001Good evening, Holliston, and welcome to a special Friday edition of the Hollist School Committee. Um it is January 30th, and we are happy to be here. Um we are welcoming uh James Kimo Carter as a um candidate for superintendent. I think we will um first start by introducing ourselves and then we'll let you have some time to introduce yourself and then we'll get into some questions. >> Sure. >> Okay. So, we'll start at the end. >> Awesome. >> Yes. Uh hi Kimo. Uh Frank Ogores. I am been on school committee now for two years. I'm on the budget subcommittee as well as chair of the communications uh subcommittee. And I have three and a half year olds not in the district and one-month-old. >> But they're coming. >> They're coming. You're going fast. Not fast
002enough though. >> Hi, I'm Hillilary Breznan. I've also been on school committee for two years and I have two children in the district. >> Hi, Tracy Flecker. I've been on school committee for less than a year and I have five children in the district each of the schools. >> And I'm Sarah Fitzgerald. I've been on for three years and um three children. One just graduated and is in college and then I have a senior and a an eighth grader. So kind of spread out. >> Welcome. Um Don Navorski and um I have five children, four of which have graduated from the district. And thank you so much for being here this evening. >> Thank you. Thank you. Nice to meet you. Dan Alfred. Uh I have uh been on the school for this my third
003year now on the finance committee for 11 years before that. And um I have a seventh grader and a ninth grader and I'm chair of the budget subcommittee. >> Hi, I'm Joe Peru. Um, I was elected the same year as Hillary and Frank to the school committee. Uh, currently serving as the superintendent evaluation uh, subcommittee chairman and I am the father of a 5-year-old son. >> Okay, good. >> So, if you would like to take a few minutes and introduce yourself and maybe also give us an overview of how you how and why you got into education um, and just why Hollist, why are you here? >> Okay, that's great. Well, thank you. I really enjoyed my day today. I I just want to start by thanking everyone who is involved in my my very
004busy schedule as I toured all the schools, um met with students, met with teachers, met with parents and guardians, um town officials, um administrators, principles. Um there's a lot that's wonderful that is happening here in Hollist. And I'm even I mean I'm going to start with why Hollist. Hollist has so much going for it. It is on the cusp in my opinion. It's on the cusp of becoming a worldclass school district. There's a lot of good work that's happening in the schools. What particularly impressed me when I saw the instruction, I got to go into a number of different kinds of classes um particularly at the middle school and the high school, you know, where where kids were participating, I observed effective teaching and when I met with the students and I asked them one
005of those neutral questions where they could choose to whether they could, you know, praise the schools in the district or or complain about the schools in the district to a person. They all said that they felt seen and heard in their classroom and that they can go to any teacher that they wanted to and they trusted them to help them help them. And that is such a powerful statement coming from our students and that is a great start um area of strength that that um as a district we can build on um as we move forward. So really a credit to the students and to their teachers um and to all the good work that's happening in Hollist there. Very excited about this opportunity. So a little bit about me, how did I start? I'm
006originally from Hawaii and that's my name. My name is a Hawaiian name for James. So my my birth certificate name is James, but no one ever called me James ever since I can remember. My father, who's also from Hawaii and he was born there as well, um always called me chemo and my father is from the military and in our house if your father calls you chemo, you're chemo and and that's how I u and I kept my name as I I moved east um um there and I'm actually kind of proud of my you know my original name um and it does uh you know um talk a little bit about my Hawaiian roots Um, I started in education not really knowing that I was going to go into education, but my first job
007out of college was as a program aid at Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown. Um, I think they hired me because I'm big because I was working with 18 to 22 year old two boys that were also big and um and um um they were in the apartment program at Perkins where we were working hard to make sure that they could develop skills to be as independent as possible, you know. Um, so at 22 they would go into into um an adult living situation and um so hardest job I ever had. Learned sign language, learned Braille, um learned all about IEPs and and special education and um but what I really learned was the joy of of seeing a student work very hard and then accomplish their goals and their pride of doing that.
008And the first time that happened really the first big goal that a student of mine made was tying his shoes. And that was that was excellent because he liked the Converse shoes. He didn't like any other shoes. That's the shoes that he really preferred. And they're all lace up. So he had to learn how to tie them. And so that was something that uh um that was that really stucks sticks with me. I'm still a teacher at heart. I taught a long time in Bill Ricka seventh grade social studies. What motivates me is when the light bulb goes on um for all kids and when they feel that they can accomplish something and they feel more independent and more empowered and that's what education can do to all and hopefully now I do it sort
009of indirectly as an assistant superintendent but really trying to empower all students so that they can chart their own pathway and they're prepared for whatever comes their way you know as an adult in this crazy world that we live in where who knows what's going to happen you as they become adults, as long as they're prepared with the critical thinking skills and and and and the knowledge that they have, um they will they will they will be ready as they as they move on. And that's that's what drives me. Um and really that's the center and the heart of all the decisions that I make, you know, currently as the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. So that's a little bit about myself. >> Okay. So we often receive feedback that the district needs to
010improve in the areas of communication and transparency. How would you ensure effective communication and transparency with the district educators and the Hollist community as a whole? And what strategies have you employed in your career to build trust and open lines of communication with key stakeholders? >> It's a good question. I've heard that a lot in my visit, which is good. I'm glad it's the first question here. >> [sighs] >> Communication is a loaded word. Often that's something that people say if they're dissatisfied with what everything is happening in the district. Well, the district didn't communicate well because people think of communication in different ways. Like one person might just want information. One person might talk about communication as being as not being able to be part of the seat of the table, you know, to
011make the decision process. Um I think many people when they talk about communication they mean that they are not being listened to and that is the start of any communication is the listening and um good listening skills. Making sure that the person knows that you understand their point of view goes a long way. Whether you can come to a consensus and come to an agreement or you can't and you have to disagree, at least the person knows that you understand where they're coming from, can empathi empathize with what what they're um what what with what they're they're thinking. um and they in turn might be able to understand your reasoning of why you're making a decision that's not um that not favorable to them. So that's that's a really important thing to do that. One
012of the skills that I do and and really that kind of communication is face-to-face dialogue. There's no substitute. Um, and I think, you know, there's a lot of communication strategies as far as disseminating information, but when it comes to problem solving, it's face-to-face dialogue that really, you know, makes all the difference. What I try to do is I try to walk down the ladder of inference. I listen first. Often people come with um assumptions. um you know there's there's sort of the data that everyone does and then you kind of make meaning out of the data and you come in and sometimes you come in upset or angry with with with with coming with some some assumptions and so one thing that I try to do is I try to act with curiosity lean into
013the conversation ask really questions to get down to the heart of the matter which is what the what the incident the actual incident is or what the data is and then and only Then do I walk up my ladder of inference as far as how what what meaning do I build out of that? And it might be similar. We might be able to find common ground. It might be quite different. But as long as we sort of go through that process, I think that's that's, you know, a terrific way of of going about it. So I'm not sure if I answered the whole question. So if there's parts of the question that I missed, >> no, >> that was because I didn't talk about again. I can, but I I only have five minutes. There's
014a lot there's a lot, you know, that I can talk about as far as public dissemination and >> and things like that. >> What have you done in your current role to uh disseminate important information to the community? And >> so, we have we have a communication plan. I mean, there's regular communication that that we that we do as a district, but some communication comes from central office. Much of the communication comes from principles. And then there's very important information that comes from teachers and there's expectations for all three levels of communication and there's very different there's there's there's very predictable methods of communication. So for instance, we work with our PTO. We have a terrific PTO in Weston that that works in partnership with us to create a newsletter that comes out every Sunday
015called Westward. And it's a collaborative effort between the central office and the and the and the district level PTO leaders. And um so a lot of the announcements, you know, of the of community events, but also of school events happen predictably every week on Sunday in the westward and and that is our one sort of district-wide communication that announces events. principles have a weekly communication with parents that only pertain with with happenings in their schools. That also happens once a week at a predictable time. It's different for every principal. Our middle school principal likes a Friday um afternoon communication. And actually his communication goes to both students and families. Um and often those communications are loaded with pictures. Um and it really comes from a principal's voice. And you know, for instance, our middle school
016principal who's expert at this, um, we'll even talk about the week. You know, sometimes the week is a hard week for students and sometimes it's a u it's an excellent week for students that and and the pictures often celebrate the work that students are doing in the school. Um similarly our teachers usually about once every two or three weeks or at the beginning of a major unit will have communications for parents as well. So it's a it's a systematic way of going about it. Every district has its own system. I'm really curious about what Hollist system is going to be. Um, and then I'll work within that system as far as we want to do it as long as it's consistent and predictable so that parents know when to expect the communications. >> Awesome. >>
017It's a long question, so I will do the first part and then we'll go through the second part. >> Okay. How do you intentionally build and sustain a safe, positive, and inclusive district culture for all students, staff, and families, particularly those from marginalized groups, im immigrant communities, or who may experience prejudice or bullying? >> That's only the first part. >> That's the first. Yeah, >> it's about as equal in the second part. So, I can keep going. Or if you want to start there and then >> let me start there. We can go and then we can [snorts] go there. Um let me tell you a little we have a challenge in in Weston. I mean there's been an increase in anti-semitism across the uh across the across the nation. Um we um we had
018some incidents in Weston in in October and November like in about a two or three week span we had um two incidents of of graffiti with swastikas at the high at the middle school and then one at the high school. all separate incidents from from different students and then we had racist graffiti at the middle school as well. So we do we felt that we were doing a lot of proactive work to sort of eliminate that but you know times change students change schools change and we saw that we weren't doing enough. So first of all there's we I think we need to divide things into into two. Harm happens you know even in the best districts you know it's it's all districts encounter bullying all districts count encounter hate um and it's disproportionately affects
019our our our less represented groups. So there's a few things that we are doing this year in order to in order to um do that. We we do a lot already. Uh but what we haven't we haven't been able to do enough yet. So, first of all, I I working with our principles, our high school and middle school principles, we needed to react to those incidents firmly by denouncing the the um the attacks or the or the incidents of hate. And we are clear about denouncing the attack, not the person. And of course, the person's anonymous, you know, because we need to protect privacy, but we need to make sure that everyone in in clear words that hate has no place in the schools. Um, and we name the attack the exactly what the attack
020is and how that impacts um certain groups, whether it's um um Jewish students for for the swastikas or black and brown students for the for the racist um um graffiti. We also um at the middle school we held whole school assemblies. At the high school we felt it was more important to really have lessons and advisory in our advisory periods. And our teachers really did a phenomenal job particularly um our social studies teachers did a phenomenal job of developing lessons that really um were at appropriate age so that they knew that that those symbols were absolutely u wrong and they gave the historical and social perspectives. um um to that um we held community forums because there were a number of families who were deeply hurt and troubled by um that that spate of incidents.
021We explained to them what our plan was and you know as far as the advisory lessons and the assemblies as far as the reaction was concerned and we also invited them to participate in a long range plan which I'll get to um as far as what we're going to do proactively in order to combat these um you know these these these incidents. Every student needs to feel that they can bring their whole selves to school when they learn to bring their learning. If they are worried or anxious or scared or afraid or angry because of these these acts, they're not going to have any learning. So, we need to repair those damages. So what we did is we also invited any student who was affective you know counseling services and we we brought in um
022we brought in you know district counselors moved toward the middle school or to the high school depending on when that when the actions happened so that we could give more support for students as well and students did you know were able to take advantage of that support actually more students came for that support than we had thought but the important part is what we do proactively um there and so I am the I am the one of the I'm actually the sort of the major leader of the our our bide committee which is belonging inclusion diversity and equity I know you have a DEIB community which is the same acronym in different order um I work together with the high school assistant principal the middle school assistant principal the director of nursing and our metco
023director so actually it's a five leadership committee. We have about 40 or 50 people on the committee and part of our action after these actions was to open the committee to anybody who wanted to join. Um, you know, we're not a gatekeeper. If anyone's interested in helping us, we do that. So we have a really nice representative number of teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and especially students who can really um who who whose voices are very helpful there. And we're in the process of developing an anti-hate plan. Um we have um we sent out um a survey. We had community forums. Um, our admin council also participated in in in this. What we had people do in the buy committee, in the admin council, in the community forums is to fill out a padlet with
024brainstormed ideas and different categories. What are we going to do to educate students? What are we going to do to for professional development for teachers? How are we going to change systems of structures? How are we going to address school culture? How are we going to outreach to the community? And in the pro, we're in the process right now of synthesizing that information and then and then bringing that back. And I'm sorry I'm going long, but this is a really important topic and I think it deserves a little time. Um, and hopefully I can talk a little more about it maybe down the road. >> Well, do you have the second half? >> Uh, you did get through. >> Oh my goodness. >> But, uh, good news is you covered most of it. So, the
025one piece Well, I'll read it all, but there's really one piece I think we can drill into for a minute. Can you share specific examples of policies, practices, or initiatives? I think you shared a lot of that um you have implemented in the past and explain how you evaluate whether those efforts are having a meaningful and measurable impact on the school climate and student well-being. So if you cover that last part to >> so the data part yeah how how are these initiatives working >> moving the needle? Yep. >> Right. >> So I think with with um that sense of belonging the way you can get at it is through surveys. Um, and there's there's surveys that we we have to do. There's the vocal survey that that kids take after the MCCAST that talks
026about school climate. Um, there's also our our youth risk behavior survey. Um, and we do the Metro West um, which I think a lot of districts in this area um, do as well. And that that's a really helpful thing right there. But that's usually not enough because that sort of gives us sort of quantitative data. But what we need to do when we actually think about belonging is that we actually need to really um interview students whether they're in focus groups or whether they're individually we need to focus on those particular students in those underrepresented groups hear those stories and ask them about their feeling of belonging in the school. Um parents as well. One thing that I advocate um is having an overall district satisfaction survey that we send yearly to teachers, to students,
027and to families as well. And that data could also be um that that data can also be helpful. And then being very transparent about it. You know, sometimes you get ugly data coming from surveys, but being being very matterof fact. Okay, here's here's here's some place that we might need to grow. Um but that's that's the kind of data that you can use to see whether um that feeling of belongingness is setting you know is is is is coming into place in a district. >> That's it for that question. >> Thank you. >> I have kind of a two two pieces question as well. Um how do you balance supporting struggling students while also challenging advanced learners to ensure a rigorous rigorous education for all? and any examples would be great. Um, the second part
028is how do you ensure student voice meaningful meaningfully informs district decisions and that students feel heard and valued? >> That's what our kids talked about, our high school kids talked about in my meeting with them. >> Good. Um, I'll start with the first. So some people really actually there's sort of a tendency to think that that that high rigor and then that equity of teaching all students is sort of like a it's a sort of binary. You you only can have one or the other. Excellent teachers can do both. All right. And that actually is a hallmark of what excellent teachers can do. So there are a lot of teaching practices that are are known to keep the standards high, challenge students who need that challenge and bring students who might be struggling to those
029high standards. Um, one practice that we're we're focusing on in in Weston is universal design for learning, which is a um a framework where we set firm goals, but we provide flexible means for students to achieve those goals. And that, you know, in more detail means that those goals need to be standard-based and applied to all students. There are no exceptions. We need to make sure that students have clear success criteria so they know exactly what it will take in order for them to meet that goal. We need to account for choice and how to get to the goal, whether it's multiple means of expression, multiple meanings of representation and and the like. We then need to formatively assess to see whether students are meeting those goals. And then we differentiate. We challenge those students
030who have already met those goals and and to go deep and and to move further. And for those students who haven't yet met those goals, we we provide more scaffolding. We provide alternate ways of of teaching. Um and if necessary, we provide intervention. So that's universal design for learning in a nutshell. There's other also social emotional learning is also a way to remove barriers. Culturally responsive teaching is a way to remove barriers and I can go on and on because I'm an assistant superintendent of teaching learning and this is my wheelhouse. So but I I'll stop there as far as what an example is as far as being able to teach to all levels and make sure that all students um um succeed. Now student voice is really interesting. Um there's a couple of things
031that we talked about um you know in my conversation with with students. I mean I think students we we had a number of student council representatives when I was talking to the high school students. Um in fact we had a one of the I think one of the class presidents um um there and that's a great start having that kind of student government governance. Um, I think one of the students was frustrated that what they were doing was, you know, planning social activities and raising money for the prom, which is also an important thing because that's a ticket there. But they were hopeful that they could actually make more of a difference, you know, as far as how how the school was run, how the district was run. So, um, I I I I put
032some examples in front of them as far as what they do. One thing that we have in Weston is that we found that actually the student council, you know, because it's one of those elected things, a certain kind of student, you know, lead student council, but we have other student leaders that might not student, you know, running for student council might not be the way for them. So actually organically what we ended up doing is we ended up developing a coalition of club leaders, you know, the Black Student Union, our our our um LGBTQ plus um alliance um our uh some service organizations like our our key club and and and and other things like that. And so there's a there's a number of student leaders who lead these organizations that all have sort of
033the same goals as far as service and as far as equity. And so they kind of call themselves like the diversity coalition. And actually the most powerful work that our Weston High School students do is sort of when the diversity coalition and the student council sort of work together. So here's an example that happened um three years ago. Um and really we had some extraordinary students um lead this and sometimes you um you you're you're kind of awe of what what students can do that maybe what adults can't do. So, we had some we we had this coalition really think about how we can um make sure that our non-binary students and our and our um um our transgender and non-binary students um um had a place had a welcoming place at Welcome Western High
034School. And what they were advocating for is a policy, a school committee policy, you know, that addressed that addressed those issues. Um, certainly was a hot potato in in Weston. We have a lot of uh we have a division, you know, in our town. You know, we have, you know, we have a a strong strong set of of students and families that are are liberal, progressive, and then we have a sort of an equal number of families that are that are conservative. Um um and we worked, our administrators worked, you know, particularly our high school principal at the time worked hard with this group to um you know, to you know, so that they learned about like what school committee policy was like, you know, looking at models of what school committee policy. And they
035ended up together drafting a policy to present to the school committee. And I was so proud when our students were presenting the policy for STU school committee presentation. And I will tell you I believe personally that because our students in that group presented that policy that's why the policy was passed. So it's in our it's in our handbook and uh um and it's and it's a it's it's it's a it was a proud moment for me. So that's another reason why we can do that. Couple quick other things. I love having students on interviews. So right now we're interviewing. We we have we're losing two terrific people to retirement. Our music director and our metco director. We we're we're setting up our teams right now. And on our teams are students from 8th to 12th
036grade. And it's really interesting when you get a student perspective on an interview team because what often they think is is instead of all the curriculum and instruction that I think about when I when I try to judge candidates, they ask the candidates, are you going to see me? And it also tells gives the candidates a message that yes, our students are important. They're on our interview committees. And um I think that's a that's another powerful message that we can get students involved in. Thank you. Um, managing controversy and navigating conflict among stakeholders, including school committee, admin, staff, families, and the broader community is a core responsibility of the superintendent. Please describe a situation in which you addressed an issue involving strongly differing viewpoints. How did you balance ethical leadership, transparency, and respect for diverse
037perspectives while working toward a positive resolution? And what strategies did you use to build trust and secure consensus? Thank you. Trying to find a topic I can tell you >> there. >> Um well, since you have you're you're working through this as well. We've worked on our high school and middle school schedule. And as everyone knows, time is probably the most valuable resource that a school district has. And the organization of time is a political activity um where there are halves and have nots and often there are trade-offs and we can't please everyone all the time. That's evident in that if you look at the high school schedules across Massachusetts, it's very hard to find two high schools having the same schedule because there is no perfect schedule. if there was a good schedule that
038we would have a bunch of high schools following it, but there's not. So, the big debate, so let me give you some background. Um, our new superintendent, she's in year three right now. Um, but when she was doing her listening and learning tour, one of the themes that came out of her findings was there was complaints about the schedule. The problem is is that different people complained about the schedule for different reasons. Some people wanted more choice for students. Other people was really concerned about the time on learning that was happening. You know, because we have we had a we have and we're continuing to have an eight block schedule and fitting eight blocks in a in a school day sort of reduces the amount of instructional time in a given class. and students who
039may learn differently, may have slower processing speeds, may need a little more time, they get they get disadvantaged, you know, when the instructional time gets gets shortened. So that was very important for us as well. The problem is with a fixed school day, you know, and following the union contract of when, you know, school starts and school ends, you can't have everything. And so there was sort of a great debate that was coming that was sort of being set up where some people were on the fewer classes but more deeper learning side of things or on the more classes and more choice you know kind of side of things. So what we did is and I the superintendent allowed me to be sort of the you know a point person of this because I have
040a lot of experience being a principal and working with schedules. Um we convened a team of stakeholders. We had um teachers including the union president on the team. We had uh a school committee me two school committee members on the team um which is we have a five member school committee. So two is the max that we can do. Before um that we had some administrators and um we had some students and we had some parents you know all all working together on the team and collab collaboratively we worked we looked at many many schedules. We came up with a a value system as far as what we valued in a in a school schedule and then we vetted that to the the overall community to see if they agreed with our values as far
041as that whole thing is concerned. Then we came back and we actually drafted three schedules that would be that would sort of comport with the values. But of course some values would like be held a little bit more priority with some schedules than others. Some of the schedules were seven block schedules that we what we presented. Some of them were eight block schedules. We went back to the community and and asked them, you know, do you have a preference as far as the schedule is concerned? And gradually there came to a consensus and really I think it was coming from the student voice again that the eight block schedule was the preferred schedule. Um, but one thing that we had to do is we had to acknowledge the weaknesses of that schedule and really be
042sure that hey this is what we're going to because again the time on learning per class wasn't wasn't you know wasn't where we want wanted to be. We ended up proposing a schedule that was very similar to our eight block schedule now because we like the five five classes per day. It was sort of a five drop three schedule and I know you have a five drop two schedule so it's kind of similar to that. Um we added a wildcat block um where the Wildcats in Weston and a Wildcat block will allow for um flex time for advisory for assemblies and things like that. Um so we have a once a week wildcat block. We're right now in the process of really final dotting the eyes and crossing the tees, you know, doing the negotiations
043as far as the teaching loads are concerned because it's we went from an 8-day cycle to a 10-day cycle and um um we're we're well on our way to implementing the schedule um um next year, but we can't stop there because we have some very disappointed people um who really advocated strongly for a sevenb talk schedule with deeper learning. So one thing that we will be planning to do is we're planning to meet with parents in those forums so that they can express their disappointment but they know that the process was public and transparent and so they even though they don't disagree with the outcome perhaps and again some people will think that because the process was transparent and and there was there there ended up coming to a relative consensus of that eight block
044schedule, you know, that they can sort of take that news um there. But listening to them again is is really important and that will be a next step that we'll do um down the road. >> Can you please share some specific examples of how you have addressed achievement gaps among various student groups, whether it's looking at anything from test scores to absenteeism data in any of your previous roles? [snorts] What data has informed your decisions and how do how did you ensure equitable access to highquality instruction and supports >> and how would you apply those strategies uh for Hollist? >> Okay, good. That word achievement gaps is sort of a loaded as a loaded word because it's I think some people interpret it as as it's the students the responsibility of the student there. So
045systems are designed with the outcomes that they have across the state. We have gaps, but I'd like to sort of categorize them more as opportunity gaps because really it's the responsibility on the district to remove the barriers so that students can, you know, access the curriculum and learn to those high levels. There is a recipe for success here, you know, backed by research. It's clear. Hard to implement, but it's clear. I I I use an analogy of the lunch in the lunch box. All right? And I got it from a a consultant that it just stuck with me. I I I learned it in a conference. It's not my own idea, but I I think it's a really good thing. The lunch is the nutrition. It's the food. It's the actual instruction. All right. And
046there are three equitable sets of equitable teaching practices that really serve to remove barriers. And I talked about them before. Universal design for learning, culturally responsive teaching, social emotional learning. That needs to happen in each and every classroom effectively. And that's easier said than done. Teaching is hard, especially when we're we're we're we're um our call is to teach all students. The lunch box is the high quality curricular materials and the multi-tered system of support which is also a very involved process. But you combine that those together and gaps close. We're on our way. We spent I've been there eight years really the full force of our professional learning you know at the trade level and department level has really been on these equitable teaching practices. We started with social emotional learning. You know, how
047do we get the PBIS system, that's the positive behavior intervention system and the um um and we used u curriculum from responsive classroom to really um have a sol give our elementary and middle school teach students a solid foundation and social emotional learning. COVID hit. We learned how to teach remotely. So, we took a little break. But then once we came back, we really focused on culturally responsive teaching for a couple of years. How do we use culture and language, home language as an asset versus a liability? And how can we leverage the differing backgrounds that our our students have, you know, to have richer richer instruction? Um, and a lot of strategies incorporated. My favorite culturally responsive um strategy is called the learning pit. You know, how do we create situations where kids have
048to work together to solve really complex problems together with some scaffolding from the teaching, you know, trying to get them out of that sort of struggle zone and trying to get that struggle time, you know, longer and longer. And then finally the universal design for learning that I talked pretty extensively in a in a previous in a in a previous uh question. Um the multi-tered system of support has to do with you know wind blocks or flex blocks has to do with data teams. It has to do with you know a wide range of interventions in the academic and the social emotional and the behavioral levels. It is a lot. It has to do with scheduling. It has to do with it's a complicated system but that's the framework where we can give students what
049they need at the right time. >> This question expands a little bit on your mention of u social emotional learning but I'll read it. [laughter] >> Um please describe your philosophy regarding social emotional learning and its role in student success. What qualitative and quantitative data have you used to assess student well-being and school climate for both students and staff? How have you led or supported initiatives to strengthen SEAL and overall wellness at both the school and district level? >> Okay. All right. You can go deep into social emotional learning here. >> So there's two reasons that back social learning. One's a neurological reason. reasoning is that and I think I said this before like when a student is feeling that they don't belong and they don't have skills to build relationships to self-regulate to make
050responsible decisions the learning gets shut down. So that's one reason so it's sort of a prerequisite. It's not an add-on like a lot of people think social learning is something extra that we do. It's the plate upon we can do our academic work. Um the second thing has to do with more practical. It's a more practical reason. I think all of us know someone who might need some work on their social emotional learning. Like I know there's some family members that I have and some close friends that I have that could use a little more help there. and I know they're having challenging challenges in their lives. I also know that in the work world more people get fired because of a deficit in their social emotional skills than a deficit as far as their
051work rellated skills, you know, their their expertise in their area. I think that's that's that's pretty, you know, and if you are sort of in that mode where you are involved with, you know, personnel and hiring and firing, I'm I'm thinking that in your experience that might resonate with you. um we're preparing students for, you know, the second half of the of the of the 21st century in jobs that we don't understand. They're going to have to work with each other. They're going to have to make responsible decisions. They're going to have to understand who they are and um um and um and regulate themselves. That's that is paramount. And that's just as important as the academic content that we that we do that our elementary our elementary teachers and many of our middle school
052teachers understand that it's our high school teachers that sometimes when you get to the content area that we have to sort of work with at least in our district that's that's the case um um there. So that's that's that's the reason why social emotional learning is so important and go on. Can I can I go to the next one? >> Sure. Let's go. So, how do you use qualitative and quant quantitative data to support and um how have used it to support both school climate for students and staff? >> Okay. So, just as we have screeners for like reading, there are screeners for social emotional learning um as well or you know or those skills that we have. Often they're sort of self-report surveys where students get to report and teachers get to report. We
053can kind of compare the results. It's kind of weird because when we do these surveys and and we're we're piling in a new tool um in in Weston right now um in the in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade um we're actually seeing a real match between student self-reporting and teacher reporting, which is kind of interesting. They're actually they're actually pretty in touch with themselves, which is which is um good. But that's a way to sort of identify what the deficits are. Um attendance data is really important. behavioral data, you know, um um is really important as well. Um um trips to the nurse, um you know, trips, you know, having to go outside of class, you know, avoidance strategies sometimes. All that data is really important to try to target students and try to
054figure out. And again, that's kind of screening data. And then it's really an interview with a with a certified counselor to really go deeper into sort of what really is that that focus area that we really need to focus on. And so that's what our our counseling staff really does as far as collecting data to try to figure out how to support our students that have gaps, have deficits that can, you know, that we can bolster them um you know in real time just like we would do like if a student was struggling in reading. Um, so we've touched about on this a little bit, but um, lead leading meaningful change often requires challenging longstanding practices. >> Um, especially if data no longer supports those past practices. >> Uh, can you please describe a time
055when you encountered resistance to change from staff or other stakeholders and how you successfully led the organization forward? What strategies did you use to maintain trust, morale, and momentum? How would you work with union leadership to overcome any initial concerns or objections regarding proposed changes? I have one quick followup, but >> okay, >> that might be, you know, that's a good start. >> Good. Um, let's talk about reading, elementary reading. Um, we are adopting uh high quality um reading curriculum. Actually, it's a combination of different curriculums [clears throat] um there. And I'm going to tell you the story behind it because that was a it was it was a process. Um when I arrived in Weston [clears throat] in 2018, it was a little bit like the Wild West. Generally, elementary teachers taught what they
056thought they could. And there was a lot of curriculum that was shared among elementary teachers and they did the best they can and we have some amazing teachers but there was no standard curriculum that they had taught except that we were starting a soft pilot in writing not in whole literacy just in the writing um with the Lucy Caukins units of study. So I came on board and this is 2018. This is before that whole science of reading, you know, you know, um, you know, the podcast and and and everything that happened there. And it seemed reasonable and we had a committee when a curriculum adoption committee and we looked at a number of different curriculum options and we felt that the Lucy Caukins units of study would be good for both reading and writing
057and we implemented that along with foundations which is a phonics curriculum. And so we went through and implemented that and we actually got some really good results because going from no curriculum to a curriculum makes a big difference particularly for those students who need consistency from grade to grade as they're developing their reading their reading capacity. At the same time we were really bolstering our our interventions. Um we we had sort of a one-sizefits-all intervention that we started before and then we were able to differentiate our intervention so that we could really focus on what specific reading skill or writing skill needed um needed work for you know for our students. Um so that helped also not just the curriculum but also the the the intervention system. And when we go into class it's a
058workshop model. It's really fun to see everyone, every student, they're either reading on themselves or their partner reading. They have a little basket of books that they have that are all selected for the you know them. Part of the books are they what they select and part of the books are the teacher select. They have bookmarks that kind of remind them what skills that they're practicing and they're reading away and the student and the teacher is floating around and they're consulting expertly with the students, you know, acknowledging the progress that they're making and then, you know, discussing about what next steps are going to be. And when you observe that lesson, those kinds of lessons, you are like, "Wow, this is so much better than what we had before." And when we actually looked at
059the hard data, 85% of our kids did well, like we they always do. And those 15% of those students who, you know, who are often on the margins, continued to drop back and it started right in second grade and it continued that those gaps kept on continuing to get bigger and bigger and bigger as they were going over to fifth grade. So while the Lucy Caukins curriculum was helpful for many students, we are committed to serving each and every student in our district and it wasn't reaching our our other students even with the foundation's help and phonics and and and there so what we did is we shared the curriculum with our teachers. I mean the data with our teachers and and it was one of those things where we arranged the district data in
060you know sort of a manageable thing you know like a a front and a back you know so that we could actually sort of see you know the disagregated data sort of in a in a way time and we let the teachers themselves you know okay so what does the data say and you know they had to come to the conclusion that we weren't serving this bottom 15% with the tier one instruction so at least they understood what the problem was But in their observations, they were proud themselves that bam, reading has gotten a whole lot better. Look at this this classroom. I mean, everyone's work going like clockwork. Everyone's reading. Everyone's engaged in the books. It seemed like it was working, but it wasn't enough because again, and the science of reading was coming
061out at that at that time, and it became apparent that there were some deficits in the in the in the units of study curriculum. um and um learning more about the science of reading and then looking at the curriculum and I was you know I was learning along with everybody else about this um it was clear that the application of the phonics and the phmic awareness that was um and the decoding that was necessary wasn't as explicit as it could be for some of our learners in the in the in the units of study curriculum. So that was our conclusion, you know, when we got our reading interventionists and all our reading experts in the district, that was our collective conclusion. And messaging that to the teachers was hard because they felt they were doing
062well and they were doing better than before. And it's not because of their teaching. It was because of the it was because of the materials. We then engaged our teachers. anyone who wanted to join would join our team to review other you know new curriculum and that was about a half a yearong process of really you know vetting a whole bunch of of different programs and [clears throat] there's I found out that there's a lot of you know science and reading curriculum that is really not were not not a fit for Weston that's for sure. Um, we ended up on we had three. We we again just like the schedules, we had a top three. We really d dove deep in those top three. We sort of had a sort of a month-long pilot, you
063know, data collection cycle for each of the curriculum materials and different teachers piloted different curriculum so that we wouldn't load the teachers completely there. They came back with their findings. We discussed the positive and negatives and what we ended up determining is that we chose one curriculum. It's e for education that we're using. Um but we actually weren't satisfied with any of the curriculums phonics and phmic awareness. So we kept foundations and and redoubled our efforts to teach it with fidelity and we added heerty um for phmic awareness. So actually we have three curriculums now that are sort of in like working in concert and we're implementing it now um at different paces and at different grades because some grades really needed a a a deep dive into making sure that foundations was was being
064taught with fidelity. Um so the lower grades are starting the e curriculum while the upper grades where phonics is not as a big a part of the reading started at the beginning of the year. And um we're getting good results. We have teacher buyin. Everyone's working at it. There's still some complaints here and there, but it's progressing, you know, much quicker and smoother than we had expected. And it's because of all that pre-work that we did with teachers in the in the in the first place. >> Great. And then just quickly, um, what do you believe is the most powerful word in the English language? >> Oh my goodness, that's a good one. So I'm a big fan of Dr. King, Martin Luther King. Um, so I will say that Kingian version of love, you
065know, love as Dr. King, you know, talks about how love conquers everything. That's a powerful word. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right. Um, I have another question around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. And >> oh my goodness, I know >> I think that you spoke >> Maybe I'll go quick on this one. >> I think you've answered um part of it already, but I'll read the question and if there's anything you want to add and then if you um maybe add to the second part. >> Okay. >> So, advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging requires both courageous leadership and meaningful collaboration. Can you please describe what a genuine commitment to this looks like in your leadership practice and share spec specific examples of how you have advanced it in your current or prior role including
066how you've supported staff learning align systems and policies and engaged stakeholders and how would you continue and deepen this work in our district particularly during times of public tension or disagreement. So, all my examples I kind of used. I'm leading the by committee and we're doing the anti-hate um work. Um the um the gender non-conforming policy was a really, you know, a big a big piece. So, it's probably the most fundamental thing that we're working on in modern education is really promoting, you know, that teaching all students and students have to bring their whole selves to their learning in order to really learn effectively. Um, and that that's really um a passion of mine. But equity work is complicated. It's iterative and it's loud. Um there is a lot of emotion and a lot of
067that motion is actually valid emotion even though many people might think um might think the differently and it is a test on what your core values are. Um, and it's really important when we think of students sense of belonging, and I think that's how I personally think about equity is that all of our students need to feel that they belong so that they can learn as powerfully as they can. And when you're a leader, that has to be a principle. that has to be sort of your hill to die on. Um um when you're um and you need to be able to articulate that and communicate that why um um to people who may who may question that and then listen with curiosity, understand other people's point of view, empathize with their concerns, but still
068not budge. Um and it has to be done with a superintendent as the lead but everyone sort of needs to do that as part of the team you know our administrators our teachers and our school committee I think we need to be you know as one um when we are advocating for the education of our students and one thing that attracted me to Hollist was that commitment that I that's clearly you know um that we can clearly see in the you know in the uh vision of a graduate in the strategic plan in in the core values and mission of the district. So I'm not sure if that answered all the questions but I got a bunch of you know >> you shared a lot of >> that's enough. Okay. So, with the rise in
069anti-semitism nationwide and really worldwide, I I was going to ask you about how you've addressed it in your uh career, and you kind of already answered that with Frank's question earlier in the interview. >> Um, so I guess maybe could you delve a little bit deeper into um >> uh some specific examples of how you've addressed it? You mentioned assemblies. Um I know some districts bring in Holocaust survivors. Y >> um some districts uh receive grants to support the curriculum that is now mandated by the state. >> Um so what kind of specific things are you doing in Weston? >> I'll hold that. No, I'm I'll I'll go I'll go back and try to be sort of um systematic about it. >> So the first major thing that we need to do, you know, to
070be proactive about this is really think about student education. And when we look at our scope and sequence and things like that, what we found in Weston is that we do a really good job starting in 8th grade, but that might be a little too late. Um, so in 8th grade, we have the Washington trip. They go to the National Holocaust Museum. We read Knight. It's a it's an interdisciplinary unit between English and social studies that prepares for that. It's a really good thing. And then our 10th grade world history is a real deep deep dive into genocide and and its effects. And the Holocaust is one example of a number of examples. that's more of a comparative history piece to it. Um, so from that point of view, from eighth grade up, I think
071we we actually do a very good job. What we need to do is we need to think about what we want to do from about third grade through seventh grade. Um because we need to be able to teach students explicitly that there are some symbols that we just don't draw and there are some language that we just don't say and the reasons behind that. So we're working on trying to find, you know, that, you know, the right the right curriculum for the right level, you know, there. And probably it needs to be a little bit iterative so that they get a little of it and then a little more and a little more as they move from upper elementary to um through middle school. So that's one thing that we're focusing on that we're trying
072to find right now. We are asking, you know, and we're actually partnering with a number of with um the anti-defination league. We have a local rabbi that's been very helpful for us um that um has really given us a lot of guidance, you know, as far as um helping that. Um for our racist comments, we are we've we've connected with the ACLU. Um actually, Metco, Inc. um the Metco organization has been very helpful for us, you know, providing materials, you know, um figuring that out. But maybe we bring back, you know, Diary of Anne Frank or another similar kind of book like that, you know, for younger readers, you know, as as one of the one of the one of one of our core reading books. We have to have that discussion. We haven't made
073those decisions yet, but we know that we have to do something in those grades. So, that's the one one thing that we need to do. Second thing we need to do is we need to train teachers. First of all, teachers sort of need to understand or feel empathy for how someone who is Jewish, how someone who is black or brown, how someone who is LGBTQ plus, how someone who has, you know, special, you know, neurological needs. And again, there's a diversity of experience. I'm not trying to lump everyone into one sort of category, but how is that manifesting in 2026, you know, and what's the history, you know, you know, of the cause and then how is it leading to, you know, what we're doing there. So, that's one piece of it. But probably a
074more important piece for teachers is that how to be an upstander in the moment when you actually witness a a microaggression and how do you practice that? I mean we've had a lot of professional learning or professional development sessions where we talk about it with a cup of coffee but how do we practice that and get coaching you know when we see that harder to do because sometimes you know you know you never know when a microaggression might come up you know and and things like that how you know what's the appropriate response and how can we make that practice so that's another sort of a dilemma conundrum that we're kind of grappling with right now because I think that's really important training for for all of our staff And I'm I'm not just talking
075about teachers. I'm talking about learning assistants. I'm talking about our bus drivers, particularly our bus drivers, because what we're finding is that much of our behavior is happening on the bus. So that's the second thing. Third thing, systems and structures. How how can we maximize our schoolbased preventative structures and our school response structures? Um and it's not just discipline. It's also about um it's about reporting. It's about following process, making sure that um everyone knows that, you know, there's certain process for harassment complaints versus bullying complaints versus violate the student handbook complaints. Um um and then Title N's on another different story and and everyone sort of there. What we're going to do with our um bullying prevention and intervention um handbook is add a section on harassment because there are different practices and polic
076practices that we have to follow um you know when there's when there's uh when when the when the the harm is against the protected class. So that's another thing. Fourth is how do we change school culture and fifth is how do we out reach out to families and the communities? you know, do we haveformational forums? Do we have celebrations that celebrate, you know, the diversity that happens in Weston? You know, that kind of thing. >> Thank you. >> You >> Yeah. >> Recruiting, hiring, and retaining a high quality professional teaching and support staff is critical to the success of our schools and students. As superintendent, describe for us your approach to attracting and retaining new staff, including diverse staff, and supporting the ongoing growth of all teachers and power professionals in the schools. What is
077your role in that process as superintendent and what programs have you had success with that you could bring to Hollist to help with retention for teachers, staff, parent professionals? >> Great. Good. So, it's hiring and it's also retention. And actually, retention is is is very important. So, I'm going to try to do that. But, I got I got to tell one of my favorite stories because this is this is um this is this is a good one. Um when I was in Watertown um we uh won a department of a state department grant of critical languages and in Watertown the right language to teach was Arabic. And so we started we piloted Arabic with some visiting teachers from Egypt um who taught Arabic um and then for two years and then it was time to
078hire our own Arabic teacher. And it was a really proud moment because actually our Arabic program really grew and many many um many of our students um either their first language or sometimes their second language was you know was was Arabic. Um and that that was really helpful for us. And so we hired a young woman from Medford who was born and raised in Medford, but who was Palestinian and she was as fashionable as could be, but she also wore a hijab and and and had, you know, followed the clothing requirements that many of our young female students in Watertown also did. And when they saw that teacher, even if they didn't take Arabic, their eyes lit up and she became a role model. And really that is, you know, if if if a margin
079someone from a marginalized group or an underrepresented group sees a teacher that kind of looks and follows the same culturally, you know, cultural traditions as them, it it forms a connection. So, one student really became close with her and she convinced her to try out for basketball and she was a she was a good athlete. I mean, she was kind of rough on her basketball skills, but she, you know, she she held her own and she was actually within the rotation, you know, in the eighth grade basketball team and she wrote a [clears throat] a we have a Martin Luther King breakfast in Watertown and there's a essay contest that goes along with it and eighth graders write an essay and she wrote about how her I'm sorry it's she wrote about how her team
080accepted her cuz she had to wear her hijab and be all covered, you know, with her basketball uniform in front. And uh and it was a beautiful essay about um about uh how she um how she was able to um be accepted by her teammates in her school and also it was a learning experience for the opposing team because they had never seen that. And so that was just a really it was a beautiful essay and um just I don't know it's that's that's really an example of what an inclusive school is. So how do we get there? Part of it's hiring and um couple of couple of things that we do. First of all we like students on our hiring team because they provide that perspective and that's something that help that's helpful. Second,
081we generally will do some antibbias training for our hiring committees. We scour and it's really hard to find people of of color um um to come and teach because again um they often aren't afforded the opportunity or they decide to go in in different directions. But we do scour and we do work very hard from a on the human resources side of things to try to attract and recruit candidates. we go to job fairs and things like that and to be honest moderate success. We haven't had really good success. One thing that's really helpful is that we partner with Regis College. Regis College is in Weston and and um and um many of our learning assistants. We are actually more successful in attracting people of color for our learning assistant positions. And then what we
082can do is we can partner with Regis who gives you know these people a discount and provides the sort of the practicum experience in Weston so that learning assistants can go through a pipeline in order to get to become teachers and we have a number of learning assistants who are taking advantage of the opportunity but we haven't gained the results yet you know about that but that grow your own pipeline is a really good thing and actually we want to expand that to students and one of one of the seniors that I met with today is doing an internship with teaching. And I guess that's a fairly a big thing in in Hollist where many of our older high school teachers do teaching internships, which is awesome. That's exactly the kind of grow your own
083for because it's only going to be five more years until she's employable. And she can go right back to Wal Hollist and and and teach and and doing that would be really helpful as well. Particularly now that the workforce is diminishing, fewer people want to become educators. Um um and partly it's because teaching is harder than ever, you know, as we as we move forward. So those are some of those things that we can um so that we can that that we can do to uh recruit um um diverse um educators. And I didn't talk about retention, too, but I don't think I have time. Okay. All right. All right. >> That's that's hard to follow, but I'm gonna [laughter] do my best. >> It was a good story, wasn't it? >> No. No. I
084mean, we're getting into finance now and that's >> Oh my goodness. I don't have a story like that for finance. >> Um, no, that was that was a great story and I so um so anyway, I I uh you know, budgets are obviously always challenging. No one ever has enough money. Um and you know, we're [snorts] obviously not here for budgets, but we're here for the kids, but budgets impact the kids and what we can do and can can afford for them. Um can you uh you know please describe your role in financial planning, financial management um in in in any of the roles that you've you've had in your career? Um how have you balanced strategic investment in in in district priorities with responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources? Um how have you ensured that
085financial decisions align with the district's mission, strategic plan and student needs? And then also, you know, how have you balanced some sometimes the priorities of the school committee with the priorities of the administration, priorities of the teachers? Um, even if they all sort of fit within the strategic plan because money is limited, you can only do certain things, >> right? Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um, >> and then there's a couple more. >> Let me let me start. This is this is a this is a growth area for me. You know, I'm an assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. >> I'm not a I'm not a sitting superintendent. And you know that's that's one thing that I want to acknowledge that this is going to be helpful and you know I was Dr. Jordan was my
086tour guide and um I'm I'm grateful that if I I get this position I get to work with him and so actually a lot of our talk going from place to place was about you know my learning curve um you know about the budgets but let me tell you what you know what I know and and what I you know and and I'll try to answer the question as best I can. The also I want you to keep in mind that the assistant superintendent's job is to do whatever that the superintendent wants them to do. So there's a time last year where our our our uh assistant superintendent of finance and operation suddenly resigned. And in that time between Kim resigning and and um finding um an interim and then and then replacing that was
087right in the heart of budget season. And so there's a good six weeks to two months where my my teaching and learning hat kind of was put aside and my budget and finance hat was was um was put on. So I do have some experience but again not like a not like what a sitting superintendent might have. So I think the let me just go through the process and maybe I'm answering the questions as far as the process is concerned and then we can go there. Um the process needs to be as transparent as possible. It's really important to bring in stakeholder groups as soon as you can. Now sometimes you can't because you haven't made decisions yet or sometimes these decisions are more confidential and they're not able to do that. So you only
088can sort of say like limited things. But certainly the finance committee is one major major force um in advising um and working with the town as far as the budget is concerned and bringing them you know into the fold and making sure that they're understanding where we are in the process as we're as we're moving and then also the union has a role um in that. Now it may not have a detailed role but what we can do is we can say like for instance in in Weston uh when we calculated our level service budget with all the cost increases particularly in special education and out of district placements and transportation and utilities. We knew as we were calculating what a level service budget would be is that it was going to be really high
089um compared to what typically what our increase is is is normally. So we can give our teachers sort of a heads up. Hey, it looks like it's going to be a really tight budget year this year. You know, here are our numbers. Here's our calculation of what a level service budget will look like. You know, here are the cost increases. you know, um, in Weston, they don't give us a number, which is makes it a little more difficult, but but, um, you know, um, in most towns there's sort of a number that's sort of agreed upon. We're going to go, we're going to get to this, you know, this is this is the number that, you know, that we have to work with. Um, some some towns are a little flexible. Some towns are just,
090you know, solid that this is the number and we can't go over it. Um, but that might be helpful as well. So bringing the stakeholders in as necessary and making sure that they understand what the timeline is and what the process is um is really important. So we create the level service budget and I was talking to Dr. Jordan, you know, I think he does it in three phases. He does salaries, he does then all the other materials and then he there's a special phase for special education. Um and we have the level service budget. And then what we need to do whether we need to we have room to add or we need to think about about cuts is we need to think about what our strategic plan and how the ad or the
091cut is going to impact both the strategic plan and then also I think it's important to put yourself in the shoes of um students who struggle in school and make sure that the cut or the or the ad the ad benefits those students or the cut doesn't doesn't disproportionately affect you know those students. I think those are the sort of the two main I think criteria that we kind of have to look at. And in addition, there needs to be data that supports the proposal. Whether the proposal is a cut or or or an ad, I think there needs to be data that that says that look, this is the reason why we're making this decision. This is the why, and it needs to be supported by data. At least in Weston, it won't get
092by the FINCOM unless there's data um that, you know, that that supports the reasoning behind that um there. And that's something that um that actually I really appreciate our VidCom being able to do and really, you know, getting down into the nitty-gritty details um and getting getting all um set. Can you at repeat the parts of the question that I missed? >> Um >> I'm sorry. >> I mean, you pretty much I think covered most of you even covered the ones I didn't ask. Okay. Um so so I would say you know for someone whose day-to-day is not is not budget you you acquitted yourself uh well in explaining you know your your your thought experience there. So um I think that um oh the only I guess one is how do you balance the
093priorities between you know the school committee >> oh that's really good because the school committee's priority has to be sustainability you know particularly when there's this big MSBA building project that's on the horizon. I mean, we can't we need to be very mindful because there's going to be a big ask coming down the pike um you know, for a new high school or for a renovated high school um um down the road. So, that's that's very important, you know, to consider. speaking as an assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, I want more. Um, I want I want as much service as I can provide for our students and and actually our finance director, our current finance director who's a veteran and I'm who is a veteran, we kind of have a joke running joke about,
094you know, me asking more and he's saying no all the time. But that's my role. My role is to advocate for the teaching and learning. The superintendent's role is different. They have to balance the things. but are an admin team. You have to be very clear about that because you um it's very hard for them to think about what cuts would be the most the least impactful if we're cutting. And it's hard for them to sort of re in justify the the the ads that they that they want to um that they want to um that they want to do. So, one example that we were able to do is we were able to actually move dollars around so that we could support our reading um intervention because there's a lot of curricular materials. We
095were able to get some grant money from the state, but also we needed to sort of figure out how we're going to support our teachers in the classroom as they implement the reading. So we we transferred um some dollars so that we could add some provision um some positions at the elementary level and and re and sort of reorganize the elementary leadership structure so that we could provide the coaching that's necessary, you know, to implement the reading program. That's that's that's sort of a creative budget decision that the admin council can think about as as they as they move as they move forward. Um >> yeah, I'll end there. >> No, that's that's great. >> Thank you. Um so, as you may be aware, um the MSBA invited us to the eligibility period for a
096potential renovation or replacement of our 56y old high school building. So, it's very exciting. Um, as our next superintendent, you will be intimately involved in this process, working closely with our town officials, as well as planning for new and innovative instructional spaces with the school committee staff and families. So, please describe any experience you have with um, capital building projects and um, share with us some of the vision and opportunity you see in creating the new space. Um, and then how would you include the voices of administrators, faculty, and staff in the decision-making process >> and students? >> And yes, yes, >> good. Um, okay. I'll start with my experience. Um, I have some experience. Um, first of all, in Watertown, um, we went through a repair. There's an MSBA process, not for a new
097building, but for repairing, um, um, the existing building. Um, Watertown Middle School has two parts to it. It's sort of two buildings squashed together. One is from and actually has great bones and and it keeps up better than our 1995 sort of addition. Um, but the windows were completely gone and so it was a whole window replacement and a repointing of the of the facade um of the three facades actually, you know, of the of the old building. um you know multi-million dollar progress and I worked with the director of finance and operations and the and the business and the and the superintendent as the principal you know um you know following the process but that was more of me not directing the process but me being part of the conversation as we went through
098the process as as a principal you know which was an appropriate role for a principal at that time. Um, Watertown also has built a number of buildings, MSBA, and in my later years in Watertown was the beginning stages of planning for elementary schools. Actually, all three elementary schools got M MSBA funding in Watertown and they look beautiful now. Um, but in that time, we were starting starting that process. And in Weston, we actually got approval at the same time that you got approval for our high school. Um, but in Weston, we weren't confident that we were going to get approval because we are a high SCES district that we felt that there may be a lot of other needier districts um there. And Weston as a community sometimes isn't as patient as other communities are
099too. And so we went together and did our own self-study um you know with with one of our members of our school committee who's a sort of an expert in the field really helping guiding us along. Um, and so we did our self study and of course we're starting from square one again with the with the with with with that. But we've we went through the process with a with a series of architects and it was a really exciting process imagining what a new high school would look like or a combined high school middle school because we have an option in Weston to to combine our high school and middle school and make one big building. Um what the the superintendent has a distinct role in the whole process and at the same time the
100superintendent has to work really closely with the school committee and town officials to really mobilize the community to be behind the project. Now one thing that has really attracted me in Hollist is the community support that they have for the schools. The PTO is fantastic. you know, you were one of the rare communities that were able to pass an override um what was it last year or two years ago and and override by a wide margin and not a narrow margin. So, there's a lot of support and you know that we're going to need to appreciate, but it's it's still a big price tag and it's still you know it's still going to be you know have a major impact on on the taxpayers in this town. So the superintendent leads sort of that instructional
101design process. You know, we're not the experts of the glass and the steel and the and the brick. Um but we are we are experts in pedigogy you know and so the team that I'll lead will be really focused on eliciting feedback from all stakeholders as far as what learning spaces are necessary to teach students most effectively from now through the next 50 years which is going to take some imagination you know AI has boomed right How's what's AI going to be like in 50 years? I mean, there's a lot of things that we don't know yet as far as what we're going to do. What's that most that most effective learning space? Architects like to call buildings that third teach or that third teacher. The parent is the first teacher and the teacher is
102the second teacher and the parent is and the building is the third teacher. I don't know if I agree with them. I think, you know, students peers might be a good teach, you know, a third teacher or something like that. But the building does have an impact. Um, and I've seen beautiful buildings in the community I live in. They just built a brand new high school. Um, and it's and it it's spectacular. So, it's just a I'm excited about that, but at the same time, it's also a learning curve for me because I've been in sort of the periphery of this, but I haven't gone through a whole building renovation myself. Um, I'm going to need a lot of guidance from from um from everyone. I'm hoping as the process goes along that we hire
103a project manager who's, you know, who's going to be really focused on this. I think that's that's a really important investment, a professional who who knows what they're doing and can manage all the, you know, the eyes being dotted and the tees being crossed. Um um but um that is one reason why I'm so excited about the Hollist opportunity is this is this is this opportunity you know for the next 50 years how we can how we can serve our high school students. >> How would you define leadership >> and how do you demonstrate that with your leadership style? What are partic part particular strengths do you believe you will bring to our school system? Uh and I'll add the last parts because I know we're coming short on time. How what would you need
104to adapt or new skills you'll need to gain uh moving from assistant superintendent to superintendent? >> That's a really good question. I'm glad you asked that. Um and actually I'm going to start with that because I think that's the most important part of the question for someone like me. Um I think there's sort of three things that I'm going to have to really work on. Um there one is working with the school committee. I mean the superintendent is the point person, you know, with the school committee through the chair and and I am fortunate to have a superintendent that's inclusive and so I'm in part of the discussions a lot. Um, but it is the stu superintendent's prerogative, you know, to to be that primary liaison with the school committee. And how do I support
105your work as we work together all both in our lanes as we move forward is something that's going to be new. It's going to be new for me and not new for sitting superintendents. They'll have experience there and that will be that'll be a learning curve for me. So that's something that I recognize. I think I have great collaboration skills. I think I think I think there's a potential that we can be a great team together, but it'll be new for me and and I want to acknowledge that. Um the second thing that is really important that I'm going to need to work hard with and I'm for we're fortunate to have Dr. Jordan is that budget and finance piece. Um, I've worked really hard internally on budget and finance, but it's the superintendent who
106goes and presents the budget to the town, you know, to the finance committee, to the school committee. Um, and and that will be new for me and that will be a that will be another adjustment there. And then finally, I think the biggest adjustment is the weight of the chair. like as an assistant superintendent if I have to make a touch tough decision I always talk to my boss and say hey what do you think you know are we on the same page you know and then as the superintendent yes I will always talk to the school committee chair but it's more of a collaboration and it's more of a of a of a okay this is what we're going to do and I think that's really that's what I've prepared myself for so I'm
107a work in progress like we all are no one's a perfect leader But I think I'm ready. I really do. I think I'm ready with with my experience and and uh and my style. I think that's good. And so I'll get to my style. Um um now um I put in my cover letter that I lead from the middle. And I want to explain that a little bit. So the school district is a learning organization. And so hierarchies don't really fit what its mission is. A hierarchy is designed so that an organization can be stable. And so when we have a crisis, we have a chain of command. And that's the appropriate structure to to follow. And we we revert, you know, to the hierarchy where, you know, there's there's a top down and there's
108a process. And our safety team, I'm sure, has a lot of structures and systems that that that um you know, that focus on crisis management. But most of the time in a school district, the the mission of the district isn't stability, it's learning. The structure that works best for learning is a network. That's what happens in our brain, right? We have the neurons going off and and and you know, the the centers and things like that. and there's all these connections. So that's the that's this that's really the work that I did with my uh dissertation. You know, how networks work and how does relational trust, you know, you know, that that that key component to develop, you know, fully connected networks. So I can use some of my positional authority if I become superintendent
109here to get toward the middle of the network. But it's actually my the relational trust that I generate in order to get to that middle of the network where I can have as much influence as I can there. And it's through it's so I have a I have a relational leadership style, you know, where I'm in the mix, you know, there. One example of someone who's in the not who's sort of at the bottom of the hierarchy, but right in the middle of the network is that school secretary that knows everything. you know, they have a lot of influence in the school system and they've earned it, right? That's that's the that's the person who's who's there or the veteran teacher that everyone goes to. They're in the middle of the network. They have a
110lot more um influence than, you know, someone who might be at the periphery of the the of the network. But that's what we need to do is we need to strengthen our connection. We need to build our connections, particularly our cross school connections, so that our school and our central office can be more linked together. And we need to act in a trustworthy way. So quickly, what does that mean? And I'm going to model that as a as a superintendent. And I'm going to insist that everyone who works in the district aspire to do these things because this is what's going to get people together to trust one another so that we can work together to do initiatives. So first of all, you got to be competent in your job. That's very important. No one's
111going to trust you if you can't do your job. Second, you have to resp you have to respect the roles of other people. You need to make sure that you know your role, you know their role. You need to respect respect their ro role and and um make things make things go from there. Third, you need to be kind. You need to respect people as humans that you know and give people grace and and you know not be so um not be so hard all the time. Right. Fourth, when a connection breaks, like when trust breaks, and this happens every so often because no one's perfect, right? You have to lean in and try to repair the connection. You can't just go away. This is not about friendship. This is about professional relationships and working
112relationships. And there's no option other than going back and trying to work with the person that broke broke that trust whether it's your fault or not. And then fifth, you have to act with integrity. You have to do what you say you're going to do. And if we all do that, you know, from school committee to superintendent to administrators to teachers to bus drivers, custodians, pair professionals, cafeteria workers, if we all do that as a district and we try our best, knowing that we're never going to be perfect, we will eventually form a culture, a community where everyone is supporting one another and is accountable to another in the service of students. and their families. And we got to get that done before we can do any major initiative and push forward. We got to
113go forward together. And the way to do that is through that. And that in a nutshell is my leadership style. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate it. And I'm the last question. Um, and you've touched upon a lot of this, but um I'm going to put it out there anyway. If you could please share how you work with administrators, staff, and the school committee to develop a vision, long-range plans, and annual goals that build trust, strengthen relationships, and bring the community together around the success of students. How do you report progress toward reaching such goals and measuring their outcomes? And how do you think the school committee should evaluate you on that progress? >> Good. >> Thank you. >> Now, can I can actually talk about my maybe my entry plan here? I think that might
114be a really good thing to do because it's going to culminate in developing a new strategic plan. We're in the last year of the, you know, next year is the last year of this current one and we will continue that strategic plan. I want to make sure that everyone knows that there has been good work happening and just because a new superintendent comes on board doesn't mean we change, you know, the process without going through a collaborative inclusive process as far as where we want to go. So, we will continue the work. we will have to sort of diagnose what what we've done well, what gaps we have, and and that work will go as I learn the district. So, in the summer, I'm going to try to meet with as many people as possible.
115I'm going to ask people, who should I meet? Because, you know, your community and and and um and and you know, um administrators, teachers know their community. Um they will give me ideas and I will probably ask a number of questions, but I know there's three questions that I would ask. One is what about Hollist is so valuable to Hollist that we absolutely have to keep keep it and make sure we preserve our traditions and our our good practices. That's really important. Second question would be if there is something that you would want to change about Hollist, what would that be? And the third question is sort of a vision along a fiveyear vision like in five years what would you hope Hollist could be? You know that you know that kind of question. There
116may be other questions depending on people's roles and and things like that. And I certainly would allow people to talk as much as they want as far as whatever they want to me because again it's listening first and then and then directing the conversation after. I listen to their agenda and then my agenda are those three questions plus maybe a few more questions. So, that's the listening tour and most of that will happen over the summer, but it might spill into the beginning of the year because I know some people aren't available in the summer and they come back in the in the school year. But then after that, during the fall, particularly as as the school year kind of really gets going, it's going to be really important for me to be in the
117schools really looking at the teaching and learning, really sort of working and and also calibrating with our other leaders. So, I wouldn't go by myself in the classrooms. I would go with a principal or I would go with a department head or or um you know a a person like that into classrooms. So what are you seeing? What am I seeing? Where are our strengths? How can we build on our strengths? You know, what are the things that we probably need to work on? I think I need to get a good idea of the of the teaching and learning. And that's actually something that I'm I'm very confident I'm going to be able to do and and be able to see that. So I can collect data that way, observational data. I can interview teachers,
118you know, ask them what's important to them, what would they like to be doing, you know, and and and and focus there. And um I can also look at student work. I mean, there's often, you know, particularly around back to school night, there's often presentations and sort of seeing what there and I can see what the level of of the student work is. All is really good data to sort of, you know, figure out and compress. Once I have all that information, um, I will I will compile a an entry finding. I don't know if you call it a report or I don't know, that's kind of a little bit technical, but a set of findings um for the school committee. I I hope to present that in a public meeting. You know, what what
119my entry findings are. Um and I will vet my findings just so that you know with the admin team and with other um selected leadership within the district so that I I know I'm right because even even if I go through this process I might be making assumptions or or having sort of some prejudices or biases that that might need to be corrected. So, just wanted to want to show that we have the findings and that is the beginning of our strategic planning process because in the spring we're going to have to work on building a strategic plan and so that is and that's starting to answer the question as far as the long range planning. We need stakeholders, you know, in that. It's going to be a a committee where we have representatives from
120a lot of stakeholder groups, community members, parents, students, teachers, administrators, central office leaders, school committee, and we will go through a process. We will review the mission, vision, and core values. We can make changes if we want. We can keep them the way they are. Personally, when I look at them, they look great to me right now when I'm I'm there. But maybe I'll have a different opinion after I actually see the district. We will take a look at the vision of a graduate and where we are where we are with that and how we can make that live in the district because that's going to need to be a very important part of the strategic plan as we go because it needs to be meaningful for our students. And then finally, we will go
121and audit where we are with the previous strategy plan. What goals were we able to accomplish? What goals do we still have more work to do? What are our next steps there? And then we will brainstorm new goals and initiatives as we as we move forward. We will present the draft of the strategic plan from the committee to the wider community and have opportunity for vetting and feedback and consider the feedback that we have as we make adjustments to the to the strategic plan. And then finally sometime in May or June we will present that to the school committee and that will be our roadmap for the next three to five years. And so that's how I would do the strategic planning and that's what we'll be doing next year if I'm if I'm appointed.
122>> Thank you. >> Any anything else? >> Well, thank you so much for coming and answering our questions. It's been a pleasure getting to know more about you. Um, is there anything else you'd like to share with us in support of your candidacy? I just want to take the opportunity to thank you and and your time and your dedication. It's been a long process this hiring process just from my perspective and I'm just thinking about other candidates and and you know all the stages you know that we went through very thorough process. I feel that I've been heard, that I've been listened to. Um and um um um I feel that I'm a better person or a better leader after going through this process. Um really thoughtful questions and really um um and I appreciate
123the thought that you've you've you you've made as you've as you've gone through as you've gone through the process. So just want to acknowledge that and um um make you there. I think the final thing that I might want to say is that from my point of view as I'm going particularly as I visited this day, it's about fit. We're all all the finalists are highly highly qualified people. I think you have a really hard decision and it was my job to make your decision even harder. And I think the more and more I learn about Hollist, the more excited I am because I think there's a fit here from my perspective. And so I just wanted to share that with you. Um, but I I wish you all all the best as you as
124you make that hard decision. And um, and I'm looking forward to that decision. Thank you. >> Make a motion to adjourn. >> Second by all in favor. Okay. And with that, um, good night, Hollist. Thank you everyone for, um, joining us and it's been a pleasure. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> And good night.