001[music] >> Good evening and welcome to the Everett School Committee meeting for Monday, April 6th, 2026. The time is 6:35 p.m. Clerk, could you call the roll to determine a quorum? Student representative Emma Perry. Present. Mr. Almeida Barros. >> Present. Ms. Babcock. Present. Ms. Cardello. Present. Ms. Cornelio. Present. Ms. Cristiano. Mr. D'Onofrio. Ms. Garen. Present. Mr. LaMonica. >> Present. Mayor Van Campen. >> Present. Madam Chair. Present. Eight members present. Eight members present. We do have a quorum. If everyone can join me in saluting the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, everyone. Before we begin, I would like to extend the regrets of School Committee members Genie Cristiano
002and Joe D'Onofrio. Superintendent, the next order of business. Roman numeral number three, reading of the records, item one from Monday, March 16th, 2026. Make a motion to waive the reading of the records and place them on file. Second. Motion has been made by Ms. Babcock, seconded by Mayor Van Campen, to waive the reading for Monday, March 16th, 2026, and place on file. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent. Also under Roman numeral three of reading of the records, we have a special meeting for Tuesday, March the 31st, 2026. Make a motion to waive the reading of the records and place them on file. Second. Motion has been made by Ms. Babcock, seconded by Mayor Van Campen, to waive the reading of the special meeting on Tuesday, March
00331st, 2026, and place on file. All those in favor? All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Roman numeral number four is public comment. Make a motion to open public comment. >> Second. Motion has been made by Ms. Cornelio, seconded by Mr. LaMonica, to open public comment. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The eyes have it. Public comment is now open. Uh seeing no speakers on our sign-in sheet, is there anyone that would like to speak at public comment? Seeing none. Move to close public comment. Second. Motion has been made by Mayor Van Campen, seconded by Ms. Cardello, to close public comment. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The eyes have it. Public comment is now closed. Superintendent. Roman numeral number five, report of the student representative, Ms. Perry. Take
004it away, Emma. Thank you. Hello, everyone. Spring sports are in full swing this evening. Both boys and girls tennis played Lowell. Softball played Malden High outside. They won. We have our coach, Stacy Chavo, with us tonight. Yeah. >> [applause] >> Well, baseball's away playing Malden. I don't know the status of their game yet. Boys volleyball is playing Lynn Classical away tonight. And along with sports, the arts at EHS are active. Tomorrow at 6:00, vocal night featuring students from across the district, and percussion night is on Thursday. Also on Thursday is the visual arts exhibit. Congratulations to the Winter Guard on receiving fifth place at the NESBA championship. Good luck to the Everett Crimson Tide percussion ensemble, who is currently ranked number one in New England. They will be competing at the NESBA New England championship,
005that'll be held at Fitchburg High School this Saturday. The junior class wrapped Dr. Braga in Saran Wrap last Thursday during lunch. It was definitely fun to watch and great to see him support the juniors. The class of 2027 is hosting a kickball tournament as well this Thursday. The senior class is currently holding a fundraiser during lunch. Whoever gets the closest guess for the correct amount of jelly beans in the jar gets to take the whole jar home. Last Monday, Ms. Cardello, Ms. Babcock, Chairperson Hurley, and members of the Tide Council, including myself, had the opportunity to go to the State House for the Day on the Hill, hosted by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. It was a very exciting day. We heard first from the MASC, then we met with Representative McGonagle and Senator
006DiDomenico. They both gave us tours of their respective chambers and offices. We had a by chance meeting with the governor, too. We also were joined by Mr. Almeida Barros while he was at work that day, so it was very cool to see. We had amazing lunch with a variety of foods from high schools from across the state, including the Everett High Culinary Program. Culinary served Asian foods. My favorite was the fried rice in the mini to-go containers. Sorry. Thank you to you all and Ms. McWilliam for giving us students this opportunity. Junior Mia Allen will be going to the State House this Friday to represent Everett High School at Student Government Day. Check out the Crimson Tide to see all of the funny April Fools' stories that our students published. Mr. Hardy, I believe in
007one you renamed the high school after yourself, so watch out. And the theater company's rendition of Grease will be held in the auditorium May 7th and 8th. The first deadline for student for Everett community scholarships was April 1st. A few remain open for the next few weeks. The student The Lafayette School's boys and girls flag football teams won the championship last week. The school's book fair will be held this week, and staff will be having a jeans day to honor Steven Pattanod next week. Fluency Flight is underway at the Keverian. Grades K through five take part in a daily routine that is helping students with reading comprehension, while also allowing the students to set goals, track their progress, and to celebrate their success with motivational initiatives like books and bracelets. Finally, the third quarter is
008coming to a close this Friday, and I would like to wish a happy Assistant Principals Week to all of our assistant principals across the district. Thank you for your continued support and hard work. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Perry. Any questions? Uh Ms. Babcock. I would just like to speak on the report. I just want to say thank you for the detailed update. We really enjoyed the Mass Association of School Committee Members Day with our our students at Capitol Hill and spending the day learning a lot about the history of the high school, and thank Ms. McWilliam for taking them. It was an amazing day, and I felt it was it was great. Today is also National Student Athlete Day. So, since, you know, we mentioned softball today, you know, it takes a lot to
009be a student athlete, to manage sports and academics. So, I thought I would throw that in there since the spring sports season has started. Thank you, Ms. Babcock. Ms. Perry. I wanted to add on to that and just say how our student athletes are so involved in Everett High throughout every aspect of the year. They're included in sports, their academics, and we have students behind the cameras that are in the athletic program each week. So, it's really great to see everybody be involved in everything and everything that the school has to offer us at little to no cost, so it's great. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Perry. Make a motion to accept the report of the student representative place on file. Motion has been made and seconded to accept the report [clears throat] of the
010student representative and place on file. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent, the next order of business. Roman numeral six, report of the superintendent, and I would ask this evening if we could just take item out of order and go to item number two, which is school spotlight. Tonight, as you know, we have month-to-month schools present. Their students come forward and make a presentation. Tonight is no different. We're asking the members of the Parlin Student Council to come forward, and I'd like you to formally invite Ms. The Principal, Ms. Punyali, to come forward to kick off what I'm sure is going to be a very interesting presentation by the Parlin School. Madam Chair. Mr. Barros. I'd like to make a motion to suspend our rules and take
011item number two instead of item number one, and invite our guests. Second motion. Motion has been made by Vice Chair Barros, seconded by Mr. Mayor, to suspend our rules and take Roman numeral six, item number two, school spotlight, Albert N. Parlin School, out of order and invite our guests before us. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Welcome, everybody. Ms. Punyali, if you'd like to come forward at this point. Good evening, Superintendent Heart, School Committee members, Mayor Van Campen, student representative Emma Perry. Thank you so much for this opportunity for us to be here tonight to showcase the amazing Parlin School community. As many of you know, I'm a new principal at the Parlin this year, and also new to Everett Public Schools, and it's been such an
012honor to get to know the community. We have an amazing student body at our school. I want you to know that they are scholars, they're athletes, they're musicians, they're artists. They are communicative, they're very curious. These are amazing students at the Parlin. So, tonight we chose to showcase our student council ambassadors, and they will be coming up in just a minute. I'm going to turn it over to them in just a second, but I'd like to just recognize some of our school community that's here. I would like to start first, of course, with our two assistant principals, William Donahue and Anastasia Kolokithas. >> [applause] >> And I'd also like to recognize our eighth grade team that's here. Miss Julia Dillon is our civics teacher for the eighth grade. >> [applause] >> We have Miss Taylor
013Leo, who's our ELA teacher as well in the eighth grade. >> [applause] >> We have Miss Civic Carroll, who is our ESL teacher in the eighth grade. >> [applause] >> And we have Miss Yasmin Akib, who is our inclusion teacher. >> [applause] >> All right. So, I'd also like to ask to to stand any students and parents that are here from the Parlin. You may stand right now to also be recognized. Please all the Parlin parents and and students that are here, please stand. >> [applause] >> All right, thank you very much. You may be seated. So, one thing is we did that a little bit different. Our student council I've been in, you know, different roles in previous districts and we, you know, there's a governance model where our students will be candidates as
014president, vice president. This time we really I really believe in student agency and we wanted to have a larger voice of students represented in our school instead of having a just a select few. So, we had a selection process where students could apply. We talked about what their role would be and we had 27 applicants and the teachers said, "We have a very large student council. We have 14, which is a little unusual." But, the eighth grade teacher we have a very special eighth grade cohort and the teachers said, "Miss Pugnali, these 14 we can't say no to any of them. They all deserve to be student council ambassadors." And without any further ado, I'm going to hand it over to our student council ambassadors in the Parlin school. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Welcome,
015everybody. Good evening. My name is Sofia Castorantes and I am very excited to be here this evening along with my fellow student council ambassadors to showcase the Parlin school. I'm going to kick us off by presenting our school's mission statement. The Parlin school is enriched by our cultural, social, physical, and academic diversity. We are committed to providing a safe, supportive, and challenging educational environment that respects differences and fosters a lifelong love of learning. Our program promotes academic excellence that celebrates student achievement and equips our students with essential skills, attitudes, and characters for success at the secondary level. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening. My name is Jevard Rivas Lopez. I would like to invite you to raise your hand if you are a former student of the Parlin school. Thank you. You may lower your
016hands. As a former student of the Parlin school, you probably remember reciting or even memorizing the character written by our founder, Albert M. Parlin. There are generations and generations of people in Everett who learned this the little essay and still know it by heart. Good evening. My name is Axel Campos Vacca To show its importance, the character is engraved on the three-story wall in front of our school building. As eighth graders, we begin our year reading, analyzing, and annotating the character. Good evening. My name is Harrison Adu-Boahene. I'm now going to recite character by our founder, Albert N. Parlin. I would have all young persons taught to respect themselves, their citizenships, the rights of others, and all sacred things to be healthy, industrious, preserving, provident, courteous, and honest in the imp person and in habit,
017clean in thought and in speech, modest in manner, cheerful in spirit, and masters of themselves, faithful to every trust, loyal to every duty, magnanimous in judgment, generous in service, and sympathetic towards the needy and unfortunate. For these are the most important things in life and this is not the only way of wisdom, happiness, and true success, but the way to make the most of themselves and to be the greatest service to the world. Hello. My name is Giovanna Mazinghi. The Parlin school is the second largest kindergarten to grade eight in the city of Everett. We currently have 894 students enrolled. There are 16 languages spoken among students and 24 countries represented. Hello. My name is Beatrice Mazinghi and as you can see on our world map, students at the Parlin school come from many different
018countries from almost every continent throughout the world. As referenced in our mission statement, our school community is enriched by our diversity. Good evening. My name is Alyssa Rodriguez. The Parlin student council is a student-led organization made of a group of students from a variety of backgrounds representing different interests and perspective perspective with the school. Together, we work as a team to share ideas, plan events, and represent the student body. Good evening. My name is Melanie Moran Cardoza. Our council operates similarly similarly to a small congressional group where members propose ideas and vote on decisions. We meet every Tuesday to organize activities that help improve our school community. These meetings give every member a chance to have a voice and take part in leadership. Good evening. My name is Mariana Prats Ferreira. Some of our accomplishments
019and responsibilities so far have been educating younger students about the Parlin peace, which are being prompt, being polite, being positive, being proud, and perseverance. Additionally, we assist Miss Pugnali with MK's presentations to parents and individual grade levels classrooms. We also serve as volunteers in fundraisers to raise money for our eighth grade yearbook. Hello. My name is Yasmin Vega Rodriguez. We guide visitors around the school for school-wide events such as Read Across America, parent-teacher conferences, family university, and books for bingo. We also welcome new students as they enroll and in the school. Good evening. My name is Christopher Leon. We have been busy planning out what we want to accomplish in the last few months of school before we graduate. Some examples are proposing dates and themes for our next spirit week, drafting a petition to
020revamp the Parlin stage, fundraisers for local charities, and visiting the Massachusetts State House. Good evening. My name is Justin Owie. In addition, we plan to attend an upcoming Everett City Council meeting, survey students on ideas for school improvement, serve on the cultural night event planning committee, and lead morning announcements. Good evening. My name is Hector Alas. We also plan teacher appreciation week with the PTO, present at the Parlin student council meeting, and assist in planning of our eighth grade graduation. Good evening. My name is Angel Perces Leon. We appreciate the invitation to highlight the Parlin school this evening. We take pride in the lasting impact our school has had on generations of students who, like us, consider this community a cornerstone of their personal and academic growth. A special thank you to Superintendent Hart, school
021committee members, Mayor Van Campen, student representative Emma Perry, and everyone who attended for the opportunity to showcase the Parlin school. Thank you once again. >> [applause] >> Want to thank all the students. You did all an amazing job. I'd like to another round of applause for them because they've worked very hard in being ready for today. >> [applause] >> Do you have any questions for them? I believe Miss Babcock. Um, I just like to say I you look eloquent and you spoke eloquently. So, I I just I wanted to ask how you guys had come to the decision that you would like to wear your the matching uniforms tonight. Um, I it definitely creates a unified spirit. So, I'd love to see if someone could answer the question how you guys came to that decision.
022So, we actually came to the decision a little after we entered student council. Miss Pugnali had the idea and we liked it and then we spent about three weeks deciding what we wanted, how we wanted it, and sooner or later they came in and now we look like this. >> [laughter] >> Well, you guys look amazing, but even more so you're you're the way that you spoke and the way you represent your school is beyond impressive. So, and it sounds like you're doing wonderful work. So. Thank you. Thank you, Babcock. Mr. Barros? Uh thank Madam Chair. Just want to thank you all and just want to say that uh I hope that you are all seated here in the future replacing us. >> [applause] >> Thank you so much. And it starts as a school
023ambassadors in school. Actually not replace Emma because Emma will be here in the future as well. Uh but thank you. And you have a voice that you should be some like Oscar presenter in the future. Uh thank you for all that you know all that you do day in and day out. Uh our principal and our educators as well. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Barros. Ms. Cornelio? I would just like to compliment you on how amazing you look. You look like you will be our future educators, our future leaders. You look so professional and you were just so eloquent. I hope you're going to wear those again. I just love the whole You look amazing. You just look so professional. Ooh. We thank you for everything you do. Best of luck in all your
024future endeavors. Thank you so much. Thank you, Ms. Cornelio. Ms. Cardello? Thank you, Madam Chair. Through you to our guests. I want to thank the students and compliment all of you. But I want to thank the teachers, instructors that work with them, that have encouraged them, that work alongside of them. And you give us all so much hope about the future. I mean, we're you know we've already been there. We're here now. We look at you and we admire you because we know that someday you'll be in politics. You'll be the city leaders. You'll be government heads. And bank presidents, whatever it takes. Doctors, lawyers, and everything. And to see this in my own city and know that I love this city and I could hear by your talking that you do too. The cornerstone.
025That's a wonderful, wonderful thing to say and I thank you for recognizing that because it certainly was for me. Yes, I left for a while. I was in the Air Force. I went off to college, but I ended up coming back. And I love Everett so much I ended up raising my family here as my parents did and as my grandparents did before them. So as you know, Everett is a very generational city and I would love to see that continue with this generation coming up because you make us very proud. And I thank you and I thank the instructors. All you teachers, it takes takes a village and you certainly have performed for us. Thank you all. Thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Cardello. If I may from
026the chair just thank you for coming this evening. I enjoy your your uniforms. You did a good job picking them out. And then I hope you do get to visit the State House and fix your stage. When we were doing the tour of schools, it's such a beautiful room and I hope you get to use it fully at some point. That's a great goal to have. Thank you. Thank you. Any further questions for our guests? Well done. Thank you so much. Seeing none. Just want to uh make a motion to excuse our guests with uh with our customary thanks and bring the uh agenda to the regular order of business. Second. Second Motion has been made by Vice Chair Barros, seconded by Ms. Cornelio >> [applause] >> to excuse our guests with the customary thanks
027and return to the regular order of business. Kill 16. Thank you. Thank you so much. Nice job. You did very good. Amazing. Motion was made and seconded to excuse our guests and return to the regular order of business. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent, the next order of business. Returning to the regular order of business under item Roman numeral six, item number one, the Superintendent's update. Just a couple of housekeeping items. Uh the next regular meeting of the Everett School Committee will be April the 28th. We have April vacation in the school district from April the 20th through April 24th. The district offices across uh in Everett will be closed on Monday the 20th in recognition of Patriots' Day and the offices will then reopen on
028the 21st through the 24th. A quick update on attendance. As you know, we conduct monthly attendance meeting chaired by our Whittier School Principal, uh Mr. MacLucas. Uh this past week we had one of those monthly meetings in which we were updated on initiatives across the district and of course statistics um connected to our attendance rate. We compare it from year over the year and once again our numbers are getting stronger as the year progresses. We're at 92.3% which is a phenomenal percentage for attendance across the district and that's up um over 1 and 1/2% over last year at this time. Chronic absenteeism is also trending in the right direction. So in that case, we want to go our numbers we want to go downward. We're at 28.4% and last year at this time we were
029at 32.1%. So again, we continue to trend in the right direction with a lot of reimport reinforcement in the district and of course um attention given to um why people may be late and try to increase our daily attendance through various initiatives. And as you would heard, we're going to uh kick off right after April school vacation. We'll be conducting home visits as I reported to you at the last meeting. Another attempt to increase engagement with our families. I'd like to extend congratulations to the Everett High School students um Santiago Escorcia and Nathalie Romero Velasco for winning the debate en Español City Championship. I reported to you last time that they were going on Friday, March the 20th to the Museum of Science. They did go. They were very successful and they um they were
030debating on rare earth minerals and whether the United States federal government should increase its exploration and development of the Arctic. So they did uh had a compelling uh championship and needless to say they did Everett uh very proud. So I'd like to thank um Ruth Cardona Suarez and Randy Bedros along with Dr. Braga who attended uh the championship event at the Museum of Science. The next item is um an an initiative that I was hoping to start the um in last year, but because of the person that we were contracting with wasn't able to do it in the time frame in which we believed it had to be done. I'm kicking off um a strategic planning initiative. Most school districts do this and I don't think that Everett has done this in any meaningful way
031over a number of years. And what we try to do with a strategic um initiative is to bring the internal community together and the external community which is made up of not only elected officials and people from various um groups across the city, but we encourage parents and others to participate in in what is a very um prescribed number of meetings after some surveys are done across the district to gain valuable information to then start to look at any trends, any requests, any ideas. So um I'm asking all of you to think about this initiative and the people at home we're going to have on our website tomorrow a way in which you can express interest by signing up. It would involve for the external community a number of attending three meetings and the first
032meeting would be held on April the 30th. We'll have them here at Everett High School in the Crimson Cafe. We'll serve a light dinner and it will be facilitated by a professional and we will gather information through surveys, through interactions with the external community to help us understand where they see Everett Public Schools going in the near term and certainly a few years out. So um and to those of you who have ever participated in a strategic initiative, whether it's at your workplace or some organization that you belong to, it is a critical way to to hear from the people that you serve in a meaningful and productive conversation as I said over a number of meetings and synthesizing uh those factors and put out a report. And that report will help guide um my
033executive team and others in this district to move Everett in the direction in which we all believe it should be going academically and throughout the district. So um I call your attention tonight. It's going to be in a very quick time frame. We would hope to have all of the meetings concluded by the end of June. A report to be issued shortly thereafter which we'll share with the entire community, posted on our website, and that will be some action items that I will follow and ask your support to to do that. So um tonight is just an opportunity for me to quickly get that information out. We are going to have some press releases issued so that the broader community um could also participate. We'll have it on social media. I really do want some
034parent engagement. We'll ask some students to come forward and as I said business leaders and others. And you don't have to just live in Everett. You may have been in here and you work here and we would like to hear from you. We want to hear what you think is important in urban school district. And again, that will help kind of set the course for us over the next 3 years. So, I just call your attention to that again. The first meeting is on a Thursday, April the 30th. The two subsequent meetings will be Thursday, June 4th and Monday, June 22nd. We do ask people if they choose to do this with us that you need to be available all three nights. And it would start at 4:00 in the afternoon and go up to
035we're saying 4:00 to 7:00, but in that time period we will again have it facilitated and there'll be a light dinner so that will make the enjoy the evening enjoyable. But we will be moving people along the process to gain some hopefully valuable information. So, that's just a a commercial tonight. And again, please look to our website tomorrow and any future information will be on social media. I'd like to also acknowledge that the Healey-Driscoll administration last week that they had announced a $4.3 million partnership for reading success in Massachusetts number three, a continuation grant. We did receive previous grants and as I've mentioned you before, sometimes districts can't get to the next level because they didn't do what they promised in the first in the first instance. Everett did what they were told they were
036going we told them what we were going to do and thanks to this governor, we in Everett will receive an additional $329,000 to continue the work of this grant program. And this focuses on evaluation, selection, purchase, and implementation of high-quality instructional materials. So, grant recipients, which are districts like ours, will begin to receive some coaching. So, some of our staff will receive coaching. We'll continue to look at materials to provide to class for classroom instruction. It is really to strengthen what we already do. And again, this grant is just a continuation of the work that we started and that um that's that's just excellent news and I I wanted to publicly thank our governor. She continues to support the work that we do here in Everett. And this is just one more example. We do
037what we are supposed to do and the state government certainly supports our efforts. So, thank you to the Healey-Driscoll administration for their the confidence in what we're doing here in Everett. On Monday, March the 30th, Dana Appedisano, her grade 10 ELA students and Andrea Kendrick's ESL students launched a slam poetry unit with a live workshop led by Jamaal Adams, a nationally recognized spoken word artist, educator, and a Brandeis University Dean. So, many of our students and teachers came together and I'd like to also acknowledge our ELA director, Mary DeFelice, who I thought I saw earlier in the audience. We will host another event on May the 5th inside the Crimson Cafe and students will be able to read and recite their original poetry. So, this it brought a lot of folks together, a lot of
038interest. Our students enjoyed it and quite frankly, it it helps them articulate in a different way. So, through poetic reading. So, we're excited about hosting the culminating event on May the 5th. Last week, I was joined in welcoming many, many business representatives to the Crimson Cafe and then later on into the larger um EHS cafeteria. Chairperson Hurley was there for the CTE. So, our career technical education program advisory committees. They come together twice a year and it brings the business representatives to the schools and they interact with our teaching staff and ultimately provide valuable insight into the various disciplines in the CTE CTE program that we offer. Kind of real-life experience and gives us ideas, notes to take in this workshops, breakout sessions, students attend as well. It was pretty well attended. I would say
039it's probably one of the largest ones that of folks that have come together to do just that, to look at the programs that we offer. Are we still cutting edge and how we provide the instruction? Are we giving you know, current valuable information to our students in the CTE program areas. So, I also want to thank Shavon Araia for pulling that all together with so many of our CTE partners and of course, our internally internal CTE staff. We did hear from several students who talked about why they wanted to go into a CTE program, various ones that we offer and they were very eloquent. Once again, our students always shine. And so, I wanted to thank Catherine Garcia, who was a marketing student, Milena Batista, who was in health assisting, another marketing student, Joel Escobar,
040and a health assisting student, Alexander Rodriguez Chacon. They all had a very short presentation and was received very well by those who were in attendance. So, I'd like to thank them for for joining us. And of course, we always serve a little food so everybody had some food, some great conversation and really great input to what we do here in Everett. I think Emma gave you Ms. Perry gave you a complete list of so many events that are occurring here in Everett certainly this week alone. Music program and all the things that we have planned in the next couple of weeks. Please follow us on social media. Look at our calendar of events that there's on our website for those folks who at home are watching. Almost all of these are open to the public
041and are all free. So, if you have nothing to do tomorrow night, you come down and listen to some music musicians that we have here. You can certainly watch any of the sporting events that we have right here at Glendale Park and certainly in the building when it's basketball and all the sports that we have to offer. We love when folks come and cheer our students on and I know they do too. So, please parents and friends at home who are watching, follow the excellence that our students show each and every day in whatever they're doing. Again, percussion, vocal night, you name it, we have it. Just follow us and I think you can follow along on the slides behind me. We have a science fair, region four science fair science fair. So, Everett High
042School sent 22 students to the region four Massachusetts Science and Engineering Fair on Saturday, March 14th at Tufts University. The students entered 10 projects after putting countless hours of work under the direction of our teachers, Dr. Hearn, Dr. Siders, and Mr. Simpson. Everett submitted multiple presentations. I won't go through the whole list, but we're so proud of the work that they did and they continue to get recognized for their excellence. And we actually a side note, one of the participants that were was part of this process was an Everett Everett High School student. I won't say how many years ago, but many years ago, he went on to distinguish himself as a scientist, PhDs earned, became quite wealthy. He does not live in Massachusetts anymore, but he he and I had a wonderful conversation and
043he would like to continue to sponsor some programs that we could offer in the summer that we currently don't with his support. He currently is supporting one of our former students that sat right in the seat where Ms. Perry was and she will have a fully paid internship this summer working with Tufts and we are so pleased that this gentleman, Dr. Wilding, has come forward. He lived down by the Lafayette school area when he was an Everett resident and we want to thank him for his interest and certainly his financial support of our students. And I'm just a quick shout out to him. I'm sure he's not watching, but for all of you to know that people do come back and thank Everett for what it's given them in their lives and they want to
044help us do the work now in our young people's lives here in Everett. So, myself and assistant superintendent Mr. Lynch and assistant superintendent Dr. Adams will be furthering that relationship with Dr. Wilding and his foundation to support the work that we do here in Everett. We also had our students serve as they do out of our culinary folks came together for Senator DiDomenico's St. Patrick's Day dinner and that was really to raise funds for his foundation. And as many of you know, his foundation is very generous to Everett students in various ways. One big way is at Christmas time as you know, he delivers an enormous amount of toys to our schools to be distributed to students in need by our staff and principals at each school. This function that he holds around the St.
045Patrick's Day time period does raise funds for that purpose and he always showcases our culinary arts students. They serve, they get recognized, they wear their uniforms, they represent us very proudly. I do know that he's very kind and pays them something to be there, but and I really wanted to thank Carolyn Parmenter, who runs that that whole unit and so many of our faculty who help make our students as as successful as they are. And Tide Risers today was one of those monthly acknowledgements of students that are recognized by a member of our community here at Everett High School for one of the various um tributes behind us. So, you see it's resilience, innovation, self-awareness, empowerment, and service-mindedness. Today, it was about empowerment. Actually, Ms. Perry was one of those students recognized by a member
046of the teaching staff. And they exhibit uh the the traits of that particular title. So, the names are here behind me. We have such talented students. And the faculty really are in tune. In fact, it's not just faculty, but other staff write about these students, and they put a lot of effort into what they write about the students. And it's And parents were here today. So, want to thank uh Julianne Whitson and all the folks who make that a success. It really is a great opportunity to recognize our students each month in a very kind of a smaller group. So, today we had, you know, how many was about 20? But we we do we have a huge interest in it. And um again, our young people just do us proud. But we do recognize
047them internally, and I'd like to use the take this opportunity to tell all of you about it. So, uh Madam Chair, members of the School Committee, um that's my report. Thank you, Superintendent. Ms. Babcock. Yes. Um just one quick question about the strategic uh initiative. Mhm. So, you're going uh which uh social media can uh can people expect to can people expect to see it on so they can keep their eyes open for this? We'll have it on Facebook, Instagram. We'll put some posts. Of course, it'll be on our own website. We have um we will continue to get the word out through the schools. And we have press releases that have been issued. We understand that they're going to be published this week uh by local media just to get the interest of for
048our general population. Of course, tonight's announcement for those people who may be watching the School Committee. And the internal community will be made up of our our our uh executive team along with the principals or vice of the school. Again, we ask them also they have to be at six meetings, three in the day and the three in the evening with our external audience. And they must be part of that entire um number of meetings. They can't miss any. They have to be there. Perfect. So, um for the social media posts, will they be published in multiple languages? I That is our intention, yeah. >> Usually usually those kind of things are. So, just just double-checking for the audience. Keep your ears open for that. Yeah. comment on two things. I got to meet some
049of the PAC community members last year. It's incredible how our PAC members support our CTE programs and advise them on how to improve their programs, their circumstances, and and honestly become mentors um and and um networking connections for them in the future. >> Sure do. Um so, I I know they're incredible. And then the last thing is the culinary group because I have now had three culinary meals um in the last 2 weeks. Um and we are really lucky. We really are. We had the the um Black History CTE event where the culinary group helped prepare the food. Um we went to the State House, and our group prepared the food. And then they also were at um the St. Patrick's Day dinner. And in the in that case, I don't think they prepared the
050food, but they helped to serve the food. But just, you know, leaders in the field of food. Future leaders. And we are going to be very fortunate in the future. So, I you know, our culinary students are incredible. And I know they also serve food in the cafeteria cuz we also heard, you know, they do help to do some of their CTE program and prepare food there as well. So, they're feeding all of us. So, I think that's awesome. Thought I'd give them a shout-out. And then the students also I thought you were going to say the students also prepare a grab-and-go meal during the school year. And um for staff. I just wanted to say they don't only make great food, but they're so well when they like present it to you. And they're
051so professional with how they serve it. And they give you like water the proper way. They they learn all the skills. Correct. They That's a good point. They not only learn how to prepare it, but they have learned how kind of front of the house. Yes. Presentation and etiquette. Absolutely. >> that everybody gets to experience it someday cuz I think it's incredible. So. It is. Thank you for calling that out. Thank you, Ms. Babcock. Ms. Cardillo, then Ms. Garen. Thank you, Madam Chair. Very good to the Superintendent. Absolutely love the idea of the strategic initiative. That is going to bring us above and beyond. I mean, we're doing so well, but that is such a great program. And I thank you. Thank you for bringing it forward, and I know it's going to be very
052successful. Thank you. As I said, it's a little bit long overdue with me, but we had a glitch last year. But nonetheless, we're going to kick it off and make it work. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Cardillo. Ms. Garen. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um as usual as usual, I'm very glad to hear about uh the attendance numbers. Um I did want to ask um and probably don't have the numbers right now, but maybe talk about enrollment numbers. Um now, I was hearing some people saying like in Chelsea that enrollment was down, and some of that was due to like immigration issues. I don't know if you've seen anything similar in Everett. And maybe if we can get like numbers on that. Sure. I'm happy to give you a quick update.
053So, many of you know that under uh DESE guidelines, we report official enrollment numbers by October 1st of every year. So, when you look at enrollment data, you usually compare one year over the next by that October 1st reporting data. So, if you look at this past October 1st and look at the previous October 1st, we were down 339 students. So, that is um a drop from the previous 2 years. We were also at our highest enrollment numbers, by the way, in the previous 2 years. And I looked at a 20-year trend of Everett Public School enrollment. While the numbers aren't always necessarily in the thousands, you know, in terms of total enrollment, there are, you know, kind of peaks and valleys. So, every few years you see a little bit of a peak, and
054then it comes back down again. And that is probably just normal um shifts in in uh folks here that are living here in Everett. Um so, what happens during the school year, there are various times where the enrollment goes up, and then the enrollment goes down. Again, people moving in and out of the district for different reasons. And of course, um we also have um always had a pretty quick and full influx of of folks after and around January 1st and through that time. So, the numbers don't look um as strong as they have in previous years, but again, our enrollment was stronger in previous years. It dips and goes. I suppose there's many reasons for that. And I think, you know, social socially we know and anecdotally we know that things have changed in
055our in our nation. And um because of those changes, it has caused shifts in where people choose to live. Um and obviously uh Everett is no different. So, we've seen a dip. Okay. But in your opinion, it's still currently within the normal range of sort of ebb and flow? In Yeah, it is given the percentage of total enrollment. So, you know, when you think you have 7,000 kids, uh 1% shift for 7,000 kids of today is a different number of people 10 years ago when our total enrollment was 5,000. So, it does shift. Um Have we And we do track that information to report it publicly. So, in any given day today, we may have 7,001 students. Friday, it may be 6,989. So, it's those ins and outs that we do follow. Um we have
056had some shifts in grade level attendance. Uh and I say attendance uh people who uh young people who are here in certain schools, we may have a classroom that now has 10 students in it that maybe 2 years ago had 22 students in it. So, we're looking at that, and that's just And I'll report that when we get to the budget. We're doing some review of that. Are we staffing our schools appropriately to the numbers of students we have in those particular schools? And again, being space constrained, we can only do so many things with the number of classroom spaces that we have. But um so, we do kind of keep looking at it to make sure that we're providing the students the access that they need in the difficult spaces that we have. And
057um we'll continue to do that on a regular basis. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, Ms. Garen. Any further questions for the Superintendent? Madam Chair, like to move to accept the report of the Superintendent and place on file. Second. Motion made by Ms. Cardillo, seconded by Ms. Cornelio to accept the report of the Superintendent and place on file. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent, the next order of business. Also under Roman numeral number six, item number three is the acceptance of a middle school exploration uh policy and MyCAP grant in the amount of $25,000. I'm asking for favorable action. These funds will be used to develop a cohesive MyCAP scope and sequence for the district. Staff do receive a stipend for training to design curriculum
058and materials that would be consistent across the district. Motion to accept the um Motion has been made by Mrs. Cornelio and seconded by Mayor Van Campen to accept the middle school exploration policy and MyCAP grant in the amount of $25,000. On the motion, Ms. Babcock. Uh yes, can just just for anyone who might be listening, could you just briefly explain My Cap? So, My Cap we're going to expand it to uh beginning in grade six. My Cap focuses on identifying students' individual interests and helps them explore potential pathways as they continue on throughout the grades. So, it creates a profile for the student and students um have what we call My Cap um in here at Everett High School for example in a specific time period in the course of the day and a week
059and students are it's facilitated by faculty members and they answer a number of, you know, in pieces of information and helps fill out their profile. And just for um information, I know My Cap, I always have to check this, My Cap stands for My Career and Academic Plan. So, My Cap, so for folks at home. Um so, hopefully that's helpful. Thank you, Superintendent. Thank you, Miss Babcock. Motion was made and seconded, could we have a roll call? Mr. Almeida-Barros? >> Yes. Miss Babcock? Yes. Miss Cardello? Yes. Miss Cornelio? Yes. Miss Garen? Yes. Mr. LaMonica? >> Yes. Mayor Van Campen? >> Yes. Madam Chair? Yes. So moved, eight zero. So moved, eight zero. Motion passed. Superintendent, the next order of business. Item number four is the proposed fiscal year 2027 school department budget and I'm asking
060you to refer it to your budget committee of the whole which I think we were going to tentatively schedule for April the 16th. Move favorable action. Second. Motion was made and seconded to refer the proposed fiscal year 2027 school department budget to the committee of the whole scheduled for April 16th, 2026. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent, the next order of business. Roman numeral seven, items submitted by school committee members, there are none before you. Roman numeral eight, subcommittee reports, item one is finance and negotiation subcommittee for Monday, March the 16th. Make a motion to waive the reading of the record and place them on file. Second. Motion has been made by Miss Babcock, seconded by Miss Cornelio to waive the reading of finance and negotiation
061subcommittee for Monday, March 16th, 2026 and place on file. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. Superintendent, the next order of business. Also under Roman numeral eight under subcommittee report for cafeteria subcommittee for Monday, March the 30th. Make a motion to accept the um subcommittee review and place it on file. Second. Motion made by Miss Cornelio, seconded by Miss Garen to accept the um cafeteria subcommittee report for Monday, March 30th, 2026 and place on file. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent, the next order of business. Roman numeral 10, bills and payroll. Could we entertain a motion to submit bills and payroll? Make a motion to submit bills and payroll. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to submit bills and payroll
062dated March 31st, 2026 in the amount of $2,692,327.76. Roll call. Mr. Almeida-Barros? Yes. Miss Babcock? Yes. Miss Cardello? Yes. Miss Cornelio? >> Yes. Miss Garen? Yes. Mr. LaMonica? >> Yes. Mayor Van Campen? Yes. Madam Chair? Yes. So moved, eight zero. So moved, eight zero. Motion passed. Could we entertain a motion to pay bills and payroll? So moved, Madam Chair. Second. So moved, Miss Cardello, seconded by Miss Cornelio to pay bills and payroll dated March 31st, 2026 in the amount of $2,692,327.76. Roll call. Mr. Almeida-Barros? Yes. Miss Babcock? Yes. Miss Cardello? Yes. Miss Cornelio? Yes. Miss Garen? Yes. Mr. LaMonica? >> Yes. Mayor Van Campen? Yes. Madam Chair? Yes. So moved, eight zero. So moved, eight zero. Motion passed. Superintendent? Roman numeral 10, unfinished business, there's none before you. Roman numeral 11, new business, there is
063none before you. Roman numeral 13, hearings, there are no hearings. Roman numeral 13, excuse me, 12 is hearings, 13 is matters for executive session, there are none presented. Roman numeral 14, adjournment. Motion to adjourn. Second. Motion has been made by Vice Chair Barros, seconded by Mr. Mayor to adjourn. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. We have adjourned at 7:29 p.m. We'll see you April 28th. >> [music]