School Committee - August 26th, 2020

001on August 20th 2020 uh I want to make a notion that we are still conducting uh the school committee meetings can do it uh pursuant to the executive order dated March 20th 2020 suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law I'm formally going to call the meeting to order and the first thing I want to do is approve the August 2020 agenda does anybody have any edits or additions that they'd like to make okay um before I start I do want to note that citizenspeak is number six on our agenda tonight I am going to say I'll repeat it at the time that it comes but due to uh the jam-packed agenda and the many issues that we have to address and that we also have a lengthy executive session tonight I am going to

002stop citizen speak at 30 minutes at the 30 minute Mark no matter what no matter no matter how many people are left to speak as I've stated recently it is our tradition that we usually have 15 minutes of Citizen speak at the beginning and 15 minutes of Citizen speak at the end of the meeting and we have been condensing that to one to one time slot in the agenda of 30 minutes and the past couple of meetings I've made a motion to extend it to 40. and due to the the issues and the sensitivities that have been having dealt with in our community I have let that extend but they are going to an hour an hour and a half in some cases two hours and we have too much to cover to allow that

003much time for citizen speak so again it will only be 30 minutes I ask I'll ask that you start raising your hand at the time that citizen speak starts not before that time again it is item six on our agenda and I I I ask that everyone who does speak uh tried to keep it for three minutes as we State usually so that as many people can get in if you are not able uh to make it within the 30-minute time zone I strongly encourage you to email your statement to the entire school committee we we read everything so um your concerns thoughts statements you know will be looked at and addressed and heard if you email it to us if not then we encourage you to come to Citizen speak at our next meeting

004which will be September 9th and the last thing I'm going to say about citizen speak before we start I ask that for those of you that do get to speak tonight within the 30-minute time zone uh speak from a place of respect and kindness for the committee and the administration who are present thank you for that okay moving on I'm going to the chairs report item number three the first item on our on our chairs report is the acceptance of Mary gormley's letter of resignation for the purpose of retirement many of you in the community who may be watching you know know that last Friday August 20th superintendent Mary Gormley uh resigned from her position uh for the purpose of retirement I'm gonna read the formal letter that she wrote to the school committee dear

005chairperson Varela after completing 46 years of service to the town of Milton as a teacher principal assistant superintendent and superintendent of schools I respectfully submit resignation for the purpose of retirement effective Monday August 24th 2020. a family emergency requires my full attention and that is why I am making this decision at this time working with you and all the dedicated members of the Milton school committee current and past our talented central office leadership team principals teachers staff family Town officials and most especially are amazing students has been a privilege I am grateful for your support and all you do to make our schools outstanding each of you has earned my deepest respects and admiration with the leadership of countless individuals and groups Milton public schools has achieved many noteworthy accomplishments they built the gifted and

006talented Ministry administrative teaching and support staff second to none in the Commonwealth offer enriching programs courses and opportunities in music art drama theater debate future problem solving World Language math science stem English language arts social studies technology physical education and health sponsor robust athletic and extracurricular and co-curricular programs develop social and emotional programming increase the number of students admitted to colleges and universities created the Milton foundation for Education which enhances and enriches programming and curriculum created and developed and integrated pre-K school and a Continuum of special education services for students Pre-K Pre-K excuse me through pro-graduate education built a highly enrolled Community Schools program implemented free district-wide full-day kindergarten expanded advanced placement courses provided all new or like new state-of-the-art school buildings with architectural curriculum technology and Equipment enhancements implemented a one-to-one device program for

007all students K-8 and bring your own device for students craze 9-12 I am proud to have been the superintendent of a school system where administrators teachers and support staff work collaboratively but parents Guardians and community members to enrich the educational experiences for each of our pre-k through grade 12 students I extend my heartfelt thanks the entire Milton Community for allowing me this opportunity and for the amazing experience it has been to serve as an open superintendent of schools sincerely Mary Gormley so at this time I'm going to make a motion that we formally accept Mary gormley's letter of resignation for the purpose of retirement can I have a second okay this time I I'm gonna go around and if anyone would like to say anything before we formally take the vote um member Eberhard thank

008you uh to say what to say well I just would like to thank Mary Gormley for her 46 years of leadership in the town I knew Mary for 21 years first as a parent and as a volunteer and then as a school Committee Member and I always admired the fact that Mary showed up every day she showed up to work she showed up to support teachers to support families to support students in her heart she was a teacher and she recognized the talent in so many people and she encouraged them to pursue their goals in their dreams she mentored so many principles so many superintendents she saw talent and parents and she encouraged them to pursue their goals and there and gave them opportunities as well I know the last few months have been extremely

009challenging for our town and for our community but she faced every challenge head on accepted responsibility for things work to make them better and we are a better Community for those 46 years that she worked for us and gave her life to us from my heart to hers I say thank you and I wish her time enough in her retirement for the things she needs to do to feel complete and whole for her family and I will miss her terribly thanks Margaret uh member White so Betty you have to unmute sorry yeah I was just saying I can't remember a time when I didn't know Mary Gormley it's been so long and um when I think of the Milton Public Schools I think of Mary Gormley and when I think of Mary Gormley I think

010of the Milton Public Schools she's been the heart and soul of the school system she's so devoted to this organization and one of the things that always touches me about her is how proud she is of the accomplishments of the students and the faculty she's hired and nurtured so many talented people on the staff and you know every time I had an opportunity to sit on a search committee or a subcommittee as a school Committee Member and be met with so many of the staff I was always so impressed with them most recently on the task force for their return to school and I'd always comment to Mary about what a talented group of people and how impressive they were and she was so proud of the Milton public schools and she remains proud I

011will miss her smile I will miss her enthusiasm and her emails because we haven't I don't think people understand how many emails we get from Mary every day and she just loves to let us know what's going on so thank you Mary for your dedication and devotion ready member Rosemary yes thank you um I've also had the privilege to work with Mary Gormley for decades from building rebuilding all six schools to instituting free full day kindergarten to advising her through the return to school task force most recently Mary is a lifetime educator with an open heart and mind who wants nothing but the best for all of Milton's school children she's been a strong leader with a passion for education Mary's faced many challenges over the years and has led us through those times this

012year's challenges are greater than most a global pandemic pandemic and a much needed move toward racial Justice Mary has led us well through these challenges but her family needs her now Mary has left a lasting Legacy that will always be cherished my family sends our love and best wishes to Mary and the entire Gormley family thank you chair um I'm not sure I've had the time to process the retirement of superintendent cornley she was a force of nature and uh in institutional Bastion of the Milton Public Schools perhaps since we felt far and wide when I was trying to think about what to say tonight I kept coming back to how selfless Mary gave of herself to the Milton Public Schools and the town of Milton almost 50 years of dedicated service it's almost three

013generations of students all right to touch so many lives so deeply is such a gift to the community and now like The Giving Tree she continues to give but this time to her family Mary will miss you you're with your determination and your kindness take care and God bless thank you Dr Donohue thank you chair for all um I learned a lot from Mary in the short time that we knew each other I met Mary when I became a school Committee Member about four and a half years ago but in that short time I learned so much from her she set an example for everyone around her in the fact that she was always working the hardest of anybody and yet she recognized constantly the work of those employees of the Milton public school system

014she was always making sure that we all knew what was happening sort of behind the scenes and who was responsible for bringing projects to fruition and yet every time I heard from Mary it seems that it was off hours it was either six o'clock in the morning or it was 10 o'clock at night or it was a Sunday afternoon at 1 pm when the rest of us were hanging around watching football she was at work trying to make sure that the Milton Public Schools were running smoothly I learned a lot about leadership from Mary she was able to bring stakeholders together and make things work even when I had doubts but she always said it's going to work it's going to be okay and she was almost always right she made people feel special if

015she made you feel like when you were talking to her that she didn't have 500 other things that she was responsible for going on behind the scenes which she always did but she made you feel like she really cared about you and what you were talking about in that moment that ability to be present is a sign of an amazing leader an amazing person a very special person she remembered everything she remembered what I told her I was going to do on the weekend and would ask me about it on Monday even while things might be exploding around us in fact in the brief conversation that we had um on Friday when she announced her retirement even though the circumstances were very serious she made sure to ask me about my family and how they

016were doing and ask very specific questions to show me that she was very well aware of what was going on with my family the way that she treated everyone and I mean everyone from presidents and CEOs to town officials to those elected and not to parents faculty staff administrators and especially the students she treated everyone with respect every single person with Grace respect humor and that's the sign of the very best kind of leader and I'm surely going to miss her I said to her uh last week in a in a meeting that I missed sitting down and talking to her and in our brief phone call on Friday she mentioned that to me and she said you have no idea what that meant to me when you said it um and so I was

017glad that I took the time to just say something to her about um how disconnected we all feel when we're used to being up at up at Central and uh being able to talk in person I will miss uh Mary Gormley very very much I will miss her presence um but I do want to recognize how much I've learned for her in a very short time thank you Mary Godspeed thank you that's great um uh for me uh when I was thinking about this I all I could say is that it's it's really been only it hasn't even been a week since Mary Mary Gormley let me know about her decision and to say I was a bit shocked was an understatement because if there's one word I would use to describe Mary it's dedication

018I don't think I've ever seen someone who's been so dedicated to these schools over the course of my time in the school committee and as well as being the School parent who's been politically engaged in this town since my children were Toddlers and they're now 17 and 20. uh I've seen Mary I've seen that Mary Gormley has always put the Milton Public Schools First as a teacher as a principal as an administrator and a superintendent and her impact on the education and the future of thousands of students in this town will be long lasting in these last few years for me it has been special because I have had the privilege and honor to work closely with Mary uh I just want to say I have this side story that uh when I attended conferences

019for the Massachusetts Association of school committees um and we would have you know breaks during the day coffee lunch whatever and you would meet fellow school committee members all of the districts over the Commonwealth well say to me sometimes so how's your relationship with the superintendent did she talk to you other than at school committee meetings and I said talk to us talk to us I said other than my husband or my kids the person I talked to you know the fifth at least once a day if not three or four so so that just shows you that Mary as a superintendent I was shocked to learn that some superintendents don't operate that way and she has always had an excellent relationship with her school committees pass and present uh she cared for the Milton

020public school she cared for the process of the school committee and it showed I wish her peace and comfort during this difficult time for her family but as I've said as I've said previously many times our district is a great District we have trying times ahead but we are still a great District and we will get through this because Mary Gormley has set the standard for leadership we were blessed to have her give her heart and soul to these Muslim public schools for almost 50 years and the community of Milton thanks her from the bottom of our hearts God bless you Mary you will be missed okay so um did I make a motion to to accept it okay so and and it's been a second so I've made the motion to accept the letter

021of resignation for the purpose of retirement I have it seconded um because it is an important roll call I'm going to um an important vote I'm going to go through the road call so member of a heart yes remember White yes member Rosemary yes member Dr Craighead yes Dr Donahue yes member Varela yes okay Item B super uh superintendent search okay so once I finished meeting with Mary Gormley last Friday morning the first thing I did was reach out to our Milton Public School lawyer and ask for legal advice with regard to the next steps that we would be taking regarding the superintendent's position I immediately knew that due to the timing of superintendent Gormley sudden retirement we would need to put in an interim superintendent in place as soon as possible I feel there

022is an urgency to filling this position due to the vast challenges that our district is facing from critical return to school plan to our continued commitment for a learning environment that is Equitable and anti-racist I asked our attorney how we could swiftly and legally take next steps he informally informed me that the only discuss the the informative the only um discussion we could have for recommendations for the appointment would be in an open meeting setting with all of us together we would have to be an open meeting as is is tonight at the school committee at the August 26th school committee meeting he then instructed me that as chair I could contact each member of the committee one-on-one which I did via phone and explain the open meeting stipulation of the process that we only

023the only time that we could all be together to discuss who we thought would possibly be a good candidate for an interim would be in the open meeting setting he also informed me that I could ask each member at that time to think about who they might want to put forward to recommend for the interim position and that between that between the time I spoke to them most of them I called on Friday and Saturday till tonight's meeting they could contact that person and see if they would even be interested because I had said to them that if if their recommendation the recommended person wouldn't even be interested in the job we're not putting forward a name to discuss because of time sensitivity if if they found out that the person would be interested that

024they should be ready to bring that person's name to be put forth for recommendation and discussion at tonight's meeting they could also ask that person to be ready to call into the meeting if the committee could read could possibly read reach a consensus and make a recommendation at this August 26th meeting I also stated at that at each conversation that I had with each member that once we had an interim superintendent put in place for the 2020-21 school year we could then put a plan in place for the position of a permanent superintendent for the 2021-2022 school year so in in my discussions member Eberhart Graces graciously uh volunteered to me to say that she would like to lead that process um for our committee permanent superintendent which would be put in place in 2021-2022.

025so before we go back to talk about the interim I'm going to briefly remember Eberhart to just give an overview to the viewing public of what that might entail thank you chair Varela so um this is a big decision as we've discussed multiple times at recent meetings School committees have basically three responsibilities we oversee the budget with the superintendents we work on policy and we hire and evaluate the superintendent so I reached out to the Massachusetts Association for school committees um to act for them to act as a resource for us as we move forward in this process there are several several different avenues that school committees can take when looking to hire a new superintendent and I'm going to work with our field rep to explore those options and then bring them to the

026school committee to discuss at an open meeting with the community and then choose the best process to move forward um you know school districts say you know go have a wide range of ways that they do it sometimes they hire outside firms to help them sometimes they work in-house and we will come to the best for process just uh to support our community to make the decision that involves the most voices and builds consensus and moves us forward to the future so I will probably bring that to us towards the end of our September meetings as I know the beginning meetings in September and the first few weeks will really be focused on supporting a new interim superintendent and also on the return to school initiatives that we are undertaking so I I want to

027thank everyone who's some people have reached out to us um with some kind words of encouragement and thought and I really appreciate all that and we look forward to the conversation as we move forward thank you so much member of a heart okay so now we're going to go back to the discussion of interim superintendent and as chair I am going to start the process so I would like to put forth for discussion the possibility of appointing principal James Jett to the position of interim superintendent of Milton public schools for the 2020-21 school year and My reasonings are as follows he's been a part of the Milton Public Schools since 1997. having served in several positions from guidance counselor director of the summer enrichment program Title One summer program supervisor director of Transportation assistant principal

028at the Paris Middle School principal at the Pierce and in his current position of high school principal Mr Jett is an excellent Communicator I have seen this up front ever since my oldest child started Pierce Middle School eight years ago as a Middle School Parent and then as a High School parent James has always taken the time to clearly Express his decision-making process on issues facing his school Community to both parents Guardians and students he's been a proven leader in promoting modern classroom technology and employing data-driven performance he led the Milton High School community and becoming the first school in the district to implement a successful one-to-one device program he has been a leader in promoting cultural competency and social emotional learning it coordinates the minority Educators job fair and his management of the calculus

029project has helped increase the number and diversity of students taking AP courses and led to improved overall Advanced placements scores James is also a strong strong consensus Builder he always thinks to the students first and works tirelessly to deliver for their needs the high school is a crown jewel of our system and it is because James has the unique ability to unite students teachers administrators parents and Guardians to achieve an outcome of success and he does it with real compassion and empathy even exhibiting Joy when he created a new adaptation for the high school graduation during our pandemic his planning and execution of the Milton High School graduation was First Rate even in a time of such uncertainty for us for our town as you know at first many parents and Guardians 10 students were

030strongly adverse to his alternative plan yet it ended up being one of the most successful graduations in the history of MPS even in times of Despair and doubt he gave us hope the last example brings me to one of my final points on my recommendation I believe that James jet is a strong and brave leader having worked with him over the years I have seen it firsthand the graduation is just one example one recent example he is someone who is not afraid to lead in times of hardship and we are a town are dealing with hardship both with health and with race James's words earlier this spring when he spoke at a town-wide vigil following the death of George Floyd inspired us all he spoke from the heart with passion and conviction that is real

031leadership I feel that with James's vast institutional knowledge of the Milton public school already put in place and with the grave challenges ahead of us for the 2020-21 school year James Jett is a leader who will hit the ground running so I'd like to open it up for discussion amongst my committee members with my recommendation uh I guess I'll start with member Rosemary thank you um well I concur with much of what chair Varela just discussed about James's experience in the Milton Public Schools he has been through many different positions as he's moved his way up through the district and has grown in each one um one of my early interactions with James was as a guidance counselor at Pierce for my children and one of my children got in a fight and got suspended

032for a couple of days we were called in to meet with James with our child and during a very trying meeting I was so impressed with how he handled a very difficult situation for us that I went home afterwards and wrote him a thank you note which is not something you would usually do when your child is suspended from school but I was just so impressed with how he handled it it really really was we need stability in these unstable times and I believe James can provide us for that and um I think he's the right person to serve as the interim superintendent thank you I'm not sure what I can really add to what chair Varela and member Rosemary and said um I agree with with everything that they said James is his record

033of leadership is um is a record it's it's there it's proven um during the graduation situation at Milton High School he listened to those that differed with his decision again with respect and with understanding of where they were coming from this was from students from parents from faculty members who didn't necessarily agree with him but he always kept the best interest of the students at the Forefront and stuck to what he knew was right and he was right and as chair Varela said it was just an amazing beautiful event and that showed me everything um about James as a leader he is um he knows all the stakeholders he's held so many different positions within Milton Public Schools I'm very confident that he can get the job done even at this very difficult time in

034Milton Public Schools thank you thank you member Eberhart thank you Trevor Ella um when you asked us to think about possible interim superintendents we are fortunate in our community to have a wealth of qualified capable dedicated individuals who could serve in that role um when I think about Mr Jett I think about what my my young men now what boys then would always refer to him as an in the hall principle um that he was the kind of principal that knew the students and knew them well and had strong relationships with them and I always think about that when I think about Mr Jett and I think about him over the last few months during this time and particularly after George Floyd when students reach out to him which I found to be um one

035of the most heartening things that students that had graduated from the institution reached out to Mr jet to talk to him about their feelings and their thoughts and when he was at the rally he spoke about the belief Gap and he's come to our school committee multiple times and and he and I have had conversations about why do we have less students of color in our advanced placement classes at the high school why does this continue to be a challenge for us as a community and we and and we were he refers to that as the belief Gap belief Gap to to create to to decrease that Gap to increase the number of students in those classes and to make learning Equitable across the board for all of our students and I know that in

036the community um the Milton anti-racist Coalition sent us a letter about the qualities of a leader for this time and another mom wrote about someone who could heal and lead the community through these challenging times and I do think that Mr Jett is that person I think he leads from possibility and from Hope which I personally value and I think we all do and I think that he can handle the multi-multially faceted complexities of our community um and I think he has there's a wonderful leadership team around him uh you know he has experience in middle school and high school not as much in elementary but a strong Elementary team to support that um to support him should he become the intern superintendent so um I I thank you for that um consideration and nomination

037thank you uh member White so when I was thinking about who would be able to lead us at this time James's name was the first one that popped into my head and I've known James for a really long time I've been a long time admirer of him and I've seen him grow as a leader over the years and I have a unique experience so he was actually my boss because I taught at the summer school program the summer Richard when he was the director and I used to sell I had all these teenagers in my room because I was doing the cooking and they all came to eat and be fed and they also worked but I used to say to them you know Mr Jets going to be checking make sure you guys are

038doing what you're supposed to be doing and that would always get them to do their work and you know one of the things that I love about James is that he is not afraid to offer his opinion even if you even if he disagrees with you he's very respectful about it but he will let you know what he's thinking and he one time told me and I think about this a lot is he's not just a role model for the young black students um in the in the school he says he's a role model for everyone and that's so true because I think every child I know when I ask them about Mr Jen and when he was when he was at the middle school and also here all the kids have great respect for

039him they speak well of him um and I think he also has the great respect of all of our staff who have worked with him and I think people admire him as a leader so I think um he would be a wonderful choice for our school at this time thank you chabarella um it's yeah it's sort of all uh all been said already um when you made the call to me on um I forget what day it was I think it was Friday the days blurred but um immediately my thoughts went to superintendent or to um to principal uh jet to fill the superintendent's role uh there were a lot of secondary and tertiary thoughts about you know what what that would mean for the district and things like that but immediately I I would

040have to agree with you that his his record of leadership is impressive and I think it's um uh his is a is a voice that we we need and um you know there are a number of very capable administrators in the district that I think could fill this role admirably uh but but I have to agree with you chair I think that um um the principal Jet's name um immediately floated to the top for me as well okay um okay thank you so that's everyone um next um I I'm gonna put out um I know it seems like everyone um is is an agreement or on same page with what my thought was but I still am formally going to put out does anybody want to put any other name fourth for discussion or are

041we all United on James looks like we are um okay all right wow okay so this is great this is great so what I'm going to do then um is at this time I'm going to ask for a motion to appoint James jet as the interim superintendent for the multi-public schools for the 2020-21 school year could I have a second okay um we've already had discussion on it so I'm going to make a roll call vote again because this is an important vote member Eberhart yes oh I'm sorry I think I froze up that um at this time I'd like to ask I I was off script for a motion to offer I have to offer the position to offer the position um at this time I would like to make a motion to offer

042the position of interim superintendent of schools for the Milton public schools to James Judd for the 2020-21 school year could have a second second okay real calvo member Everhart yes member white yes Amanda Rosemary yes Dr Craighead yes Dr Donahue yes okay that's unanimous that we can formally are in agreement to offer the position to James jet so because we were able to come to consensus and to agree on a vote to formally offer the position to James Jett I am going to make a motion at this point in time it is now what 10 to 8 I'm going to make a motion to take a 10 minute recess to call James Jet and I want to formally offer him the position that was unanimously voted on um and speak to him briefly and and

043then I'm going to ask if he would come on the meeting and then address the rest of the committee with the acceptance so at this time I'm going to take a brief I'm going to make a motion to take a recess for 10 minutes could I have a second all those in favor please raise your hands okay we'll see you in 10 minutes foreign no it's already voted okay you guys ready all right okay Mikey good okay we're going to re we're reconvening the Milton public school meeting of August 26 2020. it's 8 p.m and I have returned after having a conversation with James Jett um offering him the position of interim superintendent of Milton public schools for 2020 2021 he accepted that appointment so he is officially our new interim superintendent of schools congratulations

044James Jack um but this time um I'm gonna hand it over to you if you'd like to make a statement just make sure you unmute first of all I I think I just have to stop by saying thank you um kind of felt like I was eavesdropping actually it was on the meeting myself into here uh you guys make a lot of wonderful comments about it and I greatly appreciate it and so uh I do have to say I accept this this opportunity uh on behalf of all of those people that have supported me in my journey in in each capacity that I filled in in the Milton Public Schools uh to hear you say those things and it makes me I I'm in R and I'm on it uh and committed to the task

045but I didn't I didn't do it by myself that would be a Herculean effort and I was the beneficiary of having uh great people around me uh from administrative assistants to custodians of food service anybody um I was always willing to listen uh to get critical feedback and I think that's important in the leadership role because there's no one individual to do it uh and I would be remiss if I didn't compliment uh Mary Gormley superintendent uh 46 years my contributions pale in comparison to what she's done and whether you agree or disagree and I've been tuning in all summer long to these things Mary when we tried to do her best and make decisions on the best interests of all those students and staff in the Milton public schools and so I do have

046to extend the heartfelt thank you sincere thank you to Mary homie for her leadership uh I I think all of the people that have been in the leadership roles in my journey from John Phelan to Mary Gormley to Anna McReynolds um now I got to thank my team of Brian Mackinaw and Ben Kelly all of the department heads uh I don't even know what to say I I think I'm this is a tough time so I have mixed emotions because on one hand I'm very excited to be uh considered for this position in one of the best communities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts but I also know that we have a lot ahead of us uh this is a challenge from a pandemic uh we talked about the Civil and racial unrest and the quality

047of quality I'm sure that's going to uh be a major part of this as well um with the the recent shooting of uh Jacob Blake and so I'm concerned but I'm also committed enough for the task and so I would say to the community for those who who really believe in the Milton public schools and I think that many of you out there I know that there's some open wounds in all of us from the faculty and staff and talking to them this is not a time to be divisive this is a time for us to come together and so I call on people if you're really committed from students doing your part if we open up in hybrid to come in and follow the policies and procedures to the families uh whether you're remote

048a hybrid you're still part of the Milton uh Public School community and we want to make sure that we put forward our best uh our best educational opportunities for all of our students and then the faculty and staff uh many of you I talked to over the course of the last well actually all summer long to be honest with you in from all levels uh I can't thank you enough um I've said it on many Community uh many school committee meetings or the task force this is one summer that ever every single faculty and staff State invested all summer long and stayed in tune with what's going on um and really gave some uh feedback contributed in many different ways so there's a lot of decisions that mean to be made and then to have

049the unexpected resignation of uh Mary Gormley on Friday I got to tell you I felt like I I got kicked in the stomach and the wind knocked out of me but you know what we still got to go for it and I think a couple of people said it before this is a battle and if one person steps aside or one person goes down everybody else has to band together and we got to move forward and so I'm up for the task um but I do call on the entire Milton Community from parents to students to faculty staff uh to community organizations uh clergy everybody this is a this is a community effort and we're in challenging times and when challenging times come uh the commitment from all so again once again I just say

050thank you very much uh it's an honor to be considered and I look forward to working in this capacity thank you is it possible can I say something is that okay all right James I just want to tell you that um going down memory lane a little bit I think if you remember I was on the um I was on the committee to select you as the principal of the middle school and you were Mary gormley's first appointments because she had just been named the superintendent and she um she called me I was in denim working and she said to me we're about to make the announcement of the PA can you get to Pierce Middle School because I want you to be here and I said sure and I told my principal I wasn't

051feeling well and I rushed to pierce and uh and when I you know I heard them over the PA I think John Phelan made the announcement and the kids or the Applause they they erupted with Applause and chairs and it was just a very exciting time to be listening in and watching you over the years I kind of always knew we would get to this day where you would um take on this leadership role so thank you so much for accepting this job at such a challenging time and I look forward to working with you thank you that's great and I think I was on mute but I said so um we'll see you tomorrow day one okay okay thank you okay thank you James um moving on super uh under the superintendent's report assistant

052superintendent Spaulding will step in and Report out tonight on agenda number four please thank you chair Varela um again congratulations Mr jet I do have a list for you for tomorrow morning so I will see you in the morning [Music] um so wanted to give a quick update um on some of the anti-racism initiatives um if you read the most recent blog um Milton Public Schools uh invited parents Guardians and staff to apply um for position on the anti-racism action team um so if you have been thinking about it or want more information um please do go to the website we have a new section of the website highly highlighting the recent and ongoing work in the area of anti-racism so please go there the applications are due September 21st and then we'll go through

053a process of establishing that team we are very excited that the written solicitation for the equity audit is complete I do want to thank parents Beverly Russ Denny as well as Aaron Hardy and Winston daily and I'm sure many others who really helped shape that so it is in the hands of the chief procurement officer for the town and so that will get sent out so we're excited about that um and then finally the job description on the Sioux new senior leadership position director of educational Equity as well as dates for the community conversations those will be coming out very soon so second um on our list um we would like to welcome principal Bill fish principal of the Pierce Middle School and with him he has um Brian selig our K-12 director of mathematics

054as well as Kat derosh our K-8 literacy director so I will hand it over to principal fish and his team who will talk about the pause in leveling at the Pierce Middle School thank you Dr Spaulding congratulations James jet on your appointment very excited to be working with you in this capacity um jeffrel thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight um and to present some more information around the decision to pause the grade seven and grade 8 accelerated sections of English language arts and math classes at Pierce ideally this update would have been provided to the committee earlier in the summer um but these are unique times they've impacted many facets of our work timeline and processes to so to start um by giving the committee a little bit of background and context throughout

055the 2019-2020 school year the peer site Council engaged in conversations around the Merit of the grade 7 and grade 8 math and Ela accelerated level courses at the middle school and parent members of the site Council raised questions about the process for determining student placement in these sections and similarly member teacher members of the site Council expressed some concerns and some lack of support for the courses that's the curriculum for these classes is effectively the same curriculum as it is for the standard level courses so the site Council um agreed that the both the value of the need for these accelerated sections of these classes required more attention um given the other priorities of the site council's work which included securing the one-to-one Computing appears revamping our master schedule and rethinking the support structures around

056students transition to grade six the group decided to table any study or subsequent recommendations around the future of the accelerated sections of these classes until the 2020-2021 school year however when the school closure canceled the spring administration of the MCAS and also stalled opportunities for teachers to admit their common grade level assessments the site Council discussed concerns about the resulting lack of data for Pierce to make fair and informed decisions about placing students into the accelerated level classes for the new school year so the site Council agreed that the best course of action would be to pause the accelerated sections of grade 7 and grade 8 Ela math for the new school year and to use the coming fall and winter to collect information solicit input and commute and communicate with the school Community about

057the challenges and opportunities related to these accelerated sections um to give you a little bit of some further context around the process for determining placement in these in the accelerated sections Pierce has traditionally offered one accelerated level class for English language arts and Mathematics on each team for grade seven and eight and student placement in these classes was based on three variables two years of MCAS achievement data as well as performance on common grade level assessments for example a seventh grade placement would have been determined based on students grade six MCAS performance grade 5 MCAS performance and a series of Assessments taken by all sixth graders to in light of that the immediate problem that we're faced with is that the closure the school closure in the spring uh and the subsequent cancellation of the

0582020 MCAS Administration leaves us at best with two-year-old MCAS data in an incomplete battery of Common Assessment data to make fair and informed decisions about which students could or should be placed at The Accelerated level um the site Council has identified um through its discourse some bigger picture questions and some is unresolved issues that require attention so beyond the lack of data that um I've spoken to there are bigger questions with the accelerated classes that require School community's attention for example questions like why do we have these classes if the curriculum is effectively the same as the non-accelerated classes questions like if MCAS data for our school and District raised concern about an achievement gap for our African-American students our Hispanic students on standardized tests like the MCAS then why are we using the MCAS

059as a significant driver of student placement in accelerated classes other questions like why is the racial and socioeconomic makeup of students in accelerated classes not mirror that of our broader student population and also why does Pierce have a system for placing students in accelerated classes in Milton High School does not so to provide a little bit more context into color into into these questions um that really informed the need for further study and further uh exploration I'd like to introduce Kat der Roche our K to Aid literacy director and Brian selig our K-12 math director to provide a little bit more uh thank you Mr Fish I'll go ahead um I'd like to speak to a few of the questions that you uh raised on behalf of the pure site Council uh in your comments

060as they pertain specifically to math um first the curriculum has been effectively the same in the accelerated non-accelerated classes reflects the efforts of the math department of Pierce over the last few years to raise the rigor and Alignment uh to standards for all students by implementing a new highly regarded and problem-based curriculum and also by shifting their instructional practices to promote critical thinking skills and deep conceptual understanding again among all their students furthermore regardless of the curriculum in place the math standards in the Middle School are dense and critical as a foundation for advanced math coursework at the high school level so even our highest performing students need sufficient opportunities to engage in these critical topics and then lastly as Mr Fish indicated there is not the same structure in place for courses uh as

061students enter Milton high school and and that is a source of Pride for me for uh us as a leadership team at Milton high school and for Mr Jett as the new uh interim superintendent and congratulations James um thrilled to work with you in that capacity now um and so uh the fact that that students uh are an open enrollment opportunity uh when they enter ninth grade I think justifies us uh pausing the current practice in place uh at Pierce for acceleration with regard to math and Ela I'll turn it over to cat good evening everyone thanks for having us um I won't repeat all the things that Brian uh stated about um providing access to students rigorous opportunity for curriculum regardless of which type of class they have been identified as needing or being

062qualified for I think some of what he stated is universal across content areas I think when I can speak to most recently is as you all know our year-long analysis of um our three-pronged approach in our analysis of the curriculum so current state of what's happening in all Ela classes grades four to eight current internal and external data of students acknowledging the subgroup data as well and then looking at the research and current understandings of what a 21st century literacy program entails and delivers and I think throughout that process the entire department we really analyzed what we're providing to all students regardless of which class they're in and the thing to really remember is we're asking a lot of questions as principal fish stated I think the three of us Mr Fish Brian and myself

063being new to the Pierce Community brings A New Perspective and I think we do have some questions about where where this year will lead us and what we can find out out more and just a constant reflection on how we're providing instruction to students this will push us to really think about how we're doing this in every classroom at every period regardless of noting accelerated or not okay Brian thank you um sorry just to pull it all together many of the Educators who teach the accelerate sections of grade seven and eight elamf uh have posed questions similar to those above that that are require attention and are worth grappling with and the pure site Council also sharing many of these same questions and concerns the general sentiment among both groups was to take response so

064that we're able to take a deeper look into these classes uh and probably just as important the structures related to placing students um but when we we take a step back and I appreciate my comments that Mr selugu made is that all of our students are entitled um access to Rich and rigorous curriculum and instruction and we know from research on differentiated instruction where students are taught in heterogeneous classrooms with high quality curriculum instruction and focused attention on their unique needs there's this shows broader benefits in student achievement in school satisfaction for a wide variety of learners so with the newly adopted English language arts curriculum and the existing math curriculum they're both robust programs to provide Educators with the resources and tools to differentiate instruction and to meet the needs of a wide range

065of Learners um and just as I close I just want to make a few notes um that while we're um partly we look to pause we will pause the accelerate level for this school year it's important to point out that both in both grades seven and eight are intensive study our is exploratory classes will still run so those classes in grade seven like intensive study and Engineering or debate or um are as well as in grade 8 which is intensive study and math and creative writing are infused those exploratory classes um first for they're really designed for students who have um a genuine interest in in pushing their thinking and pushing their learning in these areas um list those opportunities will still be are still available to students thank you as um assistant superintendent um

066Spalding I just wanted to reach out um to members of the committee does anyone have any questions or queries or uh Mr Fish see League or um Mr Roche member of a heart thank you Chevrolet thank you um Mr Fish and the rest of the team there for the presentation and the explanation I think that as you pointed out Mr fish so much is happening so quickly um and and like at rapid fire that you can barely catch up sometimes and so I know that the announcement probably startled um parents and and I just want to share and reiterate your sentiments that you are not changing the rigor or the quality of the instruction or what's offered to students but you're just pausing um that accelerated model to really take into account what has happened

067during the last couple of months what's going to happen during the next couple of months and how you can structure all those things moving forward I think that that's the most that parents just want to be reassured that we are committed to the high quality education for their students and rigor and opportunity and I do think that your points about um equity and leveling and acceleration are well taken have been discussed multiple times and and this committee years ago um many many years ago and I think it's a wonderful first step um to making excellent education for all of our students at the pr so it's unfortunate that it kind of came out in a way that was sudden and unexpected but I appreciate updates throughout the year and how that's going and then a

068more detailed perhaps report towards the end of the year um on what you're going to plan for the future videos at this time Dr Donahue uh thank you for the presentation uh that was very helpful and I'll I'll um echo my comment my colleagues comments that I think one of the there are several um sort of layered concerns here and I don't envy your task in grappling with them um you have to simultaneously uh address the equity issue you have to simultaneously support um the educational needs of the full spectrum of our students uh you have to uh while doing that uh permit an open Forum so that parents and Guardians and stakeholders who are involved and have different opinions on the matter can engage with it and um and not not fear that they

069are um because of their their thoughts on it they're going to be um uh disparaged in some way or another uh and you you need to continue to communicate that that you will um you know support our our students who are um capable of doing accelerated work while simultaneously maintaining a playing field that is level enough so that when those students get to the high school they have the option or the ability to enter the different levels of classes at the high school that is a that is a tall order um and I'm um I'm sure you're up to it uh but I I truly look forward to seeing how this progresses throughout the year and um and what what tools and techniques you use to um and balance those those factors and and try

070and achieve all those ends great thank you Dr Don ate yourself turn it back over anybody else's lesson I'll turn it back over to um Dr Spalding uh because we have another item C under superintendent report thank you chair Varela um I would like to hand it over um to our administrator of pupil Personnel Services Susan Maselli um you have been presented with the Milton Public Schools staff procedural handbook for student restraints this is this is an this is an update to the handbook so if Susan macelli could just give us a quick overview for the viewing public of of this document and why we create such a document that would be wonderful thank you thank you Dr Spaulding thank you chair congratulations Mr jet look forward to working with you I also have a

071list for you tomorrow morning um what you have in front of you um is uh last year when we met we we updated the policy for the district and that's something that you had voted on previously this is the handbook that accompanies that policy and provides some basic information to staff and administrators regarding information related to the training Administration reporting and self-evaluation of physical interventions for students during crisis situations it also provides an update of the technical advisories that the department of Ed has given us and an updated reporting form that we will use in the district um that's what you have in front of you and I'm happy to answer any questions related to that handbook um does anyone um on the committee have any um queries comments um for um miss Sally good

072um okay um thank you so much Susan for just giving that little brief um overview then uh I think that we need to take a vote so I'm going to make a motion uh to approve the MPS staff protocol handbook for the student restraints for the 2020-21 school year could I have a second second by crackhead all those in favor please raise your hand okay what's your name thank you Dr Spalding thank you chair varilla next uh item number five is the policy subcommittee report we have a lot uh we have a lot of stuff important stuff to speak to tonight so I'm going to turn it over to the chair of our policy subcommittee Dr Donahue uh thank you Chevrolet uh so before we get into the um the policies we're voting on tonight

073um a brief update on our anti-racism efforts and our anti-racism policy so we have spent uh several weeks this summer crafting and anti-racism policy that that we feel takes um uh takes Milton in a in a good direction we we feel as though we have a solid I would call it a rough draft or first draft but we recognize that there are some significant uh missing pieces in terms of producing a satisfactory workable final product uh that includes the um the task force that is being assembled and that also includes our director of educational equity uh that also likely includes uh input from our Educators and to an extent our our student population and guardian population as well both of whom are not um uh or some of those are not typically uh engaged over

074the summer months so um we have we continue to work on that but until some of those pieces are in place uh we find ourselves um um that's sort of a um the pause in that if you will but I'm anxiously looking forward to the completion of the um the task force and for our identifying a director of educational Equity so we can take the the next steps in moving that policy forward uh with that uh you see before you the the list of policies that we have been able to work on and complete over the past several weeks so these include our face covering policy our remote learning policy our immunization policy our coven policy uh and our harassment policy I'm going to start with the face covering policy and uh this evening I'm

075going to request votes on these hopefully approval and I'm going to request that the chair with with her permission and with the superintendent or assistant superintendent's permission invoke our expedited approval process so that where necessary these policies can be included in the back to school materials and handbooks okay thank you thank you chair and thank you assistant superintendent um so the first one will be the face covering policy so I recognize that um uh individuals at a home were viewing this uh remotely may not have the um the entirety of the policy in front of them it has been distributed um to various stakeholders including um members of the um some of our Union units but I will read the um sort of the pertinent parts so as not to drag this on um to

076form so in terms of mask Supply families are welcome to supply their own masks educators are welcome to supply their own masks and if they do not desire or for some reason are unable to the school district is happy to provide those masks for them masks for pupils um must cover both the nose and the mouth must have been snugly and comfortably along the side of the face be secured with either ear Loops or a tie behind the head allow for breathing without restriction and either be disposable or capable of being laundered and dried without damage to change your shape specific face masks are encouraged by the Milton public schools and those include surgical masks like these two and three layer cloth masks and face Shields are permitted but they are an adjunct to the

077masking process certain face coverings are not permitted and those include one layer cloth masks one layer neck Gators and vented masks masks with the exhalation vent on further there are some specific reasons an individual may be excused from wearing a mask as per the CDC and those include having difficulty breathing someone who is unconscious or incapacitated or someone who cannot move remove the mask or face covering without assistance exemptions to the face covering policy will be vigorously vetted by our our school department uh physician and uh the the nursing staff uh additionally uh face masks or face coverings will not be required only in certain circumstances during a specific mask break at a various School or when individuals are eating and drinking and to that latter point we have endeavored to minimize that to the

078extent possible by uh removing by incorporating half days into our hybrid policy a hybrid schedule this policy does not it specifically excludes Athletics athletic advice and recommendations from Desi have not um been forthcoming in sufficient detail to craft a policy but as soon as they are we will either craft the policy or will will adhere to the decision of the MIAA or and or Desi whichever is determined to be the appropriate governing group uh I'd like to thank the tireless work of our health and safety subcommittee uh in crafting this this was a this was no easy task and we uh we genuinely appreciate the input of all of those stakeholders uh clinicians and non-conditions alike uh who were able to uh bring this this policy to us and and help us um help us

079work to make it a workable policy were there any do my colleagues have any questions uh yes Dr Craig okay so I just have uh two questions the first is um under the what the face masks must do or be or have the third bullet point says or elastic in the case of Gators and then underneath the following face coverings are not permitted it's the one layer neck Gators I think it's confusing to have the first parentheses up there that says or elastic in the case of gators it looks like um we're allowing them at one point and then disallowing them at another point and I think most people have read the report saying that Gators actually might be worse than wearing nothing um so um can you are there certain kinds of gators that

080are not terrible is that the is that what's being referred to in the first bullet uh thank you thank you Dr Craig yes there are there are some uh I'm led to believe very few that are not one ply and that would um technically fall under the category of a two or three layer cloth mask uh so I I agree it is confusing um we had similar questions for the um the health and safety subcommittee and um and I I acknowledge your um your confusion there but there is a there is a small area where those Venn diagrams uh overlap um so it is conceivable that you could have a product that would comply with with Those portions of the of the policy okay um I I do think that if this is published though

081it might it might be relatively easy to overlook if you look if you see the first part not the second but um I I hear your point um my other question is with surgical masks um the designation surgical mask versus the three ply mask that you buy that might not be marked surgical mask but is in effect the same as a surgical mask is there a way to account for that because if somebody gets a box from Amazon and it's a mask like the one you're wearing but it's not marked surgical mask they might think it's not good enough or it doesn't fit these requirements so is there a way to account for that thank you um thank you Dr Craighead yes I think there is there so the the the medical type masks that

082are widely available are uh meets the functional criteria of what is considered a a surgical mask the so as as this one of one of the many things that has been a problem um the ongoing in this process is evolving guidelines and sort of Shifting definitions and terminology so the term surgical mask has a very specific meaning in the medical community as a mask that is produced in certain locations and complies with certain sections of the FDA regulations almost universally those masks are only available in hospitals in operating rooms or in procedure rooms the masks for example like the one that I'm wearing now are functional equivalents and meet the same standards but are not um vetted by the federal governments in the in the same way and the best analogy that I could think

083of is how is sort of the analogy between sparkling wine and champagne to be champagne must be made in France in chebani I believe pardon my pronunciation but but functionally there are sparkling wines produced in other parts of the world that um are similar if not identical except to those very few who are some of the heirs who would be able to tell the difference so uh that's the best that I can do I I acknowledge that the terminology can be a little confusing and uh I will reiterate that the kind of Mass medical looking mask that I'm wearing now is acceptable uh is what we are encouraging along with the two and three ply uh cloth masks that are very common probably very similar to the one that you're wearing um okay and and

084that's that's actually a great explanation I'm wondering if there's a way to make sure that's on the website that there's some sort of asterisk that goes next to that and says sure sort of what you just said which is it doesn't have to be called a surgical mask but this is what we're looking for thank you yes and I think to your point I think it frequently asked questions type um yeah summation uh put next to it would be very helpful for these these matters great thank you thank you uh do my colleagues have any further questions uh remember us man yes thank you for your great job explaining a complicated policy um I I also want to thank the health subcommittee of the return to school task force that has been laboring over this

085issue for months now um and and it's really quite fascinating to see how research has moved along since March um since the pandemic began in in all areas related to covid but including around face coverings and how um that research informs the recommendations that have been made and um I think uh what we need to take from that is that if and when research tells us something different than we have in this policy then we will return to this and and update it based on the most recent research and given how quickly things have moved um we have to remain Nimble and flexible I wonder um with the surgical masks and I don't know if if uh this is um more complicated or maybe just in having further explanation um just including like surgical slash

086slash medical masks um I I don't know um but it's it's just one suggestion but but one other uh thing that that I've learned about um surgical medical masks is um there was a video shared with me by one of the members of our health club committee Dr John Pincus that showed how to test that your mask was in fact met the standards and it involved cutting it up and looking at all three layers and actually burning the center layer and that layer layers that didn't burn um like a piece of paper would are the ones that will provide you better filtration and it's actually kind of an interesting experiment to do so I you know I bought some some masks from my Amazon just to have them around and cut one up and and

087tested them and and it really was it I was pleasantly surprised to see that that Center layer didn't burn but um [Music] um so I that's that's pretty much all I have and and I think as we talked about um earlier that that we will post um this policy and others that pertain to the return to school um tomorrow on our uh the Milton Public School website as well as the return to school website just so everybody has access to it wherever it's easiest to find thank you yes and I'd like to encourage any Milton public school students that may be watching that to undertake scientific experiments with the express permission of their parents and or supervision of their parents and Guardians um all is well and good in the name of science but we

088don't want your research to be lost um yes uh thank you so any other questions on this policy wonderful uh can I have a second please that's why I'm of approval of policy thank you very much uh all in favor uh that's unanimous thank you okay uh policy number two a remote learning policy so again this is um this is a lengthy policy and um I'm grateful to the input of of council and and others who helped us craft it I will not read in its entirety um we we have sought to create a policy that would uh would help provide a degree of guidance and support for educators and um and students alike I will however read a portion of the second section of it just to remind uh community members um of our

089particular emphasis on the protection of our um our educators uh intellectual freedom and the uh the privacy of the um the Educators and the students and remind people and here I'm quoting uh content produced for and or accessed through the remote learning curriculum of the Milton Public Schools is the intellectual property of the Milton Public Schools duplication recording dissemination or unauthorized alteration of the content is strictly prohibited the superintendent or their designee shall investigate any violations including but not limit to unauthorized use dissemination and alteration and refer the matter to law enforcement and or discipline parties pursuant to the results of this investigation and in accordance with the student handbook and other District discipline policies as needed explicit acceptance of these terms as part of the student handbook review by students and parents Guardians shall

090be required alternative random students shall be made for students and parents at slash Guardians unwilling to accept these terms so this will yet again be another component of the um the sign off sheet that parents and Guardians and students will get this phone with their handbooks are there any questions on the remote learning policy so I will move approval of a remote learning policy policy ihbh e can I have a second please second I can Barilla thank you very much uh all in favor so that's unanimous thank you all right next um guidance from the state uh with regards to updating the implications the health and safety subcommittee of the back to school task force for their work on this um vaccinations required for student attendance so I've moved approval of our policy well first

091let me ask are there any questions yes can you share of the strength of the policy sure do you mean specifically or um some of the other some of the other vaccinations yeah this is new so I just thought you could maybe share a little bit about the thinking sure so for um especially in the time of covid uh symptoms can and two mimic the covet symptoms such as influenza you'll commonly hear the symptoms flu-like symptoms for that reason so it would move us to minimize the number of cases of flu in the community so that we are not um uh excluding students or or creating undue concern uh first but second it's also been established that individuals with pre-existing medical conditions and that includes some of the the illnesses uh that we are capable

092of vaccinating against are more susceptible to um injury or death long-term injury or death from covet illness so by requiring a robust immunized population we minimize those risks and and third there's the General Public Safety and public health argument to be made for ensuring robust vaccinations when and where possible where medical and other objections do not preclude that is that is that sufficient or um foreign thank you uh so I'll move approval of our immunization policy policy jlcb second uh I'm sorry is that a second second Dr Craig second yes uh it's all in favor uh that's unanimous thank you very much and we'll see jlcf our covid policy so this this code this policy specifically uh recognizes that this is going to be an extraordinary Academic Year and possibly longer we may have a

093number of policies and procedures that we normally adhere to that will be either impossible or impractical to adhere to and it permits the deviation of those policies by the superintendent uh or its designee uh with with certain specific exceptions um and I will read some of those exceptions uh I'll read actually the whole policy given the unprecedented nature of the covid-19 pandemic the realities of providing education may require deviation from established Milton public school policies pursuant to this policy the superintendent is generally empowered to deviate from public school policy to maintain the health and safety of the Milton Public School Community we'll maintaining academic standards of the highest level possible such deviations shall be reported to the school committee as part of the ongoing feedback and communication process between the superintendent and the school committee

094however modifications of certain policies that require school committee approval related to the educational policy but not limited to including um the 2020-2021 school calendar grading and retention and local graduation requirements so those those specific areas as well as some others that may come up will require the specific input of the school committee to make those changes changes in the current covet educational model between full in-person hybrid and full remote models shall be voted by the school committee as soon as practicable this policy should remain in effect until July 1 2021 unless modified or rescinded by the school committee um so this generally empowers the superintendent to deviate from some of our policies as I said with some specific exemptions uh it permits the Nimble that's the um the word um changed from a one education

095model to another I.E on a Friday but require if if um the pandemic reality is necessitated but it requires a ratify a vote of the school committee to um uh to see that change uh continue to be implemented and as we all know the challenges of the open meeting law sometimes are not working on our favor so we would want to see the superintendent empowered to make a rapid decision uh if they need to um but uh we feel as though that the burden of that decision should also rest on us as did the initial decision so uh there you have it are there any um are there any questions that my colleagues have no okay wonderful so with that I'm going to move approval of policy jlcf our covet pandemic policy we have a

096second oh second Varela thank you very much all in favor that's unanimous thank you very much okay policy acab our harassment policy uh this was provided to us by Council last week and this is a um this is a new policy that they have recommended based on updated legal advice from updated Federal guidance on Title IX and how to deal with the various forms of harassment and the um the burdens thereof well people are reading this so I'll note that we do have a um a sexual harassment policy as well as some other harassment policies but it was felt by legal that um our district as well as others needed the specific one to be to remain in compliance with uh the updated Title IX guidance are there any questions thank you I'll move approval

097of policy acab do I have a second second thank you chair varella uh all in favor thank you that's unanimous thank you very much I um would like to thank the members of my uh my subcommittee Chevrolet the member Everhart uh you have you have helped us do a tremendous amount of work in a short period of time and I am I'm indebted to you thank you thank you thank you um Dr Donahue for that um okay so we have gone through chairs superintendent and policy we are going to move to uh citizen speak it's uh 8 50 right now um again we are doing 30 minutes so we'll be stopping at um 9 20. and so Dr Spalding I'm going to ask you time um um that you time the speakers as you have

098been doing and um when the bell goes off I'm going to give a high sign just have person wrap it up and again I'm stopping exactly at 30 minutes as I said at the top of the meeting and if anyone did not get a chance to speak we encourage you to then send your statement comment to us via email we do read everything and before we start I again want to reiterate that I ask that the speakers when they address the committee and the administrators that they speak with respect and kindness for in their tone because I think it'll just make for a nicer evening for all of us as we move forward in listening so uh without further Ado I'm going to ask Dr Glenn pavlichek who's running the video part of the meeting

099to uh promote the first person for citizenship so the first speaker is Jay funling also I'm sorry before you speak please state your name and um your street address for the minutes that are being taken from the beginning thank you my name is Jay funling I live at 39 sias Lane I'm a parent of a rising 7th and fifth graders and I'm here to address the decision to cease offering advanced math and English appears our family is strong supporters of public education and we feel strongly that the education we get at Milton public school is as good as anyone can get at a private school but this decision makes us question the commitment to challenging academics appears we also worry if rigors if rigorous academics will be available when our daughters reach high school we

100worry that AP classes may be next on The Chopping Block I don't want to think that the only way we can get a rigorous education for our daughters is by going to private school we were shocked to hear this decision we understand remote schooling will create issues this year but this decision was framed as being unrelated to work remote schooling and permanent the sixth grade math class was not challenging to my daughter and her friends even before they were sent home pierce asserts the curriculum gives every child what they need but I can assure you that is not correct you can't expect one teacher to simultaneously address a wide range of needs sixth grade wasn't challenging and now we don't expect 7th or 8th grade to be to be either we have been looking forward

101to this as one high point of an otherwise difficult seventh grade coming up but now we and other parents are looking to supplement peers with private online math classes I understand there are issues using MCAS as a determinant for these classes especially this year I wholeheartedly agree something else should be used MCAS is not a good metric for this but you can modify the program without removing it entirely I hope the school committee will reverse this policy and put Excellence back in Pierce academics thank you thank you Jay thank you next is Lizzie Carroll thank you hi can you hear me yeah we can hear you just name and uh street address hi there my name is uh Dr Elizabeth or Lizzy Carroll I live at 37 Randolph Ave I'm a town meeting member in

102Precinct 3 and uh most importantly a parent of a rising first grader at Tucker school and another future Milton Public Schools student who's three um so thank you so much for the opportunity to speak and thank you all for your leadership and commitment to our Educators families and children especially during these extremely challenging times um I have to say I'm very pleased by your appointment of Mr Jett as the interim superintendent and thank him for stepping up in this critical capacity for our community I'm totally confident that he is the right person to lead Milton public schools for this coming year I want to share three suggestions for the upcoming search for a permanent superintendent first the need for an open transparent Community Driven process with a screening committee that proportionately reflects the rich diversity

103of Milton Public Schools including representatives of the Milton anti-racism Coalition and the soon to be formed Milton anti-racism action team uh that will be coming together soon second uh the selection of a search firm that has a proven track record of recruiting and delivering a diverse pool of Highly qualified candidates which may well include Mr Jett as a strong candidate in that pool in the interest of identifying the best possible candidate for our permanent superintendent we must conduct a robust National search third an explicit job description that centers Equity focused leadership aligned with Milton Public Schools recently stated commitment to anti-racism and that will also respond to the findings of the upcoming Equity audit in concrete waste this is uh also going to need an opportunity for our opportunities for public input and feedback on

104both the posting and the job description I look forward to hearing more details from Member Eberhart and others of you at Future school committee meetings about how the search process will address these three key elements and seize this opportunity to accelerate Milton's progress toward becoming the school district of Excellence with Equity that we want and need to be thank you very much thank you very uh next speaker next will be regime [Music] good evening everyone my name is uh Dr Beijing Xiao I live at 70 Sumner Street that's Farrah ajwa earlier Rising first grader who wants to be a part of the call um I'm just going to say that um on behalf of the Milton anti-racist Coalition we are very pleased that the school committee was able to swiftly identify um an interim superintendent

105and I would Echo everything um that my friend Lizzie Carroll just said um with regards to the robust National search that must take place to identify the um superintendent of the permanent superintendent after this but for now we're looking forward to working with James Jett to implement the tenets of the mark platform we had meetings that were scheduled with Mary but that were canceled and so James we have a list for you as well and we are coming um we will be you'll have an email in your inbox tomorrow morning from us um to follow up on some of those items so we look forward to working with you and thank you very much to everyone into the school committee thank you very much next speaker we have no more raised hands really okay um

106I'm just going once going twice okay all right then um next we have approval of minutes uh one more raised ham oh okay Joy Gourmet okay see you Joy hi there okay hi there Joy Garcia at 47 Harlan Street um just a quick comment I wasn't going to speak because I wanted to give others opportunity but I want to thank you for the thoughtful appointment of of James get and I think that um it's important for us who have been speaking a lot and asking a lot for this kind of careful consideration who have taken up a lot of time important time in school committee meetings to also say thank you for that um the work that you've done and the thought you put into that decision so and uh and and the ongoing consideration

107to um to the matters that the Mark is putting forward and um and to this very difficult year that we're embarking on thank you very much thank you we also have Anna Fraga okay well you have to unmute Anna I can see you but I think you might there we go I also want to thank you for the same thing um and I didn't mean to speak I asked it in the Q a but I don't know if it shows up um and you might not have an answer right now but as the mother of two high schoolers I'm just hoping that there will be something soon addressing who will be the Principal um of Milton high school that's that's really it but also thank you very much for um swiftly going to Mr Jett

108for interim superintendent that's it thank you thank you very much uh anybody else Dr paljac Emily Speck okay hi um I'm Emily Speck I live at 84 Beacon Street Circle I want to thank the committee and the task force for all their hard work as we work on uh reopening schools um and to thank the committee for swiftly getting some leadership in place in the void of Mary's resignation um and although I know Jay and really respect him as a fellow parent I want to offer a different opinion on um on the plan for the Middle School's reassessment of their advanced work classes um I think the coordinators for Math and Ela spoke eloquently to the ways in which they have rigorous curriculum and standards that are in place that meet the needs of all

109students and I think there's an outdated Viewpoint that the only way to have rigorous and strong curriculum is through leveled classes and so I hope that we can use this as an opportunity to show ways in which all students can get um an ability to advance their curriculum and Advance their understanding of deep Concepts without having to split them up artificially in ways that often don't actually reflect their academic ability or their IQ but really represent other things about their um their family life or socioeconomics or um other background factors that aren't related to what they're capable of so I'm really looking forward to the Middle School exploring this option and creating some great opportunities thank you thank you Emily any other speakers not weird okay all right thank you all um so we're going

110to move on to approval of minutes um we have those in our folder Marie sent them to us oh she said that she sent them to us a couple of days ago I just pulled them up on the screen again oh that's right I had looked at them but yeah I never know what's it when we come and talk what's What's um she sent them on August 25th do you have the dates so are the meetings just as July 29th is the only one that I I see here can um can we promote um Maureen Lauren Kennedy um um who uh is our recording secretary for the school communities is just the June 29th the only one July 29th July 29th rather uh Marine that that we have to approve and represent committee not executive

111session right I'm pretty sure that is it I didn't see any others okay there's Maureen I can see here Maureen in case you must answer that can you just confirm that Laurie see you but I know um [Music] August 25th right here hi sorry yes it's the only meeting the 29th the 29th okay super all right so I'm gonna make a motion to approve the minutes of the July 29th school committee meeting um can I have a second second okay um all those in favor okay unanimous oh are you abstaining um okay I'm sorry so it's five uh five approvals and one abstain um Okay so oh sorry I know I lost the Lego agenda here we go okay so next meeting uh next meeting agenda items so we next meet on September 9th um

112I'm assuming that we're going to have a we'll have a finance update by then we will have strategic plan um Ada the Strategic um Planet update um would we put on a policy Dr Donahue do you think yeah we'll have policy um and I think that we uh we will also have approval of all other MPS student and staff handbooks on that and lastly we'll also have another update on our anti-racist initiatives um chair Varela will intern superintendent um James Jett maybe provide updates for our parents about the high school I don't know I don't know that time frame as as the superintendent that will be his responsibility too yes it will appoint and um you know a a an acting principle or interim or however that works out but I just I don't know

113if that'll be too it probably won't be too soon yeah no I'll definitely have internet superintendent jet for point out on that is it is it okay with the committee and yourself if I do more research with masc and provide an update perhaps about the um the search and then taking great information from the community and things like that okay that's great okay we're chock-full make a motion to move into executive session at this time to discuss uh strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation with the Milton Educators Association units a b and d if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and uh and the chair so declares that secondly to conduct strategy sessions and preparations for negotiations with non-union Personnel but

114to conduct collective bargaining sessions our contract negotiations with non-universe now specifically town of Milton Consolidated uh facilities director and the interim superintendent of schools and lastly we have approval of uh minutes for executive sessions so um can I have a second to move into executive session second by Dr Craighead we'll call vote member white yeah Dr Craighead yeah Dr Donahue yes yes I was going to say it differently Spalding that uh member Everhart yes remember Rosemary yes and member Varela yes okay that concludes the meeting for August 26 2020. thank you thank you Trevor