001[Music] Wow. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] [Applause] [Music] about heat. [Music] Yeah. [Music] Wow. Wow. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, [Music] heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Get [Music] down. Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey. [Music] Good evening and welcome to the special meeting of the Ever School Committee for public hearings scheduled for Monday, April 7th, 2025. The time is 6:02 p.m. and we will begin with the public hearing on the fiscal 2026 budget. Clerk, could you call the role to determine a quorum? Student representative Kelly St. Ford, present. Mr. Almea Barrows. Miss Babcock, present. Miss Barrows, present. Miss Cornelio, present. Miss Cristiano, present. Mayor Di Maria, Mr. Denafhrio, Miss Garren, present, Mr. Lmon Monica, present, and chairperson
002Hurley present. Seven members present. Seven members present. We do have a quorum. Can you please join me in saluting the flag? I pledge 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. With that, we will begin with our first public hearing, which states, "The Ever School Committee in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 71, section 38N will hold a public hearing on the subject of the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget on Monday, April 7th, 2025. Information is posted on the Ever Public Schools website and hard copies are available at Ever High School, 100 Elm Street." Madam Chairman. Yes, Miss Cristiano. I'd like to make a motion to uh open this up for public
003hearing. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to open the public hearing on the fiscal 2026 budget. Um roll call. Miss Babcar, yes. Miss Barros, yes. Miss Cornelio, yes. Miss Cristiano, yes. Miss Garren, yes. Mr. Lam Monica, yes. Madame Chair, yes. So move 70. So move 70. The public hearing is now open. Seeing no speakers, in order to close the hearing, I have to ask three times if anyone is in favor of the budget as well as three times if anyone opposes the budget. Okay. Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of the fiscal year 2026 budget? Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of the fiscal year 2026 budget? Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of the fiscal year budget? Hearing none, this portion
004of the public hearing has been closed. The time is 6:05 p.m. And then again for Is there anyone that would like to speak against the fiscal year 2026 budget? Is there anyone that would like to speak against the fiscal year 2026 budget? Is there anyone that would like to speak against the fiscal year 2026 budget? Hearing none, the portion of this public hearing is now closed. 605 as well. Could we entertain a motion to close the public hearing on the budget hearing only? Second. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to close the public hearing regarding the fiscal 2026 budget. Uh roll call. Miss Babcock. Yes. Miss Barrows. Yes. Miss Cornelio, yes. Miss Cristiano, yes. Miss Garen, yes. Mr. Lammon Monica, yes. Madame Chair, yes. So moved. 70. So moved. We have closed the public
005hearing for the fiscal year 2026 budget. Up next is the public hearing on school choice scheduled for Monday, April 7th, 2025. The time is 6:06 p.m. Clerk, could you call the role again to determine a quorum for this portion of the hearing? Miss Babcock, yes. Miss Barrows, yes. Miss Cornelio, yes. Miss Cristiano, yes. Miss Garren, yes. Mr. Lam Monica, yes. Madame Chair, yes. Seven members present. Seven members present. We do have a quorum. With that, we will begin the second public hearing, which states, "The Evert School Committee, in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 76, Section 12B, will hold a public hearing on the subject of school choice on Monday, April 7th, 2025, immediately following the public hearing of the fiscal year 2026 budget in Everett High School Library located at 100 Elm Street." Motion
006to uh open up the public hearing. Second. Motion has been made by Miss Cristiano, seconded by Miss Babcock to open the public hearing on school choice. Roll call. Miss Babcock, yes. Miss Barrows, yes. Miss Cornelio, yes. Miss Cristiano, yes. Miss Garren, yes. Mr. Lam Monica, yes. Madame Chair, yes. So moved 70. So moved 70. The public hearing for school choice is now open. Seeing no speakers on the sheet, I will again give the opportunity to speak in favor three times and then give the opportunity to oppose three times. Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of school choice? Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of school choice? Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of school choice? Hearing none, this portion of the public hearing
007is closed. The time is 6:08. followed up with, "Is there anyone that would like to speak against school choice?" Is there anyone that would like to speak against school choice? And is there anyone that would like to speak against school choice? Madame Chairman, uh, make a motion to close the public hearing. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to close the public hearing uh on school choice and refer to our regularly scheduled meeting. So moved, Madam Chairman. So moved. Roll call. Miss Babcock, yes. Miss Barrows, yes. Miss Cornelio, yes. Miss Cristiano, yes. Miss Garren, yes. Mr. Lam Monica, yes. Madam Chair, yes. So move 70. So move. The motion has passed. Um, with that, our public hearings have concluded. Is there a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn. Second. Motion has been made and seconded
008to adjourn from our special meeting. Um, and we will take a brief recess before we start our regularly scheduled meeting at 6:30. All those in favor? I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. We have adjourned our public hearings at 609. [Music] Call for a reason. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] me. Hey baby. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] F. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] D. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Get out. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] Good evening and welcome to the Ever School Committee regular meeting for Monday, April 7th, 2025. The time is 6:31 p.m. Clerk, could you call the role to determine a quorum? Student Representative Kelly St. Port present. Mr. Almea Barrows present. Miss Babcock present.
009Miss Barrows present. Miss Cornelio present. Miss Cristiano present. Mayor Di Maria. Mr. Denafhrio. Miss Garren present. Mr. Lmon Monica present. Madame Chair present. Eight members present. Eight members present. We do have a quorum. If everyone could join me in saluting the flag. 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. Before we begin, I would just like to mention that um school committee member Joe Denafhrio uh sends his regrets that he was unable to be here this evening. Uh with that, Mr. Superintendent, the next order of business, Roman numeral 3, reading of the records for Monday, March the 17th, 2025. Make a motion to wave the reading of the records. Second. Motion has been made and
010seconded to wave the reading of the records for Monday, March 17th, 2025 and place on file. All those in favor? All those opposed? The eyes have it. The motion has passed. Mr. Superintendent, the next order of business, Roman numeral four, public comment. Motion open public comment. Second. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to open public comment. All those in favor? I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. Public comment is now open. We have one speaker this evening. Um and that is I'd like to invite Kim Auger. Miss Auger. Thank you. Just state your name and you can begin your three minutes. Good evening. Uh my name is Kim Auger. Um 40 Woodward Street, president of the Ever Teachers Association. I just wanted to come before you and thank you for bringing forward such
011a fair and equitable budget, especially for our students, including so many studentf facing um opportunities for our for our school system. I also just wanted to thank you to be able to dedicate ourselves to having such a working relationship and being able to our negotiations were some of the it's funny to say the best negotiations I ever sat in, but they really were. They were fair, they were equitable, and we got results. We got some of the best percentages, but we also were able to make sure that we were dedicating the positions that were there to our students, and that's the most important thing coming forward to us. So, I just wanted to again thank you. I just am asking you to consider this budget and to make sure that we realize that we're in
012this together. our commitment from the largest union in the city. I represent over 900 members that we are coming forward and we are just grateful for the opportunity that you're giving us to be able to give everything back to our students and for the commitment of in this time with everything going on economically that we are being able to move forward hopefully with no layoffs and that's something that I am truly grateful for. So, thank you. Thank you, Miss Auger. Make a motion to close public comment. A second. Motion has been made and seconded 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 reporter the student representative. Missing Fort. Good afternoon everybody. This will
013be a short one today. Both the Cribs and Tide and Winter Guard and Winter Percussion will be heading to the World Championships in Dayton, Ohio in the upcoming weeks. There will be a fine arts exhibition that will be held on April 10th. And there will be a vocal night hosted at EHS tomorrow, April 8th. The EHS has been acquiring new clubs. The newest one being create for kids that is meant to offer opportunities for um community service hours which is all student le and for the eighth um the K to 8th grade schools. The eighth graders will have a semi dance happening soon. So that should be exciting and that will be all. Thank you. Thank you very much. Make a motion to accept the report of the super student representative Missport. Motion has been
014made by Miss Babcock, seconded by Miss uh Cornelio to accept the report of the student representative and place on file. All those in favor? All those opposed? The eyes have it. The motion has passed. Superintendent. The next order of business. Roman numeral six, report of the superintendent, item number one. My updates. Um, thank you ladies and gentlemen of the school committee, members in the audience, and those at home watching us uh here. I wanted to uh first uh echo what Miss St. Fort said about our um percussion ensemble. As you know, we have a great um leadership in our music department. And every one of our um kids have an opportunity not only to play, but to play so well that they're recognized locally, regionally, and nationally. And I know that um this weekend they'll
015also be off to Ohio for more competition. So, let us remind ourselves that while Miss Auger said that we've been fair to our employees, we have great students that do good things every day and they get recognized. So, congratulations to the Ever High Percussion Ensemble for finishing um in its division at New England Scholastic Band Association percussion and win wins finals um this past Saturday at Dartmouth High School. and now they're off to the World Championship um this weekend in Dayton, Ohio. So, we wish them the best and know that they're going to come back victors as they usually do. And to Mr. O'Brien who's in the audience, Mr. O'Brien and your team, you continue to bring good things to Everett with the work that you do and the investment that you've made in our
016students. It shows each and every day and it's great to see the acknowledgement that our kids bring home to Everett each time they go out of this building and our buildings across the district. So, thank you to them and to the parents who support these efforts. It's no uh it's no small feat to get young people um into buses and onto their location on time and do great work and they continue to do that. So, thank you to all those involved parents as well. Today, we welcomed uh to the Lafayette School the new principal, Miss Taylor. You remember I announced that uh Mr. Brady, who was the long-erving principal of the Lafayette school, uh taken the position of the director of our title one program. Miss Taylor was most recently the assistant principal down at
017the Cavarian school and uh we uh after a search process and interview, Miss Taylor uh rose to the top. She was appointed and began that assignment today. So, the school community welcomed her. I know a lot of parents were there on hand and teachers and students all had smiling faces on a gloomy Monday morning as they welcomed their new principal. Um, as Miss Fort uh St. Fort mentioned, vocal night um is tomorrow night here at Everett High School auditorium. The show begins at 6. It's free and uh we will have the platters which many of you may remember the platters um years ago. This is a um reensemble. I don't know if that's the correct terminology, but this is a a new group called the Platters that have rights to sing the song. They're going
018to sing along with our with our young people and um we should have a great show for all those who can make their way to uh Everett High School tomorrow at 6. We also um looking at a district-wide fine arts exhibition which is scheduled for this coming Thursday, the April 10th from 4:00 to 7:00 also here at the high school. This event has gives our students from grades K through 12 the chance to showcase their talents in visual andor performing art. Our arts coordinator, Briana Pierce, um is leading this effort with all the help from our our art faculty um across the district. So there'll be display um across uh this school and I encourage everyone to come up and walk through and see the great work. In the past, as you may remember, we've
019had some displays here in the um in the high school library, but uh this Thursday, it'll be throughout the building. So, please take advantage of that. We just came off of Family University. Um many of you um I think even had attended and came one through just to welcome some of our parents. It was held also at the Lafayette School on March 26th. This gave our parents an opportunity to take um some time and go to specific rooms in the building to learn a little bit more about um the Ever Public Schools, what their rights are, what their access points are for different benefits across the district. We had we had a good number of families show up for this free opportunity. I also wanted to thank our Rever High School ambassadors. Those are our
020young folks. Many of you know they wear the red shirts on so many of our events. They are the welcoming committee. They assist in all the the events that we hold in uh across the district quite frankly and they're always there with a smiling face um and helping us make each of our events successful. Um last week the Lafayette School uh student council also hosted a successful career day for seventh and eighth graders. Um more than 30 people representing different professions and industries participated. gave our students an opportunity to at least hear about some opportunities they may be considering even in seventh and eighth grade. I know there were a lot of um a lot of questions asked and I think uh I want to thank our presenters who were able to join us um
021a couple of weeks ago now and on March the 27th at the Whittier School we hosted a special event for eighth graders in recognition of International Women's Day. Um many of you know Deb Fallon from Portal to Hope. We had a city councelor Holly Garcia who participated, Liliana Patino from the Elliot Family Resource Center. Ever police officer, Jillian Donley, she's one of our SRO's, our student resource officers, and our assistant uh principal down at the Whittier School, Cara Fidalgo, led the um information session and it was very well attended and I wanted to thank all of those ladies for coming forward and uh talking to our young people at that event. Just another quick reminder, um, we have a student school vacation coming up upon us really quickly. So, Thursday, April 17th, there is a
022half day for students, teachers, and paraprofessionals. That half a day at 11 for students, 11:15 for those staff members I just mentioned. There is no school on April the 18th, Friday the 18th, and then April school vacation follows the week after. Our school committee meeting will not be on the Monday when we return from vacation. It will be on April the 29th. So, Tuesday, April 29th will be the next school committee after tonight. And that's my report, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. Are there any questions? Accept the superintendent's uh update and place it on file. Second. Motion has been made by Miss Cristiano, seconded by Miss Barrows to accept the superintendent's update and place on file. All those in favor? All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion has passed. Superintendent. The next order
023of business. Item two. I'm not asking for a vote at this time. I know you have a committee of the whole report that is due out later on in this meeting, but this is a matter of our school department 2026 operating budget. For those of you at home and many of you here in the audience, you've heard that our budget, which was presented at a committee the whole meeting last week, uh represents $136,940,5 to be exact for an operating budget. Uh $5,214,000 of that uh additionally would be for special ed transportation. These are items that are put forth uh for discussion and presentation last week. I think all of you would agree was pretty informative and detailed. I I think that the fact that we only had a few uh questions. I hope that we
024were able to answer all of your questions. If there's anything else um this is an opportunity for me to either try to address it for you this evening, but certainly um I think the budget um meeting last week was um extremely helpful also for our folks at home. So, we're trying to be transparent. As you heard, many of the line items that were um included in this year's budget now reflect what we report to the state when we finish or do our end of year reporting. It matches up to the state reporting requirement. So our chart of accounts, those labeled accounts that we have to report outside of the city are now um aligned appropriately with what the state expects. So um there were some differences with line items. Some was zero and last year
025there was money in it. This year there's money in it and last year it was zero. Again trying to bring everything in alignment. Our budget um as I mentioned last week is less than 5% increase over last year. There are no layoffs. Um we are balanced. We have cut um that we have not cut any programs. We will continue to provide the service um that we believe will support our children whether it's in the classroom or external and extracurricular activities that we offer to have the child have every experience that uh is possible that we can get uh for their benefit. So, um, later on, uh, if there's any additional information I can provide, I'm happy to, but I was happy to, uh, be able to, uh, see that we were able to meet our
026obligation to to support our students the way I know all of you want us to do. So, there's no um, action. I just wanted to um, offer an opportunity if there was additional questions. Um, and I know later on in this meeting, you'll have your chance to vote on the committee of the whole. Thank you, Superintendent. Any additional questions? Mr. Barrows. Thank you, Madam Chair. I do not have a question. I actually have a comment. I want to of course thank the budget team who put this together. Um the principles and our staff members who were able to meet uh and come up with this this budget. Of course, uh it's not a it's a great budget. It's a budget that sometimes does not make everyone happy because there is nothing that can make everyone
027happy. Um it is a budget where this is what we call the numbers that we have right now. There is always a possibility that the numbers could be higher because the House of Representatives will um present its budget uh shortly. I believe this week or next week. Then the Senate will present their budget. There is always a possibility. The governor already presented her budget which kind of reflects the the increase that Everett had uh from last year fiscal year to this uh next fiscal year should the current fiscal year to the next fiscal year that starts in July. But there's always some leg room that the superintendent and team can work with us um if the house and the senate comes up with some additional money which I'm sure the superintendent will be delighted if
028that if that happened. But just want to two things. I want to thank the the folks who worked uh hard on this budget and make sure that members of the community know that we that they did along with us really try our best to you know address and cover as much as we as we can and with this caveat that there is always a possibility of a little bit of increase in in case that you know Senate, House and the governor all come together in a final budget that it would be discussed by the end of June. But thank you everyone again uh for working on this. I think the most important thing and I will end you on that is that we are not laying off anyone and we're not cutting any program which
029uh sadly there are few districts uh across the state that are uh doing that right which is not the case for us. So very glad that we are able to do that and glad with the support that both governor the governor and the legislators um are giving to Everett. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Barrows. Any further questions or comments? Miss Babcock. Um my comment is that I think that the rearrangement of the budget to move funds into the more appropriate uh columns um you know for example um you know moving the stipens for athletics to the athletics department makes it it right now there are some changes and there's quite a few to keep track of but I think that when we relook at that budget next year when everything is realigned it'll look it's
030going to make much more sense. I really appreciated the extended line items on the budget um to show exactly where money is being spent instead of just a general oh supplies. Um I think that's that's great and we can keep track of the money that way and like any good you know running a business home or you want to see exactly how things are broken up. So I thought that was very very helpful. Um, and it it is it is not easy to keep track of all of those changes, but I think that uh the finance uh committee did a great job explaining them last week, even though I have to store them all now in case people ask me questions about them. So, but thank you for for those re reallocations and for allowing
031us to um ask further questions if necessary. Thank you, Miss Babcock. Any further comments or questions? Mr. the superintendent. The next order of business ro um item number three matter of participation in the school choice program mass general laws chapter 76 section 12B and that is what um you folks had a public hearing on earlier today. I think that I would remind you that a yes vote will to not will be not to participate in school choice. So that's the motion I'm hoping that you all would pass. I'll make a motion to not participate in the school choice program for the Everett public schools not to participate in the school choice program. Second the motion. Motion has been made by Mr. Barrow, seconded by Miss Cristiano to um not participate in the school choice program
032Massachusetts General Laws chapter 76 section 12B. Um, roll call. Oh, sorry. I apologize, Miss Babcock. Um, can we just speak on the motion for a sec? Just just for the public to let them know school choice means giving people the choice of what school that they would like to go to. Um, given our crowded situation here in the state of uh in in Everett, we don't have that flexibility to let people just enter our school systems and leave because of the overcrowding of our own school systems. and it does limit the opportunities of the students to leave as well, but it's important for people to know what school choice really means. So, I just wanted to just put that out there. Thank you for the clarification. Yes, no problem. Would you like to add anything
033else? No, that's all said. Um, roll call on the motion. So, you're going to vote yes to support yes to no. Yes to no. Mr. Almeida Barrows. Yes, Miss Babcock. Yes, Miss Barrows. Yes, Miss Cornelio. Yes, Miss Cristiano. Yes, Miss Garren. Yes, Mr. Lam Monica. Yes, Madame Chair. Yes. So moved. 80. So moved. 800. The motion has passed. Mr. Superintendent, the next order of business. The item number four is request approval to exercise a one-year contract renewal with North Suburban Transportation. uh this is just um allowable under the terms of our contract. We can renew annually u certain contracts that we have with various vendors. These this one along with the next one um are u contracts that we want to move forward with and those um I think there was a a brief memo
034in your packet describing uh both of these contracts. So, I'm asking for favorable action so that we can extend our service in this case with North Suburban Transportation, which does provide transportation for all of our athletic events, band events, internships, and other extracurricular activities that's specific to that contract. Make a motion to um for favorable action to accept the one-year contract renewal with North Suburban Transportation. I'll second. Motion made and seconded. But on the motion, Miss Pepcock, just a quick question. Was there any significant increase or the typical kind of in street food? There there is a small there is an increase that's built into the contract. Um but it's specific to the number of trips taken and if you give me a second I can give you the exact amount that is built in.
035Uh let me just check for you one year contract amendment. I have everything. I believe the total amount is 541, but it goes up from um I think that's what Miss Babcock, you'd want to know what it goes up from. So it went up from 517 to 541. Mhm. So, uh 27 thou $27,000 and that's generally trip charges, waiting charge as um we mentioned in the memo just normal expense uh drives up that price. May I ask just to clarify this is for athletic events, band events, internships, and extracurricular activities versus specialed transportation which is different. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Motion was made and seconded to um approve the ex uh to exercise a one-year contract renewal with North Suburban Transportation. Uh roll call. Mr. Talmeita Barros, yes. Miss Babcock, yes. Miss Baros, yes. Miss
036Cornelio, yes. Miss Cristiano, yes. Miss Garren, yes. Mr. Lam Monica, yes. Madame Chair, yes. So moved 800. So moved 80. Motion has passed. Uh Mr. Superintendent, the next order of business. Item five is to request approval to exercise a one-year contract renewal with Intra Systems. I would also ask for your favorable action on this particular contract. This contract was instituted last year with this company for the first time. This provides uh the technical assistance that our schools receive from uh technicians of a higher caliber. I learned these things. Um you can have technicians at every level. We're such an advanced system and a broad system that we need higher level technicians. This company uh provides us with uh full-time two folks that handle all kinds of technical matters across the district and we have hundreds
037of of calls a day from different things from the small to the more difficult. We also have the access to um kind of an online help to somebody very far advanced with kind of systemwide issues and uh they also provide an enormous amount of data security that we quite frankly never had. So this contract renewal uh would bring us from November through uh the following uh October. We entered this contract kind of off um fiscal years last year. So that's why I'm, excuse me, I'm having uh this before you tonight because this is part of your fiscal year 2026 budget portion of this. So I'm asking for the our opportunity to renew uh for one year the contract with interest systems. Move for favor action. Second motion has been made and seconded for favorable action.
038Miss Babcock on the motion. Uh yes, just one quick thing on the motion. Um I my daughter told me that they had done a there was an upgrade to the security um at the high school. Would that upgrade to the security be something that this organization has helped with us? Yes. Yes. Because I know that it there are 2,700 kids at the high school. Just think about how many cyber attacks that could be. We we we were we were in jeopardy. um we were in jeopardy before this contract because there were things that were not addressed that should have been and um I think early on in my time here I had informed uh the chair at the time Miss Cristiano that we had learned of uh potential threats to our system and we were
039able to remedy with what we had at the time but this is very preventative and we have a much more advanced system um for district decide And quite frankly, for an organization that's complicated with such, um, important and confidential information, um, our risk was pretty high. In fact, we weren't even able to get insurance under the old plan. Now, we have that as well for our network. Um, I'm very happy that we finally can protect our system and our information at the level we're doing now. I feel much better knowing that we have this. I'm assuming that that that system protects the students too from you know unwarranted uh contact from outside organizations that is are not acceptable etc. Correct. Our employees information, our student information. It it helps um you know we have verification
040now for all of our employees and all of our students so that nobody can easily hack into accounts or switch passwords. uh we're getting a crackdown on all of the kind of loose ends, if you will, to use kind of a common term, the loose ends of the system are really tightened. Um and under the leadership of our chief technology officer, we have enhanced um procedures now and again our technical assistance is is been ramped up um considerably. So our employees have an opportunity to really um understand how to work the nuances of the system. In fact, we're going to roll out a a kind of a help desk, if you will, on site at every school um now for the remainder of this year. So people who work for us also have a way
041to get um information that we we gather but don't often know how to draw it down for information to share on student records and so forth when they're looking at profiles of our students. much more advanced. So, I'm asking your approval. Thank you very much for the clarification. Uh, there was a motion and second to approve the one-year contract renewal for Intra Systems LLC. Um, roll call. Mr. Alita Barrows, yes. Miss Babcock, yes. Miss Baros, yes. Miss Cornelio, yes. Miss Cristiano, yes. Miss Garren, yes. Mr. L Monica. Yes. Madame Chair. Yes. So moved. 8 Z. So moved. 8 Z. The motion has passed. Superintendent. The next order of business. Item number six is to accept a gift of $10,000 from Mr. Paul Connley to establish the Francis M. Fran Connley scholarship. Um this is a
042first of its kind. It's pretty substantial firsttime gift from Mr. Connley to establish the scholarship in memory of his late wife Fran, who many may remember was a longtime um employee here at the Ever Public Schools. Um there'll be um scholarships to an Ever High senior who's planning to pursue a career in education uh by attending of course an accredited college or university and there is a preference. And so when we have establish new scholarships especially of this magnitude we want to be sure that the donor that we are giving the scholarship awarding the scholarship to what they intended it to be. So we asked them to be pretty clear about their intention and in this case um Mr. Connley has asked us to give um preference to any qualified candidate who may choose to
043go to Salem State University for example. So sometimes we have those kind of pieces in the gift when we receive it from from a donor. Um so Miss Miss Connley herself was 43 years with the Ever Public School. She started as a second grade teacher and many years ago when I was on the school committee um I had the pleasure of working closely with her. She was also a a title one coordinator for the district uh I think through her retirement. So I'm asking you to accept that gift on behalf of the Connley family to establish the scholarship. Make a motion to accept the gift of $10,000 from the Connelly family to establish the Francis M. Fran Connelly scholarship. Second the motion. Motion has been made by Miss Babcock, seconded by Miss Cornelio to accept
044the gift of $10,000 for Mr. Paul Connelly to establish the Francis M. Fran Connelly scholarship. Roll call. Mr. Alita Barrows. Yes. Miss Babcock. Yes. Miss Barrows. Yes. Miss Cornelio. Yes. Miss Cristiano. Yes. Miss Garren. Yes, Mr. Lammon Monica. Yes, Madam Chair. Yes. So moved. 8 Z. So moved. 8 Z. Motion passed. Superintendent, the next order of business. Item number seven is to accept a $1,000 gift from Alatanzian family to establish the Alfred Latanzi family scholarship. Mr. Latanzi is offering a $1,000 scholarship in memory of Babe and Mary Latanzi, who is Mr. Latanzi's parents. Um, he's asking for that to be awarded to an effort high school senior who achieved a GPA of 3.0 or greater and is planning to study business at an accredited college or university. Again, the donor has specific requirements that we
045would include in the scholarship posting and that would be awarded at $1,000. I'm asking for your approval to accept the thousand from the Latanzi family. Make a motion to accept $1,000 gift from Mr. Alatanian family to establish the Alfred Latanzi family scholarship. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Miss Babcock on the motion. Yes. I just wanted to and and I'm sure that Miss Sfort would also know that our high school seniors are filling out their scholarship applications. And on the applications, it does specify at the top of the application form what you know the designate like maybe it's for someone interested in going into writing or music. There's scholarships for uh the military for um um for students who are not sure about their plans but have have you know this might helps them
046to decide on their future. So the scholarship forms are all out there. There are due dates for them for you parents out there that uh are helping your students or their students are filling them out themselves. Um starting as early as April 7th and then extending as they're they're added. My daughter said that a couple more were added today. Um one was from I think Mr. Senator Sali Demenico I think is what she had said. He he donates annually but we we try not to post them until we have the check in hand. We don't want the students to apply for something they don't have. It's very clear in the process. So, thank you for filling in those details tonight on the two that were here. They are clear on the scholarship um applications. And
047I just want to say I am so touched by the generosity of those scholarships. If any of you I I know that Miss St. Ford has probably filling out hers too. Billy has been filling out hers there. Our community is extremely generous. Absolutely. Thank you, Miss Babcock. A motion has been made and seconded to accept the $1,000 gift from the from Mr. Alatani in family to establish the Alfred Latanzi family scholarship. Uh roll call. Mr. Almeita Barrows. Yes. Miss Babcock. Yes. Miss Barrows. Yes. Miss Cornelio. Yes. Miss Cristiano. Yes. Miss Garren. Yes. Mr. Lam Monica. Yes. Madame Chair. Yes. So moved 8 Z. So moved 80. Motion has passed. Mr. Superintendent. The next order of business item number eight is to accept a gift in the amount of $1,000 by Joe D. Joe E. Dphano,
048Everett High School class of 1979 to award a scholarship to an Ever High School student pursuing a degree in pharmacy or healthcare related field. This is the first um offering from Mr. Dphano. He wrote a very nice letter talking about his blue crawler upbringing here in Everett and he um wants to just help somebody. he lives in Arizona and he would like that recipient to um be interested in pharmacy or healthcare and we're very grateful for his just a letter with a check and those are the kind of people miss Babcock that just mentioned a lot of nice people that want to donate and support our kids and here's one other example so I'm asking you to accept that gift on behalf of the Dphano family favorable action second um there is favorable action that
049was seconded to accept the gift in the amount of $1,000 by Mr. Joseph E. D. Stephano, EHS class of 1979 to award a scholarship to Enver High School student pursuing a degree in pharmacy and um or a healthcare related field. Roll call. Mr. Almeita Barros, yes. Miss Babcock, yes. Miss Baros, yes. Miss Cornelio, yes. Miss Cristiano, yes. Miss Garren, yes. Mr. Lammon Monica, yes. Madame Chair. Yes. So moved. 8 Z. 8 Z. Motion has passed. Mr. Superintendent. Item nine is acceptance of a gift in the amount of $700 from the Zanta Club of Chelsea in the Northshore to award a scholarship to an Ever High School deserving Ever High School student. Um we've received this from Zer um in the past. They're also um the folks who bring us gift cards at the beginning of
050the year on around Thanksgiving for our students. Very generous. Um, and we we we thank them always for thinking about Everett and our students. So, I'm asking you to accept the $700 from the Zanta Club. Make a motion to accept the $700 gift from the Zontto Club of Chelsea and Northshore to award a scholarship to an Ever High School student. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to uh accept the gift in the amount of $700 from the Zanto Club of Chelsea and Northshore to award a scholarship to an Ever High School student. Welcome. Miss Calmeita Baros, yes. Miss Babcock, yes. Miss Barrows, yes. Miss Cornelio, yes. Miss Cristiano, yes. Miss Garren, yes. Mr. Lam Monica, yes. Madam Chair, yes. So moved. 8 Z. 8 Z. The motion has passed. Mr. Superintendent, Roman numeral 7,
051items submitted by school committee members. Item one, discussion about the district's practices for sharing information submitted by community organization. This was offered by Miss Babcock and chairperson Hurley. Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. Miss Babcock, who we can. Yes. Uh I I am uh bringing this topic up because there are a number of youth athletic organizations. One that I is sort of near and dear to my heart, Ever Girls Softball, which um my daughter was or um involved in and I was on the board for many years. I'm not on the board at present, but um we've we've always had the ability to um share our opportunities with the students of ever. And I know that I think that it's important that community organizations, especially our youth organizations, be able to share information with our public school
052students. Um these organizations also uh for a number of reasons. One, um, most many people who live in urban areas, especially children, do not get the required amount of exercise. And I think that youth organizations, uh, I believe in our city, there are four, Pop Warner, Evergirl softball, um, um, Little League. Little League, and there's one more. Oh, Everett, uh, soccer of as well. And um I I think that it's important to post that information because these programs will offer uh lowcost and uh excellent opportunities for our young people to be able to participate in sports and um that information going through the schools reaches a wider audience to encourage enrollments into these uh programs. I know there are other um community programs that we have that also give great opportunities to our students. Um
053I I think that we want to keep focused on schools, but these opportunities are important because they lead to opportunities in the future for them. So for example, if a girl plays for ever girls softball, which I would say almost the girls that are on the softball team went through that program. um they provide that opportunity for our schools in the future for our future student athletes. Um I'd like to pass the mic on over to Sam for her to speak on this issue. We both feel important. Thank you very much. If I may from the chair, um I liked that um Miss Babcock brought this up because I have felt the same. I've heard from uh parents within the community and from some organizations stating that um things aren't being shared like they were
054in the past. Some organizations I'm part of a youth organization as well in the past we've sent flyers out in schools trying to recruit or um make our Everett families knowledgeable of some of the other opportunities within um the city um youthbased. But I do understand this is a grander um stage for community organizations as well. and just maybe some clarification or just a better understanding as to how things should be presented um and shared um moving forward and ways that these organizations um ways that these organizations should be contacting um Ever Public Schools to have certain information shared. Sure. So, I don't disagree that the organizations are very worthwhile in any of the ones that M. Babcock mentioned, and I know there are others who aren't necessarily um youth sports, they are civic organizations,
055there's all kinds of different organizations that approach us. I think during COVID, especially if I have my history correct from folks here, that the class dojo was a primary way to communicate any pieces of information to parents quickly and across the board because obviously the class dojo is something that a parent would sign up for. So, they were accepting the message and they would use that as their primary kind of communication for between the schools and the school system and the home. What I've seen in the time that I've been here is while I want to accept the communications and please I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way. I want the messages that come from the school to be about the school. So when the teacher communicates with the parent, the parent
056opens up and has that two-way dialogue. I learned from teachers that often times that the documents that have been shared in the past end up to be the teacher receiving messages from the parent. Well, what about this and what about that and how do I sign up and who do I talk to? That's not what it's intended for. It is the communication about the child or the programs at a particular school. Once you let one or two in, everybody would want the same access to our dojo system. I want them to be messages about every public schools or the programs that we offer or the important information that we share with the parent about their child's progress. So that's why I had to say no really to everybody that came forward because even though some
057of them were accustomed to um requesting that and having that done um I just felt it was getting a little um overused and we were dissipating the reasons why class dojo is really created for the dialogue. We do however and have done also offer them an opportunity and almost everyone has accepted. I think just about everybody will put it on our website. We'll do social media. We'll post it and we have posted in school bulletin boards. Um we've given opportunities. You know, our our website is frequently visited now. We keep enhancing it to make the traffic easier to navigate. Um we've even helped organizations translate some of their postings to be sure that they got out on our network, which is pretty strong and we're growing as you know. I know many of you have
058commented to me already about our presence and I think we're going to continue to do that. So I'm asking um as much as I want to be um as supportive as possible, I also have to protect the interests of our parents and families with respect to school business. So if I think I've made a decent compromise offering them all of our other kind of platforms to provide information about their programs and everyone's been very gracious. We have great people who do great things with our kids externally and I applaud them for their work and and I've told anybody that I've spoken either directly to or communicated with via email in in other ways that we can help. We're certainly there where we open our buildings up sometimes for a meeting or still willing to do
059that. We want to be their partner but the dojo and in the high school it's called Remind the network. Um, I'd really prefer and think it's in our best interest to keep that between school business and parent. I looked at some statistics just so by the way depending on the school and how often they send their messages out the usage between the school and the parent is heightened. So right now across the district 75% of our parents do open the class dojo message from the teacher or from the school usually. And I looked at some of them. Some of them are happy things, but others are communication about their child's progress or not. And so, um, I'm trying to keep that kind of almost sacred, if you will, to have that that bond between the
060school and the the parent to be specific about that particular school. Um, and that's the business. So, I'd ask your indulgence on that because I think it does serve our families the way it was intended to. Thank you, Miss Babcock. Uh, so to clarify, you would like to keep the class dojo specifically for for schools, which makes absolute sense to me. Um, it doesn't, you know, we don't have to have teachers sort of explaining well and having to interpret the the assignment now for using the school website and which is really visible these days. like I notice lots of people in our community sharing what's coming on the schools. Not just us, like people in our community, it is gaining a lot of traction. So I think that's just as valuable of a location to
061share information if we want to share with our um community groups, what might be some parameters for how they could present the information to you, what information would be valuable, what should be on it, um and who they should contact if they would like that information shared. uh what would your recommendations be? I think if you know obviously most of the communication is directed out of the superintendent's office with the assistance and direction of u Mr. Okconor to my right and we usually ask for clarifying information if something's missing on the flyer for example often times people put these greatl looking flyers and there's no phone number it'll say you know call so and so and there's no number. So we we do that extra layer of kind of um vetting it and we'll tell
062them for example some colors don't play well on social media. So you know Mr. So, Connor, I don't mean to speak for you, but he's been very helpful along with Francancy Doo, who does our digital marketing. She um and Dave look at those to be sure the information is complete, that it's in a sharable format, and then we upload it, whether it's to the social media sites, we've even assisted in some translation in some cases. We've offered uh helpful tips on good information to include. So I guess their first email which has been mostly to me if it's not to one of you fine people um will come to me and I think that's where it has rested in the past and we immediately respond and say look we're going to or as immediate as
063maybe the next day but we do really respond and then Dave and um Mr. O' Connor and and Francancy um do their magic with helping support that and I think everybody's just about everybody's taken us up on that. Sure. Sure. Uh, Miss Baris, I just have a quick, I guess, question and comment. So, in the past, you were able, the organization sometimes could send a flyer to the superintendent off approval so that they could make their own flyers to be distributed home to the families. Would that still be something in case we hear that the kids who bring home flyers sometimes it doesn't always get into the home. Um, but we have I leave that to the local principal and and I think they've been pretty receptive to doing that as well. We're posting it
064in their local in their bulletin boards for those folks. Um, certainly the older kids will see it. Um, but I I really do to Miss Babcock's point, I we have a lot of social media tracking and we see that people are opening those pages when we post something about a program that's offered out there. And I know the city does as well post on their website. So we have kind of a double hit at if you're following someone's social media in the community and all of you hopefully are following us and continue to share what we post. Um it just builds that immediate recognition that's coming from you know Everett or our at least in our district. Thank you. You're welcome Miss Babcock. So one last comment. I know that um for the organization that
065I was formerly involved in quite heavily, we always translated our documents to the four primary languages uh Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and English. You know, we're kind of old pros at that. Um thank you for the compromise. I think that being able to at least post on the the school website which shows the opportunities to the families and the students without disrupting the in day-to-day operations in the school. I thank Miss Barrows for the suggestion about flyers. The only the only caveat about flyers is if I remember from the past, you had to create a certain amount that you couldn't just say you can't have it for this class and you you'd had to for all the all the grades and anyone who was eligible. So, for example, with uh as an example, only just
066from my experience, Evergirl softball is from K to nine. that and economically for a nonprofit organization like that one that is just and honestly like for the environment. Yeah. And and I know when my daughter was little it ended up being pretty much something she ended up doodling on the back of. Yeah. And then the translation of each of those documents sometimes. Yes. So it isn't always the most effective way any longer. But I do think the social media presence that we have and the website um we we put it front and center and Mr. Connor will tell you that and certainly if you navigate today you'll see some of them on there already. If I may from the chair real quick just to clarify I do enjoy um as a parent I receive emails
067for district updates which is click happy but it takes you right to what you need either on the website or with social media. I do enjoy that. So if um when you are posting things for other organizations where are they on the website? Well, sometimes we're we're going to put banners on there so that when you click on to the website and Mr. O' Connor is working on that. So when you come that you may see a banner about an upcoming event, we're going to try to elevate that with our web provider and so that we because some things is timesensitive too. So we want to call attention to certain things. So, we're going to try to do some banners and then the the um current events page would show the different things that people
068have asked us to post, but we are going to try to enhance that experience. So, when someone clicks on, we're going to have some popups, if you will, or at least banners that run across that. And again, we're working with the the website design firm who hosts our website to do that. And then one more followup. When you say um school bulletins, um my daughter goes to Lafayette, so I get a newsletter every month. Is that where it would be in the bulletin? Yeah. The the principles like you know, Webster School puts out a nice bulletin. Um and the Lafayette does the same. Yeah. They the school principal could include it in their production of that newsletter, your that item. And because that's school affiliated, those do go out on Dojo. That right, that goes
069out on Dojo. and it could be embedded in that that document because that's coming from the school the individual parent schoolto parent is what I'm not in favor of on a specific and one one off because think about I can tell you about eight or nine right now that have approached our office this past two months I would say less than two months that want that single post excuse me that that um that dojo and then they asked to be repeated Now, you know, again, I understand why they're doing it. It's just that, no offense, I we're not an ad agency. We're a school system. And as much as I want the good information to get out there, I have to be sure that that dojo is used primarily for communication as needed with the
070parent and the school principal or parent and the teacher because when I look at um what's shared, there are they're progress reports and that's important to reach parents. Thank you for the clarification. You're welcome. One last question. I I I believe just because I'm always people always ask me because my daughter's done sports for so long. They're like just ask Robin. She knows everything about it to ask Robin. So a parent am I may be wrong and please correct me if I am wrong. Was there an opportunity to sign up for soccer within the schools? I think at Lafayette I have to say that when we were rolling out this initiative I'll call it um I think from time to time not everybody was following the my preference so that could have occurred and Lafayette's
071a pretty active school with an active PTO and an active um school community which is wonderful. So yes, could that have happened? possibly. Is is is that something that would be inappropriate? Like after school, have a sign up session for kids if they're interested in I'd leave it up to the principal usually because they they'd have to manage that to be sure, you know, they're allowing people in the building that that um may not necessarily go to that school, but who they may not recognize, but I don't I would leave it up to that principal to make that decision. Okay. But that seems like another great opportunity. Um like they I think they did it in the cafeteria. Yes. Just which is great. And actually, you know what, Evergirl soccer has needed more girl athletes
072and they actually got quite a few that day and they're all very excited about it. So, we have good we have good uh community partnerships and I I don't want them to take this measure the wrong way and that's why I've tried to get right back to people. It is not an intention to hurt them in any way. It's just that I'm trying to preserve the the medium that we've chosen to communicate with parents as kind of sacred, if you will, and allow other ways in which to communicate to parents outside of that is all open for me. So, make a motion to move back to sponsors. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to refer back to sponsors. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion has passed. Mr.
073Superintendent. The next order of business, Roman numeral 8, subcommittee reports number one, the finance and negotiation subcommittee meeting on Monday, March the 17th. Make a motion to weave the reading of the records. Second. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to wave the reading of the records and place on file the finance and negotiation subcommittee for Monday, March 17th, 2025. All those in favor? All those opposed? The eyes have it. Motion has passed. Uh superintendent Item number two, budget committee of the whole on uh April the 3rd, 2025. Make a motion to wave the reading of the record or accept the Make a motion. Make a motion. Redo. Redo. Make a motion to to uh wave the reading of the budget committee of the whole record. Second. Oh, accept. Right. Good. Wave the read and
074not accepting. The reporter will stand out there. So, okay. You have to accept it and wave the reading. Yeah. Oh, okay. Make a motion to accept the budget committee of the whole report and wave the reading. So, and wave the reading. Yeah. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to accept the report and wave the reading of the budget committee of the whole Thursday, April 3rd, 2025 meeting. Um, all those in favor? I. All those opposed? The eyes have it. Uh, Mr. Superintendent, Roman numeral nine, bills and payroll. Mr. uh, Madam Chairman. Yes, Miss Cristiano. Uh, I'd like to submit bills and payroll in the amount of 1,566,82744. Second. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to submit bills and payroll in the amount of 1,566,82744. Roll call. Mr. Almeida Barrows. Yes. Miss Babcock. Yes.
075Miss Barrows. Yes. Miss Cornelio. Yes. Miss Cristiano. Yes. Miss Garren. Yes. Mr. Lam Monica. Yes. Madam Chair. Yes. So moved. 8 Z. So moved 8 Z. Madam Chairman. Yes. Miss Cristiano. I'd like to make a motion to pay bills and payroll in the amount of 1,566,82744. Second. Motion has been made by Miss Cristiano and seconded by Miss Baros to pay bills and payroll in the amount of 1,566,82744. Roll call. Mr. Almea Barros, yes. Miss Babcock, yes. Miss Barrows, yes. Miss Cornelio, yes. Miss Cristiano, yes. Miss Garren, yes. Mr. Lam Monica, yes. Madame Chair, yes. So moved 8 Z. So moved 8 Z. Motion passed. Mr. Superintendent, I just wanted to um clarify one thing on the budget of the whole. I think the motion also needs to refer this to the next regular meeting of
076the school committee on April 29th as presented. So, Madam Chairman, Miss Cristiano, I'd like to reconsider uh the item listed under the budget of the whole motion has been made. second and seconded to reconsider um Roman numeral 8 item number two budget committee of the whole for Thursday April 3rd 2025 the item is back before you. So a yes vote would bring it back so that we could uh then um refer it to the uh that meeting roll call to bring it back before us. Miss Mr. Elita Barrows. Yes. Miss Babcock. Yes, Miss Barrows. Yes, Miss Cornelio. Yes, Miss Cristiano. Yes, Miss Garren. Yes, Mr. Lam Monica. Yes, Madam Chair. Yes. So, moved 8 Z. 8 Z. The item is officially back before us. So, make a motion to add to that motion. You have
077to like make a motion to refer uh to meeting the matter to our April 29th. April 29th. April 29th meeting. Seconds. presented as presented. Motion has been made and seconded to refer um the budget of the budget committee of the whole Thursday, April 3rd, 2025 um as presented to our next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 29th. Roll call. Mr. Almeida Baros, yes. Miss Babar, yes. Miss Baros, yes. Miss Cornelio, yes. Miss Cristiano, yes. Miss Garren, yes. Mr. Lam Monica, yes. Madame Chair, yes. So moved. 8 Z. So moved 8 Z. Thank you, Mr. S. Um, item Roman numeral nine, 10, excuse me, is unfinished business. There is none. Roman numeral 11, there is no new business before you. Roman numeral 12, there are no hearings scheduled. Roman numeral 13, matters for executive session, there are
078none. Motion to adjurnn. Second. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to adjurnn. Before we adjurnn, I would like to extend a very good luck to the STEM club for their upcoming competition in North Carolina over um school vacation. We won't get a chance to see you before then. Um motion has been made and seconded to adjurnn. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? The eyes have it. We have adjourned at 7:31. Thank you very much everybody. We'll see you Tuesday um April 29th. August. I'm Russian. Thanks. [Music] Hey [Music] baby.