001Good evening. I'd like to call the teaching and learning subcommittee meeting to order. And at this time, I would ask Mr. Smith to present the school improvement plan with his team. >> Good evening, Mayor Ko, Superintendent Malvy, members of the Quinsey School Committee. It's with great pride that we present the Quinsey High School school improvement plan for the 2526 school year. This plan reflects both the significant strides we've made as a community and our collective unwavering commitment to future growth. I would like to start by sending principal Keith Ford our very best wishes for a speedy recovery. It has been a heartening it has been heartening to see our school community pulled together to ensure operations continue smoothly. And I want to express my sincerest gratitude to our teachers, department chairs, and district administration for
002providing exceptional support during this time. This collaborative spirit is the foundation of the plan we present to you tonight. Here with me to share our reflections and targeted strategies for the year are our ninth grade dean and acting assistant principal Mary Beth Torpy, English department chair, Michael Ellis, math department chair Mike Gendron, special education department chair Rich Mallister, and our school psychologist Amy Finley. Walking the halls of Quinsey High School, you'll find a vibrant ecosystem where everything, every form of intelligence is given space to breathe. And preparing for this presentation made me acutely aware of the incredible diversity and extensive opportunities available at Quinsey High School. Automotive students rebuilt the boat for the drama production. Carpentry students constructed a 40foot USS Salem for the holiday parade. The math team prepared for upcoming competition. The Latino
003culture club visited Northeastern University. History dosent attended a training at city hall. and our student ambassadors led a schoolwide presidents are grateful campaign on Friday. The school spirit and pride was unparalleled at the homecoming where over 600 students danced until the very last song and the night concluded with a powerful moment when one of our pace students took the mic to wish everyone a good night dropping a roll hats a roll hats cheer that was met with a thunderous roar. At Quinsey High School, students have the flexibility to pursue diverse interests and the wide range of opportunities teaches that success is not limited to a single track. Instead, we provide a venue where the scholar, the artisan, the leader, and the athlete all coexist and are many times a part of the same students journey
004to graduation. Recently, I had the pleasure of joining our rebranded president's learning community for Q&A sessions. A tremendous opportunity for professional collaboration built within our school day. This year, over 80 staff members are participating in this voluntary focused interdisciplinary learning teams, providing dedicated time for collaboration, allowing teachers to refine their instructional practices and better meet the diverse needs of all our learners. In the past year, our dedication to high standards of quality was externally validated with the successful achievement of NEAS accreditation, an accomplishment that reaffirms the character of our school and commitment to continuous improvement and accountability. Our overall efforts continue to be fully aligned with the QHS vision of the graduate to help every student think for themselves, work together, share with the world, and be aware of self and others. As we dive
005into the improvement plan on page five, a reflection of our data shows that 22% of our English learners achieved their proficiency growth targets on the access test. Although this is 5% below the previous year's growth, there continue to be a positive long-term trend from the 12% rate in 2023. QHS maintains the same level of growth as last year on the accountability report, achieving four out of eight points in ELA and sustaining strong growth in ma mathematics, earning five out of eight of the possible points. Compared to the previous year, students meeting or exceeding expectations dropped by six percentage points in ELA to 45%, 10 percentage points in math to 33%, and 5 percentage points in biology to 37%. This comes in a year when high school MCCAST results declined statewide. The most significant positive trend
006in our data is the successful reduction of chronic absenteeism, which dropped from 30.9% to 24.8%, exceeding our targeted 5 percentage point reduction. While it's still early in this school year, I'm extremely excited to share that for quarter 1, our chronic absenteeism rate was under 10%. The vocal survey results provide a valuable insight into our school community, and we're encouraged to see a positive improvement in several key areas, contributing to a 1% increase in our overall school climate metric. We saw a significant increase in adults working at the school treat all students respectfully, which rose from 88 to 91.5%. There was an 8% jump in students feeling that students respect one another, increasing fromif from 53% to 61%. And while these gains are worth celebrating, the vocal survey also identified areas for sustained focus, signaling that
007while our work is not yet complete, our dedication to creating a safe, welcoming, and respectful environment is on the right track. I now turn things over to Mary Beth, who will reflect on last year's goals. Good evening and thank you for having us here tonight. In order to develop the most effective goals for the 2025 2026 school year, we recognize the importance on reflecting on our previous goals. Starting on page six of the school improvement plan, you'll see that Quinsey High School made significant progress in many areas this past year. Through our three schoolwide goals, we successfully earned NASCA accreditation by fully embedding our vision of a graduate, advancing curriculum development, and implementing a multi-tered system of supports. While we did not meet our accountability target for our lowest performing students, we established critical structures
008that will drive long-term improvement moving forward. We are very proud to have exceeded our schoolwide attendance goal, reducing the chronic absenteeism from 30.9% to 24.8%. In addition to our schoolwide goals, there was great work done across all departments last year. Of our 13 goals, six were fully met, four made substantial progress, and three remain areas of focus for the upcoming year. Some highlights include grades nine and 10 English curriculum guides being completed with evolving assessments. Music literacy scores grew 13.6% surpassing the 3% goal. All IEPs were converted to a student-driven format with transition planning forms and our multi-tered system of support manual was presented to all staff. As we move forward to our goals for this year, you'll see on page 17 of the school improvement plan that we're continuing to prioritize students attendance. As
009mentioned earlier, last year our crown absenteeism rate improved to the 24.8%. We know this achievement reflects not only the efforts of QHS, but the support of our district and community. We'd like to thank the district and school committee for their commitment and efforts in showing our students that attendance matters. To keep that momentum going, our new attendance goal for the 2025 2026 school year is to reduce chronic absenteeism even more, aiming to bring it down from 24.8% to 19% back to near prepandemic levels. Please note that the printed version in front of you shows a baseline of 26% which has been adjusted um for the electronic and future versions. In order to accomplish this goal, teachers and staff will celebrate attendance wins, reinforce daily attendance expectations, and highlight progress. We'll also utilize multiple sources of
010communication to publicly and personally recognized individual student achievements. Students will have a voice in this process as well through weekly suggestion forms about attendance initiatives and feedback on school culture. Through our multi-tered system of support, our teams will run weekly reports identifying students in need of additional support. Moving into quarter two, we'll be assigning mentors to students who are chronically absent and develop targeted tier 2 and tier three plans, including check-ins, family meetings, and individualized interventions. We'll also strengthen partnerships with families and community organizations to address barriers like transportation, wellness, or counseling needs. Together, we're building a school culture where every day counts, every student feels supported, and where being present becomes a part of our QHS school pride. I'll now turn things over to Michael Ellis. >> Hi. Uh on page 14 of the
011school improvement plan, you will see the uh first goal. Uh Mary Beth talked about the second one first. Uh so this one is the academic achievement goal. Uh as you can see, it says that we will improve academic achievement as identified in the state accountability report by earning 12 or more out of 24 available points on the 2026 accountability report, building from a base of zero out of 24 uh on the 2025 report. I'd first like to to take a moment to address the the zero um there. Excuse [clears throat] me. Uh Quinsey High School is an amazing place. Uh and I ought to know I have spent my entire adult life there. Um we have a vibrant, thriving, and diverse population. uh and we manage to recognize and celebrate every student's individual song at
012the same time as we blend all of those songs into symphonies. That is not easy to do and it does not happen by accident. Uh we accept that we are not a perfect school and we are all on board with the idea that we grow and change and improve. Uh but we hope that this committee and the rest of the city uh recognizes that any metric that might find this school deserves a zero. Uh that that metric can only be arbitrary, short-sighted and flawed. That said, we recognize that that is the metric that we are dealing with and that we need to do more than simply complain about it. Uh and the more that we can do are the action steps that you then see listed underneath that goal over the next several pages of
013the document. I don't want to read those to you, but I would like to draw your attention just to a couple of highlights. Almost half of those goals speak to how we are going to adjust and adapt to a postmcast graduation requirement world. Uh four of the items speak to ways in which we can attempt to remotivate students to engage with that test the way that they used to when that test was a graduation requirement and which students across the state apparently ceased to engage. uh when that graduation requirement was removed. Uh and three of the action steps on this section of the document uh refer to an initiative by the uh the the department uh this year to bring map testing up into grade nine for the very first time. Uh we're pretty excited
014about that. We believe that having the MAP testing in grade nine is going to provide us with quicker and more accurate data that we can use to almost immediately adapt curriculum to target specific student needs. It will make us much highly more highly adaptable to to serving those students and that should help us drive student achievement. Uh in addition to the schoolwide goals on uh learning, we also have uh in the document in front of you, each department contributes a learning goal of its own. Uh I believe that there is an imminent crisis in this entire nation around the simple human practice of reading. Uh and I think a number of the departmental goals that you'll see in the document suggest or informed in some way by that. Certainly the English department goal was uh
015I'd like to talk specifically about the social studies goal which I believe is on page 30 of the school improvement plan. You can see that on that page the social studies department has identified the reading skill of distilling main idea uh to be the focus of their work. So they would like to provide kids with escalatingly complicated texts uh and focus on training them and providing them with the skills that they need uh to reckon with those documents and to pull from those documents uh main ideas. Uh the English goal which is on I believe page 24 uh also takes a reading goal but it takes a a different aspect of reading and so that goal speaks specifically to uh targeted instruction on evidence and analysis. Uh the two departments did not work in concert
016to create these goals but if we had I don't think we could have done a better job of articulating these two goals. Uh we think that these two goals will work in concert uh to produce better readers, thinkers, and writers as students move back and forth between those disciplines. Uh exercising skills on main idea creation in social studies and then digging deeper in their English classes uh into ways in which you can defend your understanding of main idea using reading, thinking, and writing skills uh to mine the document for the evidence that you need to back up those claims. With that, I will turn it over to Mr. Jandrin. [snorts] >> Uh, excuse [clears throat] me. Good evening. Uh, thank you. I I'm not as eloquent as our math our English department chair at being
017the math guy, so I'm going to stick to the script a little bit more. Um, it's a pleasure to be here tonight to review the goals and action steps of the math and science departments and I'm going to follow that with a quick overview of some of our other instructional goals uh for other departments in the school. Um, as the mathematics department chair, I'm going to start with our team. Our primary objective this year is to codify and formalize the strategies that lead to student success. We are developing a system where successful study habits and peer tutoring are not just encouraged but explicitly taught and structurally structurally supported. Our datadriven goal is rigorous. We are targeting a 3 percentage point increase in departmental final exam scores compared to last year and we project that this
018will coincide with the simultaneous 3 point 3 percentage point increase in the 10th graders meeting or exceeding expectations on the MCCAST. To achieve this growth, we're implementing three specific systemic changes uh across all math classes. There's going to be formalized exam preparation. Uh like teachers will instruct students on how to study for math tests. Uh we will have student tracked growth. Uh we'll teach the students how to kind of use metacognition to to analyze how they're doing and track their progress. And we're going to develop a peer tutoring system during study halls that will create a sustainable ecosystem where students can access support during the school day, fostering a a culture where students help students. In the science department, their focus is shifting toward the application of knowledge. Their goal centers on the Massachusetts science
019and engineering practice of engaging in argument using evidence. The science department is moving beyond content recall to ensure students can use data to defend scientific conclusion. Their metric for success is a consistent growth. They are tracking student term performance with a goal of a 1.5% increase every single quarter, building continuously from a quarter 1 baseline of 84%. To achieve this goal, the science department will integrate real world phenomena- based questions into every unit and will utilize a standardized rubric to consistently measure how well students use evidence to support their reasoning. To ensure this rigorous approach is accessible, they are actively collaborating with special education and the e department to scaffold materials and support diverse learners. While math and science were my focus areas tonight, key highlights from other departments include uh the visual arts team
020is prioritizing cooperative learning and are implementing peer reviews and formal critiques. The CVTE department is launching a career readiness continuum for grades 10 through 12 and implementing grade specific modules like resume writing and mock interviews. Our ELE department is collaborating with content teachers on scaffolding and elevating student voice to ensure instruction fosters a sense of belonging. And the world language team is focused on interpretive mode of communication by utilizing authentic anchor texts. A special thanks to world language department head Am Amanda Rosenhagen as Quinsey High now has 86 students to reg register to participate uh on the seal of biiteracy exam. These exams are in 22 different languages. It's amazing. Uh as you can see whether it's math, science or the arts, the strategy across the school is consistent. We are moving toward common assessments,
021systemic support, and datadriven instruction. I will now turn things over to Rich Mallister and Amy Finley. >> All right. Thanks, Mike. Uh, good evening. Um, it's an honor to be a part of this team presenting the Quinsey High uh, school improvement plan to you guys. Um, my name is Rich Mallister. I know Ed introduced me at the beginning, but I am I serve as a special ed department chair. Um, so during the portion of this presentation, Amy Finley, our school psychologist, and I will outline the goals proposed by special education, student support, professional learning communities, and the culture and climate committee. Um, across all these areas, one common thread is our commitment to multi-tered system of support. Um, it's an educational framework that guides our efforts and meets the needs of students at Quinsey High
022School. Uh Amy is going to get more into how uh MTSS has been um being implemented at Quinsey High School. Um I'm going I'd like to begin with the special education department uh and the goal we are proposing this evening. Um I was able to uh analyze the e-wiss data, the early warning indicator system uh data provided by the department of ed. Um I identified an important area of growth. Last year, students supported by IEPs passed 86.7% of their academic classes. So, when I say academic classes, I looked at uh English, math, science, and social studies. Um, while this is a strong foundation, um, we felt that, um, our students can achieve even more. Um so through action steps such as building stronger relationships with students and families, uh consistent review of report card data,
023intentional development of accommodations, we are confident that we can increase that percentage um of academic classes passed by students receiving special education services. Um the special education department currently sports supports 287 students within the school. It's about it's just under 20% of the student population. uh we provide a full continuum of services to them uh that range between inclusion support uh strategies for learning classes, resource room classes, our pace program and our brand new rise program within the school. So on that I want to take a second to talk about our rise program. Um our rise program rise uh is an acronym for resilient intervention supports empowerment. Uh it is a key addition that we have to our um student support for the 2526 school year. Um it's a substantially separate program located in a
024renovated section of the Quincy High School library uh and serve students with emotional disabilities that significantly impact their ability to attend and succeed in school. Um at this point we have five students as part of the program that are receiving services uh in a substantially separate environment. We have uh three students outside of that that are receiving services within the program but aren't considered substantially separate. Um I'm very happy to report that the students are making substantial progress in school as part of this program. Uh their attendance has improved. They're passing classes. Uh several of them have um uh opted to or asked about taking classes in the mainstream. Um they are participate they're even participating in after school activities which is really a great thing to see. Um but most notably they have um
025developed a renewed trust in school and that's shown in their attendance and their engagement in class and with the um the staff that work in that program. Um at this point I'm going to turn it over to Amy who will explain how Quinsey High School has designed and implemented its multi-tered system of support. Um, our goal of MTSS is to strengthen student outcomes in the areas of school belonging, academic achievement, social, emotional, and behavioral development, and health and well-being. Um, we're already seeing positive results, most notably a decrease in chronic absenteeism through targeted tiered interventions. Um, our hope is that tiered supports will become as recognizable and influential across the school as the attendance matters campaign has made for um, chronic absenteeism. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Thanks. Thank you, Rich. And thank you
026all for allowing us to be here tonight. Um, so this year, one of our major accomplishments is the finalization and now implementation of our MTSS multi-tered system of support manual. Uh, you've heard it mentioned a couple times throughout um, the presentation so far, but what it is, it's a manual that provides a clear, consistent roadmap um, for how we support every student academically, behaviorally, and social emotionally. It outlines what tier one, two, and three um supports look like at QHS and ensures that no matter what a student needs. Um there's a structured system in place to help them grow and succeed. So tonight, I'll focus on a few of our tier one universal supports. These supports focus on creating a safe, inclusive, and connected school environment. And it's sort of where our culture and climate
027committee and student support services goals really come to life. Um so the culture and climate committee is working to strengthen our advisory program which is a tier one support. Every student receives it. Um encourage collaboration among students and amplify student voice with a goal of increasing student approval of advisory by 10% this year. >> [clears throat] >> Meanwhile, the student support team is ensuring that 100% of students participate in programs that promote inclusivity, pro-social behavior, um and and emotional wellness through things like the NAN project, which is a um suicide prevention program, um uh Sandy Hook Promise, which is a violence prevention program, and other um tier one cell activities. Uh finally, the president's learning community goal works to strengthen tier one instruction by improving classroom practices in collegiality through collaboration and peer learning. Um
028and beyond the manual itself, really our school community continues to strengthen the culture that MTSS is built on. So, some examples are staff this month from the student support team created the thankful bulletin board out in the D1 hallway um to promote community and social emotional awareness while students in DECA the club DECA launched um the Grateful Graham campaign which um builds connection and appreciation. And with almost 60 active after-school clubs, our students have meaningful ways to engage, explore interests, and um find a sense of belonging. Additionally, our student ambassadors program ensures that nearly every student that transfers to QHS is paired with a model student to welcome them. So altogether, the MTSS manual supports a unified vision. Right? So a school where every student is known, supported, and provided with the tools they need
029to thrive. So, with that, I'll turn things back over to Mr. Smith. >> Thanks, Amy. I'd like to extend again my thanks to this dedicated team presenting with me tonight, as well as the entire faculty and staff at Quinsey High School. Every staff member plays a vital role in this vision, whether through instruction, mentorship, or a daily word of encouragement. We're now happy to take any questions you may have for us. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> I just have one. >> Oh, hold on. Go ahead. >> Um I I what I really loved about what you were saying um Mr. Ellis is about how all of the departments you all have to you know when you talk about um content um understanding the content and then being able to communicate and having to do
030that in every subject matter is really important. So I think that's part of um how you have success across the board. So I you know I appreciate that and um I think I I just have a comment in regard to the complexities of what happens in the high school every day and the different demographics that you have to work with and I can't imagine what it's like to have to implement and you know get the scores and do the the chronic absenteeism and the successes that you have. Of course, there's challenges right along the way, but um I feel as though as a school and as a a district, we're always looking at ways to mitigate any places where we're finding that we need to do better and I want to thank you for the
031work that you're doing because I think it's really difficult and you're doing a great job. So, thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. [clears throat] Great. Thank you so much for the presentation. Uh, and congratulations on your uh, chronic absentee numbers. That's great. Um, also wanted to say congratulations on your five pages of um, clubs and after school activities. That's very impressive. I especially like the mock trial club. That sounded like it was a lot of fun. Would love to sit down on that one. That sounds great. Um, and um, and your goals sound wonderful. So, thank you for those. um through you to the superintendent if we could look at um all of the facilities needs are going to go into the facilities subcommittee. But if we could look at the um
032security camera um ones that are in here u just to make sure there aren't any um safety concerns on those ones. Th those wanted to make sure we get those highlighted. >> Um but that's all I have. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. [clears throat] Um I so appreciate the whole team came tonight. I think that's fantastic. Um, so you can all hear the accolades and the things that um that we have to say especi you know I I feel like I spent most of my life at Quinsey High [laughter] um last week. I was absolutely there more than I was home uh with the conferences and and volunteering with the play and homecoming. So um Mr. Smith, Mr. Ellis, how you described uh the halls of the building is absolutely 100% true. Um,
033you can look at MCCAST data, you can look at, you know, comparing high schools, you can do all that stuff, but it really is a fantastic building. Um, I'm proud that my three kids are there. They're getting a great education. There's top-notch instructors. Um, leadership is fantastic. Mr. Smith sliding into the role that you've had to do, and I join you with um, as my colleagues in wishing Principal Ford well. Um, but just knowing that you guys, you've got it. You know the challenges, you know the things that you have to work on. Um, I actually was able to get a preview of this. Uh, SIP is a parent signer, so I was able to ask Mr. Smith, uh, and Miss Torpey some of my questions ahead of time, which you would think would take
034away from the number of words I would say now, but obviously not. Um, I do want to just highlight the uh, chronic absenteeism. You guys really kicked butt on that. um you really really made it a high priority and really the culture of the school I think has improved overall and I think that's either the cause or a symptom or you know a consequence I'm not sure which happened first but um I definitely see it I feel like students are more engaged I feel like maybe the incidents are down a little bit um and I I just I feel it a little bit so I I can tell and I'm so glad for your efforts on that um the thoughtful goals that each of you the department heads put into that um Mr. Mr. pointing
035out how the social studies and the English school were aligned. Actually, I was really surprised to see reading comprehension be the goal. Um thinking, you know, by the time we get to high school level, we've got that down, right? But maybe we don't. And just realizing that, you know, that that fundamental maybe we need to work a little harder at and just that it's going to impact a lot of different um department. So, thank you for thoughtfully thinking about those goals. Um, and I'm so glad we're bringing MAP back so that it's not just focused on one test that now the kids are smart enough to figure out doesn't actually matter quite as much to them as uh it had once. So, um, so I'm glad we're bringing MAP back. I'm looking forward to seeing
036the growth that we're going to see on that instead of just looking at MCCAST yeartoyear. Um, I love that. Um, oh, and Mr. Smith, I want to just point out I I believe I'm not sure if any other school did this, but it was the only school I heard of that sent out the SIP in the parent newsletter and ask for feedback. And I think you had a whopping two or maybe hopefully three or four by the time it closed. But just the giving the parents the opportunity, all parents, the opportunity, not just ones that come to a PTO meeting, to kind of see that and provide input. I think that's phenomenal. I'd love to see that across the district, us kind of sending that out in the newsletter for um feedback. Uh, and my
037last thing, uh, echoing Miss Hubl's, uh, concern about the security cameras. We've been talking about security cameras at Quinsey High for five plus years. I'd really like to see us not have to talk about security cameras at Quincsey High School anymore and that we've finally got it together. Uh, so for our kids safety there and Chromebooks, um, we're also on that uh, facilities list. Uh, and I think we heard from the uh, technology team that we have enough Chromebooks. So, I'd like to see maybe us shuttle a few more over there so that they have all they need for that. So, with that, thank you very much. Thank you all. >> Thank you. Um, well, m Mr. Ford would be proud of uh the presentation I think tonight and um, as Mrs. As Purio said,
038we send our thoughts to him and I hope to get him back because his spirit and enthusiasm when it comes to these uh discussions is contagious, you know, and um and so he obviously has a great team that he's left to to carry it out. So, thank you. Um I I concur with all of the kudos that folks have have said on a variety of fronts. the um certainly the extended day and the family engagement were pages and pages and pages and uh appreciate you acknowledging some of the shortcomings and modifying the goals to to um go back at it. Uh everybody mentioned chronic absenteeism which is you know phenomenal that that's where we want to go across every school in the district. I I had two questions. One has to do with tardiness. Um,
039so I don't know who the the point person is on that. Can you can you talk about what what the percentage of students that are tardy in any given day or week? And because what what was it a 2% increase? And so I wonder if there's a correlation between chronic absenteeism and tardiness and what the relationship is. Anything you want to say about that? >> I'll jump in first. Um, so Mary Beth as a ninth grade dean and now acting assistant principal deals a lot with parties. our deans meet students who are late to school at the front door every day with a big smile and a hello and they sign in. Um really the new policy um with the credit reduction going class by class. We've seen the tardies decrease, right? So we over
040the last year or two we had this push for daily attendance. So it was if I come to school I get credit for being here. And now this year, what we're seeing, [clears throat and cough] excuse me, particularly with our morning classes, um, quarter one, if we had the credit reduction, which we're working with students and families on, um, day in and day out, we saw those most likely to be in the morning blocks, A and B, um, I think students and families now see that the importance of being to school at 7:45 every day. Um, and we're hopeful those numbers are going to go down as well. Uh second question was around the reduction in um suspensions and and so I wonder have the behaviors reduced or simply the suspensions reduced the behaviors leading
041to suspensions reduced or you're just issuing fewer suspensions. again I look to our dean of students um the behaviors have right we we do a whole bunch of restorative circles um meetings phone calls you know the see something say something we're trying to get in front of any incidents that may occur um you know though that's real data right so the the incidents have gone down and the data shows that and the suspensions have gone down um students are learning to use their words and not their actions and um you can see that in the shift Even with the vocal survey, 1% every year, the climate and culture of the building um is moving upwards and the incidents are going down. >> Good. No, because I I think it's important. I mean, for example, a
042regulatory agency or even a police department could use enforcement discretion. Doesn't mean the behaviors necessarily change, but the punishment might be modified. So, what you're saying is that it's not simply reducing the number of suspensions. it's that you can actually see a visible change in in the reduction of behavior. So that's great. Um, no, I think it's great. Uh, excellent job. I appreciate it. Thanks for coming up. Thank you, Miss Gou. Um, I have just a couple of comments. I think, um, I love this presentation and I absolutely love the goals from all the departments. I I know MCCAST is still going to be there and the school's going to be held accountable for it. But we can't rest ourselves on that anymore because it's not a because it doesn't count. And I absolutely agree
043with Mr. Ellis. We have a crisis in reading in this country and it's going to get worse and worse if we don't do something about it. Technology is destroying readers and so it's frightening to me to see the difference. Um so and I absolutely love the M MTTS manual. I'd love to see a copy of that if we could see it. I I just think we've been talking about this forever, but somebody actually having a manual so you can see where it fits in is a great idea. So kudos to whoever [clears throat] figured that out. Extended day offerings, as we said, and onethird of your students are are in advanced classes. For a school with a large vocational technical programming, one-third of your students are in advanced classes. That's pretty cool. That really is
044pretty cool. I'm concerned also about the security cameras and also about the um additional CTE teachers. You know, that's my love. um being a oneperson shop is very difficult when you're teaching hopefully exploratory so kids learn about your program and then nine 10 11 and 12 at the same time one teacher teaching all those classes is a lot and I'm not sure they can put the the time and the energy into it and so I'd love to have some exploration of how we can do help with that in the future uh and everything else is the chronic absenteeism is so much better and the four-year graduation rate is great so I'm uh very very pleased and proud of everybody at Quincy High really pleased and proud of you all for what you've done. Very proud
045of you guys for stepping up in Mr. Ford's absence and presenting this gigantic plan which you probably didn't know you had to do. [laughter] So, but you figured it out. So, um, anybody else have any questions or comments? >> All good. >> Okay. Motion to accept by Mrs. Hubley, seconded by Mrs. Bgali. All in favor? >> Thank you very much. Thanks very much. >> Thanks for giving up your night, too. Take everyone. Good evening, school committee members. Mayor Ko, Superintendent Mulvy, Assistant Superintendent Perkins, and members of the SLT. Miss Foley and I are thrilled to be here again this year to reflect on the past school year, celebrate the accomplishments of our staff and students, and plan for the future. We are excited to share our school improvement plan with you and hear your feedback.
046Before we begin, there are so many people to say thank you to. I would like to take a moment to thank our assistant principal, Sue Foley, who has been truly instrumental in the daily operations of our school. Beyond ensuring that Southwest runs smoothly, Sue has been a cornerstone in building our community, guiding and supporting our teachers, and facilitating positive solution focused conversations, even during times when finding the positives felt very challenging. Thank you, Sue. Your leadership makes a difference every single day. I would also like to take the time to thank our student support team. I believe we are incredibly fortunate to have such tremendous student support staff at Southwest. Our three guidance counselors not only care deeply for the social emotional well-being of our students, but they have also reinvigorated our monthly community meetings
047and brought energy to our attendance matters. Making it both meaningful and fun for our students. Additionally, this year we have added to this team the support of Walker Therapeutics with a counselor in our building two days a week, providing accessible and muchneeded services for our students and families. We are also fortunate to have Miss Karolina in our building two days a week again this year. Miss Carolina is a quiet yet powerful force behind the success of our students. More than a liaison, she is a consistent source of comfort, trust, and support for our families. Our student support team works tirelessly to support our teachers, our staff, and especially our students. And for that, I am so thankful. I would like to thank the many staff members in our building who contribute to our positive climate
048and success of our students every day. Our teachers are the backbone of our building and their work does not go unnoticed. Over the past four four years, Miss Mitchell and I have presented four different school improvement plans, and each time it has been a unique experience, bringing forth themes such as scores that need improvement, improving attendance and engagement, and highlighting strategies to improve culture and climate. The commonality between each of these presentations, however, has been to communicate to you the pride we have in our students accomplishments and our vision of how we move forward. Not every year have we felt that the data within the plan has fully reflected the effort, growth, and progress happening in our classrooms or the positive shift in climate within the building. This year, however, we come here excited to
049report the unbelievable progress our students have made and share the great many accomplishments of the last school year. Southwest is more than a school. It is a community. The strength of this community is evident in so many ways. Daily almost 300 students participate in over 20 extended day activities bringing their enthusiasm, talents, and talents to sports, arts, games, leadership, and more. Highlights of our extended day program this year include the addition of the culture club, which plans schoolwide events designed to increase school spirit and engagement while also celebrating the diversity of our community, the Eagle Ambassadors, a group of eighth grade students who are chosen to represent Southwest because of positive contri contributions they have made during their time at Southwest, and our peer leaders. students from all grades that have been trained by the
050Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center to handle issues related to bullying and building positive relationships. Monthly, our student support team brings our students together to celebrate student success, cover important topics, and learn and grow together. This past year, our students and staff have shown their commitment to each other through the addition of our house challenge. Through this challenge, our students work together to complete a variety of activities and earn points for their house. Monthly house rallies bring the whole school together. And at these rallies, the spirit of our students is on full display. These rallies have quickly become an important part of the culture of our building and something all look forward to. While the rallies and house challenge activities show the school spirit that characterizes the Southwest community, our newly created Eagle Exchange shows the heart.
051Created by Southwest staff members and staffed by students, the Eagle Exchange is a space where families can recycle and repurpose clothing and other essential items. It has quickly become our own thrifting style store for students and families, offering both support and a sense of shared connection. We are very proud of the Eagle Exchange and it will be highlighted at the seventh grade Holiday Bazaar in just a few weeks. Throughout the course of the school year, there are so many events that showcase the strength of the Southwest community. From turkey trots to PTO meetings to coffee hours, our families consistently show up to support their learners. Perhaps the greatest testament to this, however, was at our openhouse block party. Over 800 students, parents, guardians, siblings, and grandparents came together to meet our staff, enjoy dinner, and
052play games together. The rain moved the event inside, but didn't dim the enthusiasm. While the celebration of the events and activities of the past year is an integral part of the school improvement plan, the core of the plan is the reflection on the goals and data. In reflecting on our data and the progress we have made towards our goals, the celebration continues. This year, Southwest has been recognized as a school of recognition, a remarkable testament to the dedication of our staff and the perseverance of our students. We are so proud of this accomplishment and excited to build on this momentum in the year ahead. >> As it relates to the data that has brought us to this point in the 2425 school year, as measured by the spring MCCAST exam, Southwest students showed significant improvement
053in both their achievement and student growth. As a school, our accountability data showed that our students earned 82% of total possible accountability accountability points, up from 22% the year before. Our overall accountability percentile rose significantly. In terms of achievement, the average scaled scorewide increased in all content areas and at all grade levels. Additionally, there was significant growth in mean SGP at all grade levels and in all content areas. Specifically of note in our MCCAST data was a marked improvement in students writing as item analysis in both ELA and math showed student performance in this area increasing. Southwest map data matched the growth seen in the MCCAST. All grades and all content areas showed steady improvement in RIT scores from fall to spring. By spring of 2025, the average student RIT score in all grade levels
054and in all content areas was at or above the national median score. Our students are finding success in the classroom and our data is showing that an important part of our data is collected from the vocal survey. Our vocal data continues to show that our students feel comfortable and supported by the adults in the building. Our students feel that that the diversity in the building is appreciated and celebrated. And our students also feel safe in our building and approve of the response of school staff to incidents brought to their attention. This data also indicates the work we need to continue to do on building positive relationships amongst students and in giving students a voice. Many of our schoolwide initiatives this year aim to do just that. In reflecting on our goals set in the 24-25
055school year, we are pleased to report that we have met or exceeded most. Academically in ELA, math, and STE, our goals look for our students to show a 4% in percent points possible in writing. In ELA and math, our students exceeded the targets set for them with student performance in writing increasing by 11% in ELA and 7% in math. While STE did not show the same growth, we are confident that with the introduction of the new opens curriculum and the STE curriculum team's focus on writing in the science classroom, that growth will happen. In regards to our English language learners, our EL our EL team set the goal of reducing the number of students on student success plans. Thanks to the support our EL teachers provide our students and their collaboration with content area teachers,
056we were able to meet that goal with a 35% reduction in the number of students on success plans this year. While the data in progress towards goals gives us much to celebrate, we know that now is the time to keep the momentum going. With that in mind, we have set down the following goals for the 25 to 26 school year. In ELA, we look to build on progress made and for our students to continue to grow in their ability to read, interact with, and write about a variety of complex texts, particularly as it relates to craft and structure, integration of knowledge and ideas, and the identification of key ideals. Progress towards this goal will be measured by a 4% increase in percents point popular in the percent points possible in the domain of reading as
057well as in the question type essay. In math, we also look to build on progress made and continue to develop students ability to answer constructive response questions. Additionally, this year we've added a focus on short answer questions as item analysis from last year showed this to be an area of concern. Progress towards this goal will be measured by a 4% increase in percent points possible in both question types, constructive response and short answer. As it relates to STE, we largely maintain the same goals as in the previous school year as our data indicates students have not yet met that goal. Our 2526 school year STE goal looks for a 6% increase in percent points possible for question type constructive response. In regards to English language learners, as our goals for all content areas look for
058improvement in reading and or writing, our EL team sought to create a goal that aligned with that. Therefore, the ELLL goal set for the 2526 school year focuses on the WEDA domains reading and writing and looks for a 4% increase in the amount of students scoring in the expanding, bridging, and reaching levels in those domains over the current baseline of 15%. Finally, as it relates to social emotional learning, the social emotional learning of our students, a priority area of of our student support team this year is student engagement. That team has set the goal for themselves this year to plan and implement activities and initiatives designed to increase student engagement with a particular focus on elements of engagement such as student participation, conduct, voice, sense of belonging, and attendance. Progress towards this goal will be
059measured by a 2% decrease in chronic absenteeism, a 1.5% increase in daily daily and average daily attendance for all students, and a 5% decrease in the number of incidents leading to suspension. We are truly thrilled to celebrate our students and staff. The scores clearly reflect the hard work, dedication, and energy they bring to the building each and every day. We are incredibly proud of the progress our students have made. Thanks to the commitment, thoughtful reflection, and high quality instruction of our teachers. As we look ahead, we do so with immense pride. Our achievement as a school of recognition affirms the dedication, collaboration, and hard work that defines Southwest. With last year's growth as our foundation, we are committed to continuing this upward momentum by refining our practices, strengthening our supports, and working together to ensure
060every student thrives. We move forward with confidence and optimism in this plan and are ready to soar to new heights and achieve even greater success in the year to come. We thank you for your time this evening and the support you always show us. >> Any uh comments? Mike? Mrs. Hubble? >> Thank you so much for the presentation. That was wonderful. Um just a couple um quick the bathroom doors that like stuck out to me. I'm like, what's with the bathroom doors? >> Not really sure if that can happen, but we have had times when we need to shut down a bathroom. We have airport style doors. >> Well, yeah. Bathroom. So, kids come and go out of them. Yep. There's no way to lock them down. >> Okay. I'm looking at this going, "What
061is that?" Okay. All right. Thank you. That makes more sense. >> Um and I u I love your um extra after school activities. Uh and I love that they're open for all grades basically. Only like three of them were grades specific, but the rest of them were all five through eight. I think that's wonderful. So, thank you so much for that. It's great. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bertios. >> Thank you. Thank you guys for being here. Um, I'm so excited. I was reading it. I was just like cheering in my, you know, just you guys made such fantastic academic growth. Like really buckled down the goals that you set. Um, you really just kind of you just came through. Um, s really really big gains and I was just so proud to to read it.
062Um, equally as proud, you know, having more than half your kids involved in before and after school activities is great. Um, you know, that's going to keep them busy and engaged. uh you know 80% happy to be there admitting that they're happy to be there. These are teenagers admitting they're happy to be at school. So um just really fantastic stuff. I love the house challenge. I I feel like that's going to um I'm I'm curious to see what that what effect that's going to have on more your vocal data and kind of the peer-to-peer stuff you identified where like students respecting each other. I feel like that type of stuff is is how you get there, right? So, um I applaud you for doing that challenge and hopefully, you know, we'll see that in the
063results next year. Um the Eagle Exchange, oh my gosh, what a fantastic idea. Um just so grateful to have that be fun and not it's not, you know, stigmatized. It's it's fun and it's it's a way that you can just sort of swap and everyone kind of gets what they need and that's great. Um really really good on that. Equally great absenteeism 13%. Oh my gosh. Like wow. um just totally blew me away on this and um I was really uh reading about Miss Carolina and hearing you speak about her. She sounds amazing. So, thanks to her. Um love to meet her sometime. She sounds amazing. I'm glad we have her here. And um again, I'm super excited you do the Spartan race. I also did the Fenway Spartan and uh I didn't see you
064guys. We must have went on the different [laughter] students. >> Yes. But it was it was really hard and I heard >> applaud them for do for finishing that. So, um, just great great job overall. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. Cahill. >> Um, this is probably a district question, but how do we determine that they're they're asking for a reading specialist? Um, how how do you how do we determine when when someone is um provided with a reading specialist in that building? >> So, right now, we don't have reading specialists at the middle schools. Um so we have prioritized at the elementary schools. Um so we do have a reading specialist in some cases more than one reading specialist like for instance Lincoln Hancock has
065four >> you know uh so we do prioritize the earlier grades. >> However I you know I think someday it's always something I know it's you know it's not necessarily an essential thing that they need but it's you know it's the same as a math interventionist um at the middle school. I think those are two areas that someday hopefully if if we're able to do that that would be something that would be great to support. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um so I have a couple of questions. Uh to that point they have elementary school students in their building and they should have an interventionist or at least part of one >> for take a look at that. Yeah. >> So I think we should look into that. They have elementary students there. >> Yeah.
066Yeah, they they don't typically serve as fifth grade at the um elementary schools. They actually focus on K to three, but we can definitely take a look. >> Um congratulations. Really, I I couldn't have been more proud read reading this. You guys have what and just incredible your whole staff, the open house being so well attended and and the um house challenges. I think it's incred I really do think it's incredible. I think that the um I love the reach program is very diverse in its subgroups which is not what we see across the board. So I'm really pleased about that >> and um the goals were great. The the vocal survey does show some growth there and school of recognition. I mean really you deserve it and it's going to be hard to keep
067it up but [laughter] we >> you're going to have to keep going. Really congratulations. Anybody else miss >> comment? Um the academic growth is phenomenal. I just uh you should be proud. We're proud of you. And the offerings uh after school, they're just outstanding. Early bird basketball is that Mike Casali's idea. >> No, that's Mallerie Li's idea. Mallerie [laughter] lie. >> Thank you. >> But it's one of our most popular programs. >> Sure. >> Motion to accept Mr. McGolei. Seconded by Mrs. Hulie. All in favor? I. Thank you so much for the rest of the night. Good evening, Miss Barrett. Mr. Lorenzo Corano, thank you for coming. >> Thank you. >> Ready? >> I'll try to make this quick. I know you guys are. It's nice and warm in here though, I must say. Uh,
068good evening. It's an honor to be here tonight on behalf of the faculty and staff of Point Webster Middle School to present our school improvement plan for the 2025 2026 school year. Assistant Principal Lawreno and I enjoy collaborating with such a caring and dedicated staff as well as a hardworking PTO and school council that supports our students and their families. Point Webster is a diverse school comprised of 402 students in grades 5 through 8. Point prides itself on building a community that instills students with a sense of belonging. Our faculty and staff continues to work to build positive relationships with our students and and their families and you will see that later when we speak about some of our results from the vocal survey. our school. Our goal each year is to is to continue
069building this positive culture and climate at our school and provide students with opportunities to help them grow, not just educationally, but to be positive citizens in the community and beyond. A few years ago, we had shifted our school improvement plan goals to be more mapbased during COVID time and with learning gaps, and we decided to concentrate on our immediate student growth as a gauge. Upon receiving our MCCAST accountability data this year, we felt we needed to adjust our goals, not only to include this map, student growth, but to include an MCCAST component to some of our goals. You will see in this year's school improvement plan, we have developed a strong set of goals and action steps that include a bit more. Each year, we developed Point Webster School improvement plan through work done at
070our principal path meetings and through our assessment days. As a staff, we analyze both MAP and MCCAST data as well as classroom assessments. We regularly check to see if we meet our goals or if they may need to be adjusted. We look at what the data shows, what our strengths and weaknesses are. We look at our action steps throughout the school year to inform instruction at our additional assessment days and through monthly principles path meetings. We monitor, adjust, adapt, and adopt these new action steps as needed. The data is clear that we have several key areas to work on moving forward. And as always, our goal is to provide students with the appropriate supports and tools needed to be successful. Our data reflection can be found on page five. The positives I would like to
071share include our MAP RIT scores. Starting with math, our RIT scores increased significantly, rising 11.1 points in grade five, 10.3 points in grade six, 8.9 in grade 7, and 4.9 in grade 8 with RIT scores in seven and grades seven and eight above the national norm. Our reading RIT also showed growth, but not quite as significant as math and grades seven and eight scored above the national norm in reading. Our science writ in all grades increased as well. Our science writ scores were above the national norm in grades six, seven, and eight. While our social emotional learning goal was met as our new health teacher implemented open parachute lessons along with our grade level teams. The emphasis to recognize student attendance was also a priority in that we implemented monthly grade level awards for attendance.
072our average daily attendance shoutouts measuring attendance percentages by grade level and attendance prizes and awards for students um who improve their attendance throughout the course of the year. >> On a very positive note in our MCCAST data, our English language proficiency accountability data showed that our EL students exceeded their targeted goal, moving from 38.1 to 50.8% which exceeded our targeted improvement by 12.7%. As a result, we received four out of four points in our MCCAST growth toward attaining English language proficiency. We also scored two points in our MCCAST ELA and two points toward our math and our student growth as well. I spoke earlier that we that a review of our current MCCAST achievement data indicates a decline and a need for focus and improvement, which is why you'll see a change in our goals
073for this year in which we added the MCCAST component in both ELA and math. First, our ELA goal can be found found on pages 14 and 15. This goal is a two-part goal which includes both MCCAST both an MCCAST and MAP component in the areas our team felt needed to be a priority for MCCAST. We looked at the domain and cluster language conventions of standard English and we didn't want to abandon MAP as we felt the need to improve our comprehension offormational text in our RIT scores as well. So you'll see that in our ELA goal and action steps. Our math goal can be found on page 18. And for this goal, we focused strictly on MCCAST due to the success of our math math scores in the past few years. We looked at specific
074domains and clusters to concentrate on in grade five, numbers and operations in base 10. In grade six, geometry, grades seven and eight, expressions and equations. and we will do so by using the CU306 MCCAST grade level school possible percentage points report. You can find our science goal on page 21 of the school improvement plan. We are sticking with a map goal again this year as the test design and development of the MCCAST test has not been completed. However, you will see in our action steps that we will be incorporating more MCCAST question types in our assessments throughout the school year to help familiarize students with these question types and multi-step questions found on MCCAST tests. In actuality, we are doing that in all subject areas and help expose students to more rigorous question types. If
075you look at page 25, our fourth goal is related to the culture and climate at Point Webster. As a faculty, we are committed to providing at least 10 initiatives to promote positive school culture, climate, and social emotional learning. As we continue to promote attendance again this year, we are doing so in several ways. From a social emotional standpoint, we will be implementing the new Colonel's curriculum in grade 5 this year and are looking forward to that as well as continuing our partnership with the Sandy Hook Promise Project, the Massachusetts regression aggression reduction center from Bridgewater State as well as through the implementation of some new extended day activities. >> One of our new activities included girl the girls on the run program. The Girls on the Run program builds competence, confidence, connection, character, caring, and
076contribution through re researchbased lessons that incorporate running. Each season's program culminates with girls positively impacting their communities and completing a celebratory 5K event. I know you might laugh at this, Mr. Bgalie. Please don't. I participated in the 5K with the girls a couple of weeks ago, which was an incredible experience. I thought I could hold my own, but I wasn't even close. Uh the bond that these students built with our facilitators, uh Miss Miss Nicole Page and Miss Grace Conny were absolutely incredible. And now that we're talking a little bit about ex extended day activities, you will notice on pages 30 and 31 that Point Webster prides itself with numerous extended day activities. You will see a great variety of before and after school programs for our students to participate in this year. You will
077also see that we are providing some more academic oriented programs to support our students. We recently held our first ever academic support Saturday a few weeks ago and invited and invited students who we would like to see a little more motivation and assistance and provide assistance for them in school. In addition, there's another program and I is Miss Karanis here. Miss Coranis will like this one. Um, this program is called Good Vibes Only. This is an extended day activity that was created by our own students last year at the annual robotics competition as part of their innovation project. Students created a 12-week program with three learning modules. one on self-awareness and self-management, another on social awareness and relationship skills, and a third on responsible decision-making. So, these students came to me at the beginning of
078the year and asked if we could implement this for the city of Quinsey. I said, "Let's start with Point Webster. Uh, but I do want to pres but I I do want you to present," I said to the students to Miss Karanis, the director of student support services. And they did. I thought they did a great job. They they did do an amazing job. And now we're going to implement this program with our school for the second session of extended day activities. Our students designed a 12-week program with spec specific activities on an ongoing assessment with check-ins, self-reflection journals, and a program evaluation in the end for students, teachers, and parents. At their conclusion of their presentation to Miss Karanis, there was a slide that read, "The good vibes only program aims to transform student
079behavior by focusing on self-awareness, personal responsibility, and positive peer influence. Rather than relying on traditional disciplinary methods, this program empowers students to regulate their emotions, make thoughtful decisions, and build healthy relationships by fostering a culture where good behavior is cool. The program encourages students to take ownership of their actions and contribute to a positive, supportive school environment. Good vibes only ensures that students leave school with a stronger sense of self-worth self-worth and the skills to navigate life both in and outside of school. All of this written by students from Point Webster. I think they want my job. I couldn't I couldn't be any prouder in reading this. Sorry, I almost forgot to talk about our vocal survey. Vocal survey. I'm going to I went a little off track. Sorry, I got to stick to the
080script. uh you vote our vocal survey you can find on pages uh 11 through 13. >> So what we took from this was that our staff builds positive relationships with our students evidenced by the questions we shared. Also we recognize that students would like to have a voice in deciding school rules. As a result we will be working with students on classroom rules as well as schoolwide rules by giving them a voice in both in both moving forward. Uh this will be done in our monthly grade level meetings um as well as administration working with our student council members on appropriate schoolwide rules. These types of experiences and experiences including our music drives us celebration where Dr. Wilson secured a grant for over $65,000 worth of instruments for our school and the middle school music
081program. our food pantry, which is going strong again this year, and our upcoming cultural fair will recognize our students diversity of um over 31 countries speaking over 30 different languages. Um we could talk all night about all these amazing experiences and opportunities, but we should probably wrap it up there. [snorts] As I wrap up this evening, I want to share with you something I share with our staff each and every year at Point Webster. Learning is their journey. Let them navigate. Push them to explore. Watch them discover. Encourage their questions. Allow them to struggle. Support their thinking. And let them fly. With that, Mike and I would like to thank you, the superintendent, his leadership team, Dr. Perkins, and Superintendent Mulvy, and all of you for your continued support of Point Webster Middle School and
082the Quinsey Point community. Point Webster is truly a special place that we are proud to lead. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any questions for my colleagues? >> Just a comment for Mr. Begoli. Yeah, I've seen firsthand what you've done down there, Christine, and um it's phenomenal. You've done a great job with Mike and your staff. Um the kids have uh responded to you and uh just it's just it's great to see. So, keep up the good work. I know you work hard. >> Thank you, Miss Perios. >> Thanks. Thank you for being here. Thank you for the uh the plan. Um, it's the first year I haven't had a kiddo there in a long time and we miss it already. Um, I was going to ask what the good vibes only club was. That was
083one of my notes and questions to ask. So, I'm glad that uh you described it so well and I'm I'm blown away and it's awesome. Uh, it's really really amazing and um I'm I'm excited for that and I can only hope that that's going to um just continue to um help. Uh I was I noted kind of the the students respecting one another percentage and classmates behave the way my teachers want them to percentage. It's not just a point website. It seems to be kind of across the board is a little more iffy than I'd like it to be. But I think programs like that good vibes only that's going to especially if it's student le and student run and um and it's cool uh because obviously anything we implement is not. So [laughter] so
084I hope that um that that you know impacts those numbers. I'd really like to see that next year to see um and I hope it goes districtwide. So um that would be great. Uh and I'm also glad that you added some MCCAST goals. MCCAST is not the end- all beall as we know, but um it is it's not a great gauge, but just seeing kind of the decline and just sort of compared to the state has me worried sometimes when we go in that direction. So, I'm glad that you're kind of refocusing on that just to make sure we're not getting too off track, but the map is fantastic. Um, you know, more immediate feedback that can go right into those kids learning. Um, top-notch staff at Point, top-notch educators, you guys as leaders, um,
085just really, really great there. um and always welcoming and encouraging parents to be involved in just their questions and feedback. Um you guys have always been very very welcoming of that and I appreciate that. Uh 14% absenteeism is great great job and all the uh efforts on that. Um and two last things I was just looking at the school needs um the reading specialists the additional pass parah um just similar question is that something we can we're working on or sorry that's for Dr. Berkens probably more. >> Yeah, I think we can talk about the I think if you asked any of the middle school principles, they'd probably ask you tell you that they want a reading specialist. So, I think it's something we certainly can talk about at budget time and the past parah
086I will work with my colleague Miss Graham on that and we can see what we can do. >> Yeah, it sounds like a district need kind of definitely on that reading specialist. So, thank you for highlighting that. Um and also the Chromebooks similar to what I mentioned for Quincy High. if we do have enough in the district, maybe we can shuffle some over um just so that that's not a need in the point building. Um and lastly, I just wanted to ask how the I know the open house PTO ice cream social was the first one this year. How did that go? >> I have to um remember not to allow them to bring the ice cream into the school because we had a lot of cleaning up to do. We had a lot of
087happy happy students and happy younger siblings that night. It was excellent. >> Excellent. Thank you for uh for hosting that and I'm excited to come to the fun run this year. Thank you. Thank you. >> Not not a lot of happy custodians. [laughter] >> Oh, that's that's good. I have a couple of comments and questions. [clears throat] I actually have two questions for the district. What does it mean to us if somebody is a school in need of intervention? >> So, it means um that they have a for us it could be a couple things, but for us it's a subgroup. So it's the performance of what would be considered our their white sub subgroup is has declined or is um not performing you know where it it should be in compared to the other
088white subgroups across the state. So both of our schools that's why they're in need of um intervention. And so what that means is that we have to do basically some extra work with U Point Webster and Snug Harbor. We have the state office of student support used to be like DESAC. Now they call it the SSOS office that will be coming and actually they in years past um they would work with the individual school principles actually themselves and the district but now they work primarily actually with the district. And so we'll be meeting with them you know actually tomorrow is our first meeting with them with the curriculum team. Um but I I suppose on the good side we do have it does entitle us to get the targeted assistance grant which we have used
089extensively for both last year we used it for Southwest we saw what happened with Southwest um and Snug Harbor and Point Webster and so basically we're trying to duplicate the things that we did at Southwest at the other schools and hoping that you know we see the same results. So we have the writing revolution, the writing pathways program that we implemented at Southwest last year, which I think you saw in the scores made a tremendous difference. They're also um working with uh Point Webster this year. We just started that. Unfortunately, it would have been great if we had found this out at the end of last year when we were writing the targeted assistance grant for this year because we did although we wouldn't necessarily remove supports from Southwest that were really working, but it
090did make it challenging because we had already committed those funds to those schools for this year. And so we have had to, you know, shuffle some things around and relook at things. But we've been able to get some good support over to Christine and Mike. And um so we'll be working with them throughout the year. >> And and my other question for you, Erin, is I'm sorry I do have a question for you, but I just [laughter] want to just get um even though I personally love the map the map data because it's actionable. >> Yeah. >> It looks like it's just not that rigorous. >> And so even though we were doing well on MAP, we're not doing well on MCCAST. >> Yeah. So I think it's it's really two completely different assessments. So
091I think that one of the things you know to understand about the MAP is the RIT score. So when you get a RIT score that RIT score, so I may score, I'll just pick a number like a 189 RIT and I'm in sixth grade. Well, a 189 RIT, although you may grow 10 points, which is great between now and the end of the year, a 189 RIT might be placing you at the 10th percentile according when compared with other sixth grade sixth graders. So, the RIT can be, you know, like way below grade level in some cases depending on who the student [clears throat] is. So that's why we we really one of the things we did with both Southwest and Snug is pushing them to look at you can't just meet the projected growth.
092You actually have to exceed the projected growth. You have to set individual goals with these students because if you meet the projected growth, you're just remaining at the 10th percentile when compared with other students your your age. You're not actually and we want to like growing. We want to narrow that gap. So although we want to see the growth and the growth is great and it's it's themselves compared to themselves, we in some cases when we're starting when we have schools or kids or groups of kids that are starting so far below grade level, we need to see bigger jumps in growth. And so, you know, that's something that we're really working especially in terms of the schools um you know that have had some declines in the MCCAST scores. That's what we'll be working
093with Quinsey High on. you know, is we really need to look at, you know, where does that place you compared to other students your age and then how do we narrow that achievement gap? >> Okay. Thank Thank you. That makes more sense to me. Um I really appreciate. So get getting back to you guys. Um you have no security cameras. >> We do. We do. >> They're not work. Some of them are not working very well. >> We need some replacements. the um security camera issues which we've encouraged all the schools to place on the school improvement plans are covered in the security assessment that we did and we're hoping uh that will be addressed to the capital improvement plan uh that the the mayor is seeking hopefully with the new city council. >> We
094are moving um all of the facility stuff into the facility subcommittee as well. Um, civics was great. Thought that was really great. I I'm concerned a little concerned about your reach numbers only because the whole purpose of reach I thought was to add more diversity and you have no subgroups in your reach program. >> No subgroups. Sorry. >> So in your reach program um is like 90% Asian and 10% white. And I think everybody else there's no other there's no other demographics in there. >> I don't think that's accurate. >> See if I can find Let me double check. >> Page 35. Thank you. Sorry. We did have some students move at the beginning of the year and then some students enter. Um but I didn't notice that. I apologize. >> Yeah. I'm just a
095little concerned about it because that was one of the main reasons why we put reach reach in place was so that we could get more subgroups of of kids in there. Um but anyway, I I love your plan. I think you're you're doing what you have to do. I loved I love the um the uh what what is um Kronel's seal, Mike? What is that? Kron's seal and I love me. What are those two things? So we we're in the process of of of kernels now. So it's very new to us. Um however Mike if you want to explain or I can explain it. It >> um >> or or Jill we we we all could but [snorts] >> the colonel's program is a new program um grades K through five that we are going
096to pilot for the first time this year. It's in partnership with the Alliance for Inclusion Prevention and Harvard Graduate School of Education. So essentially what they did is they're a research lab. So they kind of researched like over a hundred programs and taken the for lack of a better word like best components of each and they created the kernels and they're like fun quick lessons that teachers can implement daily on like self-regulation, conflict resolution, >> emotional skills, social skills, >> right? So we are piloting it for the first time in grades K through five. So because Point houses fifth grade, it's extended to that to the fifth grade at Point as well. >> Great. So it fits right in with good vibes then. >> Yes. >> It's a great >> And I'll talk more about
097it in the program improvement plan for students. >> And the good vibes thing sounds wonderful. Really wonderful. She should be so proud. You are so proud and I get why. Um I'm I'm good. Does anybody have anything else they want to say? >> I love me program. >> Oh, I love me. Yeah. What's the I love me. The I Love Me program is run by Jackie Williams and thanks to Kim Connley, where are you? I saw you somewhere. Uh we were able to introduce that uh to Point Webster last year and it's it's kind of giving the I Love Me program uh gives girls some empowerment and some confidence and goes over various social skills. I can't I mean I could go on forever, but it's awesome. The kids love it. They're adorable. They don't
098like the name. Sorry, Kim. They don't like the name that Jackie came up with, but they love her presentations and they love coming to the I Love Me program. We want kids to feel good about themselves and have more confidence and empowerment. And uh I think it's one of those programs that's really really nice for some of our students who are a little shy and more reserved. So, we try to encourage them to participate. and uh it I went in and one girl who didn't say two words wouldn't let me speak for two seconds. She just kept going on and on and on. She was she was having a really nice time there. So we we do it's a uh fiveweek fiveweek program. Um and and the kids absolutely love it and they have a
099little party at the end and they feel more empowered and they gain confidence which is what we want them to do. So it's nice. >> Great. Motion to approve by Mrs. Julie, seconded by Mr. Bulli. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you all. Have a great night. Thank you so much for having us. Yeah. Great. Good evening, Mayor Ko. Oh, sorry. Um, Superintendent Mulvy, um, Assistant Superintendent Perkins, Vice Chair Cahill, and members of the Quinsey School Committee, as well as the Superintendent's leadership team. Thank you so much for the opportunity to present Atlantic Middle School improvement plan for this academic year. Assistant Principal Larusi and I are so glad to be here this evening to share Atlantic's progress over the past year, to present our plan, and to answer
100any and all of your questions. Atlantic to continues to be a place of exceptional academics with a school culture rooted in care and belonging. Assistant principal Larusi and I are so fortunate to work with such a talented group of teachers, staff, and guidance counselors who work tirelessly to help our students be the best versions of themselves. We strive to have a community to help all of our students flourish during their middle school years, which we all know can be some of their toughest. This school year is off to a strong start and our plan builds upon the academic and and social emotional successes and lessons learned from the 2024 2025 school year. So looking back at last year from a data perspective, Atlantic students matched or exceeded state and district averages on the MCCAST in
101most every aspect of the tests at all grade levels. We achieved our ELA goal in grade six and did well in grade seven and which um focused on increasing student writing scores. We also saw gains in overall student performance and an increase in constructed responses for our grade six students on the math test. Grade 8 MCCAST science scores remain strong and our grade six and seven students met our science related school improvement goal which was MAP related. As outlined in last year's goal number four, maintaining strong attendance was a true priority for us and it will be this year as well. We have continued to offer rewards for students and groups of students who have perfect attendance for a certain period of time as well as for those who show improvement. On days when an
102entire grade is present, which happens more often than you might think, um we celebrate with upbeat music in the cafeteria during lunch, which is always a crowd-pleaser. At the same time, we have been committed to meeting with students and families who are having trouble getting to school and putting action plans and interventions into place to help them build healthy habits in getting to school every day. Additionally, we were thrilled to see on our accountability report that our English learners made excellent progress towards attaining English language proficiency. This is the test. This is a testament to the work that all of our T teachers do, our ESL teachers as well as all of our content area teachers throughout the building. Our commitment to cultivating a positive school culture was apparent in our 2025 vocal data. The
103SH survey showed strengths in strong adult student relationships, high levels of respect and inclusivity, and consistent academic expectations. This reflects our staff's commitment to ensuring that every student at atlantic experiences a safe, inclusive, and academically focused environment. Our commitment to community building also expanded last year. We hosted a cultural affair last fall, which was a hu huge success. We had students and families whose roots are from all around the world share aspects of their culture, including delicious food. We look forward to continuing this tradition and expanding upon it this year. During AMP, our student support block, students participated in activities for Lunar New Year, Black History Month, Women's History Month, Mental Health Awareness Month, Pride Month, and Junth, deepening their awareness and sense of inclusion and belonging. We know that students are more likely to
104attend schools consistently and engage academically when they feel connected, supported, and part of something meaningful. This is why our social emotional programming and DEI initiatives primarily done in AMP prioritize belonging. Our extended day programs show strong participation, especially new offerings like basketball club, working with weights, and a Mario Kart tournament. Our school musical Mean Girls Jr. filled the stage with joyful talent and just the right amount of sass, and our chorus and band students shone during the winter and spring concerts. Artwork created by our highly creative students filled the hallways throughout the year. Our athletic teams not only performed well, including cross country, tennis, wrestling, volleyball, swimming, and track, but did so with exceptional sportsmanship. and our robotics teams excelled in both the fall and spring competitions. It was really a great year. I imagine
105you're wondering how we're doing this year. From a social emotional perspective, we continue to build on student interest and introduce new activities. We open the year by creating a community tree where each student designed a leaf to represent represent themselves and acknowledge that they were a part of a larger community which was displayed in our front lobby. Additionally, our guidance staff has created social emotional lessons tailored to each grade which were well received. Students did meaningful activities to recognize Hispanic Heritage Month and Native American Heritage Month, and we look forward to more hands-on cultural and community activities throughout the remaining trimesters. We are we have revamped our AMP period yet again with engaging student offerings which are cultivating student leaders as well as creating environments for all students to take ownership of Atlantic Middle School
106and be a more influential part of our community. These students led a kindness week for the entire school which enabled students to track and organize and and organize um different acts of kindness and to be celebrated for them. They made cards for local veterans and organized an extremely successful canned food drive to support our local families. They also made an ordinary week extraordinary through fun spirit dressup days. This AMP initiative has been so successful in term one through offering student council, the save promise club and admirals in action that we are able to expand our offerings in term two. Academically, writing continues to be at the center of our work this year. As you will see in our plan, writing appears in every academic goal, either as a primary or a secondary focus. Last year's
107ELA action step, creating a universal graphic organizer for essays, was met, and the ELA teachers are now tweaking it for smaller writing samples. They are also creating opportunities for students to revise writing in samples that are in need of some revision as a tool to improve their own writing. Our ESL teachers continue to provide daily writing instruction with journaling, modeling, sentence frames, and the continued implementation of their new curriculum. In social studies, all students practice claim evidence reasoning strategies when writing about ancient history and also civics. Since we did not quite achieve our goals last year, our ELA and and math smart goals are are being used again and we would like to increase the writing component of these respective tests and we are all working collaboratively towards those targets. Our math and science teachers
108are working hard with their new curriculum, Amplify Desmos and Open SIED to create environments that are engaging and require students to think critically. They are also creating opportunities for students to write throughout the content areas. This year at Atlantic, we have strengthened our family engagement. We held our annual tea with teachers for our English learner families, which was the most attended event since I have ever been at Atlantic. We look forward to hosting our cultural fair in February, and our pack has several exciting events planned for 2026 as well. As we wrap up, Atlantic's school improvement plan reflects our vision, one that challenges students academically, provides targeted support where it's needed most, and strengthens the sense of belonging. By elevating writing as a schoolwide priority, we're empowering students with the confidence and skills to excel
109in every classroom and carry those strengths well beyond middle school. Thank you so much for partnering us with for partnering with us in this work. Your support fuels our momentum and we're excited to move forward together. We welcome your questions and look forward to the continued collaboration that will keep Atlantic thriving. Thank you, [clears throat] >> Mrs. Cahill. >> So, I'm looking at your facility needs. >> Sure. >> And um one of the things I think I asked you last year, the auditorium. >> Yes. >> Sound system. >> Yes. >> And sit in one of those chairs for an hour and a half if I want to hear the kids. Yes. >> And I came to a musical and so you don't have you don't have it in here. >> Um you have we have
110seating and lighting needs but um you might want to put that just to have that you know >> um because like I said I I'll sit in those seats for for an hour or so. But I want to hear the kids that you know they practice hard they have these you know you have these presentations and then we can't even hear them and I feel bad for them you know. >> So um that was one thing. Um my other my other thought was um and this isn't as you know but in the vocal data and it comes up all the time >> about about um materials reflecting you know um the kids can see themselves in the materials >> and so in this one um question that we have here it's like 55% they can
11145 say they can't >> and we know perception is reality and we don't know how kids [clears throat] are perceiving themselves in a book. >> Sure. from your perspective because I know we try and put a lot of focus on that um >> and to see it here. What do you think like in your school um as far as the diversity in your context and your textbooks? >> We try really hard um and assist assistant principal Larusi um led a professional learning group um last year and the year before um of our English and reading teachers and our media specialists that was dedicated to finding additional books that really students could see themselves in. So over the past year, was it two or three? >> Two different Yeah. Well, how many books were >> I
112believe three books were put put forth um based off of that. >> Based on that, >> yeah, because I know you put a lot of focus on it. We we talk about it all the time. And um I just want to have a statement out there that you do work at trying to um you know, make this >> We do. And it's interesting because we never know how middle schoolers see themselves. >> You know, do they see themselves based on the their hair color or some other physical feature or religion or what kind of a learner they are or can they run fast? Um, so we really do try to find books both like in our media center as well as ones that we are pushing out into the English language arts curriculum that are
113diverse in all all ways. Yeah. >> Good. Thank you. >> Thanks. Of course. Yeah, I'm good. Y >> this is part of >> Thank you both for being here and thanks for the plan. Um I had a couple questions. Um absenteeism rate 6.3. >> That's you work really hard. >> That's really [laughter] really great. I really um I love the um first I love the concept of an entire grade being there. That's just refreshing to hear after you know so many efforts. So, so much of our meetings are uh focused on, you know, hearing about what we're doing and it seems like at least Atlantic what you guys are doing it's clicking for the kids. So, that's fantastic. Um seeing that peer-to-peer stuff in the vocal data, it's not you know limited just to Atlantic
114as I mentioned to um Principal Barrett just you know trying to have kids respecting each other and I just I you know just all these ways that you're doing it. Hopefully it it picks away at it but I think you're doing a great job. Um I saw Mean Girls. It was fantastic. So, um, agreed that always the sound system, every building, it feels like there's new technology with sound and it just seems to go fast. So, uh, anything we can do there. How do you feel about I saw a couple, uh, is it nineish classes that were a little larger than probably ideal. How are you feeling about that? Are you feeling like it's manageable or? Yeah, I think um off the top of my head, the ones that are the largest are um the
115advanced level classes in some of in some of the grades, you know, advanced ELA or advanced math, and the teachers have not commented that that has been a challenge at all. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. Um and then >> math teachers in particular, they they like even numbers. So, you know, 26 28 would be better than 25. They compare them better. So, [laughter] >> that's funny. Um, and also, uh, just on your extended day offerings, the working with weights, that's fantastic as it's just, um, not only like I feel like in middle school there's a big push on like cardio and being thin and like but just working with weights. It's strength. It's building your strength and your um, and muscles. And that's and I think that's fantastic. It's a great message to
116send not only for health, but also the way, you know, teenage teenagers, especially teenage girls, think about fitness for themselves. Uh, and the video production club, that's fantastic. I know we have a great film program at Quinsey High um and I believe we have some in North as well. So um just having the kids have some exposure to it before going up hopefully that will actually increase uh the participation in those programs. So I love >> we're we're really proud. Our video production club creates a 3 to seven minute video that the entire school sees every Friday and it has different segments um and it's all completely student created. It's it's really fantastic. >> That's great. That's actually what they do at the high school. So that's um it's it's really great experience. So thank
117you for offering those. >> You're welcome. Appreciate it. Thanks. Thanks. >> Yeah, I your accountability data is incredible. It really is incredible. So congratulations on that. But when you read this plan, you really get a much clearer feeling for everything else that's going on in the building besides the academics and and the the engagement and the cultural stuff. Um so that's terrific. So I'm going to entertain a motion by Mr. Boli to accept the plan. Seconded by >> Oh, did you want to speak, Doug? I'm >> okay. No, >> he said he's all set. I'm sorry. >> Second by Mrs. Hubly. All in favor? >> Thank you very much. >> Great. Thanks so much. Have a great evening. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> This is cold. Good evening, Superintendent Mulvy, Dr. Perkins, members of
118the school committee. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to have a discussion with you about Central's school improvement plan and to share with you where we are and where we will continue to push to be. Since our last presentation, we continued our focus on the whole student to make their middle school years educational, supportive, and create lifelong memories that they will talk about for years to come. One example of these type of memories were the end of the year trips. We had 172 grade 8 students travel through Hershey and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with a stop at the American Dream in New Jersey. Grade seven had a Boston adventure with a boat cruise and bowling. Grade six went to Canoby Lake Park. As seen on pages 35 and 36, our Beyond the Bell School
119activities continue to be full. Like every year, students present ideas of new activities. For example, last year we added whiffle ball club, Pokemon Club, craft, and crafting club. These are just a few of our before and after school activities that have been organized by students or have student input. We will continue with our 3D printing club, creative writing club, running club, early bird soccer, prism, chess club, tabletop and board game club, sad, and many more. We're also proud to have collaborated recently with Quinsey College through the early college high school pathway prep program. A hundred RAMs participated in Saturday sessions that built communication, leadership, critical thinking, and problem solving skills while working closely with support of Quinsey College and early college high school staff. We are grateful for the this partnership and look forward to
120the positive impact it will have on our students. I'd like to acknowledge C Central's principal Kathy Mahoney. Kathy continues to be an asset at Central Middle School. On top of her daily duties as assistant principal, she continues to advise the SAD group leaders, chairs the PBIS team, as well as being the diversity club adviser, which created the we are central multicultural event. These are just a few examples of how she goes above and beyond for the students, families, and staff at Central Middle School. Kathy will be sharing with you about the we are central event as well as other schoolwide initiatives. >> Thank you, Rick. Hi everyone. It's nice to see you all and thanks for having us here. First, I want to share how excited we are to see our diversity club continue to
121grow and bring new ideas to the entire school. Our members serve as leaders [clears throat] working to involve all students and ensure that every voice is heard. As Rick mentioned, we were thrilled to host our third annual we are central multicultural event last spring. This event was initiated by students in our afterchool diversity club who expressed a strong desire to highlight and celebrate the ethnic backgrounds and cultural richness of all students at Central. Recognizing the diverse community we have, they wanted to learn more about one another and create opportunities for everyone to share their stories. The response was incredible with nearly every teacher and student contributing in some way. Classrooms created a wide range of projects, resulting in hundreds of student pieces displayed throughout the gym. Families and students volunteered to share traditional dances and
122musical performances, bringing around 10 amazing acts to the stage. It was great to see students filled with pride as their families joined them in celebrating their cultures. Generous donations from our local restaurants transformed the cafeteria into a showcase of international cuisine with hundreds of attendees sampling food from across the globe. Thanks to the dedication of the diversity club members, over 500 people attended. We are already beginning to plan our spring's annual we are central celebration with preparations beginning after the first of the year. In addition to the club and the event, we continue with our student led council, which has been meeting weekly since October to focus on schoolwide initiatives and promote inclusive communication. Working alongside our DEI parent representatives, we've highlighted monthly celebrations with students choosing spec specific themes to bring to life through
123creative and engaging activities. Most recently, they chose to host a schoolwide celebration of World Kindness Day. Our student leaders created kindness boxes filled with motivational and kindness themed quotes and information for all students to take and share. Together with our art club, they also designed a new window display that showcases the many places our students come from, creating a vibrant cultural presentation that you can actually see on the front cover of this plan. These ongoing efforts continue to strengthen our school community. We hope to build on the success of the multicultural event while expanding our club and schoolwide initiatives, creating an even more inclusive, connected, and welcoming environment for all of our students. By offering such a wide variety of clubs and activities, we feel we are helping to create an atmosphere to make the
124students feel a sense of belonging. We love celebrating our students perfect attendance with fun and exciting rewards. Each week, students with perfect attendance are entered into a drawing for a chance to win. The lucky winner gets a certificate to bring home along with a choice of prizes from the PBIS Rams rewards menu and take a shot at the basketball hoop in the office to score a gift card. At the end of each month, students with perfect attendance for the month are also entered into a monthly drawing. One student from each grade is selected to pick a bonus prize with amazing options like fun games, science toys, and do-it-yourself kits. Plus, they also get to choose a prize from the PBIS Rams Rewards menu. We also keep the fun going with fun music Fridays during lunch.
125When grades meet the PBIS cafeteria expectations for the week, they all earn the chance to enjoy music in the cafeteria and they can even make song song requests. To add incentives, we randomly select students with perfect attendance for the week to choose the songs. Students love hearing their names announced and picking songs for everyone to enjoy. It's really all about creating a positive and engaging atmosphere where students feel celebrated for their hard work and their great attendance. >> Thank you, Kathy. We continue our school collaboration initiative, Principal's Path. Through the principal's path, teachers will have the opportunity to engage in peer observation, coaching, collaborative planning to enhance their curriculum. We have MCCAST support meetings. Early release Wednesdays are ramping it up for MCCAST days. These specialized days will help in supporting our lowest performing groups.
126As we reflected on and analyzed our 2425 goals, which is on pages 3 to six, our map data shows we met our goals and showed growth. Specifically in mathematics, where each grade exceeded the goal of an increase of five RIP points on their own in grades six and seven increased at least 10 RIP points. In science, all grades exceeded the goal of two RIP points with each having an increase of at least four. In reading, each grade showed an increase from the fall scores with grade 8 with 2.1 RIP points, grade seven 4.5, and grade six with 5.5. In analyzing our 24 and 25 MCCAST data, we found that our scores were superior to the state scores in all subject areas and grade levels. In English language arts, the exceeding meeting expectation scores for grade
127six were higher than those of previous year's grade six class. In their grade level cohorts, scores improved when compared to the 23 24 results with notable increases in grade 7. On the 2425 MCCAST and mathematics schoolwide analysis documented an increase in exceeding and meeting expectation scores in grade six and an increase in grade seven cohort when compared to our 23 24 scores on the 2425 MCCAST and science. The number of students increased in exceeding expectations to support the 25 and 26 reading and writing achievement goal in grades 6 through 8. The vertical team's action steps integrate the following focal points. targeted literacy instruction, regular textbased writing practice, unified writing language and tools in collaborative review and adjustment. This year for math to help improve our math and MCCAST scores, as seen on page 11, and
128grade six, the real and complex number systems, grade seven, expressions and equations in the real world, grade 8, operations and algebraic thinking. We've continued our successful strategies like math focus SSBs for all math teachers to meet with students in need of extra support. In science, as seen on page 16, MCCAST supports are in place during ramping it up Wednesdays. Each grade level will focus on the science domain to support reaching this goal. Grade six physical science, grade seven, earth science, and grade eight life science. For the 2425 school year, we added a new English learner goal to our school improvement plan. In reviewing the access data in comparing the 232 24 results with the 2425 results, we exceeded our goal as percentage of students in grades 6 through 8 who made progress towards or met
129their English language profic proficiency targets increased by more than 5%. In our second year of our social studies and civics goals, we were successful in achieving our goal and pleased that nearly 70% of students achieved a performance level of meeting or exceeding expectations on the civics MCCAST exam. I'd like to also have a special thank you to Mayor Ko as well as Congressman Lynch for visiting and speaking to our civics classes last year. As you can see on page 28, we're continuing with our diversity, equity, and inclusion goal. This goal was thoughtfully developed in partnership with our central's parent DEI representatives. We are grateful for the strong collaboration relationship we've built with them which continues to strengthen our efforts. In addition, we're excited with our social emotional learning goal including lessons from our initiatives with
130the Sandy Hook project as well as traumainformed classrooms. When [snorts] looking at the vocal survey and mentioned in the principal's path of our PBS focus with the acronym RAMS can be seen with R standing for respect. 96% of grade 8 felt that the staff respects all students no matter of race, culture, family income, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. 93% felt that their parents felt respected when they participated at our school. A is for accountability and that's shown by 86% of the students felt their peers help each other learn without having to be asked by a teacher. 95% felt that teachers are available when they need to talk to them. M is for motivation and [snorts] it is shown by 91% felt that teachers are proud of them when they work hard in school. 96% felt
131that teachers believe that all students can do well in their learning. when it comes to asset for safety and it is evident in the results because 91% felt if they inform an adult at the school that there is a bullying issue it'll be addressed 88% felt that teachers students and the principal work together to address bullying issues part of our ramping it up on early release Wednesdays will be focusing on all vocal type questions to reinfor reinforce situations like rumors, emotional supports, bullying and other important concerns we feel should be covered but also that have been pointed out at the vocal survey. Our PBIS program continues to thrive thanks to collective effort and creativity of our staff and finding new ways to encourage positive behavior. A highlight is our Rams of the Week where selected
132students can choose rewards such as creating something on the 3D printer, enjoying time with a friend in the gym, as well as our Rams of the Month with students being celebrated at an assembly. As you can see on page 37 and 38, we have few upcoming events that you are more than welcome to attend, including our winter concert, drama production of Schoolhouse Rock Jr., the World Language Fashion Show, where last year we had 26 students welcome the audience with an opening greeting in their home language. Tomorrow is the conclusion of our fall reading challenge that ran through the month of October. reading, ELA, and ELELLL teachers introduced the challenge to students in their classrooms. The students logged the amount of times they spent reading. Sixth grade had nearly 150,000 minutes of reading, while grades seven
133and eight had close to 55,000 minutes of reading. The top three readers in the entire school won Amazon gift cards as well as the opportunity to pie a teacher of their choice in the face. There was also a bingo card that students could fill out and earn prizes. Students who filled out the entire bingo card earned a book of their choice. There were 28 students who won, 11 in grade six, seven in grade seven, and 10 in grade 8. There are so many remarkable things happening in and out of the classroom at Central. And words cannot express the pride I have for the Central community and to be a principal of such a amazing school. So again, thank you for allowing us to share the school improvement plan and as always for the tremendous support
134that you, Dr. Perkins, Superintendent Moly, and Mayor Ko always provide. But we also wanted to share how fortunate we have felt to work with Miss Lebo and Mr. Gutro in their roles as school committee members. And what an honor it has been to work with the next generation of gutos and lios. Thank you for all the support you provided us over the years. [snorts] Thank you so much. >> How adorable. [snorts] Motion to accept. [laughter] >> That was that was the plan. [snorts] >> Any of my colleagues have any questions or comments they'd like to raise? >> This [snorts] is So, all of the facilities needs are going to get put into into facilities, but you had a school need in here that was um the smartboard technology out of date and has no smart
135functions. Can you elaborate a little bit on that? >> Well, you know, we've been in the building number of years, but it's like the ENO company um when you know, we got there, you know, ENO was popular and then a couple years later, ENO was not. So, you know, teachers have been creative. they make it smart, you know, with different types of uh ways of utilizing um can't think of the the name of the program, but like in math, you know, you can draw, you could you can have your pad and draw. Yeah. And yeah, Mo or like something like Mo that could be compatible with ENO. So, they've definitely been creative, but it definitely doesn't have like there's no more ENO pens. You know, used you probably remember when you'd come visit, you could
136draw on the board with the ENO pen. that the you know pens don't work on the boards anymore, but that's um you know the kind of the thing with technology. It goes by quick. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you for your plan. This is great. Thank you so much. >> It it was great. Your accountability data is incredible and your vocal data is incredible, too. So, you should be very proud of that. But the feeling um reading this plan and seeing what the feeling is like there is really a lot of fun, too. So, it sounds like it's a fun place to be. >> I hope so. Um and uh great great job Mrs. Mrs. That's true. >> Um, you know, you still bring the same enthusiasm that you did in in your
137first year and um, [snorts] you know, and and thank you for the the kind remarks to Emily and I um, my boys entered Central just when you started, just when the building opened up. And um, you know, and I I suppose every school that our our kids go to is a magical experience. and all of that. Um, but you just brought it to life and and Central had such an incredible vibe. And you mentioned the Ram of the Month. I still have that that one of my boys got Ram of the Month and it was just such a special place and it still is a special place. I mean, everything in this plan that not only you've accomplished, I mean, the the um after school activities, the the clubs, the the um it it's just
138you just keep bringing something new and something special. And you adapt to the students and it it's pretty impressive and the the academics continue to shine and you've been adaptable as well, you know, both both of you, when you see things and you change things and you know, to Mrs. Lebo's point, the the vocal data, the academic data, all of it's super special. And um and I suspect that every parent and every kid feels special when when they step foot in Central and when they finish and still have fond memories long after they're gone. So, thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. Burios. >> Thank you. Just want to thank you both for everything you do. Um I know MJ couldn't be prouder to be essential. And um I I just I actually thought we
139were going to get through the whole presentation without a ram pun and I I'm glad at the end we had two like right to end it. So um I missed the RAM puns in the uh the weekly uh phone call that you do to parents just to you know highlight how how great a job you guys do with communication and outreach to families. Uh just making everyone feel welcome to come to different things. Um just you know it's it's never a question of you know are we going to hear about this? you do, you know, you hear about all the things coming up and you're invited to be a part of it. So, I appreciate that. Um, and just the number of opportunities for students to be involved in different ways um is always fantastic.
140Um, the academics are always um totally uh head and shoulders above, but we also remembering you have the APC program so it is going to be a little bit higher because of that, but I think you guys do a great job anyway. I think they would be high anyway. So, um fantastic. Can you just speak a little bit about um the nine classes again similar to Atlantic that are a little larger than maybe ideal and just how that's going if that's you're handling it okay or >> yeah I mean I think it's um anytime anyone's planned a schedule nothing can go perfectly fit you know so you would have some classes that might be a little bit bigger and another class smaller but that's only because you're trying to match it and when you have
141advanced classes you know it kind of shifts it a little bit right so um that's always our hope is you know our advance numbers are always always solid um because we want to get as many of those kids into those advanced opportunities as possible. So that definitely contributes to those larger larger numbers, but it also contributes to how a kid can fit into their certain schedule. >> Okay. So you're not finding it challenging. You guys are hand managing. Okay. Okay. And um just the 80% of students respecting each other. You seem to have broken out of the the mold kind of across um most of the middle schools where that's been a little bit lower and a little more challenging a place to work. And um you know like I said my kids have my
142kids felt you know respected there and um both by the adults and by the their peers. So you guys do a great job. Thank you. >> Thank you. And um your civics grade is amazing. Really amazing. That's I mean for the first time seeing that and so kudos to the social studies teachers there for what they've what they've been doing too. And now I would entertain a motion to accept the plan by Mrs. >> Kubly seconded by Mr. Boli. All in favor? >> Thank you so much. Thank you. And last, but certainly not least, >> we didn't want to compete with the Monday Night Football Neielson ratings, so uh we uh anyway, we figured we'd get going. Uh thank you all for having us in this evening. Uh good evening, Chibo, members of the Quincsey
143School Committee. Let me begin by thanking you for the opportunity to present our 2025 2026 Broad Meadows School Improvement Plan. It's my honor to be in my third year as the principal of Broad Meadows Middle School, working along with a dedicated and caring staff of teachers and support personnel to serve the students and families of the Meadows community. I'm here tonight with our assistant principal, Lorie Jacobs, who joined our staff in late February of last year and has already made a significant impact on our school. This evening, I look forward to sharing with you our reflections on our progress from last year, as well as considerations on next steps. What continues to be at the cornerstone of the work over the first two years has been the time at school having conversations with staff as
144well as parents and guardians to understand the strengths and needs of our students. It is through these relationships and connections that we will understand the needs and are able to chart a course ahead. Allowing students and families a voice through these conversations will always be a top priority of mine at Broad Meadows. Reflecting [snorts] on the prior year's data with staff at our assessment day, we noticed a mix of achievement and areas that need additional focus. As noted on page six, we met map growth projections uh on reading map assessment for grades six and eight and just missed projected growth for grade 7. That said, all three grades showed an increase in achievement on the MCCAST assessment and our overall growth was in typical high band for ELA. In the areas of mathematics, we met
145in far exceeded growth projections in grades 6 to8 on spring map assessments. On MCCAST, we noted an aggregate two-point decrease in the overall scaled score with our growth falling into the typical low category for most subgroups. One of our highlights, however, was growth and achievement with our lowest performing subgroups in English language arts, which saw an almost five point increase from the prior year. For science, all three grades met growth projections on science math assessment. Although we saw an overall decrease in percent correct in constructed response on MCCAST, we did see an increase in the students meeting or exceeding expectations and an overall increase in almost one full point for our average scaled score. We also did note an increase from the 2024 school year and the rate of numbers of students who were chronically
146absent by 4%. That said, after reducing the number by almost 10% the year prior, it would have been hard to duplicate. We will continue to work with our families as well as our attendance officers to chart student absences and plan for an overall decrease this year. From an academic standpoint, understanding where our students are is always the first step as we complete formative benchmark and observational assessments in the fall and rely on summitive data from the prior spring to assist us in identifying needs for our students. Beginning on page 12, you will see the identification of specific smart goals related to ELA, mathematics, science, and social stud, and social emotional learning that we as a staff feel will work to further support additional growth in our students. On page 17, I will draw your attention
147to our schoolwide math goal uh built to mimic our other academic goals with a focus on growth using individual map data as a benchmark, but placing a more specific focus on MCCAST writing and constructed response style questions. Last year, we charted a 1.5% increase in percent correct for this style question and look to continue the growth this year. This includes building stamina for more complex multi-step problems and placing a specific focus on students explaining their mathematical thinking. Additions to the goal this year include a greater focus on tier three math vocabulary as well as year one of the implementation of the Desmos math program. Continued [snorts] work involves a focus on more complex problems with approach strategies to understand both what the question is as well as how to solve for the answer. In our
148science goal on page 19, we will also make use of map to chart growth, but have placed a specific focus again on constructed response style questions as we continue to look ahead to changing MCCAST assessments. Continuing use of open sed model curriculum units and the use of gizmos in grades 6 to 8 with its interactive science simulations will allow our students to better prepare for storyline based inquiry constructed response questions. The more opportunities students have to model doing the science, the better off they will be. At this time, I'd like to turn our presentation over to Miss Jacobs at this time to discuss our first and fourth goals. >> Thank you for English language arts on page 12. We will continue to utilize MAP as an important benchmark assessment and will chart growth, excuse [clears
149throat] me, at each grade level to support instruction. That said, after seeing moderate growth last year, we have chosen to focus our specific goal for the year on the writing process, which will be measured through MCCAST growth through use of mentor text, common assessments, and scoring guidelines and the continued focus on using textbased evidence to support claims. We hope to see an increase in the overall scores of our students on essay style MCCAST questions. These skills are also crucially important to our students as they work with the new civics MCCAST assessment. Although we did not build a specific goal this year related to the civics assessment, social studies staff will also be supporting this goal with a use of writing prompts which allow students to compare and contrast themes based onformational readings. Finally, you will
150see our fourth and final goal, which is a focus on the overall social and emotional health and wellness of our students. Success and challenges for our students in this area can be reflected in so many data points like attendance, engagement and extended day activities, student safety and discipline reports, office referrals, and finally through the vocal survey, which really includes student voice and takes all of these things into consideration. We choose the average overall school index of our school on the vocal survey as a measure of our school and planned action steps that reflect an the importance on attendance engagement and student safety as well. At the start of the school year, we renewed the practices of our PBIS model and introduced a fresh name, the breakers building character. Along with the with the new name,
151we added several fe features to strengthen our positive behavior system. Our ticket program is designed to recognize and reinforce the kind, respectful, and positive actions we see from students every day. With a consistent schoolwide commitment to the three Rs, responsible, respectful, and ready, our students feel safe, supported, and prepared to learn. We've already seen the positive effects ripple through our school. Each Friday, groups of ticket winners are celebrated and invited to visit our Breakers Bank. We have our very own vault at Broad Meadows. It is in the main office where they deposit their positive winnings for a prize. The opportunities for recognition don't stop there. All home room tickets from the week are entered into a large golden drum in the office from which we draw our monthly grand prize winners. Together, these effort efforts
152are helping us build a stronger, kinder school culture where positive character truly shines. Along with the robust reimagined PBIS system, some additional new steps include a greater usage of a therapist from Walker Therapeutic who is meeting with students at Meadows and the addition of an adjustment counselor two days a week. This work is also supported by targeted lessons from our guidance staff and presentations throughout the year from organizations like Sandy Hook Promise, MARK, Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, and the NAN Project. These assemblies are meant to address topics like treating others with kindness, how to handle conflict and bullying, safe online behavior, and overall student safety. These messages are also intended to empower students to speak up if they see a problem and let a trusted adult know so that we can support them. With these
153structures in place and continued education for our students, we expect to continue to make inroads into the overall mental health needs of our building. >> Thank you, Lori. Communication also continues to be a key to our success [snorts] as we continue to practice of sending weekly newsletters to our families highlighting important events using our SM'more system. As I have mentioned, S'more allows for the translation of newsletters supporting many of our broad meadows families who speak up to 22 different languages in our school. We're also excited to continue our robust extended day program which includes over 70% of our student body in grades 6 to 8 through a blend of academic support programs, enrichment activities, service programs, and inter mural and extra mural sports. We're excited to include so many of our students beyond the bell
154[snorts] in the mornings and afternoons. We were excited to celebrate citywide championships in track and field for boys and girls [clears throat] last spring and follow that up with a championship in cross country for our boys team this fall. This year, our drama program hit the ground running and is taking on a complicated musical, Into the Woods, and we look forward to our uh production in early February. As much as we have enjoyed watching our students challenge themselves on the stage, it's programs like Operation Days Work, Breakers Brigade, and our SAVE Students Against Violence Everywhere chapter, where students take on leadership roles in our school community that have me most hopeful for the future. Our students have so many incredible ideas and will undoubtedly change the world. We also continue to be grateful for the
155connections we forge with our families and involvement they have in our school. I'd like to thank our active PTO who supports school events and initiatives like grade level field trips and inschool presentations and are certainly looking ahead to supporting more exciting authentic learning experiences from our students. I would be remiss if I did not highlight our first ever color run >> [snorts] >> uh which led to several hundred students experiencing pure joy as they ran laps behind our school color covered in colored powder. They also led to the school raising over $10,500 to support school events. Finally, I'd like to thank our entire school community, including staff, students, families, and business partners for all their support. It has been a wonderful start to the year, and I look forward to continued success working together. We
156thank you for the opportunity to serve the students and families of Broad Meadows, and I welcome any questions and feedback you have regarding our plan. Thank you all for the time. >> Thank you, Mrs. Gale. >> Thank you. Um and and from my observation, I know that the leadership at the school is great and it's welcoming and positive. So, you know, that's I know the kids love it there. Um I I would say, you know, looking at the numbers and I'm kind of comparing between the schools um and and the um scores and all that, probably your biggest I [clears throat] don't know, and you have to confirm this or not, but I think the biggest issue is the um absenteeism, right? I mean the 17 17% in comparison to some of the other schools
157um and that would be the reflection probably in your scores I would think that if they're not there to learn and then they take the test they're not going to be able to >> um do well. So, it's such a challenge, right? And and um I just wanted to bring that out there because I don't think it's what you're doing in school that is is necessarily a reflection on the scores, but it's about getting the kids in the seats. And, you know, I think as as a district, we have to understand that, you know, we have to really it the work has to start at home to to get parents and families to understand that their kids have to be there. Um, and I know that's a challenge, but I I I just think I
158wanted to make that statement basically, um, in terms of, you know, I I think you're doing the right things in in academically and if the kids aren't there to learn and your demographic and stuff, then if the kids aren't there to learn, it's hard to get the scores where they need to be. So, um, thank you for the work you're doing. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I'm Anybody else? >> Thank you, >> Mrs. Pios. Thank you guys very much for being here. I um I really liked hearing about all the new uh efforts that you're doing uh that Mr. Jacobs that you described and welcome and I'm glad you're you're helping uh Nick out. He's fantastic uh principal. We're glad really proud to have him uh on our principal staff. Um just
159really great class sizes. I was noticing kind of through the plan um really manageable class sizes which I think is going to help any kind of interventions you're doing kind of get the [clears throat] most uh bang for your buck. Um I'm excited about your pickle ball. Are you uh is staff participating in that too or is it just the students? >> We did play bad mitten last year which I'm pretty good at, but pickle ball I'm uh I'm I'm still working on so uh it's as a former tennis player I can uh I'm sure I'll get there eventually. >> There you go. Brush up on those. [laughter] >> Okay. Fair, fair, fair. >> Um and the writing process, the focus on writing. Um, I was actually encouraged to see that because I know how
160much uh you focused on that at Marshall and just bringing um really kind of focused on that writing uh process and I know how deeply you understand that and um so I'm I'm you're the right person there to kind of focus on writing. So I'm excited about that. >> Yeah, I always said I I think writing is the penultimate of of understanding. You've heard me say that before and I I still strongly believe it now. Um, as we looked at, um, you see kind of a a a distancing sometimes between MAP and MCCAST scores and I think we were looking at, you hear it mentioned here repeatedly, complexity of questions, complexity of text, complexity of understanding. Um, we were comparing recently at a staff meeting, um, map style questions versus MCCAST style questions. and and
161and again MCCAST is um it's it's just a test, but what it reflects is kind of a a complexity in the world that our kids are going to have to navigate going forward. And so their understanding of kind of these I keep using that word complex, but that is what it is. It's it's it's you know the level of vocabulary the the the uh that our students are working with and then in so often as we were looking at these questions them just understanding not even the concept but what is the question asking me what do I have to do with it and so um really getting to that we talk about things like increasing the level of rigor and things like that but but that all feeds into the same process and so uh
162we're excited about the work ahead of us but we're not there yet. >> Yeah. No, I'm I'm I'm positive you're the right person to to tackle those. Um because you I mean you described the kind of the difference between the MCCAST and the MAP scores and and just digging into it in the complexity. So, you'll get there. I have no doubt on that. And the absenteeism, your PTO is phenomenal. There's always something they're doing. There's like nine efforts that are ongoing all the time and they're just so active and and positive and just really I can't imagine. I'm sure they're just such a benefit to your your school, but they're great and I just wanted to call them out. Um, and I mentioned that I saw that you mentioned you um, need some Chromebooks. So,
163again, I'm going to my third time today maybe saying if we're doing okay. We heard from the technology team that they're doing okay on Chromebooks. So, if we could kind of sh shuffle some over there, that would be great. Um, and I'm looking forward to seeing into the woods. >> Awesome. You're welcome. We'd love to have you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Cahill. Um, oh, I I was actually going to um say that I get messages from the PTO almost every day for a fundraiser that they haven't. So, you have a which is I'm I'm happy to participate. I'll tell you that. I'm not saying it as a complaint. I'm just saying it mostly as how active they are and they and this is only what November. I'm sure we'll have a few more between now
164and the spring. And and I welcome it, but I'm just saying you're you're you're lucky because you have a really active PT. >> Yeah. A Amy Hurley and Jill Hawkney, our president, vice president, do just great work. There is nothing they they won't do for our kids. So, it's it's it's great to have that support. >> Yeah, they're they're great. >> Um I just have a couple of qu actually I only have one question. I do the one statement or two statements. Um I really like the um advanced placement subgroups. You have really great subgroups in that group. So, it's really nice to see that yeah, >> so many different kids are in there. I think to Mrs. Prodius's point, the social studies supporting the writing is a great idea, too. And I I think
165that's a great goal. So, I love that goal for the ELA in the social studies. I have a question about what is security pass? Security pass. Um, so it's a pass system that we've int implemented this year. Um, and really the goal is it charts students throughout the building. Um, Meadows is a uh is a unique place. It's a smaller building. Um, and so, um, it's not as big an issue, I would say, in my time at at Broad Meadows. Um, but it does help from a security standpoint. It helps from a safety standpoint for us to know where our kids are around the building when they're signing out. Um, to be honest with you, it's a check-in for them. Um, you know, it's funny. I was up in a um um one of our
166civics, well, our only civics class a few weeks back, and actually the teacher there was um uh hosting a debate. Mrs. Clifford was hosting a debate. Um, it it was a not a not a a realistic uh possibility, but the idea of kids having trackers in their shoes to tell where they were around the building. And it was so interesting to sit and hear kids talk about what their thoughts and their feelings were around it. And and they were very pragmatic about it. Some thought, well, this isn't great. I don't want to do this. And that's not what Securely Pass is. It's certainly not trackers they wear. But it was interesting to hear kids talk about, well, you know what? Um it's important that our teachers know where we are in the building and um
167you know it helps them to feel safer and more comfortable in the school and you know to be honest with you although it's uh been less of a concern this year in past we've dealt with things like vaping uh which I didn't see as much if at all down at the elementary school world but it's something that allows us to chart where kids are and support parents and families as well. So >> sorry >> thank you because we had looked at this before. >> Yeah. So we're we're piloting this across all of our middle schools. Um, I think the principles really like it. I don't want to speak for you guys, but one of the really big benefits of it is that you can set it so you can limit how many kids are in
168the bathroom at a time >> and some kids not going out when other kids >> at the same time. Yeah. So, the teachers >> I looked at it before and I thought it was wonderful, but it had some confidential issues potentially or something. >> Yeah. No, it's working really, really well. Um, we have it at all five middle schools. We're piloting it and I think it's two schools did it last year. I think maybe Sterling or Southwest and just dated myself by saying Sterling, but Southwest and um Central I think piloted it last year and then so then this year we the district supported it at um all of our middle schools and I think it's been great. >> We'll get it to the high school. >> Yeah. So it was kind of small scale
169a little easier to implement at the middle schools. Um, but we'll see how it works and if we like it, that would be the plan. Then we could hopefully expand it up to the high schools. >> And it's connected it's connected right in through Clevver, which the kids are familiar with. It's kind of their pass login system. So, systemically, they they can um it's a really simple process to learn. They can log in directly through their Chromebook. It doesn't mean they just get up and leave, but teachers may have a a process in place where they, you know, give a hand signal or something like that, and it allows teachers to quickly approve a pass. teachers can set it that it pre-approves and so as long as they're going, they know that they're out, they
170set it, they give them a thumbs up and they go. >> Okay. So, >> sounds good. >> Great. >> Okay. Motion to approve by Mrs. Hoodley, second by Mr. Bgoli. All in favor? >> I thank you so much. >> Thank you.