001[music] Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Hey. Hey. Hey. >> [music] [music] >> Happy. >> [music] [music] >> Number one. Hey, hey, hey. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Yeah. >> [music] [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. >> [music] [music] >> Wow. >> [music] [music] >> Good evening. and welcome to the Everett School Committee meeting for Monday, March 16th, 2026. The time is 6:32 p.m. Clerk, could you call the role to determine a quorum? >> Student Representative Emma Perry, >> present. >> Mr. Almea Baros, >> Miss Babcock, Miss Cardelloo, >> present. >> Miss Cornelio, >> present. >> Miss Cristiano, >> Mr. Denafhrio, >> present. >>
002Miss Garren, >> present. >> Mr. L Monica, >> Mayor Vancampen, >> present. >> Chairperson Hurley, >> present. >> Madam Chair, six people are present. >> Six members present. We do have a quorum. Could everyone join me in saluting the flag? I >> aliance 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 all. I would like to extend the regrets of um committee member Jeannie Christristiano, Robin Bamcock, and Joe Lam Monica regret that they were unable to attend this evening. >> Uh Mr. Clerk, the next order of business, >> Roman numeral 3, reading of the records for Monday, March the 2nd, 2026. >> Move to accept the minutes of the meeting of March 2nd,
0032026, >> placed on file. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to accept the Monday, March 2nd, 2026 meeting minutes and place on file. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? >> The eyes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent the next order of business. >> Roman numeral four, public comment. >> Make a motion to open public comment. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded to open public comment. All those in favor? I. >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Public comment is now open. We have one speaker on the sign-in sheet. Miss Martha Jason Soal. Welcome Martha. You have three minutes to speak. Thank you. I have two things to um hi. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Um, I want to let you know that in August, Art Lab will
004be five years old and we happen to be having a featured artist on your school committee. So, Joanna Garin is going to be the featured artist and that means that um from 5:30 to 7:30 she'll have like an opening but art lab open houses include hands-on art projects. Now that they're in the evening, they include food. Um, and I'm very excited about this. Um, so it is the kickoff of our five plus five, how do we get to 10, um, campaign. Um, and that is happening. and I wanted to so I hope you'll come to Joanna's opening the last Sunday in March from 5:30 to 7:30. We'll feed you. Not a lot, but we'll feed you. Also, um I wanted to let you know that we've gone from serving the first year 300 students to
005over 5,000 students during the time that we've been in Everett open. So, um I feel like we've done a lot for the community and we've enjoyed every minute of it except for the long nights um getting ready for programs. But, um I'm really proud of the work we've done and I hope you come to Art Lab for Joanna's opening, but if not then sometime just to see what we're doing. Um, I didn't think to bring the annual report, but I can email them to all of you if you're interested. And thank you. Thank you, Martha. And congratulations, Miss Garin. Uh, seeing no other speakers on the signup sheet. Is there >> to move to close public comment? >> Motion has been made and seconded to close public comment. All those in favor? All those opposed.
006The eyes have it. Public comment is now closed. Superintendent. The next order of business. >> Roman number five. Report of the student representative, Miss Perry. >> Go ahead, Emma. Thank you. >> Sorry. Good evening, everybody. Spring sports have begun at EHS. Some of our students favorite sports are in this season, including softball, boys, boys volleyball, lacrosse, and the highly anticipated debut of the girls flag football program. Baseball trouts are actually taking place in the gym right now, so get ready to cheer on the Tide at all the sporting events this spring. The winter sports banquet was a success. Congratulations to all of our GBL Allstars. Also, congratulations to the middle school boys basketball team on being the GBL champs. Our unified basketball team has a game tomorrow at 4, and the Everheight Theater Company performed
007their production of The Lottery last Thursday. The award-winning show was so entertaining. Their spring production will be a performance of Greece, and I'll keep you all updated on when the dates will be. The senior students from the culinary program are focusing on cuisines from around the world during quarter 3. Last week, they learned about Italian food. Then on Friday, they made pastries and small dishes to sell to staff. I had the opportunity to try the aranchchini, and it was absolutely delicious. This week, they're focusing on Asian foods. Hopefully, I'll find a way to sneak it again. Last Wednesday, a few of my classmates and I had the opportunity to attend District Attorney Marian Ryan's empowered citizens event at Lexington Town Lexington's Town Hall. It was an insightful opportunity with schools from all over the state.
008We got to hear from Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Serge George's Jr., First Lady of Massachusetts, Joanna Litigate, and the district attorney herself. We all had to sign an a civic engagement contract in which we had to decide three things that we would do to empower our community. I'm completing one now by being at this meeting. And the junior prom date has been changed to April 30th. However, the location remains the same. It will still be held at Oolios in Peody. The senior class hosted a March Madness basketball tournament. Thank you to everyone who participated. It was such a fun event. Congrats to the champions, Kim, Kevin, Jaden, Raul, and their student coach Samir on defeating the entire bracket. The Meline English is holding a March Madness attendance competition amongst the grade levels. The winner will
009receive 30 extra minutes of recess. They are also having a calendar raffle fundraiser for the month of April at $10 each. If you would like to purchase one, contact the school or the English school PTO. The Lafayette school had a mass mass reader competition which was modeled after the mass singer for read across America week. The Parllin School will be hosting a family bingo night on Thursday the 26th from 5 to 6 and ELA MCAST exams start next week with 8th and third grade. Finally, students around the district are encouraged to wear green tomorrow to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Perry. Any questions for the student rep? >> Accept the great report and place on file. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded to accept the student representatives report
010and place on file. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent. The next order of business. >> Roman numeral six. report of the superintendent and I'd ask for the committee's indulgence by allowing me to switch my update to go to item number two on your agenda which is our school spotlight. As many of you remember each month we have asked a school in our district to come forward and to provide some update and some activity that their school is engaged in and uh this month is no different. So this week's or this month's spotlight will be introduced by the vice principal of the Adam school, Jessica Redllup, who's going to be here to talk about our prek kindergarten program at the Adam School. And she's going to be
011joined by Kelly Lam Monica, Lisa Anteneelli, Sherah Goodrich, and Franchesca Santos, I believe. Um that will be joining her to present just like we did with the Webster extension. Uh, in March, we had um done a video that you'll see shortly after Miss Redler um introduces some of our esteemed guests that I think are already sitting at our table. So, Madam Chair, I'd ask you to uh formally um invite um Miss Red and her guest forward. >> I'll make a motion to suspend the rules and move item number two on the agenda to be number one. >> Second. Motion has been made and seconded to suspend our rules and take Roman numeral six item number two school spotlight Adam school out of order. All those in favor. >> All those opposed? Motion passed. This item
012is now before us. We entertain a motion to invite our guests before us. >> And motion to invite our guests uh to present to us. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded to invite our guests from the Adam School before us to present. All those in favor? All those opposed, the eyes have it. Welcome everybody. >> Good evening. I have a special guest here that I want to introduce first. They came up here with me. This is Olivia. Can you say hi? >> Wave. >> Do you want to say your name nice and loud? Gracie. >> What's your name? >> Grace. >> Who are you? >> What's your name? >> And I'm Miss Antelli. >> Nice job, everybody. Thank you, Mr. Hart, Mayor Vancampen, esteemed members of the school committee, and members of
013the Ever community for having us here tonight. I thank you for having me here to represent the Adams School, which is near and dear to my heart. For many families, the Adams School is their first experience with the Ever Public Schools. At the Adams, we are helping children begin their journey as learners, building strong relationships with their families, and creating a school community where everyone feels welcomed. We are so proud of the Adam School community and tonight we are excited to highlight the students, families, staff, and special moments that make our school such a warm and welcoming place. I want to point out all the families that came tonight to support us and all the students. So, thank you to everybody for coming and being a part of our school today. >> There's a slideshow
014somewhere. It's on its way. >> It's coming. Okay. I was like, I know it's somewhere. >> Thank you. So, here's our Adam's Cub. That's our school mascot. And a picture of the Adams School with all of our staff and families out there in front of the building. The Atom School is a full inclusion preschool program for children ages 3 to five. We serve 158 amazing students with over 12 languages spoken in our school community. We are proud to be the Cubs crew and even though we are a small school, we have built a strong and connected community with a special focus on the homeschool relationships. If you look here, you'll see some special photos of our families at the bottom. At the Adams, a homeschool relationship is a collaborative partnership between families and educators that
015supports each child's learning, development, and well-being. This connection is especially important in early childhood because it helps create consistency and trust and it in directly supports attendance, academic growth, and social emotional development. If you look here, you'll see some of our students holding up the signs of our Cubs and it has the words there that represent the core values of the Atom school. We care about ourselves and others. We understand that anyone and everyone learns in different ways and at different times. We believe in ourselves and one another and we shine by bringing our best selves to school each and every day. This is at the heart of everything that we do every day. One of the ways we've strengthened our school community is through special events that bring students, families, and staff together. These
016moments help families feel welcomed and connected, and they create joyful, shared experiences that strengthen the bond between home and school. So, please enjoy some of these photos. You'll see here photos from our fall festival, which was back in October. It's one example of how we create meaningful and memorable experiences for our families. Events like this give children and families the chance to celebrate together, build connections, and feel a strong sense of belonging within the Adam School community. We had a pony ride, which was a big hit for our students. They loved that. And we had a petting zoo that was fantastic. We had goats and pigs and bunnies. The kids love that. So did the adults. Here's something that we all know very well, the homecoming. The celebration is something that we enjoyed because this
017is one of the first years that we've had it at the Adam School and our youngest learners had the chance to be a part of a large community tradition. It is always special when our students can participate in school spirit events and feel connected to the excitement, pride, and energy of the broader ERA community. [snorts] And I believe Emma was there. So if you look closely at the pictures, you'll see her. Dress up day is just one of the days that we do that's a special day for the students. And this is a day that we can build joy, creativity, and community at the atoms. These schoolwide experiences encourage imagination, participation, and connection while also giving families and staff opportunities to share in the fun alongside our students. If you look carefully, you'll see in
018the lower right hand corner is our three-year-old team. And they dressed up as Mattman, which is part of our curriculum that we use for the students. So, it brought their curriculum to life. And the teachers above are our four-year-old staff, and they dressed up representing some of the books that we read. There's a series of books about crayons, and they dressed up to represent that. So, they brought that book to life in school. And here's our Holly Jolly Jamberee. It's a wonderful example of the warmth and spirit of our school community. Celebrations like this bring families closer to the school, create lasting memories for children and staff, and reinforce the welcoming environment we work so hard to build every day. We were very lucky that the Shavo Club gave us their space across the street
019from us so that we could house everybody and enjoy the holiday season. So, thank you to the Shavo Club for that experience. And if you look here, you'll see us again in front of the school. The final slide captures the heart of the Atom School. We are proud of the strong relationships we have built with our students, families, and staff, and we are honored to be where so many of Everett's youngest learners begin their educational journey. The work that starts at the Adams School helps prepare our students to enter kindergarten and every grade that follows with confidence, readiness, and the skills they need to succeed in the Ever Public Schools. Before we conclude, I would like to also recognize the incredible educators and staff at the Adam School. Their dedication, patience, and commitment to our
020students and families make this work possible every single day. At the Adams School, we may have the smallest learners in Everett, but we are we have the biggest educational journeys begin. Now, we're going to have a video that I would like you to enjoy. There's a song in the package that you received. It's the last page. It's our Cubs song. And if you'd like to sing along, you can. Parents, also, we have some handouts if the parents want to sing along. And all of my schoolmates here can sing along as well. They'll be live. Hi, I'm Mrs. Redler, the assistant principal of the Adams School. >> Here is my friend. >> Hi, I'm Sylvie. >> We call ourselves the cop. Come see why. >> Hi, I'm Aaron Hughes. Hi, I'm Christa Moscone. We're special education
021inclusion teachers. The Adam School is a small community like the village, a small section in Everett. We are deeply committed to building a strong home school community where every child is a valued learner and every family is welcome at our school. >> We are proud to be the Adam School Cubs where every child has the opportunity to care, understand, believe, and shine. >> Hi, I'm Shara Goodrich, a preK4 teacher at the Adam School. A homeschool relationship in early childhood is a reciprocal trust-based partnership between families and educators that aims to support a child's development and learning. Hi, I'm Franchesca Santos. I'm a prek4 teacher here at the Adams School. The key benefits and aspects of the homeschool relationship include improved academic and behavioral outcomes, trust and communication, shared responsibility, and better understanding of the child.
022>> Hi, I'm Lisa Antinelli, PreK4 teacher. Hi, I'm Christy Doli, PreK4 teacher. >> Here at the Adams, we are so proud to make family homeschool connections on a daily basis. We place a high value on our students and families in building trusting and open communication. We do this through building in opportunities for families to feel connected and engaged at their comfort level. >> Here at the Adams, we believe the love of learning starts here and connecting our families is something we have committed to doing. Lastly, we share core values for our students that not only relate to our school, but also connects to the home life and outside of school with our acronym of the Cubs representing that we care, we understand, we believe, and we shine. We hope all of this really shows through
023tonight. And if you ever visit our school, please come on down to the village. You're invited. I don't care. >> We don't stop. >> We bully. >> We try. >> Is that how get ready? >> Quit one finger. >> I think [laughter] you did it. >> Thanks for watching. Please sing along. >> Go Cubs. Go. [music] on [singing] your way. So you better get ready for a brand new day. >> Brand new day. >> Hey Adams, what do you say [music] here today? [music] Gold today. Go. [music] Hey, what do you say? [music] We got the time. We got the re to be the best in the reach. Well, this is the year [music and singing] and the CS are real. So, come on down to the village here. [music] We're singing out go [singing
024and music] today. [music] Go. [singing] Hey, what do you say? Going to shine today. Go. Hey, what you say? The gods are going to shine [music] today. Go. Go. Hey, what do you say? The CS are going to shine today. Go. Go. Hey, what do you say? The CS are going to shine today. [music] Go. Hey, [singing] what do you say? The CS are going to shine today. [music] Go CS goss [music] a shiny day. [applause] Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And there's the old saying that it takes a village. Well, it truly does. And we're blessed to be in the village and a part of it. >> Go Cubs. Go. >> Mhm. Come on down to the village here. [laughter] >> Go. Very nice. >> Thank you very much. I You definitely sang
025better than we did. So, thank you very much. [laughter] >> She can carry the tune. Well, >> there any questions or comments for our guests, Mr. Mayor? >> Yeah. Could I just uh I I just have to say so I mean many of us over the last couple of weeks celebrated ReadAcross America and went to a number of schools in the district and uh one of the schools I had the privilege of uh being at was the Adams and uh particularly Miss Anteneelli's class and I have to say that some of the students here obviously from Miss Anteneelli's class I have to say that I just I hope there's no video of my appearance in your class but cuz there was dancing there was balancing ing bean bags on my head if I remember correctly.
026There was so much energy and joy and collaboration and community inside that classroom. I I can't I can't say enough the work we do with these the youngest of the young. I can't say enough what I saw at the Adam School that day. It was just truly incredible. And uh I want to thank the teachers and the administrators, but particularly I want to thank you young folks for >> really being great students. So um [applause] thank you. Thank you for being here tonight for the presentation. And I'll be back for a visit. I promise. >> That's just what I was going to say. You're welcome back anytime. >> They want you on the calendar. So thank you everyone. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Any other questions or comments for our guests? Is there a motion
027to excuse >> with the customary thanks? >> Second. That was amazing. I loved every minute of it. >> Very thank you. >> Motion has been made and seconded to excuse our guests with the customary thanks. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed, the eyes have it. Thank you very much. Now it's all time to go to bed and get some rest. >> Get ready for green day tomorrow. >> Green day. >> Let's do it. [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Could we entertain a motion to return to the regular order of business? >> Make a motion to I'll make a motion to uh return to the regular order of business by bringing back uh item number one. >> Second. >> Motion made and seconded to return to the regular
028order of business, which is Roman numeral 6, item number one. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Superintendent. >> Good evening. Um item number one is the superintendent's update. Um I'll go through a number of uh items for your consideration and information. Um just as a housekeeping matter, the next school committee meeting will be held on Monday, April the 6th. We have an extra week in the month of March. So we'll have a twoe hiatus before we return to our regular um order of meetings. Just a reminder that on uh Tuesday, March 24th and Wednesday, March 25th, Everett High School will accommodate the MCCAST exam. So, there'll be a late entry uh for some students. So, students in grade 10 will arrive at 7:45 on the 24th and the 25th
029to take the MCCAST test. All other students will follow a revised school schedule which starts approximately at 10:30 depending on their grade and period in room. Um today uh as many of you remember we announced that we would be opening a prek kindergarten full day registration process. Um we are reminding people that if you want to be considered for participation in our full day prek kindergarten program which is really very um cutting edge. Not many school districts have the opportunity to have uh their prek program run a full day. Just a reminder also that the prek program will also have half-day sessions for those parents and [music] families who choose not to register in the full day program. We want to remind you you must make a res a res excuse me a registration um
030appointment. The appointments are held at the uh parent information center which is located in the lower level of ever city hall on Broadway. They enter on the church street side. We had an um a number of folks today that started the process, so we're off to a great start. We have appointments still available this week. You must um bring information of proof of residency along with some other items that are listed on our uh website and certainly uh have been out there on social media. We have people available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole to um answer any questions and begin the registration process for families that speak any of those languages. Um just as an update on training, uh cyber security, as you all know, is a huge issue across the United States
031with so many breaches from school districts to hospitals to municipalities. and Everett um is making sure that we will not be victimized by the potential of having any of our our information stolen or compromised. And so we have begun in this month a full-scale effort to train all of the staff across the district in how to protect their information, whether it's their schoolwork, personal information, identifying information that's on our own, our own um data fields here in Ever Public Schools. We received a grant from the um one of the few communities that did receive a grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Technology Services and Security because the proposal that we put together under the direction of Joe Patu who was our chief u technology officer and David Wright, our chief information security officer um
032that uh the state granted us a a a grant to in order for us to conduct this training over um a number of weeks in the coming weeks ahead. we have become uh one of the districts that has really um fortified our our our whole network really quite frankly and we're very proud of that. Um we are one of the few districts also that can uh say that we're secure but never too secure so we continue to train staff to be sure that the role that they play in our organization doesn't put us at any compromise. [clears throat] Saturday, this past Saturday on March the 14th, I had the opportunity to join Mayor um Vancamp and Chairperson Hurley and other members of the school committee and elected officials to um participate in the third annual
033Dorothy Martin Long lunchon in honor of Women's History Month. It was held at the Conley Center. Our staff um participated in supporting the effort. Our students um were amazing. I want to thank Rosemary Hughes who's our director of strategic initiatives that supported the work of Simone Holyfield in the office of diversity, equity, inclusion at the city. And we had an amazing group of young women who spoke and I I'm going to call them out by name, but you know, we know our kids are good, but the poise and the way in which each of those young women presented their personal story to those in attendance was absolutely phenomenal. These are young, confident women who told a great story, kind of wowed the audience. I mean, you can speak to that, Madame Chair, and other members
034who were present. Miss Cadillo, you were there. Miss Canilio, it was just amazing. So, I'd like to call and actually one of our students was served as the um u mistress of ceremonies. Hayana Richmond, Mia Agula, Mia Allen, Yanellis Jimenez were also part of that speaking program. Um and our student, the student intern, I believe that was in your office who graduated from Ever High School was uh Pamela Marius. And again, we're just so proud of our students and events like this in collaboration with the city just showcase the talent we have here. Um, we also will have as part of Women's History Month, uh, Channel 7 reporter Umaka Ubaka will be here tomorrow addressing a group of students here at Ever High School. Um, she has a particular message that I think um, of
035her story in her life and celebrating um, her success. She's going to share that information with our students um tomorrow, excuse me, Wednesday. Uh we also have biiteracy night uh planned and that is coming up on Wednesday, this Wednesday, March 18th from 4:00 to 5:30 at the Cavarian School. I mentioned it uh briefly at our March 2nd meeting. This is a free event. It's open to all of our families, not just those that are at the Cavarian school, but to all families across the district. This event um kind of really opens dialogue pathways, encourages reading, literacy um and works with parents if they have additional questions or would like we've give plenty of books away to allow our students to enjoy um books that they may not necessarily pick up um at school or in
036a library. Uh this is sponsored by the federal title one and title three program and our English learners parent advisory committee who put a lot of time and energy into doing this work and supporting the work. There will be food of course and some readings in in different languages. Lots of free books and of course some activities for all of our participants to participate in. I think you know the presentation that we heard a short while ago from Miss Redler and her staff talked about the collaboration between families and the school and we know how important that is and we all like to think that we're really on top of it all and that you know we we do it really well. And one of the things that Miss Red pointed out in her slideshow
037was that one of the things is obviously performance in the classroom, but it's also attendance at the school. So, um, with the help of Dr. Margaret Adams and myself, we looked at opportunities to kind of think outside the box in our older grades. What can we do in Everett that will really enhance the participation of our students here at Everett High School and maybe as we think about it more broadly across the district? How can we make that impact that not just talking about it, not just doing initiatives, but really going to the families? So, with a grant from UCLA, we're one of very few communities in the United States that received this as a result of um some really strong effort by staff here at Ever High School. Um we put forward an application
038to UCLA and we are going to do home visits. Our staff are going to go to homes of students um and their families with you know obviously a advanced notice and talk to the family about the students um participation in school. um maybe they've been out of school a lot or maybe they've been tardy a lot and really get to the level uh that a parent or guardian has an opportunity to have a conversation with the teacher or guidance counsel that that particular student may already know at the school. It's a way in which we're bringing ourselves to the families to show them how much we do really care. And as much as I said we do lots of initiatives to encourage people to come, sometimes we don't know the whole story. And so this
039home visit is um a unique opportunity to re-engage our family with the schools and the teachers andor guidance councils that that particular child um may already know. So we're going to kick that off um uh relatively soon and that grant um will pay for the effort that we put forward. So I wanted you to be aware of that. Uh we'll talk a little bit more about that and we're going to look at some statistics. Has that changed the behavior um attendance behavior of those particular students? We're going to track that student uh body, if you will, and see if it does what we believe it will do is re-engage the student as well as the family back into the Everett High School experience. If that proves to be as successful as we believe it to
040be and there are some literature out there in education circles that suggest that that's exactly what makes a difference um we will look at that at expanding that program to uh lower grades. But right now with the help of UCLA's grant we're going to do that here at Ever High School and that'll be undertaken uh relatively soon. Most of them um will be ELLL students um students from immigrant families who may not necessarily already engage with us. they may have some, you know, uh, concern. So, we're going to do, we're going to them as opposed to waiting for folks to come to us. And I hope that I can report back to you at the end of this process some good results. Um, we have, of course, lots of activities that are happening or happened.
041Uh, we have band nights coming up um, Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Um, the Everett High Rock Band, Junior Tide Jazz Band, Everett High concert band, the seventh and eighth grade advanced band, and the sixth grade intermediate band are on the program for Wednesday night. That's a mouthful, right, Miss Hurley? Uh, Thursday night's show is going to feature the Junior Tide Percussion Ensemble, the Ever High School Crimson Tide Percussion Ensemble, the Junior Tide Select Band, and the Ever High School Concert Band. This just shows you the amount of young people that are engaged in the music program. And that's no small feat. When you think of music programs, sometimes you think of just a small group of people who may be interested. Think about the numbers of hundreds of students that are involved at
042all grade levels in our program. And that's thanks to the direction of people like Gene O'Brien, which you've heard me mention before, Maxa, and the list goes on. Um they're just an enormous talented group of uh teaching staff that encourage our students to get involved and stay involved. And as you all know, we have a lot of awards um that they bring home to Everett each and every year that they participate in um in uh competition across the United States. So hopefully all of you will think about coming to Everett High School on May March 18th and 19th and uh both nights start um at 6 p.m. I think you heard uh Mayor Vancampen earlier say he visited the Adam School amongst others. We have a number of our elected officials, people here from this
043group, members of the business community, elect other elected officials from the state level come into the schools over the last couple of weeks. And we concluded that twoeek program called read across America um this past Friday, past Friday. Um it just says a lot. I think you'll see some photos that we have up. We have a lot of smiling faces, not just from us who read, but to the students who get to meet people they've either heard about or maybe they didn't hear about at all and they get to ask questions. Um, mayor, I'm sure you heard from students, they told you stories from home even though it had nothing to do with the reading. Um, they tell you an immediate story and you know, it just reminds us how good our kids really are.
044And when you get to sit in front of a class and read a book um and interact with them um we have a lot of smiling faces in our schools and Maronei Mr. Al Baros and many of uh you here uh can attest to that uh good kids getting to to learn from others and encouraging them to read any number of um of books u mostly Dr. Seuss this past two weeks but um we certainly make a lot of different um books available to them. I'd also like to congratulate Everett High School students Lucas Martins, Elvis Nen, and Alli Raza for winning a project lead the way capstone award. They were recognized um for preliminary design review that they submitted to the 2026 student industry connects competition. Ed stands for engineering design and development which
045is a research document detailing the life cycle of an engineering project from identifying a problem to developing testing and finalizing a solution. All of these folks um work collaboratively on the issue of transportation for people with disabilities. The professionals who assessed their work were glowing in their praise that they shared with the students teachers Dr. Anesitis. One person even remarked that the Ever High School trio submitted a report that was quote absolutely on par with what I would expect from one of the teams that I employ. So Dr. Situs um I see Miss Cheddar in the back. Um you can attest again to the the strength of our students um and the ability in which they can do lots of different things even under pressure. So that was just a quick um shout out to
046those uh few individuals that distinguished themselves recently. Ev High School's debate club um and it's the on on espanol team recently completed its fifth debate of the season at Suffk University as well as the city semi-final tournament at Boston Latin. Competing as duos we had Nthali Romero Velasco and Kimberly Landie and Jonathan Chavez and Santiago Therizo Escosha that excelled in overall scoring as well as in the speaking category. Um the season concludes with the city championship final at the museum of science when Natalie and Santiago will res represent Everett High School. So we wish them the best of luck again strong debaters and they do such a great job here at the school working with one another and now again they get to take their their great talent outside of the city and compete against
047others like them who are highly talented and we wish them all the best. Another congratulations to Ever High School student Anthony Whitllo who won a 2026 Scholastic Art Gold Key Award for his work titled Clarity. Gold Keys are a part of the annual Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, a prestigious and longstanding program that recognizes teen creativity in the arts. Anthony also earned an honorable mention for his illustration entitled Demon Belt. Anthony is a student in Brianna Pierce's advanced placement to art and design class and Evan DeMaro's illustration class. Both of those uh teachers have been with us a while and continue to produce um high-end high high talent students and help um hone their skills. And earlier you heard in public comment um Miss um so talk about a number of students that participated in
048her program last year through a grant that Everett High School was able to grant. We allowed students to exercise other modalities of art in a summer program to encourage work beyond the classroom. And um uh Miss Oakland and her her team really helped cultivate um a love and an expertise in uh other areas of art and design. So um we appreciate our relationship um with Art Lab and I'm glad to hear they're in their fifth year here in Everett. So, the theater company award, Everett High School theater company member, Raa Castro, received the festival stage manager award at the recently held Massachusetts Educational Theater Guilds preliminary round that um as we talked about um last month in February. This award is given by the host school to an outstanding stage manager for their interactions with
049six other schools competing at the site. The award recognizes strong leadership, excellent communication, and a positive and professional attitude. all traits that RA demonstrated during what is always a high energy event with intense limitations. I think that we had missed recognizing that that particular award when we talked about the competition um last month. The lottery was the the um production that was uh put on and we want to thank um the entire theater department for once again helping our students become um more advanced in their in their creativity. We also have students enrolled in Everett High School's education pathway who attended the educators rising Massachusetts state conference on March the 4th at UMass Boston. Again, our kids are out competing. It's not just the kids that I mentioned, but these young boys and girls are
050ready to do that kind of work. They're not sitting in the classroom and sitting on their laurels. They're out showcasing their talent and the talent gets recognized by others not known to us, not known to the students. U so it's a true uh congratulations to each of these young talented uh boys and girls. This group happened to um be made up of 41 students. 41 is the largest number of competition um candidates from any one school district and you have to really be talented and qualify for these things. So Everett once again is uh recognized in pretty large numbers and uh way too many names to to list. But um these aspiring educators, that's what their pathway is, education. And we do recognize them here at Everford High School at a special ceremony when we
051look at the pathway programs that we offer. But they also participated in a number of workshops either music or dance, how to become a strong teacher, how to have a um a relationship with students. There was a whole host of topics that our our young folks got to participate in. And again, they're recognized for their energy, their talent, their enthusiasm, and you know, I don't it's nice to hear from third parties how how well our students behave, how they carry themselves, the poise, the professionalism, kindness. I mean, things that you'd want others outside of Ever to know that we have right here in Ever, Massachusetts. Um, a handful of our students um did very well in the letters about literature competition which asked students to read a book of their choice, reflect on it, and
052write a personal letter to its author explaining the impact of the work they had just read. Everett High School's Alexander and Julo is a finalist in the level three category while Kevin Shaon, Kiana Flores, Guan Chen reached the semifinals. Uh, wittiest school students M Maria Alice Pacho and Katherine Hernandez Flores reached the semi-finals in level two. Only 15% or so of submissions advanced to the semi-final rounds. In the case of Alexander, his letter is among the top 7% of all letters entered in that category. This is huge stuff. Our kids are recognized for their talent. Nobody wrote anything for them. This was all done by them. And again, um, we have so many stories like that. I try to kind of race through them, but it's really not fair because so many of these kids
053put so much time into the work that they do and then compete with others and they do so well. So again, most of this information can be found on our website. We do a lot of social media around our students as long as they give us permission to post their pictures. Um, and we do that because we want everyone to celebrate and know who make up um, our student body, especially here at Ever High School where so many good things are happening each and every day. And madam chair, that and members of the committee, that is the extent of my update for this evening. >> Thank you, Superintendent. Do we have questions? >> Madam Chair, >> uh, Mr. Baros, >> thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Superintendent, for the great report. One thing that
054I just wanted to highlight and the superintendent uh and I and the chair have talked about that uh the home visits that the superintendent mentioned. Just want to mention to family that the superintendent is aware of and and cognizant of the concerns that families have by especially bilingual families by having quote unquote officials come into your house. So, superintendent is aware and will be sending you know bilingual staff folks who are identifiable by being uh EPS employees because we know that families are afraid and concern of oh my god it's coming to my house and I'm going to open the door especially in light of what's going on in the federal level. Uh that's not the intention at all. The intention is to help and the superintendent is if I may aware of this and
055and knows about this and will be sending uh appropriate team members to visit those families. So there is no one concerned or afraid of opening their doors uh because of that. >> Correct. Thank you um Mr. Baros. Um and it's true as I mentioned we'll be sending staff people that the students would also be able to identify in most cases. >> Thank you Mr. >> Baros. We Yes, it correct. We'll be reaching out to the families and giving them notice that we would be coming to make a visit. So, um uh to the vice chair's point, we certainly know what's going on in this world today and um we don't want anyone that's why I'm mentioning it tonight and we will put some more notice out there so that nobody or shouldn't be um unaware
056of the potential visit and then a phone call uh before we do arrive. >> Mr. Del. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Through you to the superintendent, you probably know this, but the home visit program was done by our district in the '9s, and it was working very, very well. It was really, very helpful. It showed parents and family members how the education department was really interested in their kids, not to find that their house was a mess or that they didn't have a full breakfast. It wasn't about that. They wanted to talk and meet the families and let them know what we have to offer. And if your child's not coming to school, do you know about this and why is that so? And it also kind of put a fear into the student so
057that now the student said, "Okay, the superintendent was at my house once or the assistant superintendent, I don't want to keep skipping school cuz I'm I'm going to get bagged again." So, it was a great program and I don't know when it stopped. I know I' been off the school committee for a while, but it did. It was a great program when we had it and I know we're in a different climate now and there are some people that would be a bit afraid of opening their doors, but I know you can handle it well. You'll have people that speak proper language to these parents and guardians and so forth and and I think it's going to work out and I think it's going to be helpful. There's one other thing I just have to
058comment on. The other day you mentioned about the the Conley Center event. Our students had most of us in tears. >> They were so amazing, >> so impressive. People that graduate college don't speak that eloquently. >> They were absolutely and they it came from their heart. No one wrote those things for them. That was their life. and they spoke so proudly and they made us so proud. Then we take it up to tonight with our three and four year olds. How we teach them at such an early age to stand up and be themselves and be proud of themselves to speak, to sing, and to entertain. And that's why by the time these kids are older, it's common. They're not shy anymore. There's some I'm sure that still are by by nature, but I mean
059when you go to any of our events where the kids are hosting it or you know being the stars of it, it's amazing because they're so well prepared because they're being prepared from such an early age and you know and I'm so glad we're continuing on with this and even doing more so within within the district. So I thank you for that. >> Thank you. Miss Garin. >> Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Um, thank you to Mr. Barrows. You actually answered sort of my main question as far as the home visits go. Um, but, uh, I was wondering if, um, there's going to be like what's the nature of the grant? Is there going to be data taken as far as, um, you know, tendance rates or just the success of the progress of the
060program? The only uh requirement that the grant uh asks of us is there's no student level data shared. It's just trend. It's information about how many students we visited. Did the visit um at the end of this cycle of of the semester? Did it show an improvement? Did they attend more? So they're they're really looking to ensure that what research has been done, this is really going to um validate the belief that at least one home visit in a in a year or or and hopefully we can expand it to more than one does make a difference, does show an engagement that we didn't already have with the family and the student. So we're just giving general data information. There's no student level records provided. Yep. >> All right. And just one last thing, I
061um I just wanted to share that I really had a wonderful time reading to the students at the schools the past two weeks. Um and I'm I'm so glad this is available to us. It's fun. >> It is fun. >> It's just fun. The kids are fun. They're curious and engaged and it really is a wonderful >> It makes you morning, right? If you were there in the most of them are in the morning, it brings makes a smile. Yes. I mean, I would encourage more more of us from the community to come out and offer to read the students because they love it. >> Right. Next year, we'll be looking for anybody um from the community that would like to do that. Uh the schools have open arms. And just one um comment about
062the Saturday uh lunch and and two things really if I may. Um I served and know knew Dy Martin Long very well and um she would have been so proud of the students. Um she was just um a wonderful lady who gave so much to this community in so many different ways but really cared about outcomes and uh knowing her personally. I know that she would have been beaming if she was sitting in the audience. Uh we had her lovely picture up behind us but our family was there. Her brother Richie and um her her son and um her son actually works in in the school department too. Uh so good family uh and uh lovely lady. So we're happy. And I also want to acknowledge um to Mayor Vancampen that um just what um
063Miss Cadillo was saying about the preschool. That's why we believe that offering a full day preschool is going to have an impact on that child's ability to learn to become confident to interact with other socialization skills. And it also helps us to understand what pathway that child should be on if they have any need that we need we could identify early on. So to the mayor and his folks that are supporting this effort and the rest of the school committee, thank you because I know this is one more of those uh tools in the toolbox that's going to help our students have the strength that they need to compete in the world that we all know is out there. So thank you for your support. >> Thank you Miss Garin. If I may from the
064chair, I would just like to compliment all the hard work and energy that went into the ReadAcross America events. Um from the um invitations and communications from the building leaders, the warm welcomes um from the teachers and the students at every classroom. Um the amount of people that attended to read to everybody, um school committee members, city counselors, uh people from the community. It was highly energized, a lot of fun. um got a lot of invitations to come back. Um I also want to thank Rosemary Hughes for all the planning and effort that went into this, the communication uh crew um and media team for all the coverage. It was it was a lot of fun. >> So team effort >> good. You see some of our communications team here under the direction of Mr.
065Okconor. Um and they're everywhere and they try to capture all that is good and they do a great job at it. So thank you to the communication team. some for you here this evening. Thank you to Mr. Okconor. >> And just real quick, I want to reflect on um the full day prek. I have older children. They have a lot of like memories. Um they had a lot of of memories of inspirational people along the way in their educational journey. And they still remember preschool teachers and preschool paras that made their um academic um start memorable. So early education is important and this is this is great for the community. So >> thank you. >> Make a motion to accept the superintendent report and place on file. >> Motion has been made and seconded to
066accept the superintendent's report and place on file. All those in favor? All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent the next order of business. >> Item number three, acceptance of an Everett Cultural Council grant in the amount of $750. I'm asking for favorable action. This grant was actually secured by our Whittier school teacher Kristen Coffee and it's to support a production of the uh musical Willy Wonker. The grant funds will be used to provide costumes and set materials um for the production at the Whittier School. >> Favorable action to accept. >> Second. >> Motion made and seconded to accept the Ever Cultural Council grant in the amount of $750. Roll call. >> Mr. Almearos. >> Yes. Miss Cardelloo, >> yes. >> Miss Cornelio, >> yes. >> Mr. Denafhrio, >> yes. >> Miss Garren,
067>> yes. >> Mayor Vancampen, >> yes. >> Madame Chair, >> yes. >> So move 70. >> 70. Motion pass. Superintendent. The next order of business. >> Roman numeral 7 items submitted by school committee members. Number one, Shore Educational Collaborative Update offered by Chairperson Hurley. >> Thank you, Superintendent. I have the most recent shore collaborative newsletter at your seats along with a pamphlet. Um board members are required by DESIE uh quarterly to give updates. So here's the update from the shore. The shore's mission is to educate, enrich, and inspire children and adults with disabilities in supportive and sensory inclusive environments. They operate specialized school programs for students from preschool all the way through age 22 and provide adult day services that promote independence and community engagement. From adult services, adult services are steady with 365 participants
068enrolled and 313 attending in person. Adult services day programs offer a day habilitation which is funded through Mass Health and community based day supports which is funded through the department of developmental disabilities. Our CBDS crew at our puberty location has been collecting and recycling cans throughout their building to raise money to donate for Connor's kindness project. This fall, Peabody and Wuburn Adult Services partnered with Golf for All, an organization dedicated to making golf accessible for everyone, where short participants learn the fundamentals of golf. From student services, student services have have reached an all-time high of 216 participants across the board in multiple programs such as Discovery, Explorers, Pathfinders, Sail, Soar, Harbors, and Inspire. Students are supported by a strong interdisciplinary team which includes teachers, social workers, paraprofessionals, occupational speech and physical therapists, school adjustment counselors,
069BCBAs and nurses. Shore services members from 20 different communities with Chelsea River Sagas and Everett having the highest enrollment numbers. The shore has partnered with Maryanne Molinari, an expert in ASL, American Sign Language, to launch our first ever ASL certification program. Interest [snorts] was high both in the fall and the spring, and the shore covered the certification program enrollment fees for our staff members. In December, we celebrated our second annual winter concert orchestrated by Mr. Gallagan where students performed a vocal in instrumental numbers. Families were able to tune in to a closed video feed to watch the beautiful show live. The Shore has teamed up with citizen schools to bring project-based learning to the classroom. In January, our citizen school participants showcased a wide variety of projects from caring for the unhoused population to becoming
070entrepreneurs to financial literacy. and the students are currently planning a new playground. Paraprofessionals and instructional aids were offered the opportunity to earn a bachelor's degree in special education through the Lake Erie College in partnership with Bloomboard. Those that have continued in the program are projected to graduate next spring and the board recently approved that the administration explore travel cost so that particip uh the participants could attend graduation in person. Um, if you don't know, the shore also supports local school district districts through consultations, professional development, and operational support, which includes transition services, public relations, home training, communication services, program review support, and student evaluations. The Shore Collaborative provides Medicaid billing services to school districts as part of the Mass School-based Medicaid program. The service is designed to recover funds for Medicaid eligible students who receive
071health or clinical services as identified by their IEPs or 504s. And that's my update from the shore. I'm looking for favorable action to accept and place on file. >> Move to accept. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded to accept >> and place on >> the shore collaborative update and place on file. All those in favor. >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Thank you very much, everyone. Superintendent, the next order of business. >> Roman numeral 8 subcommittee reports. Item one, the finance and negotiation subcommittee for Monday, March the 2nd, 2026. >> Is there a motion to accept the minutes and place on file? >> Accept the minutes and place on file. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded to accept the finance negotiation subcommittee minutes for Monday,
072March 2nd, 2026 and place on file. All those in favor? I. >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent. The next order. >> Roman numeral nine. Bills and payroll. >> Is there a motion to submit bills and payroll? >> Motion to sub submit bills and payroll in the >> motion has been made and seconded to submit bills and payroll in the amount of 2,673,98910. Roll call. Mr. Almeida Baros, >> yes. >> Miss Cardelloo, >> yes. >> Miss Cornelio, >> yes. >> Mr. Denafhrio, >> yes. >> Miss Garren, >> yes. >> Mayor Vancampen, >> yes. >> Madame Chair, >> yes. >> So move 70. Motion passed. Bills and payroll have been submitted. >> Can I entertain a motion to pay? make a motion to pay bills and payrolls in the amount of 2,673,98910
073>> and ask the mayor to pay. [laughter] >> Motion made and seconded to pay bills and payroll in the amount of 2,673,98910. Roll call. >> Mr. Elita Barrows. >> Yes. >> Miss Cardelloo. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cornelio. >> Yes. Mr. Denafhrio, >> yes. >> Miss Garren, >> yes. >> Mayor Vancampen, >> yes. >> Madame Chair, >> yes. >> So moved. 70. Motion passed. >> Superintendent, the next order of business. >> Roman numeral 10, unfinished business. There's none before you. Roman numeral 11, new business. There is none before you. Roman numeral 12, hearings. You have none. Roman numeral 13, matters for executive session, there's none to be considered. And Roman numeral 14, adjournment. >> Make a motion to adjourn. Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded to adjurnn. All those in favor? >> All those
074opposed. The eyes have it. Uh, real quick from the chair, from my family from from my family to yours, happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone. We have adjourned. [music] >> [music]