School Committee Meeting 1/24/2024

001good evening everybody it is January 24th 2024 this is the Ashland school committee meeting and uh later in the evening it will be a joint meeting with the Ashland school committee and the Ashland select board um starting off I will read our vision statement the ashin public schools is a forward-thinking district that cultivates the academic and social emotional growth of each student through a supportive collaborative Innovative and challenging environment students will develop into self-motivated resilient lifelong Learners who Embrace their role as responsible contributors to a global Community this meeting is being recorded by waca cable TV our order of business this evening includes an opportunity for the public to be heard a presentation on communication by the a warrant site Council representative Caitlyn warrant approvals consent actions minutes gifts and donations committee reports of activities

002member updates dates action items and then we will enter into a joint meeting with the Ashlin select board to have interviews for a joint appointment by the school committee and select board to fill vacant school committee seat we're interviewing um interested candidates um not everybody on this list is appearing tonight we have had some drop out but um we will be interviewing oh excellent Kathleen bradaa Marcy culverwell Jennifer Gordon and Jonathan Isaacs then there will be a discussion and vote to appoint the candidate and then we will move I will move to enter executive session under section 21 A3 to conduct strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares not to

003return to open session and this is regarding the Ashlin Educators Association teachers education support Personnel nurses administrative assistants and custodian and maintenance uh then we will adjourn not to return into open session so I will take attendance and ask if you guys are okay with the order business this evening Tina fanes yes Paul Kendall yes and Mark Terry is on able to join us this evening um then next I will ask if there's any member of the public that wants to make public comment this evening seeing none um I will move on to our first item on the agenda and that is our uh wonderful presentation on communication I just want to give some background I do um I am the liaison for the school committee on the Warren site Council um and I've also

004been on the school committee for I don't know 12 or 13 years now and we have had communication as a goal the entire time and we've often really just tried to Rack our brains about how to best get Reach people get our message out to the public make people feel welcome all those things and um we've tried a number of different things we've hired people to help us we've had really um robust debates and conversation about it um and when I listened to Kaitlyn's presentation at the Warren council site Council I was just really moved by um um it was just a we're we're racking our brains about how to get things out but we hadn't really heard about how it's received on the other end I mean we've certainly made attempts but this was

005a really great thorough presentation and after I heard it I thought it would be great to share with the entire community and the school committee do you think we should uh maybe do introductions here so when she's presenting and we we asking questions she's sure absolutely so you know me Caitlyn I'm Lori uh Paul Kendall I'm a member Tina fan is I'm a member as well and you know Jim and M and and and we also have online Christy Arnold um and our Communications uh Chris's our director langage yeah and we we hired esmer to help us with Communications and I just really loved your perspective so thank you for sharing it with us thank you Lori for the introduction and and thank you to all of you for the opportunity to um speak this

006evening um as you could see on the the very first slide um I'm going to be speaking in particular um about Outreach um to Multicultural families that's my my frame of reference um so for today I think it's first important to um begin a little bit more with a bit about my own background how my own experience informs my perspective as I'll be asking each of you to do the same then I'd like to move from there into um a more concrete framework for the conversation moving forward um I'll ask you to complete an activity um that will hopefully elicit your your feedback and as I said lead into further discussion and collaboration um on this topic um and then I'll move into some more concrete actionable steps um again I'm still looking for feedback

007though with those pieces um as an element of collaboration um and finally if there's an opportunity for um feedback and questions I I certainly welcome those um so as Lori mentioned um and as in she introduced me I am a uh parent representative on the waren sight Council um so that's one piece of of who I am um most visibly perhaps as a parent in the Ashland Community but I think there are multiple aspects of um my own identity that inform my perspective um for this this Outreach in particular um the first as I said is as a parent the second would be um as a teacher I have a background in education with over 10 years of classroom experience and then finally my my own perspective um as both a student and an educator

008living outside of the United States um so as you can see on this very first slide I am a dual citizen I'm both Canadian and American um I grew up in Connecticut um but my first experience living outside of the US did not come until um I was studying abroad in in France um there it was probably my my first experience where I um was placed in a a situation where um the education system wasn't what I was was used to um so as a concrete example of that and I think this helps to inform my perspective for this this piece of Outreach I was a straight A student in college up until that point um however when I arrived in France um I earned some of my first fees not necessarily because of a

009language barrier not necessarily because I didn't know the content however because um it was challenging for me to know how to to navigate that that system and to know [Music] um uh how to best prepare to know what those expectations were um between then from there I um spent a year another year plus abroad that's okay come a closer to that people sorry um I spent another year plus abroad um on between my undergrad and graduate work here um that teaching English language classes as well as American culture classes um and there as an educator I think it was the first time again I um had this set framework for courses however um some of those pieces of the the coursework weren't necessarily ones that I identified closely with for American culture so it felt

010like there were certain expectations um that I was being asked to perform when I didn't identify strongly with um there in Belgium I I met my husband Marco who you can see in the photo Marco is also a dual citizen of both Mexico and the United States um and here in Ashland we're raising our our two boys Oliver and Remy Oliver is a kindergartener at at Warren school um and Remy is three years old in in preschool and that's probably the the biggest why for me behind it um is my kids who are Multicultural um they're also bilingual we speak both English and Spanish at home and so um in this this area of Outreach um I really think about them but I also think about the entire ashin community and how to make that

011that Outreach um both inclusive and Equitable for everyone thank you and so I have a quote I think just in general to frame this Outreach um I think it it provides a strong framework for for the overall PR presentation um and it says quote to be culturally effective doesn't mean you are an authority in the values and beliefs of every culture what it means is that you hold a deep respect for cultural differences and are eager to learn and willing to accept that there are many ways of viewing the world and I think this quote in particular sorry is important um because we all can't be an authority on every single culture but it's important in my mind to to hold that respect and openness for those other other cultures and to be willing to

012learn from them next slide please and so in that framework when we think about um a cultural identity I think it's also uh per to note that this topic is really really complex um so you'll see on the graphic there that culture cultural identity can Encompass many different aspects uh ranging from attitudes to language to food um to rituals behaviors um each individual or family or whatever it may be um entity May Place more importance on one aspect than another um and that varies from generation to generation it varies across culture and as I said it varies from family to family um so for example the attachment to what a certain what certain aspects of culture means are different um there are commonalities within each of these groups for example one group may share a

013language they may share a nationality but again a certain individual May Place more importance on one versus the other um with his with his permission I'll use my husband as an example um he grew up in Mexico and is a naturalized American citizen and if you were to ask him what is most important he would put food um as the most important piece especially to pass down to to our own kids um and in fact in our family the language piece the Spanish speaking piece is comes more heavily from me than it does from him um and then finally the last point I want to make about this this complex um piece of identity is that in in addition to there being different groups there may be families or individuals who identify across the and

014of cultures again I'll use my own family as an example my children both are Mexican and American and so again what how they view each of these pieces of their own Identity or cultural identity may be different um next slide please and so the next question becomes how we take all this and apply it to ashin Public Schools um the figures that you're seeing the statistics on this slide are coming directly from the ashon public schools websites um and I chose to highlight three uh uh statistics in particular and you'll note that for each of these statistics they've at least doubled over the course of 10 years which is a a drastic shift um so the three that I'm looking at in particular are English language learners students of color and students for whom English

015is not their first language um and so while those changes have occurred I think it's important to note then the framework and how we best serve those populations potentially also needs to change next slide please um and so as I mentioned before I really am looking for collaboration and feedback so what I have on this slide is an activity that I'm I'm going to ask each of you complete um I have note cards if you need them to jot down your ideas um here is a scenario that I'd like you to imagine I want to point out that it won't be the same scenario for every family but it is an example of what could potentially be so imagine that you are going to move permanently to another country with your family what would help

016you to feel welcomes how would you feel comfortable in the school community how would you learn to navigate a new system what what if you didn't speak fluently the language of your new community what would be helpful who would you turn to for answers and I'll give you a few minutes to to reflect and jot down a few ideas for a little cheated I get to do it Twi so before I move on I'd like to just briefly ask if anyone feels comfortable sharing one or two ideas that they've written anybody sure yeah I I think from my perspective if I moved to another country and uh didn't speak the language or um just felt uncomfortable but K obviously right the food but no um I think what would make me feel comfortable just the

017initial Outreach to someone within the community so I think I think of uh moving into a neighborhood or into an apartment complex hopefully someone within that complex will reach out right that that that would help make me feel comfortable initially um you know in the school Community it's when you register for school what are we doing are we creating packets are we creating um uh Flyers information as to where things are within the community not just the school but uh where local restaurants um the the local uh religious organizations things of that nature again depending upon um the culture where folks are coming from um the communities whether it's for us it's our strong heavy Brazilian Portuguese population and um you know are there areas locally that that would help them fit in um how

018would I learn to navigate a new system um sort of what we're trying to do and I would hope there would be within the system uh an Outreach group that we could connect with um that would move me along if you didn't speak fluently the language uh what would be helpful uh honestly learning the language but um trying to trying to assimilate and find folks who have struggled as well moving into a new culture um and and the things that they did um and who would you turn to for answers again it depends on who who you are as an individual but it might be your local again religious organization might be the church it might be um someone who um is in the school system uh that you know is is has been through

019the the scenario that you're presenting so yeah I mean mine are similar to Jim's uh so for the for first one what make you feel welcome a sense of community that welcomes new people in perspectives you know I think that's the you know if you found a place that you know somebody moves in somebody to low and and tries to make you feel and welcome uh will we make you feel comfortable in the schools I mean we talk a lot about connectedness and make ensuring that uh everyone has a trusted adult in the school and I think that initial contact knowing that the faculty and staff care for the child and the family and are going to provide support so so I think that initial contact it's like if you were to go to register

020and it felt like just uh a process and that process did didn't really matter whether you were you know coming from Framingham or coming from Brazil or Mexico or Canada right uh I think that would be a negative and so at that initial contact UM getting that sense that it matters who you are and that they're going to provide you Sports um how would you navigate a system I have no idea I guess I would try to learn as much about that's what we're trying to figure out right right well I mean if you go there it's going to be very different depending on where you are and and I think so trying to learn as much about that you know that community and and many of the other things that Jim said about it's

021all about those connectedness and so if you find someone who is bilingual if your language is Thea barrier that's welcoming and can help you and that you know it's those same people that you would turn to for uh for assistance and whether that's in the school system a support group that the school system put you in touch with a a religious organization or what whatever you know goes back to community right right and to piggy back on that because I kind of had a lot of the same themes but in terms of you know how would you feel comfortable in the school Community how would you learn to navigate a new system the thing that came to mind for me is well with somebody helping me figure it out right and it's not just that

022you know when you first come in here are the rules here's the paperwork to fill out but you know what is what is a half a day what does that mean what is you know all of these different things that would be a total nuance and you kind of through out and they po up at random intervals there's no one handbook we can put together that describes every scenario that parents and kids are going to encounter so the the continuing welcome of the community to also realize that not everyone will understand the purpose the why the what of it all and so to continually making sure that that it's um that it it's explained and so that everybody understands uh you know what's going on and why it's happening and I think that just helps

023build a sense of community so nobody feels that they're on the outside and just kind of following along thank you all for for sharing I think a lot of the points that each of you touched on you'll see are going to be reflected in the the next slide if you don't mind um so the three key points I want to touch on that I think are important aspects of of outreach are empathy awareness of One's Own identity and Outreach and Trust um I think in particular most of you touched on the first and the third those ideas of empathy and Trust um I'll break them down a little bit more um thoroughly um so I have a quote that I I really like in relation to to empathy so empathy is not simply a matter

024of trying to imagine what others are going through but having the will to muster enough courage to do something about it so I think it's one one piece to try and put yourself in someone else's shoes but it's the The Next Step that follows or what that next step is to to promote change to make people feel more welcome in the community that that's the important piece Beyond just that that initial um piece of imagining um a number of you touched on this other piece that no two situations are alike right so to um how can we better understand each of these individual perspectives to better um serve those these each individual and individual family um in addition I I think um this piece of empathy might there might not be a um group within

025with whom a um an individual or family can relate and so if that perspective is not necessarily represented will it still be respected welcomed and understood I think that's an important piece um the second point is awareness of One's Own identity in Outreach um I think it's important to examine one's own perspective um I did at the very beginning I told you a little bit about my own perspective and how that informs um my experience informs my perspective guaranteed within my own perspective there are blind spots as there will be for everyone and I think to be aware of the strengths of one's own perspective but as well as aware of where there may be potential blind spots um in that identity um I think the next piece that I gave a previous example but

026I'll give another one is um to be cognizant of what those those expectations are of these communities and are are expectations going to yield to authenticity um so for example um when I was teaching and living abroad there were certain expectations of what an American should be um and what I would should be capable of talking about one of those was that I would be really interested in sports football and baseball sorry Pats fans but that's not me um I love the Boston Marathon but I didn't match necessarily that cultural expectation um so to be aware of those pieces so that communities are able to authentically represent who they are and then the final piece all of you touched on is that element of trust is there someone with the within the community that I

027feel comfortable can I trust those people who are in power do I see myself in them if I don't do I feel heard even if they don't identify the same way as I do um in addition is there a space for me to to um meet with others with whom I identify and in particular in the school system is there a person who can serve as that liaison a person with whom I feel comfortable interacting in that school community and then finally I think that trust can be built in this aspect of do I feel seen and heard do I feel seen and heard not only in um the administration and the people who are in the school Community but also um and how my voice or U my perspective is represented in the community

028the the curriculum in um what is seen in the school as well and that doesn't necessarily just have to be in terms of Faculty staff um so those are the three aspects that I think are important as as a framework um on the next slide you will see um this is a statistic a graphic showing that parent the benefits of parent involvement in children's schooling um I think this will resonate with with most people is coming from the American Psychological Association review and I think as you would with any parent approach it the same way as you would with Multicultural families assume that most parents and caregivers want to partner with Educators and administrators to support students what does that mean it might mean that there are barriers or there might be difficulties why that

029isn't happening not not necessarily a lack of will to do it or a desire to do it but why isn't it happening and so then you'll see on the final slide so so if I could before we move on uh you know you bring up that assumption and I want it's interesting I'd love to have your opinion on it as we talk about it we've um we've mentioned over the years many times about how do we engage particularly our our Portuguese families and things like that where we're not seeing the level of Engagement that we expect MH and the question I always asked and I don't know that any of us sitting here can answer not you as an individual couldn't answer it either but would love your perspective is sometimes it might be a

030cultural thing too in that where they came from that's not what they have an expectation of and so uh H how would you you know first of all is that you know have you seen that in in in does that resonate for for anything you've heard or experienced or or talked to people about and then how do you how do you blend because it it because we become one Community with multiple uh people that different people that identify differently culturally but we have to be essentially one Community we have to blend and and so I think sometimes we may have expectations that that barrier might be a cultural barrier too um and how do how do we navigate that because maybe we're expecting things that there's there's not an interest uh at least initially and

031and maybe it's a a growth opportunity or or or something like that sure so I'll speak from my experience and my my own family experience I'm American so I'm familiar with the system my husband as I said grew up in Mexico and is not familiar with the system without me being that point person to guide him through what those expectations are he would be very much hands off he would not have a very strong idea of what's going on within the system however does that mean that that's his desire no um I think though without someone with whom he feels comfortable to explain to him or to help him navigate that system that distance would still remain he would assume that he's doing what he should be doing and being hands off but I think

032that also builds to the the previous slide right if there's not a person with whom you trust you feel like you could ask those questions what are your expect ations of me or how can I or even on the opposite end as you'll see on the next slide um sorry thank you uh that second point I'll go backwards to the first one after but I think uh part of Outreach is first that piece of asking right ask those communities how would you like to be involved what feels comfortable to you what do you need um and not just asking which seems very simple but then listening and following up on that um I think often at times it's possible to feel Limited in this is what we expect for the Outreach well maybe that they

033asking it can expand what that looks like something that we might not have thought of or as a community you might not have thought of what does involvement look like um does that answer your question yeah I mean I don't know that there's a real answer to it but more hearing your perspective of how do we you know like you said your husband might be of that's his initial mindset going into it and maybe we have an expectation that is here and he's starting here but maybe the the expectation is he'll never be here but how do we find the right place that works for for uh you know for your family right sure it seems like that's the challenge and that's why I'm so glad you're here is that I think that the coming

034full circle with a conversation you know is the piece that's missing and the challenge I guess on our end is um what might seem obvious to us on how you open a conversation maybe we invite you to a you know kids night out or something but that's not your jam and you're never going to come so finding the best way Place time you know to open a conversation that feels safe so that both sides can share that kind of at that level you know I think that's where we're a little stuck and not because we're bad people because we're thinking about it like you said in terms of what we think is reaching out my not be received that way right and so then we're stuck in a vicious cycle of we're using all the

035tools you know um so it's finding that sweet spot of opening the conversations yes and and we we've we've certainly over the uh last year or so had a lot more success in some of our Outreach uh um that we've done and and esmer is the director of Communication online we have uh uh Christy arold who's our director of English language learning and Christy has done this amazing job and we've had events at the schools that have drawn in uh you know 40 50 people um of of you know particularly our El students and their their families that we've never been able to before and so that's that's one of the reasons we we asked them to be here because I think you know what you're talking about and is what we're trying to do

036and we're getting some some traction but uh sure we really appreciate you coming and and sharing because you know it takes takes a lot to you know be willing to stand up there and share your perspective so thank you thank you um so on this the very final slide I have this one right here you're you're where you should be um I first time ever I talked a little bit about the ask and listen um one of the more I guess concrete actionable steps and again the I'll be brief with each of these they they deserve more fleshing out than what I have time for today um the first would be the cultural competency which would be an awareness of your own community and by that I don't mean just those those facts and figures

037that awareness of the community is really taking the time to get to know who they are what's important to them um how do they feel comfortable within the the community um we touch touched on this one but acknowledge empathize and support cultural differences and then finally an awareness of how one's own experience influences how we how we see others um for our own experiences and perspective um I talked about the ask and listen but I'll repeat it because I think it bees repeating ask and then listen um it doesn't just stop with the ask it really takes that listening and then putting those pieces that feedback into action um and take those those pieces seriously um we talked a little bit about how there may be barriers that exists to involvement um so what steps

038can you take to eliminate or reduce those barriers some of those barriers may be um pretty apparent like language um others may not be as a parent such as things like Child Care needs transportation we talked a little bit about it but a a lack of um challenges understanding how to navigate the educational system in itself um and so eliminating or reducing those barriers can look like reducing those barriers but also potentially reframing how how you look at involvement and that comes again all those pieces and knowing about those barriers stem from the ask first you don't know what those are until you ask um the next piece is Affinity groups for both caregivers and students or focus groups ideally each of these groups would have um someone within the school Community to act as

039a liaison so that piece of of um someone they trust in the community to um uh indicate those those needs or desires um and then take those seriously as well once they've been indicated um the next piece is representation um I have a an idea that I like that comes from Dr rudine Sims Bishop who is known as the mother of Multicultural children's literature um this idea of mirrors where you one sees oneself Windows where you can see into another world and sliding glass do which represent an invitation to learn with empathy and respect um and then final the final last two to partner with local organizations that already exist ashin has um a number number of organizations that would be great resources to partner with I have some listed there it's not an extensive

040list by any means and then finally to to emphasize those unique gifts talents and interests that each of those communities brings to the table um and then in that aspect of including them make that inclusion visible a great example from Warren school is um now you might have seen outside as you're passing by that welcome is displayed in multiple languages right is really visible that these this is a piece of our the community and who we are um and then beyond that I think um to be able to allow those communities to to Showcase who they are and as I said previously in an authentic manner that does not feel performative that it really feels like who they are um I gave a couple examples previously about about my own experience with with sports um

041where it felt performative to say I like sports when I did not um and then to have it not just be one day where these things are celebrated but make it a piece of of of every day right it's it's ingrained into who we are because it is who we are um and so as I said these are actionable steps but I W as a springboard but I welcome obviously feedback and I'm really looking forward to um collaboration to move forward with with some of these ideas and thank you all for your time oh my gosh thank you I mean you can can you can see why I um thought this would be a good idea uh Caitlyn you put so much work into this presentation as a volunteer on the site Council and and

042it definitely spurred really good conversation in our site Council room and I know that the Warren school is continuing to work on events and and ways to not stop this conversation but find things to do and I I hope we do at at this level as well and you know we are here to partner with you if you want to keep talking to us about it or pointing us in a direction um and I'll see you myself so we can connect on that and if does anybody else have any no I just wanted to say thank you as well too it was a very thoughtful presentation and very thought-provoking I think you know that the exercise helping us try and step into the shoes of somebody else who somebody who's trying to acclimate to our

043system is a really important step for all of us to take um and it it was it was a great presentation so thank you for sharing thank you appreciate it and uh chrisy I don't know you're online but you know I think you're one of the people that would be you know to connect with and what we're doing and she been texting me saying she's gonna already done I don't know christe if you wanted to add anything or has have any questions or comments sorry Caitlin I think I got just got made you a much busier woman but thank you we appreciate you um go ahead Christy if you want yeah no thank you thank you Paul for recognizing me um and thank you school committee for inviting me whoever said have Cristiano there and

044I'm sorry I missed um the presenter's name in the beginning Kaitlyn because the sound wasn't working we'll get you all Caitlyn's information okay Caitlyn so Caitlyn I just I just wanted to say thank you um and if you're looking for um to support the schools more I am always happy to have more assistance in this work um and so I I look forward to talking with you more about the presentation thank you I would love to thank you great all right okay thanks Kaitlyn thanks KAIT really appreciate itk you okay so we are past 6:30 so it's time to get ready for well actually do we have um any we got a couple things War approvals we have to take care of just a couple really fast things we can we can do it the

045the all right who's going to remind me I will thank you not me I'm going to move and allow the select board to come up select board come join us at the please and then we'll get our meeting started I thought if you don't mind you guys might want to take these three seats right here Che that would be great got mine she [Music] I don't have [Music] okay I I talked about coming up to the table butam do know's the best candidates Cates if they go to the podium that probably did we have we spoken to them about no I didn't open anything about this process open my mic just texted and so there's no sound yeah our mic all right Paul we are these miss anything important we were just talking about where

046people would sit and stand so that's the first order of business candidates uh except for anybody on Zoom will be coming up to the podium but I will uh turn it over to you for a minute Mr manani chair manani thank you well click at the moment um thank you madam chair uh it's 6:43 and I would like to open the uh portion of the select board meeting for our joint meeting with the school committee so we're open we don't need to vote no and there's only three of us there's three of you you've got AUM we have a quum so we're good to go we have a quorum yeah uh one of the challenges is thank you very much um select board for being willing to join us here tonight I'm trying to get

04710 people to find a free night um is not easy and as you can see we weren't entirely successful but we have enough people here to run a meeting and I just appreciate you you being the ones who are a little bit inconvenient tonight I'm sorry about that but I appreciate you being willing to do this um for for those of you who don't know um when we need to fill a seat on our board by law we enter into a joint appointment with the select board and that is why we are all here the decision will be equal across the board from our two boards we'll all be asking you questions and I'm going to share a minute about a little bit about the process so first of all thank thank you for applying

048um we were so thrilled to see people with so much talent and interest um and there were many more of you in the beginning and it was it was still a lot of talent and interest I mean we would have been thrilled we're thrilled for every Talent Bank form we received um and we welcome the the four people that are still here thank you um I did try to share as much about this process as I could in advance but I'll say it out loud again um each one of you is going to have a chance to give us an opening statement um we ask you to keep it to 2 minutes or under um I I'm going to try to run this meeting without having to stick a timer in your face or put

049the hand up um if you go on too long with your responses it's really just going to take away from your own overall time so if you could try to stay within the limits we would really appreciate it um if it goes out of control you might see my hand go up uh but that's only so that you I can make sure that you have the full experience of getting to answer all the questions so um at the end of the day after your two minutes um we're going to one candidate at a time um it we were going to ask for those of you who aren't being interviewed except for zoom we're going to start with you Katie on Zoom hello can you hear me okay I should have checked technically that we're good

050um so that the it's fair to all of you so everybody is only hearing the questions for the first time when it's your turn you didn't say what you were asking we were asking them to Yes uh to step out of the room um what when it's not your turn but not yet I'll let you know what the order of business is so you'll each have 2 minutes for an opening statement when it's your turn um we have four questions that we have um I need to get you guys the questions oh you have them okay good uh we have four questions that we're going to be asking you jointly from both boards um there will be opportunity for us to follow up on anything that you might say we might ask you a couple

051just additional questions to follow up on something and we certainly welcome any of your questions um if you have questions for us it's not mandatory but if certainly there's something that you want to know while you're here you have um the ability to to ask that and then you'll have a minute to close and then just finalize your comments and then we will um have a conversation a debate a conversation and and then uh we somebody will hopefully start making nominations and then we'll start a voting process that's how we plan to have the evening go so um does anybody have any questions about that or does anybody have anything to add that I may have missed Joe is that sound like what we we talked about uh yeah yeah uh no you hit every

052one of them uh that we discussed prior to so yeah I think we're good to go excellent okay so um I'm going to start with Katie on Zoom so that um you can if you join in later you won't be hearing question you'll be hearing the questions for the first time when I start with you so if you guys don't mind stepping out you don't have to it's a public meeting and I just want to make that clear it's your choice whether or not to go but I'm trying to just be fair to everybody we're going to call you back in in this order and it's the order of um how the applications came in that's how we decided to do it so it's if you're alphabetical and you're always in the same place in

053your life that's not tonight so um first will be Jonathan then we'll be Marcy and then we'll be Jennifer okay all right thank you okay so Katie I do yes I do um i'mna I don't know if we can get you to like larger on the screen is that possible is that easy to so we can see her and feel like we're talking to her in person those the same questions that you Prov yes go thank you and and then you can just pin Katie for now yes so Katie you can start when you're ready um with your opening statement um letting us know who you are sorry sorry one one second one second why don't you pin if you pin Katie just put there you go yep there you go now we got a

054little bit yes all right welcome Katie thank you first off thank you for letting me do this online um I have been sick this week and did not want to bring that there so I appreciate it um just a little bit about me I've been a teacher for 28 years 20 in the last the last 20 in public school um I have taught anywhere from K through fifth grade most of my years being in fourth um I have my Masters in Education and my kags in inclusion something that is near and deared my heart over the last 20 years um I have two boys in the system right now one is a sophomore the high school and one is in eighth grader heading to high school next year um you know in our free time

055we were on a field on in a rink somewhere watching someone play some sport it seems to be what our life is besides education here in Ashland I was a part of the PTO board um from 2013 to 19 I was the fundraising chair um I was a room parent often especially at Warren um I just resigned from the Framingham youth hockey board I was a fundraising chair there for four years where um each year I was there we raised upwards of $20,000 um for scholarships and needed equipment and such um at school I just took on a co-chair position we received a grant from the state from the accelerate for an accelerated math Academy over February and April vacation and myself and another co-worker are co-chairing and teaching in that so that's a little

056bit about me in my thanks Katie um I'm G to start with the first question and it is have you ever served on the board or overseeing body of an organization before and I know you just told us a little bit about that but if so how would you see that experience affecting your service on the school committee and if not is there another experience you've had that you believe is relevant to serving on this committee that has to make all Decisions by a joint decision-making process so not on a school committee board but like I said I just took on this new position as co-chair of this program um it is something I've always had in the back of my mind is to move out of the classroom and onto not necessarily bigger and

057better but just a different position different Seeing Things From a Different Light and my way of doing that was taking on this rule to see if it was something I wanted to do outside the classroom take on a chair um or a I don't know different systems call them different things we have um our reading Specialist or our math specialist so I was looking at this as step in that direction but other than that I have not served on anything other than team leaders in school and Framingham youth hockey board yes my hus on that board that you give yourself credit for that I'm not a good seller yeah I helped you out there okay um Tina you've got the next question sure um thank you for being here Katie um so what are the

058main issues that you believe our schools are currently dealing with and how would you propose to address them um it's kind of funny that the first thing we had tonight was that Multicultural talk because that's one of the things I've noticed at my own school and in Ashland it's just growing um topic it's not an issue it's not a negative thing it's a topic and we do need to do better no matter where we are in reaching out to our what is our client our our families are our clients and they need to be welcomed first off and foremost and then from there how do we as um she was saying earlier just how do we connect with them and I find that one of the biggest things in life not just in Ashland in

059many districts um I've been lucky enough to have my children grow up in ashin schools and I think most of it has been very positive I think there's just always room for improvement and to move forward Multicultural being one of them thanks Katie thank you Paul thanks for being here again Katie and hope you are feeling a little better uh so our community is most effective when all committee members respectfully share their unique and offering often differing perspectives on an issue uh please provide an example of a group you've been a part of whose members did not agree what helped move that forward towards consensus and how did that process impact the potential outcome I think the different board the different committees I've been on throughout the school years is really um a great example

060of that there's so many times that people don't agree but the biggest part that is having an open mind seeing both sides being an open listener um you know your your vision is not always the right vision and to be able to hear others and be able to understand where they're coming from whether you agree or disagree it all needs to be heard first so that's how we've usually you know in the Committees I've been at at school scheduling committee probably the most contentious it's um my building is grades four through eight so you've got your Elementary and your middle schools constantly butting heads um but it is keeping the kids and the students as the priority and listening to what's best for them thank you Katie thank you Katie and then uh Joe I'm

061not sure who's taking the the select board question I I'll just I have we have that that one question that we that we talked about earlier uh and if individuals uh Claudia and O Brandy have other questions yes absolutely there going to be but U uh a main question that we have was um thank you Katie for being here and and stepping up to uh try to fill the position uh on the school committee we greatly appreciate that uh very impressive resumes by all the candidates that are here this evening um and your multiple activities how would you find the time to dedicate and put forth time and effort towards being a vibrant member of of this current school committee though the school committee meets twice a month uh there is prep time and time

062and effort to follow up a work that needs to be done to prepare for meetings uh and knowing that that's going to take up time uh would you have that time uh from your other activities that you have listed in your resume and would you be willing to run for the position in May and then the following year because this is a unique position well you have to actually run twice back to back so would you be willing to put that time and effort into it and I know that's very difficult I say because you haven't been on the board yet but you know if you're going to make a commitment we' like to know if that's going to be a complete commitment I will say when I was first brought to my attention that

063this seat was open that was my first um I guess hurdle that I had to get over was I you know of course I want to dip my toes in and see what it's like and and obviously fight for this community and am I willing to move on after that and because I was just resigned from the hockey board which did take up a bunch of my time and I do have Summers off if that's what we're going to say because I know that's what the vision of teachers is I do have that extra time um my boys are older now this is something that I've thought about doing for years but because my kids were little and needed us around so much more I put it on the back so the fact that this

064opened up in this way was a little more enticing to me um so since they are older and I did give up a recent um commitment that took a lot of my time I do believe I do have the time to be there um the only thing I would probably have in front of that is the voice um am I willing to run later yes I am as long as it is a good fit for everybody I am on board 100% thank you very much thanks Katie does anybody have any follow-up questions you know I I have a quick question Katie I just wonder um if you could just talk a little bit I think one of the important things with school committee members um really is that they sometimes are sort of the face

065of the schools in the community um and or at least you know being out there a listening a and and uh could you just talk a little bit about your skills set in in that regard in your connections to the community um again not a great seller of self but I do try and um anything the boys especially have been involved in whether it be baseball I ran the shock for a couple years um you know team mom and helping all the fundraising there um with high school sports I've tried to assist in any way I can the parents that are um running Again The Snack Shack the fundraising and all that um my dad used to tell me when I was little I was a social butterfly and that was because I could talk

066to anybody thanks to his guidance and the fact that he can talk to a wall um it's just something I've always connected with people and I think that's probably one of my biggest assets is that I do listen and I do get along with what I think is everybody um so I would welcome the being the face of Ashland or not the face but one of the faces of ashon school committee I think being you know being at events being social being visual is important in any school related activities thank you any other follow-ups uh so so Katie um one thing about the position particularly with uh someone like yourself that finds themselves in rinks and on fields uh uh with with other families is once you're on the school committee uh you might uh

067have to give up a little bit of that time on those you everyone else will think that you're there and and you're you're not just a mom at that point you're not just there to uh to watch your kids and and and the team and so uh are you is that something you've thought about and are are prepared to uh navigate it's not you there's not there's not a particular way to handle that it's sometimes it's hey why don't we talk later sometimes it's okay let let these people talk to you now or vent or or whatever is that something you've thought about and and and what were your thoughts on that yeah I have thought about that because I feel like if I am at the rank if I am on the baseball field

068I'm there for I'm in a parent hat at that point and if someone does want to talk business I think that is something that we need to set aside and talk you know make that appointment or some type of a meeting for later it has crossed my mind and I do feel like I have enough enough gumption to say not now I'm here as a parent and I'm watching my children great thanks thank you and uh any other follow-ups and Katie before um you close do you have any questions for us I don't think so not at this point okay awes I'm sure they'll come up as as the night goes on well and we're available to you know to always to you know check in with us and we can give you some information

069but for tonight you have you know an opportunity just to make some final comments and let us know um why we should pick you I know that's hard for you I get it AB we just had to sit on streets with our signs I can be social when I need to be but then selling myself does not you know I wonder sometimes how I've taught for 28 years because I can talk to kids all day long but to adults it's another story um no I just again want to thank you guys for this opportunity and um I look forward to hopefully serving this community even more I grew up I will say really quickly I grew up a marine brat and I was in 11 different schools before I graduated high school so that was

070one of my things when we started my oldest in kindergarten or in preschool really I said that's it we're not moving my kids I loved the Life I Lived I think I gained a lot from it I have friends all over the world however that's not the life of my husband and I so my kids were going to have a home and I'm so glad that it was Ashland I'm so glad this is where we landed thank you Katie you appreciate your time tonight Katie thank you okay next up will be Jonathan if somebody mind getting him thanks Joe hello door than I expected oh I know everything around here does look very heavy um strength is important in this job exactly I didn't tell you that that was one of the criteria so I

071assume this is where you guys need be yes please now you will be featured on TV and you can watch it later camera right there so so one second if you could uh unpin Katie and uh pin the pin the podium thank you Paul uh yeah we should have yeah so Jonathan welcome again you have your a couple minutes to just share with us while you're here what your interest is what your background is We'll be asking you some questions and then you'll have a chance for some final comments answer questions I hope to keep this introduction a little bit short and sweet I'm sorry I actually missed a lot of your emails so I didn't know about this so um I do have something prepared so I'll try to go through this so first

072of all thank you guys my name is Jonathan Isaacs um I'm here today to be considered for the seat on the school committee uh in my personal life I'm a husband and a father of three one of my kids is actually going to be starting in the Ashlin school system this fall so I'm really excited to be kind of engaged in that process a little bit more um I've been telling my wife basically a lot of my background is saying before I even knew what I wanted to be professionally I knew I wanted to be a father and a lot of what I do extends from that so a lot of the engaging in the school a lot of engaging in their daycares I've been speaking a lot to their teachers saying Hey listen I

073filled out these forms please call me first if anything happens as a dad as some people might know that is hard to do there's a lot of default to fall into the mother and I try to take that away from her CU she is like I love being a mom but you you deal with it you and I'm like that's great I wanted them so there uh in my professional life I am an engineer and a program manager I work for jable Innovation Healthcare and development um we design develop and manufacture medical devices for all the different medical companies I work with a lot of stakeholders in that position including Engineers Management in both my company and the various companies and representatives from the FDA when it becomes required which try to limit our exposure

074in that front but obviously since we are the designers we can't really avoid it and my position is to kind of coordinate all of that make sure people know what they're getting resolve issues and I kind of carry that into pretty much all of my life um as a resident I believe that many people actually choose Massachusetts I'm personally was born and raised in New York City many people choose Massachusetts because of the strength of the school system and I believe that this school system is strong because of the relationship and the trust that are put in the Educators um but the bonds that they kind of share between the Educators the parents and the community at large if you don't have a kid you have to know you're going to be interacting with them

075for as long as they're in this community so you need to have a vested interest into how they're educated where the resources go to make sure that you have functional adults eventually in your community and I enjoy being a part of that uh idea uh I believe that my experience and my skills kind of leading these cross functional teams understanding who the stakeholders are whenever you're in a situation and then delivering for them while being a good Steward of the budget in this case taxpayers money uh will really translate well into this position uh so with that really I'm happy to answer any questions you guys have thank you so much um we do have at least a minimum of four questions we're asking the same questions to every candidate Y and then you'll have

076a chance to ask us questions if you'd like and uh we may have some follow-up questions as well yeah fair enough so I'm going to start with the first question it's have you ever served on a board or overseeing body of an organization before if so how would you see that experience affecting your service on the school committee and if not is there another experience you've had that you believe is relevant to serving on a committee that has to make all Decisions by a joint decision-making process yep fair enough no I I have not served on an official board however as I mentioned I am a program manager that deals very extensively with various stakeholders and having to kind of Corral them into a consensus uh typically a lot of that comes down to understanding

077what the objectives are in any instance with folks and understanding that even though you might be in that meeting with that agenda with some known objectives you might have your own side objectives that the person who is leading that needs to understand and the best way to understand that is ask questions listen to answers incorporate that into what the final goal should be but then sometimes pushing back and saying hey this is outside of the scope um but these are things that we can consider as we go forward and then bringing everyone back in line to what the overall goal is without making anyone feel that their separate objectives are completely ignored the voice is completely tamped down because a lot of times they'll take that and turn it into kind of a stop on

078what the main objective is so uh and particularly in my current uh field working with different companies they come in with a budget and an expectation from that but you have to understand while you have a budget and outcome sometimes they don't Al line and really bringing that understanding of both needs and wants and definitions in what is a need as in hey if this doesn't happen we are not successful and what is a want and that hey I I I I I I need this to be a thing and if it doesn't it's okay so then saying all right that's a want that's not a need so let's realign on what the needs are let's be good stewards of your money and let's get you to where you need to be thank you awesome

079okay I think I'm move next y um thank you for being here Jonathan um what would you define as the main issues that you think our schools are facing and how would you propose to address them the main issues of school are facing as I I kind of said in my opening statement one of the things that really brings people here is the strength of the school system so I'm really thankful for this question that you kind of bring up the issues and as seen earlier in this meeting I think one of the main issues is actually Outreach communication and understanding that while school is an anchor that everyone has to be with it is just that it is the anchor but you're going to float around you're going to be part of the wider

080community and finding a way to bridge the gap between you have to be in school versus you have to actually engage with the larger community and understanding that there are goals in this one environment that kind of extend outside of the school so really bridging that communication gap bridging that understanding Gap that what happens in the walls of the school don't stay there people go out people have lives what happens in the walls of the school or outside of the walls of the school don't stay there people bring in you know their backgrounds they bring in their family history they bring in their challenges they bring in whether or not they had a good night's sleep so really understanding that it's not a vacuum and kind of making sure that families the community and the

081people realize that it's a part of the larger entity so thank you thank you Paul uh so our committee is most effective when all members respectfully share their unique and offering often differing uh perspectives on an issue uh please provide an example of a group you've been a part of whose members did not agree and what helped move that towards consensus and how that process impacted the potential out yeah um I don't know if anyone's background here I didn't really get a chance to hear but I work with a lot of Engineers I work in a very long-term projects which can see the change over from lead engineer to lead engineer and if there's one thing to know about engineers they have very strong opinions and as much as they like to think logically um

082sometimes it's not always based in data so yeah so in that in one particular instance I've had recently we had a change over from one lead engineer to the another while we were in the middle of a a phase we had closed out a phase the former technical lead needed to step off the project and kind of take on more responsibilities while the new lead came in reviewed everything the old lead did and said this is not going to work so you can imagine that the old lead who was still a part of this had some strong opinions as to why this would work they put a lot of work into it they took a lot of views my responsibility in that was to one calm down say hey this is this is everyone's baby

083at the end we're really trying to work here to make sure we get a good product now refocus from this isn't going to work or this is going to work to why what are what is the end goal let's ret talk about the end goal let's talk about how we can get there and I want you to tell me how this doesn't work equals we will not reach our end goal and so bringing people into that Focus taking it a little bit off of the personal desires and experience um of course not forgetting them because you you don't want someone to feel like they're not being heard when they have those concerns so voicing those concerns backing it up with information that becomes actionable that was my responsibility to kind of Shepherd out of those

084Engineers to get us to a consensus ultimately we made some changes we went back to our customer we were able to say hey we've been working down this path there are some things about this path that won't work let's talk about what will work to get us where you need to be with all of your different considerations cost budget schedule yeah thank you select board yeah thank you thank you madam chair uh Jonathan first thank you for uh stepping up and and and putting yourself out here to uh fill the positions greatly appreciate always nice to see new blood um the process that you uh just talked about uh seems like it may take a lot of time and effort on on your part and and the group's part and with respect to that um

085you've dedicated a lot of time and effort to put into that program uh to become a vibrant member of the school committee though the school committee meets twice a month there's a lot of prep time and a lot of things that need to be done before the meeting itself and would you be willing to or would you have the time uh to sacrifice that time to get everything ready to prepare yourself for these for these meetings and for other activities that you find yourself involved in as a result of becoming a member of the school committee and um would you have the time and lastly would you be able to run backtack years because this is it's a it's a unique position and unfortunately it falls that you have to run this may and then

086the following may as well would you be able to put that time into doing that and and dedicating your time to that yeah uh 100% as I I mentioned in my opening statement and really want to re highlight here everything I do has been in the service of me being a father and part of of that I see as a natural extension of kind of getting involved in the process for my daughter entering the school system um really getting engage in making sure that she is getting in a system that you know works works well Works efficiently doesn't necessarily have to work directly for me because I am not the ultimate consumer she is um and by extension the people that are going to be in that so investing the time investing the energy into

087kind of making that system better for her and by extension of everyone that consumes that system is really what I dedicate my time to um I have been in customer calls where I say Hey listen I appreciate it I'm getting a call from my daycare I got to take this now and understanding that hey I'm going to have to sometimes make a decision on where my priorities lie for me it's always the family and what's best for kind of getting them to grow and this is a natural extension of that so this is where I would invest my time and have thank you thank you anybody have any followup questions do you have any questions for us no but I I am more interested in the the engineer talk there and why that seem to

088be such a you wonder why everybody looked at me you mentioned engineer and opinion a yeah we're the bill I'm just kidding um Paul's an engineer also so we're familiar with that personality trait and we're very happy that he's here so it's it's a good thing so on on that front have you found that with the uh position being open that there is kind of a skill set or a personality that you guys feel is lacking or would improve the board and the the committee as a whole that's a really good question um and it's interesting because I've been trying to you know seeing the the the um Talent Bank forms that came in for the four of you that are here today you all have very impressive backgrounds you bring a lot of passion

089um so I've been thinking how am I going to this is going to be a really hard decision how am I going to make this decision and what am I going to look at and kind of trying to identify what is it that we need on the board right um I think there are several things you know different um different skill sets in terms of you know our important functions of budgeting um and so kind of understanding that budgeting process and and figuring out the best use of our resources you know our another function of the school committee is setting policy for the district districtwide policy and what does that mean that can be in a whole host of different areas so understanding um you know understanding of how the school system works and kind

090of some of the issues that the district is facing and the ways that we may need to address them um and then you know the the last is the hiring and um what's the word I'm looking for evaluation no evaluation of the superintendent um which you know it he's he's the Jack of all trades so um you know kind of a a a big a broader understanding I guess you know in terms of the um the workings of the school system and all of the different fun functions um cuz somebody like our superintendent wears a million different hats in any given day um so it's uh I don't know that I just I don't know that I answered your question but I'm trying to think you're kind of in Broad Strokes it is a good

091question because um and and it's something we've all and been thinking about because I don't know that there's a gap but we look at everyone and and and need to be articulate and and you've spoken very well and and and you certainly have the passion um and and and yeah they all bring the different skills and and knowing who we have here and and uh we have three lawyers on on the so we picked on we picked on Engineers but we have three lawyers on on the but we all have very different viewpoints and different lenses uh so yeah it's it's going to be very I don't know that we have something lacking I think right now we we do have um a lot of different perspectives and and and we really trust and have

092great relationships with the other Educators that sit on on at the table and there there's it's tough to have an answer to that because uh you know I don't have uh a particular going into this I didn't have a particular skill that is can be exactly translated to school committee you know I'm a I'm a data person I'm a logical thinker I'm I'm all those engineering quality kind of things which help in some areas and um are potential liabilities in others so there's it's not and Claudia knows because we're I also chair a building committee that she's spent a few years on with me so um and so it's it's a great question there's just it's it's not it's there's not a glaring thing um it's not one specific thing to put your fing fairness

093reading the resumés everybody bring seems to bring something we haven't talked to all of you yet but everybody seems to bring something that we could really use in benefit from no question about that we our three main jobs we write policy we handle the budget and we uh we manage the superintendent so those those are the three main jobs so you got to be able to do all of those at least a little and then some people who are expert in one or or more are also really helpful to us or somebody that would fill a gap we don't have a huge gap but we like we said we have three lawyers do we need a fourth one probably not you know so in personality wise honestly I mean I think as as in any

094organization it's um trying to find a good fit we have a culture of respect um and we don't always agree we've had disagreements and and at some point or another we might have find found one another annoying what just for a second but uh but we have a culture of respect um always and so it's it's got to be somebody who's willing to uh fit into that kind of atmosphere where you can safely disagree but know that you're going to walk out the door and trust that the person was coming from the right place we all want the same thing which is all the things you said about making we've all had kids that either are in school or have been in in these schools and people people that have worked in our schools in

095one in one way or another and so we all have the same passion and as long as we remember where we're all coming from then we trust that the person has good intentions even though if you're coming from a different perspective so having said that if anybody else has any or if you have any more questions we'll give you a chance to kind of sum it up why why should we pick you help us out here it's going to be tough yeah um so well again thank you guys for all of your time um I believe that you know through the questions through my experience through what I can bring to the table specifically being able to cultivate those relationships being able to understand that the stakeholders aren't just the people that show up in

096the room aren't just the kids in the classroom isn't just the superintendent it is the wider community and being able to recognize that and being a voice for those folks as part of this I believe that that is something that I bring unique to this and then being able to bring it back to we have to be good stewards of the money that comes in we you know know this committee doesn't really generate funds through anything other than taxpayers I assume there's probably other things um but understanding that we have to be those stewards we have to make decisions that help out our ultimate um end consumer which is the students in the system and the parents that entrust their kids to the system so wonderful thank you so much thank you Jonathan thank you

097Jonathan and next up is Marcy Marcy please and and and it's fine to fine to stay in in the room now that we we asked that just so people didn't didn't have a half an hour to think about a really fantastic response others didn't but it's not required up to you hi Marcy yes so we're using the podium this evening love a Podium very official yeah that means you're officially on TV now oh okay so welcome thank you um and we'll give you a couple minutes to tell us about your background and and why you're interested in the school committee position okay good evening thanks for having me I appreciate the opportunity to chat with you all tonight my name is Marcy culverwell I am a mother of four so I'll say that first I

098have uh four children ranging in three schools through the ashin school so mindes I have two I have one at the middle school and one at the high school and I will be in three schools for the next8 years so I'm here for the Long Haul um All My Children started at paway so I started you know way back um it took me N9 years to graduate from Warren let's just put it that way I am the senior associate Vice Chancellor for finance and administration at UMass Chan medical school which is a fancy title for CFO I lead a team of approximately 60 people directly in finance so budget General accounting payroll burer office I work with senior executive leaders of UMass Chan um also with the state so I'm somewhat familiar with um State

099funding struggles Federal funding struggles where a you know a nonprofit institution prior to being at UMass Chan I worked in public accounting for almost 14 years so that's like a dinosaur if you know anything about public accounting I'm a licensed uh CPA for over 20 years so um I love numbers I love data but I can see the gray in things which I've learned from you know just leading a team of so many people and working with people across um the five campuses so even though I'm at The Graduate School I work across with all the other university campuses um and then I think the other thing to mention is that I have spent time um working in the ashin school systems as a volunteer I was a member of the ashin parent Council for

100approximately four years I coordinated the communication among all the parents who volunteered for that spent time with uh Jim and Mike and others within Town um and so I have a vested interest and though I'm not an educator myself I did volunteer and teach smart money at ashin high school for three years uh to the senior class so that so I really have a vested interest in teaching Basic Finance Concepts to students because I think it's just one of those things you should learn when you're young um so that's a little bit about myself thank you so we're going to start as I said there's four questions I'll ask the first have you ever served on the board or overseeing body of an organization before if so how would you see that experience affecting your

101service on the school committee and if not is there another EXP experience you've had that you believe is relevant to serving on a committee that has to make all decisions in a joint decision-making process so yes I do serve on uh the board of Worcester City Campus Corporation and U Health Solutions which are both um nonstate agencies that consolidate into UMass Chan medical school so I'm very uh attuned to working in a group I would say that I um often have to deliver unpopular opinions and so my approach to that is to listen um to try to gather as many facts as possible regarding a situation I'm very fact-based and data oriented and I often like to tell people like I can present all the facts it's up to you whether or not you want

102to listen to the facts as I've presented them I think I'm very collaborative I I have to be collaborative in my role as a leader uh for my job I have to be collaborative as a mom of four I mean like nothing in life prepared me for raising three boys let's put it that so there's a lot of negotiation in my life I'm also married to an attorney so I you know I I negotiate a lot but um in terms of the board I think that that experience is very valuable because especially in Academia people hold their opinions um they're they're very invested in their opinions and I'm very invested in listening to all of the opinions and so you really have to like listen I think mostly before you come to a collective decision

103but it's good to do your homework before you go in I'm I'm big on that like I like to know what I'm walking into I like to get consensus before I go in with a final decision and um in terms of board meetings I really like to be prepared in talking to the people who it's going to ultimately affect so one thing I see a lot is decisions made at the top that operationally you can't execute and so it's really important to understand from the people doing the day-to- day how those policies decisions standards are going to affect what they out actually have to operationalize so I think that experience would help um in this role thank you thank it's my turn thank you for being here Marcy sure um what would you um say

104are the main issues that um are believe our schools are dealing with and how would you propose to address them so I think um one of the issues would be just the changing population within Ashland I know when I was part of the Ashland parent Council that was a discussion that came up a lot equity and access um for the students and you can even see it in the the neighborhood like the neighborhood I live in you know my children's friends are not just people that look or act like myself and I think that um much like the presentation given tonight like there's a lot of things to think about in terms of how to connect people and be aware of um you know how the education is is given out and I won't pretend

105to know how to do that directly as a parent I think it's important to teach my children you know to to be accepting of other children um but I I think that you know again it's a listening exercise in my mind in terms of um other issues I do think that like burnout and teacher burnout is a potential issue I know I see a lot of that where I am at from a workplace just going through covid was such a massive undertaking for all of the Educators and I think it's a different environment and I'm speaking as a parent it's a different environment watching my children like my third and fourth grader are great readers they cannot spell and I've been assured by their teachers they can't SP spell because they didn't have fundamental phonics

106in the same way in kindergarten in first grade when Co hit right so there's a different way like I have to approach being a parent and helping them at home and work with their teachers to help them at home so I think kind of that aftermath of you know how can we support the teachers as parents and help them not to burn out it would be another thing um that I think is important thank you thank you good point uh thanks for being here Marcy uh so our commun our committee is most effective when all members respectfully share their unique and often differing opinions on prospective issues uh please provide an example of a group you've been a part of whose members did not agree and say what helped moved you towards consensus and how

107that process impacted the potential outcome okay well I feel like I have a PhD in this because I was an auditor for 14 years so I delivered bad news for living um but I will say like I work with um The Faculty at UMass chin often so chairs of the Departments as well as the faculty who work under them and I think what has helped me in working with them in a concrete example would be you know just the budget issues we're facing we've had unprecedented inflation for multiple years in a row and Investments haven't kept pace with that Revenue growth hasn't kept pace with that um how do you distill financial information to non-financial people who just care about their science so much and enable them to continue with their science and one way

108I've done that is bringing facts about here's the trends here's what we've seen here's what we've chose to invest in as a group how do we prioritize our decision making um to service the whole as well as the individ uals leading their departments um and work through that and I again I bring a lot of facts to you know what I'm dealing with I try to lead with information you know they're very um very very smart people so the poke holes and things right away and I trust try to be really prepared so that's that's really how I deal with it thank you thanks chairman Yani thank thank you madam chair uh masi nice to see you and thank you for stepping up and wanting to be a part of the school committee um in

109your earlier presentation you you you stated that you like to be prepared and get all your facts you know get your ducks in line and it goes towards the question that we have for you um how would you find the time to dedicate and put forth the effort in becoming a vibrant member of the school committee um where they meet twice a month um and they always prepare themselves and they have work to do before each meeting so there's there's there's a lot of preparation time um so I take it that you're not unfamiliar with preparing yourselves for meetings so you may have already answered this question already but um with all the activities that you have would you be willing to take that time away from what you're currently doing to bring forth to

110the school committee because it's going to take a lot of your time and you know added time to it and lastly because this is a new it's just the way if this this uh position Falls in you'll be running in May and then the following May you'll be running again would you be able to dedicate that time uh into this position uh knowing that it's going to take away from other things that you probably would like to do with your family and our work y so um so I did think about that before I threw my name in the half for this I will say with my youngest being nine this sounds crazy I I do believe I have the time to dedicate toward it I'm very good at multitasking you have to be good

111at mul multitasking when you work full-time and you have four kids and one of the reasons I'm good at multitasking is because I live in Ashland and I have a village and the village works and we support each other and so I think we have a commitment as a family to invest in our community I think I'm at the point in my life where I want to get reinvested again um in a more uh I don't want to say I'm not invested now because I am like I I am with the kids but in a more structured way where I can potentially make an impact and take my professional experience and my mothering experience and offer um perspective thank you and yes I'm willing to you know run any follow-ups Claudia I'm just curious if

112um you have thought about any similarities or dissimilarities between higher red and K to 12 education so uh I think there's the same struggle in engagement in terms of um like finding the right path for moving forward because there's so much accessible now in the covid world and as parents like how do you funnel that and pinpoint that and get people in the right frame of mind to embrace the the world as it is but then also get direction on which way to go because there's such a big path I think the funding struggles are real for both um both sets for sure and there's so much demand but not the same growth in the revenue to cover the demand so any other follow-up questions Marcy just uh you know you you obviously have spoken

113and you have you're in the finance profession in high Ed and it's kind of piggybacking on on what Claudia said can you do do you know you know you obviously haven't been in the job and and and and done and done the work here but uh from an outside lens how do you see that uh those similarities and and that translation of that uh that skill set helping helping here and I know you you not being uh not having done it it might be difficult to answer that but well I have a lot of experience in creating standards and policies so as part of what I do at the medical school I have to work with the other campuses to help inform policy that governs the University of Massachusetts and then create working operational standards

114that like we can live in from a campus perspective I think that that experience and understanding business processes and how they affect the day-to-day operations from a governance perspective would help me I also think just my EXP experience in dealing with so many different people across so many of the camp the campuses are just so different I mean frankly like the medical school is a graduate medical education you know our student population is not the high school student coming out and going into college it's the well I have two kids and I'm you know going to become a doctor and it's just such a different set of challenges um I also think there's a lot of challenges with like Mental Health and burnout that we deal with um and I think that that also translates

115somewhat maybe on a lesser scale but somewhat into what people you know are coming out with on on this side so I think there's a lot of parallels that can probably be drawn I think as I become more familiar you know I could help find them great thanks I have one little followup because I'm just Cur a little I'm curious about the work that you did when you were on the ashin parent Council can you explain ay what that is for M for everybody so we all know what it is and um and what you did a little bit with that sure so the Ashen parent council is a group of individuals who met with Jim once a month um for I want to say like two maybe three two to two and a half

116hours um every month and Jim would e bring us um kind of an overview of what was happening in each of the schools and we would also bring information to Jim that we were hearing from the community um if there were areas of concern or Applause or you know um I I think we gave out like stars to things that we thought were going well and so I got recruited in um by a someone I knew in the community who had been on the committee for several years when my children were in paway because they were looking for you know people who had younger children in the school system um and then I think a year in I took over the kind of the communication and helping Jim you know disseminate what was was going

117to be on the agenda for the meetings I also did a lot of Outreach about the minda the new minda school within the parent community so I sent a lot of emails I got a lot of people drummed up to go to town hall I got a lot of I also will say my parents and my mother-in-law live in Ashland I got a lot of the senior community to go to town hall too um and and so I just think the like various perspectives I have through my you know just my neighbors and my family um we we we would bring us all as the parent Council would bring those you know kind of perspectives to Jim thank you thank you any other questions Marcy before you close do you have any questions for us

118so I guess I guess my one question because I did ask a bunch of questions um would be like what are your immediate goals as the school committee coming up in the next year that's a that's a loaded question everybody's looking at the first one is to actually vote on our we have been working on a strategic plan for quite some time we had hired in I Outside Agency we had multiple forums and meetings and Jim and Mike have worked with the staff I mean a lot have of time and effort has gone into this and we're just on the verge of being able to vote on it I think at the next meeting um hopefully right if if everybody agrees that it's in its final form so that will be the document I mean

119a lot of the things that you mentioned sort of the the mental health and well-being of staff and students um communication is always a big um a big goal curriculum and and that sort of thing and there's a lot of other details in there that I'm not going to be able to resite right at the moment but um I I think implementing that plan I mean that's a big undertaking when you get a new plan then all the site councils have to make sure that they've aligned what they're doing in their buildings with the plan and then it trickles down down you know to the classrooms and so uh that would be sort of the major Focus over the next couple of years and and the same thing that everybody else is talking about getting

120back on track after covid even though it's been four years it feels like we're just coming out of it um and uh just trying to um engage with the community and make sure that we're meeting their needs and also reminding everybody that we're all here for the same reason which is to really make Ashley and in our case ashin students have the best possible experience okay thank you so if you want to give us final words about why we should choose you we'll hear them okay well I will say piggybacking on your answer I was involved in setting the Strategic plan the fiveyear plan for UMass Chan so I did go through that exercise and I was kind of second on the operational excellence piece of it which is the administrative function of that so

121I do have experience in going through that process um I guess as a closing remark I'll just say although I'm married into this town I have lived in it for 17 years and my husband grew up here his parents grew up here his grandparents grew up and went I mean my I think one of his grandparents paway was their high school so we're in the community we're going to be in the community and I will be you know present whether I'm chosen or not so thank you very much thanks so much for your time thank you m okay yep hi Jen hi there welcome back thank you especially for your patience your laugh sorry the maroon memo exactly you have the right color on I know it's so yes thank you for being here you

122have a couple minutes to tell us something about yourself and why you're interested in position and then we'll ask our questions happy too so um my name is Jennifer Gordon most people call me Jen which is great um I've been an Ashlin resident for 23 years my husband Ethan runs a small web design and development company here in Ashland and we have two wonderful children our daughter Abby is an Nation high school graduate at the class of 2022 um and is living her best life in Chicago at college now and our son Mitchell is a High School freshman this year um and some of you know Mitchell and have known him since he entered ashin preschool as a three-year-old and it's really hard to imagine that he's where he is but he's he's doing really

123well and we're really really pleased with the experience we've had here um for both of our children who have very different educational profiles and experiences um professionally I work as the Director of Applied research and program evaluation at the UMass Donahue Institute I lead a team of about 20 research professionals doing grant-funded and contract funded projects on topics related to education Public Health Human Services I myself have 25 years of experience as a researcher with a real strong focus in education reform and Improvement initiatives um including I led the seven-year program evaluation for the Massachusetts reading first program which was a federally funded grant program under the Bush Administration um more recently I've had some work um or some work experience with some Massachusetts initiatives focused on improving District leadership the new superintendent induction program

124that U Mr Adams actually participated in um as well as companion programs to that one being the um District governance support project which was led by masc so I have some experience and and just through my through my years of of research in this education realm I have a lot of just general kind of knowledge and awareness of how Education Works here in Massachusetts the roles of of school committees and and administrators and I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you today and answer your questions because I think I could I could have a lot to contribute to the board thank you so much and I'm starting with the first question sure Jen have you ever served on the board or overseeing body of an organization before and if so how would you see

125that experience affecting your service on the school committee and if not is there another experience you've had that you believe is relevant to serving on a committee that has to make all Decisions by a joint decision- making process sure um I have a a couple of experiences one one older before I had kids um for many years I served on the board of directors of the UMass amers Alumni Association and I was an officer um of that organization and so there was there was lots of joint decision making um and we had to work closely with the alumni Affairs office so I also understand that kind of role of of board and executive and how those how those pieces relate to each other um but I think more recently maybe um and more relevant because

126it's here in local is I served as a leader in congregation Shah Shalom which is our Jewish congregation here in Ashland I served on the board for six years and three of those years I was the president um so I I know a lot about trying to to listen to and be open to different perspectives to really consider and think about um the needs of of an organization big or small um about understanding that the thing that may be best for me may not be the best for the organization or for everyone that I I represent so having to kind of um bring your own perspective in the things you've learned from your own experiences but also to be able to set them aside and think about um the broader good and the broader interest

127so I i' I've had a I have a lot of experience in that in that board realm and I think um and thinking about policy and thinking about being analytical and strategic uh and I think all those things would serve me well thanks my turn right yep um thank you for being here Jen um what are the main issues that you believe our TOS are currently dealing with and how would you propose to address them so I I think the one we all acknowledge and and continue to talk about and was evident in the meeting today even was is the growing population and the diversification of our population here in ashin and and I think we could talk about that for um ages and ages I think there are other things um that are coming

128down the pike that we'll really have to deal with um one I one in particular I think is artificial intelligence and I think we're going to have to put a lot of thought um as a board and an Administration into um what are our policies around student use of AI or of faculty and staff use of AI so what policies and procedures we're going to put in place how are we going to teach students to be um effective and responsible users of those tools so not just like laying out you can do this but not that um but really thinking about how do we take this to school which is going to be really part of their future and probably part of all their working life and and teach them about that so I think

129that's one um I think or I know um when the new um Secretary of Education in Massachusetts has a number of priorities that will probably trickle down to us um third grade reading is a big one uh we're still you know continuing to I like I mentioned I worked on reading first under the Bush Administration we were trying to solve third grade reading Mee and here we are again um I know you know it it was interesting to me in reviewing the the materials on the on the website from the school committee the equity review for example um cites our reading curriculum as a as a strength I also know that the State Department of Education considers our reading curriculum to be low quality so I don't know which is right but I do think

130that there's going to be a push for us to look at that and to really think about is that the right reading curriculum for our community But ultimately we'll be our decision it's because of local control um so I think their grade reading is going to be another that we're really going to have to focus on so those are two I think there are others but thank you Paul Thanks Jen uh our committee is most effective when all members respectfully share their unique and often differing opinions uh and perspectives on an issue uh please provide an example of a group you've been a part of whose members did not agree and what helped move towards consensus and how that process impacted the potential outcome this is a good question I need to think about it

131for a moment but I don't want to think about it too long because I know we don't have a lot of time um I I think even even professionally I face that so is um I'm the director of one of 10 business units in my organization and we all have um different priorities for for the work that we do and for our units and we spend a lot of time in director's meetings um thinking about how we lead the organization as a whole um and sometimes we have we have very different opinions about how to proceed I think a key part of that is really going around and letting everyone have their voice be heard um and then trying to think about and find where where's the in between and where are the middle grounds

132where where folks can compromise and then ALS also being able to recognize um for or for people to recognize when maybe their their opinion is the minority opinion and it's it's really not going to go that way and it's time for them to to let it go and and let the the group move forward with the decision um I I can't off the top of my head think of a like a very specific circumstance where that's been the case but I think we try to operate in that way um and I try to be respectful of of understanding other people's perspective and um and what they might need to get out of a a particular decision and how can we how can we reach agreement but I I think that respectful part is is really

133important and I know how much you've all really worked to cultivate that um among you know within your board within your committee but also in in relationship to the administration and how um how unusual that can be here in Massachusetts we see lots of circumstances where um School committees and superintendents are at loggerheads and there's all sorts of drama and and what we know is that that gets in the way of the kids and and learning and that's not the kind of environment we want thank you Jo thank you madam chair Jen nice nice to see you thank you thank you for stepping forward and and wanting to uh become part of the school committee um you all of you have had an unbelievable uh resumés that were presented and I'm just extremely delighted to

134see the uh the level of experience and uh professionalism that has come that has come forward from all of you um with respect to that it takes a lot of time and effort to do this this position it does um your resume shows that you're heavily involved in a lot of things that need to get done and and so my question to you is um would you have the time because they meet twice a month we talk about preparation the school committee definitely prepares for their meetings and for other uh aspects of what they want to see come forward would you be willing to put that time aside out of your personal life and family life and because this is a unique position would you be willing to make the effort to run for office

135in May and then the following year again in may as well and that's a lot of time and effort and and planning for all of you folks that that want this position and so I I last so I thought a lot about that actually um and I think for me this this is the right time in the time that I can do that I I will tell you that I had the last time that there was an open seat I thought about it for a moment and I had just agreed to be president of Shere Shalom and I knew that I could not do both of those things and do both of those things well um that you know that time for me has passed you know I'm I'm still involved in the congregation but

136I'm not as active as a leader um and I'm ready to move on to to kind of my next public service challenge um my job is demanding but also quite flexible in the position that I'm in I work primarily from home here in Ashland um I have a lot of control and flexibility in my schedule and the ability to to shape that around my other commitments so I have that that ability um I am a state employee I have tons of paid time off which I don't use enough of um and certainly you know could use if if I needed to for things like that so I I do think it's a time that's right for me I I'm down one kid that saves a lot of time um and so and my my husband's

137also you know he works here in town and so um it gives us quite a bit of flexibility and ability to juggle multiple things and I'm I'm ready for that challenge I you know do I do I love the idea of campaign in run for office no but um but I it's something I'm willing to do if you know if I can be of service to my community through this role thank you yeah does anybody have any follow-up questions they'd like to ask uh I have one so you're obviously very involved in a lot of research around education and things like that um if you're on the school committee uh you might have formed some opinion based on that research and you kind of alluded to it earlier but how do do you do you

138see there being a challenge internally within yourself to trust the Educators and the data we're collecting locally to make local decisions that might not always align with what is coming out of research or other things that you're obviously involved in in to a level that other people aren't sure I think that's a that's a really really good question um first I'll say I you know I've I've been involved in education research for more than two decades I don't consider myself to be an expert in any shape or form and I have great respect for our education professionals who are running our district and managing the day-to-day um and so if nothing else I am very analytical um and very thoughtful and so I don't typically take something that I might have learned in one context

139and assume it applies in another um I'm going to want to see I'm going to want to see the data from Ashland right so there's you know third grade reading we know is a Statewide priority what what do the numbers look like now in Ashland you know and what do the trends look like and do how do we need to think about that um you know I'm I'm going to want to see that and I'm going to want to hear from our professionals um both in the central office and in the buildings to hear what they're seeing and what they're experiencing and what what their recommendations are um I you know I do very little of my own research now I mostly am an administrator in the group um and my job is to make

140sure that that the team that I have um uses good methods and produces quality products for for our clients um but I don't I don't often form opinions about their work so it might you know then again if there's something useful that we've generated that can help the discussion I'd also like to bring that forward great thank you I have less of a question and more of just a side note since you brought up literacy and data and looking at the data here um literacy is a passion of mine too it's an issue that I've um you know always had a had a great interest in and our district has done amazing things with literacy over the past couple of years um and the the changes they've made to the curriculum the data they're collecting

141the investment of the teachers and the administrators and um so whether you land on this seat or not I think you're going to love to dive into that data because it's it's impressive the work that they're doing so just had to to it's it's been a it's been a mountain that they've moved and they've done a really great job at it so I just need to point that out tooa any other follow-up questions Jen do you have any questions for us not really um you've been doing your homework I've been doing my homework I I was at the last meeting I picked your brain with a couple of questions about you know time commitment and and those kinds of things because that very much was on my mind um and I gave that a lot

142of thought in between but no I I don't really have any questions for you I think I'm I think I'm ready okay so you have some time to just make some final remarks sure well I first I just really want to thank you for the process that you've laid out um and hearing from from folks I was I was both excited and daunted that we had 10 people who were interested and so I think you know clearly we're um moving through this a lot quicker than we would have with 10 people but it was still really heartening to see that that so many people were um interested in participating um I come to this opportunity with no particular agenda um other than thinking that my skills and experience might be of some service to my

143community um and wanting to um find it find a new way to contribute um to to Ashlin which is now I've lived now in Ashlin longer than I've lived anywhere my entire life so um I feel very much at home here and very much committed to this community and would' love to to serve on the school committee um for a few months and then hopefully if the if the voters agree for a year and then turn Do It All Over Again start all over again right yeah it it's it's is a bit of a daunting process but we all survived it up here five times for me and I'm happy to give anybody any uh feedback on on that process great but but thank you for stepping up and being willing willing thank you very

144much I appreciate if your time thank you all all right folks so now comes the hard part you now you can all take a breath of no no you can stay if you want to it's not required but you're it's an open meeting and you're welcome to um to stay um I'm going to open up the discussion but I just want to say um very sincerely I and Jim knows this I I mean I've served on multiple superintendent committees because I've been here so long that I think I've been through seven superintendent and then all the interviews in between I've been with some of you on committees for principles um I've been on a lot of committees at this point for hiring and usually like one or two people rise to the top and the

145decision feels pretty clear and I just want to say that I would be really happy to serve with all of you um I I'm not sure where the discussion is going to go but I just think you're all super professional you're engaged in the community you're dedicated to your kids like all the things that we would want you all have have a little bit of a different skill set um but I could see any one of those you know being useful to the board um and I just want to thank you and encourage you to stay involved I wish we had four open seats um and and things do happen I mean SE seats open and people change their mind and if you can just if it's not your night tonight um you know I

146wouldn't want to lose the engagement of any one of you because I was really impressed with and I I think probably some of my colleagues would agree if not of them um but but unlike any other hiring situation I've been in I really would be happy to to serve with any one of you having said that um we have to make a decision so I'm just going to open up the discussion for just general thoughts and feedback and guidance um who wants to yeah I mean this isn't lip service this is going to be the hardest decision we made I've been on here for a while we've gone through covid we've talked about programming Chang changes that this community didn't want we we've had lots of different things we've talked about that were tough conversations

147you you you're all bringing unique perspectives uh you're all very qualified and would would do well so it's it it's like laying out four pieces of you know delicious chocolate and say which one which one do I want and and you can't choose and so uh that's not lip service the so hopefully like Lori said whatever comes out of tonight and I don't even know where we're going to where we're going to start but uh but but stay engaged and and and hopefully uh yeah just stay engaged please so wants to start thinking thoughts what about you Joe well I have to thank you thank you Paul uh looking on the town side of it this is this is a very difficult decision it's going to be for me anyway um you're all remarkable every

148single one of you have like like they've all said you have special traits and special uh uniqueness and um don't let that be don't let the decision that's made tonight stop you from staying engaged in town activities there are other committees there are other groups that are looking for uh vacancies to be filled uh and it's always good to start low to work your way up you know so that way you got a you know a Grassroots look at it uh because maybe it may not be what you're looking for TimeWise and stuff so uh to start right off the top you know you just it's like having triplets the first time not have you know not having children then all of a sudden you have triplets you don't know what the difference is it's

149from one to three so it's all the same so you know start slow and and work your way up type of deal but please don't let this hinder your decision not to stay actively involved in the community especially with Town things that are going on you all seem that you want to stay actively involved let's let's hope it stays that way and on behalf of uh Rob Sher our chair and our vice chair Yolanda Greaves they unfortunately can't be here this evening because of uh prior family commitments uh but they uh they all wish you all very well and much success and uh they wish you the very best of luck in tonight's proceedings unfortunate they can't be here no we we appreciate it and we know how hard it is to we we're missing

150a member as well so we're going to do the best we can so I mean I I guess we need to get down into it right so the this is this is a challenge I try to look at what each would bring to the committee right um right now uh as we're constituted we don't have any I think I have the youngest child and going to be leaving middle school next year right so um if there's a gap okay we don't have a parent of small children uh we don't have an educator uh on uh the committee right and so uh so I I and there's just so many this is this is is very difficult because I can literally go through these things and I can make an argument for each one of you

151um and I guess it's going to come down to what I think is going to be unique um and valuable to the Comm uh to the committee uh so yeah it's it's it's really tough I I think we have some some young energy you don't even have a student in the district yet and you're stepping forward so that's awesome and don't lose that energy or passion you you're up there and you're you I love the energy um and uh but I guess if I'm kind of saying the trying to marry what I think would really gel well with with with us um from a what would fill a gap or or or really add uh add something to it uh I guess my my my top two are probably Katie and and uh and Marcy

152I think because of those two things that I can see as literal gaps that we don't have uh for a while I was the one of the younger parents and had kids in elementary schools and and things like that uh so Marcy has that Marcy also brings uh the probably a very quick understanding of the Municipal finances and not only our Municipal finances because this is one of the things that I've always said and we've had conversations about this is that I wasn't elected by the parents of ashin right I was elected by Ashlin we have a a focus on uh on the schools and and that budget but we have to understand how that impacts us as a town and uh and we we as a town don't succeed if if both the uh

153uh both sides of that Municipal budget don't work so I think she would bring something there she would be uh someone with kids that are are in the in the experiencing going through those uh those elementary schools uh and but I also see that one of the things that was a great lens is an educator and you know somebody that lives it every day in another District being able to see that but also be a parent here involved in the community and so I Katie would fill that Gap and uh and I think that's a lens why we have two you know Educators that sit at the table that we respect and and and value their opinion they're not living the classroom life and uh I think that's a incredible lens not only to just

154because it's that but it's a it's a different district and and and and living that and it happens to be an elementary uh experience too so it's so tough but you know Jen has all that uh experience with the the policy you know I'm I'm the chair of the policy subcommittee right so uh your your educational background in that and uh but I guess I guess I could make the same argument for for Marcy and some of the policy stuff you deal with right uh there's just so much that each candidate would bring but I I guess if I'm valuing the the things that would fit right into areas where we could use that uh I guess that's where I'm leaning but uh you know like we've talked about if if there's compelling interest in

155any one of the four I think we'd be great so yeah um honestly I've been dreading this discussion for days because you're all amazing and this is really difficult to have to choose only one of you because you each bring such phenomenal strengths you bring each of you in your presentations tonight and then what you've submitted to the committee bring incredible passion and dedication to our district and so regardless again of what happens tonight I I I Echo everybody else's sentiments that I hope your involvement and desire to be involved doesn't change um you know when I was listening to all of you speak I was thinking of you know the things that kind of rose to the top for me kind of like Paul said in terms of things that I thought would be

156uh a really beneficial lens or or um you know skill to bring to the table um you know both as a a great perspective but also to be able to help you hit ground running since we're in the midst of a of a of a school year and kind of in the midst of our um session if you will um and you know a couple things that stood out to me about Marcy um a your the finance experience that that Paul described I think you know we're entering budget season and so kind of understanding the the intricacies and the Nuance of the federal and state budget process it's its own animal um and so having an understanding of that I think is is really helpful um you know your perspective as a parent of students

157in multiple different schools I think is very valuable um you know we've talked about this before many many of us those of us who on the board Who currently have kids in the in Ashton Public Schools or either in upper middle or high school and so we see from their perspective and as a parent perspective how school is different after covid but none of us have that lens as a parent of what it's like for a third grader right um it's different school's different after Co so kind of understanding and you mentioned a little bit of that when when you were talking that you know because of Co their reading instruction was different it was interrupted for a while so there's things that have to be backfilled and what is that look like um you

158know your familiarity and having already worked in some capacity with the district in terms of the work that you did with the um parent advisory Council um and I think those are all really valuable things um to bring to those those really stood out to me um in in you know you all stood out to me but those were some things that you know um that I I feel would would be valuable um to bring to the table I agree with you that Katie's perspective as a teacher um would be a really important voice to have as well too um uh and yeah those are those are my thoughts thank you Tina uh anybody else want to weigh in before I say anything Claudia uh no I was just going to reiterate really um what

159a great group of candidates uh the community has had before us tonight and uh uh how much I appreciate everyone's interest in in our community uh and just really what a powerful group you are um it made me certainly makes me feel like boy what am I doing here um but uh so I really thank you for your interest and uh thank you for all that you bring to our community regardless of how you serve it even just be by being a Community member and uh you know I I uh our school committee I uh appreciate all their work and everything they've done um to get us through Co and that and um I I know that no one will judge you harshly by what has to happen this evening um it is indeed just

160um un forun it can only be one person so I'll just I'll just say a real quick thing just because you know we're on the municipal side we work very closely with the school committee especially when it comes to the budget um this is we are going into what probably will be a tough budget season I don't know how the schools are kind of shaping up but I know on the municipal side we're probably coming into a tight a tight budget season um and one of the things that I've Loved most about our community is that the schools and the municipal side have this really great partnership um it's you know we have a financial policy about how we allocate uh any Revenue that comes into town you hear um other communities arguing about how

161um you know one thing over another like the municipal side wants a building like a public safety building and the schools want a new Elementary School in our community we did both because we felt that it was important that we support both both Municipal and the and the school side so um you know I so I've gotten to know the members of the school committee pretty well there are a really great group of people I just have to say that because they won't they won't say that themselves because um you know selling themselves but um but I am just blown away by the four of you because this has been um a really great night and I would encourage all of you even if you don't get appointed tonight to run in May it's going

162to be an open seat it actually will be an open seat so um you know we talked about staying connected but still like consider running in May no matter no matter what happens tonight because all four of you are incredibly talented and this is a hard decision this is a really hard decis decision um I would typically say I I defer to my to my school committee colleagues because you know they know what's kind of best um but we don't tonight and I just want to add there might be other boards with seats open and May so so but but but but in all seriousness um you know some of us personally you noce as a group so you you've heard them speak so I I do want it it I don't want the the

163select board members just to follow our lead but maybe you don't uh can't speak as much to the different issues or or spec with specificity on that but you know the group and you've listened to to them and so uh I think we would all value your your thought on a fit right because because that's that's what you kind of alluded to as a group right you know is the fits probably going to be very important so I would say um you know it was interesting the the the idea that having somebody that has kids in the younger schools might be a good complement to the current group um I am the only one on this on the select board that has a kid in school system so I get it I feel like have

164a lot of kids in the school you do you do and I'm the only one on this world that doesn't have any more kids in the school system but I did but it does have like a diff you come with a different perspective you just do um and so you know that that to me is an interesting that that that does I I mean I I kind of I agree with Paul like I think um I think Marcy's perspective especially when it comes to the finance would be really good as far as like trying to help us develop the budget um I know Jen like I I think I think that the policy fit would be really great too so um and then Katie as an educator I think also brings a very different perspective

165because again the school committee has three lawyers and and an saying that like it's a bad thing no no no but they all are very different somehow part was a bad thing but um but it I think the dynamic you know like I I I would I would probably oh God um like I mean if if I had to Cho you know like if I had to choose I would I would my it's really difficult but my vote would probably be for Marcy that would be mine but that's mine so I'm not you do have a vot table it doesn't but it literally please it does not take away from from um from the four the other three no I think we're all feeling that way tonight I mean as far as like people that

166check the box you're all leaders you've all proven yourself in in leadership ways you're you're running all kinds of wonderful things in the community you've been successful at your jobs you're obviously bright and engaged with your kids which is is the most important thing um and care about other people's kids which is why we're all here right at at the end of the day um we're not doing this for our kids we're doing this for our community and you all are here clearly for those reasons and those reasons primarily that at least that's what I heard um it it and and for that reason and and I can make an argument for everybody Katie definitely with the educator that's such an important perspective um I feel Jonathan with you know new dad with kids just

167coming up we we are missing that sort of young and and your perspective and business world would be really helpful same Jen like all the things that you've accomplished and I've been to that wonderful Temple and and you know clearly you you're a great leader and you've done great things in the community I I don't I don't know any of you personally so I'm just saying what I'm learning about you so it's whatever I can say that I've learned in couple hours or whatever minor conversations or emails we've had um listening to the conversations I'm I'm just thinking about the timing and what you said about budget and I think probably of the four and this is just a timing thing because there are five probably meetings left between now and the election there's probably

168only two or three before you have to pull your papers and make a decision so nobody is learning the job or figuring things out before you're finding yourself deep in an election so if if if you're thinking that there's really time for that there really isn't even as far as like getting to know us or getting to know the Dynamics we can all agree that there's a pretty good learning curve Claudia you're Claudia has been like the queen of this town you know seriously she's you know been a tremendous principal administrator School Committee Member citizen of this town speaks at every town meeting but I you would probably agree that there's a learning curve on select board yeah absolutely and Tina is the most recent member and we we've all we've all had it and

169there's just not a lot of time so it's it seems to me um based on the fact that we're entering challenging budget season and we're about to really focus on that that Marcy's probably the most prepared to step in the position right away based on the job that she already has um which includes all the things that we do policy um to me it is a real plus about the budget thing I think we have a lot of other skills on this committee but I am certainly not a numbers person I won't speak for the other lawyers on on the board but some people went to law school because they couldn't do do numbers yeah that's the whole but that's another story uh and and so you know I could be wrong about that but

170that's kind of what Rises to the top as far as like stepping right in understanding managing all the things we do managing people uh zeroing in on the budget um connection the community with seniors and and the things that I've heard so that's the only way that I can think to differentiate based on yeah but I guess from my perspective because of what you said even if you have that skill you're not stepping in and there's a learning curve for for that and I think we if this was a different District right uh so just you know this doesn't happen in every District the same way as it does here we have uh a superintendent who is also a finance guy and we have the Director of Finance and they do a fantastic job before

171they even present something to us and so we're not digging in as deep as those things um and so and I get that we should look at it as in not we have person a but we have role a uh but we do have these people in these positions right now and so um and again this is it's so sorry because this is going to sound like I'm you know valuing someone over and and not I'm looking at it just from the lens we are lacking uh at the table as a whole not just the voting members but the table as a whole you know if I were to prioritize all the different skills educator lens that classroom living it educator particularly we've talked about you know third grade reading and so I believe Katie's

172a fourth grade elementary school teacher right so uh if and that's that's the only reason in my said it's it's one a and one B it for me and then it's one C it it's it's so hard for for for this but uh I think both be so please don't take that I'd be disappointed in either vote whoever we pick if if I'm trying to be analytical and try to because that's I am an engineer and that helps to make decisions is like okay what if I just be objective and step back uh what does that do that's something we don't have I mean I'm a numbers guy and you know I've know now more about Municipal finance and msba financing and everything else than I ever wanted to uh so I'm not and that

173does not mean that that would replace the skill set I'm not comparing that in any way shape or form but if I try to put some rubric around it and I would probably be 1 a1b on that skill set and that lens because it's it's a gap we have and it's a gap we will have until we get a someone who lives it right um and well by your same reason Jim's been a teacher Mike's been a teacher you know we do have a lot of input educator input so it's the same reasoning where you're saying they do budget we don't have an actual member like you say we don't dig that deep but maybe if we had somebody on the committee that that was their expertise we would be digging a little deeper yeah

174I mean but uh no offense Jim and Mike you you haven't been a a classroom teacher in quite some time right so uh I while I value and I think that that forms their current lens I it I I wouldn't compare I I wouldn't say that's a replacement uh to someone who's uh you know done it for as long as as Katie has and and and is currently doing it in in a postco world and and through covid and and and all those things and I and I don't want to believe that point but but just absolutely well to you know to to kind of piggy back on the uniqueness of our district and the things that our administrators do that may not happen in other places Jim and Mike are in our classrooms every

175day they they're they're not teaching but they are in every they're in all of our buildings every day and so I I do feel like they're very much in touch with what's happening through all the grade levels with all of our kids um they're not the ones in the classroom um I absolutely hear your point um but I do feel like they're very connected to what's happening in the classroom I I've never felt that they were disconnected I've never felt that there was any feedback otherwise um that their perspectives weren't accurate um in terms of what was happening in the buildings um but that's not to to belittle if that's the right word you know the the experience of somebody like you're not minimiz minimize thank you not to minimize um it's you know I

176think this we could go on for hours and go talk about how awesome all of you are and all of the reasons we want each and every one of you here and I think we're all getting caught up in our in in the difficulty of this um would it be helpful for me to make a motion I don't know what what what what do you wanted to have what's the best way to move forward only if you're ready to do that people have felt what they want said what they want to say Jo if you don't mind Madam chair I and listening to all the uh the applicants uh I have to tell you there was some some verbage that brought my brought to my attention big time uh cuz it's very important to me

177and when I sit on the board and I've been the long 10ed selectman for over 15 years so sitting on boards and listening to what has to be said one of one of the applicants use the use the phrase compromise and that is that's to me that's key on a lot of things you can agree to disagree but you need to work on finding a solution and the word compromise that that struck Accord with me uh with respect to that the other the other um and this is one and onea uh I would say my be one in my in my put uh Jen Gordon would be one 1B um she was the word she was the one that used the word compromise several times um and I have to tell you the the burnout

178on students and teachers struck a cod with me as well we have to be you know very aware of that and the fact um experience in policymaking because you folks are policy makers and um and looking at Mar's you know resume and everything else and she even spoke to it uh when she was up at the podium that uh she was uh has very great experience in creating policies so in in in my mind that would be a great fit they all would be great fits but I was looking at key words in in what they were in smizing what you know what I thought would be a good fit for for you folks on the board far be it for me to say that I know what the hell I'm talking about okay cuz

179cuz I don't yes we respect your opinion and that's why you're here that's I mean and and looking at it as an outsider because I consider myself on outsid with the respect to the school board though I have subbed many of times though I did do uh programs in the school when I was a police officer thankfully and I enjoyed it um so yeah I mean I've had I've see the Gambit of all different things and to do what we were doing years ago wouldn't happen today because of all the different policy changes and and cultural changes that that have happened so um needless to say I mean that those would be my my choices uh if you're asking for that I mean that you're voting so no no I know but I mean I'm

180just saying those were key those were key words in my in in in listening to what they all had to say and those struck Cordes with me Mo respect to that so I hope it did for with you as well yeah thank you Joe that's helpful yeah there's there were several things that people said that I'm like wow really really great and I think CLA you the you're the only one that hasn't had it that second bite at the Apple you you just kind of said the yeah I said some nice things said how tough it was I don't know if you I'm putting you on the spot but did you want to you know yeah you know um a couple of things and I have experience as a school committee member right and I

181uh live through days when um the select board and the town or the general government side of the Town um and the school committee did a lot of knocking heads and uh it was very unpleasant and uh you know to bry's point about uh some of the times ahead uh I have some concerns about that and I think it's going to be critical for everyone to be able to work together um I can also tell you that when I was on school committee um for a long period of time we had uh three or four members who had a child in the same grade and there were times when I thought gee you know we don't have our fingers in enough places um and and and we don't um you know it's just easier sometimes

182when you have children or are somehow spread out yeah so I think that's that's important um you know I I do think that uh there are any one of you would do well um and that I feel as though it is to some degree although um I talked to Lori about this a little bit that you know I would support a decision that the school committee makes um you know unless there was something I thought was outrageously then I would not be fearful about speaking up but you know you know the good news is and the bad news is that we're not in that position we're in a position where you have to make a tough decision so um you know that being said I think that that probably Marcy and Katie are the ones

183that bring a little different perspective um to the to the table as I think you know a couple of people have talked about so um I could certainly support either of them and and hope that um any any one of them might consider U other positions in the community well I mean let's say somebody else has more to say I guess reading the reading the room I would you know make a motion to appoint Marcy culverwell to the school committee that seems to be the consensus is anybody would second that second that do we want to have a discuss more discussion about that more discussion I mean I think we said I think we've said everything that needed to be said yeah are you too ready to make to to vote to go ready are

184we good all right on from the school committee all in favor I I I from the select board we have to do a voice uh roll call vote Bennett yes Kinsman yes manani yes okay do we do we also just to make the record clean just in case sure fanes yes Kendall yes toasty yes there you go so again thank you all um thank you thank you all thank you Katie you're you're online so look up Katie thank you Kati we appreciate you all you're all aome um please look for open seats they're constantly popping up inv and Jonathan just like that opening presentation she was she's on site Council if you don't know what a site council is uh Tex my wife I got picked SP so I have no problem that's awesome system

185no stay stay engaged yeah you're just beginning that Journey Don't Stop love love the energy and the enthusiasm and the truth is and there is a real need for like I have no connections to anybody like with kids who are as young as yours like there's a real need for us to hear from you and see you and get to know you seriously so thank you all seriously appreciate all of your thank you very much time thank you oh my gosh Jen it's it's ridiculous I was like should I bring my wallet in case we need it was aw I'm still not going to sleep well tonight yes thank you um thank you we still have some business for the school committee so you guys can adjourn we need to adjourn our meeting I'd like

186to make a motion like to make a motion to adjourn I'll second that okay all those in favor at uh what that's not the correct1 8:31 yeah and I just want to thank the select board again yeah you can you can agree to adjourn but then let me thank you to thank you 831 honestly um your input was so helpful and it I know it's hard for you as it is for us um and I really appreciate just in general your collaboration we've come a long way Joe a long way since the betting of heads many many many many years ago when I first got on the board right I think cooler heads have prevailed and we have people that are in certain positions that are going to make this a lot this even though

187it's going to be a difficult budget it's it'll work yeah it'll work no we'll make it work thank you thank you thank you for your partn tonight everything and that was helpful Bry raising about the budget I mean it's it's going to be tricky I was going to ask to just while we're here um I know we're having our department head meeting this Friday Friday budget wise um for a budget and and if the school committee would I mean I would I know I would love to come to your budget Workshop whenever you guys do have that I know it gets posted and things like that but I just I would love to be a part of that because it is like it is a whole community discussion just to sit and listen end of

188February early March okay in the process of negotiations with five units so oh man okay good luck we'll see how that goes I'm glad you shaved your head so it doesn't fall [Music] outn than you thank you Mar congratulations one thing she needs to do down to cler's office and get one in if possible yes yeah or like sometime before if we were really quick she could have done it tonight I don't think it really needs to happen before the first meeting yeah yeah okay so I can so you can start chatting with her well I just think it's important to well I mean you you can have conversation she can't participate until until you're sworn okay um we're available for questions and and we can support your onboarding it's the first time we last

189night I had I was part of that program yeah we still have an open part of our meeting yeah we're still we got to keep still on we are still on all right um warrant approvals Paul all right give me a second where was there oh sorry Jim I'm taking you took my stuff but that's fine sorry all right between January 11th 2024 and January 24th 2024 I Paul Kendall authorized by my signature payables in the amount of $438,500 this includes general fund expenses of $3,578 42 revolving expenses of $135,500 cents and Grant expenses of $1,896 thank you do we have any minutes they were in there yeah I I I actually didn't get a chance to look at them do we we want to punt it then yeah can we because there's only three

190of us and I can't yeah so we're punting the minutes to uh January 10th to the next meeting thank you uh do we have gifts and donations we do we have one uh Ashlin PTO of $1,888 a donation to the grade six ecorium uh visit thank you uh move to approve the gifts and donations as presented second all in favor Tina hi Paul I just in case um does anybody have any updates they want to share real quick before move to go into exective session um so the last ashack meeting was canceled because it was on it was snowing so that didn't happen um last week but um a couple weekends ago was the um the Central Mass District band and Orchestra and chorus um festival and I forget the full name of the festival

191but it was phenomenal abson had 10 students who participated this year um and they all did great it was incredible um they did a performance at mechanics Hall uh and they worked really hard because they had Marathon uh rehearsals a few days the week before and then the the performance on the Saturday and the kids put in uh the students put in a ton of time and work and it was really impressive um we also had a number of students I think there were six students who um were recommended for an all state audition for The All State um music educators Festival I believe is what it's called and um one of our students Sarah mixus um was selected to be a part of the allate band which is a huge honor um so yay

192for Sarah awesome congratulations that's great and yay for Ashley because we had six students who got the nod it's not easy to get a recommendation to even audition for all states and we had six students that's huge yeah yeah I got nothing all right I probably should say something but I I got nothing I'm I'm that that took a lot out of it yeah I'm I'm wiped that's so stressful okay well then I will move to go into executive session under 21 A3 to conduct with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares not to return to Open Session regarding ashin Educators Association te teachers education support Personnel nurses administrative assistance and custodian and

193maintenance not to return to open session so I have to take a roll call vote Tina penties yes Paul Kendall yes and yes for me so uh good night everybody we will not be returning and we will entering executive session in a few minutes thanks please out to me and I can help youate St