001Like to welcome everybody to the school committee meeting. Um We're going to begin with the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem. Please stand if you can. >> I >> pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE >> ROLL CALL.
002>> MEMBER ALVAREZ? PRESENT. Member Biancheria. >> Here. >> Member Banenda. >> Here. >> Member Guardiola. >> Here. >> Member Johnson. >> Here. >> Member Mailman. >> Here. >> Vice Chair McCollough. >> Here. >> Member Roy. >> Here. >> Mayor Petty. >> Here. Okay, we have the consent agenda. Roll call. >> Member Alvarez. >> Yes. >> Member Biancheria. >> Yes. >> Member Banenda. >> Yes. >> Member Guardiola. >> Yes. >> Member Johnson. >> Yes. >> Member Mailman. >> Yes. >> Vice Chair McCollough. >> Yes. >> Member Roy. >> Yes. >> Mayor Petty. >> Yes. Uh next time is G, consider the approval of the Worcester Public Schools fiscal 2017 budget motions to hold. Roll call. >> Member Alvarez. >> Yes. >> Member Biancheria. >> Yes. >> Member Banenda. >> Yes. >> Member Guardiola. >> Yes. >>
003Member Johnson. >> Yes. >> Member Mailman. >> Yes. >> Member McCollough. >> Yes. >> Member Roy. >> Yes. >> Mayor Petty. >> Yes, we have some recognitions. First is recognition Principal Dr. Brenda Diggs the transition program and Holy Cross College students K L Room Rumen Burr, Ascani, Belani, Wolch, Willie, Jaramillo, and Lauren Yee. For sponsoring our shining students gala and for all that they do with the students in the transition program to feel loved, valued, and encouraged. Um Ms. Biancheria. >> Thank you. Um I did want to mention that it was I I guess I look at it as so much fun. The kids were great. The teachers, the staff, everybody worked together to make sure that this was an outstanding event. These students from Holy Cross College um were such a help and everyone
004worked um together to ensure that every student had a great time and they certainly felt as though they were shining stars that evening. So, I would like to recognize them. Thank you. >> Thank you. You can come back to your seat. Okay, we have uh We have uh recognize we have Worcester Public Schools. Do you want to say something before No. You do? >> I uh on behalf of the Worcester Public Schools would like to thank Dr. Diggs and her dedicated staff to creating such a magical evening for our students in the transition program. It is always a highlight of every of the district every year to see the happy faces of all of our students who have set an opportunity to celebrate such a wonderful night. So, I know that doesn't happen without a
005ton of hard work and so thank you to the transition staff for all they do to make that evening so special for our students. >> Okay. Thank you. And uh we have uh Worcester Public Schools Worcester Mass recognition Dr. Brenda Jitt Diggs and we also have Delaney Walsh uh for sponsoring our Shining Student Gala for all they do with students in transition program to feel loved, valued, and encouraged. And this is signed by myself, the superintendent, and members of the School Committee. If you want to come up, we'll give you a couple uh certificates. The other people will give you the other stuff. >> Yes, sir. Next year. Hey, ready on three, 1 2 3. This one. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Great night. >> Beautiful. >> Thank you. >>
006So good. >> Great dress. >> Thank you. >> It's a lot of fun. >> We had a great time. >> It's good. >> Thank you very much. >> It's fun. >> Okay. Next item up we have uh congratulate South High student-led literary magazine, the Apricot Journal, for their being recognized at the Realm First Class Magazine by the National Council of Teachers of English. Uh Ms. McCollum. >> Thank you. So, I don't know if anyone else has had a chance to look at the Apricot Journal, but it's a pretty impressive publication that these students have put together along with their teacher. And I just thought, you know, this was such an important recognition that it was nice to have them come here and be recognized by us as well. >> Okay. Well, congratulations. Dr. Morse, do
007you want to say anything or >> Thank you for all your hard work, Katie Everitt, and uh we are very proud of our students at South High School. Um the literary magazine is certainly something to be very proud of and it's a spectacular showcase of the amazing talent in the Worcester Public Schools. >> Okay, we have a certificate of recognition. It's being recognized as the Realm first class magazine by National Council of Teachers of English. And uh signed by myself, superintendent, and members of the school committee. Uh Katie Arisey, who's the uh teacher in charge. We have editors-in-chief, uh Madeline Tremblay. Got you. Thank you. And Julia Kay, who's not here, but we have Miles um Bay. Bye. Miles, congratulations. We have uh Okay, we have editors now. It's uh Vasia Amna uh Mankolli. And
008uh And we have other members. We have uh Patience Munyayi, not here. Uh Ashley Serrano. Uh Yu Ai Day Perez. Uh Natasha Deery Two. And Caleb Dunn. Dunn. And Lena Nguyen. And also we have editorial designer uh Esther Hong and Hannah Spratt. Also Isabella Clapper, social media manager. We have a whole crew here, huh? And Lorien Abadeer and Talia Alonzo and Caitlin Filanzino. And Weber and Eiad uh Rawat and Luke Alward and Christian Dunn. Is that everybody? You want to take these? We'll get a picture of the all of us. Yeah. Yeah, we'll stand up for that one. Yeah. Yeah. >> I'm going to do something different. Can you guys all face this way for the picture? >> Okay, we have public comment any member of the public may address the committee regarding any item
009before the before them for 2 minutes so just state your name residence and the item number you want to speak about. No. What's your name? >> Uh Fred Nathan Wister but before I start I just want to say that um obviously the school committee does its due diligence the superintendent but let's face facts. >> It's got to be an item on the agenda. >> I'm going to get to it. >> No it's an item on the agenda go see item number. >> Uh the item about to consider the approval of the title three part A immigrant youth grant in the amount of I mean you know we try to help people but um I I I think there are people out there that I think you spend too much money. I mean this a question
010of if they're legal versus illegal. So I got to say on that. But I um um GB 669 about having a digital hall pass system. That's a great idea. And at some point time uh we're going to have to come to terms uh with this budget. Silly the fact that you have the climate control as was mentioned by uh school committee woman here uh Diana uh Biancheria of $2 million dollars. Well, uh you're closing the alternative schools. You're probably going to have to sell the Fanning building. I don't know. Uh I mean, if there were too many Indian Chiefs here, at some point in time the people are going to revolt. And when they do and they all move out of Worcester and you have no tax base cuz so much is tax exempt, at
011some point time we're going to have to ask the three major colleges that are no more than 2 miles from here to Thank you. kick in. >> Okay. Anybody else? State your name, city of residence, item number. >> Hi. My name is Heather Shanahan. I'm speaking on item GB 6-71, um the BPIP, bullying prevention intervention policy. Um I was looking at the Mass Department of Elementary and Secondary Secondary Education Checklist for the required content of bullying prevention and intervention plans. Um and I I think we're missing some things, um around the reporting procedures for student staff and parent parents, guardians and others. I think that it would be nice and I think it would be really helpful if the if there's clear statements about what constitutes reporting bullying and what doesn't constitute reporting bullying. For
012instance, if it's just filling out the form versus talking to administrators in a school building cuz I did that for a year and none of those things got reported. So, apparently that didn't happen. I'd also like to say that it doesn't look like um we list a range of possible disciplinary actions and I don't see anywhere in there that it talks about balancing discipline with teaching appropriate behavior um or procedures for restoring the target safety. I don't know if you have to state that explicitly but I didn't see it in there um and then um the Sorry, just looking at the checklist real quick. Um the um how parents will be told about the curriculum for anti-bullying. I don't I mean, perhaps it's in the handbook and I just sign it every year and I
013didn't notice it but I didn't see it specifically in the BIPP um as well as well as the reinforcing the curriculum at home. I don't see where we're told what the curriculum is and how we can reinforce it home nor have I ever been party to a meeting where someone tells me how to reinforce bullying prevention at home and I've had a lot of meetings with people about bullying. I don't see anything about the bullying dynamics um or recognizing that certain students may be more vulnerable. I do see that it says that if you're part part protected class, you can state that and I that is on the bullying the um form that you fill out um which I did Wednesday, yesterday, Tuesday maybe. Um again um and then um when you're informing the parents
014and guardians, um I've never been um I actually filed a bullying um form and I was never um told what the investigation found. Uh and I have never um been told what possible outcomes are. Again, I don't need to know the disciplinary actions for the other student, but I don't know the today is the first time really that I've been told a safety plan for my son. Um and I also did see that it says that um in the regulations on DESE's website that you're supposed to have um a hard copy as well as an electronic format of the bullying prevention intervention plan. Um I think that we send out the school handbook electronically now, which is fantastic. I mean, less paper by all means, but also um I don't know if we're following DESE
015regulations on that. So, I do think that that's important to send out. I also would love to know the hierarchy of escalating bullying um problems and who we're supposed to talk to cuz I don't see that on the website either. Thank you. >> Thank you. Oops, sorry about that. I didn't know the wrong buttons. Okay. Okay, we'll We have one person online, Noemi Medina. This your name, city of residence, and live number. >> Okay, I'm unmuted. Can you hear me? >> We can hear you now. Should name city residence and name number? >> Yep, Worcester, Massachusetts. I'm in District E. Since I wanted to speak on the notification of um new hire um instructional staff. So, I'm here um I'm really concerned about the recent decision to dissolve the majority of our school's mental health
016and services and the current move to dismantle special education. It feels like with all of this money that came into the district, the students who need the most support or for our being dumped on the for-profit Central Mass Collaborative. And at today's budget meeting, the superintendent claimed that there will be no difference in the quality of services between the student what the students receive at alternative Worcester Alternative School, which was untrue because it's quite clear that the district still doesn't understand that they the care or understand that the specialized programs for students with IEPs and other programs for regular education students who have system involvement and trauma without an IEP, those are not the same population. It's also concerning that the school committee refuses to send members to negotiate with the teachers union while simultaneously
017scheduling negotiation sessions on the same night as committee meeting. In a decade, I have advocated for equity and inclusion at Worcester Public Schools. I have never seen a district leadership work so hard to ignore educators, parents, and caretakers but to prevent us from presenting our concern. The district has been moved backwards in the backwards direction. We're also seeing fewer teachers and reduced mental health support for students and over-reliance on technology and the preference for profit over people resulted only in performative concern and deep irreversible harm to the district's most vulnerable students. Meanwhile, our Worcester educators and our families are in solidarity. We are one community. Um I think it's really important to note that this the district has shamelessly um added new positions and a very deep-pocketed budget for themselves while the students in the
018district are are suffering and failing. We ask for a better budget and for the district to meet with the super- the superintendent and the district to meet with the educators and to give them what they need, which is a fair contract. Thank you. >> We are on um ports of standing standing committees. First one being finance. Member Carreon, you all set? You want us to just vote collectively on these items? >> Yes, I do. Thank you. I'll second. >> Okay. Everybody all set? Roll call. >> Member Robert? Member Alvarez? >> Yes. >> Member Biancheria? >> Yes. >> Member Banuelos? >> Yes. >> Member Guardiola? >> Yes. >> Member Johnson? >> Yes. >> Member Melvoin? >> Yes. >> Vice Chair McCollough? >> Yes. >> Member Roy? >> Yes. >> Mayor Petty? >> Yes. Next up is
019uh teaching and learning. TOSS. We have a member >> I'll raise my hand, Mr. Mayor. >> Okay. Okay. Take them collectively. Roll call. >> Member Alvarez? >> Yes. >> Member Biancheria? >> Yes. >> Member Banuelos? >> Yes. >> Member Guardiola? >> Yes. >> Member Johnson? >> Yes. >> Member Melvoin? >> Yes. >> Member uh Vice Chair McCollough? >> Yes. >> Member Roy? >> Yes. >> Mayor Petty? >> Yes. Okay. Okay, we are on Christie, we're on what? Approval of grants and other finance items? I mentioned them all. No, that's it. Okay, we're on M. Okay, N. So, uh roll call. Unless anybody has any questions on those. That's N. >> N? >> Yeah. >> Member Alvarez? >> Yes. >> Member Biancheria? >> Yes. >> Member Banenda? >> Yes. >> Member Guardiola? >> Yes. >> Member
020Johnson? >> Yes. >> Member Melendez? >> Yes. >> Vice Chairman Collette? >> Yes. >> Member Roy? >> Yes. >> Mayor Petty? >> Yes. >> Okay, we're on O, response administration request administration provide an update for exploring aviation career program including number of students enrolled, maximum enrollment, and school connected to this program, future of the program with options of expanding this program. Motion is approved and filed. Everybody all set with that? All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Response administration to update the community on plans for the transition program to move out of the Fanning building for the next for next September. Okay, we all set on that? Okay, all those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Consider rescheduling the June 17th, 2026 meeting to June 25th, 2026. Motion is to approve and to file. We have
021no choice. I'm with you, by the way. Uh no, it's a holiday. >> No, it's a No, it's the C >> Oh, State of the Youth, yeah. That's important. Plus, we're using the room. Okay. All right. Okay, all those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Okay. Clerk, is there a receiving up you know, update on West Public Schools collaboration, West of School Library, as well as update on the library programs with within the West Public Schools? Use of the librarians throughout the district including but not limited to the providing updated Sora data and updating on the fourth and fifth prep classes to be used for library period. Recommendation referred to TLSS. I'm um Member Guardiola? >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to make sure that everybody knows at home that uh we were doing
022a bi-annual update and uh unfortunately, you know, we only have updates at a certain time of the year. So, we're going to consolidate these and we're going to hold it and get an annual update going forward with all the uh Sora and library updates. >> Thank you. So, refer to the TLSS. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Next time, administration to approve the easement of National Grid for property situated on the southerly side of Thorndike Road. Motion is approved in the file. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Next item, to explore the cost and feasibility of implementing a digital hall pass system in all secondary schools similar to or the same as the one piloted at the Worcester Tech. Um member McCullah? >> Thank you. I just asked that in this report back
023from administration that we do get um feedback from Worcester Tech because I believe they have a lot of backup that they can share with us on the pilot that they did. Thank you. >> Okay, refer to the administration. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. To review and adopt policy physical restraint of students to align with the new state regulations. DESE requires a policy and accompanying procedures to be placed in place by August 17th, 2026. The motion is referred to operations and governance. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Next item, to review and update, if necessary, policy bullying prevention in accordance with Massachusetts General Law Chapter 71 Section 370 requiring biannual review of such. The motion is referred to operations and governance. We'll let you know what the date is and uh we'll go
024from there. All those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Member Melman? >> I imagine we heard public testimony tonight that we would um the questions that were brought up would be part of what we take a look at in that. Is that right? >> a motion to say to take the testimony and refer it to the committee along with this. >> I'd like to Thank you. That you want this to be motion? >> Yes. >> There you go. >> Okay. For the motion and for the item to be referred, all those in favor, opposed, so ordered. Announcements. We're all set there. We have standing committee on governance meeting on the June 8th and June 11th teaching learning and student success is on that night on June 11th. Okay, the motion is to adjourn. All those in
025favor, opposed, so ordered.