001Hello everyone. We're going to open our meeting, the regular meeting of the Quinsey School Committee meeting for uh April 8th. That's today's date. Pursuant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transit this transmit this meeting through any medium. Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are made are being made whether perceived or unpersceived by those present and are demeaned deemed acknowledged and permissible. Superintendent, could we please call the role? >> Mr. Begley, >> present. >> Mrs. Kale, >> present. >> Miss Campbell, >> present. >> Mrs. Hubley, >> present. Mr. Le Young present, Mrs. Pardios, >> preschool student representative, Mishi Malavia, >> thank you. And North Quincsey High School student representative Louisa Bayenzi. >> Thank Thank you both. >> Thank you,
002Superintendent. Uh, could we please rise for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Superintendent if we have one more. >> Thank you. Yes, we do have one memoriam tonight. If you could please keep in your thoughts and prayers Richard Foresight, a former employee of the Quinsey public schools. Richard was an automotive teacher at Quinsey Evocational Technical School for 28 years. Again, if you could keep Richard and his family in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have open forum. This is an opportunity for community input regarding the Quinsey public schools. Community in this context is defined as a resident of the city
003of Quinsey, a non-resident parent of a student who attends the Quinsey public schools, or a non-resident employee of the Quinsey public schools. After giving his or her name and address, a speaker may make a presentation of no more than three minutes to the school committee. An individual may not exchange their time or yield to others. Do we have anyone for open forum? Please come forward. short. Sorry. >> Hi. Uh my name's Gina Favvada. Uh Feno Street, 151 Feno Street in Quinsey. Uh obviously this area. Um I come here today as a QPS parent to voice my unwavering support for Lunar New Year to be included as a school holiday. Um, over the past few years, there has been much debate about this topic, and I've listened to members of this committee discuss their reasons for
004voting yes or no. I've also listened to the strong arguments for this holiday from many community members who have stood before you. I have listened closely to what they've have to say. Even though Lunar New Year is not a part of my cultural tradition, and honestly, I've learned a lot about the holiday and about the culture of my neighbors. I hope you are listening, too. truly listening to understand, not just offend your own madeup mind. I'm on my tip toes here. Sorry. Um, so I want to just put it out there that it is okay to change your mind based on new information and facts. Digging in your heels because of your initial assessment of a situation is not necessary. We ask our kids to have a growth mindset, to think constructively. But as we
005get older, it becomes so much easier to become stubborn. I'm guilty of this, too. But you are allowed to change your mind. No one will think less of you. And if they do, that is their problem. There's a lot of emotion tied up in this issue. People are passionate. But to make a decision as a committee, you can strip away the emotion and just look at the facts. You can decide to use data instead of anecdotal evidence. We can all find someone to confirm our beliefs, but the data stands on its own. There is this worry by certain people that this will become a slippery slope and everyone will want their cultural holidays off. But once again, that is approaching the issue with emotion. Let's use the numbers instead. According to the Department of Ed,
00639.3% of our student body is Asian. I understand that not everyone in that 39% celebrates Lunar New Year, but even if you drop that down by a full 10%, say, and I think that it's probably way too big of a drop, it is a large percentage of our student body. So to take out emotion and feeling, to just look at the numbers, it would be the logical thing to say that once a group reaches a certain threshold, their most important holiday is added. We are well beyond the tipping point for our Asian community. It is time to recognize their prominence and how much vibrance they add to Quinsey. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next. >> Good evening. My name is Brian Palmucci, 16 Cross Street. I'm a Quinsey public school parent, former school committee member
007and current associate justice of the district court. But I'm not here in those capacities tonight. I'm here in capacity as a resident of Quinsey who chooses to respect their neighbors traditions. Um, I urge you to uh adopt the Lunar New Year as a holiday. Um, I will say that I know almost each and every one of you personally. Uh, I thank you for the service that you perform for the city. It's not an easy job. I can't believe that you guys have open forum and you just let anybody talk at your meetings. Crazy concept to me. I understand the city council is going to do that. Good luck to them. Um but anyways, uh I think Lunar New Year it's important to res to uh recognize as a holiday uh in our school system because
008schools are not just places of instruction. They're where we signal what matters, what's valued, who is seen. Recognition is not a finite resource. It's not something that must be divided or rationed. It's like justice in that way. When we recognize the importance of Lunar New Year to the thousands of qu uh residents of Quinsey, we're not diminishing anything for anyone else or to anyone else. We're strengthening the fabric of our entire community by ensuring that more people feel seen within it. No one has to lose something for others to gain something. And this isn't about comparing holidays or ranking traditions. The question is not which holiday is more important. The question is whether a given holiday is important to the people of Quinsey. and enough of the people of Quinsey. And I suggest to you
009respectfully that the Lunar New Year is and there's a broader principle at work here too. One that goes to the role of government itself. Government makes choices all the time about what to recognize, what to elevate, and what to formalize into law and policy. Those choices should reflect the people it governs. And when they do not, the law can feel distant. when they do, the law reinforces legitimacy and trust among the people that are governed in our city, on our elected boards, and on our public uh in our public uh employees in the jobs. This community doesn't necessarily reflect its uh members. And that's not a knock on anything the city does. It's just a reality. And this is about recognizing the reality of Quinsey. So when we have opportunities like this one, I suggest
010we take it to to show that we respect the Asian members of our community. I know and and I've seen uh all of you who have been up here vote. I've seen the the um and take action. I've seen the administration take action above and beyond what other communities do in terms of recognizing uh minority populations in in Quinsey. What we do in terms of language access, I think >> time is almost up. >> Okay. Thank you. I don't like that. Um uh All right. Um but you've all taken you've all taken um many votes and done many things to make this a more welcoming community and I thank you for that. Um I ask >> Sorry, your time's up. >> All right. I do that again. >> Thank you. >> My name is Heather.
011I live at 912. And what I have to say is for my who celebr uh public school student. Um Quinsey public schools are at least 40% Asian. So, it's fair to say Asian families are an important part of this tax base, this school system, and this community. Lunar New Year is as important to Asian culture as Christmas Day is to Western culture. And it's time that we begin to treat it that way. I know we do in my family. Um if someone said Christmas can't be a holiday because some people have to work, how would you feel? Would you feel like your family and your holiday and your culture were respected or that you were being treated like secondclass citizens? As I understand it, many people, starting with students themselves, have been asking for this
012and being told no for nearly 5 years, my kindergartenner's whole lifetime. I hope this is the year that the gatekeeping stops and it gets passed. But what if you knew that some members of this body who have been refusing to approve the most important Asian culture holiday for nearly half of their students also belong to and participate in a public Facebook group where people regularly talk about one kind of heritage and make comments along the lines of Trump sending ICE get the Chinese food before you can't. Would you feel a no vote by such people represented the needs of this city and our diverse body of students or blatantly prioritized the lives and desires and heritage of some people over others? Again, I bring this up because my children and nobody else's children should have
013to feel like a culture they and so many others in the city belong to, a holiday they love is unimportant or disrespected or kicked to the wayside. We should all be able to give them better than that. So, thank you for listening to me tonight. Um, please consider all the reasons why Lunar New Year should be a school holiday and please make it happen for our kids. Thank you. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Emmens and I live at 51 Marlboro Street. I am also a teacher in Quincsey Public Schools and a parent of a future Quincsey Public Schools student. Um, I want to start by saying that my husband is from Korea. So, I have had the beautiful honor of celebrating the Luna New Year in his home country and it it is one of the most
014deeply meaningful experiences I've had in my life. Um, we hiked the mountains to visit the graves of his ancestors. And on the way there, one of the things that I saw that actually brought me to tears was I saw the the in the snow the prints of the people who were there before us who had already bowed to the ancestors and in front of the the mountains um in the cemetery and and that was very moving to see. Um it's a very spiritual holiday and it's very deep. Um, and it's celebrated differently across different cultures, but one thing I can tell you is it's celebrated with family. And that is one of the most important things. I want to be sure that this school committee understands what we do here is not exceptional and and
015I understand that a lot of people see it as that because Quincsey has gone without for so long. But providing interpreters and ensuring that we have ESL teachers, those have been a part of federal law since 1974 when Lao versus Nichols was passed. And 2000 when George W. W. Bush uh gave an executive order that demanded that any institution that receives federal funding provides interpreters and translations. But those were historic moments in US history. And I hope that tonight we have a historic moment in Quinsey history because tonight with the support of 8,000 voters, we have our first Asian-American on the school committee and we have the votes to make this happen. And it's not too late to be on the right side of the history of Quincy. Hi everybody. My name is Zone Marcato
016and I live at 16 Lawrence Street. I come before you not just, you know, as an adult, but I come here before you guys as a student at Quinsey Public Schools. But not only a student, but as class president. As class president, I see the necessity in regards to making Lunar New Year a recognized holiday in the official Quinsey public schools. Around me, I go to school with so much diversity. In fact, I think it's one of my favorite things about Quinsey. And one of my favorite things about being class president, a role that I've held for over three years now, is that I have the privilege of representing my class in school policy reform. And one of my most important things that I've learned during my role is that the only way we can
017rightfully encourage and foster the diversity that we hold at our schools is that we have to integrate our culture into our school policy reform, especially within Quinsey public schools. The fact is, and I'm sure that you guys have heard this all night, is that right down the street in Quinsey High, over 24% of our students are identify as Asian. And over at North Quinzy, right down the road, approximately 57% of students are Asian. I believe that the purpose of this committee and student council and many of our elected bodies here in Quinsey is to represent not only the students but its people. And if Lunar New Year is not properly recognized and is as an observed holiday, this means that our culture, our very livelihood, and our very representation of ourselves is not being represented
018to the extent of the committee's power. I asked before you guys to vote and I think that your vote very much matters in this instance because it represents not only me but many others at Quinsey who believe and celebrate Lunar New Year and love it and enjoy it just as much as you guys love Christmas. So, thank you. >> Yeah. Next, please come on up. >> Hi, the speaker's name is Jaudi Chen. She lives at 20 Elm Avenue and um we respectfully ask for more time for interpretation and access. And as the speaker is going to speak in Mandarin and I'll interpret. >> Good evening everyone. My name is I've lived in Quinsey for about eight years since 2018. That's when I immigrated to the United States. >> I love living in Quinsey, close to
019my community, Chinese-American community in Quinsey. We speak the same language, understand each other, have a sense of belonging because of this beautiful community. We can communicate and understand each other's culture and respect each other's tradition. And that's really important. >> The first day of Luna New Year is a significant holiday um in the Chinese American community. since immigrating to the US. Um it it's not like it's been um it's different from what it's been like before in when in China when there would be huge celebrations >> but to preserve our culture by family would still get together would um uh preserve some of our customs and have dinner and meals together. My daughter live in Quinsey. My three grandchildren are um Quinsey public school um students. Since immigrating to the United States, um it's rare
020that we get to have this opportunity to celebrate our culture, learn about these customs of the next generation to get to celebrate. >> I feel worried that my grandkids, the next generation, is going to forget these customs. I hope that you support Luna New Year as a school holiday so that our kids, our students, grandkids can learn about these traditions, what matters to our community and why we celebrate this day. to support our community coming together and preserve our sense of belonging with our customs and with our culture. Okay. Thank you. >> Next speaker. Good evening, school committee members, friends, and neighbors. My name is Bill Allen. I live at 5 39 Mayflower Road in Quinsey. I'm here to speak in favor of designating the Lunar New Year as a school holiday in Quinsey. I
021spoke to several of my friends and neighbors that live in Quinsey about this issue. In fact, I spoke to seven so I could get a standard deviation. Everyone I spoke with was in favor of designating Lunar New Year as a school holiday in Quinsey. It's a fair thing to do. It's an equitable thing to do. This is about representative democracy. The Asian students are 40% of the school population and their parents hold them back from school on the Lunar New Year. So, it's conserving resources to designate this as a school holiday. As Americans, we assimilate the smartest people and the best customs from all countries over the world. All over the world. This makes us smarter and a stronger country. I urge you to vote in favor of designating the Lunar New Year as a
022school holiday. Thank you very much. Do you have any questions? >> This is open forum. We we Thank you. Next speaker, please. Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Winnie Hang and I live on 54 Yardom Lane. I'm here today to support recognizing Lunar New Year as an official holiday in the Quinsey public schools calendar. As a secretary of the student ambassadors program at Quinsey High School, an initiative that focuses on creating a welcoming environment for new students and fostering the the diverse culture of our school. I recognize that a large portion of my community is formed by Asian students. Like many of the others said, 40% of QPS students identify as Asian-Americans, which is not surprising because the city of Quinsey has the second highest numbers of Asian residents in Massachusetts, approximately 30%
023of a population. As students, we're often told that school policies are supposed to support the people they serve. But right now, Lunar New Year puts many students in the position of choosing be between being present at school and being present with their families on one of the most important days of the year. That's not a choice that our students should have to make. As someone who grew up celebrating Lunar New Year over multiple days, I've experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to balance school responsibilities with being present for traditions that only happen once a year. I've had to plan around assignments, miss parts of celebrations, or worry about what I would miss in class while my family gathered together. I know many of the other students share that same experience. Recognizing one day of
024Lunar New Year on the school calendar would make a meaningful difference, not just for me, but for many students across the district. It would show that our traditions are respected by our schools and bring the calendar in alignment with the lived experiences of the students it serves. Thank you. Hi, I'm Susanna Louu. I live at 37 Ren Terrace. Um, I am a lifelong resident of Quinsey. Went through the Quinsey public schools, Montlair, Central, North Quinsey. And I'm also a parent of two future Quinsey public school students. Um, so this is my first school committee meeting. Um, I did not come here expecting to speak. Um, but just merely to listen. But after hearing so many of my neighbors speak up on our behalf, I just felt like I had to stand up and and say
025something. Um, so I didn't come prepared with numbers or counterarguments. Um, but really I'm just so moved that so many of our neighbors feel the same way, especially those who don't celebrate Lunar New Year. Um, I think it made me feel so seen and acknowledged that like I've never had before, even having lived in Quinsey for so long. So if Lunar New Year as a school holiday has passed, I feel like it's a very very strong message to such a huge pop proportion of the population and the message is that you are welcome, you're seen, you are a part of the community, your culture matters and if you are part of what Quinsey community is so beautifully multi multicultural. Um so thank you neighbors. Um and please um committee if you can would love for
026you to vote for um Luna New Year to be a public school holiday. Thank you. Good evening everyone. My name is Virginia Leo Compton. I live at 39 Turney Milane in Quinsey. Um I also was not planning on speaking today so I don't have really anything prepared. Um first I just want to say thank you for to our neighbors who this might be part not part not be part of your culture and you've came prepared with numbers even removing emotions from it. For me, this is very deeply emotional. Um, I am a lifelong member of Quinsey. I've attended Quinsey school and I've never lived anywhere else basically and I am, um, I have two small children who are also will be entering the Quinsey school system in the next couple years. Um, I think I
027lived in Quinsey from the time when the Asian population was much smaller than what it is today. and I know what it's like to not feel seen in school and not have a holiday that for my family which is bigger than Christmas. So, um, as I think previously mentioned in China, the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, people get two weeks off from work, business, and schools much like it is over Christmas um time here. And sorry having being the first generation of um Americanb born my parents I don't think struggled as much to maintain or pass on traditions but with small children today myself I find myself struggling even more to not only continually educate myself about my heritage but also finding ways to pass it on to my children. Um, and it's disheartening
028to me sometimes that when I look for resources to support this cause for my kids in Quinsey, I see many more programs in other neighboring cities having it. And Quinsey being my home for so long. With such a large Asian population, I would really hope to see this change and to see our neighbors and everyone kind of support this. And so I know that there are reasons, you know, maybe that this might not make sense, but I think even with all of the difficulties um or challenges to make to implement this, I think it's very worthwhile um especially given the number of Asians from my generation who are now raising kids um in Quinsey. I struggle to balance their Celtic heritage and their Asian heritage and kind of making sure that everything gets passed on
029as best as possible and kind of fulfilling my responsibility of holding on to my own heritage as an Americanborn Chinese. So, sorry if that wasn't very coherent, but that's what I have. Thank you for listening. Next speaker, please come on up. Hi, my name is Jessica Tan and I am a sophomore at Quinsey High School. I'm here to speak in support of recognizing Lunar New Year as an official day on our school calendar. And I'm absolutely terrified to be speaking right now, but I know that this is something that I value a lot. So, that's why I'm here. Um, for me, Lunar New Year is one of the most important times of the year. It's when I get to be with my family and spend time with them. And it's one of really like the
030only times that we can all come together like that and celebrate. But as a student who plays sports and is in band, I'm constantly flooded with school work, homework, assignments, and tests. And that doesn't stop just because it's an important cultural holiday. And sometimes instead of fully being present, I find myself worrying about what I have due, what I have, what I might miss, or what I'll have to make up. Um, Lunar New Year is supposed to be a time for families to come together to share traditions and to connect across generations. But when school is still in session, it sometimes becomes stressful instead of meaningful. Our district already recognizes other holidays, which shows a commitment to respecting different cultures and beliefs. But when Lunar New Year isn't included, it can feel like our traditions
031and students like me are being overlooked. No student should have to choose between their education and meaningful time with their family. Recognizing Lunar New Year would give students like me the opportunity to fully sep celebrate, to be present with our families, and to truly appreciate the culture that shapes who we are without the burden of school work. This change would mean more than just a day off. It would mean being seen, respected, and valued. Thank you for your time. >> Next speaker, please come on up. >> Hi, my name is Louise. Um, I've been a long uh time resident of Quincy. >> Address, please. >> Oh, 90 East Quantum Street. >> Thank you. >> Sorry. Uh, it's my first time speaking uh in a forum like this and I I wanted to give some context
032as to why I decided to come today. Um, I've seen this the struggle of bringing this holiday over uh and just the struggle that the community has had is I have a I have a large Asian friend circle and often all them mentioned how uh they feel excluded just because it's not uh Asian Luna New is not a holiday. And to give some a little bit of extra context, it's been a while since I'm in high school. I think it's been 10 years, but I do remember that a lot of my classes were majority Asian students. Uh I went up I went down to uh Quincy High School and those days that the holiday was around and a lot of students had to decide whether they showed up or not. Uh sometimes the classrooms were
033half empty and there's not there's not much you can do when you consider that they need to balance their family and their classwork. Um, if I if I if it was my position, I would also choose to be with my family. And I do feel that Quincy as a as a perh Asian community, uh, the city just doesn't seem to fully want to adapt to that change. And as someone who's not Asian, I would I would be happy if this if the city decided to consider that uh as a as a holiday. Uh, the city is still evolving. I think we can evolve with our residents. Um, that's all I have to say. >> Thank you. Next speaker, >> Judy Brahms, 273 Adam Street. Um, I would like to just echo what everyone else has
034said and I want to say thank you in advance because I believe you're going to put an H on the holiday for this year's calendar, but looking forward to the next year. I think we owe this community a lot of respect and this issue has been going on for a long time. I'm going to go back in history to something that happened to my family and me before some of you were born. Um I'm Jewish. My family is Jewish and nobody here was involved. For many years meetings were scheduled on our high holidays. No thought, no respect was given. Even though the Jewish community was much smaller than the Asian community and 20 odd years later that my children have been out of school, it still sticks in my craw. So I would just ask
035you to think about something like that that happens uh in respect to our Asian comm uh community and I hope you will vote to make Luna New Year a holiday. Thank you. Hello members of the school committee. My name is Joshua Chen and I live at 58 Taylor Street. As the sophomore vice president at Quinsey High School, I recognize the importance of Luna New Year in our Quinsey community. With a huge part of our student population identifying as Asian-American, this holiday is a meaningful time to gather and celebrate. These traditions are equivalent to Christmas Day or Thanksgiving and is a chance for students to learn more about their own culture and heritage. As a Chinese American myself, I find these celebrations a huge part of my personal identity. The purpose of this committee is to
036recognize its student body and furthermore encourage and foster the beauty of diversity in our city. I hope you take these thoughts into consideration and vote to make Lunar New Year a school designated holiday. Thank you. Next speaker, please come on up. >> Hi, Quinsey school committee members. My name is Alice Leang. Uh I am a teacher at the Parker Elementary School. Um I don't reside in Quinsey, so I'm a non-resident QPS teacher. I am speaking tonight to express my support of Quinsey Public Schools adding Lunar New Year as an observed holiday in the 2627 school calendar. Lunar New Year is one of the most significant holidays in the Asian-American community. Every year, I along with many of our Asian-American staff and students have to make the difficult choice of being absent from our school responsibilities
037or celebrating this holiday with our family. Lunar New Year is a time when families close the old year and usher in the new year. It is when loved ones gather to celebrate and observe traditional customs. Immediate families come together for a special feast that takes days to to prepare. So to me, it's like our Thanksgiving meal where it's time for family reunion, celebration, and reflection. So my children receive red envelopes and sweets, do arts and crafts, play games with family. I would bring my children to visit our extended family. It is the only time of the year when they get to visit their grand aunts and uncles and many of their cousins around the state. Other cities around the US are starting to appreciate the importance of this holiday to their Asian-American communities and declared
038it a public school holiday. More recently, in 2020, Brookline, the city of Brooklyn, which has a percentage of Asian residents half the size of Quinsey, has declared Lunar New Year a public holiday. So, many of the speakers early have also mentioned uh the Quinsey's um Asian Asian-American population. All of these families make significant contributions to the local community and economic growth of the city. In the town of Sharon where I live, we have a big Jewish community. Rashana and Yam Kapor, both important holidays to the Jewish community are observed as a holiday in our school calendar and there is no school on both days. I hope our great city, city of Quinsey, will lead by example and do the same in making Lunar New Year a public school holiday so that the many Asian-American families
039in Quinsey and the rest of Massachusetts can celebrate with their families. Thank you. Do I have anyone else for open forum? If anyone else for open forum, please come up to the podium. Open forum once. Okay, this portion of the meeting is closed. My stopwatch break. Okay. Um, so this part of the meeting called open forum is not an opportunity for our board to respond to anything that was said just so people have set expectations and also to set expectations. Um, our agenda does not have any votes on it tonight. This is for discussion. So, anybody who read the Patriot Ledger and thought we're having a vote tonight, it was not correct. So, with that, I would ask for a motion to at this time take the CT ve um student of the year out
040of order to bring now. >> Motion by Mrs. Cahill, second by Miss Campbell. All in favor? >> We need a roll call. >> I know. All in favor? >> All in favor? Say I. I. >> Anyone opposed? Thank you. eyes have it. Mr. Sagala, please take it away. Thank you, Vice Chair Hubley, and good evening, members of the school committee. It's a pleasure to be here this evening. Tonight, we celebrate and honor Quinsey's 2026 Outstanding Career and Technical Education Student of the Year. You'll also hear from two amazing students who were also nominated for this distinct award. These students not only represent the 1300 plus vocational students in our district, but represent the very best of career and technical education in Quinsey. Special thanks to principal Dan Gilbert, North Quincsey High School, and Keith Ford,
041principal of Quinsey High School. Our CT department chairs, Maryann Collins, North Quincy High, and Jill Bonado, Quincsey High School. Also, special thanks to our 35 committed and dedicated professionals who share their expertise in their CT program every day. Instructors provide the necessary skills, the necessary knowledge and skills so their students are successful beyond high school, including the workforce, post-secary education, the trades, andor military service. I'd like I'd like to welcome and thank our CT instructors here this evening, Lari Broden and um Elizabeth Murphy, Quincy High Healthcare instructors, as well as Craig Moore, automotive technology instructors. At this time, I want to welcome John Dunn, inventory planning manager at Boston Scientific. Boston Scientific is a leading partner of the Quincsey School Community Partnership. John was one of the eight partners who served on the interviewing team.
042Mr. Dun will share our recent partnership initiatives, highlight the interview process, and include some personal experiences. John, >> good evening everyone. On behalf of Boston Scientific, I'd like to thank you for having me here tonight. We are proud to be a part of this event and proud to support Quincy Public Schools. Uh so our partnership with Quincy Public Schools um involves executive level sponsorship. Uh we've been involved in interview panels as well as served as science and STEM fair judges and conducted mock interviews with students. We've also most recently participated in the career fair. And we are in the works of planning a job fair at North Quincy and Quincy High School. We are also planning to have any students interested in learning more about Boston Scientific come on site and visit our Quincy distribution
043center where they could see how a state-of-the-art global medical device distribution center operates. All right, so getting into how the interview process worked. Uh the selection criteria consist consisted of uh the student had to have at least a 3.5 grade average. They had to show technical competence, have excellent attendance, demonstrate strong leadership qualities, and be involved in extracurricular activities and community service. Also be a recipient of the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship. So CT teachers nominated students deserving of this award and forwarded their names to Quincy selection team. After reviewing student qualifications, the field was narrowed down to nine nominees. Uh students were interviewed by members of the Quinsey School Community Partnership uh which included a diverse group of local businesses and corporations um that brought realworld experience to the evaluation process. Uh nominees were
044questioned about their career, major skills learned, credentials earned, and contributions made to their high school and community as well as post-graduation plans. In addition, nominees demonstrated their technical competence by sharing a slide or video presentation in their major. Uh so overall, it was a great experience being a part of that event and being on the interview panel. uh students showed a strong passion for the skills that they learned in that CTE program and kudos to Quincy Public Schools for having such a great program and kudos to Keith for putting on such a great event. Um and with that I'll pass it over to uh the student >> uh alumni and my career pathway is automotive technology. I decided to enroll in the automotive technology program because when I was a freshman, I knew that I
045wanted to work in a hands-on environment. I just didn't know what. But during freshman seminar class, I was able to spend time in automotive and it was exactly what I was looking for. I loved learning about how something we use every day actually works and how I can fix it when it breaks. Skills and knowledge obtained during automotive technology was the use of diagnostic scanners, vehicle lifts, power tools, as well as welding and DC circuitry along with basic vehicle maintenance such as oil changes, tire rotations, and fluid levels and equipment safety and shop cleanliness. Some work-based learning initiatives in uh my pathway is live work experience doing basic automotive repair like brake brakes, oil changes, tire rotations and fluid levels. My personal employment experience is I work at Quirk Auto Dealers as a lube technician
046from Saturday on Saturdays from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. where I do basic automotive repair and I'm a teachers assistant in our automotive technology class number one. My certifications and credentials were I obtained my OSHA 10 certification in general industry and my certificate of occupational proficiency in automotive technology. My future plans are I attend to go to Mass Bay Community College in the fall and my major being Toyota Lexus to pursue a career in automotive technology and I will be showing you my boat restoration project. The goal was to take an old abandoned boat and fix what was broken and improve what had already worked. When I received the boat, the the paint was peeling off and the steering and throttle were stuck and inoperable, and there was no engine. The process for restoring this
047boat were removing all of the hardware and moving parts, sanding down and repainting it, and combining the three working parts of an engine and turning it into one working engine, including removing and rebuilding the carburetor, then wiring it to a starting system, which was converted into an electric system by adding slashrebuilding the motor and solenoid. With using Ohm's law, I designed and wired a 12vt system including DC lighting, engine circuitry, and audio, a radio, and fabricating a custom box for a new battery. And you may be thinking, Molly, I thought you were taking automotive. Um, a lot of the systems in the boat and the engine were are very similar to um a regular automotive engine. They're just slightly smaller. And the battery I use to power this boat is actually a motorcycle battery. So
048that's yeah um you'll see on the left um that this is what the boat looked like before it had been refurbished and then on the right is all of the work that I've done to it. You can see the engine being added and repainting. Um, yeah. Uh, one of the challenges I faced during this project was there is a rubber rail that goes around the edge of the boat, keeping the two halves together, so water doesn't seep through. Um, and I had to remove it to be able to paint the boat. Um, but because of aging, the rail had shrunk and it didn't fit on to the boat anymore. So, I had to use a heat gun and stretch out the rail to get it to fit back on the boat and the nails to
049be put back in their original spot. I learned that there's always a way around a problem if you have the right tools and ideas to do so. Um, our my boat was also featured in um the uh Quincy High School's play The Women of Troy. So, um that's also a fun fact about Uh these are some pictures of the boat. Um another image of the old boat. Um the inner workings of the engine. And then um on the far left or the far right is um the uh cir uh wiring system and the um battery box which I had welded together and installed in the boat for uh protection against water. Um any questions? Does it work? >> Um, it does run, but it hasn't been tested in the water yet. >> Test it. Yeah,
050that's great. Great. Great project. Thank you. That's awesome. Hi, my name is Emily Infantino. I'm a senior at North Quincsey High School. I am an alumni of Parker Elementary School and Atlantic Middle School. My career pathway is early education and care. I chose it because my passion for teaching began during my elementary school years where being engaged in class brought me joy, curiosity, and a love of learning. Those experiences showed me the importance of positive classroom environment and inspired me to create the same experience for young children. Skills and knowledge that I have obtained include child development/developmental milestones, early childhood education theories, developmentally appropriate practices, curriculum and instruction, lesson planning and activity design, classroom management and observation and assessment. Work-based learning initiatives I have experienced through my program are my Bernesani Elementary School clinical placement
051where I aid the teacher in her lesson plans as well as interact with the children and observe the children. During my junior year I had my placement at campus kinder house where I also did the same things like helping the teacher with her lessons, interacting the children and observing the children. I am currently employed at Inspire Childcare Center where I am a teacher assistant and I do the same things like my at my clinical but I also help the lessons and track the children and observe the children. With all of this included I am also president of my early childhood education club. Certifications and credentials that I have received through my program include CPR/ AD and first aid for CH adult children and infants. my 51A mandated reporter training, my career safe/general OSHA, my Massachusetts
052EEC Strongstar training, and expected July 2026, I will receive my Massachusetts EEC preschool/Taller Teacher Certification, as well as my certificate of occupational proficiency in early education and care. My future plans include attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst where I will major in elementary education to hopefully pursue a career in elementary school as an elementary school teacher for K through six, preferably teaching in a kindergarten classroom. My project presentation is a mock representation of a child development assessment and instructional response. This is early education and care uh for a preschooler age four. This is the child profile. He is four years old and three months setting in is an inclusive preschool classroom. His strengths are social interaction and cognitive skills and his area of need will be fine motor development. This is a Massachusetts guideline of
053physical development and health checklist that I would use on an assessment for physical development. So he uses his fingers and hands with increasing control which was checked as emerging. Uses scissors to cut along a line checked as not observed yet as well as holding writing tools with developmentally with developing control which was checked as emerging and he manipulates objects like beads and laces not yet observed. Developmental domains that will be assessed were physical development, cognitive development and social emotional development. These would be the master's guidelines for preschool learning experiences standards that would be referenced like physical development which would include fine motor control and hand strength and coordination approaches to play and learning including persistence and engagement and social emotional development including self-regulation. The assessment findings were difficulty with cutting and writing tools, emerging tripod
054grasp, and limited endurance during fine motor tasks. Instructional strategies that would be used to help this child develop would be Plato hand strengthening activities. Cutting practice with increasing complexity as well as lacing cards for finger control and focus. Progress monitoring would include an ongoing observation, more work samples, increased task persistence, as well as collaboration with families and staff as needed. >> Any questions? Thank you. >> Okay. Hello, my name is Leia Gomes. I am honored to be selected as Quinsey public schools 2026 outstanding career and technical student of the year. I am a high school a Quinsey High School senior and an alumni at Clifford Marshall Elementary School and Point Webster Middle School. My career pathway is healthcare technology and I chose it because I always wanted to do something in healthcare but I didn't
055want to be a doctor or a nurse. But the QHS healthcare technology program opened my eyes to various other careers in the industry and I have fallen in love with the career of ultrasound. Skills and knowledge I've obtained through my career pathway are body mechanics, monitoring and recording food intake, activities of daily living, bed making, vital signs, range of motion, giving bed baths, oral care, safety education, time management, effective communication and leadership skills. Some work-based learning initiatives were my clinical my clinical placement experience at Hancock Park Rehabilitation Center where we would give bed baths to residents uh feeding and distribution of their food trays and also transferring patients to other diagnostics on the floor. Um certifications and credentials I have earned are basic life support uh like CPR and AED training and first aid for
056adult children and infants. uh dementia and Alzheimer's training, stop the bbleleed careersafe/ OSHA 10 training. And on Saturday, I will be testing for my certified nursing assistant exam, which will then lead to becoming a certified home health aid. And then upon graduation, I will receive my certificate of occupational proficiency in healthcare technology. My future plans are to attend Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in the fall with a major in diagnostic medical synography to then pursue a career as an ultrasound technician. And my project presentation is on infection prevention. Why infection prevention matters? What if one habit in a school hallway could prevent an illness in a long-term care facility? As high school students, we as high school students going to clinical placement, we are working with a very susceptible susceptible population that is
057very vulnerable. So, we always have to make sure that whatever we do inside of our clinical site is making sure that the residents are not put at risk for getting any diseases that we might bring from school. And accidents can happen as many transmission pathways are through direct contact which is saliva and respiratory droplets like coughing or sneezing into the air or indirect contact like contaminated hands and sharing objects like when you give your coworker a high five or self inoculation touching your eyes, your nose or your mouth. That may happen in people who don't think that they're doing anything wrong. The Center of Disease Control, also known as the CDC, provided these evidence-based prevention strategies like handwashing for more than 20 seconds shows a 99.5% chance of germs being removed when washing your hands
058for 20 seconds with soap. And using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that has at least 60% alcohol kills 99.9% of germs. And coughing into your elbow decreases the area of germs spread by 59.6% compared to an uncovered cough. And avoiding sharing personal items 100% decreases the risk of infection being passed from you to somebody else or somebody else to you. as a CNA in training uh about to get my CNA license. Uh handashing is actually one of the mandatory skills that we must learn and there are proper steps in order to properly wash your hands. So I'm here to share it with you today. Um, first we start by turning on the faucet to warm the up the water and then start by wetting your hands. And then you'll pump soap into your hands and make
059sure to scrub for at least 20 seconds in between your fingers, your knuckles, and your thumbs. And don't forget your wrist as all of these surfaces are things that we touch whether we realize it or not. And then you'll rinse off the soap thoroughly, but don't turn off the water just yet. You'll want to grab a paper towel or a hand towel and dry your hands first. and then grab a new paper towel to turn off the faucet as you don't want any of the germs that you originally touched the faucet with to go back onto your hands and then making the whole handashing process pointless. How uscare tech students apply this at clinical. Again, handashing is a skill and we always wash our hands before taking care for a resident and after taking care
060of a resident and always before we leave for school. And always disinfecting everything by putting on hand sanitizer between caring for residents or cleaning equipment before and after use. As my healthcare teachers always say, you don't know something's clean until you clean it. Um, wearing gloves as we always follow standard precautions before coming in contact with any bodily fluids. And residents also keep good hand hygiene by making sure that we wash their hands before they eat, during bed baths, and giving a sand wy wipe after eating. And also wearing PPE. If a resident we're caring for has any st has any precautions, we want to protect ourselves, but we also want to protect them and prevent the spread of infection to other residents. So, we always put on the proper PPE and discard it before
061leaving the room. There are plenty outcomes and educational value to infection prevention as we want to reduce secondary transmission by keeping the infection contained as much as possible. Also, less students getting sick means more time in school and less time missing important information during classes, especially with the attendance initiative um in schools this year. And increasing health literacy and peer accountability by giving students the opportunity to see how they can prevent infection. It allows them to make their own choices, but also hopefully making good choices. And me and my healthcare tech senior class made a winter health PSA that was posted on Quinsey public schools in the winter. And it gave students an opportunity to see the ways that they could probably prevent the spread of infection in ways that they might have not noticed
062and how we can all keep each other safe during the cold and flu season. So, I'm here to share it with you today. >> Good morning, Quincy. Hi. Winter health playoffs are officially underway. >> That's right. And nothing keeps you on the bench faster than winter germs. >> I'm really thirsty. >> Do you want some of my water? >> Wait, really? >> Yeah, you can have some. >> Thank you. >> Uh-oh. We got a risky move here. Looks like student one is about to share a water bottle. >> That's a rookie mistake, especially this time of the year. >> Wait, this one hasn't been opened yet. Have this one instead. Thank you. >> Interception. That's a clean play. Each athlete taking their own drinks. Yikes. Washing hands without soap is one thing. Now, not at
063all. It's just foul play. Now, that is championship technique. Thorough handashing with warm water and soap. >> I counted at least 20 seconds. This athlete came ready to play. No sink? No problem. Hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol keeps you in the game. >> Penalty on the play. Wide open cough. Germs everywhere. And there it is. Perfect form. That's the concave textbook execution. And we're in the last quarter. Dangerous move coming up. Hands to the face. Big no. No. Hands touch everything. Eyes, nose, and mouth are a VIP entrance for germs. And there you have it, folks. Winter health victories all around. Practice these plays daily and you'll stay in the game and in school. >> Stay healthy, Quincy High. Win the day. Roll hats. >> Thank you. My My family and I will
064attend the 40th annual outstanding vocational technical student of the year award ceremony on Thursday, April 16th in Mechanics Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts. 55 recipients from 55 districts across Massachusetts will join me. Any questions? >> Thank you very much. That was wonderful all of you. That was really great. Great. I'm going to start with Mr. Bgalie because of all the sports references. I'm sure he's not going to be able to contain himself. He's going to have something to say about that. I just think u what you're doing career-wise uh preparing for your career is uh fabulous because um you're all going to have jobs and have important impacts on the u population. Uh unlike some kids who go to college and don't know what they're going to do and then they waste four years and they still
065don't know what they're going to do. you guys have chosen a path uh in high school that's going to prepare you to do well in college. UMass Amoris, go UMass. Um so I congratulate you on your choice and uh your hard work and uh success in uh your upcoming uh careers. Miss Campbell, >> I would just say that the your passion, each one of you, your passion comes through um on how how excited you are about the work that you're doing. And I was just very impressed to hear from all of you and it was just really lovely to see how excited you were and impressed you are should be with the work that you the three of you have done. So nicely done and thank you >> Miss Cahill. I don't really have any
066questions. just um I think you're a testament to one of the things that we do with the CVTE is that gives you an opportunity to um trial run you know a career that that you might be interested in and it gives you time to check it out and then be like yeah I love this I want to continue or you know which way you want to go or say you know maybe this isn't for me and I can pivot and so seeing you know the work that you do in collaboration with the CVTE programs um is is wonderful and you're all brilliant and in your stars and good luck in the future with whatever whatever you're doing. So, thank you for sharing, >> Mr. Le Young. >> Yeah, congratulations to you all. You're you're all
067so impressive. Um I'm a huge fan of the CVTE program and I love hearing um success stories. Uh best of luck in your future endeavors. Um, you're off to a great start. So, just keep up the good work, >> Mrs. Paros. >> Thanks. So excited to see you guys. I've known um, Le, I've known you since you were in kindergarten and, uh, and Molly, I've gotten to know you as well. And Emily, um, fantastic. So, congrats to all of you. Um, I'm similar. I'm so proud of Quinsey schools for having this program that allows kids like you to kind of partake partake in it and find out what you want to do. It's not just a class to take or or some interest or hobby. like this is what you want to do for your
068career and um similar to my kiddo who found film and that's what they want to go off and do this this kind of puts you on a pathway that sort of changes your life and um it's fantastic to see kids take advantage of it and students like you that have really kind of um really just run with it um and I knew that boat looked familiar so I thought that it was that so I was I didn't know you worked on it so I was really excited to hear that um and the uh dementia training that you're getting I had I took care of my grandmother who had dementia in that um is such a difficult thing to navigate. So, as students um and there were students that came in uh that kind of took
069care of my grandmother and uh others other seniors with her uh and just the care that I saw in the students back then a couple years back and I'm sure you guys as well. I mean, just the respect that you all showed them, it's just it's hard to get that when you as you get older. So, I hope you keep that and it was just the best thing to see young people interact with that. So, um I know you want to go into ultrasound, which is probably not that pathway, but I'm glad that you had that experience. It really does help. Um and ultrasound's super exciting, too. Um and Emily, just um just so impressive to be able to assess a kiddo and um and just to be able to give them the appropriate supports
070that's going to allow them to achieve their full potential. So, it's just I'm glad you showed that and it's just so important. So, thank you all for kind of jumping in and good luck in all you do. >> Thank you. Thank you. So, um, as I said, so impressive. All of your projects really impressive. I did my student teaching at the Snug Harbor Elementary School. So, having you at Bernazani, that's great that you were able to to do that and be in one of our schools. So, that's great. Um, and um, I did have a question I was going to ask. Um, what is your your your why? Why did you choose that pathway? Each any of you have a have a a reason that you picked I I don't know. I just felt like
071um the way I learn is a little bit differently or is a little bit different. So, having the um like hands-on experience to do that and learn that way and that makes sense for me, that was really why I chose a path um that had a lot of that built into the way um they teach. Um it's not all classroom work or all hands-on work. you. It's a really of a mix of the two and that was really important. Um, so that's why I chose it. >> Great answer. Thank you. >> Hey, do you want to go? >> Okay. Um, to be honest, when I first went to high school, I really wanted to pursue cosmetology, but since Quinsey High didn't offer that, and there was I didn't want to go to a different school.
072I wanted to go to Quinsey High School. So, I was like, "Okay, what's like the next best thing that I could try out?" And it was healthcare cuz I always liked healthcare. I just didn't like want to be a nurse per se or didn't want to go to school to be a doctor for a long time, but I always knew that there was other things. At first, it was maybe X-ray, but I wasn't 100% sure. But just trying the healthcare technology program and getting a good sense of all the different diseases and all the different treatments and all the different other things that they offer. And then also the collaboration with Quinsey College was really nice. seeing the pro uh the other programs that they offered like surgical tech but um through healthcare and even
073like going to clinical placement like I loved going to Hancock Park and working with the residents I I think it's something that I will enjoy doing while I'm in college like working as a CNA and then I can go off and do something else. So it's nice to have one career path and then it kind of branches out into another one. >> Yeah, that's great. >> You're able to pivot like that. That's awesome. Did you have >> um for me I've always wanted to teach ever since like my elementary school years. Um those years are what really made me want to pursue a career in teaching because my elementary school teachers created such positive environments that I I wanted to be in school every day. I loved school and it made me they inspired me
074to really want to teach. And through my placement at school, I learned even more that I it just made me want to teach even more. I was always so excited to get up to high school so I could finally start my early ed uh class. I always knew they had it there and I was so excited. Um and it just made me love it even more and I'm so excited. It just Yeah. I don't know. All great answers. Thank you so much. Thank you for that's wonderful. >> Wonderful. >> And Superintendent Malvi, >> thank you. And I I do have some questions for each one of you. Before I I do that, I do want to thank John Dunn from Boston Scientific and all of our partners throughout um the uh partnership program. Your generosity
075is amazing and your dedication to our students and staff is second to none. So, we really appreciate everything that B Boston Scientific does and all of our partners with regard to uh supporting our students, particularly in the CTE U programs. and you've heard some of them tonight which we'll kind of get into my questions. We'll start with Molly first if you don't mind. Uh Molly, amazing. Uh with regard to the uh renovation of that boat, uh can you just um talk talk to us a little bit about how your work at Quirk helped you with regard to your skill base for the renov renovation of the boat. And I do have to give a shout out to Quirk as well. We recently gave Mr. quirk the Hancock uh award for his dedication to the community,
076particularly our students, and the uh opportunities he gives all of our students, Molly being an example, is really amazing. But if you could just tell us uh how your work at Quirk helped you with your project, number one, and number two, was the boat motor or gasoline motor you converted to electric, or was it electric that you renovated? >> It uh didn't have an engine to begin with. >> Oh, wow. Okay. So, uh um but in regards to um how my uh job at Quirk has helped with the renovation, they're not like directly linked, but a lot of um the skills that I learned working at Quirk in a um actual real world um shop, there's only so much we can learn in um working at school. Um so, uh being able to have that
077even more in-depth, um experience with working with people, um has definitely helped my skills in school um and giving me the knowledge to be able to work with um other things like the boat. Um so, yeah. >> Excellent. That's great. And was the motor a gasoline motor that you converted to electric or was it electric from the beginning? >> It was >> I I believe it is a gasoline. >> Yeah, that's impressive that you converted to electric. So that's amazing. So great work. >> Thank you so much. >> Next for Leah, if you don't mind, that would be great. Um obviously another great partner of ours, Hancock Park Rehabilitation Center. They've been supportive of QPS for so long. Uh, and it's amazing that you're pursuing your CNA, but could you tell us how your experience
078at Hancock Park helped inspire you um with regard to your desire to seek the CNA? Um, I would say that there's always talk about being a CNA as it's not the most ideal job to some people, >> but we started going to clinicals kind of just to get a feel of Hancock Park in um, junior year. And that's where we got to really connect more with the residents one-on-one before we started to work on the on another floor, the floor above it. I think we're on the third floor. Um, so just starting off with feeding and just getting to know the residents, asking them questions, observing their rooms, kind of getting um kind of a gist of like what the population is like cuz maybe a lot of people don't deal with um the elderly
079or mostly elderly that lives in that population. So being able to talk to them and their life stories and getting all their experiences and they love to talk about their grandchildren and a lot of their grandchildren are our age. So, getting to have those conversations with so many different types uh different cultures that are there was really nice. And then this year, the best thing of going to be a CNA and like working at Hancock Park was definitely after you give somebody care, they like take the time to like ask your name and they just say, "Thank you so much." And like that little thank you, like whatever happened during clinical that day, it didn't even matter. like just the thank you was purely enough to make my day better and I was just like,
080"Yeah, yeah, maybe today was rough and there was things that didn't go exactly how we planned, but having their thank you and them being so appreciative of of us, which we feel is like just our job, but for them it's something that, you know, it's very vulnerable for them and they're able to trust us is like more than we could even like say thank you to them for. So, it was it's really great." >> Excellent. That's great. And we do need great CNAs. So that that's uh that's excellent. I'm sure you'll inspire many others. And Emily, if you wouldn't mind, a a question for you. So your experience is amazing. Uh working at the Bernazani School, Campus Kinder House, another great partner of ours for many, many years. So many Quinsey students have gone through
081Campus Kinder House. It's a great program as well as Inspire Children's Center. Again, another great partner of ours supporting our students. Could you just review with us um having worked at the elementary school, the preschool campus, kinder house and inspire children's center, what level of early childhood care after working in all those areas would you prefer to work in or look forward to working in? >> Okay, so I have I through my work I usually work with toddlers which range from age one to two and a half. I love working with toddlers and I'm very experienced with working working with toddlers since I work four days a week. Um, I think they're amazing. But through my clinical placement, I work with kindergarteners and Campus Kinder House was four-year-olds prek. And I learned that I really
082do prefer to work with children in kindergarten or prek because they I love how they talk. They they are so silly and funny, but they're so smart. And yeah, I I think through I' I've had a lot more experience with toddlers, but through working with at clinical placement, I do about three days a week. Um, yeah, I've learned that I really do want to work in a kindergarten classroom. >> Excellent. That's great. How about a round of applause for our students? >> Sure. And and lastly, I do want to just give a shout out to our North Quinsey and Quinsey High School CTE staff who are all here to support us tonight and to support our students, both current and retired. So, thank you for your support. If you wouldn't mind coming up so that
083and of course, thank you Mr. Sagala for all of your work in the program as well. If you wouldn't mind coming up to get a picture, that would be great. Thank you. We're going to continue on with our agenda and we'll continue on with the superintendence report. the SLT come in. >> Yeah, we're just going to have the SLT come in. >> Oh, sorry. >> Maybe just like a Good evening again everyone. It's good to see everybody. Um, next on the agenda is our staff recognition. Uh, it is both an honor and a privilege tonight to recognize and celebrate the remarkable career of our executive director of career, vocational, and technical education, a colleague, a leader, and a true pillar of the Quinsey public schools. After more than three decades of dedicated service, we gather
084not to say goodbye, but to recognize a journey that has left an enduring mark on our district, our students, and our community. This journey to be began long before a title was ever attached uh to Mr. Sagala back in 1987 as a proud graduate of North Quinsey High School. Even then, there was a connection to this district that would only grow stronger over time. From working as a junior custodian during summers to returning as a student teacher in 1992, there was already a clear sense that Quinsey Public Schools was not just a workplace, but a home. In 1993, that commitment officially took root with an appointment as a part-time business teacher at Quinsey High School. And from that very first role, earning just over an amazing $10,000 a year, what followed was a career defined
085not by titles, but by impact. Over the years, that impact expanded in extraordinary ways. from business technology educator to adult education coordinator to director of extension in continuing education and ultimately to executive director of career vocational and technical education as well as the Quinsey school community partnership. Each role brought new responsibilities but more importantly new opportunities to innovate, to lead and to serve. What stands out most is not just the longevity of your career, but the breath of its influence. You helped shape programs that empowered students and connected learning to real world opportunity, initiatives like early college high school pathway, the credit for life fair, and student leadership summits that inspired young minds across grade levels. You strengthened our community through partnerships, bringing together families, educators, and local businesses in meaningful and lasting ways. You
086led with vision during some of our most challenging times, none more so during the CO 19 pandemic when your leadership helped ensure the successful implementation and distribution of approximately 7,500 Chromebooks and greatly strengthened our wireless and computer technology infrastructures throughout the district to keep our staff and students connected and learning when it mattered most. You secured and managed critical grants from Perkins to Massachusetts Capital Skills to Massure, ensuring that our vocational and technical programs continue to grow, evolve, and thrive. And through it all, you never lost sight of what matters most, of course, our students. Your work has opened doors for countless young people, giving them not just skills, but confidence, direction, and opportunity. Beyond the programs and achievements, there is something even more important to recognize. The way you brought people together. Whether organizing
087community events like Tis the Season, leading professional learning days for staff, or even starting traditions like the staff appreciation breakfast, you built a culture of connection, collaboration, and care. You made people feel valued, and you made the district stronger. On a personal note, I want to express my sincere gratitude for your partnership, your professionalism, and your unwavering commitment to the Quinsey public schools. Thank you also for being gracious when I and other people confused you with your brother Kevin. Your contributions have helped shape the district we are today, and your influence will continue to be felt for years to come. As you prepare to begin this well-earned new chapter, we know this is not truly an ending. It is simply a transition, one that reflects a career filled with purpose, accomplishment, and impact. On behalf
088of the entire Quinsey Public Schools community, our administrators, educators, staff, students, families, and partners. Thank you, Keith, for all you've done for the Quinsey public schools. Thank you for your dedication. Thank you for your leadership and thank you for leaving the Quinsey public schools better than where you found it. We wish you all the very best in your retirement. CONGRATULATIONS. Would you like to say a few words? >> Thank you, Superintendent Movie. Um, I'm deeply humbled by your kind words. From a young age, I knew wanted to dedicate my life to public service. I was inspired by my parents, my mother, a nurse, and my father, a teacher, who modeled compassion and integrity to the communities I served. They their example led me to education and a profession I've been honored to serve every single
089day. As a proud graduate of Quinc Schools, I was also shaped by countless educators and staff members who guided me, supported me, inspired me, and shared with me their love for the craft of education. They show me what it means to lead with heart, to teach with purpose, and to believe in every student's potential. So today, as I reflect on this moment, I dedicate this day and this milestone to the Quincsey Public Schools educators past and present, who helped shape my journey. Their influence was profound profound, and their impact will stay with me longer after I leave my role. Throughout my tenure, I've had the distinct pleasure to serve in many capacities and roles. As superintendent had mentioned, each offering their own lessons, challenges, as well as many, many rewards. I'd like to take a
090moment to share and highlight three specific initiatives. First, career intent education has always held a special place in my heart. It represents opportunity, pride, and the belief that every student deserves pathways that honor their strengths, their passions, and their their future aspirations. I've witnessed firsthand how CTE transformed students, giving them confidence and the skills to thrive in a in a rapidly changing world. I'd like I would like to recognize the people who truly make this work meaningful and successful. Our career and technical education teachers who are the heart of our program who bring industry experience and high expectations and their capac and compassion for each of our students in their classrooms and shops every day. Whether guiding students towards certifications, internships, clinical placements, college pathways, or direct employment, they open doors and change lives. Their
091commitment to relevance, rigor, and relationships defines what career and technical education should be. Our students, they inspire us. They show up ready to learn real world skills, to problem solve, to create, and to lead. Watching them grow from kindergarten to high school freshman to confident graduates prepared for co careers, college and military service has been the greatest reward of my career. They represent the future workforce and the future leadership of our community. Our Quinsey school community partnership. Our partnership represents what is possible when a school district and its business community come together with a shared mission. Our community business partners have been nothing short of exceptional. Their commitment to our district, to our students, and to our teachers has been incredible. Through our business community partners and their willingness to offer financial support, site support,
092student support, and career connections ensures our programs stay aligned with workforce needs. Our success is built on these partnerships, and we're deeply grateful for their contributions. partners such as the Arbella Foundation, Bayate Financial, Boston Scientific, Granite Telecommunication, Quinsey Credit Union, Quinsey Education Association, Quincy uh Quinsey Mutual Group, Quinsey College, just a few more. Quirk Auto dealers, the Terrell Room, State Street, and so many, many more have been extraordinary community partners over these past 34 years. Most importantly, they've shown our students that the community believes in them and is invested in their success. It's been a true pleasure to co-chair the the Quincsey School Community Partnership with my colleague and friend Janice Earllo. Thank you, Janice. It's been a privilege to serve as co-chair of the Quinsey's Early College Pathway. Quinsey's Early College Pathway expands access
093and helps our students envision a future filled with possibility. watching this program grow over the past five years and seeing students gain confidence as they take on college level work as well as obtain free college credits. That's right, 25 to 62 college credits to be exact has been a source of tremendous pride. Thank you Quincy College and President Victor Chrisaro as well as Megan Jovenon and the vice president student success and partnerships for this unique collaboration and their leadership. I want to express my deep appreciation to Mayor Ko for his dedicated dedicated leadership. Quinsey is stronger, more vibrant, and more connected because of his commitment to service. He has guided us through challenges with steadiness and vision, always keeping the well-being of this community and our school system at the center of his work. His
094support of our school system has made a lasting difference. From championing educational initiatives, including small class sizes, four new state-of-the-art schools and a new Squanum Elementary School well underway, numerous renovations and installations of heating systems, roofs, and window replacements across the district, not to mention ensuring our students and educators have the resources they need. He has helped create an environment where our students can thrive. Thank you, Mayor Ko. Members of the Quincsey School Committee, thank you for your governance, advocacy, and continued investment in career and technical education. Your support has enabled us to strengthen programs, expand opportunities, and ensure students graduate prepared for high-skll, high wage, and high demand careers. Over the course of my career, I've had the distinct honor of serving under three remarkable superintendents. The late Gan Cedan, Dr. Perkins beloved dad,
095Dr. Victor Chris Kafaro and our current superintendent Kevin Maldi. Each led with a unique style and perspective. Each faced different challenges and moments in time. Yet despite their differences in approach, they all shared a fundamental belief that guided their leadership that our students and their families are our highest priority. Their commitment to putting students first created a culture of accountability and compassion. and I'm deeply grateful for the trust each of them placed in me and for the opportunity to contribute to that shared mission. Over these past 26 of 34 years, I've had the privilege of working alongside extraordinary colleagues, many behind me this evening, supportive assistant superintendent, Dr. Aaron Perkins, SLT directors, coordinators, managers, principles, as well as our CT department chairs, Maryannne Collins, Jill Bonado, and former CT department chair, Rebecca McInness. All who
096share a deep commitment to our students and their families of Quinsey. Most especially, working alongside my younger brother Kevin during these years has been incredibly special. Sharing this field of education and serving the Quinsey community together is something I'll always treasure. Special thanks to Bob Cavalo and Dan Pacho for their exceptional leadership of the Quincsey Public Schools technology planning and training team. Nancy Sorggy, our CT administrative assistant who support patients dedication never go unnoticed. Nancy has been the backbone of so much that I do, we do from keeping us compliant with our chapter 74 programs to managing countless budgets and grants with care and precision. and I appreciate all that she has done and will continue to do. To the entire Cottington team, thank you for your kindness that includes Ulara and professionalism that you
097bring each and every day. Supporting over 2,000 employees is not a small task. Yet, you do it with heart, integrity, and a clear understanding of our mission. You remind us what it means to truly serve others. And finally, it's been the honor of a lifetime serving this community, and I'll always be grateful to be be part of the Quincy Public Schools. Thank you very much. >> Any comments from my colleagues? Mr. Regali, >> thank you Kevin. I mean Keith, that sounds familiar. >> Uh you really uh have made a tremendous impact on the school system. Um, and you are going to be missed. Um, you know, you you what you've done here uh in your tenure is uh you you can't put in words. So, we really appreciate you and we're going to miss you.
098Um, we're not going to lose any more people, are we, Mr. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Appreciate. Thanks, >> M. Cahill. >> I'm going to miss you. We're going to miss I'm going to miss seeing you sit back there sleeping with your eyes open. But um thank you for everything. I mean, you know, you you said it all in your you know, what you shared with us and um your impact has been um shown throughout the years and 30 years of service. I mean, there's not much that we can say, but we will miss you and your leadership. And you know, a lot of times the when you're in a position like yours, new things come forward, figuring out how to put programs together, bring people together. Um, you know, like you
099said earlier about the CVTE and the changes and how things change in in in technology and in our world. Um, we need someone who's a good leader and who's smart and who's able to bring a a team of people together to make things happen. So, we're going to miss that about you and um thank you for for everything you've done for us. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. Paras. >> Thanks. Um thank you, Keith, for everything you've done. Um uh just hearing about your journey and your positions, I now understand why you know so much about so many different aspects of QPS. It's just I'll ask you a question and your your kind of historical knowledge of how something came to be just is always there. So, um now I kind of understand that
100better. I just um I've always found every interaction with you to be um respectful and gracious. You're just um that type of person that just kind of even in your farewell comments, you're kind of giving away your your thanks and your um and your just uh your respect and your your pride um to to the partners, the business partners and the the teachers and the um and your co-work co-workers. And um it's just it says a lot about you that that's the type of person you are kind of at your core that you just really appreciate that. um you know me I have a thousand questions and a thousand ideas and uh never once have I brought them to you and felt that I've wasted your time and that you've always considered them and try
101to figure out how to do it. Um most especially or most recently with the career fair just trying to figure out we're brainstorming some ways to kind of expand that to all the high school kiddos uh high school seniors and um you know just just your creativity and just your willingness to think outside the box um I've always found refreshing and I just appreciate that and we'll miss you. So, thank you. >> Enjoy your retirement, >> Mr. Le Young. >> Thank you, Mr. Sagala, for your service. Um, congratulations on your retirement. Um, I caught you at the end of of your career and your journey, but it sounds like you've had um a tremendous impact. And I did I was fortunate enough to to get a glimpse of that. and and in particular um when
102I spent time with you at the credit for life fair um just a super fun um educational experience uh for those kids. It was um really impressive to see. Um yeah, thank you again for your for your impact um for for shaping and guiding our students um both directly and through uh the programs that that you've established. Um there's nothing more important than preparing them for the real world and you've done a fantastic job of that and um that's just a fantastic legacy to to leave behind. So thank you. >> Thank you. for sure, >> Miss Campbell. >> Um, I too have caught you at the end of this and I I have gone to two events, the pathways and the credit for life and boy, I am well, you know, so struck with how
103enthusiastically you talk about the students with such passion. It's just really impressive to see how excited you get for them. And I just want to thank you for you for all that you've done. And I just so appreciate how you're such have such a positive view of improving the lives of these students and it's just so wonderful to see. So thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> So I just want to say you will be so missed. Um the amount of heart you bring and professionalism to your job is amazing and short and sweet. You will totally be missed. So thank you. >> Thank you Gather. Appreciate it. Thank you. I'll continue. >> Continue. >> Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda is the DZ deferral of special education and English learner program audits.
104As you know, following the completion of the DZ district review in late February, Dr. Perkins and I participated in a debrief meeting with DZ staff members on March 4th. At that meeting, uh, we had the opportunity to point out that in addition to the district review, Quincsey Public Schools was also scheduled for audits of the special education and English learner programs, both of which require extensive preparation. On March 23rd, we were notified by the Office of Public School Monitoring that the reviews could be deferred to the 2027 2028 school year, and we have gratefully accepted this option. So we wanted to uh communicate to you that that to you as well. Statutoily we're not supposed to be audited more than once in any program and this particular year we were scheduled to be audited three
105times. So um that is why DZ allowed us to defer. Uh so that is a good thing and we can prepare uh for the next audits with enough time and preparation uh so that our audits are precise. Uh we are honored that Congressman Steven Lynch once again visited Central Middle School's grade 8 civic students today to share about uh his work in Congress. Special thanks to community development director Sean Glennon for his assistance in ar in arranging the visit. Uh upcoming Quinsey public schools and city of Quinsey events. The spring concert season continues with the Combined High School band concert on Thursday, April 9th at 6 PM at North Quinsey High School and the Combined High School solo and ensemble recital on April 15th at 6 p.m. at North Quinsey High School. A full schedule
106of spring concerts will be shared at an upcoming meeting uh for the school committee. Uh, the Atlantic Middle School Drama Club is presenting the musical Descendants on April 10th at 7 p.m. and on April 11th at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. in the school auditorium. Tickets are available in advance on lutus.com. That's luddus.com or at the door for each performance. The city of Quinsey is presenting Road and Rivers, an Americana song Book on April 18th from 100 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Church of the Presidents. The Citywide PTO is presenting Screen Ages Next Chapter, April 30th at 6 p.m. at Central Middle School. The annual Quinsey High School fashion show will be held on Thursday, April 30th at 6 PM in the Lloyd Hill Auditorium, featuring the original creations of our fashion technology students
107assisted by students from the broadcasting, graphic design, culinary, and carpentry technology programs. The city of Quinsey's annual cleaner greener event will be held on Saturday, March 2nd from 9:00 a.m. to noon at school and park sites throughout the city, followed by the mayor's appreciation cookout at Pageant Field starting at 12:30 p.m. Uh the fifth annual Quinsey Multicultural Festival will be held at Fax and Field on Saturday, May 9th from noon to 3 p.m. showcasing the diverse cultures of our community through music, food, and art. And that is always a great event. I certainly encourage anyone that can go to attend. Again, it's great for family and uh everyone. And in conclusion, I wanted to note that April is Autism Acceptance Month, which celebrates and honors the experiences and identities of individuals, emphasizes understanding, inclusion, and
108support. Moving beyond awareness towards meaningful acceptance. Autism Acceptance Month recognizes that autism is more than a diagnosis. It is a community and a lived experience that encompasses both challenges and triumphs. Throughout autism acceptance month, Quinsey public schools will participate in awareness events and share educational resources that create pathways for neurodeiversity inclusion. Uh so with that, that ends the superintendent's report. >> Mios has a question. >> Oh, sure. >> Thanks. Excuse me. On um Congressman Lynch, how how um many years has he done that? I know he he's done that multiple years. >> Oh, yeah. He's done that multiple years, but This is the second just the second year. >> Yeah, I think so. >> I think it's the third. >> Yeah, it's definitely I believe it's the third year that he's done that. >> Does
109he always go to Central Middle School? >> Um, I believe that is the case. Yes, >> it would be great to have him be able to if it's going to be something that he continues to do. Um, if if we could just sort of have that kind of rotate around so that all the middle school sort kiddos sort of get an opportunity. >> I can certainly ask the uh congressman's office to do that. >> So much appreciate that. >> Of course. And I would like to point out the uh Atlantic Middle School drama produ um productions. I would suggest people get the tickets online because I myself have tried to go to a play there in the past and got there and they were sold out. So I would suggest buying your tickets online ahead
110of time. >> So you do not have that happen to you. >> All right. Thank you for the superintendent report. We will move on to old business. Uh the first item we have on old business is the provo pro proposed revision to the school committee policy section 10.17 student personal electronic device policy for discussion. We are rearranging the furniture. This was in policy and was voted out of policy to come to committee. So, we're here for discussion. Um, you want to start absolutely. Thank you so much. So, um, we just wanted to first I do want to thank uh, Mr. Ellis and Miss Cavalo, both of whom have, uh, joined us here tonight to hopefully answer any questions that you might have. Um and uh I just want to point out some of the things
111that after the subcommittee meeting and based on the feedback from that meeting that we um adjusted or changed. And so on the second page of the policy, we did add language about accommodations. So if um if a student has a disability or medical condition that requires a cell phone or other device, the accommodation will be noted in the student's IEP 504 plan or health plan. The special education team liaison or health office will notify appropriate staff of the necessary accommodations. And this um is also under the middle school section as well as the high school section. And we also added a section about extracurricular activities, athletics, and school sponsored events. Um that basically just says that if students are participating in any of those activities um the pouches will be unlocked at the conclusion of
112the school day prior to the restart of their respective programs. Um program facilitators, coaches and advisers will work with building administration to adjust this practice for individ individual students if personal electronic device use is ne negatively impacting participation engagement safety or adherence to the program expectations. In such cases, students may be required to keep devices secured for the duration of the activity. And then um just a clarification, we added a clarification on detentions that students assigned to school detention would keep their phones secured in the pouches for the duration of the detention. Um phone pouches may be unlocked only after the detention has been fully served unless otherwise directed by school administration. And um we did add that uh those things also to the uh middle school section in terms of the afterchool activities. And
113um on the middle school section we did just clarify that is it is for students in grades six to eight um you know per a question from Mr. Begulli that we received at the uh policy subcom policy subcommittee. And so those are the changes that we've made based on that feedback and we're happy to answer any additional questions. >> Thank you. I appreciate you making those those changes. Um I just have one question too. Um so what's going on with the with the state with um this policy? Is that going to change anything that we do in regards to how they vote on what they're doing? >> It wouldn't change anything. I think we're actually getting ahead of the curve and I'm I'm sure that Gail would agree with me on that. My understanding is
114the legislation is there. It is I I am assuming it will be passed based on everything we're hearing from from the state house. Um we would be proactively engaging on this issue before it became law. >> Okay. >> Are they are they asking to do the same? >> Mrs. Cah did they want to do the same ban? >> Okay. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So we'll open it up to questions. Um, Miss Cample, >> I have a question. For some students, I mean, I I I I think this is a a a very good idea, but I think for some students, there are some students who may feel more vulnerable, who don't have the same social networks as other students without their phones, right? And I'm wondering if there's some conversation about how those
115vulnerabilities will be supported for students where this is um it might it's a it's a different feeling than >> just putting phones away. It may be more of a social >> a vulnerability piece, >> right? >> And I'm just wondering if there's any >> thought about how to support those students who might >> be on their own in terms of social peer groups. >> Yeah. And I so I think that our guidance counselors and our educators, you know, we do that in actually all of our schools. We have um social groups, you know, guidance staff has like lunch groups or we arrange things, you know, to help students with that. I think that from our perspective and I'll let anyone else jump in, but I think that we would love that opportunity to work with
116those children because um you know relying so heavily on your phone is also very isolating. And so just having that opportunity to work with the student on developing you know high school, middle school, they're fleeting. They only last for such a short amount of time. And our job is to make sure that every student in that building feels like they have a person and that they have a group, you know, Mara Pel used to always say every student needs at least one person in their corner, you know, and so I think that we would work really hard to make sure that that happened. And the hope would be to make students actually more social with each other um and hopefully, you know, um encourage that to expand their friend groups and uh not be, you
117know, so heavily reliant on on their phone. So, we would absolutely do that. >> Can I jump in on that, too? >> Um so, one of my responsibilities as a department chair is is if a staff member gets held up in the morning, I go and and I cover home room. Uh, and one of my teachers this morning was betrayed by the Boston train system and so I had to to jump in. There were about 15 kids in the home room. There were two young young ladies on one side of the room who were talking to each other and there were two on the other who were talking to each other. And then there were 11 kids silently staring into a phone. The two young ladies on the other side of the room were not
118making eye contact. They still had their phones out, but they were sort of talking to each other out of the the size of their mouths. And I've probably had to do this over the last few years, I don't know, 40 or 50 times. What was unique about today was that four kids that were talking to each other was the most I've ever seen. Usually the number of kids who are actually communicating in home room with one another is zero because they're all just looking at those phones. I think removing the phones is part of the solution to the lack of socialization. And I think anecdotally, we've all heard stories out of schools that have done this already that that that has been the case. The kids actually start talking to one another and like making
119friends instead of just staring at Tik Tok. Uh so I think the the actual solution to the problem is the solution to the other problem. I and certainly there may be a transitional period where c certain students uh need some help. Uh but I think by and large for the average student this is going to foster their socialization much better and it's going to make them better doing this on their own. >> I have one other question and it's about um the consistency in which uh the the punishment will be the consequences will be enforced. I mean there are different buildings right different high schools different buildings and I just was wondering if there's been some conversation about how this will be done consistently so all students are >> see seeing the same consequences. >>
120Yeah I I mean I absolutely think it will be consistent. when we came up with the um when we wrote the the violations section of the of the um policy that came specifically from principal Gilbert and um Principal Ford. So actually so we we did not put anything in there that they were not okay with and felt that they could implement consistently across both high schools and um you know they actually did give feedback. We actually changed some of what we had originally written to match consistently what North Quincsey High and Quincy High both currently typically do for common violations. Um, and so we would treat this the same way that we, you know, treated other infractions that students engage in. Um, and we and so like vaping or, you know, things like that. Um
121and so we would we would handle things in a very similar way and we would expect that uh both of our principles would would handle it in the same fashion and with the same consistent manner. Um and which is why we included them on the team and we actually got their feedback before we put anything in front of you all. >> Great. Thank you, >> Mrs. Cahill. I to to your point, Mrs. I think that having this policy makes it more um equitable across the board because before not having this policy, you know, was we would hear from families or you know, my daughter is in one class and it's not being enforced but my son is in another and his is being enforced. B and that's because you know what we want to do
122is take away the um the onus on the faculty to have to um enforce this in their classrooms right so having this policy here I think makes it like everyone's going to do the same thing and and I hope that that's the case but I think that that's what we're trying to um to get at with this policy >> just very briefly I I think that that's actually the point every educator that we speak to daily, this is the issue that prohibits them from actually getting curriculum across to students, the distraction, the um the text message, the notification, the you know, I don't know, Boston Globe, but I'm sure that's, you know, whatever. Um but the reality is we have to take those distractions away. I know, you know, you you all see me. I
123sit here. I'm constantly looking at my phone, but people are texting me non-stop. But what we really need our students to be able to do from 7:45 to 2:30 is to interact with each other, learn what's going on in the world around them and in their classrooms, and interact with each other. That's actually how they will be able to succeed at at the next level >> and interact with you >> the faculty and the >> right and the teachers. >> Exactly. >> So that's important. >> So I am still very glad that you guys were involved in writing the union was involved in writing this and and that the teachers are on board with it. No, we're we were incredibly um grateful to be heard and grateful to work with with uh Dr. Perkins and
124Mr. Morani and the principles on this. It it we are confident it'll be a gamecher. >> I don't think you could find a teacher in the United States that wouldn't advocate for this. >> Mr. Julian, >> um could you please talk to me about um the search and evaluation process you undertook um before deciding on uh this technological solution and this vendor? Like how many options were available to you to choose from? what um factored into the decision-m? >> Yeah, we talked about um just going with a ban and initially we actually said okay maybe we'll draft like two things. We'll do you know just a ban and then like one with the pouches. Um we had like originally talked about that. Um, we talked about the potential we I don't know too much about
125it, but I we had heard that there was also like an app um that can go on children's phones, but we thought we thought about that, but then it was like how do you ensure when we're touching kids' phones and you know putting something and we didn't want like who's going to do that and what position are we putting staff into? Um and so then when we decided and then through the conversations with you know um Gail and Michael and the principles, you know, and we we really felt like the only way to kind of take this out of the educator's hands, meaning the educators as the the enforcers because even if we just did a band with no pouches, we knew that it was was going to come to an educator would be in
126a room and it would be with a student who was not complying with the ban and had their phone. It would just basically be more of the same and it would cause the same disruption and it would again be the educator that had to enforce it and um and and then we get with and then it becomes inconsistent. Then we have a teacher who um isn't comfortable confronting a student which I think is perfectly reasonable. Um and you know and so then that class another teacher walks down the hallway and sees that class a student on the phone and nothing's happening you know meanwhile they're they're um you know telling their kids to that they can't have their phones. So we were trying to avoid all of that and then so then when we looked
127um you know we knew that the yonder pouches were the one was the pouch that pretty much everybody was is using. So, um, you know, we talked, like I said, we talked to the Taton, uh, principal. I think there's other pouches out there. We honestly didn't really look too much at them because the that was the one that was like the most highly recommended. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. Pios. >> All right, I have a lot of questions. I'm sorry to in advance. Um, but I just want to really be sure I understand it. I I'm fully on board with getting the distraction out of the classrooms if it's not if what we have now isn't working. I get it. I don't want teachers to have to I hear stories of my kids that come
128home that tell me a teacher had to get into an interaction with a student to put phones away and it and it happens and I know it happens and I hear um the QA saying that this is a priority and and I absolutely respect that. Um I just want to make sure that when we put this through that that we've thought through everything. So hence all of my questions. So just bear with me a little bit. Um, so and they're probably in no particular order, but um, who will, so if there's a violation, >> who will enforce that now? So if somebody is found to be in the bathroom or in the hallway on their phone, walk us through what happens. >> It would be security, which is or the deans, which is what happens
129now when something like that happens. So it would be one of them. They would if security interacts with the student they get ref they they get they get brought to the dean and it would be the dean and then obviously if it was a significant issue if the student was being you know very disrespectful or something like that it may it may go to the principal or the assistant principal but the the enforcement would go with the dean and if uh would be the deans that would implement in um enforce it and if say a teacher sees a student um they our our approach would be that they would refer it to security or refer it to the dean and that let that they would handle it. Um and we actually talked about that because
130we don't that's the whole point right so um and so anyway so that so that would be it would be the deans ultimately with obviously the assistance of security you know basically bringing the student to the dean. >> Okay. And um those individual the security and the deans are going to be um you know trained in how to how to how to handle it and how to deescalate and um is I would assume that those are the kiddos that are the most that have the most trouble with it. Right. So that those are the kids that while they've violated a policy they probably need the most amount of support with this new policy. So just making sure that we're you know being safe when we're interacting with that situation. Um but also making sure that
131we're you know not just having staff members say just put it away. You know what I mean? So, like it has to be to Miss Campbell's point, I think it has to be enforced >> um in a way that is uh appropriately consistent across the district. Absolutely. Um just so that we don't have a few people saying, "Well, it's okay here," and you know, that type of stuff. I think it's the only way to make it work. >> Yeah, we 100% we absolutely agree. Um, so and again some of these questions sort of came from uh the subcommittee meeting that um I was in the back for but um so thinking about rolling this out the first day of school in the fall. Um walk me through what it looks like. So and I only
132know I know Quinsey High the best. So I'm going to go Quinsey High. Walk me through there's two doors you enter students enter in. What does that look like? How many magnet How many people are lining the doorways watching kids snap it together? Mhm. >> at each door. >> So, I I think it would be the security, the school resource officers, uh probably the deans, you know, um would be primarily the people that would be responsible. I anticipate I think we can all anticipate that at the beginning we may need to have additional staff um you know and so if we had to stipend people we would do that but but um you know especially for like the first two weeks but I don't but after that I think it would primarily fall with security
133and um I think that the magnets you know we would have magnets you know I'm thinking Quincy High right and I think some of this is going to have to be teased out um which is why the other reason We liked Yonder to Mr. Le Young's point is that they come and they will observe what you're doing and they will actually give you feedback. So after you've been implementing for like a month or whatever, it's part of our contract that they will send our representative to both high schools, one at each high school. They will watch what we're doing and they will give us feedback and how to improve it. Um but and so the the magnets would be at the front door and the back door say of Quinsey High School and there's security
134in both places. Um and so and the kids would come in and they would push the put their phones in and they would push the button and the you know and then they would go on and the security people would would be there. And I think that you know I know when we talked about this and we we had uh some conversations about how this would look and I know that I think that Mr. Ellis could probably tell you that they don't all I thought like oh they're all coming in right at 7:45. It's like this massive flood of children and that's not actually really the reality. Um is the kids kind of start coming in I'd say like 7:15 or some somewhere around there. I'm not there at 7 or 7:30 maybe, you know.
135Um and they and they come in and so and it and and then it's kind of like a trickle um after that, you know. So there is a is a point where I think a lot of kids will be coming in, but um they're not all coming in at the exact same moment. >> I got you. Um >> can I jump in? Uh my wife is the librarian at Taton High School and they implemented this this year. Uh there are 200 students approximately at Taton High School and they have one entrance uh and this is not a problem out the door >> that they were concerned at the beginning of the year uh and so one of the things that they did was they staggered dismissals for like two weeks and then realized they didn't
136need to do it. So this doesn't create the log jam that everyone is I think rightly concerned about. It seems that that's not what manifests when this happens. >> Okay. Um, so related to that a little bit, our new attendance policy, um, you know, if you're tardy to home room, if you're tardy to any class, you're losing credits or you're it, it's I I'm feeling like maybe there should be a little joining of those together where we loosen the attendance policy, at least in the beginning of the day, as kids are coming in while we get used to what we're doing here, so we're not having kids or parents or anyone freaking out over someone being late to a class or losing credit and having to make up. Do you know what I'm saying? I
137think it's a lot in the first like day in the couple weeks of school. So maybe relaxing that policy might make sense. >> I mean, we absolutely will let the principles know like if if a student is having trouble with their pouch or whatever, you know, they're they are jammed up in the entrance way for any reason that they should not be penalized. >> Okay. So, there would not be they would get a pass anyway and the pass would exempt them out of they're not they're not running a foul of the new attendance policy. I think communicating that might be really helpful too just so parents aren't worried about um because I'm I'm so glad the teachers were the educators were working on this policy but I don't think any parents were sort of brought
138into that team. So I know like just from a parent concerns of what people might be concerned about and I would think that especially with the new attendance policy how well you did rolling that out and making it a priority the same way. Yeah. So but just having the two work together and also hearing from the students I'd love to hear what they think of this policy. So uh I know what the students in my house have thought of it. So, um, how do you know if a watch is a smartwatch or a regular watch? >> Um, well, I I know that what an Apple Watch looks like. Um, I, you know, I'm not an expert in the other >> blank on the face until the kid touches it. >> So, are you going to
139have security and deans checking the watches to make sure that they're regular watches and not watches? I >> I mean, I think we would expect that the that they would put it in the bag and if they get caught with it, then they would be subject to the discipline policy. >> Okay. So, >> um, >> and it's not hard to catch a kid in class who's >> Yeah. >> typing on their watch. >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to again take out the things that educators and people in the hall are going to have to deal with. So, I'm trying to think about all the thing the ways that a parent would look at this that um a kid would try to get around a thing. Kind of familiar with that in my house. Um, >>
140under progressive discipline, you have a description here of begins with the least restrictive interventions such as verbal warnings and redirection. I don't see anything about verbal warnings or redirection in this. So, I think it it's misleading to think that are people going to be verbally redirecting them or warning them to put it away. Um, or is it just you see it, you go to the first offense? And if it's the latter, I think we maybe need to take that out. So, because again, I think it's misleading to say, well, is someone going to give a verbal warning to a kid if they see them using it in the hallway or is it >> a detention? I mean, it's it's two very different things. So, I think that um including that is a little misleading uh
141in my opinion. Um again, I'm sorry. I know there's a lot um the funding of the pouches, the 200 to 250,000. I would love I heard about the business partnership um >> perhaps avenue. I would love that. Um I would love that that doesn't come out of our our budget. Um but it would be fantastic. We have great business partners and um a lot of people that work hard on that. So, um I'm hoping that that comes about and I'd be curious to hear about that. Um so, we don't have So, the extra staff you said would be stipened. Um okay. So, when we come to the extracurricular activities, the stuff you guys added the stuff in gray here. Um so, if a kiddo is deemed that they need to have their electronic devices in
142the pouch for the athletic activity um or after school activity, how do they un get it unlocked after the activity? Say a kiddo goes to, you know, a baseball game. They come back from the baseball game. Who's there to unlock it at 7:30 at night when they're getting back? >> Well, there are like portable magnets, like handheld magnets, >> right? But who would have that at 7:30? >> Well, the coach would give it to the coach. >> So, the coach would have it. >> We'd have if if we have a student, I expect that this will be rare, by the way. Like I don't expect that this will be a you know a a common issue and it would be an like it would have to be like a pretty extreme case for us to
143tell a student that they have to lock their phone when they're at a baseball game or whatever. Um but they would so the we if we did that then we would have to provide the coach with the the the magnet the handheld magnet which would be fine. >> Okay. All right. Um, and you would know that that's that that is happening with the kiddo on that team. So, you would know to communic get that to the coach. >> Yeah, they would. I mean, we wouldn't do it without working with the coach. Like, the coach would have to say to us, "This is a problem. This student is on inappropriate sites or I don't know, whatever the thing is, right? It would have to be something like >> really concerning." >> Gotcha. All right. So staying
144on sports, um, oftentimes in the spring, obviously in the fall as well, but in the spring, this spring particularly, practices get cancelled, right? Kiddos need rides home and I typically get the text at 12:30, practice is canceled, I now need a ride. Or the game's been postponed, I need a ride. How does that information now get communicated? I certainly can do it over an intercom to the kiddos. How do parents find out that their kid needs a ride home um without kids having to now miss class because they need to go and call their parent? Is there any way that we could handle this so that um the athletic directors as soon as something's canceled, they're they're reaching out to every parent on that list of the roster list. I mean, that's a lot of
145phone calls to take on. >> Well, I think you'll get a school messenger. You'll still get a text, but it will be not from your student. It will be from school messenger. >> Okay. So, that will happen. Yep. Okay. I think if that communication is is solid, I think that that we can >> we would absolutely make sure that was solid. Definitely. >> So we don't have kids kind of hanging out waiting for >> it's it's pretty easy. We can set the groups up in in school messenger. Okay. >> And they just basically type in what they Mike's used it. They can type in what they want to send and off it goes. >> Okay. Great. Um, how are the phones stored in the dean the dean's offices or the admission um administration office if
146they have to be collected? Um, where how are they stored? What if they become lost? What happens? >> So now we're giving a students owned device to the school. How is that stored and how is it given back? And what protections are we putting in there because we're not doing that really now. Um, I mean, I think that they do sometimes take phones away now. I I do actually think they do do that. Um, you know, if a student is having a real problem, and the principles aren't here, but I can tell you at most schools, if a student is having a significant problem, they they take the phone away. >> And now it's if you forget your pouch, which I assume will be 20% of every class in every grade from 6 to 12
147will be forgetting their phone and they will be have to be collected. I I don't think it's as significant as you based on the people that we've talked to. I think it's really just a small handful of kids. Um and so they would, you know, they we would we would have to lock it up. And we have locked um file cabinets. We have locked cabinets. So we would we you know with that the deans would have or the school staff has keys to and so we would we would lock them up. >> Okay. And put the kiddo's name on it or something. So we're ensuring we're giving the right phone back to the right. >> Yeah. we'd have to do some kind of like sign in sign out system um you know and and to
148make sure that they are getting the the right phone but and you know I think remember too these the deans know these kids right so um so it's not like I it would be me taking a phone I would have no idea right but they but they know them so I think that you know that they can it would be very easy for them to put a sticky on a phone and say this is Aaron's phone you know >> okay um >> and if I could jump in there again. Again, the Taunt thing and I confirmed by I believe if I'm remembering correctly, the rep we spoke to. Um, >> defiance of the policy is actually much more rare than you think it's going to be. Most kids are pretty compliant and within two weeks
149this is usually settled. >> That's great. And I'm sorry for all the questions because it may all be moot, but I just know people have asked me these and I myself would be concerned about them. So, I want to make sure and I would have asked you offline ahead of time, but I think the public should probably hear these being asked. Just say also, Miss Pertios, that Mike spoke with the Tauntton principal and he actually confirmed that. >> Okay. >> Um that I don't know if you want to. >> Yeah. So, as I spoke to the Taunt principal, he had mentioned Well, a couple things. So, first, the year prior uh to when they uh adopted a policy with pouches, they had just a a bell-to-bell band, but without any pouches, and they found that
150that just became too difficult to consistently enforce. So just to the early uh point made around consistent enforcement of this uh and then the second piece is ultimately it's a very small percentage of students who uh struggle to bring their co their pouch in consistently and it tends to be a repeat group. So what ends up happening at least in this school in their experience is they work with those kids to almost have individualized plans. And so in many cases there's maybe a small handful. I think he said maybe 10 or 11 kids where it's pretty consistent. There's a there's a specific spot they put their phone in the office and it gets locked and stored away. >> Uh and so that's what I mean 2,800 students in that school and he said about 10
151or 11 kids. Okay. >> Uh so that's just one anecdote. And then the last piece I do just want to say at least from the former middle school principal perspective, it was it was common um not every day, but it was common to have to take a a phone from a student. And so we did have a sign out or we we signed it in so we knew exactly whose it was. Um and we locked it not just in the principal's office, but within a a Chromebook cart. There was like a top container. So, I think that also comes down to looking at each school at the middle schools and the high school levels and seeing what resources we have, whether they're locked file cabinets, Chromebook carts, whatever they might be, and keeping them secure.
152So, that was how I, as the principal at Broad Meadows, made sure that if we were taking a phone for the rest of the day from a student, we were protecting that phone and giving it back to the student at the end of the day, or if it was a repeat offender, we would just call the parent, the parent would come get it, or, you know, work it out. >> That's great. Um, okay. I'm going to blow through some of these a little bit here. So, um, who, uh, so the enforcement just a little bit. So, I I guess the the violations I'm fine with, I mean, sorry, the um uh the consequences I'm I'm fine with, they seem, you know, I I get it. Um, the only one that sort of seems a little
153out of line is the lost one. So, if a kiddo loses a pouch in middle school, they're getting a half an hour detention, and at the high school level, they're getting an hour detention. So, if we're enforcing this strictly and and as it says, you know, a kiddos's, you know, we're talking about 11 year olds at sixth grade, they lose things all the time and you're paying your family's paying $30 for a new one. Do you then need to have a detention? I It sort of feels like, you know, you lose it. Every kid loses a thing. And I just I sort of feel like that's the only one that feels a little out of line. Um, I get if you're like purposely going around evading the policy and you're putting a burner phone in
154there and you're using your smartwatch and you're trying to get around it, but if you just lose a pouch, are we are we really do we really need to have detention for that? I >> I would suggest that the $30 penalty is for the parents and the detention is a way to teach the kids something about their own responsibility. You know, I mean, I think honestly when we when we um did this, right, when we when we wrote this, this is also damaged, right? >> Which I get damaged. I get losing feels like a different thing. >> Yeah. And and I think, you know, I mean, I think what we potentially could do is we could clarify like how many times you lose it. Um might be a might be a compromise because I feel
155like if a student loses it once, the parent has to pay and they replace it. But if a student loses it five times, then maybe they potentially need >> detention. I think I think that feels a little more in line with what we're trying to do here. We're not trying to just give out detentions all the time, right? I mean, that's not great for staff. That's not I don't think anybody wants that, right? And some kids like they have to come home. So like that's a really difficult thing if they just lose it. It's not that they've tried to maliciously get around the system. So I I would encourage us to look a little differently at that lost pouch. I mean, we could split it out and keep it damaged and then lost as a
156separate thing and then we could just kind of clarify that, you know, the detention at the middle school level would, you know, that we could especially make sure that it was for like someone that like I've lost it now 10 times, right? Exactly. That might >> Yeah. Two times. So, >> two, three, something like that. But I know I mean I like you say I I get it and I at the high school level maybe feels a little different but 11year-olds like they just lose stuff all the time and it's not really Yeah. So um okay almost there. Um procedure for an emergency. If there's a fire alarm for some reason and they can't go back into the building now you have 1500 kids outside of the high schools with locked pouches that can't unlock
157them because they can't go back in. >> What do we do? >> Magnets travel. Right. >> Well, is somebody going to go in the burning building to get the magnet? >> I assume they would be on security guards at all times. >> We have them on security or deans, they we would have them with them at all times. Yeah. >> Okay. And so that's going to be communicated if there's like an emergency. Absolutely. We would find So, and um >> what would be uh something about like accidental locking after hours or something or if you >> you know if you didn't pull if you unlocked it, ran outside, get in the car, you didn't pull your phone out and then it locked when you got like that type of thing. What about accidental locking overnight?
158Is there going to be any way that they could come somewhere and get it out? >> I mean, I think if if the building is open and there's like a sports activity and there's a security guard there, absolutely they could probably go, but if it's 12:00 at night, >> I I mean, I'm a dedicated employee, >> right? with that. >> But I mean I know we have a security person there often. So that will always be there if >> I mean if there if there's a security guard working because there's a nighttime thing you know and then there's going to be the magnets are there so they can go to the school and they can unlock the pouch but you know that isn't every night. Um we would do our very best to help them
159you know and if I'm here or the superintendent's here we're here Laura we're here very late many nights. Yeah, we can have one here. And so if if if you know someone can get us before we leave for the night, um then we will absolutely run out and unlock their phone. Not a problem. >> Great. I will take a magnet too for every all the high school kids that I know that I'm sure will need that. So I'm happy to do that. >> Happy to be a point person. >> Which is why we are encouraging them to um you know take the stuff out of which is what we're like going to be a teaching moment, right? take the stuff out of your phone when you're walking out the door and then lock it >>
160because that way you will not lock things. You won't go home and accidentally lock your mom's phone in the pouch, you know, or something like that. >> Oh my gosh, I could see kids wanting to do that. All right. Um, last one. We've come to my last question. I know we've gotten there. Um oh um teachers who use phones and apps in their classroom currently, even though maybe we're not supposed to do that, but it happens >> more than more than one. Um, how are are educators going to be um h encouraged to find other ways to use or are they going to have to use Chromebooks more or is that is is there going to be any kind I guess my real question is are there going to be exemptions for educators that really
161currently use their phones and apps on kids phones now? >> No. No. >> Okay. So, they're just going to have to figure it out, >> right? Okay. The the district issues Chromebooks we would love to have a conversation about them. >> Um but we won't tonight. We're going to focus on this. Um but I I think it's really important that um >> what the members have told us is that they want a policy that is consistent that takes the distraction out of the classroom that allows for critical thinking and if they can't use Cahoot to do their, you know, little, you know, pre prequiz quiz, they will figure it out. Um they're very they're very smart and they're professionals. Excellent. That's exactly what I just wanted to make sure there were no like exemptions or
162like special type like you can use it sometimes. All right. So, that's um perfect. And I um >> you're going to need to increase the paper budgets for the schools. >> Yes, paper budgets. And I would think the bandwidth on some of these Chromebooks, too, if kids are using I don't know. So, maybe bandwidth is another conversation for another day. But, um you guys, I'd love to >> actually Mrs. Cahill has a question first and then we're gonna go. >> No, no, I wasn't actually. I was going to say um part of the the training for the kids is that they're going to lock their things before they even leave the building. So hopefully that doesn't happen and I'm sure that if they do it once they'll never do it again. >> But um that
163was I just wanted to interject when you were asking that. So >> and thank you for putting up my question. >> Oops. >> Oh boy. Oops. Okay. Crisis averted. Okay. Now we have our um North Quincy High School student representative All right. Or >> try on. Yeah, >> it's on. >> Okay. Um, before I say anything, I want to say I'm like I know a lot of you may think I'm like already hostile and against this. I will say I completely agree that phones are a distraction. Um, even in my journalism class on the Radar Roundup, the website, I wrote a whole entire segment about phones being a distraction and had interviewed many teachers. Now, I will say I take a lot of advanced classes. So, I honestly I don't see a lot of kids
164on their phones. I feel like students who I guess I don't want to say truly value in a negative sentiment to others, but who want to learn more won't use their phones. And when they do, I mean, in my US history class, in my US history class, um there are a few times where I look things up and my teacher will call me out like like I know there are teachers that don't call each other out or like are more lenient, but those types of teachers tend to have less students use their phones in class. Um, but I will say before I say anything else, I do have a few questions. I had more, but thank you, Miss Pertia. She answered most of them. Um, how will I don't know if I misread, but how
165will field trips work? >> Yeah. So, that it would be if you're on a school field trip, then you would have your phone in your pouch. Um, and I mean you, like I said, you have it with you, but you would have the phone in the pouch. We could always give a magnet, the the portable magnet to whoever the educator is to have it with them in case something comes up that you absolutely need to unlock it. But if it's something to do with school, we would expect the phone would be in the pouch. And I know um it was mentioned before, but the times in the morning, I get to school very early, 7:15. So, this isn't really for me, but um I don't know how it works at Quinzy. At 7:51 is when
166home room is over. So, once you get there at 7:51, you're late already and you have to go to the office. >> And the way they've tried to like kind of fasten the lines because like there's a bunch of kids who come in after 7:51 and they're already at the office trying to get um their like name signed into Tardy. Um, the way they done at North, you get like your ID and you try to scan it, but half the kids already forget their ID. Now, I've physically seen the line, literally reach outside the door of North like super duper long. Now, I can't begin to imagine how long it will be with the pouches because not only do you have to like make sure everything's turned off, uh, make sure you don't have a
167smartwatch because kids might cover it, whatnot, and like if it is a smartwatch, like tapping it and all that. Um, how will that work out with like tardiness and stuff? Like will kids be like punished like later or whatever? >> How many scanning stations do you have to to scan into the building with your IDs? >> It's only one. >> See, that's the difference, right? So, you would have multiple lanes for the magnets. The magnets will be the quickest part of your entry, I would suspect, because you'll be able to scan in in a variety of places instead of having to get in one line >> for the ver is it at the door? >> Yes. Yep. And there's they you there's they're going to give us when we when we buy them, they give
168us a whole bunch of magnets, like lots of them. Way more than we would ever need. >> Okay, perfect. >> Um, and to your earlier comment, I teach a lot of AP classes and my experience is different from yours. I don't know. I interviewed a bunch of like my teachers. >> I'm not I don't disbelieve you. >> No, but I know for I don't know like it's different again because someone mentioned like lenient teachers which I've literally seen so many times like it's not um consistent where some teachers are more strict, some teachers have already like little jails in their rooms and some teachers don't. Um to go on with my next question, what about teachers who will continue to be lenient? they'll see students on their phones and maybe not contact security or feel
169too nervous to do so because I mean them contacting security and then the security coming into the room or whatnot is still somewhat of a confrontation. >> So how would that would that be harsher? So I think that the thing is is you know when this happens right it's a culture shift for the whole school and so they might be in one class and and maybe maybe it could happen that a teacher that that would be the case but then they go to the next class and that teacher is going to say how come their first period class teacher didn't notice this or did they notice it maybe they did and maybe they reported it to the dean and that along the way someone is going to say something which is then going to prompt
170the administration to have a conversation with those educators and say you have to report this. You cannot do that to your colleagues and send this person along. I do also want to point out there's not really going to be many people for them to text or go on social media to talk to because everybody else is going to have their their phones in their bag so they're not going to get a response, you know. Um so I do think that that will also help. It's not like anybody else is going to have access to their phone either. You know, >> you also the teacher wouldn't have to do that right away. Like you don't have to stop teaching and say, "I'm going to call security and report you." Like at the end of the period
171when that class is gone, an email to whomever saying so and so was on their phone. They didn't lock up their phone. And then you don't you don't have a confrontation in class because you've reported it elsewhere. >> Oh, and I like I dragged it out. How is the storage going to work for? Is it going to be in a I missed it. >> Sorry. You know what? Because we did this in a in a subcommittee meeting and you weren't here. That's probably why. So, you did miss that part. So, the the it's a pouch and the you put all your stuff in this little pouch and there's literally like a little button and you just push the button and it locks it and that's it. And then you put it in your backpack. Is
172that what you mean? >> It's in our backpack. >> Yeah. You're carrying it the whole time. We're not taking it away from you. It's your pouch. Um, you know, you have it for the whole that's for the whole year and it's very easy. It's just a little button that they just push in. >> Um, those are really like everything else you can probably read through here like really fine details. >> Um, I agree that phones are like a distraction. I'm not discrediting that. And I feel like I've seen this on like TikTok and stuff already, like the yonder pouches specifically, and I've seen that they've worked. My only issue is I've seen like I'll say it with like my school bathroom, the third girl like third floor girls bathroom always gets shut down because of
173other people's wrongdoing. And I always get pet peeved because I never do anything wrong anything wrong. I feel like a bunch of other students also get like kind of punished for other people's wrongdoings instead of those people being called out. And I feel like even with the attendance policy, I that's me because I'm a junior and I know seniors this year don't have it as harshly as everyone else, but um the attendance policy I'll say for example, kids who want to skip don't really care that much about the punishment. They're going to continue to skip or find a way around it. Like there's the saying strict parents make sneakier kids. I feel like that'll only like >> give them more of a sentiment to continue using their phones. Use a burner phone. like snake their
174watches and go to the bathroom or something just to like get a dopamine hit out of using their phones. Um, and again, I agree that phones are a distraction, but I do find it kind of annoying because I know I don't use my phone that much. I only use it during my study periods because again, I care about paying attention to class. >> But, um, I feel like those kids who will use their phones or will skip class will just continue to do so. and it's just making it a harsher punishment for kids who like >> don't use it or won't be able to use it during study time. >> I Yeah, I definitely appreciate that. Um, you know, and I also have a current Quincsey Public Schools high school student who lives in my
175house and let me tell you, he's probably watching right now and he's not so happy with me. Um, so so I have for sure heard that. Um, he I am not a very popular member of my family right now. Um, you know, but I think and I and I hear what you're saying about the punishment, but I think that yes, in some instances, right, this will involve punishment for kids who violate it, but this is actually a little bit bigger than that. And this the reason that we're doing this is because there are a whole host of kids, and I'm so happy to hear that you don't do this, that are not focusing in class and that are spending the whole time. And we're hearing that from the educators across the board. And maybe it
176doesn't happen in your classes, but it happens in a lot. And this is about for me and I think for our team, this is also about kids mental health, right? And so I think that, you know, people are relying on phones, cyber bullying, all the negative social media, and all of the other things that happen on cell phones. And if it doesn't happen has hasn't happened to you, I think you are a very lucky person. But we deal with it unfortunately all the time. And it's not about punishing the kids who are doing the right thing. It's about making a better culture and a better school environment for everyone so that kids are talking to each other, kids are socializing, kids don't need to rely on their phones. So, it's it's I hear what you're
177saying and from a kids perspective, I I know I can understand why you view it as a punishment, but we're really not doing it as a punishment. We're doing it to change the climate and the culture of our high schools and to make it a social place where where kids interact and don't need a phone, you know, in order to feel welcome or included or or social or safe or all of, you know, all of the things that kind of negative things that come along with um the basically addiction to phone usage. >> Great questions. Uh, Quidley High's student representative. >> Sorry. >> Yeah, >> you might need to use her. >> Just move push it over. >> Oh, you can hear it. Yeah, >> yeah, >> they can hear it in there. >> Um,
178so thank you for the presentation. My um my only thoughts on this is I feel like it may be like too drastic of a change like like cuz so far we haven't had anything regarding phones like you could technically use it in a class as long as the teacher doesn't catch you. I I know people have been doing it. Um I haven't seen it a lot in my classes personally but I know it happens in other classes. I understand why you guys are trying to prevent it like it's a distraction. I agree. But I feel like it'll just have like a lot of opposition from the students. Like we're they're gonna find a way to like get around it. Like as Louisa said, um I feel like it's just like a really drastic change when
179maybe it could be like done like slower like maybe just banning it or like having pouches or something. I don't I'm not exactly sure, but during instructional time allowing it during passing periods, lunch, like definitely dismissal, all of those times, studies, >> because yeah, I feel like it'll just be a better like alternative. >> My thoughts. >> Yeah, and I again I I appreciate that. I think um what you probably don't know is that that's our current policy. So that's actually what's supposed to be happening right now. And so you just actually highlighted for us why we do unfortunately do need to do this um because it's not happening right the policy what you just said is our actual policy right now today and has been our policy for a couple of years and it's
180not happening right so clearly it's not happening um and so so that's why we really feel strongly and we know we're going to get some push back from kids we expect it you know I I absolutely expect it that we are not going to be very popular adults for a little bit um but we do think that it will, you know, it will be okay and we will all survive and um and maybe even be a little bit better for it in the end. >> I think a lot better for it. I I think the kids who complain the most about this will be the ones who will benefit the most from it. >> Mr. Regali. >> Yeah. To your point, um I think we're talking a lot about the high school level. I think
181our focus should be also on the on the middle school because that's where you're going to train the kids. And when you get to the high school, it's just going to be okay. We did this in middle school. And >> that's the hope. >> It's just it's going to continue the same way we did in middle school. So, it's not a big deal. And we're trying to make it a big deal because if we don't if we don't enforce it in the middle school and have those parameters, then it's going to be a struggle to do it at the high school cold turkey. So, um I just I just think that's a a point I wanted to make. We absolutely agree, Mr. Begolie, and that is why we felt strongly about adding the middle school
182to the policy. >> Thank you. >> All set. >> Yeah, it sounds like um accountability is a is a big theme through the through the policy, which I get. I appreciate. Um Mr. Pio, sorry, I just had two quick ones. One, uh Leuza, is that how you pronounce it? Louisa, I'm sorry. Um brought up about field trips. So some of the field trips the kids go on. I mean I know like didn't a few of them just go to the state house or something or so you may you may want um your phone to take some photos like that's the only thing I worry you know I mean back in the day when we didn't have phones we would bring a camera right. So is that so what do we do? There are no like
183disposable cameras that kids are going to bring. So can I mean are we going to allow them to take some photos on field trips like I mean they've always have since we were kids you could take photos on field trips. Um, I feel like maybe that might need to be a little more fleshed out about >> cameras still exist, so they're harder to find. >> You can't make kids, you can't make a group of kids, you know, >> and the teacher will probably have a phone that will take photos. >> I don't know that that I I think maybe we could allow some photos on field trips. Maybe not. I don't know. I just I think think that might be something you want to look at. um because these are some experience that these kids
184are only going to get, you know, once or twice on some of these things and that might be something really important to them uh to be able to remember that. So, I I I think maybe we should rethink that one a little bit. Um and then are we going to number the pouches or something so that if a pouch gets dropped on the way or outside the building and a kid says, "I lost my pouch." If we number them, if everyone had a number, they like sharpied on there or something, it could be like pouch number 89 or whatever belongs to this person and they lost a pouch, so here you are. >> Yeah, I we weren't we weren't going to do that, but we would we will have extra pouches. So, I you know,
185that's part of like what we've talked about is having so many extra pouches. I I don't think it's I think because if someone picks up a pouch, it's just going to go into the bin with all the other pouches and someone says, "I dropped my pouch." they're going to give them a pouch. Um, >> but don't they have to pay $30 for a new pouch? >> If they dropped it and they and and I f and someone found it and we knew that they found it, then they would just give them the the pouch, you know. Um, so I don't I don't think it's necessary to to number them. >> I just think like the Chromebooks, we keep track of that. So if you lose your Chromebook, you know whose it was. And if we're
186going to have kids paying for things and whatnot, it just seems like maybe it might be a good tracking system. >> Yeah. I mean, we can certainly ask like um the taunt or the vendor like what happens in those um instances and you know and see how they handle it and maybe you know make a recommendation about what we should do. >> I think in whole brook they number them so it might be another school district to look at. Yeah, >> I know they have significantly less kids but still um the numbering system seems to work for them. That's where that idea came from. Thank you. >> Take a look at it. >> I'm done. how you I think to I think to that point I think I remember online seeing um yonder pouches used
187in a school system. It might have actually been where they took a picture of them and they were numbered. So that that does sound very familiar to me as well. >> We can we can absolutely take a look at it and see what makes the most sense. >> Okay. Mrs. Miss Campbell, my sense is there's obviously going to be some growing pains and that you will all look at this and make modifications and adjustments where you need to. >> Absolutely. Yep. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions? Oh, North Quincy High School. >> When will it be implemented? >> Next year. >> Okay. >> Tomorrow. >> All right. All set. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, everyone. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Did you have another question? >> Oh, jeez.
188>> Oh, they're going in the bag. >> Don't even bring them. >> Okay. Next item on the agenda is old business B. uh 2026 27 school committee meeting calendar for discussion. This is this calendar with the meeting dates on on it with the agenda. Does anybody have any discussion on this calendar? Okay. Seeing none, moving on. Next item on the agenda, we have the QPS school year calendar, which is this calendar right here, which I'm thankful to Miss Owens for making the changes on it that I had requested. Um, putting in the actual dates of the holidays that um were federal holidays that we take off for President's Day and Patriots Day. They weren't written in before. and writing in the staff professional development as written out which I had requested to make it more
189clarifying for parents to understand if they didn't understand what PD meant that way would be easier. Does anybody have any discussion on this calendar? Mr. Le Young >> have a comment. Um so for the last few years in Quinsey, no discussion on the school calendar would be complete without debating the issue of recognizing Luna New Year as a school holiday. Every year, people would submit letters and speak at open form asking that Quinsey join the likes of Boston, Lexington, and Brooklyn and recognize this culturally significant holiday. And every year, the school committee has voted no. We've heard all the reasons they give for denying it, so I won't list them here. But one reason given is that it would be inequitable. In fact, I asked the policy subcommittee to consider designating Lunar New Year with
190an H on this calendar, and it did not get out of subcommittee with the reason given that it would be inequitable. I do not question those school committee members, past and present, in their conviction that it would be inequitable to recognize Lunar New Year as a school holiday. But as sure and as dug in that they are that they are right, I am just as certain that I am right that it is inequitable to deny Lunar New Year as a school holiday in Quinsey. My family celebrates Lunar New Year. I went through Quinsey public schools as an Asian-American. I have three kids going through Quinsey public schools now as Asian-Americans. So I know about equity issues. I am in favor of Quinsey public schools recogni recognizing Lunar New Year as a holiday by closing the
191schools on that day. But that is a discussion for next year. This year for the 26 27th school calendar, Lunar New Year falls on a Saturday. When we vote on this calendar at the next school committee meeting, I will propose an amendment to designate Luna New Year with an H on the published calendar. This is a small costless gesture that the school committee has full discretion over. It's one letter, but it's about recognition, respect, and representation. >> Anyone else? Mrs. Pios, >> I 100% agree. Um, I will absolutely be voting in support of having an H on Luna New Year. Um, just because it's on a Saturday, we have H's during a vacation week. Um, and there's no reason that uh we can't we have full full authority to put an H on a on
192a weekend if we want. Um, so I absolutely would support that. I mean, as we heard tonight, we had teachers, QPS teachers, students, QPS students, parents, grandparents, people of Asian descent, people of not Asian descent. How many years do we need to hear from a line full of people that this is impactful every single year, tearfully sharing with us what this means to their family. And we have a majority of the students that are Asian-American. I don't know what we're doing. I have no idea why we continuously do not do this. I This will be the third year I vote in support of it. I have no idea why we can't get there. Uh and I'm hopeful this year will be the year we can. So, full support, Mr. Leon. >> Thank you, Miss Campbell.
193I give my full support as well, Mr. Le Young. I think this is the fifth year for me that I have engaged in this discussion. And I think it's not it's it's an important opportunity to recognize and celebrate the AAPI community of Quinsey. I mean, we hear it every year and I think I am in full support of of that. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing no one else seeing no other discussion. Moving on. >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I totally >> Okay, go right ahead, Mr. Pios. >> Sorry about that. Um I to not on Luna New Year, but just as a correction or just something to put on there. Um Oh, I'm sorry. This is actually the next the next item. I'm sorry. Next item. I apologize. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay.
194Moving on to the next item on the agenda is the proposal revision to school committee policy section 9.4 school day. Mrs. Pio, sorry I referred to the calendar. That's what my mistake was. Um, so on this this policy, we indicate that um, and I'm the wrong one here. We indicate that middle school students are released on the second for under early release days. Middle school students are released on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. And the high school students are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Um, from September through May and also the fourth Wednesday of January. That actually doesn't align with the way the calendar works for 2026 2027. um in September and November. Um it's actually the third and the fifth um for September it's it would be the
195third and the fifth from middle school Wednesdays and um in November it would be the third and fourth Wednesdays of the month. Uh and similarly in high school uh it would be the third Wednesday in September and November. So I just don't know why we have to specify because of the way the calendar falls. I don't know why we have to specify it's the second and fourth or why can't we just can't say you know according to that year's schedule that year's calendar those will be or just the frequency or something do we have to say specifically it's the second and fourth because it's actually incorrect um so voting on this policy feels like we're voting on an incorrect thing um so I just wanted to get maybe the superintendent's thoughts on that >> do
196you want to address >> yeah so in in those months months. You know, there's specific reasons. We don't want to have the first day of school, which is the second Wednesday in September, be a half day for middle and high school. Um, and then in November, I believe the alteration is because Veterans Day is a Wednesday this year. Uh, the last sentence of the policy says the early release day schedule may be modified at the superintendent's discretion with the approval of the school committee. Um and so that this is this section of the policy is existing with the ch you know was the existing with the changing of the Tuesdays and Wednesdays and it matches I believe the contractual language also I get Gail and Aaron nodding at me also. So it matches the contractual
197language. So again it's up to you um whether that's uh you want to leave it like that or you want to change it further. >> I think if it matches the contractual language we should leave alone. So, and if that last line covers us, then I think we're we're good to go on that then. >> So, every every year, like this year, January was was off the schedule because it fit with the marking periods and that's when the teacher conferences had to happen. So, yeah, there's every year there usually is a little variation. There's usually at least one month where it's not exactly that. >> And the approval, it says with the approval of the school committee, the approval of us is the approval of the calendar. Is that the the thing that Okay. All
198right. As long as like I say, as long as we're not putting in a policy that I feel like we already can see that it's not happening this year like that. Okay. >> Last sentence. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? >> Nope. Okay. Moving on. All right. Uh we did new business. A um so the next item on the agenda is Miss Pios has school committee policy book section 9.7.3 physical education for referral to policy and to athletics and wellness subcommittees. >> So if I could just >> if I could just speak on that for a minute um just so everyone knows why we're referring it. Um it's actually fantastic news that we are um for multiple years I feel like I've heard parents uh ask about why does my student have to take uh
199fizzed if they're in a high school sport if they're on a high school sports team. Um and we have found out confirmation that we do not have to have that. So if a student wants to keep taking fizzed absolutely they're able to but if they participate in a full season of a high school sport uh they will be able to get a waiver and not have to take fizzed. So they could use that time as a study assuming that you know there's a lot of time that students spend on the bus and at a at an athletic activity. So it will give them a little extra time to study if they want that um or the fizz if they want a little extra exercise. So um it's fantastic news. I'm really excited about it and
200I'm really glad that we can refer it. Um and I'd be happy to have that be a subcommittee of the whole if anybody else not on the subcommittee wanted to be part of that discussion. >> Yeah. per our legal advice, we're going to keep that as policy meeting and then also have an athletics meeting and keep it separate. Okay. So, um so moved. Next on the agenda, we have consent agenda. Uh we need a roll call vote. >> We need a motion in a second. >> Have a motion by M. Cahill. Second by Mr. Begley. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Thank you, Mr. Begley. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cahill. Yes. >> M. Campbell. Yes. >> Mrs. Hubley. >> Yes. M. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Addition additional business. We have none.
201Under communications. Communications. All meetings are in the Cington building school committee room except for May 6th which will be held at city hall. Upcoming school committee meetings at 6:30 on May 6th at and May 6th and 20th and June 10th. Upcoming subcommittee meeting. There is a teaching and learning listed here on April 19th, but that is going to be rescheduled. So, we will let you know when that's going to be rescheduled, too. Um, next on the agenda, we have reports of subcommittees. Um, the policy subcommittee from April 1st, Miss Cahill. Um, report from subcommittees is we did review and amended um three different policies which we talked about tonight. the um revision to the school committee policy for um the um phone cell phone um electronic device policy, the school committee calendar policy, the the
202school calendar, and the revision to the school committee policies. So, there's really not much to discuss other than what we just spoke about tonight. >> Okay. Were there any corrections to these minutes for Mrs. Owens? >> Seeing none, thank you. Next on the agenda of executive session, I don't believe we have any tonight. So, we're moving on to adjournment. So, can I have a motion to adjurnn by Miss Cahill, seconded by Mr. Burggali. All in favor? Thank you. Have a great night. Thank you very much.