary department. Set aside funding to create ready-made meals for the unhoused population. Find food distribution services such as Witch City Action or the Salem Pantry. Provide community service hours to students who participate in this in this program. Our hopes for the future with this project. In the future, we hope to see that in Salem High School's culinary department, they will hopefully be able to make box of food so that they could
038be sent out for delivery to feed the unhoused community in Salem. So hopefully we are when we are in high school next year, we can take part in this program to help out the most needy in our community. We hope that you really consider a project and find a space for this within our schools. Does anyone have any question? We will try to we will try to um help to reply or Miss Jo will try to help us both answer. Good job. [Applause] That was fantastic. Thank you very much. Um I'll turn over members of the committee. Member Cruz, thank you so much for uh your advocacy today. Yeah, I have to say this is probably the largest uh student advocacy based uh project that we've seen come to the school committee chamber. So, you
039probably broke a record today. Uh which is great. Um and I think the issue that you picked is certainly one that this committee has been wrestling with for uh a number of years and appreciate you thinking about the most vulnerable among us. Uh and I was a culinary arts student. So, um this one hit near and dear to the the heart. I would have loved to have done this when I was a black kid uh way back when. So, as I look at the data that you're presenting, um I guess one of the things that I'm always cautious about, um and I saw a table here that didn't have a source, you had this one here that says top 10 states with the highest homelessness rate, uh in 2024. Do you know where that data
040comes from? I do actually if you are on your computer, unfortunately. So, you're not on your computer. We actually put the links to all of our sources down at the bottom for the unhoused population is rising as well as um the federal funding cuts to food banks, the articles and things that we got this research from. We have links down in the like the notes section at the bottom. Thank you. Thank you. So, I'll check that out. And then my second question to the students would be as you were engaging with the folks at LifeBridge and uh Witch City Action um aside from um the things that you've laid out here, did they name why uh other community- based organizations haven't like taken on this kind of project of doing like hot meals for folks
041that are currently unhoused? Are there any restrictions or like limitations or barriers that they pointed out? Well, we should be aware of. Well, most of the kitchens are not like certified or approved for healthy for health. So, like basically Salem High School's kitchen is like the best example for what we need and what this idea can have. Um but the most biggest idea I mean that that's bas basically what they said is basic the kitchens are they don't have kitchens where they can make the food for the homeless for unhoused people because unhoused people have bad dental. So if they just give raw foods it that are hard. It's really hard to do that without like apples that'd be hard on their teeth. So, we really need a kitchen to soften that food to make
042pre-cooked meals and it'll just basically help out the whole entire community if we can get a nice clean certified kitchen. So, to add to what Aaron was explaining as well, so which city action for instance is a citizens organization. So, when they would want to get together, there was a plan at one point to maybe make like sandwiches and hand them out to the community. Um and S they could have partnered with Salem Pantry to even get food in order to make that stuff. However, because they would be making it in like their home kitchens that's not health inspected. So it increases liability for a place like Salem Pantry. And that's something that's very common where there's a lot of organizations that want to get involved. Even churches, right, where they might have a kitchen,
043but it's like, you know, has like the leftover stove from somebody's home and they have like a very small kitchen. It's not really health inspected for some places. So some of these organizations can't partner with them. whereas we have kitchens that are inspected by a health inspector. So, we could partner with these organizations. That's the thought process. And when it comes to like that concept, you're fine. That concept of like the bad dental hygiene, when we're talking to the Salem Pantry, we are talking specifically about an organization that uh provides produce and produce in order to actually be consumed easily by a certain subsect of this population, it needs to be cooked. So, the food is a little softer and it can actually be consumed easily. So, we're not looking at just partnering with Sale
044and Pantry and handing out, you know, produce and vegetables and things. We actually do need to process what they have in order to hand it out and distribute it among the population. Thank you. Thanks. Other members, you got this. Next, member Campbell. Um, it's not a question, it's just a comment. This is one of the more creative solutions or um civic engagement projects that I've ever seen. Um, I get in my day job, I get to work with um, young people your age and I see a lot of different types of civic day projects and things like this and this is one of the most creative partnerships that I've ever seen proposed. So, kudos to all of you. Thank you. Thank you, Cornell. This also isn't a question, but just a thought for next year
045when you all are going to be in your first year of high school is that I think once you're at Salem High and you can really start to engage with the culinary teachers and the students who are already in those programs is that you really like understand what the curriculum is, you will have a much better opportunity to kind of influence what's happening in those culinary spaces. So this is I wish this were the kind of thing where we could just vote on it today and go this is a great idea because it's an excellent idea but you have the opportunity to keep up that civic engagement to make sure that it's really um you know it's embedded in the the way that we teach at Salem High which is actually pretty cool. Um so
046this is brilliant. You all did really well. Thank you. Thank you. Um so I just echo what some of my uh my colleagues on the committee said. This is fantastic. this idea. I know that LifeBridge has a kitchen and that they work hard to prepare meals for as many of the unhoused in our community as they can, but the the need for more is is significant right now um with the cost of housing and also with the federal cuts that are I think starting to impact particularly food prices. So, I love this idea. Uh and I hope that you'll continue carrying it forward into uh into the high school. And if you have the opportunity and you do want to continue it, we have people on the city's uh team who also work in this
047space. We have a food security coordinator who works in the health department and a housing stability coordinator that works out of my office. Uh, and this work is really central to to the efforts they're doing, too. So, thank you for bringing this idea to us and uh we're certainly going to continue the discussion about it. So, mayor, just um yeah, it was good to see you all again and I know some of your classmates are coming back here on Wednesday, I think, right, Miss Shaw? Another home. Another home room um to meet with some other folks here. Um, but I would just say one thing that's really important is you all have a chance to to make an impact in your community when you go to Salem High. As some people said, there are uh
048there are tons of opportunities in this city for you to get involved as a youth leader and the youth leadership council and the student advisory group. We need your voices more than ever. And uh I'm pushing you look at you all stood in front of here and gave great presentation, right? like don't underestimate people listen to young pe to to young people. They care what you have to say. Um and so I'm going to I'm challenging you all to get involved next year at Salem High. I want to see you there or wherever you go to high school, but I hope you go to Salem High or New Liberty. Um we want to see you join these committees because um you all have the opportunity to make the impact that unfortunately some of our us
049as adults haven't been able to make. Um, and so we we hope um I I just want to encourage you to join. I don't care if they say you're only a ninth grader. Ninth graders are just as important as anybody else in high school. All right? So remember that when you go to Salem uh high next year and I'm really proud of you. I look forward to giving you your diploma or whatever you call your certificate at Saltton Stall. I think the mayor will be there as well. So yeah, in a in a week and a half. Um and we're all very proud of what what you all have done. Thank you, Mr. y'all for um all the work you did with this group. You want to say your last Thank you for sitting here
050and uh thank you for sitting here through our presentation. Thank you. [Applause] You're Yeah, we'll take a 30 second recess. You're free to unless you want to stay for the discussion on leases. Yeah, leases. Yeah. Thank you all. Thank you to the parents as well. Thank you very much. Great. Having sex. I wish we had more time with those kids. Should be its own. Yeah. leases. Whatever order you want to go in. Yeah, we'll go to leases now. Do you want me to pass it over to you, Miss Paulie? Um, yes. Good evening. Uh, we included in the packet was a brief memo about the leases, licenses, and memoranda of understanding that we have in the sound public schools. I did not include a a report on facility rental. So for example, this committee has
051heard in the past about Northshore Rugby using the lower field at Selm High School. What I included in this memo was leases, licenses and memorandum of understanding that includes space inside the schools during the week um either during school or after school. And those agreements are such where we are the lessor or lensor and we have made agreements with um community- based organizations that are providing services to children. So um in the memo you can see that there is a range of agreements that we have um there are two child care agreements. There are agreements for afterchool um programming for children in elementary, middle, and high school. Some of them involve payments to the school district and some of them do not. Notably, some of these agreements are expired and some of them are current.
052So, what I thought I would do is just do a quick voice over um for the agreements that were included in the memo and then um happy to answer any questions or find any follow-up information that the committee is curious about um as part of the discussion. So, just going in alphabetical order, uh one of our newer partnerships is a license that we have with Angela's Daycare. They provide child care to young children and they have an agreement with the Salem public schools that they will have four classroom spaces and outdoor play spaces at Salem High School for their exclusive use. Um it it this is active. We actually renewed this license um in February, but it was dated from 121 2023 and it expires 11:30 2025 with the opportunity to extend it for two
053separate one-year increments. So, we can extend it at our discretion um November 30th, 2025 for another year and then for a year after that. Um the there is no fee paid to the Salem public schools for this. that was waved in exchange for subsidized child care for staff at Salem High School um as well as students um and uh students who may be parents themselves as well as um a partnership with our CTE program where students in the early childhood pathway can work on the premises to as part of their program to earn their credential. Um they are uh interestingly the agreement allows them to operate year round and not necessarily follow the school calendar which I think is a function of the service they provide that young children um need care every day and
054not just um during the school year. We are responsible um in S public schools for all repairs um including in inside and outside snow removal, lawn maintenance, outdoor maintenance. We also um provide the custodial and utilities um for this this partner. So that is Angela's daycare. We have two different agreements with the Boys and Girls Club, one of which is expired. So I'll start with that one. Um, the Boys and Girls Club uh of Salem, Greater Salem, excuse me, leases space in this building in the Collins Middle School. They rent rooms 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 438, and room 409 as office space. So, they are here every day. Um, and they, this agreement, this lease that they have was in response to an RFP and it was dated um from October 2018 through September
0552021. And it is my assumption that it was expired because in 2021 um the school district and the city were thinking about other things, namely COVID. Um, we waved at that time, it is my understanding that at that time we waved the monthly fee that the lease set, which was $2,150 a month or a yearly payment of $25,800. We now are receiving those funds um from the Boys and Girls Club, but the lease has expired. Um the Boys and Girls Club lease for this space um does note that the program is closed when our building is closed on snow days. Uh but they are allowed to operate during February and April vacation. The other arrangement we have with the Boys and Girls Clubs um was is for afterchool programming at Salt Install. So, they responded
056to an RFP um in 2024 and we signed a a contract with them that allowed them between September 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025 with two additional one-year increments so we can renew next year and the year after that they would pay $1,500 a month to the Salem public schools or $15,000 a year because it's a school year program um to operate afterchool programming for sale public school students at Sultan Saw. Um for that RFP, and this is I'm going out of alphabetical order, for that RFP, the YMCA also applied and received a contract to provide afterchool programming for children in the Salem public schools. So the YMCA has a contract with the salon public schools to operate afterchool programming at Bates, Bentley, Carlton, Horseman, and Witchcraft. It is the same terms as the Boys
057and Girls Club after school program. So September 1, 2024 through 6:30 2025 with the option to extend for two one-year increments. They pay $8,000 a month um or $80,000 a year to use that space. And the other two that were included in the memo are also uh one is an afterchool program which is leap for education. This is a memorandum of understanding. So, the Salem Public Schools received this year $222,000 from the Reed Trust and that was to pass through to LEAP for Education to support the LEAP for Education programs that they offer in STEM um English literacy, college and career ready skills for underserved students. So, LEAP in thisou not only receives the 220,000 but we provide office space at Collins and Salem High School and we provide space for the programs um including
058additional access to the facilities like computer labs and gyms. Um, it's interesting that theou does note that given what close partners LEAP is with the school district in running the expanding horizons program and supporting the early college work, LEAP is given preference over other non-school partners in the schools if there's a, you know, if they all want the computer lab, LEAP has the first choice. This is a long-standing partnership. We've given them funds from the Reed Trust at least as far back as 2019 um with the highest amount in 2023 at $235,000 a year. This year 222 and the lastou in this overview that I shared with you is pathways for children. This is a publicly funded preschool headstart program at Horus man. Uh this is another expired agreement. The agreement was for uh three
059years spanning 2018 through 2021. Again, it is my assumption that in 2021 uh this was not renewed because of COVID and we were focusing on other things. Uh they have access to common areas, conference rooms, lobby, storage spaces in the gym. They have access to the play spaces. Their agreement calls for a secure and consolidated location as well as badges um and a secure area for children. They also do um contract with the Salem public schools as their vendor for their food. Uh so we do provide the food but we do not receive payment from Pathways for theou related to the use of our space. So, I know you have the agreements, but those are just quick highlights that I shared. Um, generally, and you likely have more experience with this than I, generally when
060we are considering leasing a space, we have to go out and bid it um and have an RFP with uh license. Um, we can license space without bidding it. Uh, and I believe the same is true for theus. I haven't found any sort of bidding process for theus. So, um, happy to talk through any questions you might have about either the process or the content. Can I just add a couple things to Thank you, Elizabeth. That's very thorough. I mean, this is the wild west here. You can see um I just want to put it out there. We acknowledge that we have to we want to have a stronger process um going through the school committee because the policy does say and I don't know that the school committee has really ever approved leases of
061substance. I know we just talked about this at a policy subcommittee meeting, but um in the future all these leases should be going to the school committee per the policy. Um I will say with pathways uh we have uh refused to sign on refuse is a strong word. We told them we weren't interested in signing at this point because we are looking at space across the district. So I sort of the bad news is this is all over the place. The good news is that we uh do control a lot of this, you know, imminently like we're not bound to any long-term relationships here, which is important as we look at um utilizing space utilization in the coming years. There's nothing that, you know, prevents us from taking back any of this space. Um obviously,
062these are val I would say these are valued partners and uh they've been really good to us. They've been more importantly good to our kids. uh they run really uh important programming and so um but um there's obviously some area for discussion. I'd love to hear your thoughts and I think this is you know I'm glad that this is out in the open tonight for us to look at. You asked to see it and I appreciate the policy subcommittee requesting this information. Questions? Member Cruz. Uh thank you mayor and um appreciate the overview superintendent and assistant superintendent of um the different leases. I think um to just provide some context where I think my questions lie. Um we needed our facilities first and foremost for our expanding programs as a district. Um I'm curious to
063understand like in terms of these uh leases, who actually oversees them within the district? Um, you know, I don't know if it's the individual school principal, if it's through your office, Steve, or if it's Z, but through facilities. Through facilities. Okay. Uh, because I I just want to make sure that uh for the leases that are are currently uh in play that um all of our um leases are actually in compliance with their leases. Uh so, do we have any uh folks that are in out of compliance with their leases in terms of like are they sticking to the spaces that have been provided to them? Are they coming in and coming back to us annually on issues that we need to address? U because I'm I I think the last thing that I would
064want to happen is folks are out of contract or in contract is that um we get caught by surprise with you know a lease that's not pleased with services that we're providing or vice versa. You know we have a lease here um who isn't necessarily following everything that we've asked them to do. I would say generally they have been very good partners. there is a you know a fair amount of communication. Um I think we could like to be honest I think we could monitor a little more closely. Uh but I do think you know um there have been a lot there is communication between different departments and these organizations. Taylor McDonald works very very closely with the afterchool programs on here and so there's quite a bit of uh discussion with all the um
065and now with the CPPI grant for early childhood there is more connection than we've ever had with both pathways and angelas because both of them are now as of this year Angela was always a part of the CPPI grant um for a couple years but um Pathways is now in this year and so there is more regular dialogue between Kate and Shauna Herps who do a lot of the work with early childhood programming. Um but you know I do think these leases need to get um tighter. Um if we you know at this point I'm not interested in renewing many of them because we we really need to have the utilization conversation. But I do think um and that's why I do think like it's good for the school committee have eyes on on these
066because these are community partners. I do think some people are getting some really good deals here to be frank. some people are not getting as good a deal. Um, and I know why these, you know, we did have a lot of space in the in the schools. Um, you know, at least five years ago when Pathways or no, more than 5 years ago when Pathways went into place, Angela's there was always a spa space at the high school, um, Boys and Girls Club came in when Collins had more space, but now space is becoming a little more of a premium as we talk about the need to get out of a a building potentially. Now all the middle schools here at Collins will be here next year. I know Gavin is trying to get as
067much space as he wants and um I mean as he need is as he thinks he needs for students. Um and that includes like the tension with the central office spaces and the boys and girls club spaces. So, um I think moving forward the best thing to do is that uh you know is to bring these umus forward to the school committee for like scrutiny and review. Um which I don't you know again I don't know if that ever happened. And if I could just add to that what I would say is the partners who have agreed to pay us they all pay us in a timely manner. So there is no question of you know anybody withholding payment. Um I think they're in the different as you undoubtedly saw in the different agreements they
068all agree to keep the spaces clean. Um and if they're going to make any changes they are responsible for those. I think the only thing I hear is whether they are satisfied with the cleanliness of the space and whether that is their responsibility or ours. But I would agree with the superintendent that they we have largely had very positive uh interactions with all of these organizations as as partners. Thank thank you. Yeah, there's certainly valued partners on the list and I just think with all the conversations we're having around our master facilities plan, our our growing enrollment uh and then even changes that'll be forthcoming at the high school, uh space is going to be at a premium. So, you know, I I worry that with full-time leases, um, that number one, we can't commit
069to our partners that they will be available. Um, and some of these folks probably, uh, need to be putting themselves in a position to think about like what does it look like to partner in the district when a full-time lease may not be available because of our own, uh, growing program and footprint. Um, and then I think the only other piece that I would I would ask is uh if there's a way to examine like what's the fair market value for um rental um leases uh in the district cuz I I do worry that I I hear Steve saying some folks are getting a sweet deal. So the variation is clear to me as I as I look through the five of them. Um, but I'm just wondering whether or not um for the committee
070if we can get some information about um you know what what is fair market value in terms of like the square footage that we're offering to these folks. Um so that you know if we are revisiting conversations about providing any of the partners with the lease um we're able to at a minimum u have a conversation that's rooted in um exactly what it is that we're we're giving up in exchange um so that we can make an informed decision about whether or not to proceed. um with um asking for bids on those. So that those would be my things. Any other members? Um I I think we are distinguishing or we need to distinguish between the use of permanent like the actual consumption of space that can no longer be used for any other program
071and an afterchool program that might be not an actual space but more programmatic. Um and I I absolutely agree that we need to make sure we're being consistent in the rates that I think we're asking in in you know equitable between all the different partners ultimately like if we move in a direction where these organizations aren't in the schools anymore they still are valued partners in our community and I think we need to help us support them and and help them find what that next steps are you know in terms of that but at the end of the day school space is the priority for it is school uses um and I the discussion that we're going to be having around the future um configurations of our district's programs will be informative around this. I
072have a specific question about Angela's daycare. Um so in lie of the fee there's um subsidized rates for uh school district staff, high school staff and access for high school scholars. Do we have data? Are we do they provide us data on how many how many participants in the program take advantage of that? where that comes from. Kate was just requesting that data, so I can get you that data. Um, the other thing they do provide that's not on here is they do provide scholarships for Salem High School students. I don't I I don't know if it's in the I didn't see it in the lease, but I do know that that's part of the agreement that they're supposed to provide uh scholarships to students, which they have been doing to the tune of a
073couple uh um you know, tens of thousands of dollars. They have done that. I do know they have done that, but I don't know if it's part I I didn't see it in the lease. No. Um yeah and I and I'll just say like they these folks have all been sort of explained to them that we are in um you know we're analyzing our space. We're looking at examining our space right now. So this none of it is going to come to a surprise. I will say like the afterchool programs are essential that they happen at the schools. Parents rely on them and we would have big problems if we didn't have uh you know many of many of these programs like the Y Boys and Girls Club LEAP. They're providing critical programming in our
074schools for kids after school um and our families. And so we really um do want them to continue to run in our schools in the afterchool space. Um obviously the Boys and Girls Club is is interested in finding a more permanent space for themselves. That's been an ongoing conversation and ultimately it may be hard for them to to continue to run uh for them to use, you know, all those spaces. We'd like to see the middle school numbers continue to grow and it would be a good problem to have that we have to take back some of those spaces. But if I may, so if I understand this right, the of those three after school program providers, the LEAP one is the only one that doesn't have an option to renew their existing agreement with
075the city or with the district, right? The others have contracts that the other two came through an RFP process and the LEAP partnership did not. Okay. And have they expressed an interest in continuing that partnership? I don't know. I I assume yes, but I do not know that. I would say the answer to that is yes. Yeah. In my conversations with Linda, yes. Any further questions? Member Cruz, can I and just ask a question about process because I know um uh superintendent, we've received I think something from pathways about like open houses. Uh, so I think obviously folks are looking to engage with members of the committee um about the work that they do within the district. Um, so I I don't know if it's in the best interest of the committee for this to
076just come in as a up or down vote or or if it makes sense for us to be meeting um to negotiate with these. So I I guess I I would just love to get a better sense of like what the process would look like, what it looks like in other districts since we haven't been doing this, whether it's something that we should be taking up in executive session, if we should be putting these things out to bid, if we should be meeting with these individual, you know, folks to get a real sense of what services they're providing, what challenges have been, etc. But I just I I it doesn't feel right that we would just do a up or down vote without at at least getting some more of a process to understand like
077where we're going to land with all these. Yeah. I mean I'm not we're not asking for a vote tonight, but I'm just saying absolutely in the future. My thought was to go to the fac through the facilities uh subcommittee to bring you know a draft to this the committee have them review it if they'd like to invite members from the organization in. They they could ask us to have that person come in if there's questions and then we look to get a favorable vote from the um from the facility subcommittee to bring to the entire committee for a full vote at a at a meeting. That's how I would see the process running. Um is that you know we would prepare something for their review and then with their support we would bring it to
078the entire committee. Great. Does that sound reasonable to you and Elizabeth? Correct me if you think that I'd be looking at my colleagues on the committee. I'm differential to to them on if that's the process they want. Yeah. I mean I guess that's your committee so I should be asking you that question if you're Yeah. Member Miranda. Um, I'd be interested in hearing a little bit more about um what kind of information you would be looking for. Um, but I would be happy as the committee chair um to try to set something up with the subcommittee around um like meeting with partners um to learn more. Thank you. So, I guess my question would be, Steve, should we refer or should we refer that now to buildings and grounds just so you can kind of
079get this process started given I think we're going to be having some conversations at the retreat and over the summer. Um, okay. So, I I just move to refer all matters related to long-term leases within the district to buildings and grounds subcommittee. Second. Okay. There's a motion made by member Cruz, seconded by member Campbell. Under discussion. Yep. Member. I'm sorry. It just took me a second to find uh 3204, which is the policy. We're going to I think we have a second vote on that tonight, but um we put in there that the superintendent in concert with buildings and ground subcommittee would review any leases for duration of less than 6 months. So, we wrote that into the policy that we're at a second read for second read, but we wouldn't have another meeting till
080end of the month. I'm just noting it. Noted. I don't have anything else to say. Any further discussion on the motion? All in favor of the referral to building and ground. Any opposed? The matter carries. I miss Thank you. Okay. You want to get MSBA update? Okay. We already did the update for the MSBA. We have a meeting tomorrow night um which is an uh a community forum to discuss the uh building new building design timeline. We hope to have a lot of questions, give people plenty of time to discuss and tell us what they think. Uh tomorrow night, 6:30 um at the senior center. Uh and there are two building committees upcoming backtoback. Uh I think on the 12th and the 18th. Is that right? Is that Do I have the right dates on
081my calendar? Those are right. Yeah. 12th and 12th and 18. Um yeah, I'll just stop there. Member Cornell, do you want to have anything to add? Okay. Do not finance and operations report. I have none. Okay. Any subcommittee reports? Motions and resolutions. School committee regular session meeting schedule for 2025 2026. This was provided in the packet. Any discussion? Cruz. Uh move to approve the school committee regular session uh meeting schedule for 2025 2026. Second. Motion made by member Cruz, seconded by member Cornell. Under discussion, seeing none, all in favor? Any opposed? Matter carries unanimous. Letter in support of House 3905, an act authorizing the city of Salem to employ automated enforcement of speed limit violations in designated school zones within the city of Salem. Um this is the uh this is the a home rule
082petition that was passed by the city council earlier this year. It's the fourth time they've passed it um and sent to the legislature. It's going to be before the joint committee on transportation next week. This week? This week. Tomorrow. Um, and this is an authorization to submit a letter the contents of which were in the packet. Member Cornell drafted. I don't if you want to speak to it at all. Uh, I I used uh the mayor's uh letter in support as a model and tried to make it a little more specific to the work that we've been doing over the past year uh particularly with regard to the cameras and uh on buses that gave us a lot of data. Um, so that that's a bit I think it's relatively straightforward, but if folks have
083changes, I suppose we can change something before a motion. There a motion to approve the letter as drafted. So moved. I'll second. Motion made by member Cornell, seconded by member Miranda. Any further discussion? Member Cruz. Thank you, mayor. And I just wanted to uh thank all of you for uh your input on this one. I know we worked on this one last session, too. Uh so, tomorrow will be the hearing. So, I would just ask that if any members of the committee uh would like to testify, um we don't necessarily uh we I think I sent out the registration link, but if you'd like to come in person to Boston, uh just notify me uh today so that I can arrange a parking spot for you uh and we can testify as part of a
084panel and then you won't have to wait uh in uh legislators get uh to testify out of turn. So, um you can come to Boston. I can make it convenient for you. Uh, and I just think um it's super invaluable for them to hear from the committee's perspective uh because we've done a lot of work on this. I think the letter speaks for itself, but if you do have the desire to testify tomorrow, I'm happy to join you all in a panel. Any further discussion? Seeing none on the motion, all in favor? Any opposed? None opposed. The matter carries. We have two policies for second reading. Policy 3204, lease and rental of school facilities and policy 6402, tim and location of school community meetings. Take them separately. You want to take them separately? Motion to
085approve policy 3204 uh lease and rental of school facilities. I'll second. Motion made by member Cornell, seconded by member Miranda. Under discussion, member Cornell. Um, as a person who cares deeply about uh, Salem children, I really appreciate the work of the pastors and churches who are doing such good work in the city, not just with children, but with, you know, all members of the Salem community. I my church was incredibly important to me, particularly where I grew up, and it was a great resource for my family. So, um, I really appreciate your work. Uh and that said, you it is the responsibility of the school committee to res to represent all public school students and families who should have the expectation that the work of churches remain separate from the work of Salem public schools.
086And even if that work is happening after school hours, um our broader Salem public school community is in our buildings after school and on weekends for sports and band. Um and we as a school committee have tried to be really consistent about this with regard to not recognizing religious holidays or celebrations in school. So this is brings us into alignment with a more consistent uh perspective and with regard to policies around religious-based organizations and celebrations holidays in our schools. Uh but that said, I do think that this is a very good opportunity for ch churches um and pastors to get some guidance from the city around possible alternative venues. Uh because as everyone's noted, they do a lot of great work for our kids in Salem. Um and the mayor and the city's recommmitment to
087the children's alliance kind of underscores the fact that uh you know we we as a city are invested in making sure that we have partnerships with everybody who's serving kids. So, I think it might be a great idea to um you know, as you know, maybe put folks in touch with Sarah Roy to maybe just think about options, other options in the city. Um because as Alicia noted, like Alicia noted, that they're providing an option for our kids that's really important. Um and I don't want to I don't want to um devalue that at all, but but this policy is more in line with our current policies. So hopefully the city can provide some some welldeserved support for groups. Any further discussion? All right. Uh on the motion for second reading of policy 3204 amendments.
088All in favor? Any opposed? Seeing none, the matter carries. Policy 6402, time and location of school committee meetings. Motion to approve. I'll second. Motion made by member Cornell, seconded by member Miranda. Under discussion, seeing none. All in favor? Any opposed? None opposed. The matter carries announcements. You want to share the h so just two things. I just note that one of the dates for the school committee meeting is Rashashana. So we're going to have to make a change on September 22nd. Um and secondly, the baseball team is playing in Hyannis for those of you that want to make the trip to Cape Cod on Wednesday um afternoon. So, um that's might be a long road to get out there and back in time for the new Liberty graduation. So, I think I'll have to pass
089on that, but um yeah, good luck to the witches and congratulations. Member Miranda. Um it's June 2nd, so just wanted to uh give a shout out to it being Pride Month. um and raise some visibility there. And then also just name publicly um that I'm in full support of our families, our LGBTQIA+ students, um school committee members that may identify as LGBTQ. And um I look forward to serving on the school committee and doing what I can um to make sure that our values are aligned with um inclusion and um true inclusion of our LGBTQIA+ um students and staff. Sorry, two two more announcements. our next meeting we will be honoring retirees um and the reception will start at 6:15 on June 17th. So, uh hope that folks can join us. And then I'd also
090to build on um Pride Month, I Salem Public Schools will be participating in the uh parade. Um and um I would ask, you know, we're going to have a contingent there on the 28th, I think, Saturday the 28th meeting at Shetland Park. I think it's at 11, right? Is that AJ? Or 10. Yeah. Um and so we we we welcome anybody to join with us. It's a it's a very important um day, but it's also this whole month as you said, you know, we we uh I I know hearing from students how important it is for them to see that representation matters. It rep it matters uh among everything else that we do. Um, I'm also going to send the school committee um a speech that was written by a student at the senior solstice
091on Friday about inclusivity, which was an amazing speech that I think you all need to read about the importance of um inclusivity in our schools. It was written from a young woman of color and about um the the challenges faced as a young woman of color and why why schools need to continue to make sure that every child has a voice um and and belongs in our schools. So, I I'll share that with you. Um I think I shared it with you already, mayor. Um which I, you know, I think really captures the fact that we um we want to make sure that every child is feels seen and heard in the Salem public schools. So, thank you. Motion to adjurnn. Second motion. Motion made by member Miranda, second by member Campbell. Under discussion, seeing
092none, all in favor? Any opposed? None opposed. We're adjourned. Thank you everyone.