001[music] Ain't [music] >> [music] [music] >> Okay, here we go, ladies and gentlemen. Good evening and welcome to the first of three nights here in the Friday Night Center on this great holiday season 2025. Give yourselves a round of applause. [applause and cheering] There you go. We have a seventh and eighth grade band over there. Let's hear for them. So, we have an eighth grade band. [applause] We got to the curve. We have the select band. [cheering] And I over there. They are now no longer in fifth grade. They are now in sixth grade. Please welcome the sixth grade band up there. [applause] Excellent. And without further ado, I'd like to pass the stage over to our wonderful junior time percussion ensemble under direction of Mrs. Logan and Mr. Spencer. [applause] All right. [music] >>
002[music] [music] [applause] >> Now coming on to the stage to play Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, let's welcome Daniela from the Lafayette School. >> [applause] [music] [bell] [music] [bell] [music] >> Let's hear for Daniela. We now like to welcome to the stage Mike Leo and Nicholas to perform Two Two Turtle Doves. Two Turtle Doves. Mike, Leo, and Nicholas. Heat. Hey, Heat. >> [music] [cheering] >> and Mr. [applause] Spencer. Let's hear it again from Mike, Leo, and Nicholas. And two, [cheering] [applause] I'd like to welcome to the stage Matthew and Mrs. Logan to perform Little Drummer Boy. [applause] >> [music] [music] >> Hey. [music] >> [music] [music] [applause] >> Let's hear from Matthew. Great job, Matthew. [applause] Now, we welcome to the stage from the English School, Amanda to perform Deck the
003Halls. [applause] >> [music] [applause] >> Ladies and gentlemen, let's give another round of applause for Amanda. She's trying very hard. She'll be just fine in a little while. Please welcome back Oed to perform Silent Night from the English school. Oed. [music] >> [music] [music] [applause] >> Let's hear it for old Ben. [applause] So ladies and gentlemen, Oed just performed a piece as you know, Silent Night. It's a formal technique that's a high level, high school level, especially for an eighth grader. So let's hear again for OED. Wonderful job. [applause] And now on the stage, we'd like to welcome the Select Band made up of seventh and eighth graders from around the city. They come out to Ever High School every Wednesday afternoon to do this beautiful thing called Select Band. So without further ado, I'd
004like to welcome to the stage Mr. Eric Holmes. [applause] Thank you. >> Lights in the back. >> [music] [music] [bell] [music] >> What are you doing? [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] [music] >> [music and bell] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. [music] [applause] Heat. [applause] >> [music] >> Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Oh [music] no. Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [applause] >> All together All right. [music] Beautiful loud. >> [music] >> Go. [music] [music] No end. >> [music] [music] >> Long ago. Now let's go. [bell] [music] [bell and music] >> [music] >> Drums go. [music] One, two, three, and [music] Hey. [music] [cheering] Repeat. Repeat. We're going to do it. Here we
005go. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Amen. [music] Switch down. Uh, so we're going to feature a couple solist. and she's from the the she Good night. >> [applause] >> Next to the stage, this is Next, I'd like to bring up from the school and this Say happy new year. Woo! >> [cheering] [music] >> Good evening and welcome to the Everett School Committee meeting for Monday, December 15, 2025. The time is 6:32 p.m. Clerk, could you call the role to determine a quorum? Student Representative Emma Perry, >> present. >> Mr. Elmeita Barrows, >> present. >> Miss Babcar, >> present. >> Miss Barrows, >> present. >> Miss Cornelio, >> present. >> Miss Cristiano, >> present. >> Mayor Di Maria, >> present. [clears throat] >> Mr. Denafario. Miss Garin, >> present. >> Mr. Lmon Monica, >> present. >> Chairperson
006Hurley, >> present. >> Nine members present. We do have a quorum. If everyone can 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. >> Madam Chairman, >> yes, Miss Cristiano, um I was hoping that if we could all remain standing for a moment of silence. Um uh just uh couple of weeks ago uh a former member of this august body, Dennis Gianasio passed away. He served on the school committee uh for me for for more than a few years. He was uh active. He had an active voice and uh he cared about the kids and you know uh he'll be sorely missed in the community. I would
007ask you all to you know um stand silent for a few m minute. Thank you. Madam Chairman, I'd also ask for a moment of silence uh with respect to the tragic uh incident that happened down at Brown University in Rhode Island uh this past weekend. Uh very troubling to see what's going on in this country with the guns and the shootings and innocent people and uh you know it's just it's very tragic, sad and uh let's hope we can find a way to stop all this madness. So thank you. Thank you, Miss Cristiano. Uh before we begin our regular business, I would like to extend um the regrets of school committee member Joe Denafhrio and Mayor Elect Vanampen as they are unable to attend this evening. I would also like to continue inviting member electardo
008to join us. Superintendent, the next order of businesses. >> Roman numeral 3, reading of the records for Monday, December 1st, 2025. >> Make a motion to wave the reading and place on file. >> Second. >> Motion has been made by Miss Barrow, seconded by Miss Babcock to wave the reading from Monday, December 1st, 2025, and place on file. All those in favor? >> I. >> 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 by Miss Babcock, seconded by Miss Cornelio to open public comment. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Public comment is now open. Um, we have one speaker this evening. I'd
009like to invite Nancy Sanchetta before us. Miss Sanchetta. You have three minutes to speak starting with um your name and affiliation. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Nancy Chatter from Lind Street. There are a small number of vocal, well-intentioned, but largely misinformed people who have attacked Mr. Hart's qualifications for the superintendent's role. They have repeatedly given him a very hard time based on unreliable information. That's not how most people feel about him. He has mentioned that he will not be able to make everyone happy and he will probably make some mistakes, but that's true of all of us. He is a fair man who will take the time to listen to anyone. He considers all sides of an issue and makes his own decisions, even when those don't align with those of his supporters. Many people
010are aware and thankful for the numerous positive changes he has brought to our schools and are grateful that he is here. Thinking about it, there are very few people who would have done what he has. He has already had a very impressive career and was comfortably retired. The decisions to unretire to help out his hometown could not have been easy. Being superintendent is something that he is qualified for, but it is not exactly the same work as he had done previously. Moving to a new field must have seemed at least a little overwhelming. It would have to most of us. Very few people would have had the confidence and commitment to take on such a daunting challenge. Mr. Hart must really love a challenge and he must love his city because he stepped up to
011work with our teachers and staff to revive our schools. It really is amazing to see all the changes. The feeling of calm is noticeable in almost every building. While the school's enhanced presence can be seen across the city and on social media, yet it is the changes that impact our students that we focus on the most. The general feeling of belonging, academic performance improvements, and the gains in attendance are just a few of these. None of this is an accident. It is the result of expert leadership. Mr. Hart's past experience help him build a great team. Under his leadership, his team has revamped Everett public schools in just two short years. He has managed all of this while mastering the requirements of a new field and while dealing with the all too frequent attacks by
012a small group. The minority, no matter how vocal, do not speak for all of us. We, the silent majority, are known to be polite, but we are also more numerous and more committed to the positive changes of this new administration. There are a large number of faculty and staff as well as community members who support and believe in Mr. Hart. We can all be proud of what we have accomplished so far. It is good and right to celebrate the rebirth of our schools, just as it is good and right to support the man who led the work to make this happen. Bill Hart is a good man who has done wonderful things for the city we call home. His hard work and long hours are inspiring. His leadership is obvious and he is very very
013much appreciated. >> Thank you very much, Miss Sanchetta. [applause] See no other speakers on the signin sheet. Is there anyone that would like to speak at public comment? Yep. Go right ahead. Uh Mr. Here is Senate Taka. >> Hello, David Lar Roa, Senateica. I just wanted to take a moment to um just thank the outgoing members of the school committee uh member Baros and uh mayor member uh Carla D Maria for their tremendous service. Um it's public service is a difficult job. you open yourself up to a lot of personal criticism. Um it's a tremendous undertaking and I I believe everyone really gets into it for the right reasons. Uh so I just want to just say thank you to uh outgoing members of the school committee who may not be returning in January. So
014um thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to speak and and thank you for your service. >> Thank you very much. [applause] Is there anyone else that would like to speak at public comment? >> Seeing none, motion to close public comment. >> Second. Motion has been made by Mr. Lammonica, seconded by Miss Barrows to close public comment. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Public comment is now closed. Mr. Superintendent, the next order of business, >> Roman numeral 5, report of the student representative, Miss Perry. Miss Perry, take it away. >> Thank you. Sorry, I lost my voice. Good evening, everybody. This week at EHS is spirit week. Today, students showed off their holiday gear. Tomorrow is Grinch day, and Wednesday will be ugly sweater day. The senior
015class is asking for staff to donate $5 to participate. And a photo booth will be held by the yearbook club during all lunches so students can show off their holiday spirit. Thursday, students are allowed to wear holiday headewear. And on the half day of Friday, students will wear pajamas. The class of 2026 voted to watch Home Alone to keep up with the tradition of a movie day before winter break. Many of the other schools in the district are also holding spirit weeks. Today at the Lafayette, students wore blue. Tomorrow, the Parland will be twinning with the high school in their Grinch green. And on Wednesday, the Cavarian is holding holiday sweater day. Thursday will at the Webster will also be holiday attire. And on Friday, the Maddie will be comfy in their PJs. Everett is
016going to be a winter wonderland this week and not just because of the cold weather, but because the Webster and Parlin are holding winter wonderland events on the 18th. The Whittier celebrated their holiday the holiday season today with the holiday concert. The Whittier is also holding a Toys to Tots program on the 16th and 17th from 8 to 2. The junior class will be selling candy cane grams at lunch this week and they'll be delivered on Friday to students or staff. The high school's key club is partnering with Rosy's Place this year to host its annual sock drive. The drive is on until January 16th. For every p five pairs of socks, students will receive one hour of community service. At the Key Club's last drive of pajamas, we collected over 70 pairs and we
017were very thankful to be able to keep people comfortable this winter. The Ever Teach teachers association is collecting new and gently worn coats to ensure that our students are warm this winter. The ETA has been able to give out over 50 coats to the students of Ever Public Schools. The CTE program held a toy drive last week in collaboration with the National Technical Honor Society. They collected toys from each school in the administration building. They were grateful to receive over 50 toys citywide which will be donated to those in need this holiday season. It is so heartwarming to see what our schools are doing to give back. Donating toys to make the holidays magical and clothing to keep people warm in Everett is just what it's all about here. Again, winter sports are in full
018swing. Middle school madness semi-finals are happening tonight in the gym right now and finals will take place on Wednesday. Good luck to all of the players in our middle schools. The hockey team beat Somerville 4 to2 over the weekend. The boys basketball home opener is tomorrow in the gym at 7 o'clock. The girls will play away at Malden High that evening as well. The wrestling team will compete against Cambridge on Wednesday and the track team will verse Somerville this Friday. I would like to remind students and families that game passes are available to purchase. They will get you into the home basketball and hockey games this season. The adult passes are available for $20 and students can purchase them for $10. I know I will be using mine to cheer on the hockey team this
019season. In conclusion, I would like to wish everyone a happy holidays and a prosperous new year. May this time be time of year be filled with gratitude, warmth, and home for all of us. I hope everyone enjoys a well-deserved break and a fun-filled time with family and friends. Thank you all. Happy Hanukkah, merry Christmas, and happy Kwanza to everybody. >> Thank you so much, Miss Perry. [applause] >> Thank you, Miss Perry. Miss Pampcock >> through you student representative. I have two questions. What's the deadline for the sock drive? The sock tribe will be held until January 16th and you can donate socks to the gym. Anyone can donate. >> Okay, great. And do you know the time for these final game next week? >> I think basketball 4:30, but I'm not sure. >> 4:30. Okay.
020>> I think it is 4:30. >> Thank you, Miss Perry. >> Anytime. >> Thank you, Miss Babcock. Any further questions for the student representative? >> No. Thank you, student representative. I make a motion to accept the report and place on file. >> Second. >> A motion. >> Motion has been made by Miss Barrow, seconded by Miss Christristiano to accept the report of the student representative with thanks 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 six is the report of the superintendent. And I'd ask you to take um my business items out of order by starting with item number two. when we can revert back to item one. >> Madam Chairman, I'd like to um suspend the
021rules and take out of order from Roman numeral 6, item two um out of order. Ask that >> second a motion. >> Motion has been made by Miss Cristiano, seconded by Miss Cornelio to suspend our rules and take Roman numeral 6, item number two, school spotlight Whittier school out of order. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. That item is before us. >> Embedded in that wonderful report by our student representative, she mentioned the Whittier School celebration today. And before I ask you to invite the Whittier School up, uh over 450 parents joined the performance today. That was absolutely outstanding. Um you can't ask for a more engaged community and we certainly have it here. Friday morning, 700 parents, 700 parents came to see their students at the
022parl and we have more of those um holiday concerts planned for the rest of this week. So if uh parents out there don't get a chance to see uh their own child perform, I know many of the schools are recording it and sending it out through class dojo. So I am really thrilled uh to have the Whittier School students here with us this evening for the second in my series of school spotlights. As I mentioned to you last month, each month of this this this year and coming into next year, I'd like to have one of our schools come forward and make a presentation to the school committee and to our community about something either unique or something maybe even cutting edge in some cases, hearing some of the schools who've uh decided to come
023uh and give me some of their ideas. Um so tonight, um our sixth grade students at the Whittier School are coming up to talk about when reading meets science, which now is going to show us how we can build lessons, academic lessons around two subject areas on one topic. So with that, I'd ask uh the chair and the school committee to invite our principal, Mike McLucas, his assistant principles, Cara Fidalgo, and Dr. Brendan Kent and the sixth grade teaching team to come forward with their students for this month's September school spotlight. Excuse me, for December school spotlight. >> Make that in the form of a motion. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and by Miss Cristiano, seconded by Mr. Barrows to invite Principal McLucas and his team before us. All those in favor. >>
024All those opposed? The eyes have it. Welcome everyone. Good evening members of the school committee. We're very honored to be before you this evening and our focus is on teaching and learning and um we have our instructional priority for the district which is student centered learning experiences in literacy and I think when we take a crosscurricular unit in grade six it's a great little example of how our teachers collaborate and they take two subjects they put them together and we give kids experience experiences with readingformational texts, building vocabulary, comprehension, citing evidence, running experiments, developing conclusions, and then writing essays. Packaging all that together is high rigor. We're using high quality instructional materials in the Ever Public Schools, and it's reflective in the excellence in our students. And I want to give a big shout out
025to my assistant principles, Carara Fidalgo and Dr. Brendan Kent for all their support administratively as well as our grade six teachers. We have Miss Cassidy Butt for ELA. We have Miss Rachel Hughes for science, Miss Christa Davis for EL, and Miss Carmela Terry for special ed. I'd also like to note that our science coach, Mr. Joseph Lento, is also here in attendance today, as well as our SEAL teacher, Dr. Jillian Els. Thank you for your support. Along with all of the families from the Whittier School, thank you so very much for all that you do. I think without further ado, I'd like to bring our students forward. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Welcome. Welcome everyone. >> Hello, my name is Kayen. Our sixth grade team worked on a lesson that connected our ELA
026unit on yellow fever with the science investigation. In ELA, we learned about three theories for what caused fever. Yellow fever bacteria contaminated materials and mosquitoes. During the bacteria theory lessons, our teachers helped us explore this scientifically. Hi, I'm Christina. Our teachers wanted to show us how the subject connect instead of learning ELA and science separately. We got to see how the how they support each other. When we studied the bacteria theory in ELA, we did a real science investigation to check if bacteria actually be the cause. Hi, my name is Solana. In E. We read about the yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia in 1796. We studied the symptoms people had had and learned about how people back then do not really know what caused the disease. >> Hi, I'm Ahmed. We learned that people in
0271793 believed yellow fever could be caused by three things. bacteria, contaminated materials, or mosquito bites. We looked at evidence for all three ideas. Hello, my name is Kadoya. When we reached the part about bacteria possibly being the cause of yellow fever, Miss Hughes and Miss B created a science experiment so we could test how bacteria really grows in the real world. >> [applause] >> When we finish with this return to >> welcome everyone. >> Hi, my name is Sandre. In science, we got to observe real bacteria samples in petri dishes. We looked at the colonies closely to see how they grow and how they spread. In science class the week before, we went around the school and swapped different things around the school to watch bacteria grow on them over time. Hi, my name is
028Adam. We recorded observations of each bacteria sample. Then we swab different places around the school such as the floor, carpet, doors, and door handles. Then we wrote claims about what we thought the evidence showed. >> Hello, my name is My name is Caleb. After observing bacteria, we connected what we saw to what we were reading in LA. After this experiment, we talked about how it made sense to scientists to scientists at the time that bacteria could be a cause of yellow fever. It was really gross. My name is Santiago. We worked in small groups and took turns observing the petri dishes, writing down data, and discussing what we noticed. It helped us think like both scientists and investigators gathering evidence. Hello, my name is Janet. We learned that bacteria can spread, but not the same
029way yellow fever did in the book. This helped us question the bacteria theory and think about what other causes made more sense. >> [applause] >> It's okay. >> Welcome. Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Anthony. This lesson show us why it's important to connect what we learn in different subjects. It made the ELA story feel more real because we actually test one of the theories ourselves. If it was not for the science lesson we did, I would not even know what a bacteria looks like in real life to see if it makes sense for being the cause of yellow fever. [clears throat] >> Hi, I'm Nico. Our project also connects to something our district is focusing on this year. Our teachers want to make sure all students get the reading support they need to
030succeed. In this activity, we practice important reading skills like understanding the text, using evidence, and explaining our ideas. Because we used both science, data, and details from the book, our teachers can see what we understood and what we still needed help with. This helped all of us improve our reading, vocabulary, and comprehension while doing something hands-on and fun. Overall, this cross overall, this crosscurricular lesson helped us build a deeper understanding of yellow fever evidence and how scientific thinking connects to reading. We hope our project shows how powerful it can be when subjects work together. Together, [applause] thank you very much everyone. The principles to come back. As you can see, our students are well-versed, poised, and ready. And I think that they are a fine representation of the students that we have across this district.
031And if I'm not mistaken, maybe one or two of them were playing the violin this morning. Others were singing. We have a lot of talent at all of our schools. And today is definitely wittier waves. Mr. Mclucas and Sound [applause] Thank you to Thank you to the teachers doing so much for us. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Is there a motion to excuse our guests? >> Make a motion to excuse our guests. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded to excuse our guests. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Thank you very much everybody. We appreciate it. Um I do have another motion to entertain to return to the regular order of business. Please. >> So move madam chairman. >> Second. So moved. Motion seconded to
032return to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? The eyes have it. Superintendent. >> Back on Roman numeral 6, item number one, superintendent update. I have several updates. So I'll uh kind of go quickly for you. So tomorrow night here at the Ever High School auditorium, our winter gala concert featuring our awesome student musicians as well as faculty and alumni. The curtain rises at 6:00 p.m. Admission is free for families, students, staff, and residents are encouraged to join us in what I know is always an enjoyable evening. And this year is going to be no different. We will usually have a very good crowd. So, we invite everyone to come here tomorrow. We're also holding tonight, tomorrow night, a uh donor reception, which we have never done here. And it
033is for those individuals and businesses in uh civic groups who have historically given uh scholarships to our students year after year. And while we do send a letter of thanks, I thought it was an important time of year to also show them our appreciation for the thousands of dollars that they have committed to our schools and to our students, not just at scholarship, but many of them give so many other ways to us. So, for the first time, we're going to have a a reception, which I know that we'd love to have you all join us about 4:30 in which we will uh have our guests come here this uh this um library will be transformed into a winter wonderland and we'll have kind of a meet and greet with uh those individuals. We've got
034quite a group from our business and civic community coming. Uh we'll give them some special seating down front uh in the concert. And this is also a way not only to show thanks but to cultivate our relationships with members of these communities that as I said give so willingly and so generously year after year. And um I thought it was just an appropriate and fitting time. So uh with that I hope that all of you can make it. And if you can't be here at 4:30 or so please uh join us for what I know is going to be um a very nice evening. If any of our folks at home have already attended some of our uh our buildings already to hear these concerts, these young people are phenomenal and uh by the time
035they come here to the high school, their skills are really refined and they put their heart and soul and I know I have a band mom next to me so she can attest to the time and energy that these um folks these young folks put into putting a concert together. Um last week as I mentioned I attended the parlin. Um again you know the level of engagement of our families but our kids are so completely committed and so um detailed in their performances, their playing of instruments are really second to none. And let me remind everybody the instruments, their lessons, the commitment all free. We do it to better our families and our kids. and and we're going to do it one kid at a time, whether it's football, basketball, a play, music, an instrument.
036Uh we are going to capitalize on every child's um talents. And so please join us and celebrate them as well as we come together tomorrow night here at Ever High School Auditorium. Um EL family night, English learner family night. The Department of English Learners is hosting a special information night uh this coming week, December 17th, at 5:30 to 7:30 at the uh cafeteria at Ever High School. Our EL educators will share important information about Ever High School, the curriculum and programming, and access testing. Of course, we always like to serve something to snack on because that's usually a time that people are trying to sit and have dinner. But uh understanding that we will provide them um with some uh something to nibble on as they learn a little bit more about um the e
037um program here at um Ever High School as their kids will be transitioning from grade 8 to uh ever high school next fall. Um safety drills as many of you may already know and I know some of you who have children in the district have known that we conduct safety drills in our schools. So, I just wanted to remind everybody that um we continue to do this on an ongoing basis under the direction of our uh safety and security manager uh director Lauren Okconor and our partners at the Ever Police and Fire. We've completed two fire drills in all of our schools with uh two more scheduled for the spring. I'd like to thank specifically the Ever Fire Department for working with us to ensure that we are moving our children in and out of
038these buildings in an efficient and timely manner. We're timed on these. Our our young people follow direction very well. They evacuate as necessary. In addition, um we have conducted Alice training drills and last year we did it for the first time and we held um sessions in the school buildings for teachers and staff as well as um uh giving them a followup and get information to them about why we do it and why we're going to do it with regularity. We even um did a mock um drill if you will of a an intruder in the building and what we would supposed to be doing as as faculty and staff. This year we did it again with a little bit different twist. We added um um a different element to the training and all of
039the schools have gone through it at this point just like a fire drill. We're going to do this every year because unfortunately, as we just heard at Brown University and we've heard so many other tragedies across this nation about school safety and um tragic incidents, we have to be prepared. As scary as it is and sounding, um we cannot let our guard down. So, I will continue to do that uh throughout this year and next and continue on a program of safety and security for all of our children and staff. We also have staff go through kind of online training in an annual basis and even I have to go through it. All of our student all of our staff have to complete it. We keep reminding them if they haven't if they haven't completed
040it we get more than one reminder out to them um until that we believe that everyone has gone through a a sufficient amount of time in training online because we need everybody god forbid that there is any kind of a security incident here. The next topic I know that um several of you are going to be happy to hear me report and I know Miss Baros in particular I want to uh thank her again has been inquiring about field trips and I know all of you at some point in the past year have asked me about field trips in our policy and I know I've heard from wonderful parents at home who want to see their children as I do have experiences outside of the classroom um working with the city and their very aggressive
041recruitment effort with assistance from us But certainly um our director of health and human services, Sabrina Farano, and her team um were able to recruit and retain 21 full-time nurses currently working in the Eva public schools, which is significantly up from where we were last year at this time. We also have had some assistance from Catalo ambulance. Um they provide us with um staff when we don't have enough nurses. What this does, this 21, let me before I talk a little bit more about field trip. Um what this does, it also gives us as a school district the opportunity to what they call medical delegation or med delegation. And when I first came to the district, um, I was coming before you as your new superintendent talking about med delegation and how we needed to
042have that so that our lay personnel, faculty and staff, not nursing staff, were able to um be trained and reviewed on how to administer certain medications to students in the event that they needed them without the use of a nurse. You can't get a medical delegation in a school district without a certain number of full-time RNs. We have that. We didn't have it this past year. Um towards the end of the year in particular, we were down low. So, we were relying on outplacement nurses to come in and fill in for days. That's really not a great plan. But again, thanks to the folks um in the health department, Sabrina Farano and Christa um Costello who worked tirelessly to get us up to full staff. Uh we do have that. Now, in the meantime, I
043didn't um kind of just wait on that. I looked at the field trip policy and we or practice and we have had um I would say a loose practice on field trips meaning that sometimes our field trips although well-intentioned and interesting and fun are not necessarily centered around an academic experience. So to that end, I asked um a team of educators led by our principal of the Maline English School and I think I saw him here earlier, Paulo Lumbracha um to serve and to bring people together to talk about the ways in which we could provide a a practice here in the Ever public schools that made it equitable and timely and connected to instruction. And so um during the time that we were waiting to be fully staffed uh with nursing staff, this committee
044met tire several times. They presented to the um group of principles and then finally with revisions um and review they presented to the executive staff uh last week and we have agreed that it is a sound practice. And so concurrent with the um nurses staffing our schools, the practice of um the new practice of field trips is now in the hands of every principal so that they can begin looking at appropriate planned field trips with justification as to why a particular uh teacher in that school would want to go to you know name a place. It has to be um very carefully thought out. It can't be kind of last minute because that isn't fair to nursing staff because again when children go on a field trip on a bus, the nurses have to prepare
045the medicines that are connected to those students and go with them. So, you know, you're taking a nurse out of a building. So, we never want a building to be really at a disadvantage because there's five field trips going on in this building, four going on that one day. That's just not it's just not right. So, um I wanted to report that to you and to the public that um effective immediately. There is a new practice in place and our students um will be able to go on field trips uh that are connected to curriculum and instruction and with appropriate medical support as needed. So, I just um wanted to be sure that you were all aware of that because I know many of you have heard from uh parents. And related to that and
046I want to thank Miss Garin also who um during that kind of transition time when we were coming short on nurses and still wanted to do health screenings in our schools um I can say at this point that all of our K through8 buildings so the and our K through5 building which is the school have had um all the students have been weighed um pastoral screenings have been completed and um many of the body mass index in grades 1, 4, 7 and 10 are done. Vision will happen um in three parts over a period of time and this is all now as a result of having appropriate number of nurses in our buildings because they're the ones that conduct it. Um Miss Karen and I looked at options the end of last year. We were
047investigating a few. Um so some of the stuff was done. We trained some people to help us that weren't nurses but could do it. And now I'm happy to report that we're on schedule and all of these things um have been taking place at the beginning of this school year. Mr. to make Lucas as you um have seen before has has come before us because he he um he convenes a monthly meeting which was actually today um of our our attendance committee again comprised of teachers, administrators, parents and sometimes students attend to talk about our practices and getting our young people in and into our buildings on time and on a regular basis. And while some may think it's not enough, I think that the direction that we're going in with a strong attendance uh
048rating again continues to increase month over month, year over year. Um I'm happy to report once again this month our attendance um is continuing in the right direction. We're not at 100% but we're pretty darn close. and our our tardies, those that when kids come in after, you know, 8:07. Um, we've also um looked at different initiatives to get the students engaged in in the morning. For example, open gym time and I think Miss Babcock or somebody had mentioned these different kind of specialty things that we could do to encourage kids to get there early. We're doing that um in some of our schools. Um and uh Dr. Dr. Adams is here this evening and she um kind of knew that I was getting itchy to do something um a little bit more a little
049bit extra. So, there's two things happening. One in a pilot phase um and one we applied for a grant that I'm pretty sure that we'll get because we we do fill in. We're going to do home visits to school to to people's homes, students homes of um students who really are at that level that they really should be in school for a lot of reasons, but certainly their academic is challenged. And so we're going to make home visits and we're going to start in January with high schoolers and we're going to target the population of our learners who are missing school time and have really so much more to gain if they're here. So, uh, we'll try that on our own with the support of our title three, uh, monies. As you know, that comes
050from the federal government, and this is one of those initiatives that the money is eligible to be used for. If we're fortunate enough to get support from a grant, it's um, Dr. Adams, it's the University of California that is, am I correct? And thank you. and and they will give us additional money to support that afterchool time where a teacher and andor a counselor and administrator will go to those homes on a scheduled visit and talk with the parent or guardian about why that student isn't coming to us on a regular basis. We've got to do things a little differently. I I want to get these kids here. As you know, I we we can't expect them to excel if they're not in the building or not in the building on time. And so all
051of those things uh to say is that I'm going to keep looking for these initiatives that will really make a change difference here. And so um so you might hear about that a little bit more in January when we kick it off. But I wanted to also um give you that information um in case anyone inquired about this new initiative. We had student interns from um Ever High School uh under the direction of our chief technology officer Joe Patutoo. This internship program uh works with our students here and we works directly with our practitioners in the IT department um working with them on how to fix equipment, how to reprogram for not just students but to staff. You know, we've got a lot of talented staff, but when your device goes down and you're not
052sure what to do, you call the IT department. Well, with I don't know 500 devices here plus student devices, that's a lot of staff time running to fix things. Um, the students get, you know, hands-on experience um in helping kind of deploy and uh resolve issues and it's an academic experience and we're looking at finding ways um to even potentially give them a credit for that work because they do it um during the during the school day. So we have multiple seniors have one, two, three, four, five, six seniors and uh three juniors that are participating. It's voluntary. They do it um and they get the experience and some feedback. Um the chief technology officer also teaches this on the college level. So he's a great teacher as well as um as our uh technology
053officer keeping us safe from cyber cyber events. Last Friday, I I came here to Everett High School uh to be part of the STEM pathways program called Student Solve. This is organized by our 18 Foundation um and their learning hub. And these students worked on two separate projects with industry experts resolving real dilemmas at a particular um industry. They interacted, some interacted virtually with folks, others got a chance to be in the same classroom with the person from the respected the respected um industry. And then they were convened also um virtually with 104 other school districts across um is it just Massachusetts, Miss Setta? Yeah. And they got to share information. Now, we're hoping and and I'm not sure the date, but our ideas get considered, literally considered. And I know [clears throat] this is
054our second year doing this and I have to tell you the dialogue amongst these young people was absolutely fascinating. I listened, I watched them kind of debate the merits of their ideas and they had to interact, as I said, with the industry folks to make sure that they were on the right path. And um I want to thank uh Dr. Blin, Dr. Ciders, Miss Cheddar and others who not only um facilitated that but really um brought these this 18 foundation to us to help give our kids again that option to learn differently to understand the industry to interact with one another solving real problems. Um it was fascinating and if I could have recorded it to show you all I know you would have thought the same thing. I'm like, "Oh my goodness, these are
055mostly sophomores and junior, although it was representative sophomore, juniors, and seniors. It was a good group. There was a good mix. Uh, they were phenomenal." Um, and Dr. Sid is served snacks, so I stayed in her room a little bit longer. Um, so we had, um, as I said, I just want to mention the companies um, Liberty Mutual, National Grid, Play Labs, Sienna Construction, Vena Robotics, um, Seni. So many of these um companies participated and as I said a couple of them were hands-on with our students in these two separate teams and um again thank you to all of them that brought that to us um and our kids just rose to the occasion. Um we have and I think we mentioned here before um on the December 1st meeting the UMass Boston's addage program
056which is funded by the US Department of Commerce and it stands for addressing digital access gaps in education. Educators love um acronyms and of course addage is that one. And um last week uh last meeting you heard from our director of CTE programming uh Siobhan Aria that our um programming web development students completed their Apple Swift coding boot camp. So they all earned a brand new Mac. So all of our I mentioned to you that they would when they finished if they were successful they would get it. Well, they got it. Um so we uh I want to thank the teachers. um both Nita Calve and Nicole Howard um who worked alongside of our students and now they are proud owners of uh very top-of-the-line uh Mac computers at their house. Last but certainly not
057least, um believe it or not, holiday vacation begins for um students and faculty on Friday, December 19th. That's actually yes. This Friday, students enjoy a full twoe break before returning to classes in 220 in 2026 on Monday, January the 5th. teachers return on that Friday the January 2nd for professional development day and professional development days just to be sure that you all know these are days in every stu every teacher contract not just in ever but all all teacher contracts to provide our teachers with that that kind of cutting edge sometimes or new unique and um opportunities for them to teach a subject matter differently or help remind them about the importance of any number of things. And so the Friday, January 2nd, our teachers will be back in um in the buildings uh for
058a full day of professional development. And like Miss Perry um said, I want to wish everybody um a joyous time this time of year. We have a full year behind us at this point, a great year to look forward to, but um it's I'm very thankful for the opportunity to serve you as your superintendent and to work with you each day on matters that affect one of us or many of us. And so, um, happy holidays to everybody and thank you. That's my report. >> Thank you, Superintendent. Uh, Miss Baros, I'll go around the room. Miss Baros, the superintendent, thank you for your report and all the updates. And I want to say I appreciate the update on our nurses and our field trips because that's definitely been something I've been on since day one.
059I think our kids deserve a field trip. And is every school I guess going to try to keep I guess it across the board because I know sometimes in the past it's been like certain schools will have field trips and like other schools won't have field trips. I know it's ultimately up to the grade level teachers, >> but I think that kids will be excited that they can start going on again. I I think that the um I think this new practice cautifies things that maybe newer teachers weren't sure how to go about requesting a field trip. Um I think it's good for parents to know that we want to do it. And I think again uh now it has to be very specific to well it can't just be willy-nilly. I guess maybe that's
060the best way to put it. So my hope is is that uh each of the principles last week received the document um and they were to share it at their meeting with faculty and staff from last week into this week. So I'm sure that this kind of renewed attention on it will probably inspire a few people to think differently about thinking about a field trip and they now know early on that they have to start thinking about it, planning it, putting in a request to do it. we make sure that we're not sending, you know, five buses out of a school, five grades, because we just can't do that. So, it's a very purposeful next step. So, I'm hoping that encourages some folks. You're welcome. >> Thank you, Miss Barrow. Miss Karen. >> Uh, thank
061you, Madam Chair. Um, first [clears throat] of all, excuse me, Mr. Tart, wonderful news about the nurses. Obviously, we've been working on that all year. Yes. Um, and I'll say once again, all the parents who are watching and listening right now, please bring your concerns to us, the committee members, we don't know everything that's going on. If there's a concern, come talk to us. Maybe we can bring it up at a meeting and work out a, you know, and work through that and get some more nurses. All right. Uh, couple other things. Um, who when you were talking about doing the home visits for the uh for the attendance, so who's doing the home visits? What staff are you having do the home visits? >> Well, we can't make anybody do them, but our ideal
062combination would be a teacher and um one of our either guidance or social workers. Um it could be an administrator, but um ideally we we'll be sending two people together. >> Okay. So it it's not it's not the I I've heard the term of like truency officers, but it's not that. It's actual school staff. >> A truency officer goes to a home when we have reason to believe that one that the child doesn't live there and it's it's reported that he or she doesn't. Two, if they've had repeated absences and we have no communication from the parent, of course, it's almost like a wellness check in a lot of ways. We dispense them immediately to be sure that the child because as you as many of you know who have children in our systems, we
063send out calls to say your child is not in school today or your child may be late today. Um then we hear or don't hear from parents and we we follow that and uh there is basically a a spreadsheet that our our teachers, our staff, our family liaison see uh who's out a couple of times that particular week for example and if we haven't heard back from a parent after multiple calls we would send a truency officer. This is different. This is going to hopefully look at those students who have had a history now because now we've had at least you know several months be behind us when we kicked this program off in late January. Um to look at that and say you know little you know little Bill's been out a lot and
064we've had intermittent you know interaction with the parent. He isn't doing so well in school. he'd be a prime student to go visit. There will be an attempt to reach out to the parent or guardian to say that we would like to come and talk to you about little Bill's performance in school and his attendance or lack thereof. It's supposed to be a dialogue. It's not punitive. It's giving um the parent or guardian some additional information. The older kids, and again, I know for the assistant superintendents out there, they can certainly correct me. Some of our kids are pretty savvy. They've um they've blocked the the phone call to the house that um because they know that the school number is, you know, and they block that call and mom or dad or grandparent doesn't
065get it and they're at work and the kids at home and so we, you know, there's all these little things. So, we're going to just re-engage, but we're going to we're going to look at the students that have the most to gain to come back. Those are the kids who probably um need us the most, quite frankly. >> Okay. Um, one last question. Um, about the, uh, the student internships and, um, doing that, working with ITA, I believe you said. Yes. Um, do they gain any school credit from this? >> Yeah, I think that we we're going to talk that through, but we want to give them credit for that. This is we just tried it this year. We, um, under the chief technology officer, we're even having a committee of faculty and staff to
066talk about even the way in which we handle it period. you know, we're trying to engage every level of from students to staff and and the faculty, but um we are looking at um credit for that. >> Okay, great. Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Miss Garren. Miss Babcock, >> um yeah, I wanted to just say, yeah, thank you for the nurses. I know that was a great I mean, I'm I was thinking of sitting sitting here a year ago and um the public health nurse came in and said that we had I think that we confirmed was 10 or 11. Now we have double. >> That's wonderful. And I know that you that you have um paid them a a living wage too to make that bring that in. And
067that's important. So I'm very happy to hear that because it's not just about the field trips. It's about keeping a nurse student ratio, >> right? >> Because we do have kids with complex care needs in our school systems. And a nurse is not just there to put a band-aid on a knee, >> right? um like you said earlier, but to regul regulate medication and be available for students so that everyone if if what what you know if they have diabetes or cickle cell anemia um they they are able to be well taken care of. So this is this is it's wonderful that the side effect is that we actually get field trips for the kids again and that's an opportunity to learn on the outside but even more or important they're safe in the school.
068So that's wonderful news. My other question was also about the home visits. Um you know a lot of a lot of times you know working in the college of nursing and health sciences one of the big p public health concerns is how the social determinance of health impact kids not just in health but also in education. And um I'm curious if we find out say it's an older child or say that that is saying you know I'm missing school because my parents asked me to pick up my s sibling or I had to stay home because my sibling was was not well and I and I had to take care of them or because socioeconomically I have to work after school because I have heard these conversations with students because you know we live in
069a diverse community. We grow up here. You hang out with kids. You watch them grow up. And I have heard these conversations from children that I know that have said, "Oh, you know, why weren't you in school? Oh, I had to pick up my little sister or my little brother or I have to drop them off every morning, so I am late every day." So I'm just curious, you know, after these home visits, when we look at those sort of those socioeconomic circumstances that may really not be because the kids are savvy and blocking the mom's phone number, you know, the ones that are really sort of impacting them. uh what I'm hoping will come up with some solutions and you might you know through the home visits maybe take a record of what circumstances
070that are beyond you know the ordinary that [clears throat] are impacting students ability to get to school and what kind of plans we can come up with to to solve those um issues. Even at even at UMass they were having a conversation about you know what one of the big reasons that kids drop out of college is is family and financial obligations. And I don't think that it it varies because I remember during the pandemic when uh Mr. Mclofflin had donated a gift cards to the to the students and they were being delivered and given out uh at their homes like almost every house that I stopped at, they were like, "Oh, they're not here. They're working." I mean and and the it just it so it it would be nice to when you're going
071out and I I know that'll take some time to see what in in circumstances that we aren't expecting or we are expecting or now we know are happening more more often. The other thing I wanted to talk about was also the the internships. I'll tell you right now the that at any university [clears throat] someone who can do a little uh troubleshooting with a computer will get a job. Absolutely. I mean the IT desk at any university is staffed by students and that is such a great opportunity for them in the future. It doesn't matter what level whether it's community college or whether it's a full university. um having a little IT savvy skills and being able to troubleshoot people who can't log into their computer will have a job. So that thank you very
072much. That's a great opportunity for our students. >> We'll be we'll be collecting information and if we see trends uh we certainly will be looking at ways to support that and I know that we have kind of those um >> conversations at each school now but there's obviously so much only so much we can do. it would be good to identify a trend. Well, if we do identify a trend, I think we might be um I'm going to look the next step is how do we help get that child to school? So, yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Babcock. Any other questions? If I may, from the chair, I have a couple. Um thank you for bringing up the safety drills. did reach out and receive communications about um parents concerned or um community
073members concerned about the safety of our students. Um and you did get back to me when I asked those questions. Um could you just clarify because I don't think you did it within your notes. Just clarify that you are meeting state guidelines for safety drills and training and Yep. there's a something you follow and >> that's right. And so when we do this, it's not just to, you know, ring the bell and send the kids out or to create we're following very specific guidelines. And but it is important to to do the drills. I mean, ultimately, um, we want people to be be aware of what the expectation is. God forbid something should happen, whether it's a fire fire or an intruder, um, and what the response should be. And if you're in a certain
074part of the building, what should you do differently if you're on the other side of the building? And so um and those are all um with the under the direction of the Ever Police Department in cases of the Alistrills and our own public safety staff. Um we look at that. We look at um we debrief with the employees afterwards. We answer questions. We have social workers available for one a couple of our staff have had traumatic experiences in their professional lives and it kind of resurrected that. We I had asked for our our social workers to be available and they were and they did talk to people. So yeah, we we're trying to follow um we're trying to follow a good path and mo much of that path is uh been guided by um state
075and some federal laws as well. >> Thank you. And I do have um a question about the attendance committee and tardies. I may be speaking from experience where I've had one or two come in. Yes, I did. I tattled on myself a little bit. Um [laughter] um could we just make sure that it's district-wide schoolto school that they're they are differentiating when we receive that auto call that we are differentiating between tardy and absence and that's not rolled into one phone call cuz if you have a student walking and then you get a auto call um and it does leave a message if you don't pick up >> and to hear tardy or absent I think the other it's one of the other and I think parents want to know the difference >> after you
076and I had that conversation about a person that you know um I did speak with Mr. Lynch uh our assistant superintendent and he's going to work with the the vendor who has you know programs all of this to see if we can we want to differentiate. So it was a good call um and we've [clears throat] enhanced it already because we also call in the afternoon too. So if your child was tardy and or absent in the morning and you get the call in the afternoon that means your child didn't come to school that day. It is a robocall and u so uh Mr. Lynch is uh going to work on that immediately because that is a good differentiation. You want to know especially if your child's walking well is he or she later is
077they didn't get to school. So >> that was very helpful. Thank you. >> Perfect. I appreciate it. >> Please let that mother know, would you? >> I I will let that mom know to make sure the kids get to school on time. Yes. [laughter] I will get back to her lickety split. Um, any further questions for the superintendent? >> Uh, Mr. Mayor, >> I I just want to say uh in regards to this um new program I think maybe rolling out with the the guidance counselors and the staff going out to visit the houses. >> Um, I think it's it's an awesome idea. Um, I just want to say thank you to you and your team here at the high school and all the uh from Principal Lynch and others. Um, well, Administrator Lynch and
078and just uh people like Michelle Italiana and and um um so many so many here. Uh what's the athletic director's name? >> Tammy Turner, >> the assistant director, >> Stephen >> Gallagher, >> his wife >> Deian Gallagher. >> Wonderful people. just the Bobby D Lorettto and Murphy. Yeah, I mean just just amazing. You had an amazing team here doing amazing work. >> Um but it all stems from the guy at the top. So um thank you uh for putting together such a great team. Um I will miss working with them. Um and just to let you know um I also want to thank some others when it comes to the school nurses. I want to thank the HR team um and uh my staff that really tried to put together the best package >> possible
079and negotiated some good contracts with the school nurses made a difference of uh trying to attract uh uh people to apply here. So I want to thank a lot of them for uh ensuring to get that number up to 21. I don't think we're ever at 11, but to get that number to 21. So um you know all around uh superintendent um uh wonderful job you're doing and uh I think uh Mrs. S I want to say Sachetta but I know it's not uh >> Senetta um you said uh some great words about the superintendent and uh I echo what you said. So uh uh thank you superintendent. I look forward to watching you do some great things the next few years. >> Thank you so much sir. >> Thank you Mr. Mayor, >> is
080there a motion? >> Make a make motion to accept the superintendent's report and place a file. >> Motion has been made by Miss Bis Barrow, seconded by Miss Babcock to accept the superintendent's report and place on file. All those in favor? All those opposed? The eyes have it. Superintendent the next order of business. >> So, the next order of business uh is item uh number three, approval of the prek uh to grade 8 and ever high school student handbooks. I know that um Mr. Okconor had sent to you to you electronic versions of those. Um just for your information, the information that we included in those were uh for example the uh bullying policy that you accepted back in um September and um we just made mostly technical changes. When I say technical meaning we
081cleaned up language that was um misleading or you know just contact information that has changed since it was last published. This will go on our website. It will be distributed, you know, far and wide, so to speak. Um, but I do need your approval um this evening so that it can be posted um in its usual places. >> Make a motion to approve the uh prek, grade 8, and ever high school student handbooks. >> Second. Motion has been made and seconded to accept um the prek through grade 8 and ever high school student handbooks. All those in favor. >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. >> Item number four is um and this is a big one. Acceptance of a $200,000 gift from the Marie T. She trust. I'm asking for favorable
082action for you to accept this. I actually had the honor um of announcing that Everett has re ever public schools has received what we believe is the single largest donation in the history of the district. The $200,000 gift was bequeathed to Ever Public Schools from the estate of the late Marie Shehy. Uh Miss Shehi died in January of 2021. She was a second grader second grade teacher at the Lafayette school for more than 30 years. And I actually knew her quite well. Um although I didn't have her as a teacher when I attended there, I remembered her kindness. I mean, you talk about remembering people and the impact they had on their lives. She was not my teacher, a lovely human being, and obviously she felt the same way about ever public schools. Out of
083her estate, which she was very generous to a lot of organizations, um we received the largest amount of her estate. So, I'm asking for you um not only to accept this, but uh my public thanks to the Shehy family, the trustees of her estate for facilitating this gift. And I know um we will look for other donors to continue to think about Ever Public Schools um and the work that we do to help our students go to places that they once thought were impossible to get there. Do >> you want me to I was going to make a motion. Sorry, Miss Barrows and then Miss Babcock. Miss Baros, sorry. Chairperson, can I was going to make a motion to see if we could take items four and then 8 9 10 11 12 13 collectively.
084>> Second. Okay. Motion has been made to take items um number 4 8 9 10 11 12 13 >> collectively. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Superintendent, could you read the other um 8 through 13 individually and then we'll do one roll call vote. >> Okay. So, the next item is item number eight, acceptance of a donation of winter coats valued about $4,320 from Constellation Energy. Number nine is acceptance of a donation of 50 winter coats valued at approximately $2500 from SEIU Local 888, which is our custodial staff. Item 10 is acceptance of a clothing donation valued at 3,100 almost $3,200 from the Elliot Family Resource Center to create um a u a pantry of sorts of clothing at they call it a closet at the Devon
085School. And item 11 is the acceptance of Target gift cards totaling $2,000 from the Teamsters Local 25. um since I've been here, they've donated each year to this as well along with clothing and uh backpacks at the beginning of the school year. They're great and generous um donors. Item 13 is acceptance of children's books valued at about $580 from Pro Gamers Guide and um that will be um provided to our to our schools um once we get your approval. Thank you very much. >> Second, >> Mr. Hut, >> Miss Cristiano, and then Yep. >> We're still on the uh the 2,000 $200,000 gift, right? >> Well, we I think I mentioned that and then she wanted to take four along with the others. >> I guess my question be is is this going to be
086going into our scholarship fund or is it restricted in any way? >> It's Well, no, it's it's not it's not restricted. it um it will go into uh provide it's the only thing that's about it is it's a $10,000 gift annually until it's disposed of. >> So we can collect interest on it. We can use the interest at the end of the cycle uh in 20 years say to make the last gift if you will of whatever is remaining. >> Great. Thank you. Were there other clarifying questions Mr. Barrows? I I I believe I understood the answer. Was the same question that Miss Cristiano had. It was was that a particular wish that Mrs. Marie Chi had for with that donation or this can use as >> So the caveat to it was that obviously
087an Ever High School graduate that may have come from the Lafayette school >> and obvious and going on to higher education. um if it wasn't possible to to have a Lafayette school student um it could go to someone else. She left the discretion of the criteria beyond that to the high school principal and the superintendent whoever he or she may be at the year that that was given out. So this year um because um it's the the trust said that I had to give the gift from her death >> even though we just got the money um from the trustee. Um I will be awarding several $10,000 scholarships. Once you accept it, we will put that on our scholarship offerings for candidates theoretically from the Lafayette school that have will be graduating to apply for
088it. >> Terrific. All right. Thank you. You're >> welcome. >> And Miss Babcock My question was, was was it meant to go to scholarships? But for the $10,000, would it be divided up? Would it be for one student or would it be divided up? Uh, >> it's a little vague on that. I know at one sentence it says a $10,000 scholarship, but it does leave it to the discretion of the superintendent and the um principal. I would prefer to give out more. However, in the spirit of which her one of her sentences, I think $10,000 is a nice chunk for a student that is eligible. Um, >> it's very generous. >> So, we'll have three to give out this coming June. >> I have my calculations right. So, >> because it took a while for
089the trust to be released >> because that's, you know, you get the deed of gift when you get a trust and it tells you it's almost always very prescriptive. This was was prescriptive in just a couple of ways. One, they had to graduate Everett public schools, Everett High School. They had to be going to higher education. So, it couldn't be somebody who was going to um you know, a program that maybe a certificate program that wasn't at an accredited college >> and that they came from the Lafayette school. And then there was a provision further down that said, but if you couldn't get anybody to apply from that was going to high that came from the Lafayette school, then you could give it to someone else. someone else in the ever public school ever public
090schools, right? >> There's so much need in our schools. So, >> yeah, exactly. >> That is so wonderfully generous. >> That's so generous. She was absolutely this kind of a lady. As I said, many, many years ago, I was at the Lafayette School and she walked the halls there. Lovely, lovely lady. >> So, the remainder of the money can remain in a trust and gain interest as every year. it's remaining in our Ever Public Schools foundation because it can gain more interest than a regular bearing account. So, while I didn't, you know, fully unveil our foundation, I have been working just as a side note for all of you and I was going to do it in a more formal way relatively soon because we just got the uh approval to solicit funds for the
091foundation. Um we had a um pro bono law firm from DC who works with a local banker who offered their services to us to start a foundation that I was looking to do cuz there's filing fees legal matters there's all that kind of stuff that really starts to rack up the dollars and cents before you even get a dollar in donation. um this 501c3 that is now created and just officially was approved um by the attorney general's office and the IRS. Um we have a bank account. Um this gives us the opportunity to solicit other 501c3s that we wouldn't be able necessarily to do as a city, but as a 501c3 you can. It allows us to apply for grants that are only specific to 501. I mean, you know, you're in the colleges, we
092there's very specific sources of funds that are very prescriptive. You need a 501c3. It also allows donors the opportunity to get a, you know, a tax deduction right off from a 501c3. There's a lot of benefits. It will be separate and distinct from municipal funds. So, it can earn higher amounts of interest based on the decision of a board of directors. Um, and so I'm building that so that um, in years to come when these organizations that we're going to recognize tomorrow evening may have whittleled down or or not existent, we'll still have a fund that we can continue to grow. I did speak with um, a gentleman uh, until I get the check, I'm not saying his name, but um, committed to $5,000. I saw him this past week. I said, you know, your
093company is a big company. I think you should donate to our foundation to help our kids. He said, "Fine, I'm going to give $5,000." I mean, I want us to be able to have that in perpetuity here. >> so that >> the long-term proposal is that that money like this, this generous um donation from her trust would be put collectively somewhere where it can be interesting and >> it then extend the life of of the funds, which is a very very good idea. >> Correct. I actually do not know a lot about 503C's from working at UMass, but I am on a couple of boards of different charity uh different 503C's like Pierce Park Sailing and >> um and and >> it allows you more opportunities to go after additional money um that supports whatever
094that they were organized for. And again, it's a timely process. I've been at this for almost a year and it hasn't cost the city or the school department a scent and it'll benefit us in the long term and for years to come. >> More to come. >> Move to favorable action to gift. There was already a motion. Yep. Motion has been made for favorable action to >> second >> accept um the following donations with customary thanks. A $200,000 gift from the Mary T. Shihy Trust to accept the donation of 216 winter coats valued at $4,320 from Constellation Energy. Donation of 50 winter coats valued at $2,500 from the SEIU. Donation valued at um $3,1915. >> Yep. From Elliot Family Resource Center. uh the donation of Target gift cards totaling $2,000 from the Teamsters Union Local
09525, the donation of children's books valued at approximately $300 from the Conscience Kid to the Parlin, uh and the acceptance of children children's books valued at $579.60 from Proamer's Guide. Roll call. >> Mr. Alita Baros. >> Yes. >> Miss Babcock. >> Yes. Miss Barrows, >> yes. >> Miss Cornelio, >> yes. >> Miss Cristiano, >> yes. >> Mayor Di Maria, >> yes. >> Miss Garren, >> yes. >> Mr. Lam Monica, >> yes. >> Madame Chair, >> yes. >> So move 90. >> Motion. Motion has passed. Superintendent, the U next order of business. >> That would be item number five, request from the city of Everett to use Everett High School auditorium and cafeteria for the 2026 inaugural exercise. I'm asking for favorable action. Favorable action. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded for favorable
096action to request the city of Everett use Everett High School auditorium and cafeteria for the 2026 inaugural exercise on Monday, January 5th. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent. The next order of business. Item number six, acceptance of a social emotional learning grant in the amount of $45,000 from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education known as DESIE. I'm asking for favorable action. This is a state-f funded competitive grant that supports social emotional learning and behavioral and mental health. And we we provide this to train teachers and staff on um the TCIS training as you know therapeutic crisis intervention for schools. >> Make a motion for >> seconded. Motion has been made for favorable action to accept the social emotional learning grant FC uh 311
097in the amount of $45,000 from the department of elementary and secondary education. Roll call. >> Mr. Alita Barrows. >> Yes. >> Miss Babcock. >> Yes. >> Miss Barrows. >> Yes. >> Miss Cornelio? >> Yes. >> Miss Cristiano? >> Yes. >> Mayor Di Maria? >> Yes. >> Miss Garren? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lam Monica? >> Yes. >> Madame Chair? >> Yes. >> So move 90. So move 90. Motion pass. Superintendent the next order. >> Item number seven is the acceptance of a Massgrad promising practices grant in the amount of $42,000. I'm requesting favorable action on this grant because it is federally funded. It's a competitive grant. This also allows us to do or this does allow us to do academic enrichment programs during our winter break uh fee February and April break and during the summer.
098And we target students as I've mentioned to you in the past uh students who are in most need. We invite them to come and it is not a play group. It is a week of learning and some fun too. And I want to also thank our academic team uh under the direction of Dr. Adams um for writing these grants to support this work so that it doesn't cost the city and it provides our students with with that extra that extra touch if you will in helping them succeed when they return to the classroom in the off cycles. >> Make a motion to favor action. >> Second. Motion has been made for favorable action to accept the Massrad Promising Practice Grant in the amount of $42,000. Roll call. >> Mr. Almeida Baros. >> Yes. >> Miss
099Babcock, >> yes. >> Miss Baros, >> yes. >> Miss Cornelio, >> yes. >> Miss Cristiano, >> yes. >> Mayor Di Maria, >> yes. >> Miss Garren, >> yes. >> Mr. Lam Monica, >> yes. >> Madame Chair, >> yes. >> So move 90. Motion pass. Superintendent. The next order. We now jump to item 14, which is um requesting approval for the delayed start on Tuesday, January the 13th, 2026 and Wednesday, January 14th, 2026 to accommodate our access testing and uh that is a delayed start. So students report at 10:30 on that those days. >> Miss Babcock, >> um the access testing is that the is that the English language learner access testing? >> Yes. >> Okay. Just just want to clarify that. Move to favorable action. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded for
100favorable action to approve the delayed start time at Ever High School on Tuesday, January 13th, 2026 and Wednesday, January 14th, 2026 to accommodate access testing. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? The eyes have it? Motion passed. Superintendent. The next one. >> Item number 15, request approval to uh rent space at Ever High School for Scouting America. This is um it says rent space. I'm asking for you to wave the fee. Um the scouting America would like to have um a trope here and I asked them to use Ever High School. The building is already open. They're going to use one classroom. We have 10 at least 10 um students from Everested. So I'd ask your favorable action. >> Make second. >> Second. >> Motion has been made for favorable action. >>
101on the motion, Mr. >> Just want to make sure that we add what the superintendent asked. So to wave the fee. Correct. Thank you. >> Motion. >> No rental fee. >> No, it's okay. Motion has been made and seconded um to request approval to grant approval to rent uh wave the fee for classroom space at Everett High School to Scouting America. >> One hour weekly. >> Miss Babcock, that was my question. >> Your 1 hour weekly starting in January. And Mr. Tumblin who's in the audience. He's in Everett resident and father and um many of his children came to ever public schools but he's also the district chairman of scouting America. Um I know Mr. Tumblin very well. Um he has a lot of great intentions with our young people. I'd love them to have
102the space so that uh boys and girls can come into this program. Certainly ever kids will have um we have at least 10. John, is that true? >> Already? Okay. My daughter was a a Girl Scout for many many many years. And one of the struggles that we had was actually finding a consistent space. So I think a school building that can accommodate, you know, 2,500 uh children that accommodating a troops to use a common space that we share, it makes sense and also gives them a view of the future and if there are children in our community to see what the school looks like. And thank you for running the troop, Mr. Fley. That's great. It's a great opportunity for kids. Can we can we motion >> make a motion to invite Mr. Tumblin
103to second? The >> motion has been made and seconded to invite Mr. Tumblin before us. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed. >> Madam Chairman, while Mr. Tumblr's coming up, I'd also like to echo the sentiments of uh uh committee member uh Babcock. Uh I've known John uh for many, many years. Uh he's also a longtime army vet. um got to know him really well and uh and know his family and uh he's really committed to the Boy Scouts and we're lucky to have him um and you know I just can't say enough about him and it's and to have him come forward to do such an admirable thing is cuz we haven't had a boy scout troop in a long time here just in Everett and so this will be a
104great thing. >> Thank you Miss Cristiano. Welcome Mr. Tumblin. >> Well, thank you. Um, thank you for letting me address you this evening. Um, I'm the district chairman for uh the Sons of Liberty District. I have 12 towns in my district. It starts in River and goes to Waltham and uh I have three towns that are struggling right now. Everett is one of them. So, we've been working on this since September. We've been trying to find a place to meet and we haven't been able to do that. A lot of a lot of the social clubs have shut down and uh the churches have kind of cuz they changed the way the charter work, the churches have kind of not let us get in right now, but I think they're working to let us back
105in. So, right now, our plan is to start a Cub Scout pack here in in uh Everett High. And as the Cub Scouts grow, they'll become then they'll grow into Boy Scouts and then or excuse me, scouts because we have girls now. Girls are allowed in the pack. and uh as they grow. And one of the best things I've seen is when a kid comes in at seven years old and 11 years later he graduates at 18, becomes an Eagle Scout and moves on to whatever he's going to do. The change is is uh I don't know, awesome. I guess it just one of those things. It's just and that's probably the selfish reason why I do it because I just enjoy helping young people become better people. So, and I've been a Boy Scout
106since 1967. So you guys can do the math. [laughter] I definitely believe in the program. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much for all that you do. Thank you. I think that deserves a [applause] round of applause. Thank you so much. >> Excuse our guest. >> Second. Motion has been made and seconded to excuse our guests. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Um we did not actually vote on that. So um all those in favor? >> I all those opposed? Motion passed. Superintendent. The next order. >> Roman numeral 7. The items submitted by school committee members. There is none before you. Item Roman numeral 8. Subcommittee reports. Number one, finance and negotiation subcommittee for Monday, December 1st, 2025. >> Madam Chairman, I'd like to um make a
107motion to wave the reading of the minutes and uh accept them and place them on file. >> Second. Motion has been made and seconded to accept the minutes for finance and negotiation subcommittee for Monday, December 1st, 2025 and place on file. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent the next order. >> Roman numeral nine, bills and payroll. >> Madam Chairman, Miss Christ, >> I'd like to submit bills and payroll in the amount of 1,680,2724. >> Second. Motion has been made and seconded to submit bills and payroll in the amount of 1,680,2724. Roll call. >> Miss Falmearos. >> Yes. >> Miss Babcock, >> yes. >> Miss Baros, >> yes. >> Miss Cornelio, >> yes. >> Miss Cristiano, >> yes. >> Mayor Di Maria, >> yes. >> Miss Garren,
108>> yes. >> Mr. Lam Monica, >> yes. >> Madam Chair, >> yes. >> So move 90. Motion passed. Madam Chairman, Miss Christristiano, >> I'd like to pay bills and payroll in the amount of 1,680,2724 cents. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded to pay bills and payroll in the amount of $1,680,2724. Roll call. >> Mr. Alina Barrows? >> Yes. >> Miss Babcar? >> Yes. >> Miss Barrows? >> Yes. >> Miss Cornelio? >> Yes. >> Miss Cristiano? >> Yes. >> Mayor Di Maria? >> Yes. >> Miss Garren? Yes, >> Mr. Lam Monica. >> Yes, >> Madame Chair. >> Yes. >> So move 90. Motion passed. >> Uh superintendent, the next order of business. >> Roman numeral 10, unfinished business. There's none before you. Roman numeral 11 is new business. >> I'm actually going to
109hop in here if that's okay. I would like to um everyone has kind of mentioned it before, but from the chair, I would like to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to our two outgoing members of the Everett School Committee, Miss Kristen Baros and Mayor D. Maria. Um I'll keep opening those after. Uh Miss Baros has distinguished herself in many ways during her service. None more significant than her role as liaison to the Everett High School student advisory council. She brought consistency, diligence, and genuine care to this role, ensuring that the lines of communication between this committee and our student uh body remained open and meaningful. She has also been a valued and dedicated member of the finance and negotiation subcommittee. Getting to know Miss Barrows has been both personally and professionally rewarding. She is
110a steadfast advocate for the district and for our students. Thoughtful, goodnatured, and fair. She has a particular talent for asking important and timely questions that strengthen our work. As a fellow EPS parent, I hope that you will remain closely connected to Ever Public Schools. [applause] And Mr. Mayor for It's good. I promise. What? [laughter] It's all good things. Your 18 years of service and ex extensive list of accomplishments cannot even fully be captured here. Um, but your leadership and dedication, both visible and behind the scenes, have left an incredible mark on the city of Everett. As the first mayor to serve as a full voting member of the school committee, you were tasked with wearing two hats, which is no small responsibility. uh you fulfilled this role with balance and integrity, honoring your commitments to
111the committee, our students and staff, your office, and the city of Everett. You too are a proud EPS parent, and we look forward to your continued support of Everett public schools and the community as a whole. On behalf of the Ever School Committee, thank you both for your commitment and dedicated service to the district and our community. [applause] I have plaques if you would like them. Why don't we get everybody in this? You don't want to get everybody in the photo. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Come on. We're going to take a photo. We'll take a brief recess for the photo. >> Yeah. Thank you very much. Welcome back to the Everett um school committee meeting for December 15, 2025. The time is 8:02 p.m. Uh, superintendent, could you continue with the
112>> order point of if I may, >> Miss Pharaoh? >> Thank you, everybody. I just have a few words. So, since getting appointed last year, I've learned a lot and have truly enjoyed collaborating with our students, families, and this board. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. I'll definitely be back. Working with the student tide advisory council has been a highlight and I've really enjoyed working with the students. I hope the next leaison truly steps back, listens and lets our students shine, offering support when asked. This group of students are truly remarkable, wise beyond their years and a great example of leadership. You all have a great future. Even though I want to be on this committee, even though I won't be on this committee as a parent, I'm always involved and available for the
113community to reach out. I hope this board remains committed and shows up and speaks up for our families and our students. I'll be watching and showing up on the other side speaking and I'll be back with my name plate. Thank you so much. [applause] Thank you, Miss Ferris. Superintendent, the next >> go right ahead, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I I just want to say that um you know, uh I can't believe 33 years of serving in government. Um started when I was a student reps age, probably 20 years old getting elected to the Ever City Council. Um and then the last of course that that was 14 years between city council and board of alderman and the last 18 years as mayor and uh it's just kind of kind of crazy how
114life really flies by you know um and um I too want to say you know and crazy thing is I'm only 52 years old you know sometimes you would think after 33 years of service you were probably in your 70s but uh uh I too uh have no plans on uh leaving town. Um I I just um I see so much potential in the city and uh I I look forward to supporting Robert uh in in his uh his tenure as mayor and doing everything I can do to make him very successful. Um uh because his success is our success, you know. So uh um I feel a great sense of relief um to be honest with you. Um, I've been through a lot as I think a lot of you know. Um, bringing the
115casino here and and then now bringing the stadium here and uh um you know trying to just better our community every day. That was that was my my focus, you know, and it always will be. And um I look forward to seeing uh things like the Ped Bridge and Assembly Road being built and the head house and uh the uh the commuterial stop coming into fruition and the civil line expansion. um getting people out of their cars and getting them into uh into Boston with a one seat ride. Uh it's it's it's happening. It's going to happen. It's um uh it's really going to transform our community. It's going to help rebuild our Everett Square. I look forward to seeing the uh the M, you know, as you all know, we've been approved by the
116MSBA to build a a hopefully a whole new high school with vocational uh vocational program, CTE program. Um that's something that um uh I look forward to seeing happen. Uh I think it's going to be great for our our school children and really address the issues with overcrowding and if that's you know that resolves that this school becomes the middle school um that you know as we look move forward also to re adding 1100 students at the old high school. Um we finally got the roof done. So, so many great things um have happened in the last 18 years as mayor and last 33 years in government. I just um um I want to thank all of you um you know um for doing what you have done. Uh I got to serve with people
117like Jeanie and and Millie when I first I ran for Jeanie Sheet when she left to run for Alderman Lodge and became the alderman alderoman. Um that was 33 years ago, Jean. Right. So I've known you forever. Sat next to you as an alderman. Used to rub my leg all the time. She tell me, and she did tell me how beautiful my hair was when I didn't gel in it, you know, back when I was a lot thinner. Um, and I got to got to be close to people like Millie and and uh, of course, Joe Joseph. And it's been a great experience. And I've got to know Kristen here, who's a wonderful wonderful, and I hope you come back to the school committee u because you truly uh, care about um, the community. Um,
118and Madam Chairwoman, you've done an excellent job. you really truly have done an excellent job. I've never really seen someone do such a good job as a a chairperson this and I've watched some school committee meetings over my 33 years. Um uh and uh I got to say that you really hold yourself uh you do a really good job and I look forward to seeing you do some great continue to do great things here in the community. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. and superintendent hot I I you know uh when you know when the you know everyone said it was my idea to make you to super bring you on as we all know that wasn't the truth right uh you know you had called me and told me that there you know Jean
119had called me and said Billy is going to come in maybe do interim and I was like oh all right you know you have like I shouldn't have you know you were my my chairman the board of assessors and you did a wonderful job then you were I knew you when you were uh elected official. Uh you are totally have impressed me on what you have done these last these two years. It's been two years. These short two years as superintendent of schools. um you really changed um the the the trajectory of the school system and I know you deeply care about the kids and that like as a mayor to know that his or her superintendent deeply cares about the children, it's hard to say no to that superintendent. It truly is hard to
120say no. Um you know, so I wish I had more years with you as a mayor and superintendent. Um, but I think we set the course on um, uh, for our school system. It's already baked in. And again, I I'm going to be there for Robert when he has to go before the city council of the residents when he is going to need the the funds to continue uh, rebuilding our school system. And, uh, I'm going to be there, you know, as just a former mayor, as a resident of the city of Everett. Um, you know, I always said it, I'm going to die in Everett. you know, I may build a home somewhere else or some of some of homes. I may try to do all great things, but I'm always going to have
121a 02149 address. So, um, you know, I love the city. I love the people. And, you know, we've been on opposite ends sometimes with some people. And that's okay. you know, elections happen and differences happen. But, uh, I hope to be able to move forward with some people and eventually, you know, build those bridges back again and become friends again because in the end of the day, you know, uh, I think we all want the same thing for each other is, uh, you know, peace and love and joy and so forth and see our families, you know, prosper. Um, and that's what I hope to happen here in the community of Everett. you know, um I wasn't even planning on coming tonight, but uh you know, I drove around looking for a pocket spot for
122a while because there was a lot of basketball games and so forth going on, but I said, you know, let me come tonight and thank you for this really uh like boxes full of stuff in my office right now trying to say to myself, what am I going to do with all these things? Shovels and blow horns and citations, but uh this one's special because it's from you all. So, uh, you know, thank you very much, uh, for this and thank you, uh, and I look forward to, um, you know, in any capacity you need someone to do something and whatever it is, you know, for the kids, don't don't, you know, I know senior year is coming up, right? You're a senior this year. I'm sure you're going to be looking for some help
123with some fundraising and stuff. You can always call upon me. You know, I have a lot of contacts. I can help you raise for money for anything you kids need. So, and and that's, you know, goes to you, Superintendent Hot whenever you need me to um >> you know, you you did want that little added ticket tax in the host community agreement. So, I'm adding some money for you for your for your 501c. There's going to be a portion of that money from each ticket sold that goes to that um goes to that uh and we I think it's going to generate, you know, a couple hundred,000 a year for you. So, for the for the school children. So, I'm as you as you know, we need to negotiate that by December 31st. and I
124asked everyone to ask, you know, to ask what they wanted in there and you're one of the few people that asked for something. So, um, that's going to be in that agreement. So, uh, and that's going to help a lot of kids when they graduate and look for monies for college. So, thank you all very much. It was it's a truly an honor to have been the mayor for 18 years and, uh, I look forward to watching you all continue to lead our city. God bless you all. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, and God bless you all and have a happy and healthy new year. >> Thank you very much. Superintendent. >> Next order of business is item 12, hearings. There are none before you this evening. Matters of executive session under item 13. There are
125none. Item 14 is adjourned. >> Make a motion to adjourn. >> Madam Chairman. Um, Madam Jim, before we adjourn, um, you know, with the holidays coming up, um, I personally, I mean, you do all the talking now. Um, it's awful for me. I I personally want to thank each and every member uh for allowing me to serve in this leadership position. Um, uh, come January, I'll be I'll be taking a seat and, uh, I can pick, you know, it's all seniority. So, you better be nice to me cuz I'm now up there in seniority. So, you hear that, Robin? Coming for you. I'm coming for your seat. >> [laughter and clears throat] >> But anyways, uh you know, seriously, uh merry Christmas to all of all of you. It's been an honor and a pleasure
126to be with you all. Um I consider all of you my friend. Um and you know, one thing that there's somebody here that never, you know, they and Dr. Adams did this and Dr. Adams do that there's this. So I just wanted to publicly thank Dr. Adams. Um, you know, she's always out there, you know, with her sleeves rolled up and, you know, and and it seems like everybody else gets the accolades. And, you know, tonight I just wanted to give you some accolades, Dr. Adams. You're the best and we're so lucky to have you. And, uh, so, merry Christmas, Chris. I hope you don't feel bad, but you've only been here a short time as as an assistant, so you got to work your way up. Um but anyways uh uh I hope everybody
127has a merry Christmas and a and a happy new year and a healthy new year. Thank you. >> Thank you Miss Cristiano. There was a motion made and seconded to adjourn. Um all those in favor. >> All those opposed. The eyes have it. I echo the student rep in wishing everybody a safe and happy new year. Um it's been a pleasure. Um we have adjourned >> [music] [music]