001[Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Ah, [Music] nicot. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Wow. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Are you [Music] Why you [Music] like you? [Music] Are you ready? [Music] Where are you? [Music] to kill you. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Hey, [Music] Oh, [Music] hey. Wat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Good evening. and welcome to the regular meeting for the Everett School Committee on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025. The time is 6:33 p.m. >> Clerk, could you call the role to determine a quorum? >> Mr. Almeida Barrows. >> Miss Babcock, >> present. >>
002Miss Barrows, >> here. >> Miss Cornelio, >> present. >> Miss Cristiano, >> here. >> Mayor Di Maria. Mr. Denafhrio. Miss Garin >> present. >> Mr. Lam Monica. >> Madame Chair >> present. >> Six members present. We do have a quorum. If everyone could join me in saluting the flag and then remain standing. >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you everyone. >> I would ask to take a moment of silence for the victims of the tragic school shooting that occurred at the Enunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on August 27th, 2025. The senseless act of violence is unthinkable unthinkable as everyone across the nation begins a new school year. Our thoughts are
003with the families of those who lost their lives, to those who are recovering from injuries suffered during the attack, and the greater Minneapolis community. Thank you all. Mr. Hart, the next order of business on the agenda, >> Roman numeral 3, reading of the records for Monday, August the 25th, 2025. >> Make a motion to wave the reading and place on file. >> Second. >> Motion made by Miss Barrow, seconded by Miss Garin to wave the reading from Monday, August 25th, 2025, and place on file. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent. The next order of business. >> Roman numeral four. Public comment. >> Make a motion to open public comment. >> Second. >> Motion has been made by Miss Babcock, seconded by Miss Baros to open public
004comment. All those in favor? I. >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Public comment is now open. Um, seeing no speakers on the signup sheet. Is there anyone that would like to speak for in public comment? Seeing none, >> make a motion to close close public comment. Second >> motion made by Miss Babcock, seconded by Miss Cornelio to close public comment. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? The eyes have it. Public comment is now closed. Superintendent. Next order of business. >> Roman numeral 5 reporter the student representative. And if I may, uh, Madame Chair and members of the committee, I do have an update for you on the student election process. Nominations, uh, for student council and members of the student council are due tomorrow, September the 3rd. Four offices
005will be up for election, president, vice president, treasurer, and and secretary of the Ever Student Council. I understand there's about 15 young people who've put their name in nomination or had their name and nomination for one of those four offices. Um the students will conduct an election um in another week and a half and then we should have a member of the um student council sit as your next member of the Everett school committee for the next regular scheduling meeting which is uh two weeks from yesterday. >> Thank you superintendent. >> And the next order of business >> Roman numeral 6 report of the superintendent item number one the superintendent's update. Um, thank you once again. Um, as you know, we met just uh a week ago and based on our rules, we're here again
006this evening for our regularly scheduled meeting which is on a Tuesday because of the Monday holiday. Um, just as a reminder for those of you in the audience who may not know, but our schools are all fully open and tomorrow we will welcome in about 400 uh preschoolers to our two preschool buildings. There's orientation day which um the parents get to talk with and meet the teachers and staff at both the Adams School and the Webster Extension which is our Old Everett High School. As I mentioned to you before, we are expanding the space at Old Everett High School to include three additional classrooms to accommodate some students who've tested into special ed services and require a ratio of 1:9 or up to 1:10 actually in a classroom. So given that new number of students
007who have tested into special ed services, we will open three rooms um thanks to the city of Everett staff. They've uh accommodated my request and they're doing that um just continuing on one of the hallways that currently exists in that building. Um we opened school last week um with some of our members of our school committee that joined me at the Lafayette school for the first day and we have about 850 young people coming to school at the Lafayette. Um just as an FYI and I I certainly will will remind everybody our enrollment process is still ongoing. We still have a little bit of under a hundred kids in what I will call the queue waiting to come into the schools because we're waiting for immunizations and other additional paperwork required upon um their entry.
008But we have we're hitting just about 7,300 as of today. And as I said, we have a little bit under a hundred waiting. And as many of you know, we also see um kind of a rolling in the first couple of weeks um admission to schools here. And then at midy year, we do receive a lot of students, especially from Brazil, who come to America to join because their school year has ended. So we see a little little bump. So we're right around uh where we were last year at this time. So, I'll keep you all informed as those numbers change. So, again, thank you to the members of the school committee who were able to join me uh last week. Miss Baros and Miss Hurley in particular and the mayor was also there and
009all of you share like me a common bond with that school. You have children. I went there myself and my nieces went there. So, we were all uh felt like it was old home week for us. Um there was no school today uh because of our teachers contractual obligation. We provide professional development um and we did that here across the schools and uh last year we did some of this remotely and that doesn't become as engaging as we would like for that experience. So um thanks to the efforts of Dr. Adams and the crew on our academic side of the house, they put together um a wonderful program for all of our staff and faculty and for those that had specialty whether they were interventionist, special ed, reading specialists, they all had very specific training,
010if you will, or professional development. So, they were here a full day. And tomorrow, as I said, we'll open schools for all grades. So, preK through 12, you'll be welcoming back to Ever Public Schools officially. Um, just a few quick notes that normally I think you'd probably hear from a student representative, but I'll try to go through them quickly. Um, our cross country team will make a short trip to Chelsea tomorrow. The girls volleyball and girls soccer teams travel to Lowel and the boys um will travel, excuse me, host Lowel here in Everett. The field hockey team is in action on Thursday also in Lel Friday. This Friday, our boys soccer team hosts Marblehead. Our girls soccer team plays at Waltham. Girls volleyball team travels to Lawrence. And the foot football team will kick off
011the season versus Medford at the um new I will call it the new Veterans Memorial Stadium at 6:00 p.m. There will be a ribbon cutting of sorts. I've been invited to participate with our student athletes and cheerleaders. This will be the first time our students play a game on what is now a very brand new Veterans Memorial Field. So, thank you to all the folks um that put that together and and got it ready for us uh to welcome Medford on Friday. I know uh Coach Deredto has been working hard with the team and to all the teams that the kids really are excited to be back to school. We'll see how that happens after the first marking period, but uh right now everybody seems to be pretty happy and they're all getting involved in
012various organizations and um we're excited to see them back and I'm wishing all of the athletes and and the coaches to a very successful and safe season as we welcome each of them to the various sports and clubs that they will uh participate over this um over the school year. Uh we will be hosting a family night with the EL department. So the department of English learners will host a family night and fair on Thursday, September the 25th from 4:00 to 6:00 at the Parland. All families are welcome and they're encouraged to attend. We have our family liaison there. They connect with some of our community partners. Um we provide some food and music and things that engage our families and to understand the importance of coming to school and learning the way um we
013have set them for this coming year. And I um know last year when I attended this event, it was very well attended by our our students and their families. So I welcome them all back again on September the 25th. And this social media is out on this and there's flyers and um I just wanted all of you to be aware of it. So please if you're available that evening um please come by. So I mentioned maybe briefly last week and this week is no exception. We will be receiving donations um of backpacks from various organizations and tomorrow we will welcome back the teamsters local 25. They make a significant contribution of backpacks that are just filled with great supplies for our students and they come to us at Christmas time and give gift cards for
014our our needy families in our schools. So they're coming tomorrow with at least 250. They always come with more but at least 250 filled backpacks. Later on in the morning, we'll also um be joining the uh members credit union from uh on Broadway, formerly known as the Everett Credit Union. They have been historically um uh donators of uh backpacks to the Parland School because they're just kind of diagonally across from each other. So, they're giving their neighbor some backpacks. And I want to thank the leadership um President Murphy, Pette Gdro, and the others good people at Members Plus uh credit union who've um always been so generous. I'll have a complete list of other items for you to formally accept, but I wanted to give you that heads up because I know that um the
015teamsters in particular always put some social media out on that. So, I didn't want you to think um I wasn't giving you that update. We are also planning homecoming events. Uh today we met with city officials, the mayor and others to talk about homecoming activities for the city. Um homecoming game is October the 25th. It's a Saturday at 1:30. We're looking to host um some outdoor uh events to bring families together to to kind of get energized behind the football game. But really it is going to be from our end a community engagement event where we are going to you know have giveaways that for books and things that encourage learning and excelling in the work of of the ever public schools. So we're um working on a full agenda. will be have, excuse me,
016some um social media posts out and then I'll be I'm sure looking to the school committee to uh participate in something like we did for National Night Out, you know, um put a booth together, provide, you know, some books and some other things that we may choose to to to give to families as they come to enjoy the morning. Let's hope for good weather. Going to try to put together pancake breakfast. I want to thank the athletic staff here, um Tammy Turner, Steve Gallagher, and others because um they and and Gene O'Brien with music and this whole host of folks specifically here at the high school who've always been involved in some way with these um homecoming events. So, we're kind of trying to restore that um tradition and put our own spin to it
017so that this year we can uh rally on the 25th of October. So more to come on that. And lastly on my report anyway um for kids only which is our new uh after school and provider of after school program and of course during vacations as well uh they have already uh 300 families engaged in registering their children. Sound um 90 uh are already in and registered. 110 are in the process. um they continue to have a great um showing. I think at this point we have at least if not more than we had last year at this time different provider. Um there is a different fee structure as I mentioned to many of you um that had asked the question. Um there are still scholarship available for students and families who are in need.
018So that is never going to go away. FKO themselves have committed to providing additional resources to support our families, which I appreciate um the leadership of um Deb uh Deb Neland and her staff um because they've been very helpful to families and getting them registered and getting all those little particulars done so our families won't go without um some after school uh programming and certainly in vacation and so forth. Madam Chair, that's my report. >> Thank you, Superintendent. Miss Christristiano, >> thank you. Uh thank you uh Mr. Dart for your wonderful presentation. Just a quick question on the uh for kids only program. >> Now um are they coming into our schools now? >> Yes, they are. >> Okay, that's great. >> So the programming for our families, the kids will stay in the school
019that they're attending and um to the extent that FKO can, they do hire some of our own staff to stay in those buildings because our staff know the kids. And so I think for the children anyway, they see familiar faces. Um, but they have a very robust program planned and uh we have a a person on our own staff who manages and monitors that work. Danielle Durham, she's been with us for a little over a year. She came to us from Boston managing a very similar program. And so we um so we have our own oversight along with the work that FKO provides to uh to students. >> That's great news. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Miss Cristiano. Miss Garin. >> Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I wanted to ask about
020uh the parking situation at the old high school at the Webster Extension. This this does actually apply to me personally. Um, but obviously since they've been working on the roof and the fencing's been going up and parking is hard enough as it is, even without all the fencing, is that going to be cleared by the start? >> So, what we So, they plan to be complete with the building in November. So everything seems to be on track with the the actual um roof itself. So all of the entrances that we use, there's really no construction or renovation or roofing going on. So the Maple Street side will currently be used only for um staff. The Broadway side will be used for all parents that walk their children to school. and the I call it the
021Pleasant Street side of the building which goes between um there's now what used to be called the Masonic temp Masonic building but there's a pathway there that our buses with the kids that require busing will still continue to enter and exit that way. um parking on those fenced in areas. Um we've asked the construction company for um some additional spaces to be freed up by having them remove some of the building materials that were previously packed on the side where some of our staff were able to park. We did ask um the mayor and the city if we could have a shuttle with our staff from River Green to the site. Um, we didn't have a lot of takers on that, so I wasn't really going to put a person on a shuttle for a
022few people. We have reminded our staff to be mindful of the parking restrictions, including and not limited to fire hydrants and driveways um and handicap spots, but also to street sweeping. And we understand, and this is just in the discussion stage, I I toured the school on Thursday with the construction manager and uh our assistant principal, Miss Stokes. Um we have a they have a great rapport. They've been extremely helpful to our staff as well as they know they're in our space. Um that he was going to try to free up some spots. So when the construction folks come, they move those fences and they put their vehicles in and close the fences. My suggestion to them was, let's get those fencing pieces down where there's no more construction, there's no more risk, if you
023will, of debris falling. I think that they're amendable to that, and we're going to see how how that looks. Um, they've been very helpful in cleaning in and around the school building, which is also important to me because I don't want them to the kids to or parents to be stepping on anything that shouldn't be there. So, they've done a a very clean sweep um the last um well, Friday they were out and then today as well. I do or have at least thrown out there and it may not be popular with a lot of people, but going further down the road that section in the front of the building, the Broadway side right now isn't very attractive. It was torn up because of construction. There used to be community growers there. They're no longer
024there. Why couldn't we put some um you know uh I'll call it landscaping stone up there and it would require a very small ramp so that our employees could park there and we could put some kind of a aesthetically pleasing um whether it was shrubs or some kind of uh barrier between the Broadway sidewalk and the front of the building where staff would park and then allow our residents to park there in the evening. That's still in discussion. It's not off the table, but I'm trying to look at ways to be a good neighbor to very nice people who live around there and get inconvenienced by other people not following the rules. Um, we do, just so you know, we do have uh traffic out there. Our police are are wonderful. Not to be enforcing,
025but to remind people the appropriate places to drop kids off safely, moving people along once they drop their child off. And this has been true of all the schools by the way and it will be no different both at the Adams and at um at the at Broadway at the Old High School. So yes, I wholeheartedly leak you with you with you Miss Garin. Um we're trying to find ways to allow staff not to clog the streets, so to speak. >> Okay. Thank you for the update. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Miss Garren. Any other questions or comments for the superintendent? Seeing none, >> make a motion to accept the report of the superintendent and place it on file. >> Seconded. >> Motion made by Miss Babcock, seconded by Miss Christristiano to accept the
026report of the superintendent and place on file. All those in favor. >> All those opposed. The eyes have it. Motion passed. Superintendent. The next order of business. >> Item number two. I'm asking for your approval of the uh Ever Public Schools bullying prevention and intervention plan. I know that it was included in your packet. There has been some slight changes to it and I thought it was important for you to hear a little bit about it because we hear about so much of bullying going on across the whole United States. Um, you know, it's nothing to brag about. We've had a couple of incidents in the past year, but nothing that you would imagine a school district of this size to have as a recorded bullying incident. However, we want to be consistent with state
027um kind of statemandated guidelines along with best practice. So, um, as an on an annual basis, and I know I did this last year, uh, we update some of our policies for your review and approval because the the school board does approve policy. So, I've asked uh, assistant superintendent um, Mr. Lynch and, uh, Dr. Donny Hugh um to come forward and just briefly um bring the school committee up to date on the the couple of changes that were made and how how kind of we've managed in ever to um resolve issues be before they become a reportable incident. And so I'm going to ask you to have them come forward to make some brief comments. Please >> make a motion to bring up Mr. Donghue and Mr. Lynch. >> Second. Motion made by Miss Barrow,
028seconded by Miss Cartelio to invite Assistant Superintendent Lynch and Dr. Donny Hugh before us. All those in favor? All those opposed? The eyes have it. Welcome. >> Thank you. >> So, our policy was had everything in it. There was really not many changes, but we have a new attorney that's working with the district. So, we took that as an opportunity for her to review the policy. Um, we did add things. Oh, there we go. Sorry about that. I thought that was on. Um, so I'll start over. So, the policy has pretty much the same things in it that the previous policy had. Um, we had a new attorney start with us last I think winter. So, we took the opportunity to review this policy also based on our audit that we went through last fall.
029Um some of the changes that you'll see in it, it talks about the problem resolution system for special ed students and just for parents to reach out to the state. Um some of the other things that it talks, it just kind of puts things in a better order. So our policy mirrored what really came out in 2011 2014 but a lot of districts have adopted just a change in the presentation that allows principles assistant principles and staff to go through the like you know investigating bullying writing reports and using the forms. So, this policy is just a newer version, a better organized version, and one that I think is a lot easier for school administration to work with. >> And to to add on, I think what the superintendent was alluding to earlier. Um, so
030most everything that is done in schools is reported to Desi. Um so you know in preparation for this we did look back across the district and seeing um accusations of bullying confirm cases of bullying because there's a lot of confusion. You know a lot of people want to classify something as bullying where it may just be a one a one-time incident. Um but so we looked at this. So I think what the superintendent was alluding to so there was 15 accusations of of bullying in the district last year. That's through all the schools. Uh two of them were at the high school, 13 at the elementary school. Out of that, there was two confirmed students who were disciplined for bullying. To put that into perspective, with our counterparts, Malden had four, Chelsea had two, uh
031Medford had nine, Haveril had four. So, similar districts of that same size is how it goes through. Uh that doesn't mean that students weren't disciplined for incidents that may have occurred with other students that were inappropriate in a school setting outside of a school setting. It's just in fact the investigation was completed by the principal, his or her designate, which is usually an AP at the high school dean, now assistant principal, and then confirm that it was repeated bullying that either caused that student, any type of victim, could be and and it doesn't just have to be a student. It could be a staff member, could be staff to student, it could be student to staff um reported through that were confirmed. So, as Dr. Donnu was just stating, some of these some of the
032updates here, the newer issues were just really to try and clarify some of that so that it's all spelled out. Not that we didn't have this before, but it was just more with the updates of mass law that we were just consistent with what was going on. Uh again speaking having been a principal in the elementary and at the high school level. My counterparts I know take bullying very seriously um and investigate everything to the fullest extent that they can. And that is whether a complaint of bullying comes in anonymously from a parent, from the student themselves, from another student, from a staff member that may see something going on. And you know, and so we're bound by mass law obviously to investigate all this to the fullest. We want to make sure that there
033is resolution for people who may feel, parents, guardians, students who may feel that the investigation may have not been done correctly. So with Dr. Don he was talking about in that section 8 is the PRS which is the next level for a parent guardian to report to DESIE you know that problem and then the state gets involved and then goes through that whole process step by step with a school or principal assistant principal. >> Thank you. There any questions? Miss Babcock, >> I I have one one question. I did notice that there was an allowance for um anonymous reporting. >> Um how will anonymous reports be canled? There's obviously no disciplinary action because it's anonymous and >> so forth, but I think it is a good spot to allow people to do that. But how
034what what would be done with that information once it was received? >> So it's a great question. So on an anonymous complaint of bullying, the target is never disciplined immediately just off an anonymous complaint obviously. But an anonymous complaint does warrant an investigation by the principal his or her design to go through. So what that what a typical investigation looks like is you know a target may be named uh there could be multiple targets. It could be a group of students. It could be one student, it could be a parent, it could be a teacher, you know, things happen like that. We're lucky enough that, you know, we don't have a lot of these incidences, but it doesn't mean that it can't happen. And when that complaints come in, we take that seriously. We talk
035to every individual who may be involved in the complaint. Of course, the target, the name, anonymously named individual is always one of the first people that the investigation would start with. We go through, we talk through. If it gets into a point where obviously in an age now where a lot unfortunately is done online, you know, through cell phones where people can either be or try to be anonymous and then target these individuals. So, and that's really where it gets tricky, but we'll go through there. We go through all those steps. We find out a lot of times it will lead to other students involved and it may or may not be bullying. It could be a one-time incident, but there's also been instances where we've had to involved our SRO who were great, you
036know, where it may rise to the level of an actual crime. Now, that can happen. Usually it's where there's incidences where things are shared inappropriately with underage students um to the point where there's threatened harm. So I mean everything that we we take is taken with the utmost importance because there is no tolerance for bullying. You know having been a victim of bullying myself in the younger years I'm super you know sensitive to to this. But with an anonymous complaint, that's it always starts there. But also like anything in our society, just because it's anonymous complaint, that individual, that student has rights. They have privacy rights where, you know, those things aren't reported out until we start to go down the road and things are actually confirmed or gone through. Uh, and that's another thing
037for parents, people to understand is that the uh aggressor does have rights too. So we may put in a safety plan, we may put in this, but because that student has privacy rights, it may not they may not get the whole story. And that can be frustrating for a lot of parents and guardians that, you know, well, I want to know exa exactly what happened. Was he or she disciplined in this way? I want them suspended. And I totally get that as a parent myself. I understand that. But the thing to understand is that those individuals too are protected under law, protected under the school. So, it's a lot of trust, which I believe our parents, guardians, teachers, students have faith in us that we're going to do the right thing to make sure that
038this doesn't happen because at the end of the day, we just want it to stop. We just want it to end and we just want to make sure that that student feels safe in our building. There is nothing else more important to us. >> Mk. >> Um, thank you. That's actually wonderful um that detailed information because you know having a anonymous place to report something and know that it still will be heard is fantastic. So uh I have two other questions. So there in the packet I also noticed that there is a definition of bullying and even for me as a parent it's hard to say you know you know all I think that all of us are protective of our children and anything can feel like bullying like he looked at him weird he's
039bullying him. Um I don't want to make light of anything or make diminish anything but what is a good definition that you could give us that parents could use holistically to sort of say hey I think that this is something I need to do something about you know >> it's a great question very difficult question to answer because everything >> is so individual you know every ca and and that's the way we have to do investigations is everything is so individual to the student to the situation to the timing, you know, they they'll bullying is classified as repeated, you know, and that's the first word that they'll put in there, repeated and going forward because harm can be caused, you know, as you know, someone could walk down the hall, say something one time, and
040that could ruin that kid's day, that could ruin that kid's they might stick with them moving forward forever, you know, comments. And but bullying does carry an additional bullying and harassment, a hostile work envir the same conditions that we have for like our school and our work pinging a hostile work environment anything like that making the student feel uncomfortable if they feel threatened for their safety. Um and and this is what we'll we deal with a lot and I've I've dealt with a lot and it's not surprising that a lot of this we'll see more incidences in the younger grades because and that comes to the education being appropriate in school you know using that language. We also have we also know that there are more vulnerable populations of students who could be more you
041know targeted and so that's teaching staff that's teaching students to really you know work together and I I can say this not that I could never promise that it doesn't happen right and I can never promise that it hasn't happened or gone through but I think in this in our buildings and community we really do a good job educating our kids working together as we've said a million times in this district and it's 100% true. Our diversity is our strength in this district. And because we're, you know, we're a community like we I looked it up today and it also wasn't a surprise to me that some more of the affluent communities had far more incidences of bullying >> um in comparison to us and some of our counterparts. >> Does it make me proud?
042I don't know if it makes me proud or not. It's just the state that we're in that. But I believe that knowing our kids haven't been in this district for 14 years. And to go back to answer your question, it's very difficult because it is so individualized. But I understand the strife of parents, the frustration with parents, the frustration with students when an incident has occurred and it's they feel like they're being bullied and they're not lying. They feel like they're being bullied. And but other to get to that level, there's a there's the steps that we have to take to go forward and make sure that step by step that has happened because once we do confirm as a school that bullying has occurred, it's just a whole other level of disciplinary action for
043the student. A lot of things we put in place before that is changing the aggressor's, you know, schedule. It's putting in a safety plan for the students. it could be to the point sometimes changing schools, you know, um and that's not to speak about suspension or anything else before that. So, it's really, you know, there is not a good definition, I think, Miss Babcock, because I think it's so individualized to go forward. It's, you know, it's repeated and it's a lot of work to go forward. I think that's what this change in this policy um adding the PRS, you know, because that was one of the the major changes that we did put in there because obviously if our decision is not agreed with even though we've gone through every step that we say we're
044going to go through, a parent, a guardian, a student may feel wronged by that and they may not agree with that. That is that other level to go to a, you know, a new set of eyes, the outside agency that governs all of our schools. um to take another look at it and a lot of times they will agree with what we've had and other times it's not and then what corrective action then we can take as a school to make sure that everyone's whole >> and I think if I could add um and Dr. Dr. Donn who helped me with this. I think the complaints that had risen to the point where we had to report them that we had, if I'm not mistaken, the state said that we had followed the right process
045up to that point and then they got the complaint because the parent may not have been happy with the outcome of our investigation, if you will. But the PRS, which is the problem resolution piece, had to be put into this policy so the parents had a clear understanding that if they didn't like something that we did or didn't do, that they had the right to go this pathway. So that was really the major change in this. But back to um Mr. Lynch's definition, I think the key word is the repetition of the offense to the same person. And so if you start with that premise, the investigation would reveal, oh yeah, it's not just once or twice, it's five times. It's repeated and they they learn from other people. And and then that becomes a
046much more serious outcome for the student who is deemed the aggressor. And certainly the safety plan for the children or or the target, I should say, is um is developed in concert with their family if it's a it's a minor. Yeah, sorry. >> Yep. >> Oh, I have one more. >> I did I did go uh a year ago to the CPAC meeting about bullying for um for uh special needs children and it was I think it was very important for the parents were there to hear that information and to have it at a level although it was really long actually it was kind of very complex to be fair but it was really interesting. So I guess my last question is is what would you advise students or parents in thinking about reporting what
047they believe is I don't want to use quote unquote but conflicts or issues because sometimes maybe if a conflict is resolved it doesn't escalate into a repeated incident. So what would you say to to parents or students as far as reporting what they believe is a say a conflict or a bullying issue and how long should they wait? what steps should they go through? Who where should they go first? >> They shouldn't wait at all. They can and I think the biggest thing that we look for when developing a student's IEP if they have a you know a disability or concerns is a safe adult. Safe adult is the most important thing in the building for a student. It's it can be any adult. It can be you know from custodian to just the principal.
048It can be anyone in the building. That's the first thing we would always tell them is to go to a safe adult and the information always then gets back to the people that will run the investigation. But I think that's the clearest one. >> So for students, you're saying go to a safe adult first. Perfect. And what about parents? What >> safe adult as well? It's it's it's you know there's a lot of parents that might see you outside standing on the street. You know you we would you know stop by at 5:00 at night. We'd still be there to pick up homework. just if you see someone from the schools, ask someone from the schools. And if you, you know, at pickup, you get to know people, you get to see it. It's just
049really who you're comfortable talking to because the information always filters up. >> So that being said, just because that leads leads, it wasn't something I was going to ask, but now that you had mentioned it, if should a child or come up to or a parent come up to a safe adult, what is our responsibility in reporting? The usually what I have found in any adult in a school that gets a concern from a parent brings it to school administration. >> Yeah, we have to do that at UMass. If even even for for children who are already adults, if you hear something that is not appropriate, it is you are designated reporter and you have to report it. So, thank you for bringing that up. That reminded me of that aspect as well. Is am
050I correct in saying that? I just want to be clear that I'm saying that correctly. Okay. >> 100%. And to Dr. Donny's point that means all school staff, bus driver, athletic coach, volunteers who are working under the >> the premise of the Everett public schools are all mandated reporters and if any incidents, any complaint comes because it's not just within the walls of Everett High School, Parl, the Mattie English, it's any school activities and outside if it affects that student in our buildings that is reportable. >> Yeah. and we've had family members or just people in the community come in representing a parent that couldn't. So, any of that's acceptable. >> Well, thank you so much for answering all of my detailed questions. I spent a lot of time reading this information. Um I think
051that uh a lot of reasons that kids choose not to go to school um which impacts their attendance and learning is that there are sometimes circumstances that make them feel unsafe or unwelcome. And by anyone, we never know. You never know. like you mentioned, staff, students, whatever it may be. So, I think that this is a really important issue that we brought up and I personally having read the whole thing, I didn't want to just blindly say, "Oh, yeah, sounds good." >> I wanted to make sure that my questions were answered and when we have these conversations, they're recorded and then other people maybe are out there listening and there's a new person out there that's educated because of our conversation tonight. So, thank you very much. And don't forget we have social workers, guidance
052staff that meet regularly with our young folks and often times things are revealed in those conversations. Those those individuals are also mandated to report what they talk about in those kinds of reports to administration. So we we have a lot of entry points for students to feel comfortable to share an experience and sometimes unfortunately it's not the experience in the school it's at the home and then we take an additional step that's different from what we described >> and we've done that. >> Thank you Miss Babcock action. >> So I have one more question >> quick because some of my questions were already answered. Um, I like the anonymous reporting just from having to deal with an incident years past. I like the update, but is there where would parents I guess like find this
053information to know about bullying and like how to report it in the steps? >> It's on it's on right now there's the old policy on our website and there's the new proposed policy on our website. >> Okay. >> And then once this gets accepted, we could even have this translated and then posted to our website. >> Okay. because I think a lot of parents aren't aware as well is like it has to be at least three incidents with the same person because I know sometimes >> it's like a group of people and it's hard to consider it bullying because >> so we so that's I think that may be like the legal definition of harassment which we don't want to confuse right so which is great because that can be that can be confusion too
054>> where you know students get older >> um and then maybe police involvement. So it doesn't have to be so it doesn't have to put a number on it of of three. >> So it's it's repeated. So that does give you know which can be tricky to miss question on it which can be tricky to to try and figure that out but what it does give is the autonomy to the schools to not say it has to be three times right it could have been you know twice could have been repeated and like I said it gets it gets so nuanced and in being with these kids and and knowing what happens and you know bringing in our own exper our own life experiences which I think is important to bring that and two. Um,
055so it's it it's not just three, you know, I think that the three is more of like a harassment. If there was like a stayaway order, harassment, which we've had to deal with that, too. That doesn't necessarily mean that bullying was occurring in our building, but there could be outside issues that were brought in and then we're abided by law to do that. So, it's really so individualized and not so black and white on everything. That's why it's so important to have number one to have the policy and number two that I see that we've been following you know this policy to go forward and just take every incident as its own because some some of them are so different and like you say it could be one you could have a group of students
056it could be you know it could be issues of and like you say the anonymous is and some people are doing it anonymously and then that's a whole other layer to try and investigate that and I can tell you we put a lot of time and effort into trying to figure out you know what is going on which gets harder and harder these days with kids with the apps and using everything else to try and do that and you know but I can tell you we we put the time in and we try to we try to figure it out get to the bottom of it because to miss again Miss Babcock's point about that that could be a detriment to a student coming to school their attendance it affects every starts to affect every
057aspect I think I think it's safe to say that we're definitely airing on the side of the student and understanding what brought this complaint forward and the investigation can lead to more facts that aren't often obvious at first. And I I think that again back to what um Mr. Lynch said, we have a pretty welcoming community of students. And so that's why I think that you see our numbers low. It's not because we don't investigate. It's not because we don't take the polic serious policy serious. It's because we just don't have those kind of complaints. Not saying that we're perfect, but you know, I think that there's there's a good track record here. Um, but thank you both of you for giving us some insight onto that. >> I also would like to acknowledge a
058member of our academic leadership team that's here with us this evening, Nancy Cena. Nancy sees the students day in and day out, and I think she can attest to our student focus, especially on issues of bullying and harassment. Any further questions for our guests? >> Second. Because there was a motion, I think, to move to favorable action >> for favorable action to accept bullying prevention and >> to excuse our guests. Sorry. >> Make a motion to excuse our guests with the customary. >> Second. The motion. >> Motion made by Miss Barrow, seconded by Miss Cristiano to excuse our guests. All those in favor? I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Motion has been made and seconded for favorable action uh by Miss Cristiano and Miss Babcock to
059accept the bullying prevention and intervention plan. Uh can we do a roll call on that one? Thank you. >> And this will be included in the handbook and posted on the website as I think both of the gentlemen mentioned. >> Miss Babcock, >> yes. >> Miss Baros, >> yes. >> Miss Cornelio, >> yes. >> Miss Cristiano, >> yes. Miss Garren, >> yes. >> Madame Chair, >> yes. >> So move 6. Motion passed. Superintendent, the next order of business. >> Item three, request approval for the Crimson Community Mentorship Program to use the Ever High School Crimson Cafe on Saturday, October the 18th, 2025. And I'm requesting this favorable action to also wave any fee that would normally be associated with this. Um these folks have been here with us before in the past last couple of
060years. Um it was established um by Everett High School alumni who come forward and work with our students in a mentorship based um program and helps our students have a connection to folks um outside of Ever High School and develop a network with them um for them to succeed. So I would ask for your favorable action. >> Move favorable action. Second motion uh has been made for favorable action by Miss Babcock, seconded by Miss Baros to um approve the Crimson Community Mentorship Program to use the Everett High School Crimson Cafe on Saturday, October 18th, 2025 and wave the fee. Roll call. >> Miss Babcock, >> yes. >> Miss Barros, >> yes. >> Miss Cornelio, >> yes. >> Miss Cristiano, >> yes. >> Miss Garren, >> yes. >> Madame Chair, >> yes. >> So move 6.
0616. Motion passed. Superintendent. >> Roman numeral 7, items submitted by school committee members. There are none this evening. Roman numeral 8, subcommittee reports, item one on finance and negotiations for Monday, August the 25th, 2025. >> Motion to accept the committee report and place it on file. >> Second. Motion has been made by Miss Cristiano, seconded by Miss Cornelio to uh wave the reading, accept the report and place on file for finance and negotiation subcommittee Monday, August 25th, 2025. >> No. All those in favor? >> I. All those opposed? The eyes have it. >> Motion passed. Superintendent, the next order of business. >> Roman numeral 9 is bills and payrolls. There were none before you this evening as we did that batch last week. Roman numeral 10, there is no unfinished business before you. Roman numeral
06211, new business, there is none before you. Roman numeral 12, hearings, there are none before you this evening. Roman numeral 13, matters for executive session, there are none, madam chairperson. Roman numeral 14 is the adjournment. >> Make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Motion has been made by Miss Barrow, seconded by Miss Cornelio to adjurnn. Before we do, I just want to I didn't do it at the beginning of the meeting. I'm sorry. Um, committee member Joe Donario, Maronei Baros, and Joel Monica send their regrets that they were unable to attend this evening. I apologize. Motion has been made and seconded for adjournment. All those in favor? >> All those opposed. We have adjourned at 7:20. 7:22. Thank you everybody. Have a good night. [Music] Y. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]