Worcester School Committee Meeting - 03-19-26

001Recording in progress. Just welcome everybody. It's the Worcester School Committee meeting tonight. Uh if you can if you can, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem. 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 [singing] can you see by the dawn's >> [singing] >> early light, what so proudly we hailed >> [singing] >> at the twilight's last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright [singing] stars through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly [singing] streaming? And the rocket's [singing] red glare, the bombs bursting >> [singing] >> in air, gave proof through [singing] the night that our flag was still there. O say, [singing] does

002that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er [singing] the land [music] of the free and the >> [singing] >> home >> [music] >> of the brave? Just ask everybody to remain standing for a moment of silence for our two of our students we lost over the last month um in memory of them. Thank you. Okay. Let's do a roll call. Roll call. Member Alvarez? Present. Member Biancheria? Here. Member Banendo? Here. Member Guardiola? >> Here. Member Johnson? >> Here. Member Mailman? Here. Vice Chair McCollough? Here. Member Roy? Here. Mayor Petty? Here. First up is the consent agenda. I'll do a roll call on that. Member Alvarez? Hang on for a minute, Martha. I just wanted to I had a rec through the chair. I had a I have a recognition on here for the Burncoat Dance Team and

003I will I'm making an amendment to that to add two recent um awards that they had at nationals, so I will work with the clerk's office to get the verbage, but I figure instead of having multiple recognitions to combine them all into one would be preferential for the team as well and for the clerk's office, if that's amenable to people. Okay. So the motion is to approve the consent agenda as amended. Roll call. Member Alvarez? Yes. Member Biancheria? Yes. Member Banendo? Yes. Member Guardiola? Yes. Member Johnson? >> Yes. Member Mailman? Yes. Vice Chair McCollough? Yes. Member Roy? Yes. Mayor Petty? Yes. We are on G, which is the held item, consider rescheduling the School Committee meeting of Thursday, June 18th, 2026 to Wednesday, June 17th, 2026. Motion is to approve the file. All those in

004favor? Opposed? So ordered. Okay, recognitions. Okay, on M, Linda McSweeney, we'll hold that to the next meeting. Next is to recognize student Adrian Fiera Pujia and the bus and bus driver Fabian Torres for their commendable response to a porch fire. And uh anybody from the administration want to speak on that or Okay. Through the chair, I we just want to commend student and bus driver for taking heroic actions to step forward um and recognize the the porch fire and um and what occurred. So we're super proud of both bus driver and our student for their actions on that day. Yes, I want to congratulate, too, on behalf of the community for the wonderful work that you did, how important it was, and uh and say thank you on behalf of the citizens of Worcester. So

005we have two certificates of recognition to Adrian and to Fabian. Um it says a recognition calling 911 response to a porch fire on December 11th, 2025. Your fast call for aid showed courage during an emergency. So we have one for Adrian and we have one for Fabian. And right here. >> [applause] [applause] [laughter] [applause] >> Thanks. Oops. Oh. Next item is to recognize Andrea Cook for being named Central Massachusetts Music Educators Association Middle School Educator I'm sorry, the Mass Music Educators Association Middle School Educator of the Year. Is Andrea out here? Oh, here you are. >> [applause] [applause] >> Uh Member McCollough? Thank you. So I just wanted to congratulate Andrea. Certainly, she has received multiple awards and is more than deserving them, but this is quite a significant award to receive and we just

006appreciate so much all the wonderful work that you do with our children within the district and in the community and how that really benefits not only our students, but our community as well. And I know Principal Irizarry is here tonight and some of your colleagues, so thank you all for coming and supporting her as well. Thank you. >> [applause] >> So we have a certificate of recognition being for Andrea Cook being named Central Mass Music Educators Association Middle School Educator of the Year. Thank you for your dedication promoting the district wide music education to the Worcester public school students. Signed by myself, the superintendent, and the Worcester School Committee. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay, we are on public comment. Any person member of the public may address the school committee regarding

007any before it for 2 minutes. State your name, state your residence, and item number. Yes, thank you. Fred Nathan Wooster. Um GB dash uh 6-7 Um the item about the uh the equitable exposure to um fire safety I I would assume. I I didn't know it wasn't equitable. And I would hope that anything dealing with safety will always be equitable and not ever be any question about it. I hope I'm reading this wrong. I read it over five times. I'm saying Hmm. So, I hope I just misread it five times, but uh the way it's printed up here, it kind of looks like there was a question about whether fire safety education is equitable. I hope I'm wrong in that. But, that's the way I read it. I hope I'm absolutely wrong wrong wrong wrong

008because to ever question fire safety whether it's equitable. Thank you. Anybody else want to speak on that item on the agenda? State your name, state your residence, and item number. Hi, good evening everyone. I'm Nelly Medina and I'm speaking on item J1. So, as a parent of a young child with special needs, I believe the most important Oh, okay. It's out of repetition. Do you want me to wait? No, go ahead. That's my fault. Go ahead. Okay. She got it out It's out of order. You want to take a vote for it to be in order through the chair. Okay, so >> want me to wait? I can come back. No, we can do it up here. So, the motion is to take this out of order. Those in favor? Those who are You get

0093 minutes, I Okay, thank you. >> As a parent of a young child with special needs, I believe the most important first step before standard I test standardized testing is to protect my child's rights and help them cope with potential stress and anxiety. I agree with the other parents who have reached out to me advocating for written notification and consent to be provided 1 to 2 weeks prior to standardized testing. We want to know how many days our students spend at their desks or on devices preparing for standardized tests like MCAS and ACCESS. And when the curriculum focuses solely on preparing students for these tests, we want to know whether our students educators are allowed to teach or held back by test prep. Someone needs to check not just that the money invested in our

010schools is not wasted, but more importantly that valued educators are allowed to innovate. Not just do test prep. And that for our children's that their lives are not wasted. In the decade I have worked as a parent leader and education advocate, the common perception is that not enough parents or caretakers are invested in our children's educational outcomes. Today I stand here requesting a uniform district policy on standardized testing transparency and providing busy caretakers and working class families with meaningful opportunities to support their students and their still students' schools. Following new MCAS results a few weeks back, there was consensus in this room that prioritizing academic support especially for students with disabilities, English learners, and Latinx students is essential to closing the MCAS achieving achievement gap. And recognizing the continued need to support students across the

011district. On behalf of my family and all Wooster Public Schools families, we request a monthly calendar with upcoming test prep and standardized test dates. And we want to know which platforms our children are using to prepare for these tests. And the subject of each upcoming test, a list of resources to support our students, details on how testing will be used to measure their strengths, identify achievement gaps, and how the data is used to inform teaching practices moving forward, as well as what if any role testing will play in teacher and school evaluation. We recognize that Wooster Public Schools has made significant progress in transparency and appreciate the ParentSquare portal. However, as a working class parent who is not always at my computer and given the importance of standardized testing and its implications, we request that

012letters and consent forms be sent in our spoken languages home in our children's bags with the same urgency and attention to detail as notifications about our schools' upcoming picture days. I want to thank my child's school, Goddard Elementary School of Science & Technology, our principal Dr. Allen, and our wrap-around coordinator Ali for all your work and commitment to informing and including parents like myself and caretakers in our children's education. However, more needs to be done administratively and in terms of policy to ensure transparency. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank Thank you, Sue Mailman, for ensuring that parents like my mom and students like me from District E who have no representation on the school committee are supported and seen. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Good evening. My name is Barbara Mad. I'm the education chair

013for the Wooster NAACP and I'm speaking on the superintendent's report uh uh OS 6-6. I'm here to um to read a statement that um from the Wooster NAACP. As an organization dedicated to combating discrimination in all its forms, the Wooster branch of the NAACP will not remain silent in the face of racism and bullying directed at young women representing the city of Wooster. This conduct is intolerable and must be addressed. As a community, we must together take a firm and united stand to protect our young people. Many of us have experienced the damaging effects of racism and cyberbullying and no one, especially our youth participating in sports, should be subjected to such abuse. Athletic spaces must foster teamwork, growth, and character, not fear and intimidation. Reports of fans threatening to call ICE on youth are

014abhorrent, dehumanizing and completely unacceptable. This behavior cannot be tolerated and must be addressed immediately. The young women of South High the young women of South High School's girls' basketball program truly embody the spirit of Wooster with pride, discipline, and excellence. Over the past seasons, they have established one of the most comprehensive programs in the state, reaching the state championship game in both 2024 and 2025, and securing an impressive Elite Eight finish in the state tournament this year. This sustained success is the result of the athletes' relentless dedication, the unwavering support of their families, and the very strong leadership of head coach Diego MacLean, who has worked tirelessly to elevate the program and advocate for student athletes. Thank you. The Wooster branch and the NAACP stands resolutely with these young women. I'm just going to finish

015this one up, please. >> We demand that Wooster Public Schools leadership, the school committee, and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association take immediate and decisive action to fully investigate the reported incidents and ensure that all student athletes are protected and treated with dignity and respect in every competitive setting. Welcome. >> And to the girls, young women, we say Wooster sees you, Wooster is proud of you, and Wooster will always stand with you. Thank you. >> [applause] [snorts] >> Okay. Okay, we have a person online. Do you have to actually Dina? Oh, I'm sorry. We have one more person here. No, go ahead. Dina, hang on for 1 second. State your name, state your residence, and item number. My name is Katherine Holmes. Um I'm living Wooster. I'm speaking on a few different ones. Okay. >> Um

016GB 6-33 and CMB 6-1. Um, but I also want to comment on ROS 6-6 and just commend the family engagement community office. I think they do wonderful work. Um, the wraparound coordinators are awesome. And so is Casey Star. So, I wrote to you guys with lots of questions. Unfortunately, that's how my brain works and I have to live with that every day. But, I do just want to summarize that when we read backups as parents and we're not part of the discussion process that you guys have here, sometimes I think we're just looking for more information. So, when we read them, especially when I read them, I'm looking for information that doesn't lead to more questions. I want to kind of come away feeling like I don't have to go back and ask um additional

017follow-up. So, specifically when we hear great feedback about there's going to be more transparency and there's going to be a rigorous rubric and and we just want to see we're not part of the decision-making process. We don't just want to be told that a decision was made. We want to get to see how the decision was made with some evidence, some qualitative evidence from teachers. I think the multilingual uh curriculum was a great example of seeing the teachers' comments in the backup um and having some quantitative data as well. Um the backup for the 6-1 did read as though there would be a lot of digital delivery of the new math curriculum for elementary school, which um my son entering first grade in the fall will be having his whole elementary career. It sounds like

018it could be a great curriculum. It's just the way it reads is that there's going to be a lot of heavy digital component. Um, that's just how I interpreted it. We also have ST Math and other digital supplemental requirements that the students use in the elementary school and there was nothing about how that's going to change if there's going to be digital component with the new curriculum. And then the common assessment was mentioned 10 times in that backup and I think as Nelly pointed out just more information about these assessments is it's going to be really helpful for for families, um students and teachers. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is your name >> name is Heather Stiddick. Um, I am the table organizer with the Worcester Education Justice Alliance. I have a son in the

019fifth the sixth grade um at Nelson Place. Um, I'd like to voice my support for um CNP 6-1 um and I would like to talk about um GB 6-6. Um the Reveal Math Curriculum. Um, I think that there needs to be we're talking about transparency, right? In today in today's report of the superintendent. Um, I want to also commend um the family and community engagement team led by uh Casey Star and the communications um led by Dana O'Brien and say that um Parent Square has really increased transparency to caregivers within the Worcester Public Schools um and we really appreciate that. We appreciate all of the opportunities to give feedback to the administration. Um, but for things like curriculum where we're going to be using this for the next 6 years and we're spending $3.2 million

020on it, I think it does need some community feedback. Um, I think at least it should go to TLSS to have more comment on this and more time for comment. Um I would also like to say that as I absolutely appreciate everything that the family and community engagement team does, I think it needs to be really clear who is allowed to be at what event. Um, specifically I'm talking about the technology team and the SAFE meetings. Um, if that is not open to any member of the public, that needs to be specifically noted especially since the response from this administration about bullying was to attend SAFE meetings. If you're saying that only members of the SAFE meeting can attend SAFE meetings, then please don't tell us that we should go find out more information about

021bullying at that meeting. I'm just about done. Um so I think there needs to be more transparency around who is allowed where and why we are not allowed if we're not. Um and that is it. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Okay, we have a person online. Dina, Is your name city of residence? Hi, can you hear me okay? Well, hang on, Dina. Hang on. Okay, great. Hi, this is Dina Tedeschi. I'm a Worcester resident. I'm also a parent of a Worcester Public School graduate as well as a current eighth grader. Uh I just want to make some comments tonight regarding ROS 6-6 and um 6-33. I also want to just make take a minute to echo the comments of Ms. Stiddick, Ms. Holmes and Ms. Mudd and Ms. um Ms. Tina as far

022as all the comments that they made. So, I'll try not to duplicate. As far as ROS 6-6, just we can't think say uh speak as highly can't speak any more higher regards than the wonderfulness of the FACE team. Casey Star and her team as well as the communications team um with Dana O'Brien and his folks. So, we just want to give a shout-out to them cuz they do amazing work and we really appreciate it. We love the reps. We love the work that they do and the Parent Square communication has really been a huge change and it's well appreciated by parents. For 6-33, just want to make some comments regarding the math curriculum. We would appreciate that that goes to TLSS for some discussion like it did with CKLA when there was a curriculum change

023and if that could be adjusted, we would really appreciate it. Thank you. I see nobody else. Council King. Is your name city of residence? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Christian King, vice chair of the City Council, councilor at large. Um, I stand before this body to speak on ROS 6-6. Um as it pertains to family engagement and the community um relative to the South High incident that's occurring. I want to begin um by thanking um Coach Diego MacClain for his responsiveness, uh the principal over at South, Principal P. Um I want to thank I just came up on my Parent Square, a joint statement from Mayor Petty um and Superintendent Allen. Um and for the members of this body that have been responsive, um our adjustment counselors, our wraparound coordinators, um etc. Our climate and culture

024folks. Um Mr. Chairman, um I am also standing before you as a father um of three girls who've played sports here in the City of Worcester, um who've played for Worcester Public Schools and private schools, um a social worker, a coach, a youth coach, a girls coach. Mr. Chairman, and I stand asking for this body and for the administration to come up with a plan on behalf of our young folks. Um, this is not a one-off. This is not simply about a post. Um, we have members here who have coached on the high school level, whose whose uh players have experienced this. I've experienced it. Um there's folks that have experienced this sort of um vitriol, hate, and derision of of uh Worcester Public Schools folks um for decades um going back to the '80s

025and beyond. Um and so I'm asking not to treat this as a one-off. It has to stop. We have to come up with a plan. Um I would encourage you to reach out to David Shay, the athletic director. He's well aware over his decade and a half of the numerous instances within which this has occurred for men, women, and people playing sports. Um I also ask, Mr. Chairman, I only have a couple seconds left here. Um that um in addition to that we reach out to our coaches, our alumni, and do the same. We have to come up with a plan um when our folks leave the safe confines of Worcester um that we are creating and seeding an environment where there will not be tolerance for the mistreatment of our young people. Thank you,

026Mr. Chairman. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Okay, we're going to go on to the uh agenda. We are on K, report of the superintendent, uh vision and action, vision of a leader, family and community engagement. Mr. Superintendent. To the To the chair. So, I think the public comment uh really introduced uh this topic, but I'll I'll ask Casey Star and Dana O'Brien to come up for the presentation on family community engagement and uh communications. As everyone knows, both family and community engagement and communication is a critical part of our strategic plan, which I'm sure is in the slides or I know is in the slides. Um as well as uh internal external communication is a a particular focus area of uh the district this year. So, we are pleased uh to share with you uh

027work that we're doing both in family and community engagement and communications uh throughout the district. So, I'll turn it over to the team. Good evening. My name is Casey Star and I'm director of family and community engagement. And this is >> [laughter] >> Sorry. Hi, I'm Dana O'Brien, the chief communications officer for the district. We're excited to be with you this evening to provide an update on both of our departments. Next slide, please, Casey. By the end of this presentation, the School Committee will receive updates from both the Department of Family and Community Engagement and Communications. We'll review progress on strategic plan priorities and the district goal number one of the Communications Framework and understand our road map for future work. Next slide, please. As always, this work is rooted in the district strategic plan,

028which identifies six priority areas, one of which is Family and Community Engagement. Next slide, please. The Family and Community Engagement priority area identifies two aims that the district is working towards. The first is strengthening relationships with caregivers to maximize student achievement and growth. And the second is growing a culture that ensures that all scholars, families, and staff feel empowered to engage authentically in the educational process. Next slide, please. First, I'm going to give you an overview of the work happening in the Family and Community Engagement Department. And in a few minutes, Dan will give you an overview of the work happening in the Communications Department. Next slide, please. To begin, I would like to frame this work in the visual you see on the screen depicting an ecosystem of support. This represents the interconnected systems

029that surround a student. Families, schools, community partners, and district departments all working together for student success. At the Worcester Public Schools, our Family and Community Engagement work is grounded in values of partnership, equity, access, shared responsibility, and authentic voice. Research consistently shows that strong family engagement improves attendance, academic outcomes, and student sense of belonging. But meaningful engagement doesn't happen by accident. It requires intentionality and strong systems. Next slide, please. The Worcester Public School Family and Community Engagement Framework serves as our road map for this work. It's organized into key pillars of strengthening relationships, building capacity, and improving communication. All aimed at creating empowered caregivers, welcoming environments, and strong partnerships. Rather than operating through isolated initiatives, the framework helps us ensure that family engagement efforts across the district are connected, strategic, and sustainable. And just as

030importantly, having a district-wide framework reinforces that engagement is not just the responsibility of one office. It is a shared commitment across the whole district. Next slide, please. One of the focus areas of our office has been strengthening family voice and leadership. We believe deeply in shared decision-making. Families should not only receive information, they should help shape decisions. Listed on the screen are some spaces where family leadership currently exists across the district. This year, we worked we worked to ensure that school site councils were established in every school and created a page on the district website where meeting dates and agendas are publicly posted. Next year, our focus will shift towards strengthening and growing these councils, deepening participation, improving shared decision-making practices, and increasing clarity around roles. We are also working to strengthen connections and develop

031clear structures between the different family engagement groups. Authentic partnership requires thoughtful coordination, ensuring these groups communicate and inform one another so that family voices are amplified and ultimately reflected in district decisions and practices. Next slide, please. As outlined in our Family and Community Engagement Framework, strong partnerships require intentionally building our collective capacity to work together. Engagement also means helping families understand how our systems work, including district policies, structures, and opportunities for participation so that all families can be active partners in their students' education. Our department collaborates with community partners to hold events and programs specifically for Worcester Public School families. Additionally, we expanded school outreach school enrollment outreach efforts by holding information sessions and open houses. And by partnering with organizations such as the Worcester Family Partnership and the YWCA to ensure families have accessible

032information and support when entering our system. These efforts help families feel more confident, informed, and connected to their students' education. Next slide, please. Our wraparound coordinators are central to our ecosystem of support. This is only our third school year of having wraparound coordinators in every building, and their role has already transformed how we support students and families. This year, we released a new wraparound coordinator guidebook, a living document developed with significant input from wraparound coordinators themselves. It provides district guidance, outlines best practices, and creates consistent approaches across schools. It was truly a for wraps, by wraps initiative. We also launched a wraparound coordinator professional learning community to strengthen collaboration, share strategies, and build capacity across schools. By strengthening the wraparound coordinator network, we are increasing our schools' ability to respond effectively and through a holistic

033lens to student and family needs. Next slide, please. The impact of the Family and Community Engagement Department can be seen in the direct support provided to families across the district. The primary areas of need include food, health care, housing, after-school programs, ESL classes, employment, and immigration support. These numbers reflect both the significant needs within our community, but also the strength of the support structures we are building. Next slide, please. Equitable engagement requires language access. Our Translation and Interpretation Department ensures that families can meaningfully participate in their children's education by making school meetings and communication accessible in families' home languages. This year, the Translation and Interpretation Department focused on expanding its turn internal capacity by hiring 19 additional part-time translators and interpreters, the use of technological tools, and revised district guidelines to provide clearer procedures. You

034could see on the slide that there's been a significant increase in interpretation requests this year, as well as the list of top translated and interpreted languages. Next slide, please. By supporting individual students and families, we're also working to systematize and Beyond supporting individual students and families, excuse me. We're also working to systematize and strengthen coordination across the district. The goal is not simply to respond to crisis, but to create streamlined systems that prevent students and families from falling through gaps. The picture on this slide is an important partnership to highlight. The Burncoat Quadrant Wraparound Coordinators have been working collaboratively to establish a strong partnership with the Worcester Housing Authority and with the families who reside in Great Brook Valley. This partnership is not just a photo opportunity. These relationships have led to stronger collaboration and

035better for support for students and families. Next slide, please. As we look ahead, the priorities for the Family and Community Engagement Department include strengthening family engagement groups at both the school and district levels, increasing alignment between school and district engagement structures, improving data collection to better understand the impacts, growing capacity building efforts for both families and staff, and developing a best practices guide to ensure consistency across schools. Our work is about building systems that make authentic partnerships possible, where families are welcome, informed, and empowered to lead along our schools. When these partnerships are strong, students have the full ecosystem of support they need to thrive. Thank you, Casey, and good evening, everyone. At this time, we'll give an overview of the work happening in the Communications Department. Next slide. So, of course, this all goes

036hand in hand with our uh Family and Community Engagement efforts that Casey just spoke about. Next slide, please. For the current school year, Communication Strategy and Framework is one of the three goals district goals, which states that by June 2026, the district will implement a unified communications framework. This goal is in alignment with the Family and Community Engagement key priority of the district strategic plan, as we mentioned at the beginning of this presentation. Next slide, please. Last year, my team and I held collaborative meetings where we discussed what would be our core values and mission as a Communications Department. We felt it was important to have a common sense of purpose and direction to lead our work. Our department's core values align with the district core values, which are seen on the right. Equity, inclusivity,

037belonging, respect, and collaboration. In the Communications Department, our core values are that we work at high standards because that's what our families and staff deserve. We embrace systems that ensure all schools and families are served equitably. We foster a culture of engagement, inclusion, and belonging. We value feedback, differing perspectives, and collaboration. And we care about the well-being and success of the district's students, staff, families, and the broader community of Worcester. Next slide, please. The mission and core values underlie and support our overall communications framework, which is categorized into four large buckets. Internal communications, which is staff. External communications, which means family, students, community members, and other external party parties like the news media. Crisis communications, and feedback and continuous improvement. Next slide, please. The first bucket is internal communications. Staff communications can be a challenge

038in an organization as large as ours, especially when you consider that we work in more than 50 different locations. To improve staff communications, we landed on these themes. Feedback from staff is essential. We need to address the issue of over-communication in certain areas, increase communication in other areas. We need to ensure consistency and reliability, alignment, and reduce bottom making. And we need to leverage our new and existing communications tools such as Parent Square and our intranet Team Online. Next slide, please. To start, we knew we needed feedback from staff. So, the communications department held a couple of large group meetings with staff from various departments and schools to collect their input about internal communication. What was working well, where was there room for improvement, and what tools were available. My team and I synthesized the

039feedback on all that chart paper that you can see on the screen on the left-hand side. During that time frame under the leadership of Dr. Morris and Dr. Coo, we launched the internal memo system for school principals and directors. Now, anytime there is information that needs to be shared regarding things like policy changes or legal guidance, every principal and director receives a formal memo via email from the deputy superintendent's office, and those memos are stored in a repository on our internet system Team Online for reference later, which is shown on the right. Next slide, please. Something we knew was working well, but just needed to be enhanced was the weekly updates for principals newsletter, which goes to district district directors as well. This used to be called the principals padlet. Updates for principals, which you

040can see on the left, contain need-to-know information specifically for principals, including essential guidance on a wide variety of topics such as school budget allocations, safety plans, human resources information, and more. This newsletter is created on Parent Square and shared via email, text, or app with principals and directors every Monday. It's compiled by executive director Ellen Kelly. New this year was the launch of the weekly all-staff newsletter on your right. The all-staff newsletter has greatly improved coordination and alignment of internal messaging. We no longer have multiple departments sharing multiple newsletters, and we have greatly reduced the number of mass emails, alleviating {quote} over-communication in this area. Next slide, please. The next area focus is crisis communications, which can range from public safety incidents to unexpected issues that require communication to our family, staff, and community. We

041work closely with the district safety director Dr. Matt Morris on the development of the crisis communication and response manual for schools, which contain dozens of crisis communications templates and protocols, and an overview of the I Love You Guys framework. Additionally, we have all of the crisis communications templates on a shared Google Drive that is available for all principals as well as administrators. Next slide, please. The next area is external communications, which is the communication that most of you are familiar with. External communication includes our weekly newsletter on Parent Square to families. Um excuse me, our weekly Parent Square newsletter to families and communication from school to caregivers, social media, media relations, our website, which we strive to ensure is accessible for people with disabilities, multilingual for non-English speakers, accurate, and easy to navigate. Our high-quality

042video and photography, nearly all of which is taken by our communication specialists videographers at the Worcester Educational Access Television. And branding and graphic design. This type of communication is so important. It allows the community to understand what's truly happening every day in the Worcester Public Schools and helps us convey a sense of welcoming, belonging, and of course allows families and the community to stay informed. Next slide, please. I just want to take a brief moment to point out what many of you already know, which is that the Parent Square platform has been transformative in how we communicate with families in the Worcester Public Schools. We're now in our third year of using Parent Square, which allows us to communicate with families and hear from them in a manner that meets them where they are. The

043feature of instant language translations during back-and-forth text and direct messages has been a game-changer alone. Some of the other features include late bus and attendance notices, specialized groups, newsletters, permission slips, alerts, and much more. Next slide, please. Feedback is always important so that we continuously improve as a department and a district. As we communicate, excuse me, as we continue to develop the communications framework, we felt it was important to gather robust feedback this year to help guide its development. From January 20th through February 12th, in collaboration with the Office of Research and Accountability, we shared a communication survey for caregivers, staff, students in grades 9 through 12, and community members, which generated more than 900 responses. We are currently working through the results, but we have some quick highlights that we can share today. Next

044slide, please. In the caregiver survey, we asked what your preferred method of receiving What is your preferred method of receiving communication from your child's school or the district? The options were email, text, phone call, etc. The overwhelming response, 88%, was a text message or an alert through the Parent Square app was their preferred method, which are basically the same thing. We also asked if Parent Square has improved communications in the Worcester Public Schools over the past 3 years since it was introduced. Among the caregivers who have been in the district more than 3 years, 83% said communications have tremendously or moderately improved as a result of Parent Square. We also asked about the frequency of communication. We asked how often caregivers received messages from their child's school and whether it was too much or too

045little. About three quarters of them said that they received {quote} the right amount of information from their child's school. Well, overall, this is very positive. We want to make sure we're educating schools on best practices on using the platform to prevent both over-communication and under-communication. Next slide, please. So, what's next for the communications department? We're going to finalize a report on the survey results, which will guide the remainder of our work on the communications framework document along with the development of a communications guidebook for staff. Additionally, we'll use the survey results and framework to guide our long-term strategic planning of communication initiatives to support the strategic van plan and vision to action. Next slide, please. The departments of family and community engagement and communications work hand-in-hand to advance the Worcester Public Schools strategic plan goals,

046recognizing that our work is deeply connected. We'd like to thank you for listening to our presentation, and we're open to any questions you may have. Thank you so much. Member Bananda? I I just want to say that I think Parent Square was such a great idea. Um it just takes a while to get used to it with all the things that can really do. So, I think you've done a great job with that, and I I hope more parents um get on to using it. And I don't know if it's because maybe they don't have the computers or that they're not using it in their their phones cuz there are, you know, 25,000 students, and some of them have several in the same family. So, what is the percentage of families that are actually using

047it? Well, the good news is that all families, regardless of whether they signed up or not, receive at all the information. Um I don't know what an exact percentage offhand. Um I want to say it was over 50% that downloaded the app the last I checked. But again, they don't necessarily need to download the app. They're still going to get the information and the communication. >> Thank Thank you. And I like that it comes in all those languages, too, which is which is really great. And so, do the parents um when they sign in, put the language they prefer to receive everything in, and that's how you know the language? Through the chair. Um it depends on the device. Often times, it's automatic just based on the device they have. They don't have to do

048anything. Um but they also have the option to select um whatever's in our student information system is also just coded directly into Parent Square for their language. That's great. And then, my last question is, is Remind still used in conjunction with it or is or I I think it's the same company, right, that bought it? >> Correct. So, do we still use Remind or just Parent Square? >> Um through the chair, uh we use we now just use Parent Square. Um and you're you are correct. It was acquired by Parent Square as well. Yes, thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Um Member Roy, then Member Alvarez. Hi, good evening. Um through the chair. Thank you so much. That was a wonderful report. I'm I'm really very big on parent involvement in

049their children's education and this was a very well thought out report. Um, one question I had had that kind of follows what member Benitez said. I've had such positive feedback from the many parents I've spoken to that they use ParentSquare almost on a daily basis. If there's something they're confused about, they've called me and I'm very more than happy to help them. Um, I just wanted to say basically thank you and I love what you're doing to incorporate the parents and keeping it transparent and making sure our parents have a say in their child's education. It's working. Member Alvarez. Thank you for the report. I was actually looking forward to this, especially um, being able to talk to school educators in the last couple of weeks. Um, I also learned that engagement and is very

050important, right? And those there's been It has been noted that there's like a pattern of parents who are responding to our communication, who are actively following through. Um, a it's a better ride for their child, I guess you can put it, um, with symbols, right? Um, they, for example, if their their kids has an IP, a 504 or any other accommodation that requires more communication than normal for meetings, for updates and and all of that, those parents who respond to that, um, their child, um, has a better one, the parents have better understanding of the process and two, um, the IEPs or 504s or whatever plans are also, um, more consistent with what with the accommodations, modifications that they need. They're more consistent with receiving, uh, their instruction based on where they're at or what

051level they're at, um, who need those supports. But what about the parents who aren't consistent with communication, who aren't responding, who who may appear not interested, but in reality maybe they just don't understand or, um, or whatever that looks like for them. Can you speak a little bit about on the >> Mr. Through the chair, thank you for your question. I think that that's very, very important and I just want to echo what you said that just because a parent isn't responding to the first message or the first outreach does not mean that they don't care about their children's education and that they're not invested in their children's education and that is exactly the work that our wraparound coordinators are focused on. And so we spend a lot of time actually in our department meetings

052talking about best practices for how to engage families that maybe, um, don't respond right away to some of the more traditional forms of communication and, um, our wraparound coordinators will reach out via WhatsApp, they'll text, they have a lot of different We really try to be intentional to ensure that we're going out of our way to connect with our families who may not traditionally be showing up in spaces that, um, have more traditionally expected participation and I think that we're doing a really, really good job of reaching out in whatever ways families need and building those relationships and inviting families in to participate in different opportunities. Yes, thank you for that. I also heard that and and I know that every day is a new day and every day we we approach this. Um, I'm

053wondering if um, in addition to that, if we're for those that we know aren't being consistent like since the beginning of the year up until now, um, if it would be okay to also re like reach out to them and say, "Hey, I noticed that, uh, you know, uh, whatever they want to however they want to form that and kind of just shed light to it, um, or call it out, be transparent and saying like, "I noticed you haven't really, um, participate or whatever it is, um, can we meet about it?" Or and then kind of shape them into and set the tone up for their next school year because the, um, IEPs are evaluated every 3 years. Mr. Through the chair, absolutely. I think again that's some of the work that our wraparound coordinators

054are able to do in partnership with the entire school. I think that one of the intentions behind the wraps is that when when other school staff have identified, "Hey, I tried to get in touch with this family or I'm trying to feed them like we haven't quite figured that out." That's where our wraps are really stepping in to bridge that gap. And I think that it's really a best practice when a family does not show up at a meeting or a family wasn't able did not necessarily follow through, the best practice is to reach out after and say, "Hey, I missed you. Let's let's have coffee. Let's talk about why you weren't able to come and how I can make it easier for you next time." And that is work that our wraparound coordinators are

055doing. Thank you for the information. >> Thank you. Member Mailman. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent, for, um, some great departments here. Um, >> [snorts] >> the public petition that was put on by Nelly today, um, the comments about the South High experience, um, the questions and concerns about the curriculum that we're going to take a look at shortly. Um, you guys are both at the center of everything that happens in this district and, um, the more I hang around, the more I appreciate the, um, value of your work and know that, um, we can endlessly do better. Um, so our statements about South, um, when we live in a country where the President of the United States is a racist bigot and makes these comments all the time, it gives, um, credence to people to

056think that they can do it. But this this racism and this underlying, um, these aggressions that have happened throughout history and to our kids in the city, um, it just I don't I feel like the job is bigger. Our job is bigger right now than it ever has been and, um, I just ask the Superintendent and both of your departments to appreciate that the the the timeliness with which we respond to families, to community because everybody's watching. We can all read the most disgusting sh that, you know, we've all seen and, um, member McCullough was talking today about, you know, reading other comments about just neighborhoods in the city and how it's so it's not just people in this town or that town, it's people in our own community and I think that all of

057us public officials have, um, must stand up to the hateful, um, nonsense that goes on and, um, to always be to be mindful, too, of our girls, um, and sometimes there are occasions where we have specific populations that are, um, that are more impacted by others and again, this national nonsense is absolutely impacts families, kids, all of us, um, as we serve here and, um, so I I appreciate, um, Councilor King's call for a plan about the, um, racism that our kids, um, endure, whether it's internally or externally. I think we're all going to need that anyways at the end of this craziness that we're living through right now. Um, I also just wanted to lastly, and so I thank you both for your work cuz I know that you're you're responsive certainly to me

058and I'm sure to every school committee person here and to our families and they appreciate that. Um, last thing I wanted to just comment on was Heather's, um, comments about the informal groups that we have. I think that definitely, um, needs more thinking about and how we reform groups and think about other participation and other, um, at different times. I think it really matters. Um, and I also think that the more So I think I'll I'll leave it at that, but thank you for your report. Member Guardiola, you want to go? >> Sorry, I just want to one more comment. I I'd like to make a motion that we, um, that we send for uh, ask the Superintendent to get some guidance from MIAA about what they are doing, not just for our situation in

059Andover, but for the entire, you know, they have a state responsibility here and this isn't this is happening in Springfield and all the other places where we might guess it is and, um, I think we should push them for some more, um, outward communication. Thank you. Member Guardiola followed by member Being Carrie. Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Um, and through you, I want to say thank you so much to for the report. I appreciate it. I know, uh, you know, there's so many things that people don't recognize that you do on a daily basis and, uh, I feel like I harass you, Casey, on a regular basis trying to connect you to various groups that I work with, uh, but I do appreciate it because I think it's so important for the things that may

060not get recognized on a daily basis, but are so impactful for our students. I really do appreciate it. Um, you know, working with, uh, you know, our philanthropic philanthropic groups are Worcester Housing Authority leaders uh, or housing organization leaders is really crucial. You know, the work that people do it with in your group and your division about, you know, the gift cards, the the winter coats, food insecurity. Again, you know, a few years ago I really talked about how important food is and nutrition is and I stand by and I continue to, you know, continue to work with you folks and and there there are some folks that have, you know, dietary religious restrictions and you address that for us and I appreciate that through the chair how hard you work. I know that some

061of the things that you have control of are granular and that's great. I think that that's fantastic. Going through the day-to-day things that you only have control of right now is what what we need on the Worcester Public Schools. Thank you so much and I want to really give a shout out because I work with the reps on different things and whether other organizations that I work with, you know, they do fill that gap. They fill the gap that I know that they the students or even the parents feel comfortable reaching out to them directly or vice versa where they have that ability to relay information that they may not feel comfortable doing to the full administration. So, to me that is the stuff that we're doing correctly and continue to do correctly. The one

062thing the other thing I wanted to say was, you know, in these conversations that I'm having with parents, that Parents Square app is fantastic. I and I appreciate it so much because that having, you know, having those folks have that information at their fingertips on a real-time basis is so crucial because they may not have the time. They're working sometimes two, three jobs, but they get that information right away. We, you know, we talk about some of the issues we've had in the past with buses and times, right? With that they have that information now. We're trying to continue to lower the margin of error that we can in front of us. So, I just wanted to say thank you again. The only question I would have through the chair, you know, as you mentioned

063earlier about, you know, how other parents that may not be using their phone and again, I get this question as well and you there are other options. I actually still get questions from folks about are we ever going to be sending stuff in the mail? And I again, I'm a I'm a believer in, you know, trying to cut down as much on paper, but you know, getting a newsletter sometimes, I know it's very difficult, but they really want to talk about how other things and that includes sending it maybe not just the parents specifically one-on-one, but sending it to groups that they work with. So, again, I would just through the chair to this administration, what is the plan to continue to grow Parents Square? And again, that doesn't have to be the paper side,

064but what is the continue to to grow it? Uh thank you through the chair. Not used to being up here. Thank you for the for the question. Um you know, one of the things we've done a lot over the last, I'd say, year and a half is really work with sort of two-pronged, your division a lot with the wrap-around coordinators on the more like the touchpoint with the families to help them understand and I think they even did some stuff in Great Brook Valley, which was really great. Um and then on the staff side, we've had my team kind of go out to certain schools that we saw maybe they could be using it more or maybe not enough teachers were using it. So, we would like work with the principals and do some demos.

065We've we've had webinars internally. So, it's sort of like a multi-pronged approach, I would say. Yeah, and again, I I again, I was very adamant I don't think we have to go backwards to sending hard news, but you know, maybe it's just a a suggestion. I know you're doing it on on a certain level, but these groups meet on a regular basis and having somebody there to kind of talk about some of the goals for the next quarter or next year is so important to them because they're hearing directly from the administration. But again, aside that, I appreciate all the work. I think this is, you know, we're really working hard to grow this aspect of Worcester Public Schools, so thank you so much. Thank you. Member Biancheria? Thank you. Uh first of all, thank

066you administration. This was very interesting and it's great to see that it's not only uh working, but we're hitting more and more families and students in what we need to do and get get the word out there. Um as far as um I'm just going to stick with the report. I'm not going to get any worldly issues here. So, when we look at page uh 24 in what we were given for an agenda, you talk about data and impact. So, you have down gift cards, um we reported times reps have supported a family to access resources. You have down 4,600 um winter coats 1,250 family events 566. What what I'm looking at is I know over the years and most recently this past year, we have all at some point participated in gathering uh whether

067it's hats and gloves, uh coats, um we've had um different events. Um I know um I Kathy Roy from District E and myself have done a couple of different things um to get some coats, the hats, the mittens, socks, um PJs. So, we're we're looking at different ways of supporting what we're doing with our students. Um so, what agencies in the city do you feel as though you are branching out to to ensure that you're getting um as much as we can for our kids? I I'm I guess I would make a motion that we receive a list of the agencies that you work with. So, we have that knowledge and if we are working with that agent agency for another um area, I mean, we're all out there as my colleague Jessica Hussein from

068District D that um we're all out there doing different things to support our kids. So, I think if we had a list of the agencies and we are going to that agency for something else, we can, you know, bring up what we can do for for our kids at Worcester Public Schools specifically. Um I think that'll help us all the way around as far as that goes. You talk about the um core values of communication and you're looking at high standards because of what our families and staff deserve and that goes across the board. Um not only for our administration and our and our our staff, but also school committee members. Uh we embrace systems that ensure all schools and families are served equitably. Um everybody seems to be throwing that word around. There was

069a comment that was made this evening um in reference to an item on the agenda and um I feel as though when we're embracing systems, when we're looking at the fact that we have over 130 languages and we have access to being able to not only print that out, but to send that out in 130 different languages, um I'm not quite sure how we can up that board as far as that goes, but I think we're doing a great job with that. So, I certainly thank administration for that. Um we foster a culture of engagement, inclusion and belonging. Um visiting schools, you can see um so much of the engagement not only with the communities, the parents and the kids. Um even during recess time, there's there's a a flow of what they're doing and

070and how they're doing it uh with our staff. So, I certainly give credit to them. We value feedback and um different perspectives. Um what should be there is we also celebrate uh collaboration. So, if we could at some point in time with [snorts] all of what's going on um and and look at different impacts, we tend to um look at what is not working. Um we I I want to see the celebrations. So, I'm I'm I'm also going to make a motion that um next time around when we have a report from administration, there's two or three celebrations of what what we have for our kids to do that is fun, that is happy, that is bringing people together in on a good occasion and showing what what we what force we we have and

071I think that'll do us all some good. Um we care about the well-being and success of our district as always, students, staff, families um in the broader community and I like that sentence. I certainly do appreciate that and I want to thank you again for the report. Thank you. We all set? Thank you so much for the report. I can't comment too much, but you know I love what you both do and I appreciate it, so thank you. So, the motions on the floor are from members Biancheria and members member Mailman. Member Mailman's item is around the MIAA and the superintendent working with them back on some ongoing issues um overall, not just our specific issue and get back in touch with us on that and then member um Biancheria's Mailman I'm sorry, member sorry,

072member I'm reading what I have written down. Member Biancheria's motions around getting the list of agencies and um celebrations in future reports. Um the clerk had brought it to my attention recently when we do those types of things, we make these motions, they really should be made motions to get in a Friday letter because when we approve and file the item, it really is filed. So, it shouldn't be a separate motion. So, those will be made as motions to get back in a Friday letter. But then certainly, if there are items that trans come from those, then the member can put them on. But the motion is to approve and file the item. So, when you make motions like that, they really can't be done as part of that item. Um is that correct, Madam

073Clerk? So, those will go a member Mailman? So, all right. I apologize you know, this came up recently. When we do emotions like that on an item that we're approving and filing cuz we're approving the report of the superintendent and filing it, you can't make a motion on that item because it's being approved to be filed. So, you can make a motion to get that back in a Friday letter. And then if you have other items that you want to submit based on that information, you can then do that so that it's a separate item in and of itself because those motions aren't pertinent after we approve and file. So, it would go motion to um Friday letter or information back from the superintendent. Member Mailman? Um I guess you're saying we're going to approve

074and file the report. However, these additional motions will be an additional will be after we file and approve the report. And then I don't know why it has to be in a Friday letter, why it can't come back. >> Because you'd have to file a separate item then. I could tell you that you you can't make a motion on an item that's being approved and filed and you could come back at a later date and make your own separate item. This way at least it gets going now. And then if you have an item that you want to put back on like for example, if we're approving and filing, if we didn't do it that way where it went to the Friday letter, I'd have to tell you you can file an item for the

075next meeting. A separate item. Is that correct, Madam Clerk? >> I Or we would have to hold the report. For the responses. >> Correct. So, the only way you can do it is to say it has to be in a Friday letter. Or I can tell or or that would be the only thing a response back from administration. Okay. >> And that usually would be in the Friday letter and then you can file a separate item. >> Then there's no way for us to there's no way to tell the public when those Friday letter like when the response to them is. I um through the superintendent, I believe you could clarify on this. I believe that we do have a newsletter that goes out that provides the public information that's requested as part of the

076Friday letter and it's on our website. Is that correct? Yes, through the chair. Okay. I mean, I'm okay, but I I'll talk to the clerk later. Thank you. So, then the first motion is to approve and file the report of the superintendent. All those in favor? I. Opposed, so voted. And then the second If are we okay with taking those motions collectively? So, if we take the motions by members M- being Carrea and Mailman collectively to get information back regarding the items on the MIAA, the agencies, and moving forward with recognizing celebrations, all those in favor? Opposed, so voted. All right, so both those motions carry. So, then our next item is approval of grants and other finance items to consider approval of a prior year payment to an employee in the amount of 2,084

077and 11 cents. Um Madam Clerk, could you call the roll, please? Member Alvarez? Yes. Member Being Carrea? Yes. Member Brennanda? Yes. Member Guardiola? >> Yes. Member Johnson? Yes. Member Mailman? Yes. Vice Chair McCala? Yes. Member Roy? Yes. Mayor Petty? So, the motion carries in the approval of grants. The next item on the agenda is general business 6-7 from member Alvarez, response from the administration to request administration to provide a report on which Worcester public schools received in-school fire safety visits from Worcester Fire Department during the last five academic school years and any planned visits during this current year, including the grade levels, the frequency and format of the visits, and the criteria or process used to determine which schools receive visits. The report should also include any plans to expand or standardize access to ensure

078all students have equitable exposure to fire safety education. Member Alvarez? Thank you for the report. I just wanted to go over some things that um I would just like to see or hear on. Uh at that last City Council meeting, I forgot the date. I think it was in February 13th or something. Um or the 12th. We the chief informed us that the visits for the fifth grade classes that are being visited um that those visits will start happening mid to late February. And I know that on this report, it says that um it has been on hold on they're still trying to schedule those visits with the health teachers in our schools. Um have we been able schedule anything or lock anything in? Mr. Tony? Yep. Uh through the chair, uh with the health

079liaison and the Worcester Fire Department, we have started the visits uh starting in March. So, I have it up now. We've been to Wachusett, Consigli, Jacob Hiatt, Columbus Park, Canterbury, Wachusett, Clark, Burncoat, and then Worcester Dual Language, CityView, Woodland, and then Roosevelt today. Nice. I heard some um schools located in D4. I know that D4 has a lot of fires going on. Um it's more prone to happen there based on any other parts of the city. Uh so, thank you for that. And Yeah, that's you answered my question. So, to wrap up my thought, I know I had one more thing, but I would I guess I would just like to keep um listening to or being up-to-date on what schools you guys are visiting um and your experiences there. I know that uh the

080chief in the meeting had stated that schools are usually selected by request, but it sounds like for the schools that you visited, you guys approached them and were like, "Hey, can we come visit?" Is Yeah. So, through the chair, uh when we met with the Worcester Fire Department, we kind of want to streamline it so we made sure that we got out to all schools. So, it wasn't just like a reaching out, it was like more planned so we can reach all the schools. Right, cuz I know there hasn't been like a concrete process on how to do this like, you know, trial and error. So, thank you. Sorry. Member Being Carrea? Thank you. I just wanted to make a couple of comments in reference to this item. Um and that is um to one

081to thank the Fire Department for their engagement and their participation and their concern with our community. Um and the fact that they are there and have been there um at every scene that we've had to deal with as far as this uh contacting them and uh responding to a 911 call um when absolutely necessary. And they've been uh pretty stand-out employees of the city of Worcester um along uh with many others who wear uniforms. So, their consistency in service should be commended and recognized. And they are participating not only in our schools, but are in in our community on a regular basis. And I would like to extend a thank you to them on behalf of the School Committee. Thank you. Thank you. The next item um so, then the motion is to approve and

082file. All those in favor? Opposed, so voted. Then the next item we have is 6-29 filed by myself to explore the possibility of creating guidance liaison or guidance Q team position or positions in order to fully support district guidance counselors and college career or CCR readiness efforts. Um and that's as it reads. So, the motion is to refer that to administration. All those in favor? Opposed, so voted. And then the next item we have is um GB 6-30 to review policies um BBA-E, BBBA-E, BEC, and BDE for potential updates. These are all School Committee items. They're all things that have been voted at um by the School Committee as far as our rules, policies, and things that just need to be updated in our policy manual. So, just to be clear, these are all district

083policies. Member Johnson? I mean, these are all our policies. Member Johnson? Thank you to the chair. So, I I would actually um instead of having it go to um go to committee if if we could just um take it up and approve our our our policy now just with the motion that we we we keep um when it comes to executive session minutes, if we keep it on bi-annual instead of I believe we're currently quarterly. That's what keep it quarterly instead of going to bi-annually. I think quarterly serves us best moving moving forward. But other than that, I I think it all looks good. Hopefully, everyone got a chance to to read it. Um and I think we could uh approve it today if you guys are all on board. Thanks. Member Mailman? Um through

084the chair, I assumed this was going to go to committee and maybe it doesn't have to, but I'd appreciate I think the clerk made these updates Um hearing through the chair from the clerk about any that are that in your view are um important for us to recognize since it's not going to go to subcommittee if we approve uh member Johnson's Yeah. These are all items that we voted before. These are our rules. It's just to update the policy manual with the changes that we've already voted. The only thing that the clerk had recommended was um she because of a conversation from switching to quarterly to biannually. So member Johnson's motion is just to keep it as quarterly. All of these things are already things we voted on previously. There are no changes that have

085been made by the clerk. These are just to put them into our policy manuals. And through the chair, when did we vote these changes? Now the clerk. Through the chair uh December, I believe 18th was the vote for to update the rules. Okay. Um okay. Thank you. So then the motion um by member Johnson to vote these on the floor tonight to approve and put in the policy manual with the motion to remain at quarterly versus biannually. If the clerk could call the roll, please. Member Alvarez? Yes. Member Biancheria? Yes. Member Bananda? Yes. Member Guardiola? >> Yes. Member Johnson? Yes. Member Mailman? Yes. Vice Chairman Color? >> Yes. Member Roy? >> Yes. Mayor Petty? The next item is GB 6-31. Member Guardiola to request that the administration provide a report to the committee on the

086current status of special education transportation in the Worcester Public Schools in light of the findings and recommendations contained in the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General's February 2026 report. Member Guardiola? Uh thank you, Madam Chair. Um the recently released Massachusetts Inspector General special education transportation study highlights a problem that many districts, including ours, are experiencing firsthand. The rapid rise of special education transportation costs. The report finds that transportation costs for students receiving special education services are dramatically higher than for general education students, largely due to out-of-district placements that require long-distance individualized transportation. These routes often serve only one or two students at a time and require specialized vehicle and staffing. Uh the study also points to the broader systemic challenges. There's a nationwide shortage of school bus drivers. Luckily, in Worcester, we've been ahead of

087the curve. We bought our purchased our own buses. We bought a lot of that work internally, but a bigger key issue is that Massachusetts unique reimbursement system, known as the circuit breaker, where districts must pay transportation costs upfront and are reimbursed by the state the following fiscal year. That report suggests that this model places a financial burden on districts and contributing to budget uncertainties. Importantly, the report emphasizes that transportation costs are often the final result of placement decisions made to meet students' educational needs, meaning that cost considerations cannot override the requirement of student individual education program. The study recommends increased transportation excuse me transparency from vendors, improved data and sharing amongst other districts and our district, potential reforms in the state reimbursement system. It also notes that the regional collaboration may offer some efficiencies though

088not a universal solution for school committees across the Commonwealth. The key takeaway is that while districts must continue to look for efficiencies locally, meaningful cost containment will likely require policy changes and additional support at the state level. We need to continue to work with our local delegation, our state local delegation, and hope that we can have meaningful discussions at the committee and subcommittee level so that we can present to our state elected officials that we have real concerns about our reimbursement and how we're getting this money back so we can budget ourselves correctly and not be concerned about what we're going to do if we don't get this back in time. Uh I think that the school administration is doing what they can at this time and I thank them ahead of time for this

089report. I know it's timely cuz we're going to start talking about the budget in the coming weeks and months, but I look forward to taking this up in subcommittee and I thank you. Refer that to the administration. Member Mailman? Through the chair, I appreciate it getting this, so thanks to member Guardiola for filing it. Um will this be a topic that would be on the next version of the student opportunity act or some of the considerations that are being made when when Chair Lewis, if although he won't be the chair, um looks at the school budgeting. Well, this this is an item that will be on that. Is that correct through the chair? Mr. Superintendent. Through the chair, so I think circuit breaker reimbursement is a high priority of most districts. We're having a legislative

090breakfast in a couple of weeks, of which we'll outline some of what I think are key priorities, of which this will be certainly included in that. Yep. And and across the state, this is going to be Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. For the administration, all those in favor, opposed so ordered. Next time is request that the administration provide a report on the status of the Head Start program within the Worcester Public Schools including enrollment data for the past three school years, curriculum, program capacity and locations, waitlist information if applicable, and any changes to funding, staffing, or program structure. The report should also include the overview of outreach efforts to families and any anticipated challenges or opportunities related to the enrollment and program access moving forward. Uh member Guardiola? Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh

091Head Start is one of the most important investments we make into our students and our community. These programs are not just about early education, they're about school readiness, family stability, and setting strong foundations for lifelong success. In Worcester, many families rely on Head Start as their first entry into our school system. It's where children to begin to develop critical academic and social-emotional skills and where families begin to build trust and connection with our schools. If we are serious about closing opportunity gaps, this is where we must start. But just as important, Head Start is a federally funded program. And that means Worcester has a real opportunity and responsibility to fully leverage those dollars and resources that we receive. Every dollar that comes into our district for early childhood education should be maximized to serve as

092many eligible children and families as possible. If we're leaving seats unfilled or families unaware of the available services, then we are fully not fully utilizing these federal investments into our community. This is why this report matters. We need to understand not just what the enrollment numbers say, but whether we're reaching families who need these programs most. Community outreach is a critical part of that information and critical part of our effort. We need neighborhoods across Worcester where families may not be aware of Head Start eligibility, who may face language barriers, or may not be connected to the traditional school communication channels to know what is opportune for them and what can they do with their children. If we want to increase enrollment and ensure equitable access, we need to meet families where they are through community

093partners, local organizations, faith-based institutions, neighborhood-based engagement. This is a request that's not about criticism, it's about clarity and accountability. It's about ensuring that we are aligning our federal resources, our outreach efforts, and our program capacity in a way that truly serves our Worcester children. If there are any gaps, we should identify them. If there's an opportunity, we should expand and improve access. We should pursue them at every cost that we can to ensure that everybody has a chance to be successful, especially at that Head Start level. Because investing in our early childhood education is one of the most effective strategies we have to improve our long-term outcomes for our students and strengthen our community as a whole. I really look forward to this report. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat] So

094we refer that to TLSS. All those in favor, opposed so ordered. Next time is to authorize administration to purchase the Reveal Elementary Math curriculum for the Worcester Public Schools on a six-year contract at the cost not to exceed 3.2 million dollars. Member Color? Member Thank you. And through the chair to the superintendent, I do have some questions and comments on this, so I'll direct them at you and then you can let me know from there. So first of all, I want to thank the administration for putting this back up together so we understand some of the key points of this transition. And I also want to acknowledge the families and caregivers that reached out to us with I think some great questions, too, and things that help us, you know, kind of form our decision-making

095and understanding. So I appreciate that. First of all, I like I said, questions and comments, so they're going to be a little bit sprinkled in here. I have like all my notes and highlights, so pardon my questions. But, you know, I just I think this is really important to acknowledge that this is a system-wide improvement in our math instruction and that with our current Envision Math contract entering ending, it's a natural opportunity for us to upgrade and align our standards and our approach. And this decision certainly directly supports the district's strategic plan goals around equity, consistency, and high-quality education. Um when we're looking at this K-12 vertical alignment, we've already been seeing success in grades 7 through 12, and this one is building one consistent learning progression all of our grade levels. So I have

096a question around that, and I really like the idea of the continuous approach from K to high school and that there was collaboration between our elementary and secondary educators in discussing this transition. And through the chair, in what ways will we see additional benefits for our students with this alignment with the K through 12 approach? Um Deputy Superintendent Morse? So, through the chair, I'd like to introduce Heather Farrington. She is our district math specialist and she has done a lot of work around Reveal and would be probably the best person to answer those questions for you. Thank you. Ms. Farrington? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, thank you. I don't like mics. Um, so with the adoption of a program that goes K to 12, there's a streamline of resources, there's a streamline of conversation, there's a streamline

097and it ensures that the standards are met at each grade level to be sure that they're successful for the next one and as the students transition through our schools and through the courses, it's always been a little bit of a gap between elementary and middle and then middle and high school. So, having the one curriculum going across will ensure that they transition well. Math is ruthlessly cumulative and being able to build each year on the prior skills and knowing what the students are receiving is a really positive shift. Thank you. Um, you know, I know that in the report it references, you know, the current problems with the inconsistency and the gaps and the lack of consistency across the grades and you know, knowing that we need to really have that standards-based instruction, but I

098also appreciated that the backup shared that there was strong student engagement from our secondary teachers sharing that, you know, it was effective real-world application of math concepts, better conceptual understanding and procedural fluency and that assignments are uh, excuse me, assessments are aligned I probably should wear my glasses. Assessments are aligned to the MCAS expectations and platforms that provide immediate feedback and actionable actionable data and that this isn't something new, it's something we've already been using, but that will really help us be more consistent and know that it is already working at the higher level. Um, for me, some of the real strengths I see are the built-in differentiation, the real-world learning, the strong routines and the language supports. We know how important it is for our multilingual learners, you know, beyond just our literacy initiatives

099that we have these types of supports in all of our core curricula and our specials. Um, and just the hands-on and multimodal instruction and that we know that that the data-driven instruction again is aligned to our standards. So, the another question that I have is knowing that it's a highly rated curriculum, uh, through the chair to administration, can you talk a little bit more about why it's a good fit for so many of our learners, the diverse learning subset we have? Yes, through the chair. So, >> Over the last couple years, I have been meeting with um, district leaders, principals, coaches and teachers to understand what are some of the problems and supports that are needed for our students to be successful. This program does offer a stronger multilingual, um, foundation for all our learners.

100It offers, um, an SEL component, social-emotional learning component and building a positive math math mindset. It offers some flexibility for our teachers on how they are delivering the lessons, so it provides multiple ways that they can deliver each lesson. It provides opportunities for fluency, for practice. It does have a real-world component to it, so lessons are introduced, um, by a real-world problems and so that has a natural application, um, and it does an excellent job of connecting the concrete with the manipulatives to the visual and then to the abstract. So, it's going to move our students through that mathematical progression. Thank you through the chair. Sorry. Thank you. Through the chair to administration, uh, you just mentioned like, um, multiple platforms or multiple modal of, um, the information being transmitted. It Can you talk a

101little bit more through the chair to administration, um, as of the balance with the technology usage? I know that's been a very hot topic for us in just making sure that that this continues to have that balance that we're looking to have, uh, through the chair. Ms. Farrington? Through the chair. So, the elementary curriculum is developmentally appropriate, so if you look at some of the usage of the technology in the secondary curriculum, it better aligns to what a secondary student would be find appropriate and what the teachers would find appropriate. At the elementary level, there is the core curriculum itself is not online as with the secondary. A teacher can deliver the lessons in different ways. The online would be more for, um, ex- different types of practice, different types of differentiation and there is

102also in addition to that, there is actually paper versions of the differentiation and so teachers can use the method that's best fitting for their student and math ideally is not always done best on computers, so having the different opportunities for the students is actually really important. That's great. Um, through the chair, I appreciate that because, you know, I've been out in the schools as well recently and just even seeing the balance with our CKLA curriculum and how there are multimodal opportunities there and that some classes are fully using workbooks, you know, because that's what fits their style better, but that there is a balance in those classrooms. So, thank you for that. Um, the other thing I wanted to comment on, I really liked the com- um, conversation around the strong teacher support to best

103support best student outcomes and the robust professional development and ongoing coaching and how having the streamline curriculum really reduces that burden on planning and can really focus on the instruction by having it be more, um, consistent and not having to patchwork the materials and just thoughtful imple- implementation of the rollout and setting us up for success. So, I have one final question about that through the chair to administration, can you talk a little bit more about the PD that's planned because it does seem like it's, you know, really well thought out, so I'd like to hear a little bit more about it. Ms. Farrington? Through the chair. So, with the PD with the implementation, um, we looked at developing supports for the teachers because often times one of the biggest struggles teachers have with the

104new curriculum is being able to utilize it immediately, to feel like they're supported when they have issues and we want to make sure that doesn't fall flat this time. Um, so our initial PD would be with the company to get them familiar with the program, the platform, go through the different pieces of it and then we the plan is for us to do PD at each grade level run by the district. Um, I will be overseeing it. It will have it will align directly to our instructional framework. It will talk about how to put together lessons that meets our diverse population. It's going to give give the teachers an opportunity to also talk with other teachers that teach their same grade level so that we're building a sense of community among the teachers and they

105have that opportunity to collaborate and then going forward next year, we're going to continue that process so that each staff development day that we have the opportunity to bring them back together and talk about what concerns they have, be able to field them, meet their needs and also provide some, um, regular office hours for people to check in and find out, you know, problem-solve with them, make sure that they're feeling that they're supported and they can implement the curriculum effectively. Well, that's great. I think that sounds wonderful and sounds like, um, you know, a lot of opportunity because we know it's not going to work if it doesn't go out the right way, right? We need the support for the staff and for the students. Um, I look forward to hearing other comments and questions

106that my colleagues have and for more discussion around this. I I really believe this is a start, um, excuse me, smart Oh my gosh, it's getting smart strategic investment in our students and our educators and you know, working on something that's going to be going through our very youngest students to our oldest students is really going to be beneficial and we know we work so hard on that with like our literacy component and our ELA curriculum to be able to focus on the science and maths and all of those things and be more consistent and aligned with the strategic plan. I'm really excited for how it's all going to shape out and I can't wait to hear more about it. So, thank you so much. Thank you. Member Johnson. Thank you to the chair. Thank

107you, um, member, uh, McCalla, for those comments and those great questions, um, that you asked and appreciate the the feedback and answers on that on those. Um, not going to take very long. Um, I'm actually in support of, um, this new curriculum. I know that it was on the agenda today to approve, um, signing the contract to, um, to to buy the curriculum. Um, but I am going to make a motion that we send this to TLSS and we and the reason why I'm doing so is I think that's the process of what we should do. Although the I although the item is to purchase the the thing, we are changing the curriculum, so I just want to give it its due diligence in TLSS for them to take that up, have that discussion, bring

108that back to the floor. I know we we have some time frames around here. Um, I believe when I I at the agenda, there's a meeting on March 26th. So, I believe we could get this um placed on that that agenda and get it back to us by the first meeting in April to further take a look at it. I know many of my other colleagues have probably tons of questions um to ask, so I will save it for now. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Member Bingham here. Thank you. Um I know that we've used uh scaffolding for S and S expression for a number of years on different in different areas. Um I'm just wondering as as we're looking to align all of this into our system, what time frame are we looking? What

109are What are the dates? What are What are we looking at as far as training for for everyone to ensure that they're all prepared to then move into this. Ms. Harrington. Through the chair. Um the time frame for the training is um first week in June. Teachers will be trained in second week in June, so that teachers when they leave on summer break will already have an understanding of the curriculum. Um the program itself does offer um virtual trainings over the summer if teachers would like to be further engaged, so that when we start back in August that they will be able to hit the ground running. They will receive their teacher materials. Um if we move forward, they will receive their teacher materials the beginning of June, so that when they come for the

110training, everything will be ready for them. They will have their teacher materials. Um our curriculum maps that we work on will be aligned, so that they can actually put all the pieces together and start looking forward to the following fall. So, this will kick in with two weeks of training in June, a summer, and then in August they're all going to be They on this as as far as >> Sorry. >> the first week of school? Sorry, through the chair. There's a lot of resources and programs, and they will have um their coaches support as well as my support. The curriculum is laid out for them in the teachers material. They will have enough experience that they can start the school year, and we can move forward. And if we're offering check-in hours along the

111way that they have ample opportunities to reach out to me and other um people in the district that have been identified to work on the check-out check-in hours. So, what do you cons- Through the chair, what what is considered check-in hours? So, we will provide online hours that anyone who wants support with the curriculum, anyone who has questions with the curriculum will be able to reach out to one of us and be able to receive some immediate support and help. I'm just a little concerned with the fast turnaround for two weeks and then summer. Because I'm we're not ruling that a teacher during the summer is going to open the book or open a laptop to experience this or or gain more knowledge. So, they're walking in the door in August, and we've only given

112them two weeks. Any chance of moving this sooner? Through administration. Mr. Allen, through the chair. In terms of rolling out the PD sooner, we certainly can discuss that, but we have to get the the contract signed and the materials ordered and delivered before we can begin that. So, the sooner we can get this approved, the sooner we can order the materials. Okay, so if we can get this by the April 5th, which is the next school committee meeting, approved, um then you would be ordering What is the usual time frame for something like that for PD material? Not all the materials that are needed, but the for for the PD materials. So, through the chair, they'll need their teacher manuals in order for us to roll out the PD. We've got to get through MCAS

113season. We've got to get through a couple of operational things this school year. So, we certainly can look at the schedule to see what works best um to give the PD roll out with the company. Um as mentioned, that the initial roll out will include PD from um the company on um the training. And so, we can certainly tighten look at the schedule, tighten up, and um expand um where we can. I I just That's the only thing is my my concern is I I certainly think it's a great opportunity. I think it'll work. I just don't want to set anyone, whether they're a teacher for 20 years or two years, um you know, you see everybody has a different way of learning something. Uh let's we we've learned that from kids, so we know

114that adults are the same way. So, I'm just thinking that um it it the more time we give them to uh be able to be comfortable with it and be able to give assignments without having to think that they have assignment for themselves to learn what they're doing. A- and that's that's where it kind of worries me a little. Um but if we can push it up a little, uh either that or some other um additional uh PD that gives them a little more. And that's a lot to ask, I know it's during June, but um whatever we can squeeze in because we did have some days off because of winter, maybe we can shift them around and have them actually look at this uh for an an additional day that I think um that

115would help all of us. Thank you. Um member Melman. Thank you. Um How long has Reveal been in the 7 to 12 uh our curriculum for 7 Reveal been the curriculum in 7 to 12? Ms. Harrington. Through the chair. So, Reveal was a newer green-rated version of the curriculum we had had previously for over 6 years. So, Reveal has actually been in the second the secondary schools for a year, but the previous curriculum that Reveal was the upgrade and green-rated version of that actually had been in the uh schools for 6 years. >> So, it's like it was the same curriculum just renamed to Reveal or bought by another company or What was the >> it was updated. They adjusted the components of the curriculum Yeah. that didn't meet the standards for a green and

116high-quality rating, so they took the the they took the curriculum they had, and they actually improved on it. They changed the areas that they were not meeting the expectation in for high-quality instructional material. And then this So, this is the newer version, the newer better version of the curriculum we had had previously. And And so, through the chair, do we Is there um you know, if you were to guess, are there 10 competitors at this level for districts our size? Are there five competitors for you know, K-12 math curriculum? Through the chair. It So, there are a number of curriculums. Some are not necessarily strong the whole way through. So, this curriculum is green-rated from K to Algebra 2. Um some of the There are other curriculums that are also green green-rated rated K to

117Algebra 2. This curriculum has a lot of the pieces that people have said identified as needing support with, and this curriculum provides that for them. When we went for the upgrade for the K for 7 12, did we look at other uh math curriculums at that time? No, we extended the contract for it. The the high school one. >> up and better. So, we really didn't take a look at other curriculums then. I have always looked at Sorry. >> Sorry. Through the chair, I have always kept my eye out on other curriculums. I attend the statewide meetings that occur, and I so I listen, I look at, I um communicate with other districts around the different curriculums. Um and through that conversation and those pieces, it was determined at that time that to continue with

118what we have with a with a new updated better version of it was actually the right choice for our district. Member Melman. Thank you. Through the chair, a couple more items. Um So, I think that um we all got letters from parents with some terrific questions. Um Member McCollum mentioned um teacher feedback. I maybe I missed the teacher feedback. So, I'm hoping at TLSS, thank you, Member Johnson, for making that motion. I We've, you know, in the years that we've served together, you know, one of the first things ingrained in me is that curriculum is one of our more important decisions. And so, to have to make a decision on this night because we saw this for 5 days, which is this. Um, is I think it absolutely deserves to go to TLS for a

119some a more thoughtful discussion, but um But, what was my question at the beginning of that? Um But, so for the feedback from our district, and then Um, so everybody got up and the country was upgraded last year to this new model for this particular curriculum. Is that correct? For 7-12. If they were willing to make the investment >> Fair. Okay, but it was brand new for everybody. Miss Farrington. There were Sorry, through the chair. Sorry. Um >> I know. For the for the reveal the reveal at the high school level has been in existence slightly longer than the elementary. Okay. So Okay. Um So Did I Was there more feedback provided through the chair to the superintendent or to Dr. Morris about our teachers feedback on this? I didn't really see any. Did I

120miss >> No. Did I miss it? Dr. Morris. So, through the chair, this is an extension. It wasn't a pilot. So, when the feedback and the updates you got on older or different versions of curriculum, such as CKLA or what you received from the multilingual department, we were piloting different tools. So, for this one all of the curriculum that are green rated are good, and they're all good for different reasons. They all have different aspects to them. The reason this one makes sense for us really is that K-8 high school continuum. And as Mrs. Farrington said, math is ruthlessly cumulative. Cumulative. So, we really believe one framework for how we deliver math instruction will do wonders for our district. So, the educators in the secondary schools talked highly about the use of the tool, the

121ease of the tool, the flexibility of the tool, the way this tool meets the needs of students. But, one thing we all have to remember is a tool is a tool. It isn't the the educator. The educator is the most important piece here. So, the If we could buy a curriculum that could ensure and guarantee perfection, we would. But, the curriculum that we're looking at today is the one that we believe that we've heard from educators across the city that meets the needs of a variety of different learners. We have diverse learners. We have multilingual learners. We have kids um that approach learning in many different ways. And this uh the way this resource is organized it provides the uh continuum and a variety of resources that teachers can use to make decisions. There's flexibility

122in it. I know there's a lot of concern about screens and overuse of screens. This particular curriculum has manipulatives and hands-on um tools and lots of great things that our educators are asking for. So, we looked at the model, we liked them all. But, then when we looked at what our educators were asking for, this is the one that matched the most and the best. So, um that's the difference between the feedback. You used to get a back up on the pilot about the experiences uh short period of time, like 6 weeks, with the curriculum and what they saw and what they thought. Because this is an extension, um we have feedback that we can certainly get from middle school teachers and how what they like about the curriculum and why they um what what

123they value the most about it. We could certainly bring that to TLS as if that would make sense. Thank you. And through the chair, the last comment is just that I'd also appreciate that in committee that we talk about what the potential Nothing is perfect, so what is not as great as we would like it to be. I think it would be good for I would appreciate hearing that when it comes back to the full committee. Thank you. Okay, we'll send that to TLS for the next meeting, and I can bring it back on April 5th. Um Since this is the end of the meeting, I will say thank you. Thank you, Miss Farrington. Good job. And uh Just want to thank the any educators or the students who participated in the St. Patrick's Day

124parade. It was a great day. There's a lot of our students, I know from South High marching band was there, one of the guard and program, and probably other students participated in other groups. So, I just want to thank all our educators and students. With that, I motion to adjourn.