School Committee Meeting 3-19-26

001Okay, you can begin, Anna. >> Okay. Good evening everyone and welcome. Um, can I call this meeting to order at 6:40 p.m. on March 19th, 2026? Um, Veronica, can I get a roll call, please? Sorry guys, I think I'm getting some background noise here. Um, Mr. Small >> present. >> Miss Kovas >> present. Sanriquez >> reserz >> resz Hernandez >> present >> and Mr. Gomez >> present That's nine in the affirmative. Chair Hernandez, you can begin. >> Thank you. Um, we will move on to the next subject subject which is the fiscal year 2027 budget discussion and review and I will pass it over to Dr. Alboa. Um, good evening, school committee chair Hernandez and the rest of school committee and everyone else that's listening. Um, thank you so much for being here tonight. I

002wanted to ask school committee, would you like to me to review the budget presentation? Um, as many of you know already, um, the city was generous enough to give us another 2 million. So I'm happy to provide update updated presentation if you would like. I can take you through the whole thing the whole presentation quickly and then focus on the the new changes for myself. I think that the changes I feel would be sufficient. I would also ask you to please also let the committee know that you were already in progress of bringing leaving trying to make arrangements to leave the the guidance counselor and the social worker um before we got the money. So that was already in progress. You already were going to keep keep those. So >> at the high school. Yes.

003Okay. >> Yes. At the high school. Okay. I mean on my behalf, I don't know what the other what the other school committee members feel. >> I'm agree. I think the new things and um also um what is um the new things are coming. >> Okay. All right. So, I'm going to go ahead and go through the first parts quickly. Billy Joe and I will do that as you know as pathy as possible because this is the third time you've heard everything. But then we will go slower through the um the actual reductions and then the actual positions that were restored. Um, and so I'll go ahead and share my screen, but as um, Chair Hernandez did say, I um, after listening to the budget meeting on Tuesday, um, I I was I had sent

004an email to school committee saying that I was looking to restore uh this one school counselor and social worker at the high school and librarian at the Mary Cab Burke complex. I was going to find the money, but then we also received the 2 million from the city. And I'd like to thank our city manager, Fidel Maltz, and um chair, our city council president, Roberto Jimenez, and and our school committee member Sarah for advocating and and having a conversation um with our city manager as well. um do know and I I want to be clear cuz the city had to make some adjustments to their current budget and different departments so that they could give us $2 million more. So it wasn't just something that they took lightly. They had to say what are we

005going to do without this year? And the city manager had plans for this two million already and he's reallocating that to the school department which I am very grateful for. But I do want to say that upfront because it's important to know that this money is being taken from other areas of the city and other projects that the city had planned and they value education. So this is why there is another 2 million that's being added to schools. So again, I just want to thank everybody for their advocacy. And with further ado, I'll go ahead and share my screens and go over the PowerPoint and Billy Joe and I will share so you don't have to hear so much from me. Johnny, I know you have a question. So projects were sort of taken from

006or is that still being decided by uh city council and Fidel? >> Yeah, that would be a question for the city council and for Fidel. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Or Mr. Maltes. Okay. Uh, see can everyone see that? See my screen? Okay. So, oops, I didn't change the date. I apologize. Um, here's our agenda for today. It's this it's the same agenda as we had before. Um, again, for those who are new, this is our strategic plan. And when I started in Chelsea public schools, I did a listening session. We met with in small groups with teachers, community members at at different places like Green Roots and at the schools and really listened to what people had to say. And then we did a qualitative analysis and we came up with five key areas

007that people had said that we needed to improve in our schools. And here are the five key priorities. Um, and this is our northstar and this is what um, helps us make decisions. So here's our devel our budget development pipeline. We get our enrollment numbers. They're submitted to DESIE on 101. And then we get our revenue and our governor's budget is released in January. Then we really start our budget process. And then we make and balance and make critical decisions from January to March and then the budget is approved in the end of March. The factors influencing our budget this year are our enrollment has declined by 350 students. So for every student that we have, we receive about $19,000. So with 350 students less, you can multiply that by 19,000 and it equals about

008$6.6 million. That's a a factor contributing to our budget shortfall. Then we had the expiration of our Easter dollars. We had the student opportunity act funding offset by enrollment. There were rising salary expenditures. uh increasing charter school tuition because we we do have to pay um tuition for the charter schools, escalating health insurance costs, and that's everywhere right now. Health insurance um is increasing, higher transportation expenses, and then growing special education tuition costs. Our enrollment, as I explained earlier, is is down 350 students. So if you look at 2024, we had 60,01 students and then at the beginning of this year we had 5,749. So we we get our budget based on the number on October 1st, 2025. And that's why we're 350 students down. If you look at next year's projection, we're going to

009go down about 220 students as well. And and this is very important because our enrollment dictates how much money we get funded from the governor. Now, Chelsea is not the only one in this position. There have been enrollment declines in all the Gateway City districts in uh in Massachusetts. Chelsea, we lost 350 students. Framingham lost 584. Lynn lost 435 students and Everett 339. Marboral 337 students and Holio 187. So overall, the state of Massachusetts lost 15,442 students. And then districts with large multilingual populations, including Chelsea, had the largest enrollment drops. And I'm going to turn it over to Billy Joe. Okay. As you see um we have expenditures in a school district ranging from salaries, benefits, facilities, information technology, professional development, special ed, supplies, books, equipment, transportation and utilities. Next slide, please. And as we

010update those expenses, we determine what our shortfall will be for the year. In January to February, after estimate, I mean, after updating the salaries with raises and all the contractual increases, we thought we had a deficit of 11.6 million before the offset in revenue. That grew to 13 million in February and March. And then as our revenue figures came in, we thought we had $4 million. So it brought the deficit to 8.6. As you can see, this has been updated. It is now 6.6 as our deficit due to the additional $2 million from the city. Next slide, please. And as we've explained, we dug into all of the actual um salaries and we to depict where we have all of our staffing. Most of our staffing is in the schools, 73% direct school-based educators, 10%

011in pupil services, 4% in administration, 8% in school leadership, and 5% in facilities. Next slide, please. And is this you Dr. Rebea or >> I can do this one. What we heard from our listening sh sessions as you can we've had we had three one with families um one with our educators elementary and secondary. And so you can see here what we heard and it was loud and clear from almost everyone's positions closest to children. Um it was said in different ways. Um they also said uh family liaons, extended learning and parents square and prek from parents, mental health supports. I I interpret that as positions closest to children. Um special education supports position closest to children. Uh our Camino's program and then just in general positions closest to children, which makes a lot of

012sense. um from educators. We heard that we areas we could do without consultants for professional development, reduced district administration, contracted services, and then parents just had questions about transportation because Chelsea's so small and consultants, but they weren't specific. And again, these are our patterns. They're not specifics because we were looking for overall patterns. And so here is a summary of increases in school-based positions. We had the last 5 years we were very fortunate to have COVID relief funds through SR dollars and S SOA. So we have been adding to the district. So these are the increases in school-based positions. um we were able to increase a total of 239 positions and we're we are so grateful for those increases because we were able to really provide a lot of intervention and tier 2 supports for

013students small group reading supports. So um we've been able to do a lot and then here are the increase in district positions from 21 to 26. You can see at the in the yellow uh a increase of 12 FTE or 12 people and that's a 20% increase. And then this is just another way to illustrate the increase in positions by category. and Billy Joe. >> Okay. And as we've explained, um, as much revenue increases as we did receive with chapter 70 and the city contributions still in, yet the inflationary cost for all our all of our current cost were too much and so we have to balance. Next slide, please. And this slide is saying, how will we close that deficit of 6.6 6 million. We have $4.8 million cuts at the schools and 1.76

014million at the district level. Next slide, please. Um the district level reductions from last year include everything from professional development, um online services, staffing and HR mediation specialist, the special ed contract, staffing at Webster, um translators, a Braille teacher, buildings and grounds, the extraordinary maintenance account, extended learning, information technology, and um staffing in curriculum and instruction. We cut 1.3 million. Those were all district cost. Um, next slide, please. And this one is the total reductions at the district level. As you can see, the 1.3 million that were listed on the previous slide, that was cut at district last year, but with no correspondent school-based reductions this year, 1.7 for the district, 4.8 for the schools. So, a total of $3 million over the last two years at in district reductions. >> Okay, go ahead. >>

015I can I can do these. So, the district-wide reductions, just to give you a break, Billy Joe, >> the districtwide redu reductions suggested for um fiscal year 27 and this is at the central office level. And this these are the um the stipens and the professional development and the contracted services. So we have the mentor lead stipens, the special ed out of district tuition, the wellness equity consultants, um black print engaging schools, um contracted services, stipens, extended t learning time, um district contracted services through human resources and district extraordinary ordinary maintenance buildings and grounds. And then the next category is districtwide central office reductions administrative staff that are proposed. One HR specialist because we're not hiring as many new people. One budget administrator because we don't have as much money coming in and one principal

016clerk through the business office. Um one technology web master. Um and in light of the web master that position being cut, Michael Sullivan is going to take on that responsibility. One district administrator and in light of that district administrator being cut, uh Mr. Adam Del is going to take on that responsibility. And then another administrative director in light of that being cut, Dr. Tamar Blake will take on that responsibility. And so I didn't say the specifics publicly because then the person would be identifiable and we're just trying to be um cautious about that. And then uh we heard loud and clear about retired administrative support. So we are uh reducing that support by $100,000. So again, this is all of the district administrative cuts. And then Billy Joe, do you want to go ahead? I'll

017go ahead and and and phrase this. We're going through the the school-based budget reductions. Any position that you see that has a strike through means that that position is no longer being reduced or cut. So that position will be in place as a result of the 2 million. So whenever you see a strike that means that that position is no longer being cut. >> Okay. So these are the ELC budget reductions. We had two ACE power professionals. Originally we had six power classroom powers. We they have decided to add back two and a coach was cut but add it back. Next slide please. Oh am I able? No. Oh, if do I have access to the slide? I Oh, I do. Okay, good. Um the Sakalowski budget reductions included a 0.5 digital literacy coach, a

0180.5 tech specialist teacher, a parah funded by the sped budget, an MLE teacher was cut but added back, an interventionist was added, a grade two teacher was um reduced. Grade three teacher, grade four teacher were both reduced. the shed librarian was added back and the tutors, they did um cut tutors, but we have hopes that other funding could help offset that at a later time. The Kelly budget reductions include a 0.5 digital literacy coach, a 0.5 technology specialist, a shared 0.25 librarian, um two tutors. There were three MLE teachers cut but now two were added back. A two pair of professionals were cut and a non FTE well which is a non-s salary cost called imagine learn and platform. Next slide please. The Burkowitz budget reductions included a reading teacher but that was added back.

019Um, they're adding an MLE teacher, reducing a digital literacy coach of 0.5, reducing a tech speer, um, technology specialist teacher. They're reducing a par funded by the special ed budget. They're reducing a grade two, three, and four teacher. The shared librarian was added back. The cuts of four tutors still is in place. Next slide, please. The hook school budget reductions include a 0.5 digital literacy coach, a 0.5 technology specialist, a grade two, three, and four teacher. It did include a reading specialist that was added back. The interventionist was added, a parah funded by the special ed budget was reduced. The shared librarian was added back and four tutors were still reduced. The clock school budget reductions include three foundation teachers but add back an MLE interventionist. They converted one foundational MLE to an MLE interventionist.

020Um they the UA unified arts specialist history was reduced. The content literacy coach was added back and the two paraprofessional reduction is still in place. Next slide, please. Thank you. WSTA budget reductions include a learn incentive teacher. A learning center parro was reduced but added back. A library par professional is being reduced. The classroom parro was reduced but added back. Four special ed teachers, liaison were reduced but two interventionists were added back in lie of those teachers and a 0.5 instructional coach. Next slide please. The Brown school budget reductions include one slife teacher. It did include two MLE teachers but those were added back. It includes one sped liaison reduction, a history teacher reduction. There was a unified art teacher college readiness reduced but that was added back and the MLE coach was reduced by.5.

021The Chelsea High School budget reductions included two English teachers, two math teachers, two science teachers, eight MLE teachers. there um only one counselor was reduced after these adjustments and the social worker was added back but we are going to continue with the reduction of the history teacher next okay CBLA the special ed teacher was reduced the MLE teacher.5 was added back and the sped there's another sped teacher of 0.5 that was reduced the reduction of a 1.0 No, para was added back. And finally, the COA budget reduction of one assistant principal was added back. >> Do you want me to do this, Elmy? >> I can do it to give you a break. >> Okay. >> So, the restored positions as of today, you can see we added the total. We added the totals. Um

022so there are 17 total FTE teachers that were added back 6.5 FTE pair of professionals and then one assistant one assistant principal at Chelsea Opportunity Academy. So those are a total that's what 2 million means to the district and we added all to all to the schools and then our remaining budget meetings budget meeting is Thursday March 26th and that completes our presentation for tonight. Thank you very much, Dr. Aveda and um and Billy Joe. Um I think you guys can run through this presentation in your sleep by now. Um we will move on now to public comment and um Veronica, will you be able to see if um what comments are coming in because that it's hard for me to see on here, but let them in one by one as they signed in

023as they signed up. >> Okay. So, how will I find the mom on? >> Um the first person I am letting in is um Vilma Roas Lopez. >> Okay. Do you want to just announce her and let her in? I'm opening up public comment. >> Yeah, I'm let her in now. >> Okay. Thank you. Good evening, Bill. Are you there? >> Yes, I'm here. >> Hi. How are you? Um, >> good. >> Um, hope you're having a good evening. Um, you can go forward um with your comments. You'll have two minutes um to speak. Kathy, can you time put be in charge of the timing? Madam Chair, I we will do three minutes for this. >> Oh, three minutes. Okay, three minutes. I'm sorry. Um Kathy, can you keep um the time? >> Yes. I'll

024come off mute um to let folks know that they're at time. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Hi, thank you for having me tonight. I want to thank everyone for kind of all the information that has been offered. Um, one of the things that I think I wanted to just share with everyone is that we are thankful that we have been having these meetings. Um, one of the things that um has been very important is that we have this open communication and we have the flow of information. Um, unfortunately it has felt like the flow of information has not been coming from the district itself and it has been coming from other sources. And so I just wanted to kind of stress the importance of um making sure that for the next year possibly, right?

025Because you know um as you've said previously, we know that the decline of students is something that might continue for the next year as well. Um is having parents feel more involved in the process, having the community feel more involved in the process. So maybe having sessions where the community is educated a little bit more in terms of funding and kind of how we can support the district and the schools um when we know that there's going to be a deficit um in in the school budget. Um and so that way it doesn't feel like it's one kind of side against the other which unfortunately is something that as parents we have felt it has felt like it has felt a little bit like mom and dad fighting and it has not felt good for

026parents at all or for the kids and the students to feel that at all. So that's just some feedback that I wanted to give um to everyone here is that in the future we hope for more cooperative communication. We understand that the money is not going to appear out of thin air and we understand that hard decisions have to be made but we want just a little bit more cooperation, more communication, more transparency. And I'm sure you're sick of hearing that word, but we really just want to be able to cooperate a little bit more, have more understanding of what's going on so that parents don't feel blindsided, students don't feel blindsided. Information and having that information from the beginning will really help ease a lot of the tension and a lot of the angst

027that has been felt by a lot of the community. And if we can bring this information to the state, if you could guide some of that passion from an earlier point in the timeline, then that will really help everybody in the long run. And so that's just really what I wanted to stress throughout this whole process is that we really want to work together and it has never really been anything that's us against anyone else. It's just we want to be included. So, I want to thank everyone here for your time. Thank you. >> Thank you, Vilma. You're at time. >> Okay, I will be letting Anna Venega in now. >> Welcome, Anna. Whenever you're ready, let us know. Miss Vega Rivera, are you here? >> Yes. >> Hi, how are you? Um, are you

028ready? >> Yes. >> Okay, you'll have three minutes. Um, Kathy, we'll let you know when your time is up. Okay, thank you for coming. Bye. >> Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Anna Vangas Rivera. I live at 454 Street and I'm here tonight as a parent and a community advocate. I want to start by celebrating my community. Chelsea is resilient. We unite. We care for each other and we use our voices. But tonight, I'm here to talk about the barriers that keep those voices from being heard. During this budget process, I have witnessed a community that deeply wants to be included in decisions that affect our families and our kids' futures. When you see parents missing from these meetings, do not mistake their absence for a lack of care.

029Many of our neighbors are forced to make an impossible choice. Missing a day of work to be here means not having enough for rent or being unable to afford food. And for those who do make the sacrifice to show up, they are often met with systems of communication that are confusing. Confusing, opaque, and difficult to navigate. I ask you tonight, do not only fixate your eyes on money problems, but also help me advocate for better systems. We don't just want to be informed after a decision is made. We need accountability in your processes. Ensuring that when the community speaks, there is a visible impact on the final decision. Transparency in your data, being honest about the why and how of financial, financial, and policy decisions before they are finalized. Accessibility, meeting the residents where they

030are, whether that means flexible meeting times, multilingual communication as a standard, no as an afterthought, information that doesn't require a low degree to be called, encourage participation that does not require to be techsavvy. QR codes and RSVP through email are some of the communication system that may many of our residents are not familiar with and community inclusion from day one. We are partners in building a better future for our children. Please fix the system so that every parent and resident in Chelsea, regardless of their work schedule, technology barriers, and or the language they speak, has a real seat at this table. Thank you. >> Have a nice evening. >> I will be letting in Miss Dea a moment. Good evening. and Adia, whenever you're ready, um you we can go ahead and start the timer

031for your public comment. [clears throat] >> Hi, good evening. >> Good evening. >> Okay. Um so I just want to echo what? Um Hi, can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. Thank you. >> Thank you. I just want to echo um what the first two comments about transparency um said. I think um that is a common trend between the parents. Um I kind of voiced that opinion um when I had the opportunity and I just want to um echo that um that I am very frustrated in how this process had I'm sorry. I thought you guys could hear me. >> We can hear you. >> Yeah, but then it cut. >> Sorry, I forgot to mute my my other the YouTube. I apologize. Um, so as I was saying, I've been very frustrated in

032this whole process in terms of the lack of transparency and trying to get information. Um, I think that it is I I feared that the moment we were notified that we were going to receive $2 million from the city that that would automatically cause the budget to continue to go forward as it's been proposed. I think that regardless of the money that was received, I think that the voice of the people, the voice of the parents and the teachers is that we need more transparency and more accountability when it comes to positions specifically for cabinet level members. Um I think that it's frustrating to know that um that is not even being touched that you know Ali as the superintendent is not making these tough calls when it comes to her direct circle of people

033and I think that the example needs to be set in which Almy can make the tough decisions and I know these are people's lives that are being changed but I think the example comes from top bottom and I think that it as a parent it's hard to see front-facing positions being caught, but it's also harder knowing that there's a lack of transparency when it comes to people making way more than the the non-livable salary that most teachers are making. Um, and I would advocate for the budget to not be passed as it is right now and to require for us to find a way where it's across the board fair. And the formula doesn't work the same for every school. I think that we need to address the fact that there are schools that didn't

034have a decline in students and why is it that they're still being requested to, you know, cut positions just like a school that had a huge drop in enrollment. Um, I know that, like I said in my comment on Tuesday, that the norm is to just accept the budget as is, but I don't think that these are normal times. I think that we've gone years of of having parents not be able to be involved for various reasons. And this is a new generation of parents. A new generation of parents that thankfully can make time, thankfully speak the language, and thankfully care. And I think that as committee, I think that we need to listen to the voice of the people and the voice of the people is please reconsider the budget. And if the budget

035is passed, I think that that furthers the conversation that there is this is all just for formality. A lot of parents believe this is just >> Thank you so much, Nadia. That is time. Thank you so much. >> Hey, I'll be letting in Zach. Okay. >> Welcome, Zach. Let us know when you're ready to start. Zach, are you there? Are you able to hear us? >> Yep, I'm here. There uh because people in the way there are some people in the way. Yep. Before I start, uh there's a lag. Uh if I didn't know I had to sign on on, uh another device, I would have been in the dark here. So, uh my name is Zachary Ryan. Thank you for letting me speak this evening. Uh I'm appreciative to the city uh that they've

036found the $2 million. I understand that those funds have come from other projects, but my request to the school board would be go back and ask for more. Everything being the same next year, the positions that we just hired back are gone and then some. They gave us $2 million. That's that's a one-off this year. We need we'll need this again next year. looking at the data as it uh has presented to us. Amy, you said at two meetings ago that or three meetings ago that you asked for a projection of students going out five years. You know, next year is that last year and we see there's a downward trend of another 250 students. What's after that? Have you asked for what's next? Do we plateau? Do we start to come up? Are we

037going to continue to drop? Because if we're going to continue to drop, my question is what's next? We need I'm glad the city believes in education because if we let the schools go, we're gonna be back in receiverhip and we're going to lose more students to charter schools and it's just going to be driving our education, the students and the city down. The city needs to lean into the education of the students. Everything, the world is on fire. I think we [clears throat] can all agree with that. The families are showing up now because this is the one place where we can make a difference. We want to be heard. We want our children to be safe, secure, and get the education that they deserve. So, what's next? More transparency. I will again, everybody else

038has said it. We have asked for organization charts. We have not received them. We've asked for more information. We have not received it. You have changed numbers on us and given us different information tonight, but I don't know what's behind that information. The positions that you said you're going to cut at the district level, how many of those were empty last year? If they were not filled in the last year and you're going to say we're not going to fill them, that's a cut. That does not go against your number. That is a position that we did without. I'm pretty sure I thought I saw the braille teacher was not hired last year and you're saying that's $100,000 savings because we're not going to hire them. You didn't have that last year. So to the

039school committee, if there are cuts on that board that they're saying, you know, we didn't have it, we didn't hire, um, we're not going to fill that, that's where we're getting our money from. No. You know, we have a administration that is the size of Lynn schools. Lynn schools has 18,000 students. We have less than six. How can the administration be the same? It that does not math correctly. You know, you need to do more with less is what you've been telling the schools. The parents are telling you at the district level, you need to do more with less. You need to be better about it. You need to be more organized and you need to restructure. Additionally, I saw that three top level people have taken on more pos more work. I'm glad. I

040just hope that there's not a bump in salary that coincides with the extra. >> Thank you so much. That's your three minutes. >> Ver is it possible that I if we can remind our guests that um madam superintendent um is Dr. um Abeta um that we have a superintendent. She has a title and it is Dr. Abeta or Madam Superintendent. Um, thank you so very much. >> I apologize for that and I meant no disrespect by it. >> Okay, I will be letting in Katherine Anderson. >> Thank you. Welcome, Miss Anderson. Let us know when you're ready to speak. Hi. Sorry. Am I in now? Okay. Can everybody hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. Thank you. >> Um, hi everyone. My name is Katherine Anderson. I'm a special education teacher at the Brown

041Middle School and president of the Chelsea Teachers Union. Um, I just really want to echo what I've heard previously. I don't know how long the lag is, but Zach was the last person I heard speak. Every um community member I've heard share that we are really excited about this additional funding from the city. I think it is showing that the city of Chelsea is really stepping up to value education across the city. However, I am frustrated to see that the only changes that we made for tonight are from that additional funding from the city when there were 500 people who turned out on Tuesday asking for us to take a really, really close look at our budget in great detail and see what other changes we could also make. Even with these additions, we are

042still at 60 positions being reduced across the district next year. That's the single biggest year reduction that we have ever had in Chelsea public schools history and is still close to wiping out that half of the Student Opportunity Act that I referenced last night. Um, I also want to echo the concerns about information and transparency. We received an email from the district's lawyer at 6:15 today stating that there were going to be a refusal to complete a request for information that we've asked for in order to better understand and participate in this process including a list of our vendors, a list of the uh software programs and things like that and how much money we're spending on them because I think we need to continue to look within Chelsea for places to adjust as we

043continue advocating now at the state level. Um, just for for [snorts] reference, some of the numbers I found in looking through the city's open vendor, we spent $400,000 on Imagine Learning LA last year, $250,000 on curriculum associates, $160,000 on dual language, $137,000 on black print, um, and $200,000 on retired administrative support. 60 positions being reduced across the district is still going to have a really intense impact on our school communities and on our students. And we still need to keep looking within our budget to continue making the changes that our families, our students, and our staff are all asking for. And I really just beg of the school committee that you take a really, really fine-tuned look at what we have available to us and keep pushing for changes as we keep looking for continued

044outside funding sources. It's what our kids need. Thank you. Hey, I will be letting in um Vanessa Mendoza Mercado. >> Thank you, >> Miss Mendoza Marcado. Are you available? Are you ready? >> Good evening. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Are you ready to start? >> Yes. >> My name is Vanessa Mendoza Marcado. I'm the multilingual educator at the Kelly School and the vice president of the Chelsea Teachers Union. I'm here tonight because I have heard from four family members tonight, as well as you just heard from our uh president, the lack of transparency we're still seeing as this budget is being um presented. Many people are confused as to what changes we have seen within our budget outside of the money the city has provided. It's great that our city manager has pledged an

045additional $2 million that has helped us regain some of the positions lost. But on Tuesday, we heard from multiple community members, from students, from families the importance of reooking at this budget and making changes so that the cuts are proportional. and those changes were not made. We did not see any change to the administrative staff. We saw additions of teachers and pair professionals. That is exciting. But without the support of the city, those changes would not have been possible. So I'm asking school committee tonight to look at this budget and make sure that it reflects the voice that the people have said. We want to see the changes because the transparency we're asking for because our students deserve that. Because our parents deserve that. I cannot I cannot in good faith believe that we're going

046to do what's best for students if we're not listening to them. [clears throat] Every day we have been asking for this information. We have been asking for positions that have been reduced. We have been asking for the impact on our students classroom size. We have not received that. It's hard for us to continue working together when it does not feel like you are working with us. As a staff member, I am here and I am frustrated. As a community member, I am here. I am frustrated. We can do better for our students. We can do better for our community. Thank you. Hey, I will be letting in Thomas um Gordon Gordonire. Mr. Gordon, let us know when you're ready to start your comment. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. >> Let us know

047when you're ready. Uh, my name is Thomas Gordoner. Uh, I'm an ESL teacher at the high school and I'm deep. working hard to find additional funds. I am however baffled by the district's choices. I cannot understand why the only change in the budget since Tuesday is allocating those additional funds and not balancing the cuts between student facing positions and others. We did not notice a single change in the district level cuts. After 500 people attended Tuesday's meeting and 100 people gave public comment, the majority of them students overwhelmingly ask me to preserve school-f facing positions. It gets said a lot. Budgets reflect priorities. And what you're telling all those amazing youth who spoke so clearly and passionately and brilliantly on Tuesday is that you listened to them and decided that you still prioritize both of

048their school counselors, Naomi Mahia and Karina Lawrence, as lower priority than any one member of central office. I've worked with both of those amazing professionals, but I I can't improve on what the students said on Tuesday when they praise them and describe them over and over as not only building their futures, but saving their lives. I teach English and every day I tell my students that learning how to communicate clearly and impactfully is important and worthwhile. And I I don't know what I will tell them uh tomorrow if this is the budget that stands because that's would tell them you would tell them that it doesn't matter how much they show up and how much they speak and how clearly they communicate what they need and what is important. Uh it doesn't matter. So you

049can't keep rely on the city being willing to find more money to paper over the choices the district is making that ignore what the community is telling you loud and clear about what they need and want. Thank you. Hey, I will be letting in um the last person that signed up, Miss Carolyn Ellenberg. Let us know when you're ready to start. Hi, good evening. Can you hear me? >> Hello. >> We can hear you. >> You can hear me. Thank you. >> Yes, we can hear you. >> Okay, great. Um, my name is Caroline Ellenberg. I live at 107 Shirt Lip Street and I am the parent of two Chelsea Public Schools children. And I first want to say I appreciate everyone at the city um for the city and the district who prioritized this

050additional 2 million. Thank you for that. Um I echo the concerns that I that it's that there wasn't a shift in the budget other than other than that 2 million. Um I uh you know I I've been in the Chelsea public schools for many years. I have a seventh grader as my oldest one and I'm really impressed with Chelsea public schools. I was impressed during the pandemic with how with the leadership at all levels. I was deeply impressed with the teacher, staff, and leaders at the schools. They're doing so much with so little, and I'm concerned that they can only stretch so far. Um, ultimately, schools happen as, you know, with what happens at the school. And I'm concerned that we're entering lean times, not just this year, but going forward, and that we're going

051to need to rethink how we're running running the schools. and um really hoping that there can be some adjustments to make things leaner even though it's painful and I get it and it's a real loss to cut positions uh at the district level if we can keep the schools staffed uh it's just critical um and I guess to you to the school board I would just say how incumbent it is on you in this difficult time and moving forward uh to understand and to be the leaison to us to parents to parents and to residents and to bring us into the conversation moving forward beyond this budget conversation. Um you all have a responsibility as elected officials um to really be the bridge between the schools uh and the decisions and the parents and the

052community um with clarity and communication. And I know that's a big ask. I know this isn't your area. You know, you all have other jobs, but I really I really hope that we can all work together to really understand these processes. Um, finally, as more money does come in, which I hope it will from whether from the state or other places, I urge you to, um, adjust, make adjustments according to the student enrollment, um, you know, so that in since the cuts are because of enrollment that in schools that have higher enrollment to make sure they're getting equitable cuts. Thank you very much. Thank you for all you do. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, >> have one more. >> We have one more. Yeah. >> No, no, no. That's fine. Um, who is the

053next person? >> Megano. Letting her. >> I'm sorry. Can you repeat that? >> Megan Mildo. >> Meo. Okay. Miss Medel, let us know when you're ready to start speak um your comment. Miss Medel, [clears throat] are you there? >> Are you able to hear us? >> Yes. I'm sorry. I just drove my daughter home from dance. I am turning on my camera. I am still in my car, but very safe. >> Okay, good. I was just going to tell you, be safe. >> Yes. No, we just got home. Thank you. Um, my name is Megan Mary Hildo. I spoke on Tuesday as well. I'm a teacher at the Brown Middle School. Um, and I just wanted to share and reiterate some of the other concerns that were brought up this evening. Um, especially around the

054fact that many people showed up on Tuesday and it seems like our voices were not heard. um especially from the students all of those students from Chelsea High School who spoke and show shared really meaningful experiences with the people in the positions that are being cut also the teachers who spoke and we're discussing all of the responsibility and work and relationships we've built and our real belief in our true focus on name strength and story and the fact that nothing has changed in the budget. I'm so grateful to the city for being able to give us $2 million more. >> Um, but I do wish that more of what the community had said and talked about was listened to. Um, I did notice on Tuesday and tonight there was a slide about other districts who

055are also facing budget shortfalls and I'm just wondering about what those districts are doing. how are they handling this situation? Because I have not heard about them in the news um and people being really frustrated with how things are being handled in other communities around the state who are experiencing similar losses. I thank you for giving me the time to speak this evening and again I'm sorry for the darkness and the terrible camera view. Um, but I really felt it was important that I join um, and reexpress the frustrations that everyone is feeling and the lack of communication um, and really feeling heard by the district right now. Thank you. Okay, Madam Chair, that was the last person. >> Okay, thank you. Um, we will end public comment at this time. Um, and we will

056actually move on to any questions that the school committee um has at this moment that would like to express. um with um to Dr. Ala and her staff. Miss Kovas Calabayo. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> So, I have a couple of questions. Um and I wrote them down in order of appearance so that I keep my thoughts together. um in some of the um things that came up um some of the contractual services were named. Um, I wanted to know if because I know that some of the contractual services are grant specific contractual services and that being said, they are for example um you know the cafeteria cafeteria was a specific grant in the past and we could only spend that money. um as far as you know that was concerned for um

057the rehabilitation of the cafeteria um and so forth like to um you know fix that. Uh some of the um title one grants and some of the um instructional services um uh are also like fish tank. some of the services and some of the programs that were mentioned um loosely um and and with dollar items also fall under some of the grants that were provided for and again with some of those grants that we see go through and that we approve and I'm only mentioning them as a chair of budget and finance um I am aware that those grants come with spec with specifications that only can be um used and spent with um provisionals and and conditions. So if for the next um you know because transparency has been big um if for the

058next um meeting we could have a better idea of how that applies. I know that we also prepay into um you know special education um services how that has helped us because otherwise our deficit would have been much larger as well um being as you know the the the prices fluctuate um we mentioned other um cities and towns and other municipalities I know that for other towns um a whole city's library has been on the chopping board after spending 5 million and that's the city itself's library, but it was that or the actual like you know trash services and you know just based on rising cost. Um another thing that I remember when I first started on the school committee um all of the salaries were actually listed not just cabinets. Um, and I know

059that with our budget because um, you know, when we hire um, staff, we go through approval processes and we see who's coming in and how it's going to work. Um, in the past, you know, like kind of like the police department and the fire department, every single um, public employee was listed. um the city's uh website changed and therefore our um system changed as far as that was concerned. It seems like with the request for transparency, perhaps it's best that we explore a way to go back to that because obviously everybody's um you know, it's clear what the obvious salaries are, but that would I think save up and clear up a lot of confusion as well. Um and it can be looked into um but I think that would be helpful as well. um

060if if that's something that we can consider. [clears throat] Another thing that I would be in, you know, just listening to everybody and seeing how feasible it is once our, you know, future budget is is considered and all of the um for visual purposes, as Mr. Deady has pointed out maybe for the graphics um just making them a little bit bolder and in different sizes um just so that we could do that and then uploading the um budget book in a digital platform as well so that everybody has it accessible to them. Um, and I know that as we're doing it with live numbers, it's difficult, but that way at the beginning of the school year, people can potentially have that. Um, so, and then lastly, um, the only other thing is, and I, and

061I thank all of you guys because again, we just received this um, last minute, you know, funding. Um and and this was done pretty much in very real time. Um so thank you for that as well. Um we had done um previous surveys as well. So and I know that you know with family and everything we have done it through like you know we've sent notifications through parent square. Um we've sent notifications in the backpacks. We have sent notifications through the city website through text alerts. um and you know different uh fielders out there and I know the good thing about having it through Parent Square is that um we can track that information. Is there a way that we can verify with the teachers to see or we can do like a data poll

062um to see how often the teachers are actually doing or what information or how often the teachers are actually able to um send the memos out as well. um just to see what that looks like since we're being a little bit more data driven or the that that look for transparency and since we did mention for contractual services I know that we do have to that subcontracts for that we have to keep for um you know that is kind of a big ticket item. So again, as the chair of the only because we did, you know, have that discussion and being mindful of time. Um, we did transfer because somebody did point out that not every single school had a loss of of students and not every single school spends the same amount of, you

063know, for the same amount of students. So I know that you guys have been very in other areas have been very equilateral as far as spending and as far as covering. So those are you know everybody's tuning in right now but there has been other items which we have basically covered all of the house expenses in a very like this is all our pot and we're just going to make sure that we're just you know staying afloat. So, um if we can um do that and then there was lastly um for national I know that it's the urban national versus the county um national for like our services if we could also give us in the next slide in the next um upload or in the next meeting if we could do that for our

064services and how we're planning on supporting that. Thank you. Adam, you might want to narrow in for me. Dr. um Mr. Deady, sorry. Or Dr. Jennings, the clary whispers. Who um does anybody else have any questions? Please raise your hands. >> I think Yeah. Um, >> I have a question, Anna. >> Yes. >> Um, well, I mean, I know that we have here so much for the community and I think that's great because that's what we need because, you know, we need to know what they feel, what the experience are and I also um they keep asking for transparency and all these things. we know that I mean we have been involved um in many different ways like Clar says but uh unfortunately a lot of people they don't get the message or they don't

065get you know um the way to hear from us so I don't know if we not putting in all different ways or different uh languages the message or we need to work more in that or kind of like um give a speeches to different um uh different um places so people can can know what's going on. Um if that will help. And also I feel like um one of my concerns that I have is the safety of the students and the kids. We know that we received $2 million and that's great but um I'm thinking you know how that's gonna how's that's gonna affected and a good it's going to do better yes but um how it's going to be the classroom if they going to still having a lot of kids in the classroom

066do we going to still have the cover for the support for all these kids or or we need to work more hard to get more money and to find another Wait to get that money. >> Thank you. >> I'm sorry I had not unmuted myself. Um, thank you. Um, is someone able to address Mida's questions? Sure. So right now when you look at the numbers ma the the ratio is 14 to1 and uh that's 14 students to one teacher and and the way that's the way that's calculated is this the desi will look at how many teachers we have divided by the students and or the students divided by the teachers and that's the ratio and it's not a perfect ratio. So sometimes you will hear that some classes may have 25 to 30 students

067um at the high school. That is the case and the m the bigger classes are actually your AP courses. And so the the most the the widest variation is actually at the high school. And then in some schools some some classes are smaller than others at the high school. And so that's why you'll hear when I have 25 kids and um and we when we did the analysis it's mostly predominantly the AP courses. Um, I just saying it because um, I know when um, my son u goes to high school, he usually sometimes get 30 students in the classroom and I was concerning if they going to pull up more teachers off if that's going to get worse or it's going to be, you know, a little more kas for them. I mean, especially because

068we have kids that there have IEPs and 405 plans in the same classrooms and I feel like that's That's a little concerning for me. >> I'm happy to send you um often times what people don't realize is that questions that come up in conversation I don't have immediate like data answers to. So often times I will send followup to school committee so they understand and and I can answer the the question in more detail. So in this case I can have uh one of our staff members want to report on class sizes for example MA at the high school so you can see the variation and I'm happy to send that to all school committee we we have that data >> sorry >> thank you so much >> Sarah first >> excuse me >> no

069no >> someone speaking but I it keeps coming on muffled >> it's me and it's by accident because I didn't realize I was um mute. I was off mute, but Dr. Neville has her um her hand up. >> Yes, I see it. I see it. >> And I was just going to suggest that if if we could have it um just available for the for the meeting and if it could just be um um if see if it there's specific classes as well, not just the AP, but like specific classes versus like but a full report would be great. We can get that and it'll be it's pretty easy to understand too. It's very straightforward. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Neville. >> I'm sorry. M >> I just Yeah, I just I just want to

070clarify something else too. And I think that's going to help us not only the school community but also um the constituents and and the parents to know that I mean to have more clear and transparency of you know how many kids do we usually actually have in in classrooms because you know I know that a lot of um teachers and and students sometimes they can complain about that and if we have everybody in the same page I think that will help a lot too. Thank you, Maida. Dr. Neville, >> thanks. Um, I want to concur with what Claudia and Maida were saying. I think, um, we're in in difficult times, there comes more scrutiny, which means, um, more demands for transparency. And so I think that um you know we can set a new normal

071going forward for how we communicate things. We can um I think it would be amazing as Cloudy suggested to put the budget book online sooner. Um I find it hard to uh to reply to a lot of my constituents questions, the things that have been coming up in the listening sessions about, you know, contracted services and consultants and this and that. um because it's it's not really very clear in the budget book how everything's broken up um at least not in the version that we have right now. Um and you know that clarity I know that you know if if the district is proposing um to retain something um there's probably a very good reason for it that could be um easily justified and so that that clarity can be there in the narrative and

072and everyone can have it. And um I also had some of the same questions as Claudia. I noticed that um I did a really uh rough division of like the number of cuts per school and it was like roughly equal. I think I wasn't sure if it was going to be proportional to enrollment drops or enrollment or if it was going to be proportional just equal across the schools. And then there was another place in the budget book where it said, you know, every department was asked to cut 100K. And um and I'm just curious like I know that every school has um every every principal was asked to cut, right? And um I know that there's good uh I I feel like there's probably very good justifications for what was chosen to be cut

073or not cut by the principles. Um like at my school's site council, I asked that question. The principal gave a very clear answer why the specific cuts at that school made sense for this school and you know why it was um the best way forward for students. And if that information is made um you know publicly available, one paragraph or a couple sentences per school, um then the community knows and the community feels um like they're more in the loop and there's more confidence. you know, so that when that um additional funding comes or more decisions are made, there's there's more trust and confidence. That's that trust and confidence comes from transparency. And so I'm excited that there's um I think that it's it's useful for us as as a school committee, as a district

074to move forward. Um it's useful that we have these demands on us for transparency. It makes us better. Um I do I would love you know when we're talking about the um [sighs and gasps] what I guess if we are getting more information in the next few days or before the vote um a little bit of information about um you know were the cuts mostly equally done or were they done proportionally or were they done um for strategic reasons, academic reasons? I think it would be useful um to know and um so I know I know I've I've talked a lot but um [snorts] [sighs] yeah and um and I just want to you know thank everyone for um who for for having this this new funding. I think it's really great now that the

075the cuts have been restored. So, so many positions have been restored to the schools. It does make um the cuts a a different proportion, right? They're proport I I'm not going to assume that they're proportional, but the proportion is now different. Um I'm not sure how to reply to the community concerns around the proportionalness proportionality of the cuts because I feel like it's not it it wasn't really clear to me in the budget book. What's the status quo? what are the denominators what you know so basically I think I just am am uh uh re-emphasizing the ongoing theme of um more transparency is is great for everyone thank you so much >> Sarah one thing to clarify is every school does their own process for gathering information about what they should in in years like

076this what they what should be reduced what should what's a prior priority to them. So, every school has a school site council. Every school had a survey that parents could participate in and go to school site counsel cuz that's really where the decisions are made. Then what happens is every admin uh every principal will roll up what their recommendation is to us and so oft I'm I'm listening to the school leaders and I don't change what they recommend and I actually will ask them questions like I I really I asked the high school uh why I'm curious as to why um the counselors were recommended or a social worker. I helped me understand that. And so I do believe that decisions are best made at the school level. And so every school from what I

077understand sent a survey to parents because that's where the real transparency needs to happen. And so when that is done in a way where it's very transparent, it actually makes it easier for us at the district level. And so what I'm hearing is that we need to uh actually engage more at the school level as well. And so we can we can definitely work on that. And you're absolutely right. When times and and money is coming in, nobody really cares. We have two people at our budget hearings. when times are lean and there's, you know, positions being uh, you know, reduced, then everybody cares. And and just just for a point of clarification because we uh we added up the numbers of the actual reductions and I right now the reductions are 57.5 teachers and

078paras combined 57.5 and so and that's the new number. Um and and I I you know with the e the money that the city did give us again I didn't cut at the administr at at the central office or the district level. I've been >> you didn't you didn't restore >> I yeah I didn't restore yeah I I I left the cuts as they were. And so again, it's I I set the example last year by cutting at the district level. I cut 1.3 million at the district level. No cuts to schools. Yeah. One um clarification is Yeah. I I think it's awesome that the the cuts were made at the school level or the decision-m was made at the school level. I think that they were made and they were made strategically at the

079school level and if we can find a way to share that like the school's ration or the principal's ration um I think that that would help the community understand. I would also think I also think it that what we're hearing is an additional thing which is um rationale from the district about the distribution of cuts from school to school from different departments like is it even or is it like you know depending on different things different needs enrollment drops etc. So those are the two things that I think uh would help you. >> Well, I can tell you the restoration of positions was even across the board. Everyone restored positions except for the smaller schools. >> Dr. Beta, if I may or chair Hanzas, I didn't see any other hands up. Um I I want

080to just say I think when we had the um the surplus of money and I know that I came in like right before um or a little bit after I don't think that it was less I I feel like it was less of a we didn't necessarily care. It was just such a nice feeling to finally be able to breathe and even entertain the opportunity of we have extra. What can we do with it? That not necessarily that we didn't plan for the rainy day because we did hear like there is a sense of doom. This is going to eventually dwindle. We need to move these secure these positions that we can and move them out of the you know funds and move them over to the general funds like move them out of this

081fund and move them over to this so that we can secure these positions. Like these are still grant funded. we need to um you know and then some of the funds are in multiple um separate accounts even though that they're in this department but we still have them here um so I you know that's how I see it um even with with the parents but I think it is it is important to see that there is a new wave of um advocacy both in parents and also in age group um we are having um I mean I know I had my children also later in the in the in the stage. There's also um different um you know we are a gateway community so um that also happens to to change the way we communicate

082with the families. I can also advocate that because of that and as a I know that we're only supposed to wear you know one hat at a time but for transparency purposes the meetings have taken place um and you know for for um type you know just trying to gain information at different times of the day. Coffee hours have been at different times of the day. they have been at sometimes virtual even before co you know a even after uh covid um and they've also you know had um you know I know that we have said that we're going to continue to try to do additional um you know a zoom link I know not everybody is is keen on that but that also does gain traction um and you know as a parent I

083know that I advocated for I ready um information and that was helpful to me because I saw how my kids struggled and that was something that we had extra funding at the time from the contractual services and we were able to do it. The turnout as on on the at the at the time was not the greatest but it was still something that the the first time around um it's not necessarily a big turnout. Um and I know that some of the um you know the members here uh that that came out to speak from the community um in in general were able to attend and were able to you know just in general just like everything in community events and so on. Um the first turn one to two turnouts aren't necessarily the the

084biggest, right? But once something starts to gain traction and you start to know that it's happening, it does start to pick up and people just start to re remember that it's happening. So I feel like that's also something that is is starting to to gain momentum and I I would like to continue to see that as well. So I I think overall it is a positive shift. I welcome the the open lines of communication and the collaboration. Um and I think overall it's it's going to be good. Um, but I I do welcome the dialogue. Um, I welcome just more feedback and then just um I think we need to just really pump out all of the information. I I think there was a general misconception about how much we actually engage the youth and

085the overall I know that the children's cabinet uh we have direct information from the children's cabinet and I know that there's a monthly um children uh well not we have a youth uh cabinet as well that you the round table at the high school that you also meet with and you gain additional information aside from the youth council Um, so I think we can and I know that we do get the information out, but just to also see how we can incorporate that so that more people are aware. Um, maybe we need to put it on the newspaper prior to the to the budget. Um, so just so that the general audience is aware. Um, but we have we have the enthusiasm. So that's it for mess. >> Does anyone have any further questions? >>

086One last statement. Um thank you everyone so much for your engagement in in this process. Um I feel that the budget process is very iterative in the sense of there's opportunities to be able to deliberate to hear from the community. Um, and I really appreciate the support from the city to be able to restore many of these, you know, critical positions. Um, and I also want to continue to have that long-term view that I know many of our central office staff have around um, thinking through what the fall might look like with pending um, uh, enrollment numbers as well. So, um I definitely want to keep that top of mind, but again, I really appreciate the feedback that a lot of the school committee members have already shared. Um and, uh yeah, thinking through what

087are ways we can continue to engage the community, um come next year and and even in in the coming weeks and months. So, I just want to thank everybody for your time, for your diligence, and Dr. Beta for the quick turnaround from Tuesday's meeting to now. um really grateful for you and your team um for working around the clock and um really ensuring that uh this budget book is reflective of of our community and our needs. Um so I just want to share my gratitude. Um and thank you every to all the school committee members for their feedback. I I feel really aligned to that and um I think we can continue to get better um and continue to engage the community. So thank you everyone. Thank you, Kathy. Um, I too I will just

088echo everything that Miss Cabarell just said. Um, I I am enormously thankful for all your hard work. You, your cabinet, your administration trying to get these numbers aligned and trying working so hard um at getting everything prepared for these meetings. And I know it's not an easy task. Um but thank you and then please express it to your principles on my behalf um that we thank them for all their hard work and does anybody else have any other further questions or comments? Okay, seeing none, I ask for a motion to adjourn. >> No way Anna, please. I'm sorry I didn't see you, Luc. You didn't raise your hand. >> Yeah. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Somebody was knocking my door. So, um I just want to say uh thank you to everybody that I came tonight um

089uh to really address the situation that we are facing with the budget. uh like everybody uh was comment something like a really easy for us us as a school committee members and we understand that the community and the parents and the students came together uh the last meeting on Thursday and I really appreciate that that uh the community came uh together and let us know what was the uh their concernings and something that I would like to mention is in terms of the um transparency that they everybody's talking about being clear that uh probably they the way that I hear is like they didn't feel engaged in in in in the uh in the meetings it is not because of lack of us the way that I see it is that we send from the

090school everybody receive notifications about uh when the meetings are happenings the site consults and uh and for for us to hear all of this uh comment from the student from the uh parents and teachers that they felt like there wasn't any transparency. It's really sad and it's like a really for for me made me feel like a uh what am I doing and and as a school committee member if I don't really u validate what they are saying um about the transparency um we are doing the best that we can and and we trust our um um how do we say the the people from like the way that they here is like a we don't chose uh equal quality in terms of the who is um who's leaving like who's who is living um

091based on the budget cuts. So they want to see the administration uh office to be eliminating some positions. But in reality, we have to understand that the administrative um positions are necessary in order for to continue to continue the funding to continue advocating for more funds for the better education of our students. So that's my comments that I I don't want to feel like we are not doing what what we are supposed to do. We are trying to do the best that we can. We hear the comments. We hear everybody and we're going to try to make the right decisions and and for the further like uh Dr. Um Neil was mentioned from we need to do better coming coming forward in terms of the communications if they feel that there is not a lot

092a lot of communication before we make decision then uh let's make a pause and and and and give us a chance to really uh for clarification uh what's going to happen for me knowing that it's going to be 70 positions terminated it was kind of hard for me to absorb But at the same time, I wish that we we had received uh notifications from I know that the principles were the ones that are uh were choosing what position will be eliminated something like that. Um if we knew as a school committee members who was going who was going to go gone left how is it being left go for the for the position then it will make different for us during the meetings now from this meetings public hearing because now we knew at that

093time 70 when when we received the information about uh the budget cuts 70 position but we know we didn't know like before who was going to let go. So, I just want to appreciate everybody in the the cabinet, everybody that has been in this difficult situation and we're going to try to to do our best and there's no judgment. It's not like we are not really valid validating everybody's concern, but we're going to try what we had what we had in our hands. Whatever is in the budget right now is what we need to figure out how we going to like the uh Dr. Ala presented is it's going to be some some restoration, but it means that uh there's still going to be uh a lot of stuff gone. >> Thank you so much

094for for your time and God bless everybody. This is not a difficult this is not an easy task. >> I just want to clarify something on I know that um Dr. Ala told us in one of the meetings that um she decide that because she knows that every principal from the schools they know what they need and they know what they don't need and that's why she decide to do that. So maybe Lucia didn't heard that comment or I don't know but I remembered that they told that in the meeting that we have before the budget. Thank you so much Maida. Um, I think that I think I think we can tell um there's a huge difference between the outcome that we've had at today's meeting versus um Tuesday's meeting. So, I think that we

095are trying to do the best that we can and I don't think eliminating Elm's cabinet is going to bring in all this money that they think because I don't know if they think everybody in the cabinet makes about a million dollars a year to be able to fulfill all these um studentf facing positions. So I think I don't know how I don't think we are addressing that portion of it enough. I think that they they make comments but we never really address like the Elme and and Elmy I don't feel that that part of it is addressed enough where you maybe need to explain the depth of what your cabinet does and what the cabinet >> what not what not having the cabinet >> would mean to our schools. I think that piece is missing.

096>> Yeah, >> I I really do. I think that that's a piece of transparency that I think our our parents need to know cuz they don't know >> what actually happens >> and and the fact that they they keep referring to how big the cabinet is and how big the administration is, I think also needs to be addressed because I think that's where the big the big hangup is and where they're not understanding or at least I feel >> that it's not being understood. I'm sorry, Mat's screaming. Uh what's being understood um because they keep addressing that >> and I don't think we're we're really we're really addressing it. >> It just keep getting pushed to the side like not it's not being addressed and >> that's just a bit of what I feel. >>

097Yeah. >> With that I think that may help a little bit. So, one one of the reasons why I haven't addressed it is because we've been attacked so much, and I don't want it to come off as where I'm being defensive. And we have been criticized this entire budget season, at least I have, about having a big cabinet. And I have six I I started off with six people on cabinet. During the COVID years, I added a communications director because we were under so much emer having so many emergencies, it was impossible for me to deal with the actual issues of COVID and communicate them out. And then with the youth violence, the communication was was tremendous last year. And then with the budget and and my our communication director does more than communication. He

098is the sole person that works on parent square he is now going to take on the web master design with no extra pay. I have to tell Sully often times go home Sully you have a child at home please go home. And I think you need to also express that side and I say that to none of these additional these additional increases are coming with any additional salary because that also gets brought up. So you need to be clear as water to them. >> I Yeah, I think this is like the opportunity to be clear. And I understand I understand why you said that you didn't because I also know because then it feels like you're getting into a debate with what's being said and they it's not they're not absorbing what you're saying >>

099correct >> at that moment. So, and it doesn't need to be it didn't need to be during that that rush, but maybe at this last meeting it needs to be addressed cuz I truly think that it needs to be it needs absolutely express it to us. >> Yeah. What I can do and we do this every year at our district leadership team is I have every cabinet member go over who is a direct report to them and what their responsibilities are. That way people understand but because I often have to tell my cabinet to please go home and rest. >> But I also feel like I think there's such a big misconception. I don't I like even some of the the the services that are provided like when we do the back to school um

100you know the the w the wraparound services that are provided by our district are not provided by every single district. Um, you know, I know that, you know, districts like Beverly, um, will I I want to say this the buses is about 250 uh dollars per families playing for the athletic team. Um, it's it's not an option. It's, you know, like an extracurricular activity to be able to play for those sports and to maintain um, you know, the buildings. it it's really, you know, to be able to play for your school team, you have to, you know, pay to be able to be a student athlete. Um, and, you know, even through the conversations when we said, and and I know that this was just pure collaboration, pure like just like let's put our brains

101together to see how we can merging some bus stops to try to um, you know, see if we can do cost savings there. um walking, ride sharing, um you know, well, what about like there's so many logistics aspects of it, you know, um and the funding aspect of it as well, the crossing guards, like it's it's, you know, we're we're literally like, you know, taking from Peter to give to Paul and then, um the logistics aspect of it too, like, oh well, what if it's okay if the teachers, you know, no, we we can't do that because then, you know, like if if they're advocating for their salaries or if we're advocating for our salaries, if are saving one way, you know, um we're still taking away because they are in a way we already

102I already know how much they still put in. You know, there's we the district and parents do a lot um to keep the the the schools going and the teachers are still coming out of their pocket a good amount to give the kids the little extras. I know the at the burkowitz they do a whole green room and that comes out of some of the t like the grandfunded pos you know stuff that we give so that the kids could have prizes so that they could be excited about doing um an a certain level achievement and I know that each school has their own thing and they we there's different ways that you keep the students academically engaged all of these um prizes and incentives come from grants grants and those grants are written by

103certain individuals and those individuals come from you know administrative positions. We also have our pipeline. You know if if if it's not lucrative to continue and further pursue the education then why is the pipeline there? We invest in our educators because we believe in them. So everyone that's in in that further and I'm not and again my decisions always made at the table and that's it. I'm just I'm I'm advocating across the board and I'm just trying to logically explain um because again I I literally have to explain to my child that an avatar is not a real person. So, you know, it it's just there's it's there's no easy way. We just have to find the best solution for everybody so that we all come out on top because, you know, as it was

104said, that's the Chelsea way. So, I'm so thankful for this additional funding. I'm hoping that at the, you know, state level the are, you know, that they'll come through. I know that, you know, we continue to advocate. So, >> Ry, we have two more people that want to talk and it's already 8:30. >> I'm done. >> Okay, >> Miss Dr. Neville, >> thanks. Um, yeah, I mean, I agree with people. I think that this is this is the work that we have to do. Um if we wanna if if you know the the district and the school committee believes that the budget is um you know written in the right way then we need to justify it transparently and in writing so that everyone um can can see that you know this is what uh

105uh this is this is what we believe in. And that will make it a lot easier for the school committee members to see the district's rationale to um understand it, to communicate it, and to vote accordingly. So, and and for the community to also to to see so um hopefully uh we'll be able to do that, you know, in the in the coming days. And >> just echo what Sarah just said and and and again giving grace to folks here too. I think that we're also one thing that stood out to me in a lot of the testimonies is people's um naming the ways in which we're navigating a school funding system that deeply disproportionately impacts Chelsea. And I think um while we're having these conversations, knowing that we don't exist in a vacuum and

106that we're also navigating um a school funding formula that has systematically underfunded us. Um and so I I want to also give give us grace during this time. And I I echo all that was shared and and like um and accountability is important. And I also want to make sure that folks are recognizing we're also navigating um systems that maybe weren't made made for us. I just have the last comment if [snorts] I can say something. >> Sure. >> Go ahead. I mean I feel like um when they do the budget they put 4% for the office and I think you know it's better to kind of like say how many people is in that cabinet so people can be more clear um only because they keep telling the same thing and that way it's

107more clear for them and it's more kind of like you know transparency too because if it is only 4% of the budget for that specific cabinet that the number looks very low 4%. But sometimes people that they don't understand what that means 4%. So if they put it okay this is the cabinet is you know combined with these people they going to see that I mean it's not a lot of people working in the cabinet or in the office for me that's a suggestions that I think it will kind of like clarify more the detail. Thank you. And there is an org chart that you that people have requested and they have received it. It's also online but I'm just saying like when they do their you know budget it's easier for them so they

108can see it right right there. So they don't have no questionnaire and they can see that everything is transparency because we have heard a lot of you know different comments and it's he's here for them and it's easier for us so they can see that is we're not hiding anything. Yeah. Yes. We again the org chart is there every year we go through the org chart for our leaders who who does what who reports to who so that it's clear. you go to, if you're secondary, you go to Michelle. If you're elementary, you go to assistant superintendent. Um Dr. Blake Kanty. Curriculum instruction. Everything goes to Adam. Um communication, that's Michael Malik is extended learning and operations are Christine and Billy Joe. But we do review the org chart every single year with our staff

109and our uh what we call our district leadership team. And so has it I didn't realize that it was not available to people. I we it is online. It's um Mr. Sullivan, where is the org chart so people have it and we'll we can send it to everybody as well. >> Thank you. I think that would be good. >> Yeah, we'll send it to you. >> Well, our our website was under construction as well. Um, and then our the city website was also under construction. In fact, it just the city website just randomly shifted all like out of nowhere. It it started to kind of like mimic some something else cuz that completely shifted all together. Um, but I mean there was >> we could just shift them all. >> I want to say the

110the org chart Dr. Beta is found under um superintendent. You drop down that and it's organizational chart chart. So it's three clicks. >> Just keep a reminder that some people >> this is a new website and we just rolled everything over and so thank you Erin because often times I I'm still navigating this new website. Um, we had a a website provider and then they shifted formats and so we've been a little bit under construction as well too. But um, thank you Aaron and we'll I'll get that to you. I can I'll send it to everybody. I'll send the class sizes. I'll send the org chart. Um, the org chart kind of is is very clear about who's who reports to who. So we can get that to you. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. beta.

111Thank you everyone. Um Sarah, I did not hear your comment. I couldn't there was something going on with the phone. I couldn't hear anything you said. It skipped right over to Kathy is when the next thing I heard. Um but thank you. >> Okay. I'm sure it wasn't important. [laughter] >> No, I think everybody's comments are important. Um I think um I think we're all in agreement. Thank you so much for this evening and for all the information that was shared, comments from everyone that shared comments. I think all gave Dr. Alvader and her group um ideas on things to do um to be able to improve this, which was I hope what we were able to accomplish from this is to be able to improve for next year, to be able to see what

112can be done further for this year, if possible, if at all. Um, but like I said, thank you so much for all your hard work. Um, can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> I make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second that motion. >> Thank you very much. >> Good night everyone. the